Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., left, and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz, right, confer at the start of a meeting on the new Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, COPPA, which regulates Internet websites that collect information from children under the age of thirteen, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., left, and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz, right, confer at the start of a meeting on the new Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, COPPA, which regulates Internet websites that collect information from children under the age of thirteen, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? New online child privacy rules will keep anonymous advertisers and marketers from siphoning personal information about preteens but won't restrain innovation among technology companies and businesses that rely on the Internet to reach consumers, government officials said Wednesday.
But those assurances failed to win over software developers who said the cost of complying with the new regulations and the risk of violating them will cause many responsible businesses to abandon the children's marketplace.
Information about children that cannot be collected unless a parent first gives permission now includes the location data that a cellphone generates, as well as photos, videos, and audio files containing a human image or voice, according to the rules announced Wednesday. Data known as "persistent identifiers" that allow a person to be tracked over time and across various websites are also considered personal data and covered by the rules, the agency said.
The rules offer several new methods for verifying a parent's consent, including electronically scanned consent forms, video conferencing and email.
The rules issued by the Federal Trade Commission ensure that a 14-year-old law, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, keeps pace with evolving technology, including cellphones, tablets, software apps, and social networking sites, the agency's chairman, Jon Leibowitz, said at a Capitol Hill press conference.
The agency tried to achieve a balance between protecting kids and ensuring that a key sector of the U.S. economy keeps growing, Leibowitz said.
Liability for violations of the rules won't extend to Google, Apple and other companies that operate online stores offering public access to kids' apps, the FTC said. Google and Apple had warned that if the rule were written to include their stores, they would exclude many apps specifically intended for kids. That would hurt the nation's classrooms, where new and interactive apps are used by teachers and students, Apple said.
But the Application Developers Alliance, an industry association in Washington, said the rules leave the app industry, which is made up primarily of small businesses, liable for violations. The risk may drive entrepreneurs out of the children's app marketplace, said Jon Potter, the alliance's president.
Companies are not excluded from advertising on websites directed at children, allowing business models that rely on advertising to continue, Leibowitz said. But behavioral marketing techniques that target children are prohibited unless a parent agrees to them. "You may not track children to build massive profiles," he said.
The law was passed more than a decade ago, when no one could have anticipated what the Internet would look like or how adults and children would conduct their affairs online, said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Rockefeller, D-W.Va. The changes, which the FTC has been developing for the last two years, are long overdue, he said.
Public interest groups hailed the changes. The rules "will provide a stern reminder to companies and developers that they need to do more to build a trustworthy online space for kids and families," said James Steyer, chief executive officer of Common Sense Media, a nonprofit group in San Francisco that studies children's use of technology.
Release of the rules comes a week after the FTC disclosed that it was investigating an unspecified number of app developers that may have violated the law by gathering information from kids without their parent's consent. The agency examined 400 kids' apps that it purchased from the online stores operated by Google and Apple. It determined that 60 percent of them transmitted the user's unique device identification to the software company or, more frequently, to advertising networks and companies that compile, analyze and sell consumer information for marketing campaigns.
The agency included in the rules new methods for securing verifiable consent after the software industry and Internet companies raised concerns over how to confirm that the permission actually came from a parent. Electronic scans of signed consent forms are acceptable, as is video-teleconferencing between the web site operator or online service and the parent, according to the agency.
The FTC also said it is encouraging technology companies to recommend additional verification methods. Leibowitz said he expects that this will "unleash innovation around consent mechanisms."
Emailed consent is also acceptable as long as the business confirms it by sending an email back to the parent, or calling or sending a letter. In cases of email confirmation, the information collected can only be used for internal use by that company and not shared with third parties, the agency said.
A new paper discussses the vulnerability of the U.S. Healthcare system, and a story in a respected publication assesses the threat of cyber warfare.
David Harries and Dr. Peter Yellowlees authored the ?Brief Communication? in the new issue of Telemedicine and eHealth, titled ?Cyberterrorism: Is the U.S. Healthcare System Safe??? Mr. Harries works for Oc? North America, a Canon Group Company, and Dr. Yellowlees is a psychiatrist at U-C Davis in California.? Because we?re doing a lot with technology in medicine now, we?ve become fairly dependent on these systems.? And the authors believe that this dependence on data systems that use the Internet makes them a potential target for terrorists.? Should there be an attack on, say, a hospital computer system, bringing it down or revealing confidential patient information acquired from it, this could shake the trust in such systems.? As far as we know, there hasn?t been a successful attack on a U.S. healthcare organization.? The authors?suggest that with cyber attacks on the increase, it may only be a matter of time before one is launched successfully.? In the article, they discuss ?several best practices? healthcare organizations can adopt now for protection.
As to the actual threat of cyber-warfare, The Economist featured an article in its edition last week, titled ?Hype and Fear.? It points out that ?almost all (roughly 98%) of the vulnerabilities in commonly used computer programmes that hackers exploit are in software created in America.?? General Keith Alexander, the head of both the Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, says the attacker always has the advantage.? Many potential targets of cyber-terrorists, like power grids, sewage systems, and transportation systems, are less vulnerable than you might think.? Even if a foreign organization launched a?weapon like the Stuxnet virus that was used against Iran, experience shows it?will have limited success and the vulnerabilities will be repaired quickly.? And that was the best that purportedly two first-rate cyber powers (the U.S. and Israel) could come up with.? To?develop a?Stuxnet would require large teams of highly-qualified people which may be beyond terrorist groups.? And a large team formed to do bad things attracts the attention of intelligence agencies who are often successful infiltrating them.
Still, there?s probably some teenager working round the clock trying to hack?his way?into a healthcare system for ?fun?.? As a side note, companies like Microsoft have hired the people who mount cyber attacks on them?to frustrate?the others who are out there.
Harris and Yellowlees suggest that healthcare organizations develop a ?defense in depth??approach as part of an overall risk management strategy.? This involves multiple layers of protection.? They offer six guidelines? to follow:
1. Regular security risk assessments that determine any gaps.
2. Intrusion prevention and detection services that can detect and block cyber attackers.
3.?Installation of a data loss prevention solution that checks for leakage of information.
4. Audit logs to track access to sensitive patient data.
5. Performance of regular tests of Web security.
6.?Mandates?that software for mobile devices, laptops, portable storage and backup tapes be encrypted.
Even with all these measures in place, you may still have to worry about the IT guy who was fired last week and wants to ?get even.?
It's quite the Christmas gift.?Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he is donating nearly $500 million?in company stock to charity in order to promote?education and health initiatives.?
