Increasing problem of prescription drug abuse among youth

May 28, 2013 ? Young people are increasingly turning to prescription drugs to get high. Research out of the University of Cincinnati sheds new light on what could increase or lower that risk.

The research by Keith King, a University of Cincinnati professor of health promotion; Rebecca Vidourek, a UC assistant professor of health promotion; and Ashley Merianos, a graduate assistant in health promotion, is published in the current issue of the Journal of Primary Prevention.

The study focused on more than 54,000 7th- through 12th -- grade students in schools across Greater Cincinnati, including the Tristate regions of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. The data was collected by the Coalition for a Drug Free Greater Cincinnati as part of the 2009-2010 Pride Survey on adolescent drug use in America.

A total of 13.7 percent of the students reported using prescription drugs -- without a doctor's prescription -- in their lifetime. Males were more likely to abuse prescription drugs, as well as high school students, versus junior high school students. Among ethnicities studied, Hispanic students indicated they were more likely to use nonmedical prescription drugs compared with white and African-American students.

The study also found that pro-social behaviors, including strong connections with parents (and their advising on the dangers of drug use), reduced the students' odds of abusing prescription drugs, along with positive connections to teachers and their schools. Connections with peers who disapproved of substance abuse also decreased student chances of abusing prescription medications. "Students at every grade level who reported high levels of parent and peer disapproval of use were at decreased odds for lifetime nonmedical prescription drug use," according to the study.

On the other hand, the authors found that relationships with drug-using peers increase the risk of youth substance abuse. Peer use of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana were associated with increased use of nonmedical prescription drugs for all students.

"While much research has examined factors associated with overall substance use among youth, relatively few studies have specifically investigated risk factors, protective factors and sex/grade differences for youth involvement in nonmedical prescription use," write the authors. "Identifying specific risk and protective factors for males, females, junior high and high school students would help to clarify prevention needs and enhance prevention programming."

The study cites national research that indicates kids are turning to prescription drugs to get high under the mistaken notion that they're safer than illicit drugs, yet national research has shown that even short-term use of non-prescribed, prescription medications can cause cardiovascular and respiratory distress, seizures and death.

The authors suggest future research should explore young people's use of specific nonmedical prescription drugs.

Demographics of the Study

The study was close to evenly divided between male (49.4 percent) and female participants; 75 percent reported they were Caucasian; 14.4 percent African-American; 1.8 percent Hispanic/Latino; 2.4 percent Asian/Pacific Islander; 0.4 percent Native American; 4.1 percent multiracial and 1.5 percent selected "other" for ethnicity. Respondents were close to evenly distributed across 7th- through 12th-grades. Approximately two-thirds (62.4 percent) of participants reported living with both parents; 16.2 percent reported living with their mother only; 2.9 percent reported living with their father only.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/Vw7zQJsvOVk/130528143722.htm

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US, China set the stage for Obama-Xi summit

U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, attend their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Monday, May 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan, Pool)

U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, attend their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Monday, May 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan, Pool)

U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, left, poses with Chinese President Xi Jinping for photographers before their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Monday, May 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan, Pool)

U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, left, and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi, right, shake hands before their meeting at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, Monday, May 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan, Pool)

Workers iron a Chinese national flag while a U.S. national flag is placed in front of a Chinese traditional painting before a meeting between U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, Monday, May 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan, Pool)

BEIJING (AP) ? An upcoming summit with President Barack Obama comes at a "critical juncture" in relations between China and the U.S., Chinese President Xi Jinping said Monday, underscoring the challenge they face in confronting divisive security issues and overcoming growing distrust.

Xi told U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon ? who was in Beijing to prepare for the June 7-8 meeting ? that he expected positive results from the talks, which will be their first face-to-face meeting since Obama's re-election and Xi's promotion to head of the Communist Party last November.

"The current China-U.S. relationship is at a critical juncture," Xi said. The sides must now "build on past successes and open up new dimensions for the future."

In a sign that both sides want to stem a drift in ties, the summit is taking place months earlier than the two presidents were supposed to meet. The setting ? at the private Sunnylands estate of the late publishing tycoon Walter Annenberg in southern California ? is supposed to be informal, giving Xi and Obama a chance to build a rapport.

Donilon flew to Beijing this week to prepare an agenda and straighten out other technical issues. He told Xi that Obama is "firmly committed to building a relationship defined by higher levels of practical cooperation and greater levels of trust, while managing whatever differences and disagreements might arise between us."

Meeting earlier with State Councilor Yang Jiechi, China's senior foreign policy official, Donilon said the summit is a chance for the two presidents to work through problems. Though they did not identify those challenges in their public remarks, ties are strained across the board, from longstanding differences over the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs to new disputes over cyberattacks and China's more assertive pursuit of territorial claims against U.S. allies Japan and the Philippines.

"The meeting will be an important opportunity for our presidents to have in-depth discussions about U.S.-China relations, and a wide range of global and regional challenges facing both our countries," Donilon said.

That Xi agreed to an informal summit has been seen by Chinese and U.S. experts as positive. His predecessors always preferred formal state visits, splashing images of White House ceremonies and banquets in the Chinese media to bolster their standing as world statesmen.

