If you?re an ?American Idol? conspiracy theorist, you were handed some solid ammunition for your arguments Wednesday night. But one guy isn?t playing along with the script.
The judges certainly seem to be setting up an Amber Holcomb-Angie Miller finale, drowning them both in praise. They love how much Amber has grown since the early shows, and in fairness to them she?s the clear winner in the Most Improved category. But the praise over the past few weeks has been overwhelming, and that continued Wednesday.
?You?re just like this blooming flower, Amber. You?re blooming for the world to see,? Nicki Minaj said.
Keep in mind that that comment came after Amber?s version of ?MacArthur Park.? You might ask why anyone would ever choose that song in a singing competition, even if America suffered a massive brain cramp and demanded a one-hit-wonders theme this week. Put it like this ? in ?Dave Barry?s Book of Bad Songs,? the humorist names it the absolute worst song ever for a reason.
Jimmy Iovine disagreed with the level of praise, because there?s only so much anyone can do with a song that schlocky. In response, Nicki decided to use much of the time allotted to her after Candice Glover?s performance to instead bring up Amber again and critique Jimmy?s critique. After the other judges were done, Ryan Seacrest brought Jimmy onstage to defend himself.
?She can?t sing corn like that. Just my opinion. But I think you guys were smoking a little bit of the green icing on that MacArthur Park cake, because it was just so far from what she should be doing,? Jimmy said. Which ? well, duh.
But he continued by calling the panel out. ?What you don?t want to do is say that Candice was better than Amber on that particular round.?
That hit home.
?Candice was better,? Nicki agreed, while Mariah was outraged that Amber was to be blamed for the song choice as though singers have not been blamed for song selection since season one.
?Then say it!? Jimmy responded.
And for some reason the judges got mad. Nicki got up out of her seat as if to charge the mound, with Randy Jackson close behind. But no punches were thrown, and Candice finally got to go offstage and mutter about how Nicki had told her an hour previously ?What I don?t want to happen to you is to have people see you as an old-fashioned artist? after she sang ?Find Your Love? by Drake, released way back in 2010. And how Keith had just complained ?Man, are there any one-hit wonder songs from at least the last decade?? after her version of ?Emotion.?
But at least Candice could take solace that she was treated far better than Kree Harrison, who heard Randy complain that ?I guess I was waiting to hear something else from you this week,? when she finished Susan Tedeschi?s ?It Hurt So Bad.?
"That performance is not going to give you what you need for next week. That is not a top-four worthy performance," Nikki agreed, then doing her part to making sure the Fox censors pay attention in concluding, ??I don?t want to blow smoke up your ?--?
Nicki was even harsher after Kree's second song, insinuating that she was going home. But Kree had much better luck that time with both Randy and Mariah. The latter promised to download her ?Whiter Shade of Pale? right away because she needed it on her phone.
The singer everyone agreed on was Angie Miller, who went back to her strengths early with Jessie J?s ?Who You Are.?
?I'm standing up in spirit, my train is caught on the bottom of my chair!" Mariah said. She therefore extended her own record for number of excuses for not joining the other judges in a standing ovation.
?You made me forget that was a Jessie J song. You made believe it was an Angie performance,? Randy said.
And after her version of Julie London?s ?Cry Me a River??
You came out tonight to snatch some wigs off some heads,? Nikki said. ?Tonight was your night.?
Contact: Susan McDonald slmcdonald@wihri.org 401-681-2816 Women & Infants Hospital
This spring, a team of researchers has released results from an eight-year study that shows improved survival rates for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer who undergo cancer tumor testing to determine the best treatment.
Part of the team was Richard G. Moore, MD, director of the Center for Biomarkers and Emerging Technologies and a gynecologic oncologist with the Program in Women's Oncology at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island.
"Essentially, we have demonstrated that by using a tissue sample from the patient's tumor and a chemoresponse assay, we are able to determine which treatment may or may not work for her," Dr. Moore explains of the study, which was presented at a recent meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology and in the trade publication Cure.
"This study shows that a woman with recurrent ovarian cancer could benefit from having a biopsy and chemosensitivity testing. The results from such testing will allow for the identification of chemotherapeutics that are active against the patient's disease and those that are not resulting in decreased toxicity from ineffective treatments. Learning that personal directed therapies may improve overall survival for these patients made this the first study in two decades to show a significant increase in survival in recurrent ovarian cancer."
The study, launched in 2004, included 283 women. Of those, 262 had successful biopsies which were tested in vitro, or in a test tube. The assay ChemoFx, by Precision Therapeutics, tested up to 15 approved treatment regimens on the samples, identifying chemotherapy drugs and regimens to which each tumor might be sensitive. The study was non-interventional, meaning that physicians chose the treatment regimens without knowing of the assay results. The researchers then evaluated the assay's result against actual patient outcomes.
"The assay identified at least one treatment to which the tumor would be sensitive in 52% of patients in the study," Dr. Moore says. "Overall, median survival was 37.5 months for patients with treatment-sensitive tumors, compared to 23.9 months for intermediate and resistant tumors."
Assay-directed therapy has long been debated among oncologists, he continues. Such debate provided the impetus for this study.
###
About Women & Infants Hospital
Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation's leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns. The primary teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics, as well as a number of specialized programs in women's medicine, Women & Infants is the ninth largest stand-alone obstetrical service in the country with nearly 8,400 deliveries per year. In 2009, Women & Infants opened the country's largest, single-family room neonatal intensive care unit.
New England's premier hospital for women and newborns, Women & Infants and Brown offer fellowship programs in gynecologic oncology, maternal-fetal medicine, urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery, neonatal-perinatal medicine, pediatric and perinatal pathology, gynecologic pathology and cytopathology, and reproductive endocrinology and infertility. It is home to the nation's only mother-baby perinatal psychiatric partial hospital, as well as the nation's only fellowship program in obstetric medicine.
