Israeli government offers concessions to settlers (AP)

JERUSALEM ? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has made two overtures to West Bank settlers in the run-up to his party's leadership race on Tuesday: It's offering financial incentives to encourage people to move to settlements and opening the door to legalizing rogue settler outposts.

The gestures appear to be aimed at appeasing hardline elements in the ruling Likud Party who are sympathetic to settlers. While Netanyahu is expected to win the leadership race, a relatively strong showing by his ultranationalist rival would suggest many Likud voters consider the prime minister too soft on peacemaking with the Palestinians.

The moves threatened to derail tentative new peace efforts with the Palestinians. A round of low-level peace negotiations hosted by Jordan ground to a halt last week, in large part because of Palestinian objections to Israeli settlement construction.

Those talks are sponsored by the "Quartet" of international Mideast mediators ? the U.S., European Union, United Nations and Russia. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon visited Jordan Tuesday en route to Israel and the Palestinian Authority in an effort to restart the talks.

"We must all do our part to break this impasse," Ban said. "In the short term, it is essential that provocations stop as called for by the Quartet and that the parties build confidence and sustain these nascent talks."

The Palestinians have rejected Netanyahu's latest moves.

"They are adding obstacles at a time when everyone is intensifying efforts to try to resume peace talks," said Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib. "I think with every additional settlement activity, the feasibility of having two states is diminished."

Years ago, the Israeli government halted generous financial enticements designed to encourage Israelis to settle in the West Bank, the occupied territory the Palestinians see as the core of their future state.

But in this week's government decision, 70 settlements appeared on a new list of 557 communities inside Israel and the West Bank that qualify for housing subsidies. The incentives, according to a statement from the prime minister's office, are "meant to encourage positive migration to these communities."

The list of qualifying settlements include major enclaves that would likely remain in Israeli hands under a peace deal. But most are located deep inside the West Bank and likely would have to be dismantled.

In a separate move, the government on Monday appointed a committee to examine land ownership issues in the West Bank.

The panel will review a 2005 government report that found several dozen outposts were built not only without state approval, but on privately held Palestinian land. Officials said the report needs to be reviewed because its author, state prosecutor Talia Sasson, later entered politics with a dovish political party, raising questions about her objectivity.

A court-ordered evacuation of Migron, the largest unauthorized outpost, set for next month would not be affected by the formation of the new committee, officials said.

But the panel's makeup aroused suspicions it would legalize at least some of the more than 100 outposts built without government authorization, including dozens Sasson says were erected on privately held Palestinian land.

The committee's head, former Supreme Court chief justice Edmond Levy, spoke out against Israel's withdrawal of settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005. A second panel member, Alan Baker, has represented settlers hoping to legalize unauthorized outposts.

The international community opposes all Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. But Israel distinguishes between the 121 settlements established in accordance with official procedures and the more than 100 unauthorized "outposts" that skirted the process with the help of sympathetic authorities and are considered illegal.

Peace talks with the Palestinians stalled more than three years ago, largely over continued Israeli settlement construction. With Palestinians demanding a settlement freeze, a recent round of meetings between Israeli and Palestinian envoys in Jordan has yielded no breakthroughs.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is under intense international pressure to stay at the negotiating table. A final decision is expected after Abbas consults with Arab League officials over the weekend. The Palestine Liberation Organization discussed the issue on Monday but stopped short of urging Abbas to halt the contacts.

Israel has said it wants to keep talking.

Also Tuesday, Israeli authorities said they have received permission to force feed a Palestinian prisoner who has been on a hunger strike for more than six weeks.

Prisons spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said 33-year-old Khader Adnan would not be force fed until "medical conditions" warranted it, but provided no further details.

Adnan, a leading member of the Islamic Jihad militant group, says he was kicked, punched and painfully shackled by his interrogators, according to his lawyers. His lawyers say he also wants to be put on trial and not held for months in administrative detention without charges.

___

Associated Press writer Dale Gavlak contributed to this report from Amman, Jordan.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

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Jerry Brown: C?mon, California?s High Speed Rail Will Be Way Cheaper Than $100 Billion (Michellemalkin)

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Pets and their owners can rest in peace

Susan Dahl of Kent and her a Great Dane mix, Travis, get some exercise near the new pet burial area in Standing Rock Cemetery. (Mike Cardew/Akron Beacon Journal)

By Paula Schleis
Beacon Journal staff report

KENT: Families have been known to skirt cemetery rules in trying to reunite Fido or Patches with their owners, slipping a tiny tub of ashes into a casket or sprinkling their remains at a grave site when no one?s looking.

But come spring, animal lovers won?t have to be surreptitious anymore at Standing Rock Cemetery.

The public cemetery, operated by trustees on behalf of Kent and Franklin Township, will allow burial of animal remains in a newly designated section of the cemetery. People may also be buried with the ashes of their pet in the area bordering the pet section.

?I don?t think people loved their pets less 50 years ago, but they take it a little more serious these days,? trustee John Sapp said. ?With our society moving in that direction, we thought it would be quite popular.?

It is rare to find a traditional cemetery that welcomes man?s best friend. Of 10 randomly chosen cemeteries surveyed on the topic, none accepted pets.

?Although we have heard of cases where the ashes of a pet are put into a casket when a person is laid to rest, if we know beforehand, we can?t allow it,? said Tedi Kallis, manager of Crown Hill Cemetery in Twinsburg. ?If we knew it, we would have to have the pet removed. The caskets are sealed at the funeral home, and we don?t ask what is in there.?

Standing Rock has heard similar tales. Grounds crews have also reported finding empty containers that indicated someone had scattered pet ashes over a grave.

Some folks aren?t content burying their pets in a backyard because if they move, the site becomes inaccessible, Sapp said.

?There was some demand for [a burial site] and quite frankly, we were looking at revenue,? he said. ?We?re a business and we have to pay employees and buy equipment.?

Kent resident objects

The concept is not without controversy.

Kent resident Carol Alumeyri, who has four generations of family at the cemetery as well as her own prepaid spot, wants the cemetery to remain exclusively for humans.

?To me, it?s sacred ground. I think it?s disrespectful to the people who are buried there,? she said.

Alumeyri said she?s fielded a lot of mean comments from people after voicing her opposition at recent trustees meeting, but she feels strongly about the sanctity of one?s final resting place.

