Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/167797180?client_source=feed&format=rss
kim kardashian and kris humphries chris morris chris morris mike stoops mike stoops end of the world end of the world
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Philly calm but 4 arrested in LA after deadlines (AP)
LOS ANGELES ? Deadlines for Wall Street protesters to leave their encampments came and went in two cities with no arrests in Philadelphia but four people taken into custody in Los Angeles several hours after the midnight deadline passed.
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said it remained unclear when the nearly two-month-old Occupy LA camp would be cleared. About half of the 485 tents had been taken down as of Sunday night, leaving patches of the 1.7-acre park around City Hall barren of grass and strewn with garbage.
"There is no concrete deadline," Beck told reporters Monday morning after hundreds of officers withdrew without moving in on the camp. The chief said he wanted to make sure the removal will be done when it was safe for protesters and officers and "with as little drama as possible."
Protesters chanted "we won, we won" as riot-clad officers left the scene.
"I'm pretty much speechless," said Clark Davis, media coordinator for Occupy LA.
Police turned back after hundreds of Occupy LA supporters showed up at the camp Sunday night as the midnight deadline for evacuation neared. As the night drew on, many demonstrators left.
Protester Julie Levine said she was surprised that police did not move in as the numbers dwindled. "We were fearful," she said. "But we held our numbers and police were on their best behavior."
A celebratory atmosphere filled the night with protesters milling about the park and streets by City Hall in seeming good spirits. A group on bicycles circled the block, one of them in a cow suit. Organizers led chants with a bull horn.
Officers reopened the streets at around 6:30 a.m.
"Let's go get breakfast," said Commander Andrew Smith as he removed his helmet.
The protest was largely peaceful but there were some skirmishes. Four people were arrested for failure to disperse and a few protesters tossed bamboo sticks and water bottles at officers, Smith said. No injuries were reported.
A hearing in federal is scheduled for later Monday morning on a petition for an injunction to prevent the camp closure.
Both the mayor and Beck said Monday morning that there was no firm deadline to remove the protesters.
"We want to make sure that everybody knows the park is closed and there are services available, that there are alternative ways to protest," Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in an interview with MSNBC.
Villaraigosa, a former labor organizer himself, earlier said he sympathizes with the movement but felt it was time it moved beyond holding on to "a particular patch of park" and that public health and safety could not be sustained for a long period.
The Los Angeles showdown follows police actions in other cities ? sometimes involving the use of pepper spray and tear gas ? that resulted in the removal of long-situated demonstration sites. Some of those encampments had been in use almost since the movement against economic disparity and perceived corporate greed began with Occupy Wall Street in Manhattan two months ago.
A deadline set by the city for Occupy Philadelphia to leave the site where it has camped for nearly two months passed Sunday without any arrests.
Dozens of tents remained at the encampment outside Philadelphia's City Hall Monday morning, 12 hours after a city-imposed deadline passed for the protesters to move to make way for a construction project.
The camp appeared mostly quiet amid a heavy police presence, but around 5 a.m. EST a handful of people were marching one of the city's main business corridors banging drums.
The scene outside City Hall was quiet most of the day Sunday. But the sound of protesters' drumming did bring complaints from several people living in nearby high-rise apartment buildings.
Along the steps leading into a Philadelphia plaza, about 50 people sat in lines Sunday with the promise that they would not leave unless they were carried out by authorities. For a time, they linked arms. But as it seemed that a forceful ouster was not imminent, they relaxed a bit. A police presence was heavier than usual but no orders to leave had been issued.
A few dozen tents remained scattered on the plaza, along with trash, piles of dirty blankets and numerous signs reading, "You can't evict an idea."
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter was out of town Sunday, but his spokesman reiterated that "people are under orders to move."
The mayor himself had an exchange on Twitter with hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons, who asked Nutter "to remember this is a non-violent movement ? please show restraint tonight."
Nutter's response: "I agree."
Elsewhere on the East Coast, nine people were arrested in Maine after protesters in the Occupy Augusta encampment in Capitol Park took down their tents and packed their camping gear after being told to get a permit or move their shelters.
___
Mulvihill reported from Philadelphia. Associated Press Writers Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia, Glenn Adams in Augusta, Maine, and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this story.
jessie james clayton kershaw osu basketball dale sveum ny jets ny jets jets broncos
Greyhawk Grognard: A Pilgrimage to Gaming Mecca
I refer to a trip I undertook, braving the crossing of the mighty Hudson River, from New Jersey into the borough of Manhattan, to visit what has been the centerpoint of gaming in the greater New York City area for nigh on three decades or more; the Compleat Strategist.
When I was growing up in the 1970's and early 1980's, the Compleat Strategist was a mind-blowing experience for me. I coaxed and conned my mother into taking me on a regular basis (usually agreeing to also visit the Museum of Natural History in the same trip-- very much of a cheat, since I loved going there as well). I purchased my first real wargame there (Invasion America), and was a steady customer of both wargames and, later, RPGs, at both the main store at 11 East 33rd Street (I still have the address memorized, which is a real feat considering my normally-atrocious memory for such things) and the store in Montclair, NJ. I actually worked in the Boston store after college in the early 1990's. But it was that store, mere steps from the Empire State Building, that always held a soft spot in my heart.