Women & Infants has been designated as a Breast Center of Excellence from the American College of Radiology; a Center for In Vitro Maturation Excellence by SAGE In Vitro Fertilization; a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence by the National Institutes of Health; and a Neonatal Resource Services Center of Excellence. It is one of the largest and most prestigious research facilities in high risk and normal obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics in the nation, and is a member of the National Cancer Institute's Gynecologic Oncology Group and the National Institutes of Health's Pelvic Floor Disorders Network.
About ChemoFx
ChemoFx, is a proprietary, CLIA-certified and commercially-available chemoresponse assay which measures an individual's tumor response to a range of therapeutic alternatives under consideration by the treating physician. By testing multiple chemotherapies on a patient's tumor cells before clinically treating a cancer patient, ChemoFx helps determine the chemotherapies more likely to be effective and, therefore, provides valuable insights that help inform physicians' treatment decisions with a goal of improving patient outcomes.
Precision Therapeutics currently receives ChemoFx specimens from 271 top medical institutions including 20 of the 21 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Member Institutions, and 8 of the US News and World Report Top 10 Hospitals for Cancer Care. Over 60,000 patient specimens to date have been tested with ChemoFx.
About Precision Therapeutics
Precision Therapeutics, a leading life-science company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is dedicated to utilizing precision medicine for personalized cancer care. Precision offers a portfolio of products developed to help guide physicians and patients with difficult clinical decisions throughout the cancer care continuum. The company's leading products for personalized cancer care include ChemoFx and BioSpeciFx, a select portfolio of clinically relevant molecular tests that provide information about drug response and patient prognosis. Additionally, in 2013 Precision is releasing two new gene signature products, under the GeneFx brand. GeneFx Colon is a 634-transcript microarray assay that has been independently validated to predict risk of disease recurrence in stage II colon cancer patients. It is currently undergoing an additional independent validation using a large cooperative group cohort. GeneFx Lung is a 15-gene microarray assay that has been independently validated in 5 separate patient groups to predict risk of mortality in early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and may also be able to predict which of those patients will experience benefit from chemotherapy.
For more information, visit http://www.precisiontherapeutics.com or http://www.chemofx.com.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Susan McDonald slmcdonald@wihri.org 401-681-2816 Women & Infants Hospital
This spring, a team of researchers has released results from an eight-year study that shows improved survival rates for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer who undergo cancer tumor testing to determine the best treatment.
Part of the team was Richard G. Moore, MD, director of the Center for Biomarkers and Emerging Technologies and a gynecologic oncologist with the Program in Women's Oncology at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island.
"Essentially, we have demonstrated that by using a tissue sample from the patient's tumor and a chemoresponse assay, we are able to determine which treatment may or may not work for her," Dr. Moore explains of the study, which was presented at a recent meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology and in the trade publication Cure.
"This study shows that a woman with recurrent ovarian cancer could benefit from having a biopsy and chemosensitivity testing. The results from such testing will allow for the identification of chemotherapeutics that are active against the patient's disease and those that are not resulting in decreased toxicity from ineffective treatments. Learning that personal directed therapies may improve overall survival for these patients made this the first study in two decades to show a significant increase in survival in recurrent ovarian cancer."
The study, launched in 2004, included 283 women. Of those, 262 had successful biopsies which were tested in vitro, or in a test tube. The assay ChemoFx, by Precision Therapeutics, tested up to 15 approved treatment regimens on the samples, identifying chemotherapy drugs and regimens to which each tumor might be sensitive. The study was non-interventional, meaning that physicians chose the treatment regimens without knowing of the assay results. The researchers then evaluated the assay's result against actual patient outcomes.
"The assay identified at least one treatment to which the tumor would be sensitive in 52% of patients in the study," Dr. Moore says. "Overall, median survival was 37.5 months for patients with treatment-sensitive tumors, compared to 23.9 months for intermediate and resistant tumors."
Assay-directed therapy has long been debated among oncologists, he continues. Such debate provided the impetus for this study.
###
About Women & Infants Hospital
Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation's leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns. The primary teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics, as well as a number of specialized programs in women's medicine, Women & Infants is the ninth largest stand-alone obstetrical service in the country with nearly 8,400 deliveries per year. In 2009, Women & Infants opened the country's largest, single-family room neonatal intensive care unit.
New England's premier hospital for women and newborns, Women & Infants and Brown offer fellowship programs in gynecologic oncology, maternal-fetal medicine, urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery, neonatal-perinatal medicine, pediatric and perinatal pathology, gynecologic pathology and cytopathology, and reproductive endocrinology and infertility. It is home to the nation's only mother-baby perinatal psychiatric partial hospital, as well as the nation's only fellowship program in obstetric medicine.
Women & Infants has been designated as a Breast Center of Excellence from the American College of Radiology; a Center for In Vitro Maturation Excellence by SAGE In Vitro Fertilization; a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence by the National Institutes of Health; and a Neonatal Resource Services Center of Excellence. It is one of the largest and most prestigious research facilities in high risk and normal obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics in the nation, and is a member of the National Cancer Institute's Gynecologic Oncology Group and the National Institutes of Health's Pelvic Floor Disorders Network.
About ChemoFx
ChemoFx, is a proprietary, CLIA-certified and commercially-available chemoresponse assay which measures an individual's tumor response to a range of therapeutic alternatives under consideration by the treating physician. By testing multiple chemotherapies on a patient's tumor cells before clinically treating a cancer patient, ChemoFx helps determine the chemotherapies more likely to be effective and, therefore, provides valuable insights that help inform physicians' treatment decisions with a goal of improving patient outcomes.
Precision Therapeutics currently receives ChemoFx specimens from 271 top medical institutions including 20 of the 21 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Member Institutions, and 8 of the US News and World Report Top 10 Hospitals for Cancer Care. Over 60,000 patient specimens to date have been tested with ChemoFx.
