GDP of fourth quarter surges

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:31:24 PST

A couple of the major IT companies in the world will be forming fifteen jobs under the study in Northern Ireland worth multi-million pounds. Around £1.7m worth of money has been put in by Invest NI into the virgin physical joint collaboration of SAP UK with Intel Corporation.

Top News

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:30:28 PST

Kindle books reach milestone

indle books reach milestone

Submitted by Mahendra Bahal on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 08:29

The book industry had anticipated reaching a milestone soon, but not many had expected it to happen so early. Just three years following the launching of the Kindle electronic reading device by Amazon, the largest online book industry spilled out that it was at present making sales of more Kindle books than paper books.

Sue de Beer

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:29:35 PST

But given the nature of her work and especially her most recent creation — a lush, frankly mystical video piece called “The Ghosts” that will have its debut Thursday in an unlikely place, one of the stately period rooms at the Park Avenue Armory — it is tempting to imagine the Holy Ghost himself at work up there in an old warehouse on the Red Hook flatlands, not far from a dingy bus depot, an Ikea and a discount store called 99 Cent Dreams.

The Dutchman Flies Right Off the Wall

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:28:26 PST

The audience in a park at the New World Center in Miami Beach, where the New World Symphony presented its first Wallcast concert through 167 speakers projected onto a 7,000-square-foot wall.

The New World Symphony presented its first Wallcast concert at the New World Center in Miami Beach.

Shannon Tavarez, Nala in ‘Lion King’, Dies at 11

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:27:27 PST

In August she had an umbilical-cord blood transplant, a procedure in which stem cells harvested from a donated umbilical cord are injected into the patient to encourage the formation of a new, healthy blood system.
“It has a good survival rate and it’s the next best thing” to a marrow transplant, said Katharina Harf, a co-founder and executive vice president of DKMS Americas, a bone marrow donor center.
Minorities are vastly underrepresented in the bone marrow donor registry, which makes suitable donors for minority patients difficult to locate. In addition, blacks and Hispanics have many more different tissue types than whites, Ms. Harf said, which makes the process of matching donor to patient more complex, especially for patients of mixed race or ethnicity. Shannon’s father is Hispanic and her mother, Odiney Brown, is black.
Shannon Skye Tavarez was born on Jan. 20, 1999. In “The Lion King” she played young Nala, a lion cub who was the best friend of Simba, the show’s lead character. She was chosen for the part after auditioning along with hundreds of other children at the Apollo Theater in Harlem in December 2008 and made her debut in September 2009.
“She was fearless, as a performer and as a young woman,” Ron Vodicka, the production stage manager for “The Lion King,” said in an interview on Tuesday. “She was never intimidated and she was constantly happy. After she was diagnosed, all she talked about was when she could come back.”

CNN

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:26:16 PST

Combined snow totals from the Monday afternoon through Wednesday may exceed a foot and a half across much of northern Illinois and far northwest Indiana," the National Weather Service said. "Snowfall rates up to 3 inches per hour will be probable at the height of the storm Tuesday night."
Some of the coldest air of the season will plummet southward and combine with another storm developing over the southern Plains, according to CNN meteorologist Sean Morris, before moving toward the northeast.
An intense surface low will develop over north Texas and pull abundant warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico into the frigid Arctic air diving southward into the Plains. In addition to blizzard conditions, the storm system is expected to spin off heavy snow, ice storms and tornadoes.
This storm appears to be one for the record books.
It could be one of the top 10 biggest snowstorms ever in the Windy City. The biggest snow storm in Chicago's history occurred from January 26-27, 1967 when 23 inches of snow fell on the city.
According to the National Weather Service, snowstorms that drop over 15 inches of snow occur once in about every 19 years. The last time this happened was in January of 1999 when 21.6 inches of snow was recorded in Chicago.
The storm will likely extend from Oklahoma City to Caribou, Maine, by late week, said CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen.
The National Weather Service said the "dangerous storm" will begin to affect Missouri and Illinois, which were under storm warnings, as early as Monday.
Snowfall, primarily on Tuesday, could be over 12 inches in parts of both states, the agency said.
CNN St. Louis affiliate KSDK indicated the storm could be "historic," saying it could rival a 1982 system that left 13.9 inches of snow in St. Louis and some areas with more than 2 feet.
Very heavy snow will fall from Oklahoma northeastward through Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. Snow accumulations there will be measured in feet, not in inches.

