LivingSocial Co-Founder And CTO Aaron Batalion To Leave The Company

Aaron Batalion, the co-founder and CTO of daily deals site LivingSocial, is leaving the company. He announced his departure in a post on his personal blog published Friday afternoon. We've reached out to Batalion for more details on his exit and his plans for the future, and will update with anything we hear. For now, here is the full text of his blog post:

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/U1I2YqP8dNA/

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katz and minority conference fight to restore ... - Southeast Patch

Assemblyman Steve Katz (R,C,I-Yorktown) stood with his colleagues in the Assembly Minority Conference in an effort to restore $90 million that the governor cut out of the budget for the developmentally disabled.

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??????????? "To balance the budget here on the backs of New York's most vulnerable is one of the biggest mistakes made by the state in quite some time," said Katz.? "These citizens need our help and they have done nothing wrong.? I stood with my colleagues to restore this funding and fight for the developmentally disabled.? I'm proud to stand with my Conference in fighting for this just cause."

Source: http://southeast.patch.com/announcements/katz-and-minority-conference-fight-to-restore-funding-for-the-developmentally-disabled

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Curious Friends: How Facebook?s Mark Zuckerberg Can Help Republicans

Without his partnership with Mark Zuckerberg, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wouldn?t have had his first?Oprah moment. The Facebook founder?s $100 million donation to Newark, N.J., schools was the subject of a 2010 episode that?positively?portrayed the conservative governor, along with Newark Mayor Cory Booker, on national television.

So now that Zuckerberg is?co-starting a political advocacy group, could he provide the same benefit for other Republicans??

Zuckerberg and Joe Green, his close friend and college roommate, are establishing a 501(c)4 organization that will initially focus on comprehensive immigration and education reform, according to a source familiar with the group?s?plans.

The group is wading into topics conducive to?bipartisanship. Immigration reform has made Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., unlikely allies. Education, another issue ripe for bipartisan efforts, brought the?liberal Bookerand?conservative?Christie together.?

?When you?re thinking conservatives or liberals or progressives, or Democrats and Republicans, education reform has been [where] the partisan or ideological labels don?t apply,? said Hari Sevugan, a former Democratic National Committee spokesman who later worked for Michelle Rhee?s StudentsFirst education-reform lobbying group. ?While they might apply in nearly every other issue, they don?t necessarily carry into this space.?

?These are interesting issues because they tend to be coalition-driven rather than party driven,? said Christie strategist Mike DuHaime, who added he expects the group to be a major player in politics. ?It?s great to have ? an outside group, pulling the coalition together.?

There?s a political benefit for Republicans to engage on education reform. Passage of the No Child Left Behind law helped President George W. Bush, who made it the hallmark of his "compassionate conservative" agenda. And in the midst of current-day Republican soul-searching, GOP leaders are looking to education reform as a way to show off their softer side. It?s become a focal point of?House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's strategy to recast the GOP as a kinder, gentler party, as he often talks up his experience spending time with a D.C. father who struggled to get his child into a good school. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has argued reforming failing urban public schools will help Republicans make inroads with minority voters.?

And for a party that?s perceived as unhip, technophobic, and overly partisan, it?s a boost to have common ground with Zuckerberg, a young, successful entrepreneur with Silicon Valley connections.

Although Christie already enjoys solid support across the aisle in New Jersey, DuHaime said being associated with Zuckerberg was helpful: ?It?s beneficial politically, but that?s kind of a byproduct of good policy.?

Despite Zuckerberg?s political foray, he?s not a partisan. While Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg?hosted a fundraiser?for President Obama and Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes (now the publisher of?The New Republic) worked on the president?s campaign, Zuckerberg doesn?t?publicly?identify as a Democrat or Republican. He?s friendly with Obama and hosted a Facebook town hall for him in 2011, but he also held a fundraiser for Christie earlier this year at his Palo Alto home.

?It?s turned into a very good friendship, but it was driven by their similar views on education reform,? DuHaime said. ?It was issue-driven, and then it became a friendship.?

Further proof of Zuckerberg's bipartisan bent: the?prominent inside-the-Beltway advisers?he's brought on board to run his new political group. The roster includes?former National Republican Senatorial Committee Executive Director Rob Jesmer, former Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart, and Republican strategist Jon Lerner, a longtime consultant for the antitax Club for Growth.

Lerner has worked for a number of conservative clients, including South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former Gov. Mark Sanford in his gubernatorial campaigns. A 2010 McClatchy profile?written about Lerner?said he displayed an "unwillingness to work for candidates whose views don't match his own hard-line conservative beliefs."?

Now Lerner, whose work includes an ad describing Howard Dean as a "latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading? liberal, will be partners with a hoodie-wearing Silicon Valley icon.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/curious-friends-facebook-mark-zuckerberg-help-republicans-121945830--politics.html

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Wichita State moves on to final 8

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Malcolm Armstead and his Wichita State teammates told each other they could be a Final Four team last summer.

Now the Shockers are one win away from a place the program hasn't been since 1965.

They rolled past La Salle 72-58 in the West Regional semifinals on Thursday night. Next up is No. 2 seed Ohio State in Saturday's regional final.

"It's a big game and I am feeling another upset," reserve guard Nick Wiggins said. "We belong here."

Armstead scored 18 points, Carl Hall added 16 and freshman Ron Baker had 13 for the ninth-seeded Shockers in their latest win, proving their upset of No. 1 seed Gonzaga in the third round was no fluke.

"To see we're one game away from it, it's like a dream come true," Armstead said. "But you still have to stay focused on this next game. You can't bypass it and look forward to the Final Four yet."

Wichita State overwhelmed La Salle from the opening tip on its way to the school's first final eight appearance since 1981.

"It's like I'm in a dream still with this whole Elite Eight situation," Hall said.

The Shockers opened the game on a 14-2 run and ended the first half with a 9-1 spurt. They started the second half by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers for a 22-point lead.

La Salle never got closer than 11 points in the second half, when the Explorers outscored the Shockers 36-34.

"It took us a half to kind of adjust to the level they were playing at," La Salle coach John Giannini said. "The second half was pretty evenly played, but we were in just too deep of a hole."

Ninth-seeded Wichita State (29-8) tied the school's 2010-11 team for most victories. That group won the NIT title. These Shockers want much more.

"We need one more win to seal this deal and go back home and get ready for the Final Four," Baker said. "We're just going to grab this opportunity the best we can."

The Shockers beat Kansas by two points to get to the final eight in 1981. They didn't need to take down a giant this time, just a 6,500-student school from Philadelphia that scrapped its way 2,754 miles from an at-large berth in Dayton, Ohio, to Los Angeles.

"That was the game plan early on, try to wear them down, pound it inside, and get inside-out shots, and that's what we came up," Armstead said.

Jerrell Wright and Tyrone Garland led the Explorers with 16 points each. Ramon Galloway, who averages a team-leading 17.4 points, was held to 11 for a program that won the 1954 NCAA championship and reached the 1955 national title game.

La Salle (24-10) didn't have the depth to hold its own against Wichita State, which owned a 47-29 rebounding edge and outscored the Explorers 40-26 in the paint, helped by Hall, who had 14 points in the first half.

"It was kind of an easy night for us on the inside because they only really have one post player," Hall said.