About Precision Therapeutics
Precision Therapeutics, a leading life-science company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is dedicated to utilizing precision medicine for personalized cancer care. Precision offers a portfolio of products developed to help guide physicians and patients with difficult clinical decisions throughout the cancer care continuum. The company's leading products for personalized cancer care include ChemoFx and BioSpeciFx, a select portfolio of clinically relevant molecular tests that provide information about drug response and patient prognosis. Additionally, in 2013 Precision is releasing two new gene signature products, under the GeneFx brand. GeneFx Colon is a 634-transcript microarray assay that has been independently validated to predict risk of disease recurrence in stage II colon cancer patients. It is currently undergoing an additional independent validation using a large cooperative group cohort. GeneFx Lung is a 15-gene microarray assay that has been independently validated in 5 separate patient groups to predict risk of mortality in early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and may also be able to predict which of those patients will experience benefit from chemotherapy.
For more information, visit http://www.precisiontherapeutics.com or http://www.chemofx.com.
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Thousands of heart attack victims every year have none of the notorious risk factors before their crisis - not high cholesterol, not unhealthy triglycerides. Now the search for the mystery culprits has turned up some surprising suspects: the trillions of bacteria and other microbes living in the human gut.
In a study released on Wednesday, scientists discovered that some of the bugs turn lecithin - a nutrient in egg yolks, liver, beef, pork and wheat germ - into an artery-clogging compound called TMAO. They also found that blood levels of TMAO predict heart attack, stroke or death, and do so "independent of other risk factors," said Dr Stanley Hazen, chairman of cellular and molecular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute, who led the study.
That suggests a TMAO test could enter the arsenal of blood tests that signal possible cardiovascular problems ahead. "TMAO might identify people who are at risk (for heart attacks and strokes) despite having no other risk factors," Hazen said.
The discovery also suggests a new approach to preventing these cardiovascular events: altering gut bacteria so they churn out less TMAO.
The study joins a growing list of findings that link human "microbiota" - microbes in the gut, nose and genital tract, and on the skin - to health and disease. Research has shown that certain species of gut bacteria protect against asthma, for instance, while others affect the risk of obesity. Last week scientists reported that circumcision alters bacteria in the penis, and that this change (not only the anatomical one) helps protect men from HIV/AIDS, probably by reducing the number of bacteria that live in oxygen-free environments such as under the foreskin.
"It's very strong work," Dr Martin Blaser of New York University Langone Medical Center, a pioneer in studies of the microbiota, said of the TMAO study. "They show clearly that human microbiota play a key role in producing TMAO, suggesting new approaches to prevention and treatment" of cardiovascular disease.
NORMAL CHOLESTEROL, FATAL HEART ATTACK
The new study builds on a 2011 discovery by the Cleveland Clinic team that, in lab mice, gut bacteria turn lecithin in food into TMAO, or trimethylamine-N-oxide, causing heart disease. In addition, they found, people with high levels of TMAO are more likely to have heart disease.
But that research left two questions hanging: Do human gut bacteria trigger the lecithin-to-TMAO alchemy, like those in mice? And do high levels of TMAO predict heart attacks and stroke in people many years out, not simply mark the presence of cardiovascular disease at the time of the blood test?
To answer the first question, Hazen and his colleagues had 40 healthy adults eat two hard-boiled eggs, which contain lots of lecithin. Just as in lab mice, TMAO levels in the blood rose. After a week of broad-spectrum antibiotics, however, the volunteers' TMAO levels barely budged after they ate eggs, the researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.
"That showed that the intestinal bacteria (which antibiotics kill) are essential for forming TMAO," said Hazen.
Next, to see whether TMAO predicts cardiovascular events, the researchers measured its levels in 4,007 heart patients. After accounting for such risk factors as age and a past heart attack, they found that high levels of TMAO were predictive of heart attack, stroke and death over the three years that the patients were followed.
Moreover, TMAO predicted risk more accurately than triglyceride or cholesterol levels, Hazen said. And it did so in people without substantial coronary artery disease or dangerous lipid levels as well as in sicker patients.
Specifically, people in the top 25 percent of TMAO levels had 2.5 times the risk of a heart attack or stroke compared to people in the bottom quartile.
The reason TMAO is so potent is that it makes blood cholesterol build up on artery walls, causing atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and, if the buildup ruptures and blocks an artery, stroke or heart attack.
Earlier this month, the Cleveland Clinic researchers reported that gut bugs also transform carnitine, a nutrient found in red meat and dairy products, into TMAO, at least in meat eaters. Vegetarians made much less TMAO even when eating carnitine as part of the study, suggesting that avoiding meat reduces the gut bacteria that turn carnitine into TMAO, while regular helpings of dead animals encourages their growth and thus the production of TMAO.
More studies are needed to show whether TMAO reliably predicts cardiovascular crises, and does so better than other blood tests. Experts disagree on how many people have no other risk factors but would be flagged by TMAO. Dr Gordon Tomaselli, chief of cardiology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and past president of the American Heart Association, guesses it is less than 10 percent or so of the people who eventually have heart crises.
Someone with high levels of TMAO could reduce her cardiovascular risk by eating fewer egg yolks and less beef and pork. But someone with a two-eggs-a-day habit but low TMAO probably has gut microbes that aren't very adept at converting lecithin to TMAO, meaning she can eat eggs and the like without risking a coronary.
Just as statins control unhealthy cholesterol, prebiotics (compounds that nurture "healthy" gut microbes) or probiotics (the good bugs themselves) might control unhealthy TMAO. For now, however, no one knows which prebiotics or probiotics might do that. In one study, probiotics actually increased TMAO-producing bacteria - "not what you want," Hazen said.
Neither will popping antibiotics work: bacteria become resistant to the drugs. Developing compounds that crimp the ability of the bacteria to turn lecithin into TMAO, Hazen said, is more likely to succeed.
(Reporting by Sharon Begley; editing by Michelle Gershberg and Prudence Crowther)
2013 Meeting of the Americas media advisory 2Public release date: 25-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mary Catherine Adams mcadams@agu.org 202-777-7530 American Geophysical Union
Pre-registration deadline is April 26, Virtual Press Room open, scientific program is online
About 1,500 scientists are expected to present their latest Earth and space science findings next month at the 2013 Meeting of the Americas in Cancn, Mexico, May 13-17. The pre-registration deadline for is this Friday, April 26 but onsite, complimentary press registration will be available.