Good will aside, distrust has deepened in relations in recent years as the U.S. feels its world leadership challenged and China, its power growing, demands greater deference to its interests and a larger say over global rule setting. Chinese officials and state media regularly say Washington is thwarting China's rise, strengthening alliances in Asia to hem in Beijing and discouraging Chinese investment in the U.S. on grounds of national security.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported Monday that ships and submarines from the Chinese navy's three fleets staged drills in the South China Sea late last week. The area is already a flashpoint, with Beijing's aggressive claims to disputed islands having rattled the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

On Sunday, Li Keqiang ? on a visit to Germany in his first trip abroad as China's premier ? pressed China's claim to a cluster of East China Sea islands held by Japan. Traveling to Potsdam, where allied powers declared the terms for Japan's surrender 68 years ago in the waning days of World War II, Li told reporters that Japan must not "deny or glorify the history of fascist aggression."

The aggrieved sense emanating from Beijing goes beyond recent flare-ups in old territorial disputes. The website of the People's Daily, the Communist Party's flagship newspaper, is running a recurring column that takes a critical look at Americans and their institutions. First called "Immoral, dishonest Americans," the title of the column was changed to "The Americans you don't know about."

One item on Donilon's summit plans is the guest list. Xi will stop in California after formal visits to Trinidad and Tobago and Mexico where he will be accompanied by a large group of senior officials. If that entourage descends in full on the Sunnylands estate, U.S. diplomats said the White House might feel the need to bring similarly large numbers, making the summit less intimate.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-05-27-China-US/id-19338441f61b49719859ac549621f734

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Amanda Bynes: I'm Suing Everybody!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/amanda-bynes-im-suing-everybody/

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Surging wildfire forces evacuations in California

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) ? A surging wildfire forced several thousand people, most of them Memorial Day campers, to evacuate the mountains of California's Santa Barbara County, officials said.

The fire broke out about 2:45 p.m. Monday in Los Padres National Forest about 15 miles north of Santa Barbara, and hours later had grown to 1,000 acres ? or 1.5 square miles ? amid winds of about 20 mph, U.S. Forest Service officials said. It was 5 percent contained.

Paradise Road and the many campgrounds along it were closed, forcing between 4,000 and 6,000 of campers, many already clearing out at the end of the holiday weekend, to evacuate, officials said.

The fire was threatening about 50 homes, many of them cabins and vacation rentals, and 50 to 75 residents had evacuated, county fire Capt. David Sadecki said.

A U.S. Forest Service garage and two vehicles had burned, Sadecki said.

The American Red Cross set up an evacuation center at Santa Barbara City College and another was set up for horses stalled in the area's many stables.

U.S. Forest Service firefighters got help from crews from around the region along with water drops from two helicopters and four planes, though the aircraft had to be grounded at times, first because of winds and later because of darkness.

The National Weather Service said the winds may get worse as night falls, but fire officials said they may also get help from the weather.

"We're hoping the temperatures drop and the humidity rises," Sadecki said.

A huge plume of gray and white smoke rose over the mountains and hovered over Santa Barbara, where many residents were flooding Facebook and Twitter with photos.

The county has issued an air quality warning because of the smoke and wind, advising people to limit time spent outdoors and to avoid outdoor exercise altogether.

To the south, a fire in San Diego County wilderness has scorched 900 acres of dry brush but was not a threat to homes or buildings.

The blaze southeast of Julian was sparked around midday Sunday in the Banner Grade area, and fire officials were investigating whether it was set intentionally.

It was 43 percent contained Sunday night, fire officials said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/surging-wildfire-forces-evacuations-california-011455548.html

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Teen planned attack: Bombs in bedroom under floorboards linked to school plot

Teen planned attack against an Oregon school with bombs hidden in bedroom, a prosecutor says. But the plot was foiled in the same way many such plots are uncovered.

By Mark Sappenfield,?Staff writer / May 26, 2013

A 17-year-old student in Albany, Ore., built several bombs and had a detailed plan ? including checklists and diagrams ? as part of a Columbine-style plot to attack West Albany High School, a local prosecutor says.

Skip to next paragraph Mark Sappenfield

Staff writer

Mark is deputy national news editor for the Monitor.

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No motive has yet been made public, but Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson said authorities on Friday found six kinds of explosives ? including napalm bombs, pipe bombs, drain-cleaner bombs, and Molotov cocktails ? in "a secret compartment that had been created in the floorboards" of the teen's bedroom. The teen, Grant Acord, sought make his attack bigger than Columbine, Mr. Haroldson said.

The alleged plot is just the latest example of how the Columbine massacre continues shape school safety 14 years later.

Not only does the plot suggest that would-be attackers continue to draw inspiration from Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who killed 12 students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., before committing suicide on April 20, 1999. But it also points to how such plots have been repeatedly foiled.

Authorities say they received a tip. Albany police became suspicious after they "received information that associated ... Acord with manufacturing a destructive device with the intent of detonating it at a school," Haroldson said, according to a CNN report.?

With students more alert for signs of potential attacks post-Columbine, tips have been crucial to preventing more Columbines.

• In 2001, A suspicious note passed along by a friend led police in Elmira, N.Y., to find a high-school senior in the cafeteria with a pistol, 18 bombs, and a sawed-off shotgun, according to media reports.
• Three years later, a tip about an Internet chat in which a student said he was planning to attack his school led to a stash of found stolen weapons, an AK-47, and Nazi literature in the student's house in Clinton Township, Mich., reports say.
• Tips also led to the discovery of Columbine-style plots in Tampa, Fla., in 2011, and in Utah last year.

In the Utah case, the suspect actually went so far as to visit Columbine High School and interview the principal.

?To go as far as to interview the principal and physically go there ? sends a message that they were extremely committed to doing something,? Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services in Cleveland told the Monitor at the time.