Blizzard or near-blizzard conditions are expected as far south as Oklahoma City on Tuesday. The National Weather Service forecast office in Norman, Oklahoma, warns that a "potentially dangerous winter situation" is developing with travel becoming extremely dangerous or impossible across the state by Tuesday morning.
Accumulations of 16 to 24 inches are possible in a narrow band from Illinois into Ohio, and perhaps through St. Louis, Chicago and Detroit, Hennen said, adding it was not yet possible to pinpoint the exact location.
The peak of the storm in the Midwest should be from Tuesday into Wednesday morning, Hennen said. Snow will affect Oklahoma City; Kansas City, Missouri; St. Louis; Chicago; and into Detroit. Other cities likely to be affected during the week include Milwaukee, Cleveland, Boston and the New York cities of Buffalo, Syracuse and Albany.

the web

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:24:59 PST

Early on in the televised ceremony, the SAG award for best female supporting actor in a film went to Melissa Leo for "The Fighter." Leo also won the Golden Globe and is nominated for an Oscar.
"I'm much better when I have my words written for me," Leo said, as she tried to hold back tears. When she was finally able to control her emotions, she said, "This has been an extraordinary season for me."
The Oscar nominations announced last Tuesday closely track the comparable SAG actor categories, which also proved predictive in last year's competition.
The 15 SAG categories -- the only industry honors that solely recognize performers -- include both television and film actors. The two-hour show in Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles aired on TNT and TBS. Both TNT and TBS are units of Time Warner, the parent company of CNN.

the latest breaking news

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:24:25 PST

Los Angeles (CNN) -- "The King's Speech" actor Geoffrey Rush joked that the SAG awards should be called the "Uplift" awards because of the boost it gave his movie just four weeks before the Academy Awards.
The awards season rivalry between "The King's Speech" and "The Social Network" took a sharp turn Sunday night toward the film about a stuttering British monarch and away from the story of Facebook's founder.
"The Social Network" cast left the 17th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards empty-handed, while Colin Firth won the best actor trophy for his portrayal of Britain's King George VI in "The King's Speech."
"The King's Speech" cast was also chosen as the best movie ensemble, positioning it as the front-runner for the best picture Oscar.

SBI chairman to go ahead with teaser loans

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:23:11 PST

as the State Bank of India Chairman Om Prakash Bhatt prepares to step down in March after a five-year term, has expressed his support of the 8 percent teaser loan scheme. The scheme is said to come with no risk for the bank and its customers despite the RBI seeking higher provisioning from such loans.
However in Bhatt’s opinion the scheme is entirely transparent and finds it logical as opposed to the RBI’s concerns that it would reap adverse effects on the bank’s bottom line and share prices.

new york times

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 02:41:02 PST

Washington and Mr. Mubarak

President Hosni Mubarak doesn’t get it. The people of Egypt are right to demand more from their government.

nd do we really need a new Sarah Palin? Shouldn’t the first one be made to go away before we start considering replacements?

Bachmann, the superconservative member of Congress from Minnesota, made a big splash on Tuesday night with her Tea Party response to the State of the Union address. True, the placement of the cameras made her look as if she was talking to an invisible friend, and her eye makeup had a peculiar zombie aspect to it. But the next day all the attention was on her and not the official Republican response by Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman.

Demonstrators Gather in Central Cairo

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 02:38:42 PST

Shots were heard near Cairo’s Tahrir Square, and there seemed no early end in sight to civil conflict between Egyptians and the authorities. The government also was expected to submit its resignation.

Cables show close US ties with Mubarik

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 02:18:03 PST

WASHINGTON: Secret US embassy cables sent from Cairo in the past two years reveal that the Obama administration wanted to maintain a close political and military relationship with the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, who is now facing a popular uprising.

A frank briefing note in May 2009 ahead of Mubarak's trip to Washington, leaked by WikiLeaks, reported that the Egyptian president had a dismal opinion of Obama's predecessor, George Bush.

"The Egyptians want the visit to demonstrate that Egypt remains America's 'indispensable Arab ally', and that bilateral tensions have abated. President Mubarak is the proud leader of a proud nation ... Mubarak is 81 years old and in reasonably good health; his most notable problem is a hearing deficit in his left ear. He responds well to respect for Egypt and for his position, but is not swayed by personal flattery," the cable said.

"Mubarak peppers his observations with anecdotes that demonstrate both his long experience and his sense of humor ... During his 28-year tenure, he survived at least three assassination attempts, maintained peace with Israel, weathered two wars in Iraq and post-2003 regional instability, intermittent economic downturns, and a manageable but chronic internal terrorist threat.

"He is a tried and true realist, innately cautious and conservative, and has little time for idealistic goals. Mubarak viewed President Bush as naive, controlled by subordinates, and totally unprepared for dealing with post-Saddam Iraq, especially the rise of Iran's regional influence."