Check out the scientific program and the press Who's Coming list online. The meeting's Virtual Press Room and PIO Uploader are now live. Visa information is also available.
Click here to register as a member of the news media: http://moa.agu.org/2013/media-center/press-registration/.
Friday, April 26, is the last day for online press pre-registration, which assures that your badge will be waiting for you when you arrive.
You may also register at the meeting; however, you must bring valid media credentials to do so (see eligibility criteria at the link above). Registration for press, whether in advance or on site, is complimentary.
News Media registrants receive, at no charge, a badge that provides access to all scientific sessions of the meeting. Eligibility for press registration is limited to science reporters, freelancers and public information officers.
All press badges will be issued solely at the discretion of the AGU Public Information Office.
Please note: AGU will not operate a Press Room at the meeting.
Virtual Press Room and PIO Uploader Now live
The Virtual Press Room is the online place for journalists to find meeting-related materials such as press releases, images, and videos about newsworthy research being presented at the meeting. To access the Meeting of the Americas Virtual Press Room, go here: http://moa.agu.org/2013/media-center/virtual-press-room/.
Public Information Officers can upload press releases (along with accompanying images, videos, audio files and external links) about research presented at the Meeting of the Americas to the Virtual Press Room. To access the Uploader, PIOs must first register here: http://moa.agu.org/2013/media-center/for-pios/. Only registered PIOs will be allowed to upload content.
2013 Meeting of the Americas scientific program
Scientists have submitted more than 1,500 abstracts about new findings they plan to present at the meeting. To see the abstracts on topics including anthropogenic influences on the natural environment and extreme events like tsunamis, hurricanes, heat waves and more, please go to the scientific program: http://moa.agu.org/2013/scientific-program/. All scientific sessions take place in the Cancn Center, Quintana Roo, Mexico.
See Who's Coming!
The online list of journalists who have pre-registered for the Meeting is updated daily. To see it, go here: http://moa.agu.org/2013/media-center/whos-coming/.
Mexican visa regulations for international reporters
International reporters, including those from the United States, must have a valid passport to enter Mexico. Those without an up-to-date passport are urged to apply for one immediately. Passport information for U.S. citizens may be found at: http://travel.state.gov/passport/.
Journalists who are U.S. citizens, or have a valid U.S. visa, do not need a special visa to report from the meeting, as long as they are staying less than 180 days and not being paid by a Mexican company. However, camera operators bringing gear into Mexico should fill out a specific form; please email news@agu.org for more information.
International reporters from countries other than the United States should contact their country's Mexican embassy (http://www.sre.gob.mx/index.php/representaciones/embajadas-de-mexico-en-el-exterior) to inquire about possible visa requirements.
###
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
2013 Meeting of the Americas media advisory 2Public release date: 25-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mary Catherine Adams mcadams@agu.org 202-777-7530 American Geophysical Union
Pre-registration deadline is April 26, Virtual Press Room open, scientific program is online
About 1,500 scientists are expected to present their latest Earth and space science findings next month at the 2013 Meeting of the Americas in Cancn, Mexico, May 13-17. The pre-registration deadline for is this Friday, April 26 but onsite, complimentary press registration will be available.
Check out the scientific program and the press Who's Coming list online. The meeting's Virtual Press Room and PIO Uploader are now live. Visa information is also available.
Click here to register as a member of the news media: http://moa.agu.org/2013/media-center/press-registration/.
Friday, April 26, is the last day for online press pre-registration, which assures that your badge will be waiting for you when you arrive.
You may also register at the meeting; however, you must bring valid media credentials to do so (see eligibility criteria at the link above). Registration for press, whether in advance or on site, is complimentary.
News Media registrants receive, at no charge, a badge that provides access to all scientific sessions of the meeting. Eligibility for press registration is limited to science reporters, freelancers and public information officers.
All press badges will be issued solely at the discretion of the AGU Public Information Office.
Please note: AGU will not operate a Press Room at the meeting.
Virtual Press Room and PIO Uploader Now live
The Virtual Press Room is the online place for journalists to find meeting-related materials such as press releases, images, and videos about newsworthy research being presented at the meeting. To access the Meeting of the Americas Virtual Press Room, go here: http://moa.agu.org/2013/media-center/virtual-press-room/.
Public Information Officers can upload press releases (along with accompanying images, videos, audio files and external links) about research presented at the Meeting of the Americas to the Virtual Press Room. To access the Uploader, PIOs must first register here: http://moa.agu.org/2013/media-center/for-pios/. Only registered PIOs will be allowed to upload content.
2013 Meeting of the Americas scientific program
Scientists have submitted more than 1,500 abstracts about new findings they plan to present at the meeting. To see the abstracts on topics including anthropogenic influences on the natural environment and extreme events like tsunamis, hurricanes, heat waves and more, please go to the scientific program: http://moa.agu.org/2013/scientific-program/. All scientific sessions take place in the Cancn Center, Quintana Roo, Mexico.
See Who's Coming!
The online list of journalists who have pre-registered for the Meeting is updated daily. To see it, go here: http://moa.agu.org/2013/media-center/whos-coming/.
Mexican visa regulations for international reporters
International reporters, including those from the United States, must have a valid passport to enter Mexico. Those without an up-to-date passport are urged to apply for one immediately. Passport information for U.S. citizens may be found at: http://travel.state.gov/passport/.
Journalists who are U.S. citizens, or have a valid U.S. visa, do not need a special visa to report from the meeting, as long as they are staying less than 180 days and not being paid by a Mexican company. However, camera operators bringing gear into Mexico should fill out a specific form; please email news@agu.org for more information.
International reporters from countries other than the United States should contact their country's Mexican embassy (http://www.sre.gob.mx/index.php/representaciones/embajadas-de-mexico-en-el-exterior) to inquire about possible visa requirements.