?It?s fine to have pets and people love them and I understand, but there is a proper place to bury them and it?s not there,? she said. ?I go to the cemetery every week. Standing Rock is a beautiful cemetery and they do a wonderful job of taking care of it. I just don?t want to be buried in the same place? as animals.

Alumeyri said she is seeking advice from an attorney as to whether trustees acted properly in adopting the rule without a public hearing and paying for the pet section granite marker with public funds.

?We were never given a voice. Voters were never allowed to consider the matter,? she said.

Opening in spring

But barring legal action, the cemetery will be open to pets beginning this spring.

?We never expected there to be any controversy over this,? Sapp said.

Sapp emphasized that the pet section is in the back of the cemetery and separate from the area where humans are buried, adding that the land there ?wasn?t too good for human burial.?

The rest of the cemetery is big enough to support human burials for up to 150 years at the current rate, he said.

Jean Chrest, the cemetery?s clerk-treasurer, said no one has called to inquire about a pet burial yet.

Missy Jordan of Hummel Pet Services confirmed that more people are getting dead pets cremated. The Copley Township business started in 2007 and has grown every year, to ?well over 4,000 pets per year,? she said.

?A lot of people say they will have their pet?s cremated remains buried with them,? Jordan said, but few inquire about separate burial service.

For those who want a lasting memorial, there are at least three pet cemeteries in the area: Butterbridge Farms Pet Cemetery in Stark County?s Lawrence Township; Paws Awhile Pet Memorial Park in Richfield Township, and Woodside Pet Cemetery in Bethlehem Township near Navarre.

At Standing Rock, a pet gravesite can include up to two cremated remains and cost $250 for residents and $450 for others. Full-size lots for humans who want to be buried with their pet?s remains are $450 for residents and $650 for others.

Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com.

Source: http://pets.ohio.com/2012/01/pets-and-their-owners-can-rest-in-peace/

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Japan finds water leaks at stricken nuclear plant (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Japan's stricken nuclear power plant has leaked more than 600 liters of water, forcing it to briefly suspend cooling operations at a spent-fuel pond at the weekend, but none is thought to have escaped into the ocean, the plant's operator and domestic media said.

The Fukushima plant, on the coast north of Tokyo, was wrecked by a huge earthquake and tsunami in March last year, triggering the evacuation of around 80,000 people in the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.

The operator of the complex, the Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), reported two main leakages on its Web site on Sunday, one from a pump near the plant's office building and another from a back-up cooling system at reactor No.4.

"The cooling water is from a filtrate tank for fire extinction and doesn't contain radioactive materials," Tepco said of the incident at reactor No. 4. It added that some water from the other leakage had flowed into a drain and "we are examining whether this water has flowed into the ocean or not."

The Nikkei newspaper Monday quoted Tepco as saying around 40 liters had leaked from the pool-cooling system of the No. 4 reactor Sunday morning, with probably 600 liters of purified water leaking from another point. Water had also leaked at other facilities within the complex, the Nikkei added.

However, the Nikkei newspaper quoted Tepco Monday as saying that it believed no water had escaped into the sea.

"The leakage is believed to have been caused by freezing due to cold weather, and the leaked water included radioactively contaminated water that has been purified," the Nikkei said in its online edition, quoting Tepco.

"The contamination level is low."

(Reporting by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Kavita Chandran)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/wl_nm/us_japan_nuclear_fukushima

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Milwaukee's Jackson suspended one game for abusing official (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Milwaukee Bucks forward Stephen Jackson has been suspended one game for verbally abusing an official and failing to leave the court in a timely manner, the National Basketball Association said on Saturday.

The incident occurred at the end of Milwaukee's 107-100 road loss to the Chicago Bulls on Friday night.

Jackson will serve his suspension on Saturday evening when the Bucks host the Los Angeles Lakers at the Bradley Center.

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in San Diego; Editing by Julian Linden)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/sp_nm/us_nba_bucks_jackson

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A Poll Arising Situation (Balloon Juice)

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The Cain-Gingrich Endorsement (Little green footballs)

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Oil spill brings attention to delicate Gulf coast (AP)

TIVOLI, Texas ? For decades, farmers and fishermen along the Gulf of Mexico watched as their sensitive ecosystem's waters slowly got dirtier and islands eroded, all while the country largely ignored the destruction.

It took BP PLC's well blowing out in the Gulf ? and the resulting environmental catastrophe when millions of gallons of oil spewed into the ocean and washed ashore ? for the nation to turn its attention to the slow, methodical ruin of an ecosystem vital to the U.S. economy. Last month, more than a year and a half after the spill began, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a three-year, $50 million initiative designed to improve water quality along the coast.

"I'm not going to say that it's the silver lining," Will Blackwell, a district conservationist with the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Services, said of the oil spill. Blackwell is one of many regional officials who have long worked with farmers and ranchers to fence cattle, reseed native grasses and take on other seemingly inane projects that go a long way toward preventing pollution and coastal erosion.

"I'm going to say that it will help get recognition down here that we have this vital ecosystem that needs to be taken care of," he said. "This will keep it at the forefront."

NRCS administrators struggled for years to divide a few million dollars among farmers and ranchers in the five Gulf states. Now, they are getting an eleven-fold increase in funding, money that will allow them to build on low-profile programs that already have had modest success in cleaning crucial waterways by working with farmers and ranchers to improve land use practices.

The nation's focus turned sharply to the Gulf when the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blew up in April 2010. Images of oil-coated birds and wetlands were splashed across newspapers and cable news networks. Coastal wetlands that are habitat to all sorts of wildlife were soiled and oyster beds were wiped out, underscoring the Gulf's ecological and economic importance.

The project is called the Gulf of Mexico Initiative, the first concrete step from a year's worth of meetings, studies and talking by the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, a committee formed by President Barack Obama in the spill's wake.

Sometimes, the money is spent on simple projects, such as building fences and installing troughs to keep cattle away from rivers and creeks that flow into the Gulf. The minerals in cow manure can pollute those upstream waters and then flow into the ocean. Those minerals can deplete oxygen in the Gulf, creating "dead zones" where wildlife can't thrive.

Other times, the program pays for expensive farming equipment that turns soil more effectively and creates straighter rows. That helps keep fertilizers on the farm ? where it helps crops ? and out of the Gulf, where the nutrients choke oxygen from the water. This equipment also decreases erosion, which has eaten up hundreds of miles of Gulf Coast habitat in the past century.