It predicted that if Mubarak were still alive for Egypt's next presidential election in 2011, "it is likely he will run again and, inevitably, win". The most likely contender to succeed him was his son Gamal, the cable suggested.

Another cable, dated 23 February 2009, described a meeting between Gamal and the maverick US senator Joe Lieberman. Lieberman is said to have listened as the president's son expounded on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Iran's growing regional influence and how Saddam Hussein – for all his flaws – was a bulwark against Iranian ambitions.

Another cable, from March 2009, shows the US's astonishingly intimate military relationship with Egypt. Washington provides Cairo $1.3bn annually in foreign military finance (FMF) to purchase US weapons and defence equipment, and the cable said. "President Mubarak and military leaders view our military assistance programme as the cornerstone of our mil-mil relationship and consider the $1.3bn in annual FMF as 'untouchable compensation' for making and maintaining peace with Israel.

"The tangible benefits to our mil-mil relationship are clear: Egypt remains at peace with Israel, and the US military enjoys priority access to the Suez canal and Egyptian airspace."

geo news

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 02:16:47 PST

Huge blast hits Quetta, injures several

QUETTA: A huge bomb explosion struck Alamdar Road in Quetta, injuring seven people including three children on Saturday, Geo News reported.According to the initial report, the bomb was planted in a car, stood on busy Alamdar Road injuring various people.Police officials and rescue teams reached the site soon after the incident. Injured have been taken to Civil Hospital Quetta.

Pakistan vs New Zealand 3rd ODI Highlights Christchurch 2011

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 02:14:02 PST

for high lights go to home page
http://topnews2010.blogspot.com/

live cricket score

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 02:12:37 PST

Hafeez, Afridi star in series-levelling win
A solid maiden ODI century from Mohammad Hafeez, a monstrous assault in the death overs led by Shahid Afridi and a spirited performance in the field were features of a roaring comeback by Pakistan in the ODI series, which they leveled 1-1 with a 43-run win at the AMI Stadium in Christchurch. Hafeez counter-attacked after Pakistan had been dented in their start and dropped anchor in the middle overs to set up a launching pad for Afridi and Umar Akmal to smash 126 runs in the last ten overs. Faced with a stiff chase, New Zealand fought hard but timely breakthroughs meant they were always struggling to measure up to the asking rate, eventually leading to their downfall.

The greenish appearance of the track proved deceptive as the movement off the seam that Ross Taylor had banked on when opting to field proved negligible. At the same time, conditions weren't too easy for the batsmen early on either as the pitch played slow and low and the ball didn't come on. Hafeez, who has often squandered starts since his promotion to the top of the order, lost two partners, Ahmed Shehzad and Kamran Akmal, to deliveries that appeared to stop on the batsmen. But New Zealand's seamers lacked discipline and failed to apply pressure consistently, which allowed Hafeez to wrest the initiative.

The short square boundaries at the AMI Stadium were inevitably favoured as the bowlers didn't help their cause by consistently pitching short. Not long after he had nipped out two wickets, Tim Southee was pulled for consecutive boundaries by Hafeez; Hamish Bennett, struggling to bowl into the wind and dropping significantly in pace, was welcomed with a swipe to fine leg and six over long-on while Jacob Oram, in the very over he dismissed Younis Khan, was dispatched over midwicket.

New Zealand had a few chances to limit the damage. Hafeez was dropped on 49 by Brendon McCullum, diving full length to his right and failing to hold on to a difficult catch; Misbah-ul-Haq, who added 94 with Hafeez, was given a reprieve through a missed stumping by McCullum, and Bennett dropped a relatively simple catch off Afridi that, otherwise, could have checked the one-way traffic towards the end of the innings.

Even as Pakistan tried to rebuild their innings, Hafeez was at ease, displaying an excellent ability to adapt, rotating the strike with Misbah and threading the gaps with adept footwork and timing. He stepped out to smash debutant Luke Woodcock for a straight boundary, lofted Oram over the in-field and, after securing his century and taking the batting Powerplay, scooped and slogged Southee for successive fours before signing off by heaving Kyle Mills for a six.

By the time he fell, Umar had warmed up with a couple of meaty hits and Afridi only had to join in. He targeted Oram, who was struggling with his lengths, in the 46th over, hammering him for two sixes on the leg side and a boundary through cover. The seamers either bowled too full or dragged the ball too short and Afridi, paddling, swatting and slapping, collected sixes over fine leg, cover point and long-on on his way to equalling the fastest half-century - off 19 balls - by a batsman in New Zealand, a record also held by McCullum.