###
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
(Reuters) - The planned sale by state-backed Lloyds of hundreds of UK bank branches to the Co-op fell through on Wednesday, setting back government plans to boost competition in the industry.
The Co-Op said it pulled out of the deal due to toughening regulations and the worsening outlook for UK economic growth.
Lloyds, which is Britain's biggest retail bank and has over 2,900 branches in total, plans instead to spin-off the 630 branches under the TSB name and sell shares in the new company.
Parliamentarians hoped the combination of Co-Op's existing banking business with the Lloyds branches would have created a viable competitor to Britain's established but unpopular lenders, which have been plagued by scandals including the mis-selling of insurance on loans and mortgages.
Co-op chief executive Peter Marks said in a statement that the deal would not currently deliver a suitable return in a reasonable timeframe and with an acceptable level of risk.
"This should serve as yet another warning to (chancellor) George Osborne that his economic plan is failing and he must urgently act to kick-start our flatlining economy," said Chris Leslie, a lawmaker from the opposition Labour party.
Britain's finance ministry said the government remained "determined to promote greater competition in the banking sector in order to provide consumers with more choice".
Industry sources had expressed doubts for several months about the viability of the deal, citing supposed concerns held by the financial regulator about Co-op's capital strength. There had also been worries about the complexities of breaking out the business and merging it with the Co-op.
Lloyds was ordered to sell the branches by European regulators as a condition of receiving state aid during the 2008 financial crisis when Britain pumped 20.5 billion pounds into the bank leaving taxpayers holding a 39 percent stake.
Industry sources said Lloyds will almost certainty need to request that EU regulators extend the November 2013 deadline they have set for a sale, which analysts expect to be granted.
A flotation is unlikely to be possible until the second half of 2014, sources have said.
Amid doubts over the Co-op transaction, Lloyds had operated a "dual track" approach, preparing for both a sale and a share offer. It has prepared to operate the branches as a standalone business from August, under the TSB brand which had disappeared from the high street in 1995 when TSB merged with Lloyds.
The Verde business - the name given to the branches for sale - has around 5 million customers and represents about 6 percent of all bank branches in Britain.
Co-Op agreed in 2012 to buy the branches, which would have created Britain's seventh-biggest bank.
Britain's "Big Five" lenders - Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander UK hold 83 percent of current accounts.
A source close to the Co-op said there was no truth in speculation that it could now pull out of banking altogether. Co-op's insurance business remains on the market having been put up for sale last month.
Co-op's future strategy will be shaped by incoming chief executive Euan Sutherland who takes the helm on May 1. Sutherland joins Co-op from European home improvement retailer Kingfisher where he was chief operating officer and has a predominantly retail background.
Shares in Lloyds showed little reaction and were down 0.2 percent at 1050 GMT, reflecting doubt the deal would succeed.
Industry sources say that Lloyds has been hit with about 1 billion pounds in costs associated with the deal. The Verde business has been making around 200 million pounds a year in profit, according to analysts.
(Reporting by Clare Hutchison, Steve Slater, Will James and David Milliken in London and Richa Naidu in Bangalore; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
Marvin Tolkin was 83 when he decided that the unexamined life wasn?t worth living. Until then, it had never occurred to him that there might be emotional ?issues? he wanted to explore with a counselor.
?I don?t think I ever needed therapy,? said Mr. Tolkin, a retired manufacturer of women?s undergarments who lives in Manhattan and Hewlett Harbor, N.Y.
Though he wasn?t clinically depressed, Mr. Tolkin did suffer from migraines and ?struggled through a lot of things in my life? ? the demise of a long-term business partnership, the sudden death of his first wife 18 years ago. He worried about his children and grandchildren, and his relationship with his current wife, Carole.
?When I hit my 80s I thought, ?The hell with this.? I don?t know how long I?m going to live, I want to make it easier,? said Mr. Tolkin, now 86. ?Everybody needs help, and everybody makes mistakes. I needed to reach outside my own capabilities.?
So Mr. Tolkin began seeing Dr. Robert C. Abrams, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College in Manhattan. They meet once a month for 45 minutes, exploring the problems that were weighing on Mr. Tolkin. ?Dr. Abrams is giving me a perspective that I didn?t think about,? he said. ?It?s been making the transition of living at this age in relation to my family very doable and very livable.?
Mr. Tolkin is one of many seniors who are seeking psychological help late in life. Most never set foot near an analyst?s couch in their younger years. But now, as people are living longer, and the stigma of psychological counseling has diminished, they are recognizing that their golden years might be easier if they alleviate the problems they have been carrying around for decades. It also helps that Medicare pays for psychiatric assessments and therapy.
?We?ve been seeing more people in their 80s and older over the past five years, many who have never done therapy before,? said Dolores Gallagher-Thompson, a professor of research in the department of psychiatry at Stanford. ?Usually, they?ve tried other resources like their church, or talked to family. They?re realizing that they?re living longer, and if you?ve got another 10 or 15 years, why be miserable if there?s something that can help you??
Some of these older patients are clinically depressed. The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that more than 6.5 million Americans over age 65 suffer from depression. But many are grappling with mental health issues unaddressed for decades, as well as contemporary concerns about new living arrangements, finances, chronic health problems, the loss of loved ones and their own mortality.
?It?s never too late, if someone has never dealt with issues,? said Judith Repetur, a clinical social worker in New York who works almost exclusively with older patients, many of whom are seeking help for the first time. ?A combination of stresses late in life can bring up problems that weren?t resolved.?
That members of the Greatest Generation would feel comfortable talking to a therapist, or acknowledging psychological distress, is a significant change. Many grew up in an era when only ?crazy? people sought psychiatric help. They would never admit to themselves ? and certainly not others ? that anything might be wrong.
?For people in their 80s and 90s now, depression was considered almost a moral weakness,? said Dr. Gallagher-Thompson. ?Fifty years ago, when they were in their 20s and 30s, people were locked up and someone threw away the key. They had a terrible fear that if they said they were depressed, they were going to end up in an institution. So they learned to look good and cover their problems as best they could.?
