MS drug prevented fatal heart condition in lab study

Monday, January 30, 2012

A drug used to treat multiple sclerosis may also be effective at preventing and reversing the leading cause of heart attack, a new study has found.

Scientists found that Gilenya, a drug recently approved in the US for treating MS, was effective at reversing the symptoms of ventricular hypertrophy in mice.

Ventricular hypertrophy is a fatal cardiac disorder that can result in an abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia) and cardiac arrest. It is caused by sustained pressure on the heart due to stresses or diseases, such as hypertension (high blood pressure), valvular heart disease or myocardial infarction (heart attack), and is the leading cause of sudden cardiac death worldwide.

Researchers from The University of Manchester and the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered that enhancing the activity of an enzyme molecule called Pak1 that is found naturally in our bodies using Gilenya produced remarkable results in mice with ventricular hypertrophy.

Study co-author Dr Xin Wang, a Lecturer in Molecular Cardiology in Manchester's Faculty of Life Sciences, said: "Cardiac hypertrophy is the pathological state to respond to sustained stresses on the heart resulting in increases in ventricular wall thickness and muscle mass of the heart. The condition is often associated with fatal complications, such as, heart failure and rhythm disorders, such as ventricular arrhythmias, leading to millions of deaths worldwide each year.

"Our research had previously identified the effect of Pak1 in preventing tissue damage caused by reduced blood flow to the heart, known as cardiac ischemic injury. This latest study used mice with a genetic modification of the Pak1 gene to show how the enzyme, when stimulated by Gilenya, prevented and even reversed the symptoms of ventricular hypertrophy."

The research, led in Manchester by Dr Ming Lei, Dr Xin Wang and Dr Elizabeth Cartwright, and in Chicago by Professor John Solaro and Dr Yunbo Ke, is published in the leading cardiovascular journal, Circulation.

Dr Lei, who is based in Manchester's Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, added: "In recent years, escalating costs, risks, and uncertainty associated with drug development for treating cardiovascular diseases have posed daunting challenges to the pharmaceutical industry. Our discovery opens up fresh avenues for developing a new class of drug for treating several fatal heart conditions. The novel effect of this existing drug means that we have the potential to accelerate the availability of a new therapy for patients with these heart conditions."

###

'Pak1 as a Novel Therapeutic Target for Antihypertrophic Treatment in the Heart,' published in Circulation, (doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.111.048785)

University of Manchester: http://www.manchester.ac.uk

Thanks to University of Manchester for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117177/MS_drug_prevented_fatal_heart_condition_in_lab_study

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The Obama Campaign Is Now Using Mobile Payments Device Square For Fundraising

The latest technology to be adopted by the Obama campaign?Square. The mobile payments device is now being used by the Obama for fundraising, says the company. Staff, fundraisers and others are being equipped with the card reading devices, says Square, enabling the campaign to take donations on the go via Android devices, iPhones or iPads. "Whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, running for president or local assembly, Square makes it easier than ever for candidates, organizations and volunteers to fundraise for their cause," said a spokesperson for Square.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Df7cy5kc0cU/

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NKorea's young leader gets rock star treatment (AP)

SEOUL, South Korea ? North Korea's young new leader gets rock star treatment when he visits his troops ? just as his father did. But while the late Kim Jong Il mostly stayed aloof in dark shades, his son holds hands and hugs his soldiers.

Kim Jong Un seems to want to bond with his country's people.

The style harkens back to Kim Il Sung, his grandfather and revered founder of the country and ruling dynasty, and may reflect an attempt to turn a corner on the periods of hardship and famine under Kim Jong Il, analysts say. Kim Il Sung's image as a daring young general fighting Japanese colonial troops is powerfully engraved in the minds of North Koreans.

Cheers, applause and calls of "Hurrah!" greet Kim Jong Un as he examines the heating systems of soldiers' quarters, the pressure of their water faucets, the books stacked in their libraries ? even the taste of their food.

The North Korean state media reports and video footage of such "guidance visits" provide rare windows into the personalities of North Korea's leaders for outsiders and for the country's people alike. Few North Koreans, for instance, even knew what the elder Kim's voice sounded like, analysts say, despite his ruling for 17 years until his death Dec. 17.

In visits made so far by Kim Jong Un, believed to be in his late 20s, North Korea specialists have detected more warmth in his approach than the dour tours made in recent years by Kim Jong Il.

The younger Kim may be trying to emulate Kim Il Sung and move away from his father, who ruled during a famine in the mid- to late-1990s that killed hundreds of thousands, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea professor at Seoul's Dongguk University. North Korea also has faced international condemnation and sanctions for its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

"He'll try to look comfortable among the masses. He'll try to form an intimacy with the people, perhaps more than his father did," Koh said.

Imitating Kim Il Sung is a "positive for Kim Jong Un, because memories of his father Kim Jong Il aren't very good among ordinary people," Koh said. "People fondly remember the days of Kim Il Sung."

Kim Il Sung often was pictured surrounded by children, and Kim Jong Un resurrected that image during a recent visit to the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School.

As children in military uniforms cheered and clapped, a documentary on state TV showed Kim embracing one child's face with his hands. During lunch, Kim patted students in encouragement and watched with a grin as two women ladled out soup for students; he poured a drop of sauce on his thumb so he could taste it.

His main emphasis, however, has been on military posts ? with a half dozen such visits since the New Year. They seek to show citizens that their new leader is firmly in command of the country's most important institution, its 1.2 million-strong military, and that he is loved and respected by young troops and elderly generals alike.

While Kim Jong Il had two decades to prepare for leadership, Kim Jong Un was only publicly unveiled as heir in 2010, and outside observers have raised doubts about Kim Jong Un's ability to lead a country locked in a nuclear standoff with its neighbors and Washington and with a history of attacking South Korea.

Animosity is still high between the Koreas. Six decades after the Korean War, the peninsula remains in a state of war because the 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea to deter potential North Korean aggression.

Bloodshed spiked in 2010 when a South Korean warship exploded in disputed waters, killing 46. South Korea said the North torpedoed the warship; the North denied the allegation. North Korea also attacked a front-line South Korean island, killing four.

Kim Jong Un clearly has made attempts to appear active and engaged with his soldiers, and this "helps raise troops' morale and his profile," said Kim Yeon-su, a North Korea expert at Korea National Defense University. "North Korea is telling its people that Kim Jong Un is capable of doing all these military activities himself."

Kim Jong Un's first reported military visit after his father's death came on New Year's Day. He appeared at ease, laughing and clapping, pulling officers close to give them words of advice, inspecting bunks and testing water faucets.

State television has also played a documentary on Kim Jong Un meant to highlight his military experience, showing him in the cockpit of a tank, galloping by on horseback and poring over documents at night.

Despite his youth, Kim Jong Un often plays the part of a solicitous father during his meticulously documented military tours.

Wearing a dark overcoat similar to one Kim Il Sung favored as a young man or a light-colored parka like the one Kim Jong Il wore, he exchanges handshakes with cheering soldiers and takes group photos, often holding hands with the officers on either side of him.

He asks about the soldiers' warmth, their eating and sleeping arrangements, listens with apparent enjoyment to their musical performances, observes their "militant spirit of training," offers guidance to officers and takes "care of the soldiers' living as their real father would do," according to state media.

He even tastes their bean paste.