I'd not made the time to visit it in more than a decade myself, and with some time off from work, I and one of my friends from the game I run (as well as one of the more fanatical and enthusiastic Ogre Miniatures players) hopped the train into Manhattan and, after encouraging him to his first true "dirty water dog", brought him to the Strategist. It helped that the temperature, even in late November, was edging towards 70 degrees.
This, my friends, is what a real game store should be like. It occupies a narrow NYC storefront, and is quite literally packed from floor to ceiling with games of every type. Not just the newest and hottest stuff; they've accumulated things over the decades that even the staff don't realize is on the shelves (although one of the staff was nearly encyclopedic in his knowledge of what was where, and they were all friendly and helpful in the extreme).The newest stuff is between knee and slightly-above-eye level. And there is TONS of it. Games, modules, miniatures, paints, magazines, cards, supplements for a hundred games I've never even heard of. There is a wealth of older stuff near the floor and on the top shelves, as well. Stuff from the early 1990's (and some even earlier) that's still in the shrink-wrap because it's been on the shelf since it first came out. I'm talking Starfleet Battles, Advanced Squad Leader, Lost Worlds...
The OSR is more than well represented, too. Castles and Crusades had a very decent piece of shelf space, as did Labyrinth Lord and a number of other products I recognized and was greatly heartened to see. My previous FLGS couldn't even special order this stuff, but the Strategist has it on a shelf at eye level.Plus they have wargames. Not just what passes for wargames today with either plastic or metal miniatures (although they had those too) but real, honest-to-goodness hex-and-counter wargames. And they carry the version of Strategy & Tactics magazine that actually has the game inside the magazine, unlike the version carried in Barnes & Nobel (which is still good, but sans ludi). It was like being transported back to 1977. Except for the prices of said magazine (ouch!).
I ended up picking up a solo game from a company of which I'd never heard, DVG, called Field Commander: Rommel. My friend picked up a pair of games, Discworld and Ivanhoe. They all look like fun, and I'm particularly looking forward to breaking out Rommel on those long blissful winter afternoons when the wife and daughter are off on some mission or other.Just about the only thing they're lacking is space to play games, but in this environment, that seems natural. This is a place to browse and peruse and buy.
We had completely lost track of time, and when we emerged it turned out that we had spent two and a half hours in the store, blissfully unaware of the time, pouring through the old and new stuff on the shelves. We followed up with a long but enjoyable walk to the Strand Bookstore down in Greenwich Village (which boasts 18 miles of bookshelves, and somehow manages to discount even new books), with a brief detour to the comic store Forbidden Planet (which, I am reliably informed, also has a shop in Leeds).
All in all, this was a terrific day, and the terrific selection of the Strategist, combined with the really helpful and knowledgeable staff (even if they hadn't ever heard of "The Emperor Must be Told" by Victory Point Games... ahem...) made this an enormously pleasurable trip I'm eager to repeat.
Source: http://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com/2011/11/pilgrimage-to-gaming-mecca.html
jack del rio jack del rio wayne gretzky wayne gretzky heaven is for real occupy los angeles occupy los angeles
The interplay of dancing electrons
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 29-Nov-2011[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Anton Lindahl
anton.lindahl@physics.gu.se
46-317-869-142
University of Gothenburg
Negative ions play an important role in everything from how our bodies function to the structure of the universe. Scientists from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have now developed a new method that makes it possible to study how the electrons in negative ions interact in, which is important in, for example, superconductors and in radiocarbon dating.
"By studying atoms with a negative charge, 'negative ions', we can learn how electrons coordinate their motion in what can be compared to a tightly choreographed dance. Such knowledge is important in understanding phenomena in which the interaction between electrons is important, such as in superconductors", says Anton Lindahl of the Department of Physics at the University of Gothenburg.
A negative ion is an atom that has captured an extra electron, giving it a negative charge. Negative ions are formed, for example, when salt dissolves in water. We have many different types of negative ion in our bodies of which the most common is chloride ions. These are important in the fluid balance of the cells and the function of nervous system, among other processes.
Increased knowledge about negative ions may lead to a better understanding of our origin. This is because negative ions play an important role in the chemical reactions that take place in space, being highly significant in such processes as the formation of molecules from free atoms. These molecules may have been important building blocks in the origin of life.
"I have worked with ions in a vacuum, not in water as in the body. In order to be able to study the properties of individual ions, we isolate them in a vacuum chamber at extremely low pressure. This pressure is even lower than the pressure outside of the International Space Station, ISS."
Anton Lindahl's doctoral thesis describes studies in which he used laser spectroscopy to study how the electrons in negative ions interact.
"In order to be able to carry out these studies, I have had to develop measurement methods and build experimental equipment. The measurements that the new equipment makes possible will increase our understanding of the dance-like interplay."