The Shockers limited La Salle to 36 percent shooting ? the same as Gonzaga shot in its third-round loss.

"They were all over the place. They came to play," Galloway said.

Hall sat down with his third foul while La Salle was busy whittling its deficit to 11 points by attacking the rim. But the Explorers never got within single digits, and Armstead scored nine straight points to push Wichita State's lead to 62-47. Another 6-0 spurt, capped by Cleanthony Early's dunk, made it 68-48.

"Armstead was huge at that point," Giannini said. "He had three, four big buckets in a row and we were scoring. But if we get the stops, that 10, 11, 12-point game is a four- to eight-point game, and then you really have a chance. But Armstead wouldn't allow it. When we threatened, he was the one that really responded."

The Shockers hit two straight 3-pointers to open the second half and push their lead to 22 points.

La Salle turned aggressive, answering with a 10-0 run to close to 44-32, with Wright scoring the first seven points and Galloway making a 3-pointer.

The Explorers got shocked to start the game, with Wichita State outscoring them 14-2. The Shockers ended the half on a 9-1 run, including five by Baker, to lead 38-22 at the break. La Salle was held to 27 percent shooting, while Wichita State shot 53 percent and dominated the paint 24-10.

Hall's teammates repeatedly found him down on the block and he muscled in layups over the smaller Explorers.

Galloway missed his first six shots. He finally made a 3-pointer that drew the Explorers within eight, but Wichita State quickly restored its lead to double digits.

Although 6-foot-11 center Steve Zack was cleared to play, he didn't and the Explorers missed his added height and inside presence. Zack had been out the previous six games with a sprained foot.

"He had a lot of soreness today, and we didn't think he could move well enough to help us in the game," Giannini said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wichita-state-moves-final-8-080316855--spt.html

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Hot Gaming Startup Supercell Is Closing A Round Above $100M At Valuation Around $800M

Supercell is a very quiet, humble mobile gaming company out of the very quiet and humble city of Helsinki, Finland. Unlike their brasher, Angry Birds-making brethren a 15-minute drive away in Espoo, they don’t like to talk much about anything beyond making games and about the company culture they’re deliberately cultivating. All of this belies what has become a phenomenal business over the last nine months — one that makes around $1.3 million per day off two iOS games called Clash of Clans and Hay Day. After about three months of considering whether to do a huge secondary round with the help of boutique investment bank Code Advisors, we’ve heard they sold somewhere between 16 and 20 percent of the company’s common shares in a deal that would value the company at around $800 million. We’re still trying to figure out the exact amount. It’s somewhere between $100 and 150 million, but closer to the lower end of the range. We heard they got close, but didn’t quite get to a $1 billion valuation, not that this should be the goal anyways. Supercell declined to comment on the financing round. “We simply will not comment on market rumours,” said spokesperson Heini Vesander. “We’ve never really done that and will not do that now.” We’ve heard that Institutional Venture Partners, Atomico and Index Ventures are the new investors. Tencent and DST had done some due diligence on the company in February, but didn’t end up going in for whatever reason. Index declined to comment, and Atomico and IVP did not reply for comment. It’s a bold, ballsy bet for what is basically a two-product company in a notoriously hits-driven business. While the macro trends behind mobile gaming are hard to argue with, the business is unpredictable. Several of the companies that were leading the charts two years ago are now much farther down, even if their businesses are still profitable. Last year, the whisper numbers for top grossing titles ranged in the $40-80 million range annually.?At around $1 million a day, the industry is looking at mobile gaming franchises that could gross between $200 and 400 million in 2013.? A few days ago, Japanese carrier Softbank increased its stake in Gung Ho Entertainment, the maker of what is probably the most valuable iOS game in the world today — Japan’s Puzzles and Dragons. That deal valued that company at $4.1 billion,

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/PIW4nOn9e44/

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Met Office advice was 'not helpful'

29 March 2013 Last updated at 03:14 ET By Roger Harrabin Environment analyst

The Met Office has admitted issuing advice to government that was "not helpful" during last year's remarkable switch in weather patterns.

Between March and April 2012, the UK experienced an extraordinary shift from high pressure and drought to low pressure and downpours.

But the Met Office said the forecast for average rainfall "slightly" favoured drier than average conditions.

The three-month forecast is said to be experimental.

It is sent to contingency planners but has been withheld from the public since the Met Office was pilloried for its "barbecue summer" forecast in 2009.

Last spring's forecast has been obtained by BBC News under Freedom of Information.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

The probabilistic forecast can be considered as somewhat like a form guide for a horse race?

End Quote Met Office

The Met Office three-monthly outlook at the end of March stated: "The forecast for average UK rainfall slightly favours drier than average conditions for April-May-June, and slightly favours April being the driest of the three months."

A soul-searching Met Office analysis later confessed: "Given that April was the wettest since detailed records began in 1910 and the April-May-June quarter was also the wettest, this advice was not helpful."

In a note to the government chief scientist, the Met Office chief scientist Julia Slingo explains the difficulty of constructing long-distance forecasts, given the UK's position at the far edge of dominant world weather systems.

She says last year's calculations were not actually wrong because they were probabilistic.

The Met Office forecast that the probability that April-May-June would fall into the driest of five categories was 20-25%, whilst the probability it would fall into the wettest was 10-15% (The average probability would be 20%).

The Met Office explained it this way: "The probabilistic forecast can be considered as somewhat like a form guide for a horse race.

'Unsolved challenges'

"It provides an insight into which outcomes are most likely, although in some cases there is a broad spread of outcomes, analogous to a race in which there is no strong favourite. Just as any of the horses in the race could win the race, any of the outcomes could occur, but some are more likely than others."

It said: "The creation of the three-monthly outlook relies upon the fact that weather is influenced by the slow variation of ocean conditions (and other processes) which can be predicted months in advance.

"Whilst there is a very strong dependence of tropical weather on processes such as El Nino ,the UK's weather is dominated by the highly variable atmospheric circulation over the North Atlantic, making it much harder to what will happen weeks and months ahead."

In the case of last spring, Dr Slingo says the forecast may have been pushed awry by a little-understood climate phenomenon, the Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) - a pattern of thunderstorms that starts in the Indian Ocean. The Met Office calls it "one of the great unsolved challenges of tropical meteorology".

The irregular phenomenon is an envelope of thunderstorms starting in the Indian Ocean and moving into the Pacific. The MJO concentrates tropical rainfall within the envelope, with blue skies around it.

Nick Klingaman from Reading University says that, as it moves east, the MJO influences monsoon rainfall in Australia, India, Southeast Asia, South America and Africa.

These "bursts" and "breaks" in the monsoon cause floods and droughts that impact agriculture, river systems and infrastructure. The "long arm of the MJO" even extends into the middle latitudes.

"The thunderstorm activity generates waves in the atmosphere that move toward the poles," he told me. "The position of the MJO today has been shown to influence the position of the Pacific and Atlantic jet streams 10-15 days later."

He says the MJO can be an important predictor of the state of the North Atlantic Oscillation - which controls much of our weather in the UK - about 2-4 weeks in advance.

And that's how a thunderstorm off the coast of India might trigger a pattern of events which led to the weather switch last spring.

Some weather models can predict the MJO three weeks ahead, he said, but others struggle to predict it a week ahead.