New Zealand began brightly in their reply with Martin Guptill and Jamie How capitalising on the short boundaries to add 44 in quick time. But Pakistan's seamers, unlike the New Zealand bowlers, relied more on variations in pace with Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz and Umar Gul ensuring the pressure of a big chase never diminished. How holed out to deep midwicket, failing to pick the slower ball; Ross Taylor, after a watchful start, stabbed at a good-length delivery to be caught at slip by Younis and Guptill, after four boundary-less overs in the second Powerplay, punched Riaz to point where Shehzad clung on to a low chance.

The hosts were in the hunt when Scott Styris and Kane Williamsom preserved their wickets, picked out the gaps to ensure a steady flow of ones and twos and accumulated 81 runs for the fourth wicket to stage a recovery. But while the seamers had picked up the wickets and restrained the batsmen, the slow bowlers, too, proved difficult to step up against, adding to the pressure on New Zealand. Afridi and Hafeez got through their overs quickly and gave little away. Hafeez eventually broke the stand as Styris failed to clear deep midwicket and when Williamson and McCullum departed within three runs of each other - bowled by Riaz and run out by Umar respectively - the game was all but sealed.

Pakistan's approach to their innings was reminiscent of the strategy they had adopted in the 1999 World Cup, progressing slowly with wickets in hand in the middle overs to set the stage for a violent surge in the last ten. Not a bad thing to prepare for the 2011 edition in much the same way.

TopNews | Only Top Stories of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 02:07:46 PST

Charlie Sheen Puts 'Two And A Half Men' On An Indefinite Halt
For Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra, the week started with a sudden raid at her residence and office by the Income Tax officials. Since then, a news was doing the rounds that the officials have recovered a huge amount unaccounted assets of Rs 6 crore during that raid.

Watch television TV channels online from home

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 03:37:55 PST

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4000 Online TV channels from your computer.
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Watch television shows online from home. All you need is
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internet TV is simply being able to watch a webcast in real time from anywhere around the world.
Many of us discovered online IP TV during this past election campaign when we were, as a nation, practically
glued to some form of media in order to keep updated on the progress of the election. Some of us were acquainted to live Internet
TV because we found it was an perfect way not only to keep updated with the news, but also weather, and sport events.

Today, many companies are also using live Ip television and webcams or webcasts to conduct business with workers
in different parts of state and even workers in different parts of the world. Whether you use it for personal reasons or company
reason, live television had become an indispensable resource.

Live television news is used primarily for major stories and local events. The foreign bureaus have been
cut back for some time now, and the major news networks are relying mostly on 'stringers' for their foreign coverage.
Internet TV news is not a revenue making product for television and is not expected to
improve any time soon. Cash trumps news, especially in todays competitive and down market due to the economy.

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EU bans bisphenol A chemical from babies' bottles

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:45:54 PST

The European Commission has announced a ban on the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in plastic baby bottles from next year.The commission cited fears that the compound could affect development and immune response in young children.There has been concern over the use of BPA for some time, with six US manufacturers removing it in 2009 from bottles they sold in the US, although not other markets.But a UK expert said he thought the move was "an over-reaction".BPA is widely used in making hard, clear plastic and is commonly found in food and drink containers.A European Commission spokesman said the proposal had been approved after being presented to a committee of national government experts on Thursday - months earlier than scheduled - and approved.The European parliament had called for the ban in June.

Areas of uncertainty

John Dalli, Commissioner in charge of Health and Consumer Policy, said the ban was good news for European parents."There were areas of uncertainty, deriving from new studies, which showed that BPA might have an effect on development, immune response and tumour promotion," Mr Dalli said in a statement.

EU states will outlaw the manufacture of polycarbonate feeding bottles containing the compound from March 2011, and ban their import and sale from June 2011, the Commission said.But Professor Richard Sharpe, of the Medical Research Council's Human Reproductive Sciences Unit at the University of Edinburgh, said the commission's decision must have been made on political, rather than scientific, grounds."I do not know of any convincing evidence that bisphenol A exposure, in the amounts used in polycarbonate bottles, can cause any harm to babies as not only are the amounts so minuscule but they are rapidly broken down in the gut and liver.

"Babies have the necessary enzymes and are able to metabolise bisphenol A just as effectively as adults."

He added: "Personally I think this is an overreaction, but if satisfactory replacements chemicals are available then this can be done to placate those calling for action, but scientifically it's a retrograde step."I would be happy for a baby of mine to be fed from a polycarbonate bottle containing bisphenol A."

And Professor Warren Foster of the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at Canada's McMaster University, said the EU had acted with "extreme caution".