___

Associated Press writer Sam Kim contributed to this report from Seoul. Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/samkim_ap and twitter.com/APklug.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/nkorea/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_re_as/as_nkorea_leader_s_visits

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What If I Ate Only One Type of Food? (LiveScience.com)

A British teenager collapsed and was rushed to the hospital this week after eating primarily chicken nuggets for the past 15 years. Stacey Irvine, 17, has reportedly survived on her nugget-heavy diet, occasionally supplemented by a bag of chips or piece of toast, since she was a toddler. Doctors have urgerd her to change her ways, but Irvine's case got us wondering: what would actually happen if you ate only one type of food for your entire life?

Depends on the poison you pick, but poison it most likely would be. According to Jo Ann Hattner, a nutrition consultant at Stanford University School of Medicine and former national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, choosing to eat only one fruit, vegetable or grain would lead to organ failure. Consuming only meat would eventually force your body to start munching on?your own muscles. And if you stuck solely to almost any one food (besides fruit), you would develop a serious case of scurvy.

"I wouldn't recommend this experiment," said Hattner, who also wrote "Gut Insight" (Hattner Nutrition, 2009), a book about digestive health.

No single vegetable or legume has all nine essential amino acids humans need to build the proteins that make up our muscles, Hattner said. That's why most human cultures, without knowing anything about food chemistry, have developed diets centered on complementary veggies that, together, provide all nine. At first, without all the right amino acids, your hair starts to lighten in color and your fingernails get soft. Much worse, "your lean body mass suffers. That doesn't just mean your muscles, but also your heart and your organs." Eventually, your heart shrinks so much you die; this happens, on occasion, with extreme cases of?anorexia nervosa.

Eating only one type of carbohydrate ? just bread or pasta, for example ? also causes organ failure, due to amino acid deficiency. On top of that, you'd get scurvy, a horrific disease brought on by lack of vitamin C, an essential component of many of the body's chemical reactions. Thanks to?highly unethical experiments?carried out on prison inmates in Britain and the United States in the 1940s, we know that scurvy hits after one to eight months of vitamin C deprivation (depending on the quantity one's body has stored to begin with). At first, you feel lethargic and your bones ache. Later, strange spots pop up all over your body and develop into suppurating wounds. You get jaundice, fever, tooth loss and, eventually, you die. [Why Don't Fad Diets Work?]

Life as a "meat purist" would also be a dead-end.

In addition to lacking vitamin C, most meats contain very few carbs ? the easy-to-access packets of energy your body constantly requires to perform even the smallest tasks. "Without carbohydrates, you're going to start to break down some of your muscle mass to get the energy," Hattner said. Again, "muscle" doesn't just mean your biceps. You'll be eating your own heart, too.

However, there is one food that has it all: the one that keeps babies alive. "The only food that provides all the nutrients that humans need is human milk," Hattner said. "Mother's milk is a complete food. We may add some solid foods to an infant's diet in the first year of life to provide more iron and other nutrients, but there is a little bit of everything in human milk."

Technically, adults could survive on?human milk, too, she said; the sticking point would be finding a woman who is willing to provide it (and enough of it). Lacking that option, the second-best choice would be mammalian milk, especially if it is fermented. "Yogurt, which is fermented milk, has a lot of bacteria that is good for the digestive tract," Hattner said.

These hypothetical scenarios aren't just whimsical speculation. In many parts of the world, people have no choice but to eat mostly one food: often, rice. Scientists are developing genetically modified rice that contains more vitamins and nutrients, especially vitamin A, in order to fight malnutrition.

Figuring out how to pack everything we need into one food is also useful for space travel, Hattner said. "The impetus of a lot of nutritional science is, 'How do we feed?people in space?' Scientists are trying to increase the nutritional concentration of food so you don't have a lot of bulk."

Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @nattyover. Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @llmysteries, then join us on?Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/parenting/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20120128/sc_livescience/whatifiateonlyonetypeoffood

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Gingrich: Romney self-deportation plan a fantasy (AP)

DORAL, Fla. ? Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Wednesday ridiculed rival Mitt Romney's call for self-deportation of illegal immigrants as an "Obama-level fantasy" that would be inhumane to long-established families living in America. Romney, for his part, accused Gingrich of pandering to a Hispanic audience and said Gingrich himself had supported self-deportation in the past.

Discussing immigration in state where 13 percent of registered voters are Hispanic, the former House speaker criticized Romney's immigration policy during a forum with the Spanish-language television network Univision, saying the idea of self-deportation would never work. Romney snapped back at him later in the day at the same forum.

During a debate earlier this week, Romney said he favors self-deportation over policies that would require the federal government to round up millions of illegal immigrants and send them back to their home countries. Advocates of Romney's approach argue that illegal immigration can be curbed by denying public benefits to them, prompting them to leave the United States on their own.

"You have to live in a world of Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island accounts and automatically $20 million income for no work to have some fantasy this far from reality," Gingrich said, alluding to details in Romney's income tax returns made public Tuesday. "For Romney to believe that somebody's grandmother is going to be so cut off that she is going to self-deport, I mean this is an Obama-level fantasy."

But Gingrich's campaign has spoken of the self-deportation policy he ridiculed Wednesday.

"I recognize that it's very tempting to come out to an audience like this and pander to the audience," Romney said, pointing out that Gingrich has previously made comments supporting the idea of self-deportation. "I think that was a mistake on his part."

In debates, Gingrich has defended a proposal to allow some illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S. if they've lived here for more than 25 years and have a local sponsor.

Romney's campaign directed reporters to past comments by Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond, who said that only a small percent of illegal immigrants would likely be allowed to stay in the U.S. under Gingrich's plan. Hammond went on to say that the vast majority of them would likely "self-deport."

Gingrich also ran into trouble over a radio ad calling Romney "anti-immigrant." Florida Sen. Marco Rubio called the ad "inaccurate" and "inflammatory." Romney's campaign also asked Gingrich in a letter to pull the ad. Gingrich's campaign had no immediate comment on whether it would comply with the request to pull the ad. The Miami Herald reported that the campaign planned to remove the ad based on Rubio's comments.

Romney called the anti-immigrant label an "epithet" and "inappropriate."

At the forum, Gingrich spoke instead about other elements of his immigration plan, including controlling the border and establishing a guest-worker program to better manage the influx of immigrants. Gingrich said he favors a path to citizenship for illegal immigrant children who serve in the military but not for simply completing college.

Romney defended his opposition to allowing the children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at American universities. He said there are inexpensive options that will allow them to go to college.

Gingrich told Univision he believes states should charge in-state tuition rates for students who were born in the U.S. to illegal immigrant parents, but that he favors charging out-of-state tuition for children who were brought to this country illegally.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry's support of a Texas policy to allow children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition proved to be problematic with conservatives nationwide. Perry dropped out of the race last week.

Gingrich began the interview by speaking a few halting phrases of welcome in Spanish ? "Buenos Dias estudiantes" ? but begged off when moderator Jorge Ramos pressed him to go further. Romney did not speak any Spanish during his interview.

Romney was asked about family members he has living in Mexico. Romney's father, George Romney, was born in Mexico but moved back to the U.S. as a young child.

Ramos asked Romney if he had a claim to being Mexican American.

"I don't think people would think I was being honest with them if I said I was Mexican American but I'd appreciate it if you'd get that word out," Romney said, smiling.