In Oregon, Grant will be charged as an adult with aggravated murder, Haroldson said. He will also face charges related to bombmaking.

?This was a very methodical process,? said Haroldson, according to a report in The Oregonian. ?He took time to even get to this point.?

The evidence gathered by police, which includes "diagrams, checklists, a plan to use explosive devices, and firearms to carry out a plan specifically modeled after the Columbine shootings" shows "intent and plans to carry out a deadly assault on a target-rich environment," he said.

Haroldson did not say when Grant planned to carry out the attack, according to ABC, but added: "I can't say enough about how lucky we are that there was an intervention. When I look at the evidence in the case, I shudder to think of what could have happened here."

Grant was arrested at his home Thursday.

Police say they have searched the school and found no devices, though a Reuters report said they are following up the initial search more thoroughly to make sure students can return to school after the Memorial Day vacation.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/m1KpxxvW0mo/Teen-planned-attack-Bombs-in-bedroom-under-floorboards-linked-to-school-plot

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Samsung ATIV Book 7 review: a high-end Ultrabook arriving just before Haswell

If you've been waiting for Samsung to refresh last year's Series 9 Ultrabook, don't hold your breath; apart from a recent upgrade to 1080p resolution, it's basically stayed the same. That doesn't mean Samsung is taking a break from ultraportables, though: the company recently started shipping the Series 7 Ultra (now called the ATIV Book 7), which debuted at CES. Regardless of the name, the idea was always for it to be part of Samsung's performance line, ranking right below the flagship Series 9 family. To that end, it ships for $1,060 with all the specs you'd expect to find in a mid- to high-end Ultrabook: a Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD, a 13.3-inch, 1080p display and a stronger set of speakers than on the Series 9. Obviously, the fact that it's launching with Ivy Bridge is one knock against it, but how does it stack up otherwise? Might it be a good deal if it ever gets a CPU refresh?

Filed under: Laptops, Samsung

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/26/samsung-ativ-book-7-review/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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150 years after Gettysburg, drummer to recreate reunion march

By Jeffrey B. Roth

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - Fifty years after the Battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest of the U.S. Civil War, a survivor of that fight marched 200 miles from Pittsburgh to the site of the battle for a reunion attended by both Union and Confederate veterans.

On Sunday, another veteran, Jim Smith, 70, of Hempfield, Pennsylvania, will start out on the same trek as part of the observation of Memorial Day, when Americans honor their war dead. By a stroke of luck, Smith will be carrying the same drum - a throaty field snare - played by his spiritual forebear, Union Army veteran Peter Guibert.

"Getting Peter's drum was a fortuitous happening," said Smith, a U.S. Navy veteran of the Vietnam War and a retired mechanical engineer.

Smith, a drummer and hobbyist who restores musical instruments, was profiled by a Pennsylvania newspaper about 30 years ago when he started a fife and drum crops in western Pennsylvania.

That story caught the attention of Betty Mower, now 87, whose uncle, Otto Guibert, had recently died. Mower had inherited a relic from her uncle's attic, which she knew only as "Grandpa Peter's army drum," she recalled at a Friday memorial service for Peter Guibert.

Mower had considered throwing away the drum, which she had not been allowed to touch as a child, but thought it would interest Smith and got in touch with him.

"When it had been up in the attic, it got encrusted with coal dust and it looked pretty decrepit," Smith said. "It sat for quite a while, but I eventually got around to restoring it."

Smith became curious about the drum's owner, and after scouring military and civilian records, learned about Guibert's journey to Gettysburg.

He plans to recreate the march with Ray Zimmerman, 65, another Vietnam veteran. The men aim to arrive in Gettysburg in time for ceremonies to mark the 150th anniversary of the battle, which was fought from July 1-3, 1863.

Some 50,000 soldiers from the North and South died at Gettysburg, which is regarded as a turning point in the war that preserved the United States as a single country and also led to the abolition of slavery.

(Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Trott)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/150-years-gettysburg-drummer-recreate-reunion-march-162158177.html

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French soldier stabbed in throat outside Paris

Police officers stand near the cordoned off spot where a French soldier was stabbed in the throat in the busy commercial district of La Defense, outside Paris, Saturday May 25, 2013, and France's president said authorities are investigating any possible links with the recent slaying of a British soldier.(AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

Police officers stand near the cordoned off spot where a French soldier was stabbed in the throat in the busy commercial district of La Defense, outside Paris, Saturday May 25, 2013, and France's president said authorities are investigating any possible links with the recent slaying of a British soldier.(AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

Police officers stand near the cordoned off spot where a French soldier was stabbed in the throat in the busy commercial district of La Defense, outside Paris, Saturday May 25, 2013, and France's president said authorities are investigating any possible links with the recent slaying of a British soldier.(AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

Police officers stand near the cordoned off spot where a French soldier was stabbed in the throat in the busy commercial district of La Defense, outside Paris, Saturday May 25, 2013, and France's president said authorities are investigating any possible links with the recent slaying of a British soldier.(AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

PARIS (AP) ? A French soldier was stabbed in the throat in a busy commercial district outside Paris on Saturday, and the government said it was trying to determine if there were any links with the bloody killing of a British soldier by suspected Islamic extremists.

French President Francois Hollande said the identity of the attacker, who escaped, was unknown and cautioned against jumping to conclusions about the assault on the uniformed soldier in the La Defense shopping area. The life of the 23-year-old soldier was not in danger, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

On Wednesday, British soldier Lee Rigby, 25, was brutally stabbed on a London street in broad daylight in a suspected terrorist attack that has raised fears of potential copycat strikes.