The new measurement methods that Anton has developed are important in a number of applications. One example is the measurement of trace substances in a technique known as 'accelerator mass spectrometry' or AMS. The technology and knowledge from Gothenburg are being used in a collaborative project between scientists in Gothenburg, Vienna (Austria) and Oak Ridge (USA) to increase the sensitivity of AMS measurements. One application of AMS is radiocarbon dating, which determines the age of organic matter. Another application is measurements on ice cores drilled from polar ice, which can be used to investigate the climate hundreds of thousands of years into the past.
###
The thesis Two-Electron Excitations in Negative Ions has been successfully defended at the University of Gothenburg. Supervisor: Dag Hanstorp.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
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.
Public release date: 29-Nov-2011[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Anton Lindahl
anton.lindahl@physics.gu.se
46-317-869-142
University of Gothenburg
Negative ions play an important role in everything from how our bodies function to the structure of the universe. Scientists from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have now developed a new method that makes it possible to study how the electrons in negative ions interact in, which is important in, for example, superconductors and in radiocarbon dating.
"By studying atoms with a negative charge, 'negative ions', we can learn how electrons coordinate their motion in what can be compared to a tightly choreographed dance. Such knowledge is important in understanding phenomena in which the interaction between electrons is important, such as in superconductors", says Anton Lindahl of the Department of Physics at the University of Gothenburg.
A negative ion is an atom that has captured an extra electron, giving it a negative charge. Negative ions are formed, for example, when salt dissolves in water. We have many different types of negative ion in our bodies of which the most common is chloride ions. These are important in the fluid balance of the cells and the function of nervous system, among other processes.
Increased knowledge about negative ions may lead to a better understanding of our origin. This is because negative ions play an important role in the chemical reactions that take place in space, being highly significant in such processes as the formation of molecules from free atoms. These molecules may have been important building blocks in the origin of life.
"I have worked with ions in a vacuum, not in water as in the body. In order to be able to study the properties of individual ions, we isolate them in a vacuum chamber at extremely low pressure. This pressure is even lower than the pressure outside of the International Space Station, ISS."
Anton Lindahl's doctoral thesis describes studies in which he used laser spectroscopy to study how the electrons in negative ions interact.
"In order to be able to carry out these studies, I have had to develop measurement methods and build experimental equipment. The measurements that the new equipment makes possible will increase our understanding of the dance-like interplay."
The new measurement methods that Anton has developed are important in a number of applications. One example is the measurement of trace substances in a technique known as 'accelerator mass spectrometry' or AMS. The technology and knowledge from Gothenburg are being used in a collaborative project between scientists in Gothenburg, Vienna (Austria) and Oak Ridge (USA) to increase the sensitivity of AMS measurements. One application of AMS is radiocarbon dating, which determines the age of organic matter. Another application is measurements on ice cores drilled from polar ice, which can be used to investigate the climate hundreds of thousands of years into the past.
###
The thesis Two-Electron Excitations in Negative Ions has been successfully defended at the University of Gothenburg. Supervisor: Dag Hanstorp.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
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.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/uog-tio112911.php
snowman google music willis mcgahee willis mcgahee 2013 ford escape stop online piracy act protect ip act
Imperfections may improve graphene sensors
ScienceDaily (Nov. 29, 2011) ? Although they found that graphene makes very good chemical sensors, researchers at Illinois have discovered an unexpected "twist" -- that the sensors are better when the graphene is "worse" -- more imperfections improved performance.
"This is quite the opposite of what you would want for transistors, for example," explained Eric Pop, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and a member of the interdisciplinary research team. "Finding that the less perfect they were, the better they worked, was counter intuitive at first."
The research group, which includes researchers from both chemical engineering and electrical engineering, and from a startup company, Dioxide Materials, reported their results in the November 23, 2011 issue of Advanced Materials.
"The objective of this work was to understand what limits the sensitivity of simple, two-terminal graphene chemiresistors, and to study this in the context of inexpensive devices easily manufactured by chemical vapor deposition (CVD)," stated lead authors Amin Salehi-Khojin and David Estrada.
The researchers found that the response of graphene chemiresistors depends on the types and geometry of their defects.
"Nearly-pristine graphene chemiresistors are less sensitive to analyte molecules because adsorbates bind to point defects, which have low resistance pathways around them," noted Salehi-Khojin, a research scientist at Dioxide Materials and post-doctoral research associate in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChemE) at Illinois. "As a result, adsorption at point defects only has a small effect on the overall resistance of the device. On the other hand, micrometer-sized line defects or continuous lines of point defects are different because no easy conduction paths exist around such defects, so the resistance change after adsorption is significant."
"This can lead to better and cheaper gas sensors for a variety of applications such as energy, homeland security and medical diagnostics" said Estrada who is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
According to the authors, the two-dimensional nature of defective, CVD-grown graphene chemiresistors causes them to behave differently than carbon nanotube chemiresistors. This sensitivity is further improved by cutting the graphene into ribbons of width comparable to the line defect dimensions, or micrometers in this study.