Forecasts have greater skill when the MJO is already active. Reading University is working with the Met Office on improving MJO forecasting, he said.

A Met Office spokesman said: "The science of long-range forecasting is at the cutting edge of meteorology and the Met Office is leading the way in this research area. We are confident that long-range outlooks will improve progressively.

"Looking at the skill of these outlooks over many individual forecasts clearly shows that they provide useful advice to their specialist users more often than not."

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Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21967190#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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'Fountain of youth' telomerase: Scientists successfully map enzyme that has rejuvenating effect on cells

Mar. 27, 2013 ? In collaboration with an international research team, University of Copenhagen researchers have for the first time mapped telomerase, an enzyme which has a kind of rejuvenating effect on normal cell aging. The findings have just been published in Nature Genetics and are a step forward in the fight against cancer.

The mapping of telomerase may boost our knowledge of cancers and their treatment, says Stig E. Bojesen.

Mapping the cellular fountain of youth -- telomerase. This is one of the results of a major research project involving more than 1,000 researchers worldwide, four years of hard work, DKK 55 million from the EU and blood samples from more than 200,000 people. This is the largest collaboration project ever to be conducted within cancer genetics.

Stig E. Bojesen, a researcher at the Faculty of Health and Medicial Sciences, University of Copenhagen, and staff specialist at the Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev, has headed the efforts to map telomerase -- an enzyme capable of creating new ends on cellular chromosomes, the so-called telomeres. In other words, a kind of cellular fountain of youth.

"We have discovered that differences in the telomeric gene are associated both with the risk of various cancers and with the length of the telomeres. The surprising finding was that the variants that caused the diseases were not the same as the ones which changed the length of the telomeres. This suggests that telomerase plays a far more complex role than previously assumed," says Stig E. Bojesen.

The mapping of telomerase is an important discovery, because telomerase is one of the very basic enzymes in cell biology. It relengthens the telomeres so that they get the same length as before embarking on cell division.

"The mapping of telomerase may, among other things, boost our knowledge of cancers and their treatment, and with the new findings the genetic correlation between cancer and telomere length has been thoroughly illustrated for the first time," says Stig E. Bojesen.

The human body consists of 50,000,000,000,000 or fifty trillion cells, and each cell has 46 chromosomes which are the structures in the nucleus containing our hereditary material, the DNA. The ends of all chromosomes are protected by so-called telomeres. The telomeres serve to protect the chromosomes in much the same way as the plastic sheath on the end of a shoelace. But each time a cell divides, the telomeres become a little bit shorter and eventually end up being too short to protect the chromosomes. Popularly speaking, each cell has a multi-ride ticket, and each time the cell divides, the telomeres (the chromosome ends) will use up one ride. Once there are no more rides left, the cell will not divide any more, and will, so to speak, retire. But some special cells in the body can activate telomerase, which again can elongate the telomeres.

Sex cells, or other stem cells which must be able to divide more than normal cells, have this feature. Unfortunately, cancer cells have discovered the trick, and it is known that they also produce telomerase and thus keep themselves artificially young. The telomerase gene therefore plays an important role in cancer biology, and it is precisely by identifying cancer genes that the researchers imagine that you can improve the identification rate and the treatment.

"A gene is like a country. As you map it, you can see what is going on in the various cities. One of the cities in what could be called Telomerase Land determines whether you develop breast cancer or ovarian cancer, while other parts of the gene determine the length of the telomeres. Mapping telomerase is therefore an important step towards being able to predict the risk of developing different cancers. In summary, our findings are very surprising and point in many directions. But as is the case with all good research, our work provides many answers but leaves even more questions," says Stig E. Bojesen.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Copenhagen.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Stig E Bojesen et al. Multiple independent variants at the TERT locus are associated with telomere length and risks of breast and ovarian cancer. Nature Genetics, 2013; 45 (4): 371 DOI: 10.1038/ng.2566

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/9AHjRkHYpZI/130327133341.htm

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Nutrition Rocks and the 30-Day Vegan Challenge | Nutrition Rocks

Inspired by Meg Mathews? recent switch to a vegan lifestyle and the PETA 30 day vegan challenge, Nutrition Rocks are delighted to bring you our new and exclusive ?Vegan? section of our site! This section aims to offer our readers delicious and simple vegan recipes alongside practical, factual tips on how to be a healthy vegan and maximise health, beauty and vitality from the inside out. If you are not already a vegan we hope to inspire you to take on the 30 day challenge yourselves with our variety of original recipes ? from starters and mains to smoothies, juices and dips, we have got it covered! Deciding to become a vegan is a big lifestyle change, so whether you are ready to take this step or simply just want some new and exciting meat-free recipe ideas, Nutrition Rocks are here for you!

Vegan and vegetarian lifestyles are becoming increasingly popular. There are many reasons that people may decide to become a vegan, but whatever the reason it is essential that vegans are aware of the importance of ensuring the food they eat is adequate in nutrients and will provide your body with everything it needs. In doing this being a vegan can provide health benefits and other advantages.

There are, however, areas of concern relating to the nutritional status of those enjoying a vegan lifestyle. As with any eating pattern, the likelihood of being deficient in certain nutrients is higher in people who restrict the variety of foods they eat. We will discuss the nutrients of concern below ? stick with us and you can eat vegan the way it should be done!

Protein: the human requirement for protein is about 10% of total energy intake or less, which is very achievable on a vegan diet by eating plant-based foods that are rich in protein. There may be concern that vegans don?t get enough protein, and it?s true that you have to eat the right kind of protein rich plant-based foods to get the right combination of essential amino acids (the building blocks of protein), although as long as you eat a variety of protein rich foods throughout the day your body will be getting all the essential amino acids, and therefore protein, that it needs.

The three foods to remember that will supply your body with all the essential amino acids are hemp, quinoa and soya. Why not try quinoa porridge in the morning, delicious creamy puddings made with soya milk (look out for the ones fortified with calcium) or toasted hemp seeds sprinkled on your salads. Other protein-rich vegan foods to look out for and include in your diet are lentils, beans, chickpeas, tofu and nuts, including nut butters which are also a great source of essential fats, bringing us nicely onto our next nutrient?

Fat: fat gets a bad rep when it comes to nutrition; however in the right balance fats form a very important part of our diet, promoting cell function, protecting our internal organs and helping to keep our hair and skin healthy. Vegetarians and vegans often have lower intakes of fats than meat eaters so it is important to know which kinds of foods contain healthy fats in order to provide our bodies with energy and essential vitamins that can be provided by eating fats, such as vitamins A and E and omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids cannot be produced by the body and need to be consumed from the food we eat ? there are many health benefits commonly associated with omega-3 fatty acids, including their role in heart health. The oils from fatty fish such as mackerel and salmon are the most commonly referred to source of omega-3 fatty acids, although there are lots of way for vegans to stock up on these healthy fats! The major vegan sources of omega-3 fatty acids include flaxseed, hemp seeds and hemp seed oil, rapeseed oil and our beauty nutrition favourite, walnuts. Some vegans may wish to consider a supplement made from algae that will provide the long chain type of omega 3 that is harder to get from food if you are a vegan, as it is the type found in oily fish (docosahexaenoic acid or DHA in case you?re interested)! Other healthy fats for vegans to be aware of are?mono-unsaturated?fats that you can get from avocados, olive oil, rapeseed oil and olives.