Until now, most counties in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas got right around $100,000 apiece to spend annually on these programs. The demand was far greater in many areas, but money was hard to come by, Blackwell said, highlighting the popularity of the program in Refugio County, Texas ? the rural area of Southeast Texas he oversees.

The influx of money has many farmers and ranchers ? especially those who have reaped the program's benefits in the past ? eager for more opportunities to improve the environment they rely upon for their livelihood.

Now, they are hurriedly filling out applications and waiting for officials to rank the paperwork ? those considered to have the greatest possible impact are the most likely to be approved.

"Fifty million dollars sounds like a lot. But when you consider ? Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and Texas, it's not going to be enough," said Glen Wiggins, a Florida farmer applying for help buying new farming equipment.

"But it'll help."

Dallas Ford, owner of the 171-acre Smoky Creek Ranch in Tivoli, Texas, first worked with the NRCS to build fences and strategically located troughs. The fences keep cattle in separate fields and allow him to rotate the cows between the fields, a practice that helps keep grass longer and better able to recover when it rains. The troughs ensure the cattle remain in the area and keep away from Stony Creek ? a bountiful tributary of the Gulf's Hynes Bay.

Ford estimates he has between $15,000 and $20,000 worth of additional work to do on his ranch ? all of which will ultimately improve water quality in Stony Creek ? but he will be able to do it only if he can get another contract with NRCS, which would cover about half the costs.

The cash infusion reminded him of a mentor who once said you could cook anything with time and temperature. In this project, Ford said, time is plentiful ? the temperature is money and manpower.

"We might be able to cook something a little faster," Ford said. "Now, maybe I can get you a nice steak."

About 685 miles away, Wiggins has been buying new tilling equipment to use on his 800-acre peanut and cotton farm that straddles the Alabama-Florida line. The high-tech farming equipment helps him better turn the soil and plant straighter rows, which ultimately prevent erosion and keep nutrients in the soil rather than allowing them to flow downstream and into the Gulf.

Wiggins' land sits on three watersheds ? Canoe Creek and Pine Barren Creek that are part of Sandy Hollow Creek, and Little Pine Barren Creek. With the work he's already done, Wiggins estimates he has reduced erosion by at least 50 percent. Now, he wants to further reduce it, mostly through the use of new equipment that will decrease conventional, and more destructive, tillage of his land.

"I'd like to get it down to zero, but if I could get it to 10 percent conventional tillage, I would be tickled to death," Wiggins said.

He estimated the new equipment will cost about $70,000. The only way he can make that purchase is with NRCS' help ? and now it may be within reach.

"The oil spill has been a powerful force to get people's attention," Wiggins said.

___

Ramit Plushnick-Masti can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com//RamitMastiAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_us/us_gulf_oil_spill_restoration

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Slovenia parliament confirms Jansa as prime minister (Reuters)

LJUBLJANA (Reuters) ? The Slovenian parliament confirmed conservative Janez Jansa as the euro zone member's new prime minister Saturday, almost two months after an inconclusive December 4 election, parliamentary speaker Gregor Virant said.

Jansa has 15 days to propose a cabinet which will be tasked with driving economic growth and introducing reforms to stop the country's credit rating from being cut. The cabinet must also be confirmed by parliament, in which Jansa's five-party coalition has a solid majority.

Jansa, who was prime minister from 2004 to 2008, has promised to boost economic growth by cutting key taxes and red tape. He also plans to cut spending and the budget deficit, raise the retirement age and speed up privatization.

(Reporting By Marja Novak; Editing by Ben Harding)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/wl_nm/us_slovenia_pm

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Mary-Pat Hector: Teen Impact: Finalist #6

This blog post was submitted as an entry in the Teen Impact contest and awarded as a finalist.

As founder of a national organization, I understand that only 10 percent will lead the 90 percent of my generation. I know I am in that 10 percent, so I created a national campaign, Shake Off Violence, beginning with a 90-day ceasefire. The purpose of the campaign is to raise public awareness about youth violence and to promote peace.

With a 40 percent rise in gang membership and a surge in gun violence, I just got tired of seeing my peers die. So I created a campaign to bring together leaders in the anti-violence community, music industry and political arena for a series of events and activities to promote peace among youth.

Participating cities include: Huntsville and Montgomery, AL; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta and Augusta, GA; St. Louis, MO; Jacksonville, NC; Philadelphia, PA; Detroit, MI; Bronx, Harlem, Long Island, and New York, NY; Milwaukee, WI.

The goal of this campaign is to save lives by bringing attention to the simple fact that WE HAVE TO GET THESE GUNS OFF OUR STREETS. We need new gun laws that will protect our future.

How can you get involved? Starting November 11, 2011, do not watch or listen to violent music or shows. Do not participate in physical or verbal violence. No thinking violent thoughts, either. We need people talking about this at your job, on your college campuses, and in your homes. We will have workshops, PSAs and forums created by youth to save our generation, so please visit my website, Marypathector.webs.com.

I believe all things are possible if we try. I hope you will join us as we take a stand against violence.

#ShakeOffViolence

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marypat-hector/teen-impact-finalist-6_b_1237774.html

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Vonn wins World Cup super-combined event

Lindsey Vonn of USA speeds down the course during the downhill portion of a women's alpine skiing super-combined World Cup race in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Keystone, Urs Flueeler)

Lindsey Vonn of USA speeds down the course during the downhill portion of a women's alpine skiing super-combined World Cup race in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Keystone, Urs Flueeler)

Lindsey Vonn, of the United States, reacts at finish line after clocking the fastest time in the downhill portion of an alpine ski, women's World Cup supercombined, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Armando Trovati)

Lindsey Vonn of United States reacts in the finish area after winning the downhill portion of a women's alpine skiing super-combined World Cup race in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Keystone, Arno Balzarini)

Lindsey Vonn, of the United States, speeds down the course on her way to win the downhill portion of an alpine ski, women's World Cup supercombined, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Slovenia's Tina Maze speeds down the course on her way to take sixth place in the downhill portion of an alpine ski, women's World Cup supercombined, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (AP) ? Lindsey Vonn won a World Cup super-combined event Friday to extend her lead in the overall standings against second-place Tina Maze.

The American defended her lead from the morning downhill with a solid slalom leg to clock a combined two-run time of 2 minutes, 28.35 seconds.

"It was a really satisfying win. I was happy with my downhill run but I knew it was going to be tough to hang on," Vonn said.

Maze of Slovenia was 0.41 seconds back and third-place Nicole Hosp of Austria trailed Vonn by 0.58.