A Facebook spokesperson confirmed to NBC News?the gift of 18 million shares valued at their Tuesday closing price of?$498,780,000. The sum was?first announced by Zuckerberg?via a status update on his Facebook page?on Tuesday. The recipient is the nonprofit Silicon Valley Community Foundation, which helps donors manage and identify charitable funds that are in line with their philanthropic passions.?
This gift is Zuckerberg's biggest ever. Before Facebook went public in 2010, he gave $100 million in company stock to Newark, N.J.,?public school districts. That same year, he signed The Giving Pledge, an effort led by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett, where the world's wealthiest individuals?commit?to giving away most of their fortunes to charitable efforts.?
In the status update, Zuckerberg wrote that the donation was "?in order to lay the foundation for new projects" and that he is "hopeful we'll be able to have as positive an impact in our next set of projects."
NICE Systems recently announced that it has successfully implemented its IP radio recording solution for three Colorado public safety agencies. NICE?s recording solution was purchased by the Jefferson County Emergency Communications Authority (JCECA) in order to support the Harris P25 VIDA digital communication system that is in place. The JCECA purchased the NICE solution for use by three public safety agencies: the City of Lakewood Police Department, the West Metro Fire District, and the Wheat Ridge Police Department.
Regionalization is a growing trend in public safety, as agencies are looking to share IP networks and hosted solutions in order to maximise their technology investments while reducing costs. The three Colorado agencies are already using a shared NICE Inform solution for enhanced incident reconstruction and debriefing. Now, by implementing a centrally hosted audio capture platform from NICE to support their Harris P25 radio system, they can benefit as well from advanced IP recording. The agencies are in the process of migrating to all IP VIDA radio networks but are still maintaining their legacy EDACS trunked radio systems during the transition. NICE Inform is also helping to make the transition to IP radio recording transparent to agency officials who routinely access recordings.?
Richard Rudy, Radio Communications Engineer for the City of Lakewood Police Department Radio Communications Division, administers the NICE solutions for the agencies on the network. ?There?s no sense having multiple devices that do the same thing in one regional area,? said Rudy. ?We purchased NICE Inform as a joint venture a few years ago. NICE Inform has made it possible for us to migrate to the P25 world of IP-based radio system recording without redesigning the wheel. Our agencies have the ability to access their own 9-1-1 recordings, their analogue trunked EDACS recordings, and now their Harris P25 IP radio recordings, all from the same NICE Inform interface they?re already familiar with. NICE Inform made our migration to IP radio recording seamless.??
Designed for openness and interoperability, NICE Inform is a software application that works both with NICE?s analogue telephony/radio recording solutions and with NICE?s newer VoIP/IP radio capture platforms. Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) are able to add new audio capture platforms as needed, which means they can migrate to IP recording without extensive user retraining or forklift upgrades. NICE Inform is the first multimedia incident information management solution capable of capturing and fusing diverse multimedia content for authentic incident reconstructions used in investigations, debriefing, and training.?
?As more public safety agencies migrate to IP radio, they need proven recording technology that can ensure a seamless transition,? said Yaron Tchwella, Security President and EVP Business Operations at NICE. ?NICE?s hosted solutions not only ease the switch to IP recording, they also enable these agencies to leverage shared infrastructure for reduced costs, getting the best of both worlds.?
?The integration of Harris? VIDA system, which supports Phase 1 and Phase 2 P25?as well as OpenSky trunking, with NICE Inform and the NICE audio recording solution has helped public safety?agencies?smoothly migrate from legacy systems to advanced technology,? said Tom Burkett, product manager, Harris Public Safety and Professional Communications. ?The successful deployment by the three Colorado agencies of the joint solution substantiates the value it brings to public safety customers and NICE?s leadership in this market.??
The NICE Security Offering addresses the needs of governments and enterprises with intent-based solutions for fighting crime and terror, by anticipating, managing and mitigating safety, security and operational risks. The offering enables capturing, analysis and correlation of data from multiple sensors and systems, including audio, video, radio, geo-location and web, providing a framework for fusing data silos into a single, holistic operational view. NICE Security solutions empower organizations to act effectively in real time to prevent, manage and investigate incidents, ensuring fast resolution and debriefing, and continuous security improvements. NICE Security solutions are deployed worldwide in transportation systems, critical infrastructures, city centers and enterprise campuses.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says a House Republican backup plan for avoiding the "fiscal cliff" can't pass the Democratic-run Senate.
House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday that he was preparing a backup plan for averting the "fiscal cliff" if President Barack Obama fails to agree to a compromise that is evenly balanced between tax increases and spending cuts. Boehner's backup plan would continue tax cuts for people earning $1 million or less, but allow tax increases on those earning more than that. Still, the Ohio Republican said his talks with Obama will continue.
Without an agreement, taxes will rise for nearly every American on Jan. 1 and wide-ranging spending cuts will also begin taking effect.
Reid said Boehner should focus on negotiations and not succumb to tea party pressure.
Dec. 18, 2012 ? Scientists at The University of Manchester have used synchrotron-based imaging techniques to identify previously unseen anatomy preserved in fossils.?
Their work on a 50-million-year-old lizard skin identified the presence of teeth (invisible to visible light), demonstrating for the first time that this fossil animal was more than just a skin moult. This was only possible using some of the brightest light in the universe, X-rays generated by a synchrotron.?
Dr Phil Manning, Dr Nick Edwards, Dr Roy Wogelius and colleagues from the Palaeontology Research group used Synchrotron Rapid Screening X-ray Fluorescence at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource in California to map the chemical make up of a rare fossil lizard skin. This cutting edge technology uses powerful x-rays that enabled the team to map the presence of phosphorus from teeth in this ancient reptile.
The relative position of the phosphorous in the skin fossil helped the scientists identify the type of lizard. They believe that the more elongated snout in conjunction with the general jaw shape bears a strong resemblance to a shinisaurid lizard (Bahndwivici ammoskius). The presence of phosphorous also demonstrates for the first time that the fossil skin is more than just a moult, as no lizards can shed their teeth along with their skin!?
Talking about the images Dr Manning said: ?Finding the presence of teeth changes almost everything we thought we knew about this fossil. We can identify the type of lizard for the first time, based upon the geometry of the teeth. Our findings also raise some fascinating questions about what happened to the animal after its death. What wiped out its bones but preserved the skin and the ghost of its teeth?? ?
The results of the analysis of the fossil using the synchrotron have been published in the journal Applied Physics A. It adds to the growing weight of evidence that powerful synchrotrons offer advanced fossil analysis.?