Vitamin B12: it is important that all vegans regularly include a reliable source of vitamin B12 in their diet (it is particularly important for pregnant women and young children who are vegan). The only natural source of vitamin B12 is meat, although there are several vegan products that are fortified, such as soya milk and cereals, and vegan supplements that are free from animal products are also available. Although requirement for vitamin B12 is very small, and deficiency is rare, long-term deficiency can lead to neurological damage and short term deficiency can lead to anaemia, fatigue and depression ? so it?s important to know your stuff! So when you?re shopping for cereal products and milk, ensure they are fortified with B12 or ask your pharmacist about a suitable supplement.

Iron: it can be difficult to get enough iron if you are a vegan or a vegetarian, but with a bit of knowledge on the rich vegan sources you can ensure your meals are packed with iron rich foods to help keep you full of energy and vitality. The iron found in plant sources is an inorganic (non-haem) form that is not as readily absorbed as the form found in meat. There are also various substances that can inhibit the absorption of non-haem iron, such as the tannins found in tea and high levels of fibre? (so save that cuppa for between your meals)! Vitamin C, however, increases the absorption of iron from plant sources significantly ? a perfect excuse to enjoy a fresh fruit juice with your meals. The plant sources of iron that vegans should look out for are fortified cereals, beans, lentils and chickpeas, dark green leafy vegetables and bread.

Zinc: zinc is similar to iron in that the richest sources are meat, and certain substances impair its absorption. Deficiency in zinc can lead to poor immunity and a reduced appetite ? not what we want! Vegan foods rich in zinc include toasted pumpkin seeds, peanuts and dark chocolate and cocoa powder (hooray)!

Calcium: because cows? milk and its products are the major dietary source of calcium it can be easy to forget that there are plenty of vegan sources that can keep your teeth and bones strong as well. So stock up on Brazil nuts, toasted sesame seeds, tofu, dark green leafy vegetables, fortified vegan milks and another of our beauty nutrition favourites, almonds. Why not snack on some raw unsalted almonds, throw a handful of toasted sesame seeds into your smoothies for a nutty twist and don?t forget your veggies! Remember ? calcium status is rarely a problem if vitamin D status is adequate so get those sunnies out as it?s nearly Summer?.

Please note that this is not an?exhaustive guide to eating vegan. We will be bringing you more vegan nutrition news over the coming weeks so watch this space! In the meantime if you have any individual questions please comment below, or email us at info@nutrition-rocks.co.uk where we can either reply to your query individually or choose to feature it on the site

For more details see the PETA website (friends of Nutrition Rocks and supporters of our new page)?www.peta.org.uk??or the Vegan Society?www.vegansociety.com

By Emily Stuart. Follow Emily on Twitter @FoodFirstLondon

?Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances of survival for life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.? (Albert Einstein)?

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Source: http://nutrition-rocks.co.uk/?p=3700

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T-Mobile?s ?UNcarrier? initiative is gimmicky but still an improvement from the status quo

Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/t-mobile-uncarrier-initiative-gimmicky-still-improvement-status-203239054.html

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Produce picked from the tundra: Welcome to climate change in Greenland

Alistair Scrutton / Reuters

Kim Ernst, the Danish chef of Roklubben restaurant, which is nestled by a frozen lake near a former Cold War-era U.S. military base, looks over his greenhouse in Kangerlussaq on March 5, 2013.

By Alistair Scrutton, Reuters

KANGERLUSSUAQ, Greenland ? On the Arctic Circle, a chef is growing the kind of vegetables and herbs - potatoes, thyme, tomatoes, green peppers - more fitting for a suburban garden in a temperate zone than a land of Northern Lights, glaciers and musk oxen.

Some Inuit hunters are finding reindeer fatter than ever thanks to more grazing on this frozen tundra, and for some, there is no longer a need to trek hours to find wild herbs.

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Welcome to climate change in Greenland, where locals say longer and warmer summers mean the country can grow the kind of crops unheard of years ago.

"Things are just growing quicker," said Kim Ernst, the Danish chef of Roklubben restaurant, nestled by a frozen lake near a former Cold War-era U.S. military base.

"Every year we try new things," said Ernst, who even managed to grow a handful of strawberries that he served to some surprised Scandinavian royals. "I first came here in 1999 and no-one would have dreamed of doing this. But now the summer days seem warmer, and longer."

It was minus 20 degrees Centigrade in March but the sun was out and the air was still, with an almost spring feel. Ernst showed his greenhouse and an outdoor winter garden which in a few months may sprout again.

Hundreds of miles south, some farmers now produce hay, and sheep farms have increased in size. Some supermarkets in the capital Nuuk sell locally grown vegetables during the summer.

Major commercial crop production is still in its infancy. But it is a sign of changes here that Greenland's government set up a commission this year to study how a changing climate may help farmers increase agricultural production and replace expensive imported foods.

Change is already under way. Potatoes grown commercially in southern Greenland reached over 100 tons in 2012, double that of 2008. Vegetable production in the region may double this year compared with 2012, according to government data.

Some politicians hope global warming will allow this country a quarter the size of the United States to reduce its dependency on former colonial master Denmark for much of its food as political parties push for full independence.

Greenland, which is self-governing aside from defense and security, depends on an annual grant from Denmark of around $600 million, or half the island's annual budget. But the thawing of its enormous ice sheets have seen a boost in mining and oil exploration, as well as an interest in agriculture.

"I expect a lot of development in farming sheep and agriculture due to global warming," said Prime Minister Kuupik Kleist, whose government set up the commission. "It may become an important supplement to our economy."

Locals love recounting how Erik the Red first arrived in the southern fjords here in the 10th century and labeled this ice-covered island "Greenland" to entice others to settle. There is evidence that the climate was warmer then, allowing Viking settlements to grow crops for five centuries before mysteriously dying out.

From cows to crops
The scale of this new agriculture is tiny. There are just a few dozen sheep farms in southern Greenland, where most of the impact of climate change can be seen. Cows may number less than a hundred. But with 57,000 mostly Inuit human inhabitants, the numbers to feed are also small.

"You need to put this into perspective. We used to be high Arctic and now we are more sub Arctic," Kenneth Hoegh, an agronomist and former senior government adviser. "But we are still Arctic."

The symbolism is enormous, however, highlighting a changing global climate that has seen temperatures in the Arctic increase by about twice the global average - about 0.8 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times.

"There are now huge areas in southern Greenland where you can grow things," said Josephine Nymand, a scientist at the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources in Nuuk. "Potatoes have most benefited. Also, cabbage has been very successful."

Sten Erik Langstrup Pedersen, who runs an organic farm in a fjord near Nuuk, first grew potatoes in 1976. Now he can plant crops two weeks earlier in May and harvest three weeks later in October compared with more than a decade ago.

He grows 23 kinds of vegetables, compared with 15 a decade ago, including beans, peas, herbs and strawberries. He says he has sold some strawberries to top restaurants in Copenhagen.

But Pedersen is skeptical about how much it will catch on.

"Greenlanders are impatient. They see a seal and they immediately just want to hunt it. They can never wait for vegetables to grow."