"What we determined is that the gases we were sensing tend to bind to the defects," Pop said. "Surface defects in graphene are either point-, wrinkle-, or line-like. We found that the points do not matter very much and the lines are most likely where the sensing happens."
"The graphene ribbons with line defects appear to offer superior performance as graphene sensors," said ChemE professor emeritus and Dioxide Materials CEO Richard Masel. "Going forward, we think we may be able engineer the line defects to maximize the material's sensitivity. This novel approach should allow us to produce inexpensive and sensitive chemical sensors with the performance better than that of carbon nanotube sensors."
Pop is also affiliated with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory at Illinois. Additional authors of the paper, Polycrystalline Graphene Ribbons as Chemiresistors," include Kevin Y. Lin, Myung-Ho Bae, and Feng Xiong. This work was supported by Dioxide Materials, by ONR grants N00014-09-1-0180 and N00014-10-1-0061, and the NDSEG Graduate Fellowship (D.E.).
Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:
Other bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Illinois College of Engineering.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Amin Salehi-Khojin, David Estrada, Kevin Y. Lin, Myung-Ho Bae, Feng Xiong, Eric Pop, Richard I. Masel. Polycrystalline Graphene Ribbons as Chemiresistors. Advanced Materials, 2011; DOI: 10.1002/adma.201102663
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111129112323.htm
aaron rodgers diaspora breaking dawn premiere rock center nbpa itunes match itunes match
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Study demonstrates a connection between a common chemical and Parkinson's disease
Public release date: 29-Nov-2011[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Allison Elliott
allison.elliott@uky.edu
University of Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A University of Kentucky faculty member is a contributing author on a new study demonstrating a connection between a common solvent chemical and Parkinson's disease. Dr. Franca Cambi of the UK Kentucky Neuroscience Institute collaborated with researchers from across the U.S. on a paper recently published in the Annals of Neurology. The novel study looked at a cohort of human twins wherein one twin had been occupationally exposed to trichloroethylene (TCE) and other chemicals believed to be linked to development of Parkinson's.
TCE has been previously linked to Parkinson's disease through prior research by University of Kentucky authors and others, including the 2008 paper "Trichloroethylene: Parkinsonism and complex 1 mitochondrial neurotoxicity", and the 2010 paper "Trichloroethylene induces dopaminergic neurodegeneration in Fisher 344 rats". The 2008 paper was based upon a study of factory workers in a facility using chemicals that have been linked to development of Parkinson's disease.
In the most recent paper, the authors demonstrated that in addition to TCE, increase in Parkinson's disease risk is also associated with exposure to percholorethylene (PERC) and carbon tetrachloride (CCI4).
The current epidemiological study, led by Drs. Samuel Goldman and Caroline Tanner of The Parkinson's Institute in Sunnyvale, Ca., investigated exposure to TCE, PERC and CCI4 as they related to risk of developing Parkinson's disease. The team interviewed 99 twin pairs from the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council World War II Veteran Twins Cohort in which one twin had Parkinson's and one didn't, inquiring about lifetime occupations and hobbies. Lifetime exposures to six specific solvents previously linked to Parkinson's in medical literature -- n-hexane, xylene, toluene, CCl4, TCE and PERC -- were inferred for each job or hobby typically involving exposure to the chemicals.
While prior research has indicated a link between TCE exposure and Parkinson's disease, the current findings are the first to report a statistically significant association -- a more than six-fold increased risk. Researchers also found that exposure to PERC and CCI4 tended toward significant risk of developing the disease.
This study focused on occupational exposures, but the solvents under investigation are pervasive in the environment. Lead author Goldman concluded: "Our findings, as well as prior case reports, suggest a lag time of up to 40 years between TCE exposure and onset of Parkinson's, providing a critical window of opportunity to potentially slow the disease process before clinical symptoms appear."
Occupational or environmental exposure to TCE, PERC and CCI4 is common due to the extensive use of the chemicals in dry-cleaning solutions, adhesives, paints, and carpet cleaners. Despite the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banning the use of TCE as a general anesthetic, skin disinfectant, and coffee decaffeinating agent in 1977, it is still widely used today as a degreasing agent. In the U.S., millions of pounds of TCE are still released into the environment each year and it is the most common organic contaminant found in ground water, detected in up to 30 percent of drinking water supplies in the country.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) estimates that as many as 500,000 Americans have Parkinson's disease and more than 50,000 new cases are diagnosed annually. While there is much debate regarding the causes of Parkinson's disease, studies suggest that genetic and environmental factors likely trigger the disease - which is characterized by symptoms such as limb tremors, slowed movement, muscle stiffness, and speech impairment. Several studies have reported that exposure to solvents may increase risk of Parkinson's, but research assessing specific agents is limited.
###
MEDIA CONTACT: Allison Elliott, allison.elliott@uky.edu
The full citation for the article is: "Solvent Exposures and Parkinson's Disease Risk in Twins"; Samuel M Goldman, Patricia J Quinlan, G Webster Ross, Connie Marras, Cheryl Meng, Grace S Bhudhikanok, Kathleen Comyns, Monica Korell, Anabel R Chade, Meike Kasten, Benjamin Priestley, Kelvin L Chou, Hubert H Fernandez, Franca Cambi, J William Langston and Caroline M Tanner. Annals of Neurology; Published Online: November 14, 2011 (DOI:10.1002/ana.22629).
