Rihanna cuddles with Chris Brown on her birthday! Check out other cute and candid moments from the stars
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Thursday, February 28, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Target 4Q adj. profit beats Wall Street's view
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ? Target's fiscal fourth-quarter net income dipped 2 percent as it dealt with intense competition during the crucial holiday season. But its adjusted results beat analysts' estimates and it forecast first-quarter earnings above Wall Street's view.
Shares rose almost 2 percent in premarket trading Wednesday.
The Minneapolis-based company earned $961 million, or $1.47 per share, for the period ended Feb. 2. That's down from $981 million, or $1.45 per share, a year earlier.
Removing certain items, earnings were $1.65 per share. That tops analysts' forecast for earnings of $1.47 per share.
Revenue climbed 7 percent to $22.73 billion from $21.29 billion. This met Wall Street's expectations.
Target Corp. foresees first quarter adjusted earnings of $1.10 to $1.20 per share.
Analysts predict earnings of $1.05 per share.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/target-4q-adj-profit-beats-wall-streets-view-125353190--finance.html
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Monday, February 18, 2013
The Military Frequent Flyer - What Does the US-American Merger Mean for a Government Traveler?
So everyone?has heard?the?news?of?American?and?US?Airways?merging, but?how?does?that?affect?you?personally?? From?the?view?of?a DoD/ Government?traveler, I see?both?plusses?and?minuses?to the?merger?and?specifically?to those?of?you?who?are part?of?either?carrier?s?frequent?flyer?programs.? As far as the?GSA?Program, I expect?you?will?see?both?carriers?again?bid?routes?for?FY?14, but?be combined?after?that.? What?may?surprise?you?is that?in FY?14, your?flight?is supposed?to be on?US, but?you?end?up?boarding?an?AA?plane?and?vice-versa as the?carriers combine.
Most?of?what?I am?speculating?on?is based?upon?the?previous?merger?of?UA?and?CO?and?I expect?this?will?be very?similar.? If?you?want?to compare the?differences?in the?programs?for?yourself, I suggest?you?go to Randy?Peterson?s?Web Flyer?page.?The?Aadvantage?program?will?be the?program?going?forward, but?the?management?team?will?be from?US.? So look?for?the?program?to be initially?like?AA, but?slowly?morph?to be much?like?US.? This?is exactly?what?happened?with?CO/UA.? Don?t?be surprised?if?some?of?the?changes?they?make?cause an?uproar?and?they?backpedal?if?enough?elites?object.? Your?voice?does?matter!
Here?is my?analysis?of?the?changes:
- AA?has?three?levels?of?elite?with?bonus?miles shown?in parentheses?25k(25%), 50k(100%), and?100k(100%).? US?has four?25k(25%), 50k(50%), 75k(75%), and?100k(100%).? My?prediction?is that?they?will?make?AA?four?levels?and?match?the?bonus?miles to US? program.? This?means?a loss?for?the?50k level if?your?were?in AA, but?by?gaining?a 75k level, you?may?get?upgraded?before?the 50k level.
- Domestic?upgrades.? This?is the?major?difference?between?the?programs.? Most?FF?programs?have?gone?to the?method?of?upgrading?all?elites?based?upon?their?elite?level?if?first?class?is available.? AA?is the?last?holdout?here?and?only?upgrades?their?top tier?elites?for?free.? I predict?a major?bonus?for?current?US?elites will?be the?adoption?of?US? policy?of?upgrading?all?elites.? I have?seen?some?commenters?say?that?this?is a major?loss?for?the?top tier?of?AA, but?I don?t?agree?as they?will?still?be upgraded?first.? They?will?just?have?to live?with?the?fact?that?they?may?be sitting?in First?Class?next?to a ?mere Gold?.? Oh the horror!
- International?upgrades.? This?is where?AA?really?shines.? Top tier?AA?get?eight?Systemwide?Upgrades?(called?e-VIPs) that they?can use to upgrade?any?flight?domestic?or?international?much?like?UA?s?program?(but?UA?only?gives?six).? US?does?not?fly?very?many?international?routes?so that may?explain?why?they?lag?far behind?and?only?give?four?upgrades?to be used?for?flights?to Europe?or?Hawaii.? I am?predicting?that Doug?Parker?will?keep?the?higher?AA?amount, otherwise?they?may?lose a lot?of?their?top tier?flyers?who?could?defect?to UA?and?receive?about?the?same?thing.? If?true, then?top tier?US?flyers?stand to gain?a great?deal.
These?are the?major?differences?that?I see.? Another?aspect?that?may?affect?you?is that?US?will?leave?the?Star?Alliance?and?effectively?be One?World.? So if?you?live?in a US?hub, like?Philly, and?were?racking?up?miles on?both?US?and?UA?to get?status, you?may?have?a problem.? I expect?that?by?early?summer?you?will?be informed?that?Star?Alliance?miles will?no longer?count?for?status?on?US.? It?s?still?early?in the?year?so go?ahead?and?start?steering?your?miles to both?US?and?AA?and?they?will?likely?combine those?totals?at?year?end?to determine your?status?for?2014.? At?least?that?is what?happened?with?UA/CO.? One?last?thing?that?I consider?good.? I have?both?US?and?AA?miles left?over?from?long?ago.? They?were?too low?to use for?anything, but?I kept?them?active by?occassionally?crediting?a car rental?to each?of?them.? When?they?combine the?programs, the?miles will?actually?add?up?to a free?ticket!
Anyone?else?see?other?big?discrepancies?between?the?programs?? Let?me know?how?you?think?this?will?affect?you?personally.
'Bionic proteins': Nano-machines recreate protein activities
Feb. 15, 2013 ? Physicists of the University of Vienna together with researchers from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna developed nano-machines which recreate principal activities of proteins. They present the first versatile and modular example of a fully artificial protein-mimetic model system, thanks to the Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC), a high performance computing infrastructure. These "bionic proteins" could play an important role in innovating pharmaceutical research.
Proteins are the fundamental building blocks of all living organism we currently know. Because of the large number and complexity of bio-molecular processes they are capable of, proteins are often referred to as "molecular machines." Take for instance the proteins in your muscles: At each contraction stimulated by the brain, an uncountable number of proteins change their structures to create the collective motion of the contraction. This extraordinary process is performed by molecules which have a size of only about a nanometer, a billionth of a meter.
Muscle contraction is just one of the numerous activities of proteins: There are proteins that transport cargo in the cells, proteins that construct other proteins, there are even cages in which proteins that "mis-behave" can be trapped for correction, and the list goes on and on. "Imitating these astonishing bio-mechanical properties of proteins and transferring them to a fully artificial system is our long term objective," says Ivan Coluzza from the Faculty of Physics of the University of Vienna, who works on this project together with colleagues of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna.
Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC)
In a recent paper in Physical Review Letters, the team presented the first example of a fully artificial bio-mimetic model system capable of spontaneously self-knotting into a target structure. Using computer simulations, they reverse engineered proteins by focusing on the key elements that give them the ability to execute the program written in the genetic code. The computationally very intensive simulations have been made possible by access to the powerful Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC), a high performance computing infrastructure operated jointly by the University of Vienna, the Vienna University of Technology and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna.
Artificial proteins in the laboratory
The team now works on realizing such artificial proteins in the laboratory using specially functionalized nanoparticles. The particles will then be connected into chains following the sequence determined by the computer simulations, such that the artificial proteins fold into the desired shapes. Such knotted nanostructures could be used as new stable drug delivery vehicles and as enzyme-like, but more stable, catalysts.
This project was supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) within the SFB "Vienna Computational Materials Laboratory" (ViCoM).
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Vienna.
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Journal Reference:
- Ivan Coluzza, Peter D. J. van Oostrum, Barbara Capone, Erik Reimhult, Christoph Dellago. Sequence Controlled Self-Knotting Colloidal Patchy Polymers. Physical Review Letters, 2013; 110 (7) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.075501
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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Friday, February 15, 2013
Gettysburg College to honor Bob Kenworthy's MAC selection
Former Gettysburg College sports information director Bob Kenworthy will be honored at halftime of Saturday's men's basketball game between Gettysburg and McDaniel.
Kenworthy will be honored for his selection among the initial class of inductees into the Middle Atlantic Conference Hall of Fame.
Kenworthy worked as a sports information director within the MAC for 34 years, and he was one of two Gettysburg alumni named to the hall of fame. The other was former sprinter Arif Husain.
Saturday's game, part of a men's and women's doubleheader, begins at 2 p.m.
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Thursday, February 14, 2013
NIH chief: Cuts put vital medical research at risk
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Better cancer drugs that zero in on a tumor with fewer side effects. A universal flu vaccine that could fight every strain of influenza without needing a yearly shot.
Research into potentially life-saving products like these will be delayed and newer discoveries shelved if Congress can't avert impending budget cuts that the director of the National Institutes of Health warns will have far-reaching effects.
"All diseases will feel the consequences, I'm afraid," Dr. Francis Collins told The Associated Press.
"We're in this amazing revolution," Collins added. The faster promising leads are funded, "the more lives are saved."
The NIH, the leading funder of biomedical research, will lose $1.6 billion this year, about 5.1 percent of its budget, if automatic cuts go through next month. Collins said.
That means hundreds of medical research projects around the country may go unfunded, while multi-year projects already under way could be scaled back. The ripple effect, Collins said: About 20,000 jobs nationwide could be lost in university and other research laboratories nationwide.
NIH's budget hasn't kept pace with inflation over the past decade, resulting in what Collins calculates is a 20 percent erosion in the agency's buying power during a time of unprecedented scientific discovery. A decade ago, NIH was funding about 1 in every 3 grant applications. Today that's dropped to 1 in 6, before the upcoming cuts.
President Barack Obama argued the economic value of preserving medical research in his State of the Union address, saying every dollar the government invested to map the human genome returned $140 to the economy.
Other health impacts from the planned cuts, as outlined in a letter to lawmakers by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius:
?Health departments will give 424,000 fewer tests for the AIDS virus this year.
?About 7,400 fewer HIV patients will be able to get life-saving medication through the AIDS Drug Assistance Program.
?The Food and Drug Administration will conduct 2,100 fewer inspections of food manufacturing firms this year.
?More than 373,000 seriously ill people may not receive needed mental health services.
Also, Medicare is slated for a 2 percent cut in payments to service providers. Hospitals and popular private insurance plans through Medicare Advantage and the prescription drug plan will feel the biggest impact. They will be reimbursed at 98 cents to the dollar for services to Medicare beneficiaries.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nih-chief-cuts-put-vital-192449431.html
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Leanplum Raises $825K Angel Round For Its Mobile A/B Testing And Optimization Tool
Leanplum, a TechStars Seattle 2012 alum that wants to make A/B testing easier on iOS and Android, just announced that it has closed an $825,000 angel round from TechStars, Kima Ventures, VoiVoda Ventures, and several "high-profile individuals." The service, which was founded by ex-Google employees Momchil Kyurkchiev and Andrew First, allows developers, product teams and product managers to optimize their apps in real time. Leanplum is still in private beta and the team remains relatively tight-lipped about how who its beta testers are and how exactly the service works, but the idea here is to give developers the tools to understand how small changes in their apps affect how users interact with it.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/EnWRQ-Y9Ntg/
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Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Gene therapy cures diabetic dogs
Five diabetic beagles no longer needed insulin injections after being given two extra genes, with two of them still alive more than four years later.
Several attempts have been made to treat diabetes with gene therapy but this study is "the first to show a long-term cure for diabetes in a large animal", says F?tima Bosch, who treated the dogs at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.
The two genes work together to sense and regulate how much glucose is circulating in the blood. People with type 1 diabetes lose this ability because the pancreatic cells that make insulin, the body's usual sugar-controller, are killed by their immune system.
Delivered into muscles in the dogs' legs by a harmless virus, the genes appear to compensate for the loss of these cells. One gene makes insulin and the other an enzyme that dictates how much glucose should be absorbed into muscles.
Two genes good
Dogs which received just one of the two genes remained diabetic, suggesting that both are needed for the treatment to work.
Bosch says the findings build on an earlier demonstration of the therapy in mice. She hopes to try it out in humans, pending further tests in dogs.
Other diabetes researchers welcomed the results but cautioned that the diabetes in the dogs that underwent the treatment doesn't exactly replicate what happens in human type 1 diabetes. That's because the dogs' pancreatic cells were artificially destroyed by a chemical, not by their own immune systems.
"This work is an interesting new avenue which may give us a completely new type of treatment," says Matthew Hobbs, head of research at the charity Diabetes UK. "The researchers' plan to test the treatment in a larger number of dogs with naturally occurring [type 1] diabetes is a sensible way to gather stronger evidence that will be needed before this experimental treatment is ready to be tested in humans."
Journal reference: Diabetes, doi.org/kf3
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Monday, February 11, 2013
Paternos issue report, challenge Freeh's findings
Paternos issue report, challenge Freeh's findings
By GENARO C. ARMASBy GENARO C. ARMAS, AP Sports Writer?