Florida is home to many Hispanics of Puerto Rican or Cuban descent who don't view immigration as a priority but are more interested in the issue than the general public.

After the interview, Romney railed against Fidel Castro's Cuba in a speech before several hundred Cuban-American democracy activists. Romney has significant support from the Cuban-American political establishment in Miami.

"It is time for us to strive for freedom in Cuba, and I will do so as president," he said. "We must be prepared to support the voices for democracy in Cuba."

While the interview questions asked of both candidates were mostly about Hispanic concerns, Ramos asked Gingrich whether it was hypocritical for him to criticize then-President Bill Clinton and pursue his impeachment in the 1990s when Gingrich was being unfaithful to his second wife.

Gingrich snapped at the premise of the question and said it was Clinton's false testimony under oath that bothered him the most.

"The fact is I've been through two divorces. I've been deposed both times under oath. Both times I told the truth in the deposition," Gingrich said. "I have never lied under oath. I have never committed perjury."

Ramos asked Romney to declare his wealth, to which Romney replied that he's worth between $150 million and "200-and-some-odd million dollars."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_el_pr/us_campaign_hispanics

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France passes genocide law, faces Turkish reprisals (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) ? France approved on Monday a bill making it illegal to deny that the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago was genocide, raising the prospect of a major diplomatic rift between two NATO allies.

Lawmakers in the upper house (Senate) voted 127 to 86 in favor of the draft law outlawing genocide denial after almost six hours of debate. The lower house had backed it in December, prompting Ankara to cancel all economic, political and military meetings with Paris and recall its ambassador for consultations.

The bill had been made more general so that it outlawed the denial of any genocide, partly in the hope of appeasing the Turks. It now goes to President Nicolas Sarkozy to be ratified.

"This day will be written in gold not only in the history of friendship between the Armenian and French peoples, but also in the annals of the history of the protection of human rights," said Armenia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edward Nalbandian.

Turkey's ambassador to France Tahsin Burcuoglu told reporters he was "saddened" by the vote and warned there would be permanent measures taken against France.

Armenia, backed by many historians and parliaments, says about 1.5 million Christian Armenians were killed in what is now eastern Turkey during World War One in a deliberate policy of genocide ordered by the Ottoman government.

The Ottoman empire was dissolved after the end of the war, but successive Turkish governments and the vast majority of Turks feel the charge of genocide is a direct insult to their nation. Ankara argues there was heavy loss of life on both sides during fighting in the area.

Earlier, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told reporters at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg that Ankara would take new and permanent measures unless the bill was rejected and compared it to the Inquisition in the Middle Ages which was created by the Catholic Church to stamp out heresy.

"If the law is voted (through), it will hurt French and Turkish relations." Arinc said Turkey could take the matter to the European Court of Human Rights.

Turkey says the bill is a bid by Sarkozy to win the votes of 500,000 ethnic Armenians in France in the two-round presidential vote on April 22 and May 6.

It mandates a maximum 45,000-euro ($58,000) fine and a year in jail for offenders. France passed a law recognizing the killing of Armenians as genocide in 2001.

WAVING VOTING CARDS

About 200 Franco-Turks protested outside the Senate. They waved their French voting cards and banners with slogans including: "It's not up to politicians to invent history."

The Socialist Party, which has a majority in the upper house, and Sarkozy's UMP party, which put forward the bill, backed the legislation.

A non-binding Senate recommendation last week said the law would be unconstitutional and, after weeks of aggressive Turkish lobbying, there were suggestions the outcome would be closer.

Opponents in the Senate said the law would not encourage the Turks to recognize the Armenian genocide and would do nothing to help relations between the two nations.

"It is an unbearable law which calls into question historical research," said centre-left senator Jacques Mezard.

Sarkozy is expected to ratify the bill before parliament is suspended in February ahead of the presidential election.

It could still be rejected if some 60 lawmakers agree to appeal the decision at the country's highest court and that body considers the text unconstitutional. The Constitutional Council would have one month to make its decision.

Sarkozy wrote to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan last week saying the bill did not single out any country and that Paris was aware of the "suffering endured by the Turkish people" during the final years of the Ottoman empire.

French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero called on Turkey not to overreact and said Paris considered Ankara a "very important ally."

Engin Solakoglu, first secretary at the Turkish embassy in Paris, said: "France can't continue to say that Turkey is an important ally when it votes laws against it."

European Union candidate Turkey could not impose economic sanctions on France, given its World Trade Organisation membership and customs union accord with Europe.

But the row could cost France state-to-state contracts and would create diplomatic tension as Turkey takes an increasingly influential role in the Middle East.

(Additional reporting by Lucien Libert in Paris, Gilbert Reilhac in Strasbourg and Daren Butler in Istanbul; editing by Robert Woodward)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/wl_nm/us_france_turkey_genocide

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"The Artist" wins over producers at Guild Awards (omg!)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "The Artist" continued its love affair with American cinema after winning best-produced film on Saturday at the Producers Guild Awards (PGA), boosting its chances for an Oscar nod ahead of the Academy Award nominations next week.

The silent black-and-white French comedy, starring Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, is a homage to the pre-talkie era of Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s and tells the story of a fading silent movie star as sound began entering the world of cinema.

"When Michel Hazanavicius and I dreamed of making "The Artist," we knew we were dreaming of writing a love letter to American cinema. We never knew in return we would get a taste of the American dream," Thomas Langmann, the film's producer, said in his acceptance speech in Beverly Hills.

The film has been sweeping awards ceremonies in the run up to the Oscars, winning best picture at the Critics Choice and Golden Globes earlier this month.

It was up against nine other films in contention for best-produced film on Saturday, including female-led comedy "Bridesmaids," civil rights drama "The Help," and Steven Spielberg's epic tale "War Horse."

"The Adventures of Tintin," produced by Spielberg, picked up best-produced animated film.

The Producers Guild awards are significant in the race to the Academy Awards on February 26, as many of the 5,000-plus members of the PGA, are members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who vote for the Oscars.

For the last four years, the producers' best-produced film picks have gone on to win the best picture Oscar, with "No Country For Old Men" in 2008, "Slumdog Millionaire" in 2009, "The Hurt Locker" in 2010 and "The King's Speech" in 2011.

Other PGA award winners on Saturday included "Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest" for best-produced documentary, which explores the journey of influential hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest.

Angelina Jolie received the Stanley Kramer award for "In the Land of Blood and Honey," which she wrote, directed and produced, an accolade reserved for contributions that highlight provocative social issues.

The Oscar-winning actress delivered a sober acceptance speech, noting that when war-film "Schindler's List" won a PGA in 1994 during the Bosnian war, "the world turned a blind eye" to the atrocities happening in Eastern Europe at the time.

Spielberg was awarded the coveted David O'Selznick achievement award and comic-book legend Stan Lee received the Vanguard award, presented by "Spiderman" actor Tobey Maguire. Both received standing ovations as they took the stage.

ABC's "Modern Family" was named best-produced television comedy for the second year running, while HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" was named best-produced TV drama. PBS' British period drama "Downtown Abbey" was named best-produced long-form television series.