But those attitudes have shifted over time, along with the medical community?s understanding of mental illness among seniors. In the past, the assumption was that if older people were acting strangely or having problems, it was probably dementia. But now, ?the awareness of depression, anxiety disorders and substance abuse as possible problems has grown,? said Bob G. Knight, a professor of gerontology and psychology at the University of Southern California, and the author of ?Psychotherapy With Older Adults.?
A report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that about half of all Americans ages 50 to 70 will be at high risk for alcohol and marijuana abuse by 2020, compared with less than 9 percent in 1999.
In years past, too, there was a sense among medical professionals that a patient often could not be helped after a certain age unless he had received treatment earlier in life. Freud noted that around age 50, ?the elasticity of the mental process on which treatment depends is, as a rule, lacking,? adding, ?Old people are no longer educable.? (Never mind that he continued working until he died at 83.)
?That?s been totally turned around by what we?ve learned about cognitive psychology and cognitive approach ? changing the way you think about things, redirecting your emotions in more positive ways,? said Karl Pillemer, a gerontologist and professor of human development at Cornell, and author of ?30 Lessons for Living.?
Treatment regimens can be difficult in this population. Antidepressants, for instance, can have unpleasant side effects and only add to the pile of pills many elderly patients take daily. Older patients may feel that they don?t have the time necessary to explore psychotherapy, or that it?s too late to change.
But many eagerly embrace talk therapy, particularly cognitive behavioral techniques that focus on altering thought patterns and behaviors affecting their quality of life now. Experts say that seniors generally have a higher satisfaction rate in therapy than younger people because they are usually more serious about it. Time is critical, and their goals usually are well defined.
?Older patients realize that time is limited and precious and not to be wasted,? said Dr. Abrams. ?They tend to be serious about the discussion and less tolerant of wasted time. They make great patients.?
After her husband died two years ago, Miriam Zatinsky, a retired social worker who is now 87, moved into an independent living facility at Miami Jewish Health Systems. It was a difficult transition to make late in life.
?It was really strange to me, and I couldn?t seem to make any friends here,? Ms. Zatinsky said. ?I really couldn?t find my way. I was having a terrible time.?
The medical director for mental health at the facility, Dr. Marc E. Agronin, a geriatric psychiatrist and the author of ?How We Age,? told her that her problems were not unusual for someone in her situation, and encouraged her to make some friends. He prescribed Xanax to help with anxiety, which she said she rarely takes, and he put her in touch with a social worker, Shyla Ford, whom Ms. Zatinsky saw once a week until Ms. Ford moved (Ms. Zatinsky now has a new social worker she talks to). They strategized on how she could reach out. And slowly, she did.
?Sitting at the table for dinner, you talk to people,? said Ms. Zatinsky, who has become president of her building.
Typically, 15 to 20 sessions of talk therapy are enough to help an older patient, unless he or she is struggling with a lifetime?s worth of significant problems. Still, even long-term issues can be overcome.
After a debilitating depression in which she spent three months unable to get out of bed, Judita Grosz, 69, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., decided to see Dr. Agronin, who prescribed medication. (She also tried group therapy but didn?t like it.) He also practiced some cognitive behavioral techniques with her ? for instance, requiring her to get dressed every day for a minimum of 15 minutes.
Eventually, she began to feel better. ?I learned to adjust my thinking, and I don?t get as anxious as I used to,? said Ms. Grosz, who has since begun making and selling jewelry. ?I found out at this age that I am artistic and creative and innovative and smart. I just woke up to the fact that I have a mind of my own. Talk about a late bloomer.?
Dr. Agronin, who still meets with Ms. Grosz monthly, said, ?You might not be able to gain a magical insight and wrap up theirentire life in therapy, but you might be able to accomplish one or two small but meaningful goals.?
Sometimes, what older patients really need is help putting a lifetime in perspective.
?Things can be seen differently from the perspective of old age that relieve some guilt and challenge assumptions that you?ve had for decades,? Dr. Abrams said. ???Maybe it wasn?t too terrible after all; maybe I shouldn?t blame myself.? Maybe some of your worst mistakes weren?t so egregious, and maybe there were unavoidable circumstances you couldn?t control.?
Mr. Tolkin still stops by Dr. Abrams?s office for a monthly checkup.
?Everybody has a certain amount of heartache in life ? it?s how you handle the heartache that is the essential core of your life,? Mr. Tolkin said. ?I found that my attitude was important, and I had to reinforce positive things all the time.?
He said he wishes he had tried therapy years ago. But he adds: ?I can?t go back. I can only go forward.?
To hear more from these three seniors who have started therapy later in life, view our gallery.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]The state flower?s brief blooming period is also trespassing season, as crowds tramp through privately owned farms and ranches for the perfect photo.
Harvard psychologist Mahzarin Banaji was once approached by a reporter for an interview. When Banaji heard the name of the magazine the reporter was writing for, she declined the interview: She didn't think much of the magazine and believed it portrayed research in psychology inaccurately.
But then the reporter said something that made her reconsider, Banaji recalled: "She said, 'You know, I used to be a student at Yale when you were there, and even though I didn't take a course with you, I do remember hearing about your work.' "
The next words out of Banaji's mouth: "OK, come on over; I'll talk to you."
After she changed her mind, Banaji got to thinking. Why had she changed her mind? She still didn't think much of the magazine in which the article would appear. The answer: The reporter had found a way to make a personal connection.
For most people, this would have been so obvious and self-explanatory it would have required no further thought. Of course, we might think. Of course we'd help someone with whom we have a personal connection.
For Banaji, however, it was the start of a psychological exploration into the nature and consequences of favoritism ? why we give some people the kind of extra-special treatment we don't give others.
In a new book, Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, Banaji and her co-author, Anthony Greenwald, a social psychologist at the University of Washington, turn the conventional way people think about prejudice on its head. Traditionally, Banaji says, psychologists in her field have looked for overt "acts of commission ? what do I do? Do I go across town to burn down the church of somebody who's not from my denomination? That, I can recognize as prejudice."