?FILE - In this Nov. 9, 2011 file photo, former Penn State Coach Joe Paterno and his wife, Sue Paterno, stand on their porch to thank supporters gathered outside their home in State College, Pa. Breaking more than a year of silence, Sue Paterno is defending her late husband as a "moral, disciplined" man who never twisted the truth to avoid bad publicity. The wife of the former Penn State coach is fighting back against the accusations against Joe Paterno that followed the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Her campaign started with a letter sent Friday Feb. 8, 2013, to former Penn State players. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 9, 2011 file photo, former Penn State Coach Joe Paterno and his wife, Sue Paterno, stand on their porch to thank supporters gathered outside their home in State College, Pa. Breaking more than a year of silence, Sue Paterno is defending her late husband as a "moral, disciplined" man who never twisted the truth to avoid bad publicity. The wife of the former Penn State coach is fighting back against the accusations against Joe Paterno that followed the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Her campaign started with a letter sent Friday Feb. 8, 2013, to former Penn State players. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
This Feb. 6, 2013 photo released by ABC shows Sue Paterno, widow of legendary football coach Joe Paterno, right, with Katie Couric for an exclusive interview for the "Katie" show in New York. Paterno is fighting back against the accusations against her husband that followed the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Her campaign started with a letter sent Friday to former Penn State players. She wrote that the family's exhaustive response to former FBI director Louis Freeh's report for the university on the Sandusky child sex abuse case will officially be released to the public at 9 a.m. Sunday on paterno.com. The interview with Couric will air on Monday, Feb. 11. (AP Photo/Disney-ABC, Lou Rocco)
This Feb. 6, 2013 photo released by ABC shows Sue Paterno, widow of legendary football coach Joe Paterno, right, with Katie Couric for an exclusive interview for the "Katie" show in New York. Paterno is fighting back against the accusations against her husband that followed the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Her campaign started with a letter sent Friday to former Penn State players. She wrote that the family's exhaustive response to former FBI director Louis Freeh's report for the university on the Sandusky child sex abuse case will officially be released to the public at 9 a.m. Sunday on paterno.com. The interview with Couric will air on Monday, Feb. 11. (AP Photo/Disney-ABC, Lou Rocco)
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) ? Former FBI director Louis Freeh is standing by his conclusion that former Penn State coach Joe Paterno and three top administrators concealed child sex abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky.
Freeh responded Sunday to a new critique released by Paterno's family that called Freeh's report last July inaccurate and unfounded, resulting in a "rush to injustice."
Freeh says in a statement he respects the right of the Paterno family to conduct a media campaign in an effort "to shape the legacy of Joe Paterno" but the coach should have done more to stop Sandusky.
Freeh cited grand jury testimony in which Paterno said a graduate assistant relayed to him a 2001 allegation against Sandusky of a "sexual nature" with a child.
He said Paterno's attorney was contacted for an interview with the coach, who died in January 2012.
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Top 10 Reasons You Need SEO Writing Services for Your Business
#1: Over 1.9 billion people use the Internet as of 2010.
If you don?t have a professional website to showcase your products or services, you?re missing out on the opportunity to make sales to people all over the world. Unless you have a job that requires you to provide services to people in just one location, you have the opportunity to increase your income by selling to people in the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and everywhere in between. Professional SEO writing services help you make more money by helping you establish an online presence that will attract more customers.
#2: Many people use the Internet in place of a phone book or printed directory.
WSYR-TV (Syracuse) reports that most people now use the Internet instead of a telephone book. What does this mean for your business? It means that you will lose the opportunity to generate new business if you don?t have an up-to-date website with all of your contact information available. Professional SEO writing services give you an edge when it comes to starting and maintaining a business website.
#3: Maintaining an online presence allows you to connect with potential customers 24 hours per day.
Most brick-and-mortar businesses have daytime hours, making it difficult for people who work second and third shifts to find the products and services they need. A website with professional content allows people to find you at any time of the day or night, making it easier to generate new business. Professional SEO writing services make it possible to get your website running within a matter of days and keep it running as long as you?re in business.
#4: Potential customers like free information, tips and advice from service professionals.
One of the easiest ways to build a marketing list is to offer a free report, electronic book (e-book) or case study to those who sign up for your mailing list. If you?re not a professional writer, it will be difficult to write a quality product that will build confidence in your services. Someone who provides professional SEO writing services can develop high-quality written materials for use in your marketing efforts.
#5: More traffic equals more opportunities for sales.
Business is often a numbers game. The more people you come into contact with, the more chances you have to make a sale. Professional SEO writing services providers have the knowledge and expertise to write content for your website and use that content to increase the number of visitors your site receives each month. Whether you have products available online or you simply want prospects to fill out a contact form, an SEO writer can help you get more people to visit your online business.
#6: Qualified leads yield better results than random visitors.
If someone without knowledge of online marketing builds your website, you may receive a few more visitors than usual. Unfortunately, not all visitors benefit your business. If someone looking for a specific product comes to your site and doesn?t see what she wants immediately, she?ll close her Internet browser and look for the information on another business owner?s website. SEO writing service providers know how to use search trends and data to provide visitors with the information they want. This makes the people who visit your site more likely to buy than those who came across your site by accident.
#7: Professional client communications can make or break the sale.
Have you ever noticed a huge error in a marketing brochure or sign? While some people don?t notice these errors, others do. A company that doesn?t pay attention to these details may lose credibility with potential customers. Someone who offers SEO writing services can write customer e-mails, proofread marketing materials and signage, edit sales copy and perform other tasks that help you maintain your professionalism.
#8: Professional writers know how to write press releases that get your business media attention.
Journalists receive anywhere from dozens to hundreds of press releases per week. Do you know how to catch their attention? Most small business owners don?t. SEO writing services providers who also write optimized press releases can get positive media attention for your business in the form of interviews or stories about your company.
#9: Professional service providers focus on what you need instead of pushing services you won?t benefit from.
Don?t you hate when sleazy salespeople push services and add-ons that won?t benefit you or your business? A true professional will only focus on delivering the writing services you need instead of pushing you to buy extras that have no value. SEO writing services providers offer consulting and site analysis packages to help you determine what you need and what you don?t.
#10: If you?re just starting a website, a professional can save you hours of time and frustration.
Not everyone knows how to build a website that will attract customers. If you try to do it yourself, you could waste hours of your valuable time, time better spent talking with leads and making sales. Hiring SEO writing services professionals eliminates the need to spend hours figuring out what to write about and how to write it so that it sells products or services.
Source: http://www.bloggingtips.com/2013/02/10/seo-writing-services/
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How To Make Your College Career Successful
Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
Source: http://articles.submityourarticle.com/how-to-make-your-college-career-successful-316120
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2013 NFL Draft: Prioritizing the Pittsburgh Steelers' Top 3 Offensive Needs
The 2013 offseason will bring about a number of changes for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Many of these changes will come on offense, where the Steelers figure to lose two of their top weapons.