There is still potential. Hoegh estimates Greenland could provide half its food needs from home-grown produce which would be competitive with more expensive Danish imports.

But global change is not all about benefits. While summers are warmer, there is less rain. Some experts say that Greenland could soon need irrigation works - ironic for a country of ice and lakes.

"We have had dry summers for the last few years." said Aqqalooraq Frederiksen, a senior agricultural consultant in south Greenland, who said a late spring last year hurt potato crops.

On the Arctic circle, a flash flood last summer from suspected glacier melt water - which some locals here blamed on warm weather - swept away the only bridge connecting Ernst's restaurant to the airport. It came right in the middle of the tourist season, and the restaurant lost thousands of dollars.

It was an ominous reminder that global warming will bring its problems. Still, for Pedersen and his fjord in Nuuk, the future looks good.

"The hotter, the better," Pedersen said. "For me."

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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Reader recommendation: The Hobbit

What happens when ordinary people decide to pay it forward? Extraordinary change...

Teenager Sergei Abramov writes for and edits his own student website, a nonprofit partly funded by Microsoft.

Sergei Abramov's goal: an educational blog that doesn't bore his fellow Russian teens

Students from all over Russia visit the 16-year-old's site, The Blog of a School Wise Guy, to learn about math, physics, literature, new scientific breakthroughs, or just curious facts.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/upwFzGQDX6w/Reader-recommendation-The-Hobbit

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Curve Appeal: Do Men Know Something About Women's Bodies ...

I?ll be the first to admit it: I am sort of a sucker for consumer-friendly psychology magazines. Publications like Psychology Today are full of articles I either enjoy reading or using as fire kindling. Or, when I am really irritated by the content, writing articles on the topic. Like this one.

The article, published in Psychology Today, is titled ?Ahead of the Curves? and the brilliant tagline? ?Men know something vital about women?s body shapes that women don?t. Plus: How big hips make wise women.?

It is six pages long and features illustrations of women who look more like playmates than the women who have the aforementioned ?big hips? and are ?wise? because of it. One of the illustrations boasts a sexy blonde wearing a pastel-pretty bra and tight briefs. She is pursing her red lips ? ready to kiss! She is rather revolting and her hips, well, they certainly are not wise.

That alone is irritating but this is the part that really makes me question my taste in literature: This lengthy article is written by two men.

Their respective names and impressive education are listed in very small font. I wondered: How can these two men possibly educate and enlighten women on their sex appeal and bodies? Well, they certainly gave it a good shot. But not good enough.

The first paragraph states that ?American males, it has been calculated, spend some $3 billion a year to gaze at women with hourglass figures, those whose small waists blossom into sinuously curvy hips.?

My first thought? Where does this ?calculation? come from? Furthermore, how does gazing at women connect to ?$3 billion a year?? They don?t explain this. Maybe men take time off work to gawk at women? Unlikely.

I have to give credit where credit is due: They do include research done by the late Deborah Sing ? 20 years ago. This is the only mention of a female contribution to the piece and does not extend past one measly paragraph which tells the eager reader: ?. . .Men all around the world. . .Prefer a similar shape.?

We are then told that when men view a curvy woman their brains respond in a similar fashion to cocaine and heroin. Hmm. That?s a strange statement with no research provided to the reader.

Even so, the following paragraph takes the cake:

Even a thin woman carries an astonishing amount of fat in her legs and hips?about a third of her body weight. Men everywhere admire the fat located here. . .Only bears ready to hibernate, penguins facing a sunless winter without food, or whales swimming in the arctic waters have fat percentages that approach those in normal, healthy, trim young women.

Well, that?s lovely! Female readers have now been compared to bears, penguins and whales. Furthermore, the word ?astonishing? used in relation to our apparent ?fat? probably does not make us smile. I am currently grimacing.

For diversity?s sake (or perhaps the editor was concerned about backlash from readers) a few paragraphs are devoted to explaining that American women are in dire need of more omega-3s.

Unfortunately, I believe more women have read this article than men. The pages are laced with bright pink script. I kid you not. Literature like this confuses both genders and, in my humble and currently sarcastic opinion, the size of my hips does not make me ?wise.? And neither did reading this article.

Reference

Lassek, W. & Gaulin, S. (2012, August). Ahead of the curves. Psychology Today, 45(4), 74-77.

?

Natalie Jeanne Champagne is the author of The Third Sunrise: A Memoir of Madness. You can learn about Natalie and the book on her website at www.thethirdsunrise.com

Like this author?
Catch up on other posts by NatalieJeanne Champagne (or subscribe to their feed).

????Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 25 Mar 2013
????Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.

APA Reference
Champagne, N. (2013). Curve Appeal: Do Men Know Something About Women?s Bodies That Women Do Not?. Psych Central. Retrieved on March 26, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/03/25/curve-appeal-do-men-know-something-about-womens-bodies-that-women-do-not/

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Source: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/03/25/curve-appeal-do-men-know-something-about-womens-bodies-that-women-do-not/

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Texas Cities Versus California Cities (GDP Growth Edition). (Willisms)

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US to hand prison over to Afghans

FILE ? This Sept. 27, 2010, file photo reviewed by the U.S. military, shows a U.S. military guard walking a corridor between detainee cells at the Parwan detention facility near Bagram, north of Kabul, Afghanistan. Saturday, March 23, 2013, the Pentagon said the U.S. has reached an agreement with the Afghanistan government to transfer the facility to Afghan control. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Saturday as officials finalized the agreement after days of intense negotiations. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)

FILE ? This Sept. 27, 2010, file photo reviewed by the U.S. military, shows a U.S. military guard walking a corridor between detainee cells at the Parwan detention facility near Bagram, north of Kabul, Afghanistan. Saturday, March 23, 2013, the Pentagon said the U.S. has reached an agreement with the Afghanistan government to transfer the facility to Afghan control. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Saturday as officials finalized the agreement after days of intense negotiations. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)

FILE ? This March 23, 2011, file photo shows Afghan detainees through a wire mesh fence inside the Parwan detention facility near Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan. Saturday, March 23, 2013, the Pentagon said the U.S. has reached an agreement with the Afghanistan government to transfer the facility to Afghan control. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Saturday as officials finalized the agreement after days of intense negotiations. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin, File)

FILE ? In this March 23, 2011, file photo a U.S. military guard watches over detainee cells inside the Parwan detention facility near Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan. Saturday, March 23, 2013, the Pentagon said the U.S. has reached an agreement with the Afghanistan government to transfer the facility to Afghan control. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Saturday as officials finalized the agreement after days of intense negotiations. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) ? The U.S. military is handing over to the Afghan government the only detention facility in the country that was under American control. The transfer comes a year after the two sides initially agreed on the handover.

A transfer ceremony was scheduled for Monday at the Parwan Detention Facility, which is next to the U.S.-run Bagram military base north of Kabul.

The U.S. was supposed to fully hand over the facility last September after signing an agreement to do so a year ago.

But the transfer was held up pending a final deal between the U.S. and the Afghans over the release of dangerous prisoners.

That deal was struck late last week and under it, prisoners considered dangerous would not be released from the detention center.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-25-AS-Afghanistan/id-d54a81bf22844bf79f04380ef8bc7b9e

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Black market killing chimps and gorillas

BANGKOK (AP) -- The multibillion-dollar trade in illegal wildlife ? clandestine trafficking that has driven iconic creatures like the tiger to near-extinction ? is also threatening the survival of great apes, a new U.N. report says.