Dr Manning also said: ?The technique permits us to tease-out chemical information from fossils, information that you simply cannot see with the naked eye. Such chemical maps can help us see 'ghosts' of original biological structures that only remain in very dilute concentrations in the fossil.?
Dr Nick Edwards, a senior author on the paper, said: ?This technology changes how we view taphonomy (the study of decaying organisms and how they are fossilized). We can now start looking for traces of animals that are totally invisible in visible light through analysing the bright chemical signature that appear under the powerful gaze of the synchrotron. This 'x-ray vision' will enable palaeontologists to add important information to the biology, anatomy and preservation of ancient life.?
The team worked with a leading geochemist, Dr Roy Wogelius (also a senior author), who was instrumental in the development of the techniques deployed by the Palaeontology Research Group. Dr Wogelius said: ?These techniques are beginning to redefine the way we study Life on Earth. It is simply fascinating to work with biologists, physicists, chemists and palaeobiologists because at the crossroads of these disciplines lay many new discoveries for science.?
Dr Manning and his team hope to analyse more fossils using the Standford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource and also the UK based Diamond Lightsource, to reveal new findings from ancient worlds by uncovering the subtle echoes of life left for science to find and interpret.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Manchester.
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Journal Reference:
N. P. Edwards, R. A. Wogelius, U. Bergmann, P. Larson, W. I. Sellers, P. L. Manning. Mapping prehistoric ghosts in the synchrotron. Applied Physics A, 2012; DOI: 10.1007/s00339-012-7484-3
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BANGALORE ?On her annual summer visit to Bangalore this year, Vibha Pingle, founder of a nonprofit based in Cambridge, Mass., set out to help her aging parents sell their large suburban home and buy a centrally-located apartment. Ms. Pingle accomplished neither task, but she did get a crash course on the untamed ways of Bangalore?s real estate trade.
One real estate consultant, as many brokers call themselves, advertised her parents? home in the newspaper, but when prospective buyers trooped in to inspect, the consultant did not even show up. Another sent buyers to the house unannounced. Neither seemed inclined or equipped to help with financial negotiations or legal paperwork but expected a 2 percent commission on the sale.
Exasperated, Ms. Pingle advertised the home in the papers herself, only to find more consultants trooping in saying they were ?second? or ?third? sub-brokers. They wanted the full commission for introducing potential buyers. The neighbor?s driver came around to the house saying he had lined up an interested party and wanted to discuss his ?cut.?
Returning home after aborting the buy-sell mission, she described the experience as reminiscent of the ?Wild West.?
Bangalore?s recent real estate boom is best illustrated by the way homes are rented, bought and sold. As middle-class and upper-middle class job seekers flood into Bangalore, India?s fastest growing city, real estate prices have gone only one way: up. Prices of homes and apartments have tripled or quadrupled within the span of a decade, prompting an all-out stampede to grab a piece of the action.
A doctor living in an upmarket housing community cataloged the people he had to deal with while selling his home: drivers from the neighborhood, maids and cooks in his building and security guards down the street. They all wanted to introduce potential buyers and they wanted a commission for doing so.
Ms. Pingle said, ?The whole attitude is, ?How dare somebody buy or sell something worth tens of millions of rupees without giving us a cut of the pie.??
Uma Shankar, 36, who runs a newspaper delivery agency in the Koramangala neighborhood, is one of those ?consultants? Ms. Pingle was talking about. Mr. Shankar started facilitating buying, selling and renting homes and offices in order to supplement his 10,000-rupee ($200) monthly earnings.
Mr. Shankar?s modus operandi is simple: He works within a set geography where he has a network of about 50 other ?agents? like him ? including 15 other newspaper vendors ? each with their own subsidiary networks. They mainly cater to the middle class and informally swap information about demand and supply.
Their service stops at matching prospective buyers and sellers, or introducing homeowners and renters. When the transaction goes through, the commission ranging from a few thousand rupees to two percent of the total sale value, or one month?s rent in case of a rental, is split between those involved in trading information.
Mr. Shankar?s network is a motley assortment of service providers, most of whom do not work out of an office or have one ? a cellphone is all they need. One sells milk, offers photo-copying and pay phone services and sports a poster with his phone number and the words ?To lease/Rent/Buy/Sell Call ?? Another consultant drives an auto-rickshaw, Bangalore?s ubiquitous three-wheeled public transport, on which he advertises his realty services. Yet another has hung a sign in the local Kannada language above the cubbyhole where he presses clothes, ?Illi manegalunnu kodisalaguthade? (Houses available).
Competition is fierce but ?sometimes you hit a lottery,? Mr. Shankar said.
While buying and selling does not offer a guaranteed income, it has helped Mr. Shankar buy a plot of land in a Bangalore suburb. He hopes to build a house there and move his family from their current rented home.
The chaos in the market stems from the buyer-seller and owner-renter information gap, said Sumit Jain, co-founder and C.E.O. of CommonFloor, a communication portal for apartment dwellers and residents of gated communities. Buyers, renters and owners don?t have enough information about the market, as there is no organized way in which, sales and rents are listed. Unlike in the West, there are no real estate Web sites in India offering aggregated information, and the few that exist are not tapped into very often. ?By leveraging information, drivers and cooks earn more in a month than they make out of their primary profession,? said Mr. Jain.
CommonFloor has begun profitably aggregating such demand and supply, and once other companies follow suit, the self-styled agents are likely to find themselves out of a job.
But for now, the trade is still raucous and cutthroat. Agents have to regularly bribe building security guards in return for tipping them off on which home is falling empty or who is looking to sell. In more upscale communities, property managers demand a referral fee to let agents in on which home or apartment is up for rent or sale.
There are 3,000 real estate consultants in Bangalore and 17,000 in the northern city of Gurgaon in Haryana state, said Mr. Jain. In Bangalore, Mr. Jain said he knows many doctors, accountants and software engineers who have quit their profession to turn real estate consultants. He said he recently encountered a real estate consultant in Gurgaon who arrived in a Mercedes but spoke in broken English.
?You don?t need any training, you don?t need any qualifications so people think there is easy money to be made,? said Natasha Medhora Irani, who runs Splendor Estates and caters mainly to companies. The local trade association known as Bangalore Realtors Association of India, or BRAI, which is affiliated to the national trade association, is attempting to put rules in place, like requiring all real estate agents to be registered with it and regulating commissions on sales and rentals.
Contrary to newcomers? expectations, it is a tough business, said Ms. Irani said. It takes all her energies to see that deals did not slip through, she said, and she relies heavily on personal networks, offers professional advice and helps with the paperwork. ?I deal with a lot of fussy clients who I have to handhold until they are comfortably settled in,? she said.