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Paul Simao)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_artist_wins_over_producers_guild_awards082419556/44261265/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/artist-wins-over-producers-guild-awards-082419556.html

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Iran revives Gulf threats after EU sanctions (AP)

TEHRAN, Iran ? Senior Iranian lawmakers have stepped up threats that Islamic Republic warships could block the Persian Gulf's oil tanker traffic after the latest blow by Western leaders seeking to rein in Tehran's nuclear program: A punishing oil embargo by the European Union that sharply raises the economic stakes for Iran's defiance.

The EU decision taken Monday in Brussels ? following the U.S. lead to target Iran's critical oil exports ? opened a new front against Iran's leadership. Pressure is bearing down on the clerical regime from many directions, including intense U.S. lobbying to urge Asian powers to shun Iranian crude, a nose-diving national currency and a recent slaying in what Iran calls a clandestine campaign against its nuclear establishment.

In response, Iranian officials have turned to one of their most powerful cards: The narrow Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf and the route for a fifth of the world's oil. Iran has rattled world markets with repeated warnings it could block the hook-shaped waterway, which could spark a conflict in the Gulf.

Military experts have questioned whether Iran has the naval capabilities to attempt a blockade. But the U.S. and allies have already said they would take swift action against any Iranian moves to choke off the 30-mile (50-kilometer) wide strait ? where the American aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, along with British and French warships, entered the Gulf on Sunday without incident.

The British Ministry of Defense said the three nations sought to "underline the unwavering international commitment to maintaining rights of passage under international law."

Earlier this month, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CBS' "Face the Nation" that Iranian forces could block shipping through the strait "for a period of time," but added "we can defeat that" and restore the flow of oil and other commerce. He did not offer details on a U.S. military response, but the Pentagon is believed to have contingency plans for such a scenario.

A member of Iran's influential national security committee in parliament, Mohammad Ismail Kowsari, said Monday that the strait "would definitely be closed if the sale of Iranian oil is violated in any way." He went on warn the U.S. against any "military adventurism."

Another senior lawmaker, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, said Iran has the right to shutter Hormuz in retaliation for oil sanctions and that the closure was increasingly probable, according to the semiofficial Mehr news agency.

"In case of threat, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is one of Iran's rights," Falahatpisheh said. "So far, Iran has not used this privilege."

The lawmakers' comments do not directly reflect the views of Iran's ruling clerics, but they echo similar statements made earlier this month by military commanders with close ties to the theocracy.

At the same time, however, Iran has tried to ease tensions by offering to reopen nuclear talks with the U.S. and other world powers after a one-year gap, and backing off warnings about U.S. naval operations in the Gulf ? where the U.S. Navy 5th Fleet has a base in Bahrain.

On Monday in Brussels, the EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged Iran to offer "some concrete issues to talk about."

"It is very important that it is not just about words; a meeting is not an excuse, a meeting is an opportunity and I hope that they will seize it," she said as the EU adopted its toughest measures on Iran with an immediate embargo on new oil contracts and a freeze of the country's Central Bank assets. About 90 percent of the EU's nearly $19 billion in Iranian imports in 2010 were oil and related products, according to the International Energy Agency.

On Monday, the U.S. added new sanctions on Bank Tejerat, Iran's third-largest bank. President Barack Obama has also approved new sanctions on Iran's powerful central bank that take effect later this year.

It follows U.S. sanctions enacted last month that target the Central Bank and its ability to sell petroleum abroad. The U.S. has delayed implementing the sanctions for at least six months, worried about sending the price of oil higher at a time when the global economy is struggling. On Monday, benchmark crude pushed above $99 a barrel after the EU sanctions and the renewed threats to close the Strait of Hormuz.

"This is not a question of security in the region," said German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. "It is a question of security in the world."

In Washington, a joint statement by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the EU move "will sharpen the choice for Iran's leaders and increase their cost of defiance" over the country's nuclear program.

But there are no signals from Iran that the tougher sanctions will force concessions on the core dispute: Iran's ability to enrich uranium.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted by state TV as calling the EU sanctions "psychological warfare" to try to halt Iran's nuclear program.

Iran's leaders have consistently portrayed the country's nuclear fuel labs as a symbol of national pride and part of efforts to become the Muslim world's center for homegrown technology, including long-range missiles and rockets capable of reaching orbit. Iran says it seeks reactors only for energy and research, but the U.S. and others worry that the uranium enrichment will eventually lead to warhead-grade material.

Earlier this month, Iran said it was beginning enrichment at a new facility buried in a mountainside south of Tehran.

"Iran's right for uranium enrichment is nonnegotiable," said conservative Iranian lawmaker Ali Aghazadeh. "There is no reason for Iran to compromise over its rights. But Iran is open to discussions over concerns about its nuclear program."

Russia ? which strongly opposed the EU sanctions ? said in a statement: "Under pressure of this sort, Iran will not make any concessions or any corrections to its policies."

On the U.S. side, Obama may also be wary about political fallout from any negotiations in an election year.

No date has been set to resume talks. A more pressing task for OPEC's No. 2 producer is assessing the sting from the EU slap.

The 27-nation bloc imposed an immediate halt to all new contracts for Iranian crude and petroleum products while existing ones are allowed to run until July. It also placed a freeze on the assets of Iran's Central Bank.

About 80 percent of Iran's oil revenue comes from exports, and any measures that affect its ability to export oil could hit hard at its economy, which is already staggering from widespread unemployment and a sinking currency that has sharply driven up the relative costs for imported goods.

Theodore Karasik, a security expert at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, called the struggling Iranian economy a potential "weak spot" for the ruling system as the country moves toward parliamentary elections in early March.

Reflecting the uncertainties, the Iranian rial fell Monday to a new low of nearly 21,000 to the dollar, a 14 percent drop since Friday, currency dealers said. A year ago, the rial was trading at 10,500 to the dollar.

Samuel Ciszuk, a consultant at KBC Energy Economics in Britain, said the sanctions will likely cause crude prices to rise in Europe and soften in Asia in the short term as more Iranian oil heads east. The sanctions will make it even harder for Iran to find customers for its oil and shipping companies willing to carry it.

"Iranian crude is being made the last choice. ... You may be able to get it at a discount (outside the West), but how stable is the supply?" he said.

In order to sell supplies once destined for Europe, Iran may need to offer discounts to its main buyers in Asia such as Japan, South Korea and China. Ciszuk said there hasn't been much sign Tehran is willing to do this so far, and it may prefer for now to divert the excess into storage.

U.S. officials, meanwhile, have been pressing Tehran's main Asian oil markets to turn away from Iran.

China ? which counts on Iran as its third-biggest oil supplier ? has rejected sanctions and called for negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.

South Korea, which relies on Iran for up to 10 percent of its oil supplies, was noncommittal on the U.S. sanctions. Japan, which imports about 9 percent of its oil from Iran, gave mixed signals but most recently expressed concern about how the sanctions would affect Japanese banks.

But all three nations sent high-profile delegations ? including one led by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao ? to oil-rich Gulf Arab states this month for talks that left Iran fearful of efforts to undercut its crude exports.

Within Iran, meanwhile, security officials are on higher alert over what they claim is a covert campaign led by Israel's Mossad and backed by the U.S. and Britain. On Jan. 11, a magnetic bomb placed on a car killed scientist who worked at Iran's main uranium enrichment facility. It was at least the fourth targeted killing of a nuclear-related researcher in two years.

The U.S. denied any role in the January attack, but Israel's military chief hinted that Iran could face incidents that happen "unnaturally."