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
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.
Public release date: 29-Nov-2011[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Allison Elliott
allison.elliott@uky.edu
University of Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A University of Kentucky faculty member is a contributing author on a new study demonstrating a connection between a common solvent chemical and Parkinson's disease. Dr. Franca Cambi of the UK Kentucky Neuroscience Institute collaborated with researchers from across the U.S. on a paper recently published in the Annals of Neurology. The novel study looked at a cohort of human twins wherein one twin had been occupationally exposed to trichloroethylene (TCE) and other chemicals believed to be linked to development of Parkinson's.
TCE has been previously linked to Parkinson's disease through prior research by University of Kentucky authors and others, including the 2008 paper "Trichloroethylene: Parkinsonism and complex 1 mitochondrial neurotoxicity", and the 2010 paper "Trichloroethylene induces dopaminergic neurodegeneration in Fisher 344 rats". The 2008 paper was based upon a study of factory workers in a facility using chemicals that have been linked to development of Parkinson's disease.
In the most recent paper, the authors demonstrated that in addition to TCE, increase in Parkinson's disease risk is also associated with exposure to percholorethylene (PERC) and carbon tetrachloride (CCI4).
The current epidemiological study, led by Drs. Samuel Goldman and Caroline Tanner of The Parkinson's Institute in Sunnyvale, Ca., investigated exposure to TCE, PERC and CCI4 as they related to risk of developing Parkinson's disease. The team interviewed 99 twin pairs from the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council World War II Veteran Twins Cohort in which one twin had Parkinson's and one didn't, inquiring about lifetime occupations and hobbies. Lifetime exposures to six specific solvents previously linked to Parkinson's in medical literature -- n-hexane, xylene, toluene, CCl4, TCE and PERC -- were inferred for each job or hobby typically involving exposure to the chemicals.
While prior research has indicated a link between TCE exposure and Parkinson's disease, the current findings are the first to report a statistically significant association -- a more than six-fold increased risk. Researchers also found that exposure to PERC and CCI4 tended toward significant risk of developing the disease.
This study focused on occupational exposures, but the solvents under investigation are pervasive in the environment. Lead author Goldman concluded: "Our findings, as well as prior case reports, suggest a lag time of up to 40 years between TCE exposure and onset of Parkinson's, providing a critical window of opportunity to potentially slow the disease process before clinical symptoms appear."
Occupational or environmental exposure to TCE, PERC and CCI4 is common due to the extensive use of the chemicals in dry-cleaning solutions, adhesives, paints, and carpet cleaners. Despite the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banning the use of TCE as a general anesthetic, skin disinfectant, and coffee decaffeinating agent in 1977, it is still widely used today as a degreasing agent. In the U.S., millions of pounds of TCE are still released into the environment each year and it is the most common organic contaminant found in ground water, detected in up to 30 percent of drinking water supplies in the country.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) estimates that as many as 500,000 Americans have Parkinson's disease and more than 50,000 new cases are diagnosed annually. While there is much debate regarding the causes of Parkinson's disease, studies suggest that genetic and environmental factors likely trigger the disease - which is characterized by symptoms such as limb tremors, slowed movement, muscle stiffness, and speech impairment. Several studies have reported that exposure to solvents may increase risk of Parkinson's, but research assessing specific agents is limited.
###
MEDIA CONTACT: Allison Elliott, allison.elliott@uky.edu
The full citation for the article is: "Solvent Exposures and Parkinson's Disease Risk in Twins"; Samuel M Goldman, Patricia J Quinlan, G Webster Ross, Connie Marras, Cheryl Meng, Grace S Bhudhikanok, Kathleen Comyns, Monica Korell, Anabel R Chade, Meike Kasten, Benjamin Priestley, Kelvin L Chou, Hubert H Fernandez, Franca Cambi, J William Langston and Caroline M Tanner. Annals of Neurology; Published Online: November 14, 2011 (DOI:10.1002/ana.22629).
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
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.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/uok-sda112911.php
oklahoma state university osu football osu football christopher walken ok state ok state kurt budke
Sources: Fatal raid likely case of mistaken identity
WASHINGTON?? A U.S. military account of a NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers over the weekend suggests the deaths resulted from a case of mistaken identity, The Associated Press learned Monday.
The incident was the deadliest case of friendly fire with Pakistan since the Afghanistan war began, and has sent the perpetually difficult U.S.-Pakistan relationship into a tailspin.
The Associated Press has learned details of the raid, which began when a joint U.S.-Afghan special operations team was attacked by militants just inside Afghanistan. It ended when NATO gunships and attack helicopters fired on two encampments they thought were used by militants but were actually Pakistani border posts, the military account said.
U.S. officials say the account suggests that the Taliban may have deliberately tried to provoke a cross-border firefight that would set back fragile partnerships between the U.S. and NATO forces and Pakistani soldiers at the ill-defined border.