Mike Wallace and Rashard Mendenhall are unrestricted free agents, and odds are both won?t be wearing the black and gold for much longer.
Wallace was a training-camp holdout last season after not signing a long-term extension with the Steelers. Following a relatively disappointing season, Wallace will now likely sign a big contract elsewhere.
It is not as though the Steelers would not like to have him back, but they only have so many financial resources, and they are unlikely to go to Wallace.
Mendenhall presents the Steelers with a unique scenario.
Unlike Wallace, Mendenhall isn?t expected to demand a whole lot on the open market. The Steelers could probably re-sign him to a fair contract that does not require breaking the bank. However, after deactivating him for two games this season and suspending him for one, Mendenhall does not look to be a player in the team?s long-term plans.
With that in mind, as well as starting linemen Max Starks and Ramon Foster as unrestricted free agents, the Steelers have a lot of work to do to retool their offense.
?
Running Back
Pittsburgh?s backfield is going to be very lonely once free agency begins.
The team has free agents all over the place as Mendenhall is an unrestricted free agent, and both Jonathan Dwyer and Isaac Redman are restricted free agents. Even Baron Batch is an exclusive-rights free agent.
The Steelers will not have any problems bringing back Dwyer, Redman and Batch, if they want, and Mendenhall?s future with the team is still up in the air.
Regardless, whomever the Steelers re-sign, they will still be looking for an upgrade after the backfield had a disappointing 2012 season.
The Steelers will be looking to add a running back who can carry the load and even be an every-down player, if possible.
There are no true stars in the first round, but there is a lot of depth at the position between the second and fourth rounds.
If the team had confidence in any of the running backs, Mike Tomlin probably would have stuck with one of them last season. Instead, he rotated them in and out of the lineup and never settled on a go-to guy.
To run the ball better, the Steelers will have to continue to improve the offensive line, but more importantly, find a better running back to carry the ball.
?
Wide Receiver
Not only is Wallace an unrestricted free agent, but so is Plaxico Burress. Emmanuel Sanders is a restricted free agent. That leaves the Steelers with Antonio Brown and Jerricho Cotchery as their only experienced wide receivers.
Even if the Steelers bring back Sanders?or even Burress?they would still be lacking a true top option without Wallace.
Wallace has been one of the best deep threats in the league?last season aside?and has presented matchup problems for opposing defenses. Without that deep speed threat, the Steelers will have to once again tweak what they do on offense.
While adding a deep threat would be nice, he does not necessarily have to have elite speed. Instead, the Steelers should find a bigger, more physical receiver to develop into that role.
Brown and Sanders lack the size to beat press coverage, and this is particularly evident in the red zone. Without a deep threat to back off the coverage, these two may have trouble getting open in 2013.
To offset these limitations, the Steelers would be wise to find a target who can beat the press and battle for the ball. A taller target would also provide Ben Roethlisberger with a receiver who has a wide catching radius.
The Steelers need to find depth at receiver in the draft, and if they play their cards right, a future top option for Roethlisberger.
?
Left Guard/Tackle
After spending second-round selections on Marcus Gilbert and Mike Adams in recent years, tackle wouldn?t appear to be at the top of the Steelers? draft priority list, but it should be.
The Steelers could have an opening at left guard if they decide to release Willie Colon, but they could re-sign Ramon Foster and have him compete with Kelvin Beachum for the starting guard job.
A bigger question will be if Gilbert can make the transition to left tackle.
Gilbert is a big, lumbering lineman who has potential to be successful on the left side, but has been rather inconsistent in his brief career.
If by chance one of the top left-tackle prospects falls to the 17th draft position, the Steelers should strongly consider moving in this direction. But the first round is the only time they?d be able to find an immediate upgrade at the position.
Therefore, if none of the top three left tackles are available, the focus should then be finding a player who can come in and compete at left guard.
?
Priorities
So how do these three positions rank?
As important as it is for the Steelers to upgrade their offensive line, they should be in decent shape with two first-round and two second-round picks playing on it next season, and therefore, this would rank at the bottom of the priority list.
With Brown, Sanders and Cotchery, the Steelers will at least have an average receiving corps whether they add a receiver in the draft or not. For that reason, this ranks as the second-most important offensive need.
Adding an elite option at the position would greatly help open up the passing game, but a healthy Brown is a solid option, and once Heath Miller returns, he will ease some pressure off the receivers.
By contrast, the Steelers backfield currently lacks talented players, and not one of their free agents?besides Mendenhall?has proven himself to be No. 1.
Dwyer has the potential to be an every-down back, but has had some conditioning issues and lacks the big-play ability that the Steelers want from a running back.
With the need to improve the ground game and a lot of talent available in the middle rounds of the draft, the 2013 draft could help fix the Steelers' problem running the ball. It is their most significant problem on the offensive side of the ball and addressing it in the draft should be their top priority.
?
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White House outlines deep cuts it may have to make
President Barack Obama attends an Armed Forces Farewell Ceremony to honor outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, left, Friday, Feb. 8, 2013, at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Va. Joint Chiefs Chairman Army Gen. Martin Dempsey is at right. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt)
President Barack Obama attends an Armed Forces Farewell Ceremony to honor outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, left, Friday, Feb. 8, 2013, at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Va. Joint Chiefs Chairman Army Gen. Martin Dempsey is at right. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt)
FILE - This Feb. 3, 2012 file photo shows the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters in Washington. Trying to ratchet up pressure on Congress, the White House on Friday detailed what it said would be the painful impact on the federal work force and certain government assistance programs if ?large and arbitrary? scheduled government spending cuts are allowed to take place beginning March 1. They include layoffs or furloughs of ?hundreds of thousands? of federal workers, from FBI agents, U.S. prosecutors and food safety inspectors to air traffic controllers, said White House budget officials at a briefing. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Trying to ratchet up pressure on Congress, the White House on Friday detailed what it said would be the painful impact on the federal workforce and certain government assistance programs if "large and arbitrary" scheduled government spending cuts are allowed to take place beginning March 1.
They include layoffs or furloughs of "hundreds of thousands" of federal workers, including FBI agents, U.S. prosecutors, food safety inspectors and air traffic controllers, said White House budget officials at a briefing and in a fact sheet that included these examples of what the cuts would mean:
? About 70,000 young children would be kicked off Head Start, 10,000 teacher jobs would be put at risk and up to 2,100 food safety inspections might have to be canceled.