Saritha Rai sometimes feels she is the only person living in Bangalore who was actually raised here. There?s never a dull moment in her mercurial metropolis. Reach her on Twitter @SarithaRai.
I?m not sure why but a lot of real estate investors I know won?t touch rooming houses. That?s fine with me; because that means more profits for you and me!
I?m a huge fan of multi-unit properties. There?s a good reason ? more units equals more cash flow. If one tenant in a four-plex moves out, your cash flow goes down 25%. But if your tenant in a single family home moves out, your cash flow goes down 100%.
Of course, many sellers recognize this, so multi-unit properties often cost more than single family homes. But here?s an interesting twist you may not have thought of: what if you could turn a single family home into a multi-unit property? You can ? and you should.
Early in my real estate investing career, I did this a lot ? and reaped serious profits doing it. It?s a great way to generate a lot of positive cash flow in a short period of time. Best of all it takes very little work on your part.
With the right property, you can easily create separate rooms for five or six tenants in one house ? and that means collecting five or six rents each month. If you find the right neighborhood, and the right house, this can be a very simple and lucrative addition to your portfolio.
Here are my tips to get started with Rooming Houses:
Look for neighborhoods that are low to moderate income, and already have a mix of single family, multifamily and commercial properties. Neighborhoods near colleges and universities work well.
The best property has four bedrooms and at least one bathroom upstairs, and a room downstairs to create at least one or two more bedrooms by putting up a few simple walls. Just as with other properties, look for cosmetically distressed properties, but walk away from any major structural issues.
Find out what the local ordinances say about Single Room Occupancy regulations, such as the tenant to bathroom ratio and the windows requirements in bedrooms. Each municipality has its own rules, but they?re usually pretty easy to accommodate for little money. Leave one room downstairs as common living space, and put up walls to turn the other downstairs living spaces into individual bedrooms.
One other improvement you have to make is furniture: tenants expect SRO rooms to come furnished. But we?re not talking anything fancy ? a double bed, a bedside table, a lamp, a chest of drawers, and a mirror. You can find these things at secondhand stores and yard sales ? or negotiate a bulk deal with a furniture store to furnish all the rooms at once.
You see how easy it can be to buy a distressed single family home and turn it into a multi-unit cash cow. You generate a bunch of positive cash flow, and you provide a clean, safe place to live that low income people can afford. It?s good for everybody ? and it?s especially good for beginning investors working toward their financial independence.
Dec. 16, 2012 ? Research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) reveals that sons of male rats exposed to cocaine are resistant to the rewarding effects of the drug, suggesting that cocaine-induced changes in physiology are passed down from father to son. The findings are published in the latest edition of Nature Neuroscience.
"We know that genetic factors contribute significantly to the risk of cocaine abuse, but the potential role of epigenetic influences -- how the expression of certain genes related to addiction is controlled -- is still relatively unknown," said senior author R. Christopher Pierce, PhD, associate professor of Neuroscience in Psychiatry at Penn. "This study is the first to show that the chemical effects of cocaine use can be passed down to future generations to cause a resistance to addictive behavior, indicating that paternal exposure to toxins such as cocaine can have profound effects on gene expression and behavior in their offspring."
In the current study, the team used an animal model to study inherited effects of cocaine abuse. Male rats self-administered cocaine for 60 days, while controls were administered saline. The male rats were mated with females that had never been exposed to the drug. To eliminate any influence that the males' behavior would have on the pregnant females, they were separated directly after they mated.
The rats' offspring were monitored to see whether they would begin to self-administer cocaine when it was offered to them. The researchers discovered that male offspring of rats exposed to the drug, but not the female offspring, acquired cocaine self-administration more slowly and had decreased levels of cocaine intake relative to controls. Moreover, control animals were willing to work significantly harder for a single cocaine dose than the offspring of cocaine-addicted rats, suggesting that the rewarding effect of cocaine was decreased.
In collaboration with Ghazaleh Sadri-Vakili, MS, PhD, from MGH, the researchers subsequently examined the animals' brains and found that male offspring of the cocaine-addicted rats had increased levels of a protein in the prefrontal cortex called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is known to blunt the behavioral effects of cocaine.
"We were quite surprised that the male offspring of sires that used cocaine didn't like cocaine as much," said Pierce. "While we identified one change in the brain that appears to underlie this cocaine resistance effect, there are undoubtedly other physiological changes as well and we are currently performing more broad experiments to identify them. We also are eager to perform similar studies with more widely used drugs of abuse such as nicotine and alcohol."
The findings suggest that cocaine use causes epigenetic changes in sperm, thereby reprogramming the information transmitted between generations. The researchers don't know exactly why only the male offspring received the cocaine-resistant trait from their fathers, but speculate that sex hormones such as testosterone, estrogen and/or progesterone may play a role.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday dropped a website owned by China's largest e-commerce company, Alibaba Group, from its annual list of the world's most "notorious markets" for sales of pirated and counterfeit goods.
Taobao Marketplace, an online shopping site similar to eBay and Amazon that brings together buyers and sellers, "has been removed from the 2012 List because it has undertaken notable efforts over the past year to work with rightholders directly or through their industry associations to clean up its site," the U.S. Trade Representative's office said in the report.
The move came just before an annual high-level U.S.-China trade meeting next week in Washington.
Taobao Marketplace is China's largest consumer-oriented e-commerce platform, with estimated market share of more than 70 percent. The website has nearly 500 million registered users, with more than 800 million product listings at any given time. Most of the users are in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has called Taobao "one of the single largest online sources of counterfeits."
The Chinese Commerce Ministry strongly objected to Taobao's inclusion on the USTR's 2011 notorious markets list. A ministry spokesman said it did not appear to be based any "conclusive evidence or detailed analysis.
Alibaba hired former USTR General Counsel James Mendenhall to help persuade USTR to remove Taobao from its list.
(Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Will Dunham and Dan Grebler)
No longer do the office drones of the world have to bury their hooch deep inside a drawer, or hide it inside a hollowed-out annual report. This stylish microfiber neckcessory known as the Flask Tie's got a six ounce pouch hidden in the longer hanging part, and an easy access straw tucked away in the short bit. More »
An accomplished performer on both stage and screen, Alan Cumming has played an impressive array of parts in his career -- from roles in blockbusters like X-2 and GoldenEye to independent films to projects as diverse as Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut and Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids. It's testament to Cumming's enduring talent that he's earning some of the best notices of his career for his latest turn, in this week's Any Day Now, a moving drama about a gay couple in '70s Hollywood fighting a biased legal system to keep their adopted son.