Endangered chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas and bonobos are disappearing from the wild in frightening numbers, as private owners pay top dollar for exotic pets, while disreputable zoos, amusement parks and traveling circuses clamor for smuggled primates to entertain audiences.

More than 22,000 great apes are estimated to have been traded illegally over a seven-year period ending in 2011. That's about 3,000 a year; more than half are chimpanzees, the U.N. report said.

"These great apes make up an important part of our natural heritage. But as with all things of value, great apes are used by man for commercial profit and the illegal trafficking of the species constitutes a serious threat to their existence," Henri Djombo, a government minister from the Republic of Congo, was quoted as saying.

The U.N. report paints a dire picture of the fight to protect vulnerable and dwindling flora and fauna from organized criminal networks that often have the upper hand.

Apes are hunted in their own habitats, which are concentrated in central and western Africa, by sophisticated smugglers who transport them on private cargo planes using small airstrips in the African bush. Their destination is usually the Middle East and Asia.

In countries like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Lebanon, great apes are purchased to display as show pieces in private gardens and menageries.

In Asia, the animals are typically destined for public zoos and amusement parks. China is a main destination for gorillas and chimpanzees. Thailand and Cambodia have recorded cases of orangutans being used for entertainment in "clumsy boxing matches," the report said.

Lax enforcement and corruption make it easy to smuggle the animals through African cities like Nairobi, Kenya, and Khartoum, Sudan, which are trafficking hubs. Bangkok, the Thai capital, is a major hub for the orangutan trade.

Conditions are usually brutal. In February 2005, customs officials at the Nairobi airport seized a large crate that had arrived from Egypt. The crate held six chimpanzees and four monkeys, stuffed into tiny compartments. The crate had been refused at the airport in Cairo, a well-known trafficking hub for shipment to the Middle East, and returned to Kenya. One chimp died of hunger and thirst.

The proliferation of logging and mining camps throughout Africa has also increased the demand for primate meat. Adults and juveniles are killed for consumption, and their orphans are captured to sell into the live trade. Villagers also pluck primates out of rural areas to sell in the cities.

Humans also have been encroaching upon and destroying the primates' natural habitats, destroying their forest homes to build infrastructure and for other purposes. That forces the animals to move into greater proximity and conflict with people.

Sometimes animals are even the victims of war.

Arrests are rare largely because authorities in Africa, where most great apes originate, do not have the policing resources to cope with the criminal poaching networks. Corruption is rampant and those in authority sometimes are among those dealing in the illegal trade. Between 2005 and 2011, only 27 arrests were made in Africa and Asia.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) regulates the trade of animals and plants to ensure their survival. Under the agreement, trade in great apes caught in the wild is illegal. But traffickers often get around that by falsely declaring animals as bred in captivity.

The orangutan is the only great ape found in Asia. One species, the Sumatran orangutan, is critically endangered, with its population having dropped by 80 percent over the last 75 years. Their numbers are in great peril due to the pace of land clearance and forest destruction for industrial or agricultural use.

The report estimates that nearly all of the orangutan's natural habitat will be disturbed or destroyed by the year 2030.

"There are no wild spaces left for them," said Douglas Cress, a co-author of the report and head of a U.N. sponsored program that works for the survival of great apes. "There'll be nothing left at this rate. It's down to the bone. If it disappears, they go, too."

___

Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chimps-gorillas-other-apes-being-130310115.html

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Graphene Sponges: The Lightest Material on the Planet

At this point, it'd be more of a surprise if graphene wasn't an integral part of a mind-bending, record-setting new technology. But, of course, it is. Again. Enter the lightest material in the world: graphene aerogel. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/GjTHYGhxxYE/graphene-sponges-the-lightest-material-on-the-planet

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GOP's 'no' on Medicaid becomes "Let's make a deal'

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Given the choice of whether to expand Medicaid under President Barack Obama's health care law, many Republican governors and lawmakers initially responded with an emphatic "no."

Now they are increasingly hedging their objections.

A new "no, but ..." approach is spreading among GOP states in which officials are still publicly condemning the Democratic president's Medicaid expansion yet floating alternatives that could provide health coverage to millions of low-income adults while potentially tapping into billions of federal dollars that are to start flowing in 2014.

The Medicaid health care program for poor, which is jointly funded by the federal and state governments, already covers about one in five people in the U.S. Expanding it was the way Obama envisioned covering many more low-income workers who don't have insurance. The new Republican alternatives being proposed in states generally would go part of the way, but cover fewer people than Obama's plan, guarantee less financial help or rely more on private insurers.

But so far, many of the Republican ideas are still more wistful than substantive. It's uncertain whether they will actually pass. And even if they do, there's no guarantee Obama's administration will allow states to deviate too greatly from the parameters of the Affordable Care Act while still reaping its lucrative funding. Yet a recent signal from federal officials that Arkansas might be able to use Medicaid money to buy private insurance policies has encouraged Republicans to try alternatives.

The GOP proposals could lead to another health care showdown between the White House and states, leaving millions of Americans who lack insurance waiting longer for resolution. Officials in about 30 states that are home to more than 25 million uninsured residents remain either defiant or undecided about implementing Obama's Medicaid expansion, according to an Associated Press survey.

Supporters of the Medicaid expansion have built coalitions of hospitals, businesses groups, religious leaders and advocates for the poor to try to persuade reluctant Republicans of the economic and moral merits of Obama's health care plan. But some Republicans believe the pressure ultimately will fall on Obama to accept their alternatives if he wants to avoid a patchwork system for his signature accomplishment.

"If the Obama administration is serious about innovative ways to bring down the cost of health care, it's going to cooperate with conservative ideas rather than continue down its one-size-fits-all, far-left-wing ideological path," said Missouri Rep. Jay Barnes, a Republican from Jefferson City.

A House committee led by Barnes already has defeated Obama's version of Medicaid expansion. It is to hear public testimony Monday on his "market-based Medicaid" alternative that would award health care contracts to competing private insurers and provide cash incentives to patients who hold down their health-care costs. His proposal would contain costs by covering fewer children than Medicaid now does and adding fewer adults than Obama's plan envisions.

Committees in Florida's Republican-led Legislature also have rejected a Medicaid expansion for roughly 1 million of the state's poorest residents, even though it is backed by GOP Gov. Rick Scott. Now Republican Sen. Joe Negron is pursuing an alternative that would use federal funds to provide vouchers for low-income residents to buy private policies. Negron said he still doesn't believe expanding Medicaid is the right decision, but he wants to help Florida residents get health coverage.

"We don't want to do it the Washington way. We want to do it the Florida way," Negron said.

Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich also has been in discussions with the Obama administration about providing subsidized insurance instead of full Medicaid coverage for more adults. Republican governors in Texas, Nebraska and Indiana want the federal government to award Medicaid money as block grants to states.

"It's a two-step for many of these Republican governors. When they look at the numbers they want to do it, but they want to distance themselves from Obamacare at the same time," said Drew Altman, president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit that analyzes health care policies.

That might be fine with the Obama administration.