-
Only on msnbc.com
- Needy Americans shop at Walmart before sunrise
- A second chance for faulty food? It's OK with FDA
- Double amputee battles triathlon ? and wins silver
- A twist: Heiress Huguette Clark signed two wills
- Want to stand out in a job search? Upload a photo
- Freed American student: ?It was very scary?
- Drivers still want electric cars, Nissan says
Gen. James Mattis, head of U.S. Central Command, announced Monday that he has appointed Brig. Gen. Stephen Clark, an Air Force special operations officer, to lead the probe of the incident, and said he must include input from the NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, as well as representatives from the Afghan and Pakistani governments.
According to the U.S. military records described to the AP, the joint U.S. and Afghan patrol requested backup after being hit by mortar and small arms fire by Taliban militants in the early hours Saturday.
Officials described the records on condition of anonymity to discuss classified matters.
Before responding, the joint U.S.-Afghan patrol first checked with the Pakistani army, which reported it had no troops in the area, the military account said.
Some two hours later, still hunting the insurgents who had by now apparently fled in the direction of Pakistani border posts, the U.S. commander spotted what he thought was a militant encampment, with heavy weapons mounted on tripods.
The exact location of the border is in dispute in several areas.
Then the joint patrol called for the air strikes at 2:21 a.m. Pakistani time, not realizing the encampment was apparently the Pakistani border post.
Records show the aerial response included Apache attack helicopters and an AC-130 helicopter gunship.
U.S. officials are working on the assumption the Taliban chose the location for the first attack, to create just such confusion, and draw U.S. and Pakistani forces into firing on each other, according to U.S. officials briefed on the operation.
At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney said President Barack Obama considers the Pakistani deaths a tragedy, and said the administration is determined to investigate.
"This is obviously a significant issue that we take seriously," said Carney. "As for our relationship with Pakistan, it continues to be an important cooperative relationship that is also very complicated ... It is very much in America's national security interest to maintain a cooperative relationship with Pakistan because we have shared interests in the fight against terrorism."
The Pentagon released a four-page memo from Centcom commander Mattis to the general he named to lead the inquiry. Mattis directed Clark to determine what happened, which units were involved, which ones did or did not cross the border, how the operation was coordinated, and what caused the deaths and injuries.
Mattis asked Clark to also form any recommendations about how border operations could be improved, and he said the final report should be submitted by December 23.
Key disputes being examined by U.S. military official include the breakdown in communications, and why U.S. troops believed they were responding to insurgent fire and that there were no friendly forces in the area.
The details emerged as aftershocks of the NATO airstrike were reverberating across the U.S. military and diplomatic landscape Monday, threatening communications and supply lines for the Afghan war and the success of an upcoming international conference.
While U.S. officials expressed regret and sympathy over the cross-border incident, they are not acknowledging blame, amid conflicting reports about who fired first.
The airstrike was politically explosive as well as deadly, coming as U.S. officials were working to repair relations with the Pakistanis after a series of major setbacks, including the U.S. commando raid into Pakistan in May that killed Osama bin Laden.
In recent weeks, military leaders had begun expressing some optimism that U.S.-Pakistan military cooperation along the border was beginning to improve.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Daniel Allyn told Pentagon reporters just last Tuesday that incidents of firing from Pakistan territory had tapered off somewhat in recent weeks.
"We've had some very good cases in the last three weeks of the (Pakistan military) coordinating with us to respond against those cross-border fires," Allyn told a Pentagon press conference. "The positive sign from our perspective is the responsiveness with which the (Pakistan military) border forts have coordinated actions against the firing."
Speaking to reporters Monday, Pentagon press secretary George Little stressed the need for a strong military relationship with Pakistan.
"The Pakistani government knows our position on that, and that is we do regret the loss of life in this incident, and we are investigating it," said Little. "We hope to move beyond this and enter into a constructive relationship as we have been for some time."
The military fallout began almost immediately.
Pakistan has blocked vital supply routes for U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan and demanded Washington vacate a base used by American drones.
U.S. officials, however, said Monday that there were no immediate concerns about disruptions to the supply lines, adding that there are alternate routes and a large amount of stocks available.
And the drone operation at Pakistan's Shamsi air base had already been limited to only servicing drones that had mechanical or weather difficulties, so shutting the base will in no way end the drone program, U.S. and Pakistani officials said.
CIA Director David Petraeus called his Pakistani counterpart, intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, to keep the lines of communication open, a U.S. official said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.
On the diplomatic front, the Obama administration said Pakistan may pull out of an international conference on Afghanistan next week as a result of the incident.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Pakistani officials told the U.S. they are reviewing their participation. He acknowledged that the weekend incident was a setback for U.S.-Pakistani relations.
The conference next week in Bonn, Germany, seeks a strategy to stabilize Afghanistan a decade after al-Qaida used the country as a base to launch the 9/11 attacks and U.S.-backed forces overthrew the Taliban.
Toner urged Pakistan to attend.