With the movie opening theatrically this week, we got the chance to speak with Cumming about his five favorite movies.
"Gosh, it's really hard to choose five favorite films because they sort of change as you grow older, and sometimes you re-visit ones that you have gone through periods of hating," he explains, "but I always think the benchmark is which ones I'd grab to take into a nuclear bunker, and so these are they... "
I think this is a work of genius. It manages to be utterly hilarious, completely tender and touching, and biting and satirical at the same time. It actually taught me a lot about America. As I saw it shortly after I moved here, I realized that if these type of situations and characters were being parodied then they must actually exist. When the DVD came out, I bought it and I'm still reeling from the number "This Bulging River". I think the only people I've ever geeked out about in an embarrassing way are the people responsible for this film.
This is a film by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger that was called Stairway to Heaven when it was released in America. I saw it as a child and it really fascinated me, the idea that death was debatable, and it also drilled into my mind how life was so precious and flimsy. I also love how all the famous characters from history are seen in Heaven taking part in the debate. Powell/Pressburger are amazing filmmakers, and I wish we had more like them these days. "Magical realism" is a rather trite phrase, but their films are both magical and real.
I fell upon this documentary and it is an absolute gem. What makes it so is the five people's homes that we are invited into. Their homes are -- of course -- insane, but it's their happiness and comfort with them that is really the thrill. Again, it's funny and tender and the filmmakers don't try to try to be shady with their subjects at all. They just let them speak and their enthusiasm and joy floods over us.
If anyone comes to my house in the country and has never seen this film, I always show it. So, in a way, I am emulating -- in that action -- exactly Auntie Mame. It is a joyous, crazy cartoon of a movie that has a little bit of everything, but at the heart is this woman we'd have all loved to have known and have taken us under her wing. I also love wall-to-wall speaking in film, and you sure get a lot of dialogue in this one. And who could resist a catch phrase like "Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death"!
This is an absolutely glorious film. I adore Juliette Binoche and have had very confusing feelings in my tummy about her ever since I saw the The Unbearable Lightness Of Being. She is amazing in this film and it's a really heartbreaking tale of loss and hurt. The scene where she water-skis up the Seine is one of my favorite spectacles in all of cinema.
Any Day Now opens in limited theatrical release this week.
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HigherVisibility Named Second Best Search Engine Optimization Company by topseos.com for December 2012 The independent authority on Search vendors, topseos.com, has named HigherVisibility the second best search engine optimization company for December 2012.(PRWEB) December 05, 2012 The independent authority on Search vendors, topseos.com, has released their list of the one hundred best SEO companies in the online marketing industry for the month of December 2012. Based on the results of the ?
Conductor Named One of the Top Five Places to Work in New York City by Crain's New York Business Conductor Inc., the global leader in Search Engine Optimization technology, today announced that is has been named to the annual Crain's New York Business Best Places to Work in New York City list. Appearing ?
7 Actionable SEO Rules for CMOs All folks who handle digital marketing have a perspective on search engine optimization (SEO). It s a source of both love and contention depending on the involvement with the process and execution of an SEO campaign. With the glut of tactical advice available, it s increasingly important to plan SEO projects strategically [...]
SEO Agency, SmartSearch Marketing, Expands Local Search Program SmartSearch Marketing s Local Results Search Program expands its comprehensive local search services to help customers worldwide improve local search rankings, proactively manage their local business listing(s) and online reviews, better target their markets, and get ahead of their competition. ?
TECKpert Receives Top Award as Leading Provider of Internet Marketing and Web Design Services TECKpert is recognized as a leading firm in South Florida for corporate web design and internet marketing services. (PRWeb December 03, 2012) Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/Legal_Marketing/12/prweb10170428.htm
TopSEOs.com Awards Exults as #1 SEO Company in Florida and #2 Integrated Search Firm in the U.S. Exults, one of the nation s leading internet marketing companies, is proudly ranked #1 in SEO in the state of Florida and the #2 Integrated Search (SEO & PPC) firm nationally on topseos.com.Ft. Lauderdale, FL (PRWEB) December 11, 2012 Exults, one of the nation s leading internet marketing companies, is proudly ranked #1 in SEO in the state of Florida and the #2 Integrated Search (SEO & PPC) firm ?
Digital Marketing Agency, 123Visibility, Comes to Rocky Point, NY Aims to provide internet marketing services to local businesses. (PRWeb November 19, 2012) Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/11/prweb10148137.htm
The age old adage ?you are what you eat? sums up how your body and mind are affected by the nutrients you consume (or lack of nutrients). Certain foods cause a physiological switch in our behavior due to the way they affect the neurotransmitters in the brain. Serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine are specific neurotransmitters that affect your mood and, in turn, your waistline. Serotonin is a chemical that promotes a calm, relaxed well-being, whereas dopamine and norepinephrine enhance alertness, action, excitement, and mental acuity. Certain foods are instrumental in deciding how much of the neurotransmitters are produced. It is a good idea to understand how macronutrients (fats, carbohydrates, and proteins) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) are metabolized and used by the body. This will help you get a grip on food cravings and help keep your blood sugar level stable throughout the day.
So here?s a question for you?do you know what foods will enhance your brain power, keep you in a positive mood, and make you overall more motivated and productive throughout your day? A new field of pioneering nutrition research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology focuses on the study of food and mood. They have confirmed there is a direct correlation between what and when we eat that corresponds with our weight loss, weight gain, and even quality of life. It is no surprise that sugar and starch found in carbohydrates boost serotonin levels in the brain which make you feel more relaxed and calm. That?s why we tend to reach for baked goods, chocolate, donuts, ice cream, and candy when stressed. Let?s look closer to understand more about why certain foods affect us differently and how to get a handle on intense food cravings.
Carbohydrates
Increases serotonin levels making you feel calm and relaxed.
Influences concentration and helps to combat depression.
Low serotonin levels increase food cravings and appetite.
Complex carbohydrates should replace refined, processed carbohydrates in the form of whole grains, vegetables, fruit, fiber cereals, whole grain rice, and sweet potatoes.
Fat
Too little fat in your diet can make you feel moody and less focused.
Adequate quantities of fat increases endorphins and helps you feel satiated. Choose monounsaturated fats such as olive oil, almonds and avocados into your meals. Monounsaturated fats also promote a healthy heart.
Omega-3 fatty acids found in salmon, lobster, shrimp, walnuts, and olive oil help to reduce depression.
Low fat diets can increase depression and potential risk of metabolic syndrome. To avoid spikes and drops in blood sugar try to keep your blood sugar levels at bay by eating vegetables, whole grains, oats, low fat yogurt and nuts which are lower glycemic foods.