After the sanctions vote, British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy issued a joint statement urging Iran to suspend its sensitive nuclear activities.

"Our message is clear," the statement said. "We have no quarrel with the Iranian people. But the Iranian leadership has failed to restore international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program. We will not accept Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon."

___

Murphy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Don Melvin in Brussels, Robert Burns in Washington and Adam Schreck in Dubai contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_bi_ge/ml_iran

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P.R.E.S.I.D.E.N.T. Principles from International Communications ...

NEW YORK, Jan. 23, 2012 ? ?Many business leaders think that hard data will influence subordinates, but in today?s troubled economy, they must first overcome workers? fear and uncertainty by addressing their emotions,? said international speaker and best-selling author Gil Peretz. ?President Obama, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and other U.S. politicians ? on both sides of the fence ? do this very well.?

Peretz, who has been called an ?Obama expert? by U.S. News & World Report, wants to help corporate leaders boost morale and influence attitudes. ?It?s not what you say; it?s what they feel,? said Peretz. He presents nine principles from his signature seminar ?Inspire like Reagan, Communicate like Obama, and Influence like Steve Jobs? that spell out the acronym P.R.E.S.I.D.E.N.T.:

1. PowerPoint (None)
Avoid using ?bullets-based? PowerPoint for speeches. The focal point of your speech is your audience ? not you or your slides.

2. Rapport-Building Techniques
Ensure that others will be open to your message by forging bonds quickly through techniques such as making eye contact, smiling, and emphasizing similarities.

3. Emotional Triggers
Use words that spark an emotional response ? for example, competitive phrases such as ?let?s be the first? or ?let?s beat them,? to inspire listeners to action. Quote from the Bible.

4. Simple, Short Messages
Employ two- to three-syllable words in simple sentences that even 10-year-olds can understand. Use slogans, and repeat your key message.

5. Inspirational Stories
Incorporate personal stories to connect with people?s hearts.

6. Dramatic Moments
Plan for your speech to have one ?wow? moment, either a statement or action, that audiences will remember and ?tweet? about.

7. Enthusiastic, Positive Language
Opt for positive language, like ?we have the best people here? or ?we have beautiful products,? that builds enthusiasm rather than negative language such as ?I?m skeptical,? which dampens zeal.

8. Nonverbal Communication
Consider factors such as tone, cadence and pauses as well as body language, clothing and location.

9. Trust
Focus on creating trust and exhibiting consistent corporate values so people are comfortable following your vision.

About Gil Peretz

An expert on business performance improvement with more than 25 years of experience, Gil Peretz is one of the world?s leading authorities on communication and sales training. Global companies based in the US, Europe, and Asia-Pacific invite Peretz, who often uses magic and props to deliver power-packed business ideas, to lead customized dynamic workshops designed to inspire their people to action.

Peretz has worked with international organizations such as Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Hertz, Ericsson, Hilton, Citroen, and Merck. His novel Intimate Marketing shows readers what business can adopt from personal relationships.

Peretz and wife Nili cracked the code of Obama?s techniques and in Obama?s Secrets show how using Obama?s ?message engineering? can improve the way CEOs communicate, persuade and pitch anything.

# # #

Source: http://www.ereleases.com/pr/president-principles-international-communications-expert-business-leaders-influence-inspire-obama-romney-73053

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Gingrich wins most delegates in South Carolina (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Newt Gingrich won nearly all of the delegates in South Carolina's Republican presidential primary Saturday, narrowing Mitt Romney's lead in the race for delegates to the party's national convention this summer.

Gingrich, the former House speaker, has won at least 23 delegates of the 25 delegates at stake. Gingrich and Romney were still battling for the final two delegates.

These are the first delegates Gingrich has won in a primary or caucus. In all, Gingrich has 25 delegates, including endorsements from Republican National Committee members who will automatically attend the convention. Romney has 33 delegates and Rick Santorum has 14.

The race for delegates is still in the early stages, providing plenty of opportunity for a candidate who gains momentum to seize the lead. It will take 1,144 delegates to win the GOP nomination. Only 62 delegates were at stake in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, combined.

Florida is up next on Jan. 31, with 50 delegates up for grabs in a winner-take-all primary. There will be six contests in February, with a total of 178 delegates at stake. Super Tuesday is March 6, with more than 400 delegates at stake in 10 states.

South Carolina Republicans awarded 11 delegates to the statewide winner and two delegates to the candidate who got the most votes in each of the state's seven congressional districts. Gingrich was the statewide winner and he won at least six congressional districts.

Romney and Gingrich were locked in a tight battle in the final congressional district with more than 90 percent of the precincts reporting. The South Carolina State Election Commission did not report the vote by congressional district, but The Associated Press was able to tally those votes.

The South Carolina Republican Party said it plans to finalize the congressional district results in the next seven to 10 days.

The Associated Press calculates the number of national convention delegates won by candidates in each presidential primary or caucus, based on state and national party rules. Most primaries and some caucuses are binding, meaning delegates won by the candidates are pledged to support that candidate at the national convention this summer.

Political parties in some states, however, use local caucuses to elect delegates to state or congressional district conventions, where national delegates are selected. In these states, the AP uses the results from local caucuses to calculate the number of national delegates each candidate will win, if the candidates maintain the same level of support.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign_delegates

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'Django Unchained' Is 'Old School' Tarantino, Says FX Artist Greg Nicotero

Just about all we need to know about a new Quentin Tarantino movie to be interested is the fact that he is making a new movie. With "Django Unchained," the latest project in question, we have been completely sold ever since the cast and plot synopsis were announced.
Part of what have made Tarantino's scripts so [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/01/20/django-unchained-greg-nicotero/

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Global Communications With SIM Cards, International SIMs and ...

Article Directory :: Internet Marketing/Online Business Articles

The SIM card, perhaps the latest in communication portability, is a small chip inserted into a cellular phone that stores all your data and allows you to make calls. It has many synonyms, from mini hard disk to a portable memory chip, all of which give testament to its vast capabilities. It has single handedly simplified the communications industry, making it easier to store all your information, text messages and phone numbers. It is small, so you can carry it around with you. Perhaps, of particular note, is the fact that the SIM card is the phone's proverbial engine, and when you call from a different phone, the information is transmitted as if it were from your own phone.

Changing phones is nothing to be concerned about. Once you buy a new phone, all you have to do is slap the SIM card into the slot and you're done. If you are a traveler worried that you won't be able to reach home with your current SIM, fret not, all you have to do is get to your destination and buy a local SIM, load some money into it and call home! It's that simple. The Subscriber Identity Module is perhaps the best device in mobile communication portability.

International SIM card is now the new kid on the block. It's the latest in business communications, especially with many people wanting to avoid roaming charges. It is the best and much cheaper way to communicate on a global scale to over 220 countries worldwide. The best option to go for would be a prepaid Global SIM card. Roaming charges aren't too bad when you don't plan on staying too long, but they aren't too great if you plan on visiting a lot of places in a single trip. International SIMs essentially permit the use of one SIM card for different communications networks all over the world. The rates are generally cheaper, for both calls and texts but it depends on where you are. They are very convenient. There are certain issues of phone compatibility, but these are easily resolved by the SIM card selling companies, who should be able to give you the necessary instructions to run your global SIM card.