"There actually is quite a bit of flexibility on how they can approach this, and the federal government has indicated they want to get to 'yes' " said Joan Alker, co-executive director of Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families in Washington, D.C.

As originally enacted, the Affordable Care Act required states to expand Medicaid to adults earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, about $32,500 annually for a family of four. A Supreme Court decision last summer made the expansion optional for states but kept in place a powerful financial incentive. The federal government will fully fund the expansion for the first three years, with the states' share gradually increasing to 10 percent by 2020.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in December that getting full funding will still require a full expansion. Yet some Republicans in Missouri, South Dakota and elsewhere claim to see room for compromise.

LaTonya Jenkins, a 51-year-old laid off teacher's aide who lives in temporary housing for the homeless in Kansas City, recently enrolled in Medicaid but could lose coverage if her part-time job pushes her income over Missouri's strict eligibility limits. She recently traveled to Missouri Capitol to urge lawmakers to expand Medicaid.

"If they don't, and they cut it out, then what are we to do? We'll be lost," said a tearful Jenkins, who has diabetes and cares for her grandson. "I'll be sicker than ever and back in the hospital."

___

Associated Press writer Kelli Kennedy contributed to this report from Miami.

___

Follow David A. Lieb at: http://www.twitter.com/DavidALieb

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gops-no-medicaid-becomes-lets-124049576.html

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International court detains Rwandan-born warlord

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) ? African warlord Bosco Ntaganda was taken from the U.S. Embassy in Rwanda on Friday and flown to International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he faces charges including murder, rape and persecution in a rebel group's deadly reign of terror that gripped eastern Congo a decade ago.

Ntaganda arrived and was taken to a cell shortly before midnight Friday, nearly seven years after he was first indicted. His transfer was hailed as a crucial step in bringing to justice one of Africa's most notorious warlords. It was also a welcome relief to a court that earlier this week dropped charges against a senior Kenyan suspect for lack of evidence and late last year acquitted another rebel leader accused of atrocities in Congo.

Nicknamed "The Terminator" because of his reputation for ruthlessness in battle, Ntaganda became a symbol of impunity in Africa, at times playing tennis in eastern Congo, apparently without fear of arrest.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the transfer "an important moment for all who believe in justice and accountability.

"For nearly seven years, Ntaganda was a fugitive from justice, evading accountability for alleged violations of international humanitarian law and mass atrocities against innocent civilians, including rape, murder, and the forced recruitment of thousands of Congolese children as soldiers," Kerry said in a statement. "Now there is hope that justice will be done."

The White House said the transfer marked a major step toward ending a cycle of impunity. National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said the U.S. hopes it will build momentum for an agreement to deal with the region's economic, political and security problems.

Despite his 2006 ICC indictment, Ntaganda joined the Congolese army in 2009 as a general following a peace deal that paved the way for him and his men to be integrated into the military. He was allowed to live freely in the provincial capital of Goma, where he also dined at top restaurants.

Last year, however, the agreement between the former warlord and the Congolese government disintegrated, and he and his troops defected, becoming known as M23 and battling Congolese government troops in the country's mineral-rich east.

Ntaganda is believed to have turned himself in after becoming vulnerable when his M23 rebel group split into two camps last month over the decision to bow to international pressure and withdraw from Goma late last year. Ntaganda and another rebel leader, Jean-Marie Runiga, had opposed any pullout, but a rebel general, Sultani Makenga, ordered a retreat and initiated peace talks with the Congo government.

Rwanda's cooperation in the transfer of Ntaganda could come at a cost. If he testifies in The Hague, he could reveal details of Rwanda's alleged role in the conflict in Congo and support for M23.

A United Nation panel of experts last year said that both Rwanda and Uganda commanded and supported M23. Both countries deny the charge.

Ntaganda was turned over to ICC staff in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, where he gave himself up at the U.S. Embassy on Monday. He is the first indicted suspect to voluntarily surrender to the court's custody.

The court's prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, welcomed his transfer as a great day for victims in Congo.

"Today those who have long suffered at the hands of Bosco Ntaganda can look forward to the future and the prospect of justice secured," Bensouda said.

Ntaganda is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday. He will first be given a medical checkup and appointed a defense attorney.

Rights groups welcomed Ntaganda's arrest.

"Ntaganda's expected trial will underscore the importance of the ICC in providing accountability for the world's worst crimes when national courts are unable or unwilling to deliver justice," said Geraldine Mattioli-Zeltner, international justice advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.

Ntaganda was first indicted in 2006 on charges of recruiting and using child soldiers. In July last year, the court issued a second arrest warrant accusing Ntaganda of murder, rape, sexual slavery, persecution and pillaging in 2002-2003 in the eastern province of Ituri. He faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted.

Prosecutors call Ntaganda the "chief of operations" of the Union of Congolese Patriots and its armed wing, the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo, known by their French acronyms UPC and FPLC. The groups waged a brutal military campaign to establish political and military domination for the Hema tribe over resource-rich Ituri, allegedly killing some 800 people in a few months.

According to court documents, his rebels used the same tactics in each village they attacked ? surrounding the settlement and shelling it before going house-to-house to slaughter survivors with guns, machetes, spears and knives. The fighters allegedly raped women and abducted them to turn into sex slaves during the attacks.

Prosecutors say Ntaganda "planned and commanded scores of coordinated military attacks against the Lendu and other non-Hema tribes."

The former leader of the UPC/FPLC, Thomas Lubanga, last year became the first person convicted in the International Criminal Court's 10-year history. He was found guilty of recruiting and using child soldiers in fighting in Ituri and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. He has appealed his conviction.

The alleged leader of a Lendu tribe militia in Ituri, Mathieu Ngudjolo, was acquitted in December of atrocities in Ituri.

While getting Ntaganda to The Hague is a significant step for the court, several of its highest-profile suspects remain at large, including Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted for genocide in Darfur province, and Joseph Kony, leader of the shadowy Ugandan rebel movement the Lord's Resistance Army.

"As we welcome progress in one case, others also subject to ICC warrants in the region remain at large," Bensouda said. The international court has no police force and relies on cooperation of states to arrest and transfer suspects.

___

Associated Press writers Jason Straziuso and Edmund Kagire in Kigali, Rwanda, and Josh Lederman in Washington contributed to this story.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/international-court-detains-rwandan-born-warlord-123340579.html

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'Sideline quasars' helped to stifle early galaxy formation

Friday, March 22, 2013

University of Colorado Boulder astronomers targeting one of the brightest quasars glowing in the universe some 11 billion years ago say "sideline quasars" likely teamed up with it to heat abundant helium gas billions of years ago, preventing small galaxy formation.

CU-Boulder Professor Michael Shull and Research Associate David Syphers used the Hubble Space Telescope to look at the quasar -- the brilliant core of an active galaxy that acted as a "lighthouse" for the observations -- to better understand the conditions of the early universe. The scientists studied gaseous material between the telescope and the quasar with a $70 million ultraviolet spectrograph on Hubble designed by a team from CU-Boulder's Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy.

During a time known as the "helium reionization era" some 11 billion years ago, blasts of ionizing radiation from black holes believed to be seated in the cores of quasars stripped electrons from primeval helium atoms, said Shull. The initial ionization that charged up the helium gas in the universe is thought to have occurred sometime shortly after the Big Bang.