Mimicking

The National Childbirth Trust is a British charity which has campaigned for the ban.Its chief executive Belinda Phipps told the BBC: "When you put liquids into a bottle - particularly hot liquids or liquids containing fatty liquids - it leaches out of the plastic. And particularly as the bottle gets older and it gets more scratched, more and more leaches out and into the liquid."Ms Phipps said that when a baby drinks from a bottle which contains BPA, the baby absorbs the leached chemical into its fat."It's a chemical that mimics oestrogens, but not in a good way," she said. "It interferes with oestrogens getting into the receptors, and it can have some very unpleasant effects - and animal studies have shown significant effects."Canada was the first country to declare bisphenol A toxic in October, after it was concluded that the chemical might have harmful effects on humans, as well as the environment and "its biological diversity".The Canadian decision was strongly opposed by the chemical industry.

Passive smoking 'kills 600,000' worldwide

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:37:24 PST

The first global study into the effects of passive smoking has found it causes 600,000 deaths every year.One-third of those killed are children, often exposed to smoke at home, the World Health Organization (WHO) found.The study, in 192 countries, found that passive smoking is particularly dangerous for children, said to be at higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome, pneumonia and asthma.Passive smoking causes heart disease, respiratory illness and lung cancer."This helps us understand the real toll of tobacco," said Armando Peruga, of the WHO's Tobacco-Free Initiative, who led the study.

'Deadly combination'

The study used estimates of the incidence of specific diseases and of the number of people exposed to second-hand smoke in particular areas.The global health body said it was particularly concerned about the estimated 165,000 children who die of smoke-related respiratory infections, mostly in South East Asia and in Africa.

It said that this group was more exposed to passive smoking than any other group, principally in their own homes."The mix of infectious diseases and second-hand smoke is a deadly combination," Mr Peruga said.

As well as being at increased risk of a series of respiratory conditions, the lungs of children who breathe in passive smoke may also develop more slowly than children who grow up in smoke-free homes.Worldwide, as many as 40% of children, 33% of non-smoking men and 35% non-smoking women were exposed to second-hand smoke in 2004, researchers found.This exposure was estimated to have caused 379,000 deaths from heart disease, 165,000 from lower respiratory infections, 36,900 from asthma and 21,400 from lung cancer.According to the study, the highest numbers of people exposed to second-hand smoke are in Europe and Asia and the lowest rates of exposure were in the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean and Africa.

The research also revealed that passive smoking had a large impact on women, killing about 281,000 worldwide. This is due to the fact that in many parts of the world, the study suggests, women are at least 50% more likely to be exposed to second-hand smoke than men.However, the researchers said were limitations to the study, including uncertainties about the underlying health data and gaps in the data relating to exposure to second-hand smoke.Writing in the Lancet, Dr Heather Wipfli of the University of Southern California and colleagues, said: "There are well acknowledged uncertainties in estimates of disease burden.

"However, there can be no question that the 1.2bn smokers in the world are exposing billions of non-smokers to second-hand smoke, a disease-causing indoor air pollutant."

Weather check 'could predict' A&E injury rates

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:28:41 PST

Taking the temperature outside A&E could give staff an accurate way to predict number of injuries and who will suffer them.Experts know that extreme weather can affect A&E patient numbers.Warwick University researchers found that even 5C falls or rises could make a difference to injury rates.Rates for children were up to 70% higher in summer compared with winter, the Emergency Medicine Journal reported.Many trusts plan ahead for winter, when the arrival of frost, snow and ice, as well as flu and pneumonia, is traditionally linked to busier shifts.The study of 60,000 patients found that each 5C drop in minimum temperature during the day meant a three per cent rise in serious accidents to adults.Heat of summerThe arrival of snow and ice led to an eight per cent rise, as the number of slips, trips and car accidents rose.However, the study found other increases linked to the heat of the summer, often viewed as a slightly calmer period in emergency departments.

Even among adults, every five degree centigrade rise in maximum temperature during the day, and additional two hours of sunshine, meant a 2% rise in the rate of serious injury.This effect was particularly noticeable in children, who are more likely to get injured while playing outside during the warmer months.For them, a 5C rise meant a 10% increase in injury cases, and two hours of extra sunshine boosted cases by six per cent.While these connections were made by comparing records of hospital admissions with historical weather data, the researchers are convinced that the principle could be used to help emergency teams plan ahead for days when their workload is likely to be higher.They wrote: "This model could clearly be used to provide predictions of daily admissions, with clear implications for the scheduling of staff and other resources at UK trauma-receiving hospitals.

"The challenge for the future is to improve forecast accuracy further in order to provide sufficient time for the detailed planning and allocation of resources that would be necessary to implement these models."

Professor John Heyworth, president of the College of Emergency Medicine, agreed that the detailed study could help clinical teams know what to expect on any particular day, although he questioned whether the current accuracy of medium-term weather forecasts was good enough to justify staffing changes.