World Phones are still very popular with travelers too. It's amazing how you get to talk, for relatively low rates, regardless of where you are. Global phones are the facilitator for this. They allow you to communicate with your family, friends, at a rate that is potentially lower than that of your own country. It can't be beat, by any stretch of imagination. World phone users have the obvious advantage of being on a unified Global Services for Mobile network that typically provides the best communication option, especially for businesses that require a significant amount of travel.

The world is getting smaller everyday, and communications is the fastest growing industry. We ought to keep up the pace. SIM cards, global phones and international SIMs are steps in the right direction.

Trying to find the best USA sim card or China SIM card ? Then check out the leading world SIM card at www.brightroam.com and find out how you can save on your international roaming charges with special global sim cards.

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Source: http://articles.submityourarticle.com/Stacy-Robinson-20886/Sim-cards-246572.php

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Jury in AZ bombing case see informant's racy pics (AP)

PHOENIX ? Attorneys for two white supremacist brothers accused of bombing a black Arizona city official are showing jurors racy photos of a government informant chosen to befriend the men for her good looks in hopes of getting them to talk.

Identical twins Dennis and Daniel Mahon, both 61, have pleaded not guilty in the 2004 bombing, which injured the diversity director of Scottsdale, Ariz., and a secretary.

Defense attorneys spent much of Friday questioning the conduct of the government informant, identified in court records as Rebecca Williams.

Among the photos of the informant shown to jurors was one that showed the pretty brunette from behind, wearing Confederate flag bikini bottoms, a black leather vest, ripped fishnet stockings and thigh-high black boots.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_re_us/us_scottsdale_bombing_trial

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Marine tape reaction sets Taliban fighters against commanders (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) ? Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have been enraged by a video which shows U.S. marines urinating on three corpses, believed to be insurgents, and some say they do not understand their leadership's relatively measured response to the tape.

News of the clip spread fast across Afghanistan, even though only a minority of people have electricity and the internet is restricted to a tiny urban elite.

Radio can reach remote militants and villagers and mobile phones are used by many Afghans, on both sides of the war, for storing and sharing videos even in remote areas with little communications infrastructure.

"I heard from some friends about this shameful act of the U.S. forces but could not see it at first," said one militant who called himself Qari Babar, explaining that a Pashto-language radio broadcast first alerted him to the tape's existence.

The video, posted on YouTube and other websites, shows four Marines in camouflage combat uniforms urinating on three corpses. One of them jokes: "Have a nice day, buddy." Another makes a lewd joke.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned the video, describing the men's actions as "inhuman" and calling for an investigation. U.S. and NATO military commanders condemned the actions of the men, and Pentagon has acted quickly to respond to the video, in a bid to limit the fallout.

Although a Taliban spokesman criticized it last week, he said it would not harm nascent efforts to broker peace talks.

For some insurgents, their leadership's muted response to the Marines' actions was unwelcome, particularly after reports the Taliban had agreed to open a political office in Qatar to ease possible negotiation with the United States and allies.

"Our leaders overlooked this degrading and inhumane act of American soldiers because they are interested in peace talks," said Mullah Mohammad Gul, a local Taliban commander in southern Helmand province, where the video is believed to have been made.

"Our duty is to defend our sacred religion and our people and we will keep fighting, no matter what."

Insurgent fighters in other parts of the country said the video could undermine discipline and push foot soldiers to ignore orders from higher ranked fighters.

"Until now, we were following guidelines and principles laid down by our senior commanders for us to follow while fighting," said Babar, active in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province.

Young insurgents might ignore orders in future, he added.

U.S. General John Allen, who commands international troops in Afghanistan, accused the Taliban's one-eyed leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, this week of having "lost all control" of his frontline fighters after several suicide bombings in the restive south killed almost 20 people, mostly civilians.

Babar said he watched the video with around 70 fighters, and said it shocked them even though previous cases of abuse by foreign soldiers in Afghanistan, including the murder of innocent civilians, had been well publicized.

"Every one is now desperately trying to find U.S. soldiers to take revenge for the desecration of the bodies," he added.

HATE WILL GROW

Several commanders also thought the Marines' actions would also help bolster the group's standing with the rural Afghans they fight among.

"It helps us to win the support and sympathy of the Afghan people," Abdul Basit, who fights in eastern Khost province where insurgents have a strong presence, told Reuters.

"You see now the entire nation, even so many people in the government and armed forces, have turned against them because of the atrocities," Basit said.

Basit added that they had been advised by their leaders not to kill their prisoners and spies but after seeing the video, many of them might not control themselves in future.

In the southern town of Marjah, a part of Helmand that has seen heavy fighting and was the centre of a U.S.-led campaign to displace the Taliban in early 2010, another commander agreed.

"It is good that such video has emerged which showed Americans' inhumane acts," Mullah Abdullah told Reuters by satellite phone. He disagreed it would sap discipline, and instead saw a groundswell of greater support.

"From now on, hate against the foreign troops will grow in the hearts of every Muslim, especially in Afghanistan."

(Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad in PESHAWAR, writing by Emma Graham-Harrison)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/wl_nm/us_afghanistan_pakistan_taliban

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The iPhone could be just one killer app away from beating Android (Appolicious)

Through the course of writing about mobile apps and their platforms, a lot of numbers get published that suggest who is beating whom in terms of market share between Apple?s iOS platform and Google?s Android operating system. The back and forth is important because things like market leadership and penetration are the macro view of the app story. The more people using iOS or Android, the more apps get made for them, and the more money invested in making those platforms better in order to keep business working. But the constant back-and-forth can get a little tedious.

Recent numbers released by research firm Nielsen, however, suggest that while Android is the dominant platform on the planet, Apple?s iOS always has a little juice left in the tank that could help it do something no one expects. By all accounts, Android should only grow larger as it spreads out across the world, fine-tunes its operating system and experience and gathers more partners in carriers and device makers. But then, every so often, Apple kicks on the afterburners and reminds everyone that it?s too early to call the race.

The most recent afterburner?s name is Siri.

Driven by the new iPhone

As PC World reports, Nielsen?s latest survey focused on new smartphone owners in the fourth quarter of 2011 in the U.S. Among people who bought new smartphones in December, 44.5 percent opted for an iPhone ? double the number who did so in October. Meanwhile, only 46.9 percent of those who bought new phones went with Android devices, down significantly from the 61.6 percent who bought Android phones in October. The difference between those two periods: the iPhone 4S.

While Android still accounts for the biggest share of the U.S. smartphone market, appearing on 46 percent of all devices in use in the U.S., many consumers in December opted for Apple?s platform instead. Among those buying iPhones, the big majority ? 57 percent ? went with the iPhone 4S. Previously, we heard that customers were even breaking contracts to get the latest iPhone, and Nielsen reported that Apple?s market share rose to 43 percent in October and November, from 26 percent in Q3 2011. Meanwhile, Android?s share dropped from 60 percent to 46 percent in the same period.

It?s probably oversimplifying to find one cause in the shifts of the market for both companies, but the iPhone 4S was undoubtedly at least one big reason for the change. And the real reason for the sales of the iPhone 4S, given how similar it is to the iPhone 4, is Siri, the voice-activated personal assistant software that comes with the new iPhone and only with the new iPhone.