The State Department also issued a new warning for U.S. citizens in Pakistan. It said that all U.S. government personnel working in Pakistan were being recalled to Islamabad and warned Americans to be on guard for possible retaliation. U.S. citizens in Pakistan are being told to travel in pairs, avoid crowds and demonstrations and keep a low profile.
___
Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor, Bradley Klapper and Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45470388/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/
grace potter ryan mathews the band perry faith hill cma awards 2011 cma awards 2011 western black rhino
Rep. Barney Frank to retire, closing long career
FILE - In this Dec. 22, 2010 file photo, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass. applauds at the Interior Department in Washington. Frank's office says he won't seek re-election in 2012. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 22, 2010 file photo, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass. applauds at the Interior Department in Washington. Frank's office says he won't seek re-election in 2012. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 13, 1989 file photo, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., center, faces reporters at a Washington Hotel. Frank's office says he won't seek re-election in 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi, File)
FILE - In this March 1, 2011 file photo, Rep. Barney Frank D-Mass., ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, participates in the committee's hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Frank's office says he won't seek re-election in 2012. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 16, 2010 file photo, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., reads a newspaper on Capitol Hill in Washington. Frank's office says he won't seek re-election in 2012. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts does not intend to seek re-election in 2012, his office said Monday, closing out a career of more than three decades in Congress capped by last year's passage of legislation imposing new regulations on Wall Street.
Frank, 71 and a lifelong liberal, won a House seat in 1980 was one of the first lawmakers to announce that he is gay.
He scheduled an early afternoon news conference in Newton, Mass., to make a formal announcement of his retirement plans.
Sixteen other Democrats have announced plans not to seek new House terms in 2012, compared with six Republicans.
As chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Frank was instrumental in passage of the Dodd-Frank bill, which contained the stiffest restrictions on banks and Wall Street since the Great Depression. The measure clamped down on lending practices and expanded consumer protections to prevent a repeat of the 2008 meltdown that knocked the economy to its knees.
Over the years, Frank consistently came down on the liberal side of public issues, opposing the war in Iraq and bills to cover its expenses.
More than two decades ago, Frank was reprimanded by the House for using his congressional status on behalf of a male prostitute whom he had employed as a personal aide, including seeking dismissal of 33 parking tickets.
"I should have known better. I do now, but it's a little too late," Frank said at the time.
Democrats rebuffed Republican calls for Frank's expulsion, and instead, the Massachusetts Democrat resumed a career that far outlasted many of those who had sought his ouster.
Associated Pressdream act roger williams roger williams tyler bray tyler bray rashard mendenhall san antonio weather
Oil prices rise on holiday sales, Europe hopes
NEW YORK (AP) ? Oil prices are up more than 2 percent after shoppers pumped up holiday retail sales in the U.S., and investors bet that Europe would find a last-minute solution to its financial crisis.
Benchmark crude rose $2, or 2.1 percent, to $98.77 per barrel in morning trading in New York. Brent crude rose $2.28, or 2.1 percent, to $108.04 a barrel in London.
Oil surged following strong holiday sales in the U.S. Shoppers spent nearly $1 billion more on Black Friday than they did a year ago. Meanwhile, European leaders are considering a series of new solutions to their credit problems with little time to spare. Some analysts say the euro could collapse in days, unless action is taken.
Associated Pressbarney frank adam shulman adam shulman jennifer nettles jennifer nettles rick neuheisel rick neuheisel
Seasonal flu may not spring from east Asia
FLU season is due any day in Europe and North America, but it may not spring from east Asia as many thought. Researchers may need to monitor flu evolution over more of the planet to match vaccines to next winter's flu.
In 2008 the first global genetic analysis of flu viruses found that flu's annual rampage through the northern, then southern hemisphere's winter is seeded from China and its neighbours. The virus strains' family trees suggested that flu always circulates locally in east Asia before emerging from this crucible for its global excursions. New work suggests the situation is not so simple.
If east Asia is the source, flu should be most genetically diverse there, says Justin Bahl of Duke-National University of Singapore. His team compared viruses collected between 2003 and 2006, from south-east Asia, including Hong Kong, China, and from Australia, Europe, Japan and New York. "We found much less diversity in east Asia than elsewhere," says Bahl. "That surprised us."
East Asian viruses seemed to have migrated there from all over the world, he says, and new varieties seemed to originate anywhere. "There is always a flu epidemic somewhere, and that seeds the annual temperate-zone flu seasons," says Bahl, but the breeding ground is not confined to east Asia (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1109314108).
The researchers who proposed the east Asian source are not convinced. Colin Russell at the University of Cambridge says the new study covers too little time and too few regions to detect a true pattern. Bahl says they will expand the study.
Flu's origins are important because the annual flu vaccine takes six months to make, so it is based on what virus epidemiologists think will be dominant when the vaccine is needed. Wider sampling may therefore be needed.
If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.
Have your say
Only subscribers may leave comments on this article. Please log in.
Only personal subscribers may leave comments on this article
Subscribe now to comment.
All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.