He said: "We've always known that there is increased activity in emergency departments during winter, but in recent years, we've noticed that this doesn't really diminish during the summer months - we remain busy all year round."If you have your emergency department set up to deal with this expected load, then you can deal with extra cases due to weather conditions.

Gene therapy 'memory boost hope'

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:22:25 PST

A gene therapy technique which aims to ease memory problems linked to Alzheimer's Disease has been successfully tested in mice.US scientists used it to increase levels of a chemical which helps brain cells signal to each other.This signalling is hindered in Alzheimer's Disease, the journal Nature reported.

The Alzheimer's Research Trust said the study suggested a way to keep nerve cells in the brain communicating,Ageing populations in many countries around the world mean that Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia are set to increase.Researchers at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease in San Francisco believe that boosting the brain chemical, a neurotransmitter called EphB2, could help reduce or even prevent some of the worst effects of the condition.Their research suggests that the chemical plays an important role in memory, and is depleted in Alzheimer's patients.One of the most noticeable features about the brains of Alzheimer's patients is the build-up of "plaques" of a toxic protein called amyloid. Over time this leads to the death of brain cells.

'Thrilled'

However, another characteristic of amyloid is its apparent ability to bind directly to EphB2, reducing the amount available to brain cells, which could in part explain the memory symptoms involved.To test this idea, they used gene therapy experiments to artificially reduce and increase the amount of available EphB2 in the brains of mice.When levels of the chemical were reduced, healthy mice developed memory symptoms similar to those seen in mice bred to have a condition similar to Alzheimer's.

Conversely, when the "Alzheimer's" mice were given gene therapy which boosted levels of EphB2, their memory symptoms disappeared.Dr Lennart Mucke, who led the study, said that his team had been "thrilled" to find this."We think that blocking amyloid proteins from binding to EphB2, and enhancing EphB2 levels or functions with drugs might be of benefit in Alzheimer's Disease."However UK researchers said that the find, while interesting, did not offer a swift answer to Alzheimer's patients.Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said: "Our brains are hugely complex and understanding how they work and become damaged by diseases like Alzheimer's is a massive task."This research adds a piece to the Alzheimer's puzzle and provides new leads for researchers."It suggests a way to keep nerve cells in the brain communicating, which is vital for thinking and memory."But she added: "We don't know yet if these findings will lead to a new treatment for Alzheimer's - that's some way off."

Too many lessons 'dull and uninspiring', Ofsted says

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:15:11 PST

Pupils at school in England are facing too many "dull and uninspiring lessons", say Ofsted inspectors.The quality of teaching is too "variable", says the education watchdog as it publishes its annual report."The weakest area and the area I'm most concerned about is teaching," says chief inspector Christine Gilbert.The National Union of Teachers said teachers did an "amazing job" and inadequate teaching was the exception rather than the rule.In schools, Ofsted found that teaching in 50% of secondary schools inspected in the past year and 43% of primary schools was no better than satisfactory."Too much teaching is still not good enough and does not deliver what we now expect of it," said Ms Gilbert."It is true that we expect more from schools and colleges today and more from our teachers. But we also know a lot more about how to deliver good, inspiring lessons that motivate and engage children, young people and adult learners."It's vital that teachers are supported to provide them as a matter of course."She said that too many schools, even those rated good, "tolerate pockets of poor teaching".

The report also noted that teaching was often weak in schools where behaviour was poor.'Sensationalist spin'It comes a day before the government is due to publish a White Paper on schools reform, including a shake-up of teacher training.The Ofsted report called for more work to disseminate best practice on teaching within and between schools.Education Secretary Michael Gove said the report was "a ringing endorsement" of government plans to allow senior staff to observe more lessons"Too much teacher training involves... teachers being told how to comply with government criteria... teachers need to learn from other teachers," said Mr Gove.However, Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said government targets contributed to dull lessons."When you look beyond the sensationalist spin on the quality of teaching on our schools, 'inadequate teaching' is the exception rather than the rule," she said.

"If there is anything that is 'dull and uninspiring' in our schools it is a curriculum that is narrowed by the series of hoops that schools have to jump through in order to satisfy arbitrary targets which can change with alarming regularity," she said.Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said judgements about the quality of teaching and learning were still too often based on "snap-shot impressions of excerpts of lessons".

Tougher inspections

Overall across England, including schools inspected in previous years, Ofsted said 68% of schools were now rated either good or outstanding.This year, Ofsted has toughened its inspections and has targeted them more on schools rated inadequate and adequate than in previous years.This means this year's figures are not directly comparable to previous years.Schools previously rated good or outstanding were given limited checks, rather than full inspections.When these schools were included, Ofsted said that the overall profile of schools' quality remained similar to last year - with 18% classed as outstanding, 47% as good, 29% satisfactory and 6% inadequate.However, the number of schools in special measures has risen from 193 to 300, while the number given "notice to improve" has risen from 167 to 276.