?Up to 373,000 "seriously mentally ill adults and seriously emotionally disturbed children" would go untreated, up to 1,000 fewer National Science Foundation research grants and effecting some 12,000 scientists and students could be threatened, many small business loans denied, workplace safety inspections curtailed, federally assisted programs like "Meals on Wheels" slashed and 125,000 low-income renters put at risk of losing government-subsidized housing.
? Approximately 424,000 fewer HIV tests could be conducted by state agencies working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and some 100,000 formerly homeless people, including veterans, would be removed from their current housing and emergency shelter programs.
The White House said the so-called mandatory sequester cuts represent a threat to national security and the economy.
"There is no reason ? no reason ? for that to happen," President Barack Obama said Friday.
The spending cuts were originally to take place beginning Jan. 1, but were put off until March 1 in a last-minute deal between Obama and Congress to avert a New Year's "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and spending cuts.
At issue are $1.2 trillion of additional spending cuts over the next 10 years, including about $85 billion this year.
Obama has called for a small package of spending cuts and measures to close tax loopholes and put off the deadline again.
But Republicans have so far said no.
"We agree the sequester is the wrong way to cut spending," Brendan Buck, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, said Friday. But he added: "The president got his higher taxes on the wealthy last month? with no corresponding cuts. The tax issue has been resolved."
White House press secretary Jay Carney dismissed such arguments as "convenient spin, but it's also a lot of baloney."
Administration budget officials said the list of proposed cuts was compiled by the various federal agencies that would be responsible for carrying them out ? and not dictated by the White House.
In the Senate, majority-party Democrats are discussing ways to raise new revenues and curb spending to replace the cuts and aiming for a vote just before March 1. They want to cut spending as well, including direct payments to farmers that are seen as hard to defend.
"It should be a mixture," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Ideas for increasing tax revenue include a minimum tax rate for millionaires, eliminating a tax perk on corporate jets and closing a loophole that allows wealthy people to avoid paying Social Security and Medicare taxes on some of their income.
But the Democratic effort seems sure to be blocked by Republicans, who are dead set against additional tax revenue after yielding to Obama during the fiscal cliff negotiations and agreeing to raise tax rates on the wealthiest Americans. Obama got the tax increases he wanted ? with no corresponding spending cuts.
House Republicans are divided between defense hawks hoping to avert Pentagon cuts and tea-party conservatives who back the sequester.
Boehner, R-Ohio, says the sequester was all Obama's idea in the 2011 negotiations that produced it, but the House speaker hasn't committed to an effort to block the spending cuts before they strike.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, praised the administration for releasing "compelling information" on the impact of the spending cuts.
"The impacts of sequester are devastating to the American people and the American economy. The public has a right to understand how sequester would impact middle-class families, jobs and the economy," she said in a statement.
___
Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.
___
Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum
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Saturday, February 9, 2013
Wind-powered car crosses Australia on $15
A lightweight carbon-fiber car packing high-tech lithium-ion batteries and a portable wind turbine cruised 3,000 miles across Australia using just $15 worth of electricity from the grid. For an added boost, the drivers used a giant kite to pull the car down the road when the wind blew in the right direction.
?They were able to supplement their lithium-ion battery power with kite power about 10 to 15 percent of the time,? Bill Bunting, a senior scientist with Evonik Industries in New Jersey, told NBC News.
Evonik built the car to showcase its battery and lightweight materials technologies. The Wind Explorer is currently on display at the company headquarters. The carbon-fiber body weighs 200 pounds. Batteries add another 200 pounds and the portable turbine about 70 more, Bunting noted.
The addition of two average-sized people to drive the car and fly the kite brings the total package up to around 1,000 pounds, making it a showcase of what?s possible with today?s lightweight materials.
Automakers are racing to drop pounds off their cars to meet new fuel economy standards that require a fleet average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. A general rule of thumb is a gain in fuel efficiency of a mile per gallon for every 100 pounds of weight lost.
General Motors, for example, is aiming to incorporate more lightweight magnesium in parts such as doors and trunk lids. Magnesium is 75 percent lighter than steel and 33 percent lighter than aluminum, the company said.
In addition to the carbon fiber in the Wind Explorer frame, Evonik also makes ?some special chemical materials that go into the rubber tires ? that basically allows the tires to roll along with the least amount of energy while still having the most amount of traction and durability,? Bunting said.
The car?s lithium ion batteries produce enough energy to travel 175 to 225 miles a day. There was enough wind to completely recharge the batteries overnight about 60 percent of the time.
?Occasionally, they plugged into the Australian power grid and that?s where the dollar figure of less than $15 worth of electricity comes from to travel all the way across Australia,? Bunting said.
You can check out the car in the video below.
? via Technabob
John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/wind-powered-car-crosses-australia-15-1B8307618
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Friday, February 8, 2013
China gives markets a lift at end of bruising week
LONDON (AP) ? Markets in Europe and Asia ended the week strongly after better-than-expected Chinese figures shored up hopes over the world's second-largest economy.
Japanese shares tanked, though, as the yen rallied on reports that the country's finance minister thinks the recent fall in the currency may have been too fast. Confirmation of an eighth straight quarterly loss for Sony worsened matters.
But elsewhere, the main focus appeared to be Chinese government figures showing the country's exports rose 25 percent in January from a year earlier while imports soared 28 percent. A large part of the increase was due to companies rushing to fill orders before shutting down for up to two weeks for the Lunar New Year holidays that begin Sunday.
Figures showing inflation rose by a lower than expected 2 percent in January also helped ease concerns of any tightening in Chinese monetary policy.
"The latest round of data look promising for the Chinese economy," said Jennifer Lee, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed Friday up 0.35 percent at 6,250 while Germany's DAX rose 0.2 percent to 7,605. The CAC-40 in France was 0.57 percent higher at 3,621.
In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was down slightly, 0.3 percent at 13,944 while the broader S&P 500 index was off 0.18 percent to 1,509.
Stocks have had a fairly tough week after what had been a stellar January. Renewed jitters over the debt crisis in the eurozone, primarily related to the political situations in Spain and Italy, were blamed for much of the retreat. A pullback had also been anticipated as investors cashed in profits after many indexes hit multi-year highs.
"The sheer weight of new investor money in January combined with an almost irrational disregard to the risks saw equity markets soar," said Rebecca O'Keefe, head of investment at Interactive Investor. "However, it appears as if the brakes have been applied slightly."
Earlier, the yen was the focus of attention in Japan, where finance minister Taro Aso said the currency depreciation in recent weeks had been "too fast."
At one stage following the remarks, the dollar had fallen around 1.5 percent and that heaped pressure on the Nikkei, which closed 1.8 percent lower at 11,153.16. Shares in Panasonic Corp. fell 5.4 percent while Sony Corp. plummeted 10.1 percent after reporting poor earnings figures.