The French soldier was on a group patrol as part of a national protection program when he was attacked from behind, prosecutor Robert Gelli told BFM-TV. The assailant did not say a word, Gelli told Europe 1.

"There are elements ? the sudden violence of the attack ? that could lead one to believe there might be a comparison with what happened in London," Interior Minister Manuel Valls told France 2 television. "But at this point, honestly, let us be prudent."

Rigby was attacked while walking outside the Royal Artillery Barracks in the Woolwich area of south London.

The gruesome scene was recorded on witnesses' cellphones, and a video emerged in which one of the two suspects ? his hands bloodied ? boasted of their exploits and warned of more violence as the soldier lay on the ground. Holding bloody knives and a meat cleaver, the suspects waited for police, who shot them in the legs, witnesses said.

In the video, one of the suspects declared, "We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you ... We must fight them as they fight us."

Two Muslim hard-liners have identified that suspect as Michael Adebolajo, a Christian who converted to Islam and attended several London demonstrations organized by banned British radical group al-Muhajiroun.

French security forces have been on heightened alert since their country launched a military intervention in the African nation of Mali in January to regain territory seized by Islamic radicals. British Prime Minister David Cameron was himself in Paris meeting with Hollande when he first received word of the London attack.

Last year, three French paratroopers were killed by a man police describe as a French-born Islamic extremist who then went on to strike a Jewish school in the south of France, killing four more people.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-05-25-EU-France-Soldier-Stabbed/id-ee762cf826084b0dab2a97d010add47f

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A hidden population of exotic neutron stars

Friday, May 24, 2013

Magnetars ? the dense remains of dead stars that erupt sporadically with bursts of high-energy radiation ? are some of the most extreme objects known in the Universe. A major campaign using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and several other satellites shows magnetars may be more diverse ? and common ? than previously thought.

When a massive star runs out of fuel, its core collapses to form a neutron star, an ultradense object about 10 to 15 miles wide. The gravitational energy released in this process blows the outer layers away in a supernova explosion and leaves the neutron star behind.

Most neutron stars are spinning rapidly ? a few times a second ? but a small fraction have a relatively low spin rate of once every few seconds, while generating occasional large blasts of X-rays. Because the only plausible source for the energy emitted in these outbursts is the magnetic energy stored in the star, these objects are called "magnetars."

Most magnetars have extremely high magnetic fields on their surface that are ten to a thousand times stronger than for the average neutron star. New observations show that the magnetar known as SGR 0418+5729 (SGR 0418 for short) doesn't fit that pattern. It has a surface magnetic field similar to that of mainstream neutron stars.

"We have found that SGR 0418 has a much lower surface magnetic field than any other magnetar," said Nanda Rea of the Institute of Space Science in Barcelona, Spain. "This has important consequences for how we think neutron stars evolve in time, and for our understanding of supernova explosions."

The researchers monitored SGR 0418 for over three years using Chandra, ESA's XMM-Newton as well as NASA's Swift and RXTE satellites. They were able to make an accurate estimate of the strength of the external magnetic field by measuring how its rotation speed changes during an X-ray outburst. These outbursts are likely caused by fractures in the crust of the neutron star precipitated by the buildup of stress in a relatively strong, wound-up magnetic field lurking just beneath the surface.

"This low surface magnetic field makes this object an anomaly among anomalies," said co-author GianLuca Israel of the National Institute of Astrophysics in Rome. "A magnetar is different from typical neutron stars, but SGR 0418 is different from other magnetars as well."

By modeling the evolution of the cooling of the neutron star and its crust, as well as the gradual decay of its magnetic field, the researchers estimated that SGR 0418 is about 550,000 years old. This makes SGR 0418 older than most other magnetars, and this extended lifetime has probably allowed the surface magnetic field strength to decline over time. Because the crust weakened and the interior magnetic field is relatively strong, outbursts could still occur.

The case of SGR 0418 may mean that there are many more elderly magnetars with strong magnetic fields hidden under the surface, implying that their birth rate is five to ten times higher than previously thought.

"We think that about once a year in every galaxy a quiet neutron star should turn on with magnetar-like outbursts, according to our model for SGR 0418," said Jos? Pons of the University of Alacant in Spain. "We hope to find many more of these objects."

Another implication of the model is that the surface magnetic field of SGR 0418 should have once been very strong at its birth a half million years ago. This, plus a possibly large population of similar objects, could mean that the massive progenitor stars already had strong magnetic fields, or these fields were created by rapidly rotating neutron stars in the core collapse that was part of the supernova event.

If large numbers of neutron stars are born with strong magnetic fields then a significant fraction of gamma-ray bursts might be caused by the formation of magnetars rather than black holes. Also, the contribution of magnetar births to gravitational wave signals ? ripples in space-time ? would be larger than previously thought.

The possibility of a relatively low surface magnetic field for SGR 0418 was first announced in 2010 by a team with some of the same members. However, the scientists at that time could only determine an upper limit for the magnetic field and not an actual estimate because not enough data had been collected.

SGR 0418 is located in the Milky Way galaxy at a distance of about 6,500 light years from Earth. These new results on SGR 0418 appear online and will be published in the June 10, 2013 issue of The Astrophysical Journal. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra's science and flight operations from Cambridge, Mass.