Mr Gove said this was "simply unacceptable", even given the new inspection regime.

However, Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said: "Once again Ofsted seems to enjoy denigrating the standard of schools in England regardless of the reality and its own findings... we should be celebrating that so many schools are doing so well."The report also points out that schools in poorer areas still lag behind those in wealthier ones, with 71% of schools serving the most advantaged pupils classed as good or outstanding, compared to 46% serving the least advantaged.

Grapefruit and Weight Loss

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 20:20:23 PDT

Grapefruit is believed to be native to Jamaica. It is sometimes confused with the pomelo (Citrus maxima), which is a close relation but is larger and pear-shaped.The grapefruit tree can grow to a height of 26 to 30 feet. Grapefruits are round, with a diameter of between 4 and 6 inches. Their thin skin may be either completely yellow or yellow with a pinkish hue. The pulp of the fruit may be yellow, pinkish, or reddish. It can be more or less sharp-tasting, acidic, sweet, and fragrant.The United States is the largest producer of grapefruit, accounting for over 40% of global production. Approximately 60% of the grapefruit crop is used for the manufacture of juice and canned grapefruit, while the rest is sold fresh.

Buying
Choose grapefruits that are heavy for their size, quite firm, with tight and shiny skin. Avoid overly soft fruits with dull- colored skin.

Benefits
     High in vitamin C and potassium.
     A good source of folate, iron, calcium, and other minerals.
     Pink and red varieties are high in beta carotene, a precursor of vitamin A.
     High in fiber, low in calories.
     Contain bioflavonoids and other plant chemicals that protect against cancer and heart disease.

Nutrition
Nutritional information per 100 g
Water Protein

Fat

Carbohydrates

Fiber

Calories
91% 0.6 g

0.1 g

0.6 g

30 to 33

The nutritional value of the grapefruit varies with the color (white, pink, or red). Red and pink grapefruits have a higher amount of vitamin A.Half a grapefruit provides more than 50 percent of the adult Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of vitamin C; it also has 325mg of potassium, 25mcg (micrograms) of folate, 40mg of calcium, and l mg of iron. The pink and red varieties are high in beta carotene, an antioxidant that the body converts to vitamin A.A cup of unsweetened grapefruit juice has 95mg of vitamin C, more than 150 percent of the RDA, and most of the other nutrients found in the fresh fruit.

Medicinal Value

Grapefruit stimulates the appetite and is used for its digestive, stomachic, antiseptic, tonic, and diuretic qualities.

Grapefruit and Weight Loss Diets

Over the years a number of people have promoted the grapefruit as possessing a unique ability to burn away fat. People following grapefruit diets lose weight because they eat little else-a practice that can lead to nutritional deficiencies.Grapefruits, however, are a good food to include in a sensible weight-loss diet; a serving contains less than 100 calories, and its high-fiber content satisfies hunger. If you're trying to lose weight, make grapefruit your first course to help prevent overeating. It's also an ideal snack food.

Grapefruit and Cholesterol Control

Grapefruits are especially high in pectin, a soluble fiber that helps lower blood cholesterol.

Grapefruit for Cancer Control

Recent studies indicate that grapefruits contain substances that are useful in preventing several diseases. Pink and red grapefruits are high in lycopene, an antioxidant that appears to lower the risk of prostate cancer. Researchers have not yet identified lycopene's mechanism of action, but a 6-year Harvard study involving 48,000 doctors and other health professionals has linked 10 servings of lycopene-rich foods a week with a 50 percent reduction in prostate cancer.Other protective plant chemicals found in grapefruits include phenolic acid, which inhibits the formation of cancer-causing nitrosamines; limonoids, terpenes, and monoterpenes, which induce the production of enzymes that help prevent cancer; and bioflavonoids, which inhibit the action of hormones that promote tumor growth.

Other Uses of Grapefruit

Some people with rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and other inflammatory disorders find that eating grapefruit daily seems to alleviate their symptoms. This is thought to stem from plant chemicals that block Prostaglandins, substances that cause inflammation.

Safety

People who are allergic to citrus fruits are likely to react to grapefruits, too. The sensitivity may be to the fruit itself or to an oil in the peel.