"Aso's comment to reporters that the recent pace of yen weakening has been 'too fast' is presumably designed in part to defuse tensions ahead of the G-20 meeting next week," said Julian Jessop, chief global economist at Capital Economics.
The yen has fallen sharply in recent weeks as Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe insisted that the country's central bank target a higher rate of inflation. The lower yen has helped boost Japanese shares as it makes the country's exports cheaper.
The new policy approach by the Japanese government has had huge repercussions across foreign exchange markets and has rekindled talk of a global currency war.
The euro has been one currency that's gained as the yen has fallen. That advance came to a grinding halt on Thursday, when European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said his bank was monitoring the impact of the euro's appreciation on the eurozone economy. Europe's single currency was trading 0.1 percent higher at $1.3406 Friday, having fallen to a two-week low of $1.3369 the day before.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.2 percent to 23,215.16 while South Korea's Kospi advanced 1 percent to 1,950.90. Benchmarks in mainland China also rose.
Oil prices were trading higher, with the benchmark New York rate up 28 cents at $96.11 a barrel.
___
Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-gives-markets-lift-end-bruising-week-115636361--finance.html
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Milky Way could be home to 4.5 billion Earth-like planets
Astronomers have calculated that 6 percent of our galaxy's most common type of star probably host temperate, Earth-sized planets, meaning that a habitable alien Earth could be just a dozen light years away.?
This artist?s conception shows a hypothetical habitable planet with two moons orbiting a red dwarf star. Astronomers have found that 6 percent of all red dwarf stars have an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone, which is warm enough for liquid water on the planet?s surface. Since red dwarf stars are so common, then statistically the closest Earth-like planet should be only 13 light-years away.
David A. Aguilar (CfA)
EnlargeBillions of Earth-like alien planets likely reside in our Milky Way galaxy, and the nearest such world may be just a stone's throw away in the cosmic scheme of things, a new study reports.
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Astronomers have calculated that 6 percent of the galaxy's 75 billion or so red dwarfs ? stars smaller and dimmer than the Earth's own sun ? probably host habitable, roughly Earth-size planets. That works out to at least 4.5 billion such "alien Earths," the closest of which might be found a mere dozen light-years away, researchers said.
"We thought we would have to search vast distances to find an?Earth-like planet," study lead author Courtney Dressing, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), said in a statement. "Now we realize another Earth is probably in our own backyard, waiting to be spotted."
Kepler's keen eye
Dressing and her team analyzed data gathered by NASA's prolific?Kepler space telescope, which is staring continuously at more than 150,000 target stars. Kepler spots alien planets by flagging the tiny brightness dips caused when the planets transit, or cross the face of, their stars from the instrument's perspective. [Gallery: A World of Kepler Planets]
Kepler has detected 2,740?exoplanet?candidates since its March 2009 launch. Follow-up observations have confirmed only 105 of these possibilities to date, but mission scientists estimate that more than 90 percent will end up being the real deal.
In the new study, Dressing and her colleagues re-analyzed the?red dwarfs?in Kepler's field of view and found that nearly all are smaller and cooler than previously thought.
This new information bears strongly on the search for Earth-like alien planets, since roughly 75 percent of the galaxy's 100 billion or so stars are red dwarfs.
Further, scientists determine the sizes of transiting exoplanets by comparison to their parent stars, based on how much of the stars' disks the planets blot out when transitting. So a reduction in a star's calculated size brings a planet's size down, too ? in some cases, perhaps into the realm of rocky worlds with a solid, potentially life-supporting surface.
And the size and location of a star's "habitable zone," the range of distances that could support the existence of liquid water on a planet's surface, are strongly tied to stellar brightness and temperature.
Re-analzying the data
The researchers determined that 95 Kepler exoplanet candidates orbit red dwarfs. Using this information and their newly calculated stellar (and planetary) profiles, the team calculated that about 60 percent of red dwarfs likely host worlds smaller than Neptune.
Dressing and her colleagues then determined that Kepler has spotted three roughly Earth-size exoplanet candidates in the habitable zones of their parent red dwarfs.
One of these worlds is Kepler Object of Interest (KOI) 1422.02. This candidate's newly calculated size is 90 percent that of Earth, and it circles its star every 20 days. If the planet (and these characteristics) are confirmed, KOI 1422.02 may be the first "alien Earth" ever discovered.
The other two candidates are KOI 2626.01, another potential Earth twin that's 1.4 times bigger than Earth and has a 38-day orbit; and KOI 854.01, a world 1.7 times the size of Earth with a 56-day orbit.
All three candidates are located between 300 and 600 light-years from Earth and circle stars with surface temperatures between 5,700 and 5,900 degrees Fahrenheit (3,150 and 3,260 degrees Celsius), researchers said. (For comparison, the Earth's sun has a surface temperature of about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, or 5,540 degrees Celsius.)
Billions of Earth-like planets
The team further determined that about 6 percent of the Milky Way's red dwarfs should harbor roughly Earth-size planets in their habitable zones, meaning that at least 4.5 billion such worlds may be scattered throughout our galaxy.
"We now know the rate of occurrence of habitable planets around the most common stars in our galaxy," co-author David Charbonneau, also of CfA, said in a statement. "That rate implies that it will be significantly easier to search for life beyond the solar system than we previously thought." [9 Exoplanets That Could Host Alien Life]
That search may bear fruit right in Earth's backyard, researchers said.
"According to our analysis, the closest Earth-like planet is likely within 13 light-years, which is right next door in terms of astronomical distances," Dressing told SPACE.com via email.
"The knowledge that another an Earth-like planet might be so close is incredibly exciting and bodes well for the next generation of missions designed to detect nearby Earth-like planets," she added. "Once we find nearby Earth-like planets, astronomers are eager to study them in detail with the James Webb Space Telescope and proposed extremely large ground-based telescopes like the Giant Magellan Telescope."
Red dwarfs are also longer-lived than stars like the sun, suggesting that some planets in red dwarf habitable zones may harbor life that's been around a lot longer than that on Earth, which first took root about 3.8 billion years ago.
"We might find an Earth that?s 10 billion years old," Charbonneau said.
The nearest red dwarf is Proxima Centauri, part of the three-star Alpha Centauri system that's just 4.3 light-years or so from Earth. Late last year, astronomers announced the discovery of an Earth-size planet orbiting the system's Alpha Centauri B, but it's far too hot to host life as we know it.
Scientists have also detected?five planetary candidates?circling the star Tau Ceti, which lies 11.9 light-years away. Two of these potential planets may reside in the habitable zone, but they are at least 4.3 and 6.6 times as massive as Earth, scientists say.