###

Chandra X-ray Center: http://chandra.harvard.edu

Thanks to Chandra X-ray Center for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128390/A_hidden_population_of_exotic_neutron_stars

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Microsoft And Google Bury The Hatchet To Work On A Windows Phone YouTube App With Ads

Once a upon a time, Microsoft saw fit to put together a YouTube app for Windows Phone and it was actually pretty great -- it let users download videos straight from the app and there was nary an ad to be found. To absolutely no one's surprise, Google wasn't too pleased: after all, the features that made the app so appealing didn't exactly jibe with YouTube's terms of service, and the search giant demanded the offending app be removed. Well, after a bit of back and forth (and a conciliatory update), it seems the two companies have finally come to an agreement. Microsoft and YouTube released a statement today affirming that the two companies will work together on crafting yet another YouTube app for Windows Phone that doesn't fly in the face of Google's and YouTube's rules.

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

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US family leaves Singapore frustrated with inquest

SINGAPORE (AP) ? The parents of an American software engineer found dead in his Singapore apartment last year have left the city-state before the end of a coroner's inquest. They say they have lost faith in the process and their lawyer says they will push for a U.S. congressional investigation.

Rick and Mary Todd believe their son Shane Truman Todd was murdered in June 2012 and that evidence of suicide presented by Singapore police was faked.

Rick Todd told reporters at the airport before they left for their Montana home that they felt there was no point in staying. His lawyer Gloria James-Civetta said the family's departure marks a "closed chapter" with regards to their involvement in the inquest, and confirmed their plans to initiate a congressional investigation into Shane's death.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-family-leaves-singapore-frustrated-inquest-102752836.html

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Researchers identify first drug targets in childhood genetic tumor disorder

Public release date: 24-May-2013
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Contact: Mount Sinai Press Office
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Genetic mutations may be targeted by currently available cancer therapies

Two mutations central to the development of infantile myofibromatosis (IM)a disorder characterized by multiple tumors involving the skin, bone, and soft tissuemay provide new therapeutic targets, according to researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The findings, published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, may lead to new treatment options for this debilitating disease, for which the only current treatment option is repeated surgical removal of the tumors.

IM is an inheritied disorder that develops in infancy or even in utero and tumors continue to present throughout life. The tumors do not metastasize, but can grow large enough to invade the tissue surrounding them causing physical limitations, disfiguration, bone destruction, intestitinal obstruction, and even death. Currently, the standard of care is to excise the tumors when possible, which can be invasive, painful, and disfiguring, and most patients require multiple surgeries throughout their lives.

Led by John Martignetti, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Oncological Sciences, and Pediatrics and other researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Hakon Hakonarson, MD, PhD at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the global research team gathered blood samples from 32 people from nine different families affected by the disease and performed whole-exome sequencing, a type of genomic sequencing where all protein coding regions of the genome, called the exome, are analyzed. They identified mutations in two genes: PDGFRB and NOTCH3.

"We are very excited about the findings of this study, which started 10 years ago with the enrollment of the first family," said Dr. Martignetti. "The newest developments in sequencing technology have led to a new breakthrough in understanding this debilitating disease and we can therefore begin identifying drug-based treatments to save lives for some and avoiding the negative quality of life impact of extensive and repeated surgery in others."

PDGFRB and NOTCH3 are two genes that are targeted by existing drugs, including imatinib (GLEEVEC) and sunitinib (Sutent). Next, Dr. Martignetti and his team plans to test whether cells grown in the laboratory from myfibromatosis tumors are susceptible to these drugs. They also hope to learn why mutations in these two genes result in disease.

"If we can learn how these mutated genes get hijacked to cause cellular miscommunication, and also test existing and novel therapies to see if they shrink the tumors, we hope to improve the lives of the individuals battling this disease," said Dr. Martignetti.

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About The Mount Sinai Medical Center

The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Established in 1968, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is one of the leading medical schools in the United States. The Icahn School of Medicine is noted for innovation in education, biomedical research, clinical care delivery, and local and global community service. It has more than 3,400 faculty members in 32 departments and 14 research institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and by U.S. News & World Report.

The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation's oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. In 2012, U.S. News & World Report ranked The Mount Sinai Hospital 14th on its elite Honor Roll of the nation's top hospitals based on reputation, safety, and other patient-care factors. Mount Sinai is one of just 12 integrated academic medical centers whose medical school ranks among the top 20 in NIH funding and by U.S. News & World Report and whose hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 560,000 outpatient visits took place.

For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org/.
Find Mount Sinai on:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mountsinainyc
Twitter @mountsinainyc
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/mountsinainy

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Public release date: 24-May-2013
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Genetic mutations may be targeted by currently available cancer therapies

Two mutations central to the development of infantile myofibromatosis (IM)a disorder characterized by multiple tumors involving the skin, bone, and soft tissuemay provide new therapeutic targets, according to researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The findings, published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, may lead to new treatment options for this debilitating disease, for which the only current treatment option is repeated surgical removal of the tumors.

IM is an inheritied disorder that develops in infancy or even in utero and tumors continue to present throughout life. The tumors do not metastasize, but can grow large enough to invade the tissue surrounding them causing physical limitations, disfiguration, bone destruction, intestitinal obstruction, and even death. Currently, the standard of care is to excise the tumors when possible, which can be invasive, painful, and disfiguring, and most patients require multiple surgeries throughout their lives.

Led by John Martignetti, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Oncological Sciences, and Pediatrics and other researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Hakon Hakonarson, MD, PhD at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the global research team gathered blood samples from 32 people from nine different families affected by the disease and performed whole-exome sequencing, a type of genomic sequencing where all protein coding regions of the genome, called the exome, are analyzed. They identified mutations in two genes: PDGFRB and NOTCH3.