"We think 'sideline quasars' located out of the telescope's view reionized intergalactic helium gas from different directions, preventing it from gravitationally collapsing and forming new generations of stars," he said. Shull likened the early universe to a hunk of Swiss cheese, where quasars cleared out zones of neutral helium gas in the intergalactic medium that were then "pierced" by UV observations from the space telescope.

The results of the new study also indicate the helium reionization era of the universe appears to have occurred later than thought, said Shull, a professor in CU-Boulder's astrophysical and planetary sciences department. "We initially thought the helium reionization era took place about 12 billion years ago," said Shull. "But now we think it more likely occurred in the 11 to 10 billion-year range, which was a surprise."

A paper on the subject by Shull and Syphers was published online this week in the Astrophysical Journal.

The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph used for the quasar observations aboard Hubble was designed to probe the evolution of galaxies, stars and intergalactic matter. The COS team is led by CU Professor James Green of CASA and was installed on Hubble by astronauts during its final servicing mission in 2009. COS was built in an industrial partnership between CU and Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder.

"While there are likely hundreds of millions of quasars in the universe, there are only a handful you can use for a study like this," said Shull. Quasars are nuclei in the center of active galaxies that have "gone haywire" because of supermassive black holes that gorged themselves in the cores, he said. "For our purposes, they are just a really bright background light that allows us to see to the edge of the universe, like a headlight shining through fog."

The universe is thought to have begun with the Big Bang that triggered a fireball of searing plasma that expanded and then become cool neutral gas at about 380,000 years, bringing on the "dark ages" when there was no light from stars or galaxies, said Shull. The dark ages were followed by a period of hydrogen reionization, then the formation of the first galaxies beginning about 13.5 billion years ago. The first galaxies era was followed by the rise of quasars some 2 billion years later, which led to the helium reionization era, he said.

The radiation from the huge quasars heated the gas to 20,000 to 40,000 degrees Fahrenheit in intergalactic realms of the early universe, said Shull. "It is important to understand that if the helium gas is heated during the epoch of galaxy formation, it makes it harder for proto-galaxies to hang on to the bulk of their gas. In a sense, it's like intergalactic global warming."

The team is using COS to probe the "fossil record" of gases in the universe, including a structure known as the "cosmic web" believed to be made of long, narrow filaments of galaxies and intergalactic gas separated by enormous voids. Scientists theorize that a single cosmic web filament may stretch for hundreds of millions of light years, an eye-popping number considering that a single light-year is about 5.9 trillion miles.

COS breaks light into its individual components -- similar to the way raindrops break sunlight into the colors of the rainbow -- and reveals information about the temperature, density, velocity, distance and chemical composition of galaxies, stars and gas clouds.

For the study, Shull and Syphers used 4.5 hours of data from Hubble observations of the quasar, which has a catalog name of HS1700+6416. While some astronomers define quasars as feeding black holes, "We don't know if these objects feed once, or feed several times," Shull said. They are thought to survive only a few million years or perhaps a few hundred million years, a brief blink in time compared to the age of the universe, he said.

"Our own Milky Way has a dormant black hole in its center," said Shull. "Who knows? Maybe our Milky Way used to be a quasar."

The first quasar, short for "quasi-stellar radio source," was discovered 50 years ago this month by Caltech astronomer Maarten Schmidt. The quasar he observed, 3C-273, is located roughly 2 billion years from Earth and is 40 times more luminous than an entire galaxy of 100 billion stars. That quasar is receding from Earth at 15 percent of the speed of light, with related winds blowing millions of miles per hour, said Shull.

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University of Colorado at Boulder: http://www.colorado.edu/news

Thanks to University of Colorado at Boulder for this article.

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Protective properties of influenza vaccines revealed

Mar. 22, 2013 ? Collaborating scientists from Nationwide Children's Hospital, Baylor Institute for Immunology Research, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine have identified an important mechanism for stimulating protective immune responses following seasonal influenza vaccinations.

The study was published in Science Translational Medicine, a journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

While seasonal influenza vaccines protect 60 to 90 percent of healthy adults from "the flu," the mechanisms providing that protection are still not well understood.

The study led by Octavio Ramilo, MD, chief of Infectious Diseases and an investigator in the Center for Vaccines and Immunity at Nationwide Children's Hospital and professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University (OSU) College of Medicine, and Hideki Ueno, MD, PhD, an investigator at the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research at Baylor University, demonstrates how certain T cells in the blood are stimulated to provide protective antibody responses with seasonal flu vaccines.

Antibodies are produced by specific white blood cells or B cells, which serve as an immune defense against foreign bodies such as the influenza virus. Helper T cells, another type of white cell, are essential for the generation of B cells.

Blood samples before and after influenza vaccination from three groups of healthy study participants were analyzed for antibody responses. The groups included two sets of adults, one receiving flu vaccines during the 2009-2010 winter and the other receiving vaccination during the 2011-2012 winter. The third group included children receiving the flu vaccine during the 2010-2011 winter.

Analyses show that a temporary increase in a unique subset of helper T cells expressing the co-stimulator molecule ICOS adds to the immune response by helping B cells produce influenza-specific antibodies.

Results indicated that at day seven following the administration of a flu vaccine in all groups, stimulated T cells were evident, contributing to the development of the immune response.

The T cells positively correlated with increased antibodies against each flu virus strain examined, with the exception in the children's group against the swine-origin H1N1 virus.

"Given that seasonal influenza vaccines induce antibody responses mainly through boosting the recall response of the immune system, this lack of correlation might reflect the lack of H1N1 specific immunity in some children," explains study co-author Emilio Flano, PhD, a principal investigator in the Center for Vaccines and Immunity at Nationwide Children's and an associate professor of Pediatrics at OSU College of Medicine.

"This is consistent with the fact that these children had not been vaccinated or naturally exposed to the H1N1 virus prior to being vaccinated during the 2010-2011 winter," said study co-author Santiago Lopez, MD, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Center for Vaccines and Immunity and a resident at Nationwide Children's.

Further experiments demonstrated that this unique subset of helper T cells can boost production of existing antibodies that fight flu by stimulating memory B cells, but do not help production of new antibodies by na?ve B cells.

"We're gratified that our study provides evidence of one of the essential events associated with the immune response following seasonal influenza vaccination," says Dr. Ramilo. "Understanding these processes is a key step toward developing more effective vaccines."

Asuncion Mejias, MD, PhD, a principal investigator in the Center for Vaccines and Immunity at Nationwide Children's and an assistant professor of Pediatrics in Infectious Diseases at OSU College of Medicine also contributed to this study which was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Nationwide Children's Hospital.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. S.-E. Bentebibel, S. Lopez, G. Obermoser, N. Schmitt, C. Mueller, C. Harrod, E. Flano, A. Mejias, R. A. Albrecht, D. Blankenship, H. Xu, V. Pascual, J. Banchereau, A. Garcia-Sastre, A. K. Palucka, O. Ramilo, H. Ueno. Induction of ICOS CXCR3 CXCR5 TH Cells Correlates with Antibody Responses to Influenza Vaccination. Science Translational Medicine, 2013; 5 (176): 176ra32 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3005191

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/GerSgNGIcSw/130322154024.htm

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