The new study will be published in The Astrophysical Journal.
Follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter?@michaeldwall?or SPACE.com?@Spacedotcom. We're also onFacebook?and?Google+.?
Copyright 2013?SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Thursday, February 7, 2013
Should You Move Home for a Deployment? - Military Family
When deployment orders come down for your soldier, it can be pretty emotional. You have a lot to do to get ready for them to leave. One decision you might have to make is if you plan to stay at your duty station for the deployment or if you plan to move back home to be with family.
For some people this is an easy choice to make. ?For others it is a bit more difficult. ?There are many different factors that go into making the decision.
Reasons why people might stay at their duty station during a deployment-
- They have created a life there that they don?t want to leave. It can be hard to pick up and start over even if you are going back to your hometown. You may have a good support system and a nice home you don?t want to give up.
- Kids in school is an issue. If your kids are older you probably don?t want to take them away from their school for 9 months to a year. They probably have friends that will be a support to them while their parent is deployed.
- Lose too much money. Moving costs money. It is also possible that the BAH (housing allowance) is higher at the duty station. You also might lose your house on post and trying to find another when you return could be difficult.
Reasons why people want to move home for the deployment-
- They know they can get better support at home. If you know you will get a lot of love and support from family and friends back home, you may really want to move there during the deployment. It is always nice to know you have a great support system when your spouse deploys.
- Bad living situation at the duty station. When we were getting ready for our 2nd deployment I thought I would go home because I couldn?t stand where I lived. I couldn?t imagine being in that tiny apartment for a year without my husband. In the end our Brigade moved to a new duty station and we were able to move to a much nicer place before the deployment started.
- Family situations. If you have a sick parent or sibling you might want to go home during the deployment to help. It might be better over all for you to be there and not 1000s of miles away. Your family might need you more than your duty station does.
Each family?s situation is a little different so there isn?t one right answer to whether you should go home during a deployment or not. I have never moved home for a deployment but I did spend the summer with my family during our second deployment. I needed a break from Germany and it was the perfect amount of time. If you are trying to decide what you should do, make a list of pros and cons. And don?t feel guilty about making a decision not everyone will agree with you on. You really have to do what is best for your own kids and family.
Have you moved home for a deployment?
Source: http://militaryfamily.com/2013/02/06/should-you-move-home-for-a-deployment/
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As Neocons Defend Obama, Allies Doubt Him on Drones as Never Before (Atlantic Politics Channel)
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Ron Paul Clarifies Controversial Tweet
Ron Paul is blaming foreign wars for the death of ex-Navy sniper Chris Kyle at a Texas gun range.
Never one to hold his tongue about U.S. military policy, the former congressman and presidential candidate caused a bit of controversy this week by tweeting that ex-Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, who was shot and killed at a gun range in Texas, had lived "by the sword" and died by it.
Chris Kyle's death seems to confirm that "he who lives by the sword dies by the sword." Treating PTSD at a firing range doesn't make sense
- Ron Paul (@RonPaul) February 4, 2013
Kyle was shot and killed Sunday, allegedly by a 25-year-old Iraq veteran. Kyle was the author of "American Sniper" and, with more than 150 kills, was the deadliest sniper in U.S. history when he left the military in 2009.
After receiving some criticism on Twitter, Paul, 77, later clarified his comment on Facebook, posing Kyle's death as an unintended consequence of "unconstitutional and unnecessary wars." On Monday evening, Paul posted the following note:
As a veteran, I certainly recognize that this weekend's violence and killing of Chris Kyle were a tragic and sad event. My condolences and prayers go out to Mr. Kyle's family. Unconstitutional and unnecessary wars have endless unintended consequences. A policy of non-violence, as Christ preached, would have prevented this and similar tragedies. -REP
Paul has vocally opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as unwarranted and unconstitutional. In his two recent presidential runs, Paul warned repeatedly of the consequences of America's wars and global military presence, citing the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as blowback from U.S. foreign intervention.
Also ReadSource: http://news.yahoo.com/ron-paul-clarifies-sword-tweet-snipers-death-162702262--abc-news-politics.html
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House GOP bill calls attention to Obama on budget
WASHINGTON (AP) ? In a legislative dig at President Barack Obama, the GOP-controlled House on passed a bill designed to highlight the fact that he's never offered a balanced budget during his White House tenure.
Democrats called the legislation a political gimmick, and it's sure to be ignored by Democrats controlling the Senate.
The "Require Presidential Leadership and No Deficit Act" is meant to require that president submit a budget that balances the government's books. It passed by a 253-167 vote, with 26 Democrats joining with majority Republicans behind the bill.
The legislation is aimed at drawing a contrast between Obama and House Republicans, who recently announced that their upcoming budget blueprint would come to balance within a decade. That's a shift from the past two years, when Republican budgets contained sharp cuts but failed to project a balanced ledger.
The bill's author, Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., said it "simply says to the president, 'Mr. President, when you submit your budget, just let us know when it balances.'"
During the debate, Republicans pointed out the four consecutive years of trillion dollar-plus deficits occurred on Obama's watch and that he has once again failed to meet the legal deadline for submitting his budget to Congress. Obama's budget was supposed to have been delivered on Monday but isn't expected until next month.
"Every year the president has been in office, there have been deficits of $1 trillion ? adding $6 trillion to the debt," said GOP Whip Kevin McCarthy of California. "Out of the last five budgets, four of them have been late."
Countered Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.: "This bill before us isn't a meaningful attempt to address the budget. It's a gimmick wrapped in talking points inside a press release."
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3 NIH-sponsored clinical trials test influenza treatments
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Public release date: 5-Feb-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Anne A. Oplinger
aoplinger@niaid.nih.gov
301-402-1663
NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Three clinical trials that seek to find more effective treatments for influenza are enrolling volunteers with influenza at the National Institutes of Health's Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., and at several dozen other domestic and international sites.
One study examines whether treatment with a licensed influenza drug, oseltamivir, reduces the time that infected people continue to produce virus in the upper airway.
A second tests whether a combination of three licensed flu antiviral drugs works better than oseltamivir alone in people with influenza who have chronic health conditions, such as heart or lung disease, that put them at greater risk of severe illness.
The third tests whether treatment with plasma enriched with anti-influenza antibodies improves the condition of hospitalized influenza patients compared to standard antiviral treatment alone.
"This year's flu season came earlier than usual and has been particularly hard on the elderly," said Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases, part of the NIH. "Despite our best efforts to prevent influenza through vaccination, people still get sick every year with the flu. At best, influenza infection is a miserable experience. At worst, it can be a deadly one. We need better ways to treat people with influenza, which kills thousands of people in the United States each year, and clinical research supported by NIAID helps to address that need."