"We are very excited about the findings of this study, which started 10 years ago with the enrollment of the first family," said Dr. Martignetti. "The newest developments in sequencing technology have led to a new breakthrough in understanding this debilitating disease and we can therefore begin identifying drug-based treatments to save lives for some and avoiding the negative quality of life impact of extensive and repeated surgery in others."

PDGFRB and NOTCH3 are two genes that are targeted by existing drugs, including imatinib (GLEEVEC) and sunitinib (Sutent). Next, Dr. Martignetti and his team plans to test whether cells grown in the laboratory from myfibromatosis tumors are susceptible to these drugs. They also hope to learn why mutations in these two genes result in disease.

"If we can learn how these mutated genes get hijacked to cause cellular miscommunication, and also test existing and novel therapies to see if they shrink the tumors, we hope to improve the lives of the individuals battling this disease," said Dr. Martignetti.

###

About The Mount Sinai Medical Center

The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Established in 1968, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is one of the leading medical schools in the United States. The Icahn School of Medicine is noted for innovation in education, biomedical research, clinical care delivery, and local and global community service. It has more than 3,400 faculty members in 32 departments and 14 research institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and by U.S. News & World Report.

The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation's oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. In 2012, U.S. News & World Report ranked The Mount Sinai Hospital 14th on its elite Honor Roll of the nation's top hospitals based on reputation, safety, and other patient-care factors. Mount Sinai is one of just 12 integrated academic medical centers whose medical school ranks among the top 20 in NIH funding and by U.S. News & World Report and whose hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 560,000 outpatient visits took place.

For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org/.
Find Mount Sinai on:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mountsinainyc
Twitter @mountsinainyc
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/mountsinainy

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/tmsh-rif052413.php

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Twitter's Lead Generation Card gives brands your info with just the click of a button

Twitter Cards are meant to enhance a user's -- er, advertiser's -- tweets with relevant links and photo previews. Three such cards currently exist, but today the social network introduced a new one: the Lead Generation Card (marketing speak, much?), which essentially lets users accept discounts and provide the required personal information directly from a business' tweet. The feature is located within a brand's expanded tweet: you simply click a button, and your email address and handle are passed along. Essentially, it's autofill for Twitter, which you'll either love or hate. For its part, the site says this feature simplifies the user experience, and it promises your personal info is sent directly and securely to the company you've specified. Currently, a few brands are beta-testing the card, and Twitter says a global launch is soon to follow.

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Head of radical Islamist group who knew knifeman blames UK foreign policy

By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - The head of a banned British radical Islamist group who knew one of the men who hacked a soldier to death on London streets said on Thursday British foreign policy was to blame for the attack.

Anjem Choudary said Michael Adebolajo - filmed with his hands covered with blood, carrying a meat cleaver and knife after attacking an off-duty soldier in broad daylight - had attended lectures run by al-Muhajiroun, Choudary's organisation, which was banned under anti-terrorism laws in 2010.

"He used to attend a few demonstrations and activities that we used to have in the past," Choudary told Reuters, adding he had not seen him for about two years. "When I knew him he was very pleasant man, he was peaceful, unassuming and I don't think there's any reason to think he would do anything violent."

Choudary's organisation gained notoriety for staging events to commemorate the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States with leaflets that referred to the hijackers as "the Magnificent 19". It's Syrian-born founder Omar Bakri was banished from Britain in 2005.

Choudary has always maintained that al-Muhajiroun forbids its followers in Britain from carrying out attacks there under a "covenant of security" demanded of Muslims in non-Muslim lands.

"I would not consider him to be a member of the organisation I don't think he was intellectually affiliated, he was a contact. He used to attend some stuff," Choudary said of Adebolajo. He said he did not recognise the other suspect but had not seen clear images of him.

"If you are a practising Muslim male and you want to do something then you'll probably come across us at one time or another so I don't think you should be surprised that he's been attending some of our activities."

Sources familiar with Britain's investigation of the two suspects say both were British men of Nigerian heritage, and both were on the radar of the authorities before the attack.

Acquaintances have identified Adebolajo, who was filmed explaining the motives for the attack, as a convert who grew up Christian.

He attended Marshall's Park school in Romford, an overwhelmingly white suburb on London's north-east outskirts.

"I'm not in the business of condemnation or condoning," Choudary said of the attack. "I think if anyone needs to be condemned it is the British government and their foreign policy. It's so clear that that is the cause."

He added: "I think we're all shocked by it. But he said it all in that clip.... He blamed (Prime Minister David) Cameron and he blamed the army and the authorities, and he said that British public should do something about it because they're not doing anything in their names."

"From the statements that he's made himself, it's clear that that was being targeted. The cause is clear - it's the British foreign policy."

Choudary's organisation has been known for staging protests at funerals of British troops and for burning the paper poppies that Britons wear annually in November to commemorate war dead. It called its Remembrance Day protest "Hell for Heroes", a variation of the name of the veterans' charity "Help for Heroes" whose T-shirt was worn by Thursday's soldier victim.

One of Choudary's followers, Richard Dart, converted by Choudary to Islam, pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in March. Authorities said Dart had discussed attacking Royal Wootton Basset, a town that holds ceremonies for British troops killed abroad whose bodies are repatriated to a nearby air field.

Choudary said banning organisations like al-Muhajiroun increased the chance of attacks taking place in Britain.

"I believe al Muhajiroun are very beneficial for people to express their anger. When you start to ban organisations from merely thought crimes and because you don't agree with what they say about foreign policy, then I don't think you should be surprised that people manifest their anger in different ways.