Protein
Protein increases your energy, alertness and helps you stay full for longer periods of time.
Protein contains an amino acid called tyrosine which increases dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine levels. Tyrosine is responsible for affecting alertness and excitement. Low levels of tyrosine contribute to anxiety.
Decent sources of protein include eggs, low fat cheese, 1% or skim milk, tofu, lean meats, fish, legumes and turkey trigger the release of endorphins that increase the release of dopamine.
Caffeine
Consumed in moderation it increases alertness and concentration, and may improve performance, especially athletic performance.
Consumed in large quantities or too often throughout the day may increase anxiety, cravings, depression, emotion instability, insomnia, and mood swings. It is very tough to stop consuming because of withdrawal effects.
Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, Folic Acid (otherwise known as Folate) and Zinc
These micronutrients support the production of tryptophan which creates serotonin and can be found in meat, fish and beans.
Mood related disorders such as depression can lead to lower levels of folic acid and selenium.
Good sources for folic acid include oranges, turkey, asparagus, beets, soybeans, and green leafy vegetables.
Selenium keeps mood swings, anxiety and depression at bay. Good sources of selenium include whole grains, tomatoes, eggs, broccoli, tuna, and sunflower seeds.
Now let?s look at chocolate and why some of us crave it so much?
Chocolate is 50% fat and 50% sugar and releases an endorphin called phenylethylamine. Chocolate has the perfect combination of cream and sugar which stimulates and soothes simultaneously. Serotonin and endorphin levels are increased when chocolate is consumed. This helps to explain why it is typically the first food we think about when we are stressed or when women are going through their menstrual cycle. If you must reach for chocolate, make sure you get the most of every calorie with dark chocolate that is 70% cocoa. Read the ingredients of your chocolate bar and make sure the first ingredient is cocoa and not sugar. Dark chocolate has flavanols which improves blood flow by reducing the amount of cholesterol found in blood vessels. Plus, dark chocolate tends to satisfy your need for sweets faster than milk chocolate and is another source for monounsaturated fat.
By choosing certain foods that feed into the health of your well-being rather than the growth of your jean size you promote a healthy mind and body. There may be certain foods you may have an abstract obsession with when stress, boredom and anxiety pop up. Remember that if you don?t want to consume processed, nutrient-deficient foods that will make you feel guilty in an hour you don?t have to eat them. ?You are what you eat.? If you eat healthy and make sensible food choices you will lead a long, healthy and independent life.
CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's official news agency says the Islamist government has begun to hold a highly contentious referendum on a draft constitution, with embassies around the world opening their doors to expatriate voters.
The vote shows the determination of President Mohammed Morsi to go forward with the process despite fierce opposition from liberals, secularists, Christians and others.
The Middle East News Agency said Wednesday that nearly a half million Egyptian expatriates have up until Saturday to cast ballots in 150 diplomatic mission.
The full vote was initially scheduled to take place on Dec. 15, but in a last minute Tuesday decree, Morsi ordered the voting stretched into another round on Dec. 22 due. A boycott by the powerful judges' union has led to a shortage of judges to supervise the vote.
(Reuters) - An election victory tweet from President Barack Obama -- "Four more years" with a picture of him hugging his wife -- was the most retweeted ever, but the U.S. election was topped by the Olympics as the most tweeted event this year.
Obama's tweet was retweeted (repeated) more than 810,000 times, Twitter said as it published a list of the most tweeted events in 2012. (http://2012.twitter.com/)
"Within hours, that Tweet simultaneously became the most retweeted of 2012, and the most retweeted ever. In fact, retweets of that simple message came from people in more than 200 countries around the world," Twitter spokeswoman Rachael Horwitz said.
Twitter users were busiest during the final vote count for the presidential elections, sending 327,452 tweets per minute on election night on their way to a tally of 31 million election tweets for the day.
The 2012 Olympic Games in London had the most overall tweets of any event, with 150 million sent over the 16 days.
Usain Bolt's golden win in the 200 meters topped 80,000 tweets per minute but he did not achieve the highest Olympic peak on Twitter. That was seen during the closing ceremony when 115,000 tweets per minute were sent as 1990s British pop band the Spice Girls performed.
Syria, where a bloody civil war still plays out, was the most talked about country in 2012 but sports and pop culture dominated the tally of tweets.
Behind Obama was pop star Justin Bieber. His tweet, "RIP Avalanna. i love you" sent when a six-year-old fan died from a rare form of brain cancer, was retweeted more than 220,000 times.
Third most repeated in 2012 was a profanity-laced tweet from Green Bay Packers NFL player TJ Lang, when he blasted a controversial call by a substitute referee officiating during a referee dispute. That was retweeted 98,000 times.
This was the third year running that the microblogging site published its top Twitter trends, offering a barometer to assess the biggest events in social media.
Superstorm Sandy, which slammed the densely populated U.S. East Coast in late October, killing more than 100 people, flooding wide areas and knocking out power for millions, attracted more than 20 million tweets between October 27 and November 1.
European football made the list of top tweets when Spain's Juan Mata scored as his side downed Italy 4-0 in the Euro 2012 final -- sparking 267,200 tweets a minute.
News of pop star Whitney Houston's death in February generated more than 10 million tweets, peaking at 73,662 per minute.
Romantic comedy "Think Like a Man" was the most tweeted movie this year, topping "The Hunger Games", "The Avengers" and "The Dark Knight Rises."
Rapper Rick Ross who notched his fourth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart this year, was the most talked about music artist.
Columbia Pictures has released the first trailer for Another Earth, the Will Smith/Jaden Smith sci-fi thriller directed by M. Night Shyamalan. So... doesn't that sound great? M. Night Shyamalan hasn't made a bad movie since his last movie, and everyone loves Jaden Smith, what with his great rap songs and all. Will Smith is in it, but he doesn't do the bulk of the adventuring, as his character is stuck injured in a spaceship most of the time. So it's mostly Jaden Smith running around a world of M. Night Shyamalan's making. ...
Space-age ceramics get their toughest testPublic release date: 10-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lynn Yarris lcyarris@lbl.gov 510-486-5375 DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Berkeley lab researchers develop real-time CT-scan test rig for ceramic composites at ultrahigh temperatures
Advanced ceramic composites can withstand the ultrahigh operational temperatures projected for hypersonic jet and next generation gas turbine engines, but real-time analysis of the mechanical properties of these space-age materials at ultrahigh temperatures has been a challenge until now. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed the first testing facility that enables CT-scanning of ceramic composites under controlled loads at ultrahigh temperatures and in real-time.