Yet, far from springing from animosity and hatred, Banaji and Greenwald argue, prejudice may often stem from unintentional biases.
Take Banaji's own behavior toward the reporter with a Yale connection. She would not have changed her mind for another reporter without the personal connection. In that sense, her decision was a form of prejudice, even though it didn't feel that way.
Mahzarin Banaji is a Harvard professor specializing in social psychology.
Harvard University News Office/Delacorte Press
Mahzarin Banaji is a Harvard professor specializing in social psychology.
Harvard University News Office/Delacorte Press
Now, most people might argue such favoritism is harmless, but Banaji and Greenwald think it might actually explain a lot about the modern United States, where vanishingly few people say they hold explicit prejudice toward others but wide disparities remain along class, race and gender lines.
Anthony Greenwald is a social psychologist and a professor at the University of Washington.
Jean Alexander Greenwald/Delacorte Press
The two psychologists have revolutionized the scientific study of prejudice in recent decades, and their Implicit Association Test ? which measures the speed of people's hidden associations ? has been applied to the practice of medicine, law and other fields. Few would doubt its impact, including critics. (I've written about Banaji and Greenwald's work before, in this article and in my 2010 book, The Hidden Brain.)
"I think that kind of act of helping towards people with whom we have some shared group identity is really the modern way in which discrimination likely happens," Banaji says.
In many ways, the psychologists' work mirrors the conclusion of another recent book: In The American Non-Dilemma: Racial Inequality without Racism, sociologist Nancy DiTomaso asks how it is that few people report feeling racial prejudice, while the United States still has enormous disparities. Discrimination today is less about treating people from other groups badly, DiTomaso writes, and more about giving preferential treatment to people who are part of our "in-groups."
The insidious thing about favoritism is that it doesn't feel icky in any way, Banaji says. We feel like a great friend when we give a buddy a foot in the door to a job interview at our workplace. We feel like good parents when we arrange a class trip for our daughter's class to our place of work. We feel like generous people when we give our neighbors extra tickets to a sports game or a show.
In each case, however, Banaji, Greenwald and DiTomaso might argue, we strengthen existing patterns of advantage and disadvantage because our friends, neighbors and children's classmates are overwhelmingly likely to share our own racial, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds. When we help someone from one of these in-groups, we don't stop to ask: Whom are we not helping?
Banaji tells a story in the book about a friend, Carla Kaplan, now a professor at Northeastern University. At the time, both Banaji and Kaplan were faculty members at Yale. Banaji says that Kaplan had a passion ? quilting.
"You would often see her, sitting in the back of a lecture, quilting away, while she listened to a talk," Banaji says.
In the book, Banaji writes that Kaplan once had a terrible kitchen accident.
"She was washing a big crystal bowl in her kitchen," Banaji says. "It slipped and it cut her hand quite severely."
The gash went from Kaplan's palm to her wrist. She raced over to Yale-New Haven Hospital. Pretty much the first thing she told the ER doctor was that she was a quilter. She was worried about her hand. The doctor reassured her and started to stitch her up. He was doing a perfectly competent job, she says.
But at this moment someone spotted Kaplan. It was a student, who was a volunteer at the hospital.
"The student saw her, recognized her, and said, 'Professor Kaplan, what are you doing here?' " Banaji says.
The ER doctor froze. He looked at Kaplan. He asked the bleeding young woman if she was a Yale faculty member. Kaplan told him she was.
Everything changed in an instant. The hospital tracked down the best-known hand specialist in New England. They brought in a whole team of doctors. They operated for hours and tried to save practically every last nerve.
Banaji says she and Kaplan asked themselves later why the doctor had not called in the specialist right away. "Somehow," Banaji says, "it must be that the doctor was not moved, did not feel compelled by the quilter story in the same way as he was compelled by a two-word phrase, 'Yale professor.' "
Kaplan told Banaji that she was able to go back to quilting, but that she still occasionally feels a twinge in the hand. And it made her wonder what might have happened if she hadn't received the best treatment.
Greenwald and Banaji are not suggesting that people stop helping their friends, relatives and neighbors. Rather, they suggest that we direct some effort to people we may not naturally think to help.
After reading the story about Kaplan, for example, one relative of Greenwald's decided to do something about it. Every year, she used to donate a certain amount of money to her alma mater. After reading Kaplan's story, Banaji says, the woman decided to keep giving money to her alma mater, but to split the donation in half. She now gives half to her alma mater and half to the United Negro College Fund.
When you need to travel with a clean shirt or suit – whether it be by bike, walking or airplane – the big problem is keeping your clothes neat and pressed. ?Whether I’ve folded them into a carry bag or put them into a traditional suit bag, my first job when I get to my [...]
Apr. 23, 2013 ? Researchers from the University of T?bingen have been able to show for the first time how microorganisms contributed to the formation of the world's biggest iron ore deposits. The biggest known deposits -- in South Africa and Australia -- are geological formations billions of years old. They are mainly composed of iron oxides -- minerals we know from the rusting process. These iron ores not only make up most of the world demand for iron -- the formations also help us to better understand the evolution of the atmosphere and climate, and provide important information on the activity of microorganisms in the early history of life on Earth.
The extent to which microbes in the Earth's ancient oceans contributed to the formation of iron deposits was previously unknown. Now an international team of researchers from the US, Canada and Germany has published new findings in the journal Nature Communications. Led by University of T?bingen geomicrobiologist Professor Andreas Kappler of the Center for Applied Geoscience, they found evidence of which microbes contributed to the formation of the iron ores, and were able to show how different metabolic processes can be distinguished in the rock formations today.
The iron in the Earth's ancient oceans was spat out of hot springs on the seafloor as dissolved, reduced ferrous [Fe(II)] iron. But most of today's iron ore is oxidized, ferric [Fe(III)] iron in the form of "rust minerals" -- indicating that the Fe(II) was oxidized as it was deposited. The classic model for the formation of iron deposits suggested that the Fe(II) from the Earth's core was oxidized by the oxygen produced by cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). This process can happen either chemically (as in the formation of rust) or by the action of microaerophilic iron-oxidizing bacteria.