"They are doing these kind of lone wolf, or DIY (do-it-yourself) type operations."

"I'm not going to stop talking about the foreign policy. I'm not going to say Muslims in Muslim countries who are being bombed don't have a right to defend themselves. If that's being radical, then yeah I'm a radical. But in terms of targeting people, in terms of carrying these operations we are very clear on our stance in the covenant of security."

(Writing by Peter Graff)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/head-muslim-group-knew-london-knifeman-blames-uk-142148197.html

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Operation Shower Launches Showers in a Box Program For Military Moms-To-Be

Thursday, May 23rd, 2013, by admin

After watching My America with Lisa Ling last year, I was filled with a whole new respect for military moms. I can?t even imagine the stress expectant military moms go through while their?

This is a teaser only. Visit Child Mode for the full article, photos and more!

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MavenSay Enjoying Sudden Popularity In Social Media-Hungry Indonesia

MavenSay, a social recommendation app, just got a surge of unplanned downloads coming from Indonesia, and its founders are moving quickly to include Southeast Asia in its expansion plans as a result. The company’s Toronto-based co-founder, Jesse Dallal, said the two-month old app got 100,000 downloads over the past fortnight. It has a total of 130,000 downloads so far, and the sudden surge was tracked back to a power user based in Indonesia. They’re not sure which one it is, but the source of traffic points to the country, he said. The way the app works is similar to Pinterest, in that users follow other users’ recommendations. These could cover places they’ve eaten or music they’re listening to, for example. For its launch, MavenSay roped in what it called “influencers”?featured brands to follow such as Momofuku and Refinery29. The Indonesian user that triggered the downloads isn’t a celebrity that MavenSay had canvassed, but was clearly influential enough over his or her social network to move the downloads, said Dallal. “It’s been an unanticipated consequence of our [social] strategy,” he said, referring to the way things get viral on these recommendation platforms where people reblog items from influencers. “We’ve reached out to influencers in North America, but we’re also going to reach out to influencers in Asia now. We’re thinking of coming out there and talking to users to understand what the differences in culture and usage might be,” he said. MavenSay has seven people, including its three co-founders Dallal, Mike Wagman and Bryan Friedman. The small company can’t be expected to have concrete plans for Asia yet, but seeding interest in one of the world’s fastest-growing, mobile-hungry countries may pay off eventually. According to mobiThinking, Indonesia has 260 million mobile subscribers, although those with data connections make up just 47.6 million, or 18 percent of that. And Indonesians have been quick to embrace social networking sites, with fierce loyalties once something sticks. Aged social network Friendster started to pivot towards Asia around 2008, when it realised that 90 percent of its user base was coming from the region. While it was, by that time, lagging behind Facebook globally, some markets like Indonesia stayed loyal to Friendster. MavenSay has raised funding of $890,000 so far.

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

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Inhofe Says Tornado Aid is Different Than Hurricane Aid (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)

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The Daily Roundup for 05.21.2013

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Jolla's Software Chief Says Co-Creation Is What Makes The MeeGo Startup's Phone Hardware So Special

Jolla has finally taken the wraps off the smartphone hardware that will be paired with its "unlike" Sailfish UI. Being a startup is challenging enough in any business sector but Jolla is seeking to compete in the fiercely competitive smartphone space against Samsung and Apple. So it's hard not to dismiss their efforts as too late. But it's a lot harder to accuse them of doing too little.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/joPf7ouOj28/

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FBI ID's Benghazi suspects _ but no arrests yet

FILE - This Sept. 13, 2012 file photo shows a cameraman filming one of U.S. consulate burnt out offices after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya. The U.S. has identified five men they believe might be behind the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year, and have enough evidence to justify seizing them by military force as suspected terrorists _ but not enough proof to try them in a U.S. civilian criminal court, the process the Obama administration prefers, U.S. officials said. (AP photo/Mohammad Hannon, File)

FILE - This Sept. 13, 2012 file photo shows a cameraman filming one of U.S. consulate burnt out offices after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya. The U.S. has identified five men they believe might be behind the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year, and have enough evidence to justify seizing them by military force as suspected terrorists _ but not enough proof to try them in a U.S. civilian criminal court, the process the Obama administration prefers, U.S. officials said. (AP photo/Mohammad Hannon, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. has identified five men who might be responsible for the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year, and has enough evidence to justify seizing them by military force as suspected terrorists, officials say. But there isn't enough proof to try them in a U.S. civilian court as the Obama administration prefers.

The men remain at large while the FBI gathers evidence. But the investigation has been slowed by the reduced U.S. intelligence presence in the region since the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks, and by the limited ability to assist by Libya's post-revolutionary law enforcement and intelligence agencies, which are still in their infancy since the overthrow of dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

The decision not to seize the men militarily underscores the White House aim to move away from hunting terrorists as enemy combatants and holding them at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The preference is toward a process in which most are apprehended and tried by the countries where they are living or arrested by the U.S. with the host country's cooperation and tried in the U.S. criminal justice system. Using military force to detain the men might also harm fledgling relations with Libya and other post-Arab-Spring governments with whom the U.S. is trying to build partnerships to hunt al-Qaida as the organization expands throughout the region.

A senior administration official said the FBI has identified a number of individuals that it believes have information or may have been involved, and is considering options to bring those responsible to justice. But taking action in remote eastern Libya would be difficult. America's relationship with Libya would be weighed as part of those options, the official said, speaking only on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the effort publicly.