If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.
eric holder avengers trailer the avengers trailer the avengers trailer minka kelly presidential debate xbox live update
Monday, November 28, 2011
LG announces Ice Cream Sandwich upgrades
LG
Optimus 4G LTE released in Korea in October
By Athima Chansanchai
LG has announced that the upcoming 4.0 upgrade to the Android mobile operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich, will be available on several of its 2011 handsets in the Optimus line, but has yet to share the upgrade timing.
Considered "high-end smartphones," the?Optimus 2X, the Optimus Black, the Optimus 3D and the Optimus LTE were singled out for the update. As for other handsets the manufacturer produces, it revealed only this much on its Facebook page:
We are also continuing to evaluate the ICS OS to determine whether it is compatible with the functionality, features and performance of other LG smartphones to make the ICS OS available on as many LG smartphones as possible.
LG's upgrade rollout schedule is set to appear on that?Facebook page sometime in December. Besides timing on the above models, it will note any additional handsets that are deemed compatible for Ice Cream Sandwich.
Recently, HTC has also used?its Facebook page to make the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade announcement, and in similar fashion, taken a slew of comments from phone owners.
On LG's page, many took LG to task for failing to provide a Gingerbread (Android 2.3) update for its handsets, and for their experiences with slow upgrades in general. As one commenter put it, "Manufacturers MUST to be on their toes with providing the latest updates. If Google has patched a security hole in Android, it's up to manufacturers to patch their phones."?
More stories:
Check out Technolog on?Facebook, and on Twitter, follow?Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the?Google+?stream.
sandusky interview with bob costas sandusky interview with bob costas live oak mark kelly mark kelly john hughes jeff goldblum
Hungary not playing "Turkish game" with IMF talks (Reuters)
BUDAPEST (Reuters) ? Hungary hopes that credit rating agencies Fitch and S&P will wait for the results of its talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union (EU) before taking any rating action, a top government official said on Sunday.
The country, whose economy is seen among the most vulnerable in central Europe, returned to the IMF for help after more than a year without a financing backstop, only to see its debt downgraded to "junk" by Moody's this week, triggering a market selloff.
The right-of-center government, which called the downgrade part of a speculative attack against the country, performed a dramatic about-face and agreed on Friday to mend ties with the EU, the IMF and the country's banks to stabilize the economy.
Hungary expects to conclude the talks on a precautionary arrangement by late January or early February, to draw what it called a safety net around its currency and bond markets amid the turmoil in the euro zone.
"We are not playing the Turkish game," Economy Ministry State Secretary Zoltan Csefalvay told Reuters in an interview, referring to the stop-go game which helped Turkey retain market confidence some years ago.
Hungary is also on the brink of non-investment grade credit status at both Fitch and Standard & Poor's, both of which attach a negative outlook to their ratings.
"I hope that the two agencies will wait for the negotiation (with the IMF) and what the outcome will be and how this safety net will help Hungary in this turbulent time," Csefalvay said.
He said the spike in government bond yields, which rose above 9 percent across the curve on Friday, was temporary and said he was confident the yields would recede.
"I think it is an immediate reaction and certainly we should wait how the market will react on it," he said. "As we have seen in other countries, it will stabilize at a lower level."
He said it was up to the National Bank of Hungary as to whether it hikes interest rates at its next policy meeting on Tuesday, even if a hike would further hinder growth.
"The central bank is independent in Hungary," he said. "If it (hikes rates), it is the independent decision of the National Bank of Hungary. We accept it."
RATE HIKE
The government has criticized the central bank's rate increases between November 2010 and January 2011, which brought rates to their current 6 percent level.
The rate has been unchanged since January, but in the wake of the downgrade analysts expect the bank to hike the rate by 25 to 200 basis points on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban ended aid negotiations with the IMF last year in what he said was an economic "freedom fight."
Although it has been forced back to the international lender the government has insisted it will aim for as much flexibility on economic policy as possible during the talks.
However, Csefalvay said Budapest would not shy away from discussing controversial policies, including windfall taxes on banks, as well as other policies that hurt the financial sector, such as mandatory below-market exchange rates to repay foreign currency mortgages.
"We can discuss certainly ... these crisis taxes, the bank levy or the FX mortgage repayment scheme, whether this is right or not," Csefalvay said. "But all of Europe faces new problems and to solve these we need risk and burden sharing."
He noted that the crisis taxes, the bank levy and other such measures were temporary and the government was in the middle of executing reforms that he said would allow phasing out the taxes from 2013.
"The market sees some uncertainty as to what will happen when these (crisis) measures are abolished. We have more than one year to that time. We are in the middle of many important reforms, and we should push (them) through," he said.
Csefalvay said the government would continue to pursue a growth-centered agenda even as it planned next year's budget with a growth estimate in the 0.5 to 1 percent range, below a prior target of 1.5 percent.
However, if the cabinet sees any fiscal slippage next year, it will not hesitate to take steps to raise more revenue, much like September's excise tax hike, he said.
(Reporting by Marton Dunai; Editing by David Holmes)
oklahoma state best buy black friday 2011 ads broncos jets jessie james clayton kershaw osu basketball dale sveum
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)