Vonn earned 100 World Cup points for her 48th career World Cup victory and leads Maze by 302.

Vonn won the super-combined title the past two years. She has seven victories this season in her quest to regain the overall crown.

"It was really important today," Vonn said. "If I were to go out (in slalom), I knew that Tina would be within striking distance, so I had to stay on the podium. I tried to ski smart."

Maze trailed Vonn by 1.41 seconds in downhill.

"I tried to be fast and be close to Lindsey," she said. "I lost too much time. Super-combined is like that, and if you don't do well in one (discipline), you lose."

Vonn held her nerve when Maze and Hosp put down the two fastest slalom runs after they finished the downhill sixth and seventh, respectively.

"It definitely wasn't pretty skiing, but I made it," Vonn said. "There aren't many parts of slalom I'm good at, but on the flats is one of them."

Elisabeth Goergl of Austria was second in downhill, 0.61 behind Vonn, but skied out in the slalom.

Defending overall champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany had a big mistake midway down the slalom and hiked up the mountain to resume her run. She finished 21st, more than five seconds behind the leader.

The Olympic champion in super-combined was third after the morning run.

Hoefl-Riesch is winless this season after denying Vonn a fourth straight giant crystal globe last year.

Hosp won the overall crown in 2006-07 before Vonn's winning streak began, but has sustained a series of injuries since. The 28-year-old Austrian got her first podium finish this season, and just her second since March 2009.

American teammates Leanne Smith and Julia Mancuso dropped in the standings after being fourth- and fifth-fastest in downhill.

Mancuso, the Olympic silver medalist in super-combined, finished 13th, 3.82 behind Vonn. Smith placed 18th, 4.74 back.

Both were upbeat about their prospects in Saturday's marquee downhill race.

"I tried to push it today to see where I can be perfect for (Saturday)," said Mancuso, who is seventh in the overall standings. "I'm happy with where I am."

Smith said her form was heading "definitely in the right direction."

"I know I have the speed, but there's still a few things to fix," Smith said. "I just need to be cleaner in a couple of places."

The St. Moritz event ends Sunday with the second of the season's three scheduled super-combined events. The super-G and slalom legs are a makeup for a canceled race last month at Val d'Isere, France.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-27-SKI-Women's-World-Cup/id-14ffdf54392444138d975a0a9375f678

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A look at economic developments around the globe (AP)

A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Friday:

___

MADRID ? Spain's brutal unemployment rate soared to nearly 23 percent and closed in on 50 percent for those under age 25, leaving more than five million people ? or almost one of every four ? out of work as the country slides toward recession.

___

FRANKFURT, Germany ? U.S. ratings agency Fitch says it is downgrading the credit ratings of five countries that use the euro, including economic heavyweights Italy and Spain.

___

LONDON ? World stocks turned lower after official data showed the U.S. economic recovery was not as fast as many had hoped.

Britain's FTSE 100 was down 1 percent while Germany's DAX fell 0.5 percent and France's CAC-40 lost 1.2 percent.

___

TOKYO ? In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.1 percent while South Korea's Kospi rose 0.4 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.3 percent and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4 percent.

___

ATHENS, Greece ? Greece was locked in a twin effort to placate its creditors, seeking to secure a crucial debt relief deal with private investors while tackling pressing demands from its European partners and the IMF for deeper reforms.

___

ROME ? Italy easily raised $14.46 billion in a pair of bond auctions, as its borrowing rates fell for the second day in a row.

___

BERLIN _Nearly three-quarters of Germans oppose putting more money into the eurozone's rescue fund, according to a new poll.

___

WARSAW, Poland ? Despite the European debt crisis, Poland's economy grew at a brisk 4.3 percent rate last year, topping its strong 3.9 percent growth in 2010.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_bi_ge/us_economy_countries_glance

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Google Spent Nearly $2 Billion On 79 Acquisitions In 2011

Yesterday, Google filed its 10-K with the SEC, revealing the number of acquisitions and money spent on these purchases in the year. As of Q3, Google had spent over $1.4 billion on 55 acquisitions for the year. Google ended 2011 spending $1.9 billion (including cash and stock) on completing 79 acquisitions during the entirety of the year. Some of the bigger purchases included ITA Software, which was purchased for $676 million in cash. As we know Google is spending $12.5 billion on Motorola (which isn't included in 2011's calculations), with a termination fee of $2.5 billion if the deal fails to get regulatory approval. The transaction is currently expected to close in early 2012.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/nFfHsSgOkM0/

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Video: Obama momentum takes aim at the polls

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46154743#46154743

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Good day, bad day: January 27, 2012 (The Week)

New York ? Eli Manning wins the affection of married women, while the U.N. gets hit by the delivery of 35 pounds of narcotics ? and more winners and losers of today's news cycle

GOOD DAY FOR:

Eli Manning
A survey finds that married women would rather have an affair with the New York Giants quarterback than New England Patriots QB Tom Brady. [Opposing Views]

Bouncing back
Freestyle snowmobiler Colten Moore breathes a sigh of relief after surviving a 120-foot fall from his snowmobile during the Winter X Games. Moore still went on to win the gold metal. [Huffington Post]

SEE ALSO: The haute coffee-holder

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Stressed travelers
The San Francisco International Airport opens a yoga room for fliers who need a moment of zen. [TIME]

BAD DAY FOR:

Diplomatic immunity
The UN receives an unexpected (and presumably unintentional) delivery of 35.5 pounds of cocaine wrapped in a fake diplomatic sack. [NPR]

SEE ALSO: Good day, bad day: January 23, 2012

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Separating church and school?
A 16-year-old Rhode Island high school student gets death threats after successfully suing her school to take down the poster of a prayer that had hung in the cafeteria since 1963. [New York Times]

Eating your words
East Haven, Conn., Mayor Joseph Maturo receives hundreds of tacos from immigration activists who were incensed after Maturo responded to a question about what he would do to help the Latino community by saying, "I might have tacos when I go home." [The Daily What]

SEE ALSO: Good day, bad day: January 25, 2012

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It Only Makes Sense That Samsung Would Delay The Galaxy S III Launch

Every once in a while something comes along that's worth a wait, and I think the Samsung Galaxy S III will be one of those things. We've all been expecting Samsung's next flagship to show its face at MWC in February, but according to the Verge, Samsung may have other plans. Anonymous sources who spoke with the Verge claim that the SGSIII will still be available "before summer," but that Mobile World Congress in Barcelona may not be the most beneficial launch venue.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/dRPFTtv7Ons/