Working at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source (ALS), a premier source of X-ray and ultraviolet light beams, the scientists created a mechanical testing rig for performing X-ray computed microtomography that reveals the growth of microcrack damage under loads at temperatures up to 1,750 degrees Celsius. This allows engineers to compute a ceramic composite material's risk of structural or mechanical failure under extreme operating conditions, which in turn should enable the material's performance and safety to be improved.
"The combination of our in situ ultrahigh temperature tensile test rig and the X-rays at ALS Beamline 8.3.2 allows us to obtain measurements of the mechanical properties of advanced ceramic materials at temperatures that are literally unprecedented," says Berkeley Lab materials scientist Robert Ritchie, who led this work. "These measurements, coupled with wonderful 3D images and quantitative data of the damage under load, can provide crucial information to permit accurate predictions of a ceramic composite's structural integrity and safe lifetime."
Ritchie, who holds joint appointments with Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division and the University of California (UC) Berkeley's Materials Science and Engineering Department, is the corresponding author of a paper describing this work that has been published in the journal Nature Materials. The paper is titled "Real-time quantitative imaging of failure events in materials under load at temperatures above 1,600?C." Co-authors of the paper were Hrishikesh Bale, Abdel Haboub, Alastair MacDowell, James Nasiatka, Dilworth Parkinson, Brian Cox and David Marshall.
Ceramics made from clay have been used as construction materials for thousands of years and are renowned for their ability to resist damage from water, chemicals, oxidation and most importantly - heat. Ceramics can stand up to temperatures that would melt most metals. However, traditional ceramics also suffer from a serious deficit brittleness. Today's advanced ceramics for extreme structural applications are much stronger and tougher. They're reinforced with ceramic fibers to form composites that can be structured along the lines of natural materials such as bone and shells. Jet or turbine gas engines made from ceramic composites would weigh considerably less than today's engines and operate at much higher temperatures. This translates into far greater fuel efficiencies and reduced pollution.
Still, while ceramic composites are far less prone to fracture than their clay ancestors, tiny cracks can form and grow within their complex microstructures, creating potentially catastrophic problems.
"Like bone and shells, ceramic composites achieve robustness through complexity, with their hierarchical, hybrid microstructures impeding the growth of local damage and preventing the large fatal cracks that are characteristic of brittle materials," Ritchie says. "However, complexity in composition brings complexity in safe use. For ceramic composites in ultrahigh temperature applications, especially where corrosive species in the environment must be kept out of the material, relatively small cracks, on the order of a single micron, can be unacceptable."
Exactly how micro-cracks are restrained by the tailored microstructures of a ceramic composite is the central question for the materials scientist seeking the optimal composition or architecture, and the design engineer who must predict the failure envelope, Ritchie says. The only reliable way to answer this question is through measurements made at ultrahigh temperatures.
ALS Beamline 8.3.2, which is powered by a 6 Tesla superconducting bend magnet, is designed for X-ray computed microtomography, a technology that provides non-destructive 3D imaging of solid objects at a resolution of approximately one micron. With the addition of their unique tensile testing rig, Ritchie and his colleagues can maintain in situ ultrahigh temperature environments in either inert or oxidizing atmospheres while obtaining real-time 3D images of sample microstructures. In their Nature Materials paper, Ritchie and his coauthors describe obtaining 3D images of the microstructures of ceramic composite samples made from silicon-carbide at sufficient resolution to observe the formation of microcracks and other forms of internal damage as a function of load.
"The results of our tests provided vital information pertaining to the underlying failure mechanisms within ceramic composites that can be used to optimize their performance, Ritchie says.
"The capacity for validating virtual testing models through direct, real-time, non-invasive experimental observations should greatly advance our understanding and help promote the technological innovation of ceramic composites."
###
This work was done in collaboration with the Teledyne Scientific Company through a grant from NASA and the U.S. Air Force.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.
DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit the Office of Science website at science.energy.gov/.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
Space-age ceramics get their toughest testPublic release date: 10-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lynn Yarris lcyarris@lbl.gov 510-486-5375 DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Berkeley lab researchers develop real-time CT-scan test rig for ceramic composites at ultrahigh temperatures
Advanced ceramic composites can withstand the ultrahigh operational temperatures projected for hypersonic jet and next generation gas turbine engines, but real-time analysis of the mechanical properties of these space-age materials at ultrahigh temperatures has been a challenge until now. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed the first testing facility that enables CT-scanning of ceramic composites under controlled loads at ultrahigh temperatures and in real-time.
Working at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source (ALS), a premier source of X-ray and ultraviolet light beams, the scientists created a mechanical testing rig for performing X-ray computed microtomography that reveals the growth of microcrack damage under loads at temperatures up to 1,750 degrees Celsius. This allows engineers to compute a ceramic composite material's risk of structural or mechanical failure under extreme operating conditions, which in turn should enable the material's performance and safety to be improved.
"The combination of our in situ ultrahigh temperature tensile test rig and the X-rays at ALS Beamline 8.3.2 allows us to obtain measurements of the mechanical properties of advanced ceramic materials at temperatures that are literally unprecedented," says Berkeley Lab materials scientist Robert Ritchie, who led this work. "These measurements, coupled with wonderful 3D images and quantitative data of the damage under load, can provide crucial information to permit accurate predictions of a ceramic composite's structural integrity and safe lifetime."
Ritchie, who holds joint appointments with Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division and the University of California (UC) Berkeley's Materials Science and Engineering Department, is the corresponding author of a paper describing this work that has been published in the journal Nature Materials. The paper is titled "Real-time quantitative imaging of failure events in materials under load at temperatures above 1,600?C." Co-authors of the paper were Hrishikesh Bale, Abdel Haboub, Alastair MacDowell, James Nasiatka, Dilworth Parkinson, Brian Cox and David Marshall.
Ceramics made from clay have been used as construction materials for thousands of years and are renowned for their ability to resist damage from water, chemicals, oxidation and most importantly - heat. Ceramics can stand up to temperatures that would melt most metals. However, traditional ceramics also suffer from a serious deficit brittleness. Today's advanced ceramics for extreme structural applications are much stronger and tougher. They're reinforced with ceramic fibers to form composites that can be structured along the lines of natural materials such as bone and shells. Jet or turbine gas engines made from ceramic composites would weigh considerably less than today's engines and operate at much higher temperatures. This translates into far greater fuel efficiencies and reduced pollution.
Still, while ceramic composites are far less prone to fracture than their clay ancestors, tiny cracks can form and grow within their complex microstructures, creating potentially catastrophic problems.