Interactions With Drugs and Medicines
Grapefruit has serious interactions with many commonly prescribed medications.Grapefruit juice inhibits a special enzyme in the intestines that is responsible for the natural breakdown and absorption of many medications. When the action of this enzyme is blocked, the blood levels of these medications increase, which can lead to toxic side effects from the medications.Grapefruit juice research has suggested that flavonoids and/or furanocoumarin compounds are the substances that act to block the enzyme in the intestines that normally metabolizes many drugs.The grapefruit juice-drug interaction can lead to unpredictable and hazardous levels of certain important drugs.These medications should not be consumed with grapefruit juice unless advised by a doctor:

New Study Challenges Long-Held Assumption about Competition in Disturbed Ecosystems

noreply@blogger.com (local news nbc news international news) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 04:51:43 PDT

Hurricanes, wildfires and influxes of pollutants create disturbances that can put ecological systems under extreme stress. Ecologists had believed that at times like these, competition between species becomes less important as all struggle to survive.

But a new laboratory study of microscopic organisms subjected to varying degrees of acoustic disturbance now challenges that assumption – and could lead ecologists to reconsider how organisms compete during challenging times.“The consistent role of competition at all levels of disturbance found in our study underscores the need for ecologists to examine competitive interactions and their consequences even in highly disturbed habitats,” said Lin Jiang, an assistant professor in the Georgia Tech School of Biology.

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the research was reported June 28, 2010, in the early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study is believed to be the first to show experimentally that competition could be a factor in regulating ecological communities regardless of the intensity or frequency of disturbance.

Jiang and his team — Cyrille Violle, formerly a postdoctoral fellow at Georgia Tech currently at the University of Arizona, and Georgia Tech biology graduate student Zhichao Pu — conducted experiments with freshwater bacterivorous protists in artificial, simplified ecosystems called microcosms.

“A key advantage of this microcosm system is that the rapid reproduction of the microorganisms allowed us to examine multigenerational community dynamics, including competitive exclusion and stable coexistence, in a period of a few weeks,” said Jiang.

The researchers assessed the ability of different species of single-celled eukaryotes called protozoa to cope with disturbance in the absence of competition, the competitive ability of species in the absence of disturbance, and the role of competition between species under disturbance. Disturbance was imposed by the application of sound energy to the small ecosystems at 11 different levels, ranging from weak disturbances that had little effect on most species to strong disturbances that caused the direct extinction of most species.

First, the researchers placed all of the protist species in separate microcosms for one month and measured each species’ change in population density to assess the ability of each to cope with disturbance. Next, the researchers assessed the competitive ability of species by compelling pairs of species to battle for resources for 10 weeks in the absence of disturbance.

The final set of experiments subjected groups of protist species to both disturbance and competition. The population densities of 11 species — including three Paramecium species — in each of 55 microcosms were recorded for five months. The results of the multi-species experiment showed that the number of species decreased with increased disturbance and that most species were no longer present across most levels of disturbance.

“One might think that the observed decline of species diversity with disturbance was because high levels of disturbances directly eliminated most or all species. But this idea was not supported by our first set of experiments, which showed that several species were able to sustain viable populations even at the highest disturbance intensities – when they were not with other species,” explained Jiang.

Instead, the species extinctions that occurred through different levels of disturbance could be partly attributed to competition between species. And the rate of extinctions attributable to competition was greater at higher levels of disturbance.

The findings contradict the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, which suggests that at high levels of disturbance, the species that survive will be those that are hardy under disturbed conditions. At low disturbance, the hypothesis suggests that the ecosystem will be dominated by species that are good competitors. At some intermediate disturbance level, the good competitors will have an opportunity to gain a foothold without being destroyed by disturbance, but will not be able to out-compete the hardier species or exclude less-fit species.

In this study, the 11 species differed markedly in their competitive ability and in their ability to tolerate disturbance. When considered together, there was a strong tradeoff between the two traits, according to Jiang.

“Each species was most vulnerable to inter-species competition at its upper disturbance limit, which is when its population density was the most severely reduced,” noted Jiang.

While this study provided unique experimental evidence that competition can consistently regulate species extinction and community richness over broad disturbance gradients, three characteristics of this experiment may influence the applicability of these results to other systems, according to Jiang.

First, since the protist species in these experiments competed for shared food resources and affected each other by reducing the availability of those resources, these findings may not apply to communities competing in other ways, such as those physically or chemically fighting with each other. Second, there was no outside immigration into the experimental microcosms, unlike natural communities in which other organisms can join the competition.

Finally, given the size of the microcosms, disturbance in the experiments could be considered “global”, which contrasts with the more common situation in nature where disturbance is heterogeneous over an area.

In the future, more attention should be focused on examining other mechanisms that may potentially contribute to intermediate disturbance hypothesis patterns, says Jiang.

“Our results challenge conventional thinking and have important implications for understanding relevant ecological issues, such as those related to biodiversity, community assembly and conservation,” he added.