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Namath: Sanchez will be fine with right roster

In this photo provided by StarPix, former New York Jets' quarterback Joe Namath stands next to a poster bearing his image at the New York premiere of "Namath," Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/StarPix, Dave Allocca)

In this photo provided by StarPix, former New York Jets' quarterback Joe Namath stands next to a poster bearing his image at the New York premiere of "Namath," Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/StarPix, Dave Allocca)

FILE - In this Oct. 17, 2011, file photo, former New York Jets' player Joe Namath looks on as he he is honored during halftime of an NFL football game in East Rutherford, N.J. Namath is subject of a new HBO documentary abouth his football career and life, from winning a state championship in western Pennsylvania to Alabama to the "guarantee" of a Super Bowl title with the Jets. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 12, 1969 file photo, New York Jets Joe Namath (12) throws a pass against the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in Miami. Namath is subject of a new HBO documentary abouth his football career and life, from winning a state championship in western Pennsylvania to Alabama to the "guarantee" of a Super Bowl title with the Jets. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - In this Jan. 12, 1969, file photo, New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath gives his father, who is wearing an Orange Bowl hat, a big hug in the Jets' locker room after leading them to a 16-7 win over Baltimore Colts in the Super Bowl III NFL Football game in Miami. Namath is subject of a new HBO documentary abouth his football career and life, from winning a state championship in western Pennsylvania to Alabama to the "guarantee" of a Super Bowl title with the Jets.(AP Photo/File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Joe Namath had just watched a film about a young quarterback who threw too many interceptions, then learned to trust his teammates and led his club to a championship.

He believes someday the same story could be told about Mark Sanchez.

The Hall of Famer saw the new HBO documentary about his life for the first time at a screening in Manhattan on Wednesday night. Images of the glamorous QB leading the New York Jets to a Super Bowl title inevitably lead to questions about whether the current photogenic starter at that position can finally lead the franchise back to glory.

"He's going to learn from his mistakes," Namath said. "He needs the help around him. He presses at times. He wants to do things because he's expected to."

"They get the people around him," he added, "he's going to be fine."

Just look at the city's other quarterback, Eli Manning, Namath said. He's rooting for the Giants in the Super Bowl, by the way.

Namath has been vocal in his criticism of the Jets' leadership at times in recent years and makes clear that's where his concern lies ? not with Sanchez.

"I feel awful about my relationship with the Jets right now," he said.

"I don't want them upset with Joe, but dammit I have to say what I see, what I think, what I feel. I think we can do some things better," Namath said, still referring to the Jets as "we."

He won't say Sanchez needs to be a better leader because he doesn't believe a quarterback can boss around those big linemen.

"I didn't push any kind of leadership," Namath said. "Lead by example as a football player, as the quarterback: to know the plan frontwards, backwards; be able to answer; know my guys; convince them I was ready and would give it my best. But no taking over a locker room. You have to have someone with the strength of the guy over in Baltimore ? maybe Ray Lewis ? you've got to be a beast to do that kind of thing, man."

Of course, Namath always did things the unconventional way. Teammates in the documentary tell of how he would show up with a hangover at games and still somehow play well.

Namath says he was sober for 13 years after the birth of his children, but his divorce sent him back to drinking. That was revealed very publicly during an on-air interview at a Jets game in 2003, when a visibly drunk Namath repeatedly told ESPN reporter Suzy Kolber he wanted to kiss her.

"I think the way I felt about it at the time was, he's a really good guy having a bad moment that happened to be captured on national television," she says in the film.

Namath didn't cooperate with an earlier biography about him, but he said he agreed to help with the documentary because he trusted HBO and its partner in the movie, NFL Films. "Namath" premieres Saturday.

As Namath spoke to reporters after the screening, a young woman brought over a coffee. He joked that he initially thought it was Johnnie Walker: "You see how things have changed."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-25-Namath%20Documentary/id-97a274c65de14697b75b7974f6d47346

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The nations weather (AP)

Weather Underground Forecast for Thursday, January 26, 2012.

Active weather will spread across much of the East on Thursday as the storm system from eastern Texas lifts northeastward across the Eastern Valleys to the Northern Appalachians. Ample moisture from the Gulf of Mexico will accompany this system and will aid in producing moderate to heavy rainfall and thunderstorms on the northern and eastern edge of this system, from the Central Gulf Coast through the Ohio River Valley and Mid-Atlantic and into the Northeast later in the day. Energy from an associated warm front lifting through the Mid-Atlantic will enhance precipitation in the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys and the Appalachians, while energy from a trailing cold front enhances storms in the Gulf Coast States. There is a slight chance for severe weather development across the central to northeastern Gulf Coast. Damaging wind and isolated tornadoes will be the main concerns with severe storms in these areas. Meanwhile, more light to moderate rain showers and thunderstorms will be possible on the back of this system in eastern Texas.

To the north, a few flurries may be possible in the northern Upper Great Lakes as a low pressure system moves eastward through southern Canada. A cold front associated with this low pressure will extend through the nation 1/4's mid-section during the day before dissipating by the evening.

In the West, another wet system will move through the Northwest, bringing rain and high elevation snowfall to areas from the Pacific Northwest and areas of northern California through the Northern Intermountain West and the northern tier of the Central Great Basin. Temperatures in the Lower 48 states Wednesday have ranged from a morning low of -4 degrees at Big Piney, Wyo. to a high of 96 degrees at Bonifay, Fla.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_weatherpage_weather

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Monaco 3.1 AMP Extreme Charge Car Power Adapter Review

Extreme is right! ?The Monaco Extreme Charge Car Power Adapter, simply put, is the best money you’re going to spend for car charger. ?And you’re not going to spend that much. WirelessGround sent one of these chargers to The Gadgeteer for review, and you’ll find that their price of $14.95 isn’t going to break the [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/01/25/monaco-3-1-amp-extreme-charge-car-power-adapter-review/

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New Vaccine Approach Gives Hope to Those Living with HIV (LiveScience.com)

Brian Brown has been taking antiretroviral drugs for five years. If he stops, the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, in his body will multiply and eventually, he'll get really sick. "You have to take them with food," Brown said. "Even if you aren't really hungry." A 39-year-old licensed practical nurse, Brown has to remember to take his drugs daily. It's a routine familiar to people with all kinds of chronic diseases, including HIV and diabetes.