The Libyan Embassy did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Waiting to prosecute suspects instead of grabbing them now could add to the political weight the Benghazi case already carries. The attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans weeks before President Barack Obama's re-election. Since then, Republicans in Congress have condemned the administration's handling of the situation, criticizing the level of embassy security, questioning the talking points provided to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice for her public appearances to explain the attack and suggesting the White House tried to play down the incident to minimize its effect on the president's campaign.

The FBI released photos of three of the five suspects earlier this month, asking the public to provide more information on the men pictured. The images were captured by security cameras at the U.S. diplomatic post during the attack, but it took weeks for the FBI to see and study them. It took the agency three weeks to get to Libya because of security problems, so Libyan officials had to get the cameras and send them to U.S. officials in Tripoli, the capital.

The FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies identified the men through contacts in Libya and by monitoring their communications. They are thought to be members of Ansar al-Shariah, the Libyan militia group whose fighters were seen near the U.S. diplomatic facility prior to the violence.

Republican lawmakers continue to call for the Obama administration to provide more information about the attack. The White House released 99 pages of emails about the talking points drafted by the intelligence community that Rice used to describe the attack, initially suggesting they were part of a series of regional protests about an anti-Islamic film. In those emails, administration officials agreed to remove from the talking points all mentions of terror groups such as Ansar al-Shariah or al-Qaida, because the intelligence pointing to those groups' involvement was still unclear and because some officials didn't want to give Congress ammunition to criticize the administration.

U.S. officials say the FBI has proof that the five men were either at the scene of the first attack or somehow involved because of intercepts of at least one of them bragging about taking part. Some of the men have also been in contact with a network of well-known regional Jihadists, including al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

The U.S. has decided that the evidence it has now would be enough for a military operation to seize the men for questioning, but not enough for a civilian arrest or a drone strike against them, the officials said. The U.S. has kept them under surveillance, mostly by electronic means. There was a worry that the men could get spooked and hide, but so far, not even the FBI's release of surveillance video stills has done that.

FBI investigators are hoping for more evidence, such as other video of the attack that might show the suspects in the act of setting the fires that ultimately killed the ambassador and his communications specialist, or firing the mortars hours later at the CIA base where the surviving diplomats took shelter ? or a Libyan witness willing to testify against the suspects in a U.S. courtroom.

But Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he is concerned the Obama administration is treating terrorism as criminal actions instead of acts of war that would elicit a much harsher response from the United States.

"The war on terror, I think, is a war and at times I get the feeling that the administration wants to treat it as a crime," McKeon said Tuesday.

Administration officials have indicated recently that the FBI is zeroing in.

"Regardless of what happened previously, we have made very, very, very substantial progress in that investigation," Attorney General Eric Holder told lawmakers last week.

That echoed comments made by Secretary of State John Kerry to lawmakers last month.

"They do have people ID'd," Kerry said of the FBI-led investigation. "They have made some progress. They have a number of suspects who are persons of interest that they are pursuing in this and building cases on."

But options for dealing with the men are few and difficult, U.S. officials said, describing high level strategy debates among White House, FBI and other counterterror officials. Those confidential discussions were described on condition of anonymity by four senior U.S. officials briefed on the investigation into the attack.

The U.S. could ask Libya to arrest the suspects, hoping that Americans would be given access to question them and that the Libyans gather enough evidence to hold the men under their own justice system. Another option is to ask the Libyans to extradite the men to the U.S., but that would require the U.S. to gather enough solid evidence linking the suspects to the crime to ask for such an action.

Asking other countries to detain suspects hasn't produced much thus far. In this case, the Egyptian government detained Egyptian Islamic Jihad member Muhammad Jamal Abu Ahmad for possible links to the attack, but it remains unclear if U.S. intelligence officers were ever allowed to question him.

Tunisia allowed the U.S. to question Tunisian suspect Ali Harzi, 28, who was arrested in Turkey last October because of suspected links to the Sept. 11 Benghazi attack, but a judge released him in January for lack of evidence.

Finally, the U.S. could send a military team to grab the men, and take them to an offsite location such as a U.S. naval ship ? the same way al-Qaida suspect Ahmed Warsame was seized by special operations personnel in 2011 in Somalia. He was then held and questioned for two months on a U.S. ship before being read his Miranda rights, transferred to the custody of the FBI and taken for trial in a New York court. Warsame pleaded guilty earlier this year and agreed to tell the FBI what he knew about terror threats and, if necessary, testify for the government.

The U.S. has made preparations for raids to grab the Benghazi suspects for interrogation in case the administration decides that's the best option, officials said. Such raids could be legally justified under the U.S. law passed just after the 9/11 terror attacks that authorizes the use of military force against al-Qaida, officials said. The reach of the law has been expanded to include groups working with al-Qaida.

The option most likely off the table would be taking suspects seized by the military to Guantanamo Bay, the facility in Cuba that Obama has said he wants to close.

"Just as the administration is trying to find the exit ramp for Guantanamo is not the time to be adding to it," said Morris Davis, the former chief prosecutor for Guant?namo.

Beyond being politically uncomfortable, it's less effective, he said. "There've been a total of seven cases completed since 2001," with six of them landing in appeals court over issues with the legitimacy of the charges.

___

Associated Press writer Richard Lardner contributed to this report.

___

Follow Dozier on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kimberlydozier or http://bigstory.ap.org/tags/kimberly-dozier

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-21-US-Benghazi-Attack/id-d332baf3466f45b3a440dd52182ddded

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