"Like bone and shells, ceramic composites achieve robustness through complexity, with their hierarchical, hybrid microstructures impeding the growth of local damage and preventing the large fatal cracks that are characteristic of brittle materials," Ritchie says. "However, complexity in composition brings complexity in safe use. For ceramic composites in ultrahigh temperature applications, especially where corrosive species in the environment must be kept out of the material, relatively small cracks, on the order of a single micron, can be unacceptable."
Exactly how micro-cracks are restrained by the tailored microstructures of a ceramic composite is the central question for the materials scientist seeking the optimal composition or architecture, and the design engineer who must predict the failure envelope, Ritchie says. The only reliable way to answer this question is through measurements made at ultrahigh temperatures.
ALS Beamline 8.3.2, which is powered by a 6 Tesla superconducting bend magnet, is designed for X-ray computed microtomography, a technology that provides non-destructive 3D imaging of solid objects at a resolution of approximately one micron. With the addition of their unique tensile testing rig, Ritchie and his colleagues can maintain in situ ultrahigh temperature environments in either inert or oxidizing atmospheres while obtaining real-time 3D images of sample microstructures. In their Nature Materials paper, Ritchie and his coauthors describe obtaining 3D images of the microstructures of ceramic composite samples made from silicon-carbide at sufficient resolution to observe the formation of microcracks and other forms of internal damage as a function of load.
"The results of our tests provided vital information pertaining to the underlying failure mechanisms within ceramic composites that can be used to optimize their performance, Ritchie says.
"The capacity for validating virtual testing models through direct, real-time, non-invasive experimental observations should greatly advance our understanding and help promote the technological innovation of ceramic composites."
###
This work was done in collaboration with the Teledyne Scientific Company through a grant from NASA and the U.S. Air Force.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.
DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit the Office of Science website at science.energy.gov/.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? New tests that promise to speed up diagnosis of food poisoning pose an unexpected problem: They could make it more difficult to identify dangerous outbreaks like the one that sickened people who ate a variety of Trader Joe's peanut butter this fall.
The new tests could reach medical laboratories as early as next year, an exciting development for patients. They could shave a few days off the time needed to tell whether E. coli, salmonella or other foodborne bacteria caused a patient's illness, allowing faster treatment of sometimes deadly diseases.
The problem: These new tests can't detect crucial differences between different subtypes of bacteria, as today's tests can. And that fingerprint is what states and the federal government use to match sick people to a contaminated food.
"It's like a forensics lab. If somebody says a shot was fired, without the bullet you don't know where it came from," explained E. coli expert Dr. Phillip Tarr of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects private labs to rapidly adopt these next-generation tests ? and warns that what is progress for individual patients could hamper the nation's efforts to keep food safe. Already, 1 in 6 Americans gets sick from foodborne illness each year, and 3,000 die.
So even before these tests hit the market, the agency is searching for solutions. Unless one is found, the CDC's Dr. John Besser said the tests' unintended consequence could be that ultimately, more people become sick.
"In the past 20 years, there's been a fantastic ability to fingerprint bugs: Is this an organism that's causing multiple infections and we can interdict it? Or is this a once-only event?" added Tarr, the E. coli specialist. "Without that organism in hand, the state can't do it. The government can't do it. You lose the ability to get the evidence."
It all comes down to what's called a bacterial culture ? whether labs grow a sample of a patient's bacteria in an old-fashioned petri dish, or skip that step because the new tests don't require it.
Here's the way it works now: Someone with serious diarrhea visits the doctor, who gets a stool sample and sends it to a private testing laboratory. The lab cultures the sample, growing larger batches of any lurking bacteria to identify what's there. If disease-causing germs such as E. coli O157 or salmonella are found, they may be sent on to a public health laboratory for more sophisticated analysis to uncover their unique DNA patterns ? their fingerprints.
Those fingerprints are posted to a national database, called PulseNet, that the CDC and state health officials use to look for food poisoning trends.
There are lots of garden-variety cases of salmonella every year, from runny eggs to a picnic lunch that sat out too long. But if a few people in, say, Baltimore have salmonella with the same molecular signature as some sick people in Cleveland, it's time to investigate, because scientists might be able narrow the outbreak to a particular food or company.
But culture-based testing takes time ? as long as two to four days after the sample reaches the lab, which makes for a long wait if you're a sick patient.
What's in the pipeline? Tests that could detect many kinds of germs simultaneously instead of hunting one at a time ? and within hours of reaching the lab. Those tests essentially work by searching for an identifying piece of a germ's DNA without first having to grow a culture.
This isn't just a science debate, said Shari Shea, food safety director at the Association of Public Health Laboratories.
If you were the patient, "you'd want to know how you got sick," she said.
PulseNet has greatly improved the ability of regulators and the food industry to solve those mysteries since it was launched in the mid-1990s, helping to spot major nationwide outbreaks in ground beef, spinach, eggs and cantaloupe in recent years. Just this fall, PulseNet matched 42 different salmonella illnesses in 20 different states that were eventually traced to a variety of Trader Joe's peanut butter.
Food and Drug Administration officials who later visited the plant where the peanut butter was made found salmonella contamination all over the facility, with several of the plant samples matching the fingerprint of the salmonella that made people sick. That New Mexico-based company, Sunland Inc., recalled hundreds of products that were shipped to large retailers all over the country, including Target, Safeway and other large grocery chains.
The source of those illnesses probably would have remained a mystery without the national database, since there weren't very many illnesses in any individual state. And these types of nationwide outbreaks are only increasing as global food companies ship farther and faster all the time.
To ensure that kind of crucial detective work isn't lost, the CDC is asking the medical community to send samples to labs to be cultured even when they perform a new, non-culture test.
But it's not clear who would pay for that extra step. Private labs only can perform the tests that a doctor orders, noted Dr. Jay M. Lieberman of Quest Diagnostics, one of the country's largest testing labs.
A few first-generation non-culture tests are already available. When private labs in Wisconsin use them, they frequently ship leftover samples to the state lab, which grows the bacteria itself. But as more private labs switch over after the next-generation rapid tests arrive, the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene will be hard-pressed to keep up with that extra work before it can do its main job ? fingerprinting the bugs, said deputy director Dr. Dave Warshauer.
Stay tuned: Research is beginning to look for solutions that one day might allow rapid and in-depth looks at food poisoning causes in the same test.
"As molecular techniques evolve, you may be able to get the information you want from non-culture techniques," Lieberman said.
___
Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick
I?m not sure why but a lot of real estate investors I know won?t touch rooming houses. That?s fine with me; because that means more profits for you and me!
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Public release date: 10-Dec-2012
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