Brown got a break, though. In 2010, he was part of a study of a new kind of vaccine for HIV, called Vacc-4x, from a company called Bionor. He was able to stop taking his two drugs for almost two years. The vaccine didn't cure him, but it cut down the number of HIV viral particles in his body to nearly undetectable levels, and his immune system's virus-fighting cells, called T-cells, went up.

Vacc-4x is just one HIV treatment that illustrates a new approach to HIV vaccines that has gained increasing currency in the last few years. Most people think of vaccines as a preventative measure, and early efforts to control HIV were focused on that strategy. The problem is that even though some are promising, preventing infection doesn?t do any good for the 34 million people worldwide who are already infected. To stop the spread, the key might be a post-infection vaccine like those given for rabies.

HIV, however, is a tough nut to crack. It attacks the very cells that detect and kill invading pathogens. Even when it isn't actively replicating, it can live in tissues in the nervous system or the gut for years. This is one reason HIV takes so long to manifest, and why the immune system has a tough time recognizing it and destroying infected cells. [7 Devastating Infectious Diseases]

Currently, the best way to treat HIV is with antiretroviral therapy ? drugs that aim at keeping the levels of virus in a person's blood low. These drugs have extended life spans, allowing for normal lives and reducing the chances of transmitting the virus. However, the side effects can negatively affect health, bringing liver problems and nausea.

There is also the problem of sticking to the drug regimen. "Adherence is a challenging thing," said Frank Oldham, chief executive officer of the National Association of People With AIDS.

Enter: new HIV vaccines

There are several therapeutic vaccines in development. Approaching HIV in slightly different ways, all are designed to allow the body's immune system to at least fight the virus to a standstill, and perhaps even keep it at undetectable levels. Common to all treatments is giving the immune system some way to recognize HIV. The vaccines differ in the markers (called antigens) they use to flag HIV particles, and in how they are delivered to the body.

Vacc-4x trains a person's immune system to recognize and fight a key protein that HIV relies on, called gp24. It also stimulates the production of white blood cells, which normally are killed by the virus. Early results show patients' viral loads coming down by a factor of three.

Genetic Immunity, a U.S.-Hungarian company, is testing a vaccine called DermaVir. Rather than focusing on a single protein, DermaVir uses a tiny bit of HIV DNA (called plasmid DNA) to generate a set of 15 chemical markers that the body's T-cells can recognize. The idea is to maximize the number of ways the immune cells can "see" the virus. The vaccine is administered by rubbing the skin enough to irritate it. Cells called dendritic cells will pick up a nanoparticle containing the DNA and deliver it to the lymph nodes, where the infection-fighting T-cells are generated.

The vaccine has been tested on about 70 patients so far and showed a 70 percent reduction in viral load, according to Genetic Immunity?s president, Dr. Julianna Lisziewicz. Another set of trials on patients is currently under way. [AIDS: A 'Winnable' Public Health Battle?]

Another approach is being taken by Gaithersburg, Md.-based company VIRxSYS, which uses a genetically altered HIV virus to deliver the vaccine. The body doesn't recognize HIV easily, and thus won't mount an immune response to the very vehicle delivering the medicine, said Franck Lemiale, senior director of immunobiology at the company.

To make sure that the T-cells will "see" many strains of HIV, the VIRxSYS vaccine uses proteins called Gag, Pol and Rev, which tend to be the same in all of variations of the HIV virus.

The company said in July 2011 that a version of its vaccine tested in monkeys, called VRX1273, had not only brought the viral loads down to undetectable levels in body fluids, but in tissues as well. If that result can be duplicated in humans, it might mean that the vaccine is helping the body to eliminate the virus entirely.

Vaccine vectors

Other groups are trying different delivery modes, or vectors. Dr. Chil-Yong Kang, a virologist at the University of Western Ontario, heads up a lab whose preventative vaccine, after receiving FDA approval in December, will go into trials designed to determine the safety of the vaccine. Kang hopes his vaccine, which would ride into the body on another virus, will also enable the body to attack infected cells in the tissues where HIV likes to hide.

Perhaps the most high-tech vaccine under development is from Argos Therapeutics, called AGS-004. Monocytes, a type of white blood cell, are taken from the patient, and artificially induced to become immature dendritic cells. Those cells are then exposed to the RNA (a molecule similar to DNA) of HIV particles taken from the patient until they produce antigens, red flags of sorts, to alert the immune system of the virus. Re-introduced to the patient, they can then bring the antigens to the T-cells, which then find and kill HIV.

Of the vaccines, Vacc-4x, Argos and Dermavir are closest to being approved for general use, with Vacc-4x having just finished phase 2 trials for efficacy in humans and Argos and Dermavir in phase 2b. That means all are seen as safe to use, have been tested in small groups, and will next be tested in large populations (phase 3). The others are either still being tested in animals or in the safety phases of testing.

"Clearly this field is young enough that we don't have a product that we can say is the greatest," said Dr. David M. Asmuth, co-director of the Clinical Research Center at the University of California, Davis, Medical Center, which administered the Vacc-4x to HIV patient Brown. While the trials have shown promise, he is still cautious.

Asmuth notes the Vacc-4x trial Brown was in showed a reduction in viral load. But it is still unclear how long that would last once the patients were off ART.

He also noted that HIV-positive individuals have a "set point" ? a viral load that stabilizes after infection, and can remain stable for years. When people get sick, it is because the number of virus copies suddenly increases and the immune system is overwhelmed. The current crop of vaccines being tested may only change the set point to something lower. That is still a good thing, but it isn't a cure.

What would be ideal, Asmuth said, is a vaccine that reproduces what doctors see in people whose own bodies keep HIV under control for years, sometimes indefinitely. They are called "long-term non-progressors." Their viral loads should stay low and the CD4 count (a measure of immune health) should stay at 500-600, which is normal (a CD4 count less than 200 is often used as the diagnosis for AIDS). None of the vaccines being tested has shown they can do that ? yet.

Even so, Asmuth is optimistic. "Who would have guessed 30 years ago that we would have the degree of control over the virus that we have now?"

Oldham said the fact that such therapies are in trials at all is exciting. "This would be a monumental breakthrough," he said. "Antiretrovirals were the beginning. I think therapeutic vaccines would be the next step towards improving lives."