One app to rule them all

The big swing in Nielsen?s numbers after the release of the iPhone 4S, plus the rampant demand and the trend of customers being willing to pay extra to drop their contracts and upgrade early, suggest some very important things about Siri. The software has captured the attention and imagination of a lot of smartphone buyers. Voice-activated technology is by no means new, but Siri is an impressive gadget that looks new. It?s exciting in that ?magic? way Steve Jobs was so fond of talking about in terms of Apple devices. Even with controversy and bugs, even though Siri is still a beta product being actively worked on by Apple, it still brought lots of buyers to Apple?s doorstep.

That suggests that while Android and iPhone are pretty evenly matched on most fronts, Apple could be just one (or maybe two) really killer apps away from turning the tables. Imagine if Siri was a full-fledged, working product, up to par with what Apple claims it?ll be able to do: it would have blown the doors off, if the reception of the beta version of Siri is any indication.

Where Apple succeeds and Android falters is that Apple is, more often than not, taking the forward steps in the mobile race, while Android is keeping pace. In the U.S., Apple has narrowed the gap with one device brand against Android?s army. Siri is a pretty solid candidate as to why.

That suggests that the iPhone 5 could be a game changer in this on-going discussion, should Apple have the wherewithal to see the success of Siri and bring another game-changing app to the announcement. If it?s a great app, one might be all Apple needs.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/appolicious_rss/rss_appolicious_tc/http___www_appolicious_com_articles10806_the_iphone_could_be_just_one_killer_app_away_from_beating_android/44220593/SIG=13inag7ek/*http%3A//www.appolicious.com/tech/articles/10806-the-iphone-could-be-just-one-killer-app-away-from-beating-android

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Scientists unite to capture a black hole

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GOP campaign rhetoric raising racial concerns

[unable to retrieve full-text content]WASHINGTON (AP) ? Hoping to win the hearts of Southern conservatives, Newt Gingrich leaned into his argument that President Barack Obama is a "food stamp president" and that poor people should want paychecks, not handouts ? a pitch that earned him a standing ovation in South Carolina during a presidential debate on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-18-Campaign-Race/id-1134d23c1f7d435a8db358a03f3cc4de

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Rare Mars Rocks Crashed to Earth in July (SPACE.com)

A hail of Martian meteorites crashed to Earth last July, and collectors and scientists around the world are snapping up the ultra-rare rocks for display and study.

The meteorites fell in the Moroccan desert in July and were recovered a few months later. Scientists confirmed today (Jan. 17) that the rocks are Martian, presumably blasted off the Red Planet by an asteroid strike.

The rocks are a rare treat for researchers, allowing them to investigate relatively pristine chunks of Martian material. Such freshly delivered pieces of the Red Planet have been found on only four other occasions, the last time in 1962.

As a result of their scarcity and scientific value, the rocks are selling for incredibly high prices ? 10 times the price of gold or more. News of the meteorites' Martian origin was first reported by the?Associated Press.

"In the world of meteoritics, a fall is as good as it gets," said Carl Agee, director of the Institute of Meteoritics and meteorite curator at the University of New Mexico. "We know that everything we're looking at is Martian, and that there's nothing in there that is confusing matters." [7 Biggest Mysteries of Mars]

Martian debris rains down

Martian material is exceedingly hard to come by on Earth. Just 220 pounds (100 kilograms) of Mars rocks are known to exist on our planet, according to Darryl Pitt, curator of the Macovich Collection of meteorites in New York City.

The newfound Martian meteorites ? which are called Tissint, after the shower that dropped them to Earth ? represent a significant percentage of this material.

"There's at least 11 kilos [24 pounds]," Pitt told SPACE.com.

Pitt said he had acquired more than 4.4 pounds (2 kg) of Tissint meteorites. He has been trading and selling pieces to collectors, museums and researchers around the globe, at prices ranging from $8,500 per ounce to $28,350 per ounce ($300 to $1,000 per gram), depending on the sample.

As of Tuesday, gold was selling for about $1,650 per ounce ($58 per gram).

"It's pristine material," Pitt said. "Five hundred dollars and $600 a gram for a freshly fallen chunk of the planet Mars? I'd say that's a deal."

Learning about Mars

The other four fresh Martian meteorite falls occurred in 1815, 1865, 1911 and 1962. Scientists get excited by the chance to study such rocks because they haven't been contaminated much by Earth organisms and weather.

The Tissint samples, and others like them, thus represent the next best thing to a Martian sample-return mission, something many scientists long for but remains perhaps a decade away in the best-case scenario.

Researchers can glean a surprising amount of information about Mars from a small piece of the planet, said Agee, who acquired several Tissint samples for his institution.

For example, pristine Mars meteorites can reveal a great deal about the Red Planet's atmosphere and climate, along with its potential to host life. Some scientists will doubtless pore over Tissint specimens for signs of organic compounds, the carbon-containing building blocks of life as we know it, Agee said.

"Because it's so fresh, if you find organics in this sample, you can be pretty sure those organics are Martian," he told SPACE.com.

There's also the chance that Martian organisms ? if they ever existed ? may have left a mark in the meteorite samples. Some researchers, for example, claimed to have found fossil evidence of ancient Martian life in a meteorite called ALH84001, which was discovered in Antarctica in 1984. (Most scientists regard the claim as unconvincing.)

Researchers don't yet know how old the Tissint samples are ? when they formed, and when they were blasted off the Red Planet. But that should be determined in the next few months, Agee said.

The large size of the newfound fall is also a blessing, ensuring that Martian rocks are studied and seen by many people around the world, he added.

"Everybody has access at this point," Agee said. "It will be widely distributed, so everybody will get a chance to study it, enjoy it and appreciate it."

You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/space/20120117/sc_space/raremarsrockscrashedtoearthinjuly

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Community Kitchen: Postcard from Mustards Grill, Napa Valley

Laura Scheffler Morgan photo

One of my favorite cookbooks, "Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook," by Cindy Pawlcyn with Brigid Callinan, is a book that is nuts for me to call a favorite, because I've only so far followed a few of the recipes in the book. But I've read the thing more times than I could guess in the decade I've been grateful to own it. One of the aspects of the book that first drew me to it is the following passage, from Cindy Pawlcyn's introduction:

"...This is not a collection of our fancy recipes, but ones that people have asked for and others that I think people would like to try making in their own kitchens. It is not my intention to wow fellow chefs. I want to enhance the experience of the home cook and allow the wonderful people who have eaten at Mustards to take a bit of the place home with them. I hate to follow recipes ? it's a pain in the ass. But it's the only way I have found to keep things somewhat consistent, so we follow them as best as we can at the restaurant. Feel free to make substitutions as you see fit, though, for personal taste or to eliminate a trip to the store. Think of these recipes as a collection of kitchen maps to get you headed in the right direction...."

Mustards Grill is a refined but casual (kind of?) bistro in the Napa Valley of Northern California. If I'd not been fortunate enough to have dined there 6 times already, I'd still love this cookbook only for those introductory sentences I just mentioned. But I love the book all the more since I've visited the restaurant every single time (and on two trips, twice) I've traveled to that area.

I've eaten at Mustards early in the sun-gushed evening when I was brimming wide-eyed and ready to try new tastes; and I've eaten there a couple times with less exotic interests, one of those occasions the last time Mike and I visited Mustards. That night, we showed up last minute, no reservation, and as we sat down, our waitress greeted us and immediately remembered us from a couple evenings prior. I'd already relished some flashier style cuisine on the previous visit, so I dreamily, humbly, and pointedly asked her ? closing my menu in front of me so I could focus on her response ? "So, which is better: the pulled pork sandwich or the cheeseburger?"