But scientists are still debating at what point the Earth's atmosphere contained enough oxygen (produced by cyanobacteria) to allow the formation of big iron deposits. The oldest known iron ores were deposited in the Precambrian period and are up to four billion years old (the Earth itself is estimated to be about 4.6 billion years old). At this very early stage in geological history, there was little or no oxygen in the atmosphere. So the very oldest banded iron formations cannot be the result of O2-dependent oxidation.
In 1993, bacteria were discovered which do not need oxygen but can oxidize Fe(II) by using energy from light (anoxygenic phototrophic iron-oxidizing bacteria). Studies by Professor Kappler's team in 2005 and 2010 showed that these bacteria transform dissolved ferric iron into iron oxide (rust) -- like the material in the early iron ores. Now, the geomicrobiologists from T?bingen have been able to demonstrate that, by examining the identity and structural properties of the iron minerals, it is possible to tell that the minerals were deposited by iron-oxidizing microbes and not by oxygen made available by the action of cyanobacteria. To do this, the researchers placed different amounts of organic material together with iron minerals into gold capsules and increased the pressure and temperature to simulate the transformation of the minerals over geological time. They ended up with structures of iron carbonate minerals (siderite, FeCO3), just as they occur in geological iron formations. In particular, they were able to distinguish iron carbonate structures which had been formed in the presence of a rather small amount of organic compounds (microbial biomass) from those formed in the presence of a larger amount.
This research not only provides the first clear evidence that microorganisms were directly involved in the deposition of Earth's oldest iron formations; it also indicates that large populations of oxygen-producing cyanobacteria were at work in the shallow areas of the ancient oceans, while deeper water still reached by the light (the photic zone) tended to be populated by anoxyenic or micro-aerophilic iron-oxidizing bacteria which formed the iron deposits.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Universitaet T?bingen.
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Journal Reference:
Inga K?hler, Kurt O Konhauser, Dominic Papineau, Andrey Bekker, Andreas Kappler. Biological carbon precursor to diagenetic siderite with spherical structures in iron formations. Nature Communications, 2013; 4: 1741 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2770
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks edged lower on Monday, as earnings from Caterpillar, Halliburton and other major companies pointed to more volatile trading ahead.
General Electric, down 2.1 percent to $21.29 and McDonald's Corp , off 1.2 percent to $98.66, extended losses from Friday after posting lackluster earnings. Both stocks were declining for the fourth straight day.
Wall Street is coming off a week of extreme volatility, with the CBOE Volatility index <.vix> jumping 24 percent, the biggest weekly gain for the so-called fear index this year. The index was up 2.5 percent on Monday.
The swings were largely driven by weak corporate earnings and signs of slowing growth from China, which led to a steep drop in commodity prices. The week's decline fueled talk that the market's long anticipated pullback had arrived, though the S&P remains up nearly 9 percent on the year.
Caterpillar reported disappointing quarterly results and cut its 2013 profit forecast. Its stock advanced 0.6 percent to $80.92 after bullish comments from Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Doug Oberhelman.
Halliburton , the oil field services company, rose 2.6 percent to $38.19 after the company posted quarterly results and said it is in talks to settle private claims against it in a trial.
"This is all going to be very much a direction driven by earnings," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital in Jersey City, New Jersey.
"The majors are only off 3 to 4 percent from the high but we have done that fairly efficiently and if earnings are any indication, there is going to be more choppy action ahead."
Earnings also due on Monday included Texas Instruments and Netflix Inc after the market's close. For the week, 168 companies in the S&P 500 <.spx> are scheduled to report earnings.
With 104 S&P 500 components having reported through Friday, 67.3 percent of companies have topped profit expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data. Analysts expect earnings growth of 2.1 percent this quarter, up from expectations of 1.5 percent at the start of the month.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> dropped 48.66 points, or 0.33 percent, to 14,498.85. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> shed 3.90 points, or 0.25 percent, to 1,551.35. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> lost 3.48 points, or 0.11 percent, to 3,202.58.
Investors will be looking to the S&P 500's 50-day moving average of 1,544.74, which could serve as a level of market support. The index closed under that level for the first time this year on Thursday but rebounded above it on Friday.
The National Association of Realtors said existing-home sales edged down 0.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.92 million units. Economists polled by Reuters had expected home resales to rise to a 5.01 million-unit rate.
Power-One Inc soared 56.4 percent to $6.32 in after ABB agreed to buy the company for about $1 billion.
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
LONDON (Reuters) - Britons' finances deteriorated in April at a faster pace than in March as incomes fell and living costs rose, and households expected the squeeze to continue, reducing their ability to spend and support the economy.
Survey compiler Markit said on Monday that its headline Household Finance Index fell to 37.7 from 39.3 in March, sinking further below the 50 level that would mark no change compared with a month ago. That is the first drop in the index since December.
The index is not adjusted for seasonal influences due to a limited history of data.
Thirty-two percent of households said their finances worsened this month, while only 8 percent reported an improvement.
On future prospects, almost 42 percent expected to be worse off in 12 months' time versus the 27 percent who thought they would have more money to spend.
"April's survey highlights a deepening downturn in financial well-being, driven by renewed pressures on household income and another strong rise in living costs," said Tim Moore, the author of the report, saying this was likely to undermine consumer spending in coming months.
The threat from high inflation was particularly striking: the index measuring inflation expectations for the year ahead rose to its highest level since the survey was first compiled more than four years ago, reaching 94.6.
Consumer spending, which generates about two thirds of Britain's gross domestic product, is vital to the economy's chances of meaningful growth after more than a year of stagnation.
The survey of 1,500 people was conducted between April 10 and April 15.
(Reporting by Olesya Dmitracova; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
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Public release date: 25-Apr-2013
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