Brown meanwhile, said the Vacc-4x trial meant many of the small routines he built up over years won't be necessary anymore ? and small changes add up. "I didn't have to remember to take my pills," he said. "I could travel without having to think about bringing them."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/aids/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20120125/sc_livescience/newvaccineapproachgiveshopetothoselivingwithhiv

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Higher oil prices, asset sales boost Conoco profit (AP)

NEW YORK ? Higher oil prices are making it easier for ConocoPhillips to complete a massive transformation this year.

The Houston energy company said Wednesday that its profit rose 66.1 percent in the fourth quarter even as it produced less oil. Much of that increase came from the sale of pipelines and other assets that became more attractive as the oil they transported rose in price.

ConocoPhillips reported net income of $3.39 billion, or $2.56 per share, for the October-December period, compared with $2.04 billion, or $1.39 per share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 17.2 percent to $62.4 billion.

Excluding special gains, earnings were $2.02 per share. That beat analyst estimates of $1.77 per share on revenue of $45.1 billion.

ConocoPhillips is in the final stages of a three-year overhaul of its worldwide operations that will make it much smaller, and, the company hopes, easier to grow in the future. Since 2010, ConocoPhillips has shed $10.7 billion in assets, including some of its least profitable businesses, and it plans to sell more than $1 billion more by the end of 2012.

It also will spin off its refining business into a separate company, Phillips 66, before June.

The company picked a good time to transform itself. Surging oil prices are supporting revenue even as it produces less. And they helped ConocoPhillips get top dollar for oil field equipment, pipelines and other assets.

"They're finding a seller's market right now," Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov said. "There's a lot of demand for those assets."

Oil production declined for ConocoPhillips in the quarter as it closed operations and experienced a series of setbacks around the world. The Libyan rebellion shut down the company's joint ventures in that country while oil production off the coast of China slowed down while ConocoPhillips dealt with an oil spill.

Altogether, production dropped 13.3 percent in the final three months of 2011. Exploration and production profits fell 5 percent in the quarter, but the decline would have been much worse if not for an increase in oil and natural gas prices.

ConocoPhillips sold crude worldwide for an average of $97.22 in the quarter, up 22.4 percent from the same period last year. It sold natural gas for $5.34 per 1,000 cubic feet, up 4.9 percent from last year.

Chief Financial Officer Jeff Sheets told investors in a conference call that production should drop further this year. The company expects to pump 1.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2012, down from 1.62 million barrels in 2011.

More asset sales should further reduce oil production this year. Also, the company may shut down some natural gas production in North America this year because of low prices, Sheets said.

Meanwhile, refining and market profits soared as the company sold $1.55 billion in pipelines and other refining assets. Altogether, the company's refining business earned $1.7 billion in the quarter.

Profit at ConocoPhillips' chemicals unit increased 32.2 percent to $156 million and its midstream business increased earnings 30 percent to $118 million.

For the full year, ConocoPhillips said its net income rose to $12.4 billion, or $8.97 per share, compared with $11.4 billion, or $7.62 per share, in 2010. Annual revenue increased 26.5 percent to $251.2 billion.

ConocoPhillips is the first major oil company to report financial results for the fourth quarter. Chevron Corp. plans to release its quarterly figures on Friday, followed by Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell next week. Occidental Petroleum Corp. on Wednesday reported a 35 percent jump in quarterly profits as it increased production and sold crude for higher prices.

ConocoPhillips shares fell 63 cents to close at $69.98 on Wednesday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_conocophillips

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New Vaccine Approach Gives Hope to Those Living with HIV (LiveScience.com)

Brian Brown has been taking antiretroviral drugs for five years. If he stops, the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, in his body will multiply and eventually, he'll get really sick. "You have to take them with food," Brown said. "Even if you aren't really hungry." A 39-year-old licensed practical nurse, Brown has to remember to take his drugs daily. It's a routine familiar to people with all kinds of chronic diseases, including HIV and diabetes.

Brown got a break, though. In 2010, he was part of a study of a new kind of vaccine for HIV, called Vacc-4x, from a company called Bionor. He was able to stop taking his two drugs for almost two years. The vaccine didn't cure him, but it cut down the number of HIV viral particles in his body to nearly undetectable levels, and his immune system's virus-fighting cells, called T-cells, went up.

Vacc-4x is just one HIV treatment that illustrates a new approach to HIV vaccines that has gained increasing currency in the last few years. Most people think of vaccines as a preventative measure, and early efforts to control HIV were focused on that strategy. The problem is that even though some are promising, preventing infection doesn?t do any good for the 34 million people worldwide who are already infected. To stop the spread, the key might be a post-infection vaccine like those given for rabies.

HIV, however, is a tough nut to crack. It attacks the very cells that detect and kill invading pathogens. Even when it isn't actively replicating, it can live in tissues in the nervous system or the gut for years. This is one reason HIV takes so long to manifest, and why the immune system has a tough time recognizing it and destroying infected cells. [7 Devastating Infectious Diseases]

Currently, the best way to treat HIV is with antiretroviral therapy ? drugs that aim at keeping the levels of virus in a person's blood low. These drugs have extended life spans, allowing for normal lives and reducing the chances of transmitting the virus. However, the side effects can negatively affect health, bringing liver problems and nausea.

There is also the problem of sticking to the drug regimen. "Adherence is a challenging thing," said Frank Oldham, chief executive officer of the National Association of People With AIDS.

Enter: new HIV vaccines

There are several therapeutic vaccines in development. Approaching HIV in slightly different ways, all are designed to allow the body's immune system to at least fight the virus to a standstill, and perhaps even keep it at undetectable levels. Common to all treatments is giving the immune system some way to recognize HIV. The vaccines differ in the markers (called antigens) they use to flag HIV particles, and in how they are delivered to the body.

Vacc-4x trains a person's immune system to recognize and fight a key protein that HIV relies on, called gp24. It also stimulates the production of white blood cells, which normally are killed by the virus. Early results show patients' viral loads coming down by a factor of three.

Genetic Immunity, a U.S.-Hungarian company, is testing a vaccine called DermaVir. Rather than focusing on a single protein, DermaVir uses a tiny bit of HIV DNA (called plasmid DNA) to generate a set of 15 chemical markers that the body's T-cells can recognize. The idea is to maximize the number of ways the immune cells can "see" the virus. The vaccine is administered by rubbing the skin enough to irritate it. Cells called dendritic cells will pick up a nanoparticle containing the DNA and deliver it to the lymph nodes, where the infection-fighting T-cells are generated.