The studies are sponsored by the NIAID Influenza Research Collaboration, a clinical research network funded by the NIAID Division of Clinical Research (DCR). Researchers at 36 sites in the United States and additional sites in Argentina, Australia, Mexico and Thailand participate. Activities of the collaboration are coordinated under the leadership of Richard Davey, M.D., deputy clinical director, NIAID DCR, and John Beigel, M.D., medical affairs scientist on contract with NIAID.
Although oseltamivir has been approved for use in the United States since 1999, no studies have shown conclusively whether the drug significantly reduces the amount of virus produced (shed) by an infected person. Reduced shedding would likely lessen the chances of an infected person passing the virus to others. The oseltamivir trial will enroll a total of approximately 560 people at 31 locations in the United States, Argentina and Thailand. Enrollees must be between the ages of 18 and 65 years and have confirmed influenza virus infection but not be hospitalized or suffering from any other health conditions that would put them at risk of developing influenza complications.
The trial comparing oral oseltamivir alone to treatment with oseltamivir plus two other licensed antiviral drugs is enrolling a total of up to 720 adults at sites in the United States, Argentina, Australia, Mexico and Thailand. In addition to having laboratory-confirmed influenza, enrollees must have at least one other characteristic that places them at higher risk of developing serious complications. Asthma and other lung disorders, heart disease, obesity, weakened immune function and being over age 65 are some of the conditions that place people at higher risk for serious disease.
The third trial is enrolling children as well as adults, including pregnant women, hospitalized with severe influenza. This trial aims to enroll a total of approximately 100 people at approximately 20 sites in the United States. All participants will receive standard drug treatment for influenza, and half will also receive two infusions of plasma enriched with antibodies against the virus. Antibodies are infection-fighting proteins produced by the immune system. The antibodies used in the trial are derived from blood donated by volunteers who were recently vaccinated against flu or are recovered from a recent bout of flu.
"Anecdotal evidence suggests that the addition of plasma with high levels of antibody against the virus may confer additional benefit over drug treatment alone. This trial will be one of the first to examine that possibility in a scientifically rigorous fashion," said Dr. Davey. "The outcome of this trial may provide valuable data on how best to treat patients hospitalized with severe influenza."
###
Information about the NIAID Influenza Research Collaboration, including a listing of all participating clinical sites worldwide, is available at http://fluresearch.org/. Detailed information about each of the trials now enrolling volunteers is also available at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov and through the following direct links:
For more about NIAID research on all aspects of influenza, visit http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/flu/Pages/default.aspx . Also visit www.flu.gov for one-stop access to U.S. government information on seasonal and pandemic flu.
NIAID conducts and supports researchat NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwideto study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website at http://www.niaid.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.
NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health
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Public release date: 5-Feb-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Anne A. Oplinger
aoplinger@niaid.nih.gov
301-402-1663
NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Three clinical trials that seek to find more effective treatments for influenza are enrolling volunteers with influenza at the National Institutes of Health's Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., and at several dozen other domestic and international sites.
One study examines whether treatment with a licensed influenza drug, oseltamivir, reduces the time that infected people continue to produce virus in the upper airway.
A second tests whether a combination of three licensed flu antiviral drugs works better than oseltamivir alone in people with influenza who have chronic health conditions, such as heart or lung disease, that put them at greater risk of severe illness.
The third tests whether treatment with plasma enriched with anti-influenza antibodies improves the condition of hospitalized influenza patients compared to standard antiviral treatment alone.
"This year's flu season came earlier than usual and has been particularly hard on the elderly," said Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases, part of the NIH. "Despite our best efforts to prevent influenza through vaccination, people still get sick every year with the flu. At best, influenza infection is a miserable experience. At worst, it can be a deadly one. We need better ways to treat people with influenza, which kills thousands of people in the United States each year, and clinical research supported by NIAID helps to address that need."
The studies are sponsored by the NIAID Influenza Research Collaboration, a clinical research network funded by the NIAID Division of Clinical Research (DCR). Researchers at 36 sites in the United States and additional sites in Argentina, Australia, Mexico and Thailand participate. Activities of the collaboration are coordinated under the leadership of Richard Davey, M.D., deputy clinical director, NIAID DCR, and John Beigel, M.D., medical affairs scientist on contract with NIAID.
Although oseltamivir has been approved for use in the United States since 1999, no studies have shown conclusively whether the drug significantly reduces the amount of virus produced (shed) by an infected person. Reduced shedding would likely lessen the chances of an infected person passing the virus to others. The oseltamivir trial will enroll a total of approximately 560 people at 31 locations in the United States, Argentina and Thailand. Enrollees must be between the ages of 18 and 65 years and have confirmed influenza virus infection but not be hospitalized or suffering from any other health conditions that would put them at risk of developing influenza complications.
The trial comparing oral oseltamivir alone to treatment with oseltamivir plus two other licensed antiviral drugs is enrolling a total of up to 720 adults at sites in the United States, Argentina, Australia, Mexico and Thailand. In addition to having laboratory-confirmed influenza, enrollees must have at least one other characteristic that places them at higher risk of developing serious complications. Asthma and other lung disorders, heart disease, obesity, weakened immune function and being over age 65 are some of the conditions that place people at higher risk for serious disease.
The third trial is enrolling children as well as adults, including pregnant women, hospitalized with severe influenza. This trial aims to enroll a total of approximately 100 people at approximately 20 sites in the United States. All participants will receive standard drug treatment for influenza, and half will also receive two infusions of plasma enriched with antibodies against the virus. Antibodies are infection-fighting proteins produced by the immune system. The antibodies used in the trial are derived from blood donated by volunteers who were recently vaccinated against flu or are recovered from a recent bout of flu.
"Anecdotal evidence suggests that the addition of plasma with high levels of antibody against the virus may confer additional benefit over drug treatment alone. This trial will be one of the first to examine that possibility in a scientifically rigorous fashion," said Dr. Davey. "The outcome of this trial may provide valuable data on how best to treat patients hospitalized with severe influenza."
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Information about the NIAID Influenza Research Collaboration, including a listing of all participating clinical sites worldwide, is available at http://fluresearch.org/. Detailed information about each of the trials now enrolling volunteers is also available at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov and through the following direct links:
For more about NIAID research on all aspects of influenza, visit http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/flu/Pages/default.aspx . Also visit www.flu.gov for one-stop access to U.S. government information on seasonal and pandemic flu.
NIAID conducts and supports researchat NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwideto study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website at http://www.niaid.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.
NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health
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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/nioa-tnc020513.php
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