My wholehearted appetite at that point was in her hands. She knew it. Her dry-humor, no-frills-when-there-should-be-no-frills manner eased into grateful recommendation, and from behind her black rectangular frames she completed our understood transaction ? briefly beaming that the cheeseburger is always one of her favorite things on the menu.

Mustards Grill is the kind of place that isn't too above itself to even take sandwiches seriously, something I appreciate. You can plan to go to there hoping to try something both local and a little askew. Or you can go more spur-of-the-moment and do what I did, realizing that the opportunity to enjoy the best of what the restaurant makes sometimes means annihilating a fistful of glistening, dripping cheeseburger. Then for dessert, catch the last bit of generous-intense Napa sunshine out in the Mustards Grill sunflower and herb garden.

To remember the vivid vibe of the Napa Valley area, I read the Mustards cookbook somewhat often. The tone of it just appeals to me. It's full of both photos (of the restaurant, and the people, and the surroundings, not just the dishes themselves) and anecdotes (many times, a cookbook will be of one or the other type of style, I've found), as well as suggestions for growing your own herbs for a particular recipe, and information about some of the vegetables in the dishes.

One of my favorite aspects of the book is the information it contains about the evolution of some of the recipes and finished dishes. Some of those notes are educational, as a note in the Lemon-Garlic Chicken recipe that says, "In case you're wondering, this recipe is an adaptation of an Italian dish called pollo al mattone, in which the chicken is smashed flat with a brick, then roasted or grilled with the brick on top to weight it down and force all the wonderful juices to permeate the meat. Many Americans don't like the idea of the small bits of bone left in the meat, so we developed this tamer version." And some of the notes are more for entertainment, like the note that accompanies the Mongolian Pork Chop recipe, that tells the story of two of the restaurant's original regulars who ate different versions of that pork chop dish for a week until deciding on their favorite day's version and writing "It is now perfect!" on a napkin, which at least on one of my last visits, was still framed and on the wall. The recipe note says the framed napkin reminded Pawlcyn in the restaurant's early days that "...if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

The Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook is a book I can look to for inspiration for different ways to fill and cook a green chile (the first dish I ever ate at the restaurant was something close to the recipe for Grilled Pasilla Chiles with Tamale Stuffing and Salsa Ranchera, p. 30 ? and most likely one of the reasons I like the place the way I do; I adore green chiles, every variety I've yet tasted) as it is also a cookbook I can explore for barbecue ideas, homey chicken dishes (or guidelines for them), and is a book I occasionally open to find a recipe that apparently was on the restaurant's first menu and that Pawlcyn says is still one of her favorites. Though I've not (yet?) enjoyed this dish at Mustards, I've made the dish at home many times now (or at least variations on the dish), because it just tastes like the aura of Mustards Grill ? a little familiar, a little out there, and just right in between both of those appealing ideas.

The recipe fits the cookbook's aura as well, because it's flexible in its guidelines up to the point that you can make the dish as an appetizer as is suggested, or, in my opinion (and experience), as a wonderful salad (use more greens and don't worry so much about the croutons) or even (with a little more creative liberty), as part of an entree (I've made it into a summer dinner salad plate including balsamic-marinated steak, as one example).

Goat Cheese from the Very Beginning

1/4 cup chopped Those Nuts made with almonds (recipe follows), or almonds toasted for 7 minutes at 375 degrees
1/4 cup toasted bread crumbs
2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 ounces goat cheese logs, cut into 6 rounds

VINAIGRETTE

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 shallot, minced
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1/3 cup walnut, almond or olive oil
2 cups frisee, radicchio, escarole, or other bitter greens
6 oil-packed sundried tomatoes, cut lengthwise into strips
12 to 18 croutons (recipe follows)

Combine the almonds and crumbs on a plate. Pour the olive oil onto a second plate. One at a time, dip the goat cheese rounds in the olive oil and then in the crumb mixture, coating them evenly, and place them on a baking sheet. If you do not plan to serve them immediately, cover and refrigerate.

To make the vinaigrette, whisk together the vinegar, shallot, salt, and pepper in a small bowl until the salt is dissolved. Gradually whisk in the walnut oil, and continue to whisk until fully emulsified. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

When you are ready to serve, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash and spin dry the greens, and tear them into bite-sized pieces. In a large bowl, toss the greens with just enough of the vinaigrette to coat them. To serve, put the cheese in the oven for 3 to 4 minutes, until warm and slightly soft to the touch (be sure not to melt the cheese). Put a mound of greens on each plate, and top each with a round of goat cheese. Arrange several strips of sundried tomato on the cheese. Accompany each serving with 3 or 4 croutons.

Laura's Note: I've made this dish many times simply with toasted nuts (almonds or walnuts or pecans, etc.) and the dish is just as succulent and even easier to prepare than when made with Those Nuts.

Those Nuts

2 cups raw shelled pistachios
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
Peanut oil or vegetable oil for deep-frying
Sea salt
Ground cayenne pepper

Blanch the nuts in boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain and toss immediately with the confectioners' sugar, mixing well to coat the nuts evenly.

Pour the oil into a deep, heavy pan to a depth of 1 to 1 1/2 inches and heat to 375 degrees. Add the nuts in batches, and fry for 1 or 2 minutes, until crisp and golden brown.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the nuts to a rack or fine-mesh screen to drain (don't use paper towels or the pistachios will stick!). Allow the oil to come back to temperature between batches.

Sprinkle the nuts with salt and cayenne to taste while still hot. Now, see if you can keep from eating them all up before company comes.

Makes 2 cups

Croutons

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut a baguette on the diagonal into 1/4 - inch-thick slices. For extra-large croutons, cut the bread at a severe angle. Brush the slices with the olive oil. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown.

About 1 dozen

All recipes from "Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook"

Source: http://www.columbiatribune.com/weblogs/community-kitchen/2012/jan/11/postcard-from-mustards-grill-napa-valley/

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Children Born by C-Section at Slightly Higher Asthma Risk (HealthDay)

MONDAY, Jan. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Children delivered by Cesarean section appear to be at a slight increased risk of developing asthma by age 3, a new study says.

The findings support the results of previous research.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 37,000 participants in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study in order to compare the health of children who were delivered by planned or emergency C-section with those who were born vaginally.

The results showed that children delivered by C-section had a slightly increased risk for asthma at age 3, but no increased risk for wheezing or frequent lower respiratory tract infections. The risk of asthma was highest among those whose mothers did not have allergies.

"It is unlikely that a Cesarean delivery itself would cause an increased risk of asthma, rather that children delivered this way may have an underlying vulnerability," study primary author Maria Magnus, a researcher at the department of chronic diseases at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, said in an institute news release.

Possible reasons for the increased risk of asthma among children delivered by C-section include an altered bacterial flora in their intestine that affects their immune system development, or the fact that these children are more likely to have serious respiratory problems during their first weeks of life, the researchers said.

The study was recently published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

While the study found an association between C-section birth and asthma, it did not demonstrate a cause and effect.

More information

The American Lung Association has more about children and asthma.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/diseases/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120117/hl_hsn/childrenbornbycsectionatslightlyhigherasthmarisk

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