The vaccine has been tested on about 70 patients so far and showed a 70 percent reduction in viral load, according to Genetic Immunity?s president, Dr. Julianna Lisziewicz. Another set of trials on patients is currently under way. [AIDS: A 'Winnable' Public Health Battle?]

Another approach is being taken by Gaithersburg, Md.-based company VIRxSYS, which uses a genetically altered HIV virus to deliver the vaccine. The body doesn't recognize HIV easily, and thus won't mount an immune response to the very vehicle delivering the medicine, said Franck Lemiale, senior director of immunobiology at the company.

To make sure that the T-cells will "see" many strains of HIV, the VIRxSYS vaccine uses proteins called Gag, Pol and Rev, which tend to be the same in all of variations of the HIV virus.

The company said in July 2011 that a version of its vaccine tested in monkeys, called VRX1273, had not only brought the viral loads down to undetectable levels in body fluids, but in tissues as well. If that result can be duplicated in humans, it might mean that the vaccine is helping the body to eliminate the virus entirely.

Vaccine vectors

Other groups are trying different delivery modes, or vectors. Dr. Chil-Yong Kang, a virologist at the University of Western Ontario, heads up a lab whose preventative vaccine, after receiving FDA approval in December, will go into trials designed to determine the safety of the vaccine. Kang hopes his vaccine, which would ride into the body on another virus, will also enable the body to attack infected cells in the tissues where HIV likes to hide.

Perhaps the most high-tech vaccine under development is from Argos Therapeutics, called AGS-004. Monocytes, a type of white blood cell, are taken from the patient, and artificially induced to become immature dendritic cells. Those cells are then exposed to the RNA (a molecule similar to DNA) of HIV particles taken from the patient until they produce antigens, red flags of sorts, to alert the immune system of the virus. Re-introduced to the patient, they can then bring the antigens to the T-cells, which then find and kill HIV.

Of the vaccines, Vacc-4x, Argos and Dermavir are closest to being approved for general use, with Vacc-4x having just finished phase 2 trials for efficacy in humans and Argos and Dermavir in phase 2b. That means all are seen as safe to use, have been tested in small groups, and will next be tested in large populations (phase 3). The others are either still being tested in animals or in the safety phases of testing.

"Clearly this field is young enough that we don't have a product that we can say is the greatest," said Dr. David M. Asmuth, co-director of the Clinical Research Center at the University of California, Davis, Medical Center, which administered the Vacc-4x to HIV patient Brown. While the trials have shown promise, he is still cautious.

Asmuth notes the Vacc-4x trial Brown was in showed a reduction in viral load. But it is still unclear how long that would last once the patients were off ART.

He also noted that HIV-positive individuals have a "set point" ? a viral load that stabilizes after infection, and can remain stable for years. When people get sick, it is because the number of virus copies suddenly increases and the immune system is overwhelmed. The current crop of vaccines being tested may only change the set point to something lower. That is still a good thing, but it isn't a cure.

What would be ideal, Asmuth said, is a vaccine that reproduces what doctors see in people whose own bodies keep HIV under control for years, sometimes indefinitely. They are called "long-term non-progressors." Their viral loads should stay low and the CD4 count (a measure of immune health) should stay at 500-600, which is normal (a CD4 count less than 200 is often used as the diagnosis for AIDS). None of the vaccines being tested has shown they can do that ? yet.

Even so, Asmuth is optimistic. "Who would have guessed 30 years ago that we would have the degree of control over the virus that we have now?"

Oldham said the fact that such therapies are in trials at all is exciting. "This would be a monumental breakthrough," he said. "Antiretrovirals were the beginning. I think therapeutic vaccines would be the next step towards improving lives."

Brown meanwhile, said the Vacc-4x trial meant many of the small routines he built up over years won't be necessary anymore ? and small changes add up. "I didn't have to remember to take my pills," he said. "I could travel without having to think about bringing them."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/aids/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20120125/sc_livescience/newvaccineapproachgiveshopetothoselivingwithhiv

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Algorithm maps cancer trajectory | Stanford Daily

Monday, January 23rd, 2012
By Sarah Moore

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a mathematical algorithm to help predict the severity of bladder cancer.

?

The results were published online Monday, Jan. 16, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and may influence treatment plans for patients with bladder cancer.

?

?There were two main findings,? said Chad Tang, a medical student who contributed to the study. The researchers ?divided up the bladder cancer into different subtypes, which have different prognostic implications. Second, one of the markers they used was a robust predictor of clinical outcomes.?

?

Before applying the algorithm, the team also researched bladder cancer stem cells.

?

?The algorithm was originally published in the context of predicting genes in development and differentiation,? said co-author Debashis Sahoo, instructor at the Pathology Stem Cell Center. ?What we have now is an application to cancer.?

?

The work with the algorithm started approximately two years ago after a 2009 paper identified three different types of bladder cancer: basal, intermediate and differentiated. These subgroups are identified by markers of the keratin (KRT) protein family. The basal subtype is marked by KRT14, intermediate is identified by KRT5 and differentiated is identified by KRT20.

?

The most severe cases of bladder cancer are consistently related to the basal subgroup. This knowledge will allow doctors to plan the treatment of patients diagnosed with this type of cancer.

?

?The clinician has to remove the bladder in the case of certain patients because of the progress of the cancer, and the way they do it now is based on state and the grade of the cancer, which is very subjective,? Sahoo said. ?This would be the first time that a molecular marker, which is very objective, can guide the clinician.?

?

Removing the bladder is a complicated operation. Markers identified by this algorithm will provide better indication of whether surgery is necessary when compared to traditional methods.

?

?I was motivated to do research where I could use my expertise in computer science to contribute to healthcare, in particular cancer,? Sahoo said. ?Some of the relatives in my family were victims of cancer.?

?

Tang cited intellectual interest as motivating his involvement.

?

?I got involved because I was interested in cancer and biology,? Tang said. ?I knew the post docs pretty well, and I was really interested in stem cell studies.?

?

The study will motivate further research on the subject.

?

?So far, breast cancer is the only kind with a similar way of subtyping,? said Keith Chan, assistant professor at the Baylor College of Medicine and a co-author of the 2009 paper. ?Hopefully we can extend it to other types of cancer and provide better prognostic information for the patients.?

?

?The next step is to try to move it to a prospective clinical trial to validate its results,? Chan said. ?The second thing is to try to understand the biology of these cells, so we can target them. That?s what we?re working on right now.?

Source: http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/01/23/math-algorithm-informs-cancer-treatment/

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