Thursday, January 31, 2013

'Super' enzyme protects against dangers of oxygen

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Just like a comic book super hero, you could say that the enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD1) has a secret identity. Since its discovery in 1969, scientists believed SOD1's only role was to protect living cells against damage from free radicals. Now, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have discovered that SOD1 protects cells by regulating cell energy and metabolism. The results of their research were published January 17, 2013, in the journal Cell.

Transforming oxygen to energy for growth is key to life for all living cells, which happens either through respiration or fermentation. When oxygen is plentiful, respiration normally takes over; however certain cells fail to respire in spite of abundant oxygen and instead ferment, leading to uncontrolled cell growth?a hallmark of cancer.

Using the baker's yeast S. cerevisiae as well as a human cell line, researchers Valeria C. Culotta, PhD, and colleague Amit Reddi from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology determined that SOD1 transmits signals from oxygen and glucose to repress respiration. This signaling is accomplished through SOD1 protection of another enzyme known as casein kinase 1-gamma (CK1?), which is an important key to the switch between respiration and fermentation.

"SOD enzymes are present in virtually all living cells, from the most ancient bacteria to every cell in the human body," explained Culotta. "I've been telling my students to think of SOD1 as a superhero. It not only defends cells from damaging free radicals, but also has a secret life as a guardian of cell energy and metabolism."

"Our findings provide new clues as to how rapidly dividing cells?from yeast to human cancers?may escape the urge to respire and instead choose fermentation to promote rapid growth," said Culotta.

"SOD1 has long been recognized as an important enzyme in protection from oxidative stress, but this work establishes an important new function for the enzyme in cellular metabolism," said Vernon Anderson, PhD, of the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of General Medical Sciences, which partly funded the study. "The results provide important insight into how SOD1 and oxygen radicals push cellular energy metabolism towards fermentation, a feature of some disease states, including cancer."

###

Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health: http://www.jhsph.edu

Thanks to Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health 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/126533/_Super__enzyme_protects_against_dangers_of_oxygen

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Infrastructure - Mexico - Roundup: Tabasco urban infrastructure, Monterrey highway securitization and Morelos highways

By Rebecca Conan -

Mexico's Tabasco state government plans to invest 100mn pesos (US$7.85mn) in urban infrastructure for state capital Villahermosa during 2013, according to a release from the...

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This news article is one of hundreds published daily by Business News Americas about the commodities, markets, movements, companies, projects, economics and politics integral to the development of Latin America. Including news and insight from South America, Central America and the Caribbean, BNamericas includes Infrastructure insight and forecasts for business opportunities in Mexico. The business development service focuses on major projects, active companies, such as Fitch, Banobras; and business and sales contacts, providing networking opportunities with leading executives throughout Latin America.

Source: http://member.bnamericas.com/news/infrastructure/roundup-tabasco-urban-infrastructure-monterrey-highway-securitization-and-morelos-highways

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Unions, learning, migrant workers and union revitalization in Britain

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Author: Mustchin, Stephen

Abstract:

This article focuses on strategies adopted by British trade unions to promote education to their members and their impact on attempts to organize among migrant workers. The relationship between this activity and broader debates around union revitalization is analysed, particularly in terms of how union involvement in learning intersects with broader organizing and community focused union activity. A diverse range of approaches to education provision for migrant workers can be identified from this research. The influence of internal union politics on attempts to organize migrant workers, work in conjunction with state policy and improve access to education among their members is also analysed. The study highlights a diverse range of outcomes, raising important issues regarding union organizing strategies and their relationship to union provision of education for their memberships.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.

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This article focuses on strategies adopted by British trade unions to promote education to their members and their impact on attempts to organize among migrant workers. The relationship between this activity and broader debates around union revitalization is analysed, particularly in terms of how union involvement in learning intersects with broader organizing and community focused union activity. A diverse range of approaches to education provision for migrant workers can be identified from this research. The influence of internal union politics on attempts to organize migrant workers, ...??[+] Show more

Subjects: Industry; Migration; Teaching and learning; Providers of education and training

Keywords: Union; Migrants; Education; Institutional role

Geographic subjects: Great Britain; Europe

Published: Los Angeles, California: Sage Publications, 2012

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Powered by VTLS VITALVOCEDplus is produced by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), which together with TAFE South Australia, is a UNESCO regional Centre of Excellence in technical and vocational education and training (TVET). VOCEDplus receives funding from the Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (DIISRTE).

Source: http://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv54922

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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

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Stocks edge higher, pushing Dow toward 14,00

NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks edged higher on Wall Street, pushing the Dow toward 14,000, as investors digested the latest round of earnings and economic reports.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 34 points to 13,916 points as of 11:19 a.m. EST. The Standard and Poor's 500 rose two points to 1,502 points. The Nasdaq composite dropped nine points to 3,145.

Stocks are approaching record levels after a January rally that has pushed the Dow 6.2 percent higher this month and the S&P 500 up 5.3 percent, its highest level since December 2007. Demand was bolstered after lawmakers reached a deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff" at the start of the year and by reports that have added to evidence showing that the U.S. housing market is recovering and the jobs market is slowly healing.

Homebuilder D.R. Horton gained $2.13 to $23.44 after it said that net income more than doubled as the housing recovery took hold. Improving home prices and better sales bolstered profits. Drugmaker Pfizer rose 78 cents to $27.61 after the company said its fourth-quarter profit more than quadrupled because of a $4.8 billion gain from selling its nutrition business, despite competition from generic drugs hurting sales.

Investor optimism was checked by a report that showed U.S. consumer confidence sank in January to the lowest level in more than a year as Americans fretted about the economic outlook and higher Social Security taxes. The Conference Board said that its consumer confidence index dropped to 58.6 in January, down from a reading of 66.7 in December. The report was published Tuesday at 10 a.m. EST.

Stocks also failed to get much of a lift from a report published before the market opened that showed the U.S. housing market is sustaining its recovery.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 5.5 percent in November compared with the same month a year ago, pushed higher by rising sales and a tighter supply of available homes. The report was published before the market opened.

"The turnaround in the housing market is for real," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital, who says the decline in consumer confidence will likely prove to be temporary as home prices rise. He predicts that the S&P 500 may climb as high as 1,575 this quarter as investor optimism about the economic recovery grows.

The Federal Reserve starts a two-day meeting Tuesday. Investors will also be looking at the release of their statement Wednesday for clues about the outlook for the economy and interest rates.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose by 1 basis point to 1.97 percentage points. The yield on the note, which moves inversely to its price, rose briefly above 2 percent for the first time since April during trading Monday.

Other stocks in the news;

? Ford fell 78 cents to $13 despite reporting earnings that beat analysts' estimates. The automaker said that its losses in Europe would be bigger than it had previously forecast. The company's stock has advanced 56 percent in the last six months.

? Seagate Technology, which makes hard disk drives for storage, fell $3.57 to $33.80 after it reported a 13 percent drop in profits as expenses outpaced revenue growth.

? Software company VMware fell $19.30 to $79 after it said that it late Monday that it expects first-quarter revenue to come in lower than Wall Street analysts had forecast. The company is also cutting 900 jobs, or about 7 percent of its workforce.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-edge-higher-pushing-dow-toward-14-00-163340870--finance.html

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How to Make the Most of Your Kitchen | Home Editions & Inspiration ...

A neglected kitchen is a sad sight. Of course, kitchens are never truly neglected; everyday activities of cooking and washing dishes occur in the kitchen. However, it?s often seen that not even a fraction of the pain and effort people go through for decorating and cleaning their living rooms or bedrooms go into the maintenance of their kitchen. A well-kept kitchen actually adds a different dimension to a house.

The kitchen doesn?t simply have to be a place for drudgery, it can be a great place to sit around casually for the family and even for visitors. This requires the kitchen to be a bright and cheerful place; here are some tips on how to make that happen.

Decorating

Decorating a kitchen doesn?t really involve putting up expensive paintings, sculptures, vases and so on. In fact, that wouldn?t be the way to go about it at all. What you can do is work with the kitchen fittings. Wall racks, hooks, cupboard doors and so on can feature cheerful colour themes or pictures. The thing to keep in mind is that it should have a casual and happy feel about it and you shouldn?t really go too over the top with the d?cor. In terms of priorities, convenience should rule the roost. Cooking there should be an enjoyable process; all the utensils should be easy to access and there should be as much free space to work in as possible.

Maximizing Available Space

Space is a very important component in the kitchen. It?s often seen that when it comes to smaller houses and apartments, builders and house owners tend to compromise on the size of the kitchen to give more space to other rooms. This is a big mistake to my mind, because a small kitchen is really difficult to work in.

However, if you are stuck with a small kitchen, there are a few things you can do to make the most out of the space available. The most important thing is to make use of the walls as much as possible. Using wall mounted racks and hooks, you can store all kinds of kitchen utensils, pans and so on, on the walls. This will save a lot of floor space and counter space, making your kitchen much easier to work in. Even fruits and vegetables can be stored in beautiful baskets that can be hung from the walls. This will not only save space for you, it can also make your kitchen look that much better.

Organization

The most important thing to keep in mind is that the kitchen should not be a messy place with a clutter of equipments and utensils everywhere. Keeping the counters and tabletops free of stuff would, in itself, brighten up a kitchen. You can have fun stuff in the kitchen as well, like a small TV tucked in somewhere or a margarita maker to have a good time with. The basic idea is for the kitchen to be a fun place to cook in and a great place to sit around and spend your free time in.

The easy to follow tips in this article were created by Jenny Fields. Jenny?s favorite thing to do and share with others is organization for living spaces. She shares most of this information at http://emicrowavecart.com where you can learn to better organize and maintain your house.

Source: http://www.corearchitect.co.uk/kitchen/

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Fort Oglethorpe hospital official talks about plan to pay off Medicare debt

Hutcheson Medical Center in Fort Oglethorpe will use a part of a low-interest $25 million bond anticipation note to pay off a high-interest $12 million debt to Medicare.

That?s the immediate game plan to rescue the hospital financially, says Roger Forgey, CEO and president.

?Hospitals need Medicare to survive,? Forgey said. ?We want to pay this (Medicare debt) off so we wouldn't have to pay interest.?

The Medicare debt comes with an 11-percent interest rate, compared to a 1-percent interest rate on the bond anticipation note.

Forgey and other hospital officials emphasis that the Medicare debt is not a case of fraud.

?The debt was incurred as far back as 2007,? Forgey said.

In some cases, Forgey explained, Medicare will offer a payout at the beginning of the year. The payout is estimated, based on population and patients, he said. At the end of the year the hospital will average out the money spent on patients and provide a refund if all the Medicare funding was not used.

For about five years, Hutcheson did not settle up with the government, thereby accruing $12 million in Medicare debt, he said.

Usually a Medicare intermediary will investigate payout compared with use, but at Hutcheson the position changed and the assessment was not completed, Forgey said.

After Chattanooga-based Erlanger took over management of Hutcheson in May 2011, an analysis of the cost report revealed over-payments by Medicare. Forgey and the new administration self-reported the overpayments to the government and set up pay back, with a standard 11-percent interest rate.

The $25 million bond anticipation note, which is short-term (two years), will also be used to pay off $2 million of $5 million that the hospital owes to medical suppliers, Forgey said.

The note?s remaining money, about $11 million, will be used to upgrade equipment at the hospital.

Catoosa County commissioners have agreed to back the $25 million bond anticipation note using the hospital property as collateral. Walker County commissioner Bebe Heiskell, as of Jan. 24, had not decided on whether to back the note. The counties, along with Dade County, own the hospital property. Dade is not participating in the note.

$20 million Erlanger loan: Where has it gone?

Hutcheson?s debt stretched beyond belief when Erlanger came to the rescue in early 2012 with a $20 million loan, Forgey said.

In operations alone, Hutcheson faced $11 million in debt in 2012, he said.

About $7 million of the Erlanger loan was used immediately to pay creditors, he said.

The hospital also continued to use the money toward basic needs, such as paying employees? wages and everyday bills, he said.

To date, the hospital has used $18.8 million of the $20 million loan, Forgey said

?Now we are making payroll and paying bills. It's still not enough to pay down the debt,? Forgey said.

The loan from Erlanger was necessary for the hospital to turn around its finances and become profitable. That mission has been accomplished, Forgey said.

?(Erlanger) spent money in order to turn the organization around and we did, and now we are profitable. The question is long-term survival, and that means consolidating debt,? Forgey said.

As the hospital looks to the future to consolidate debt with the short-term bond anticipation note of $25 million, the date to pay back Erlanger's $20 million is fast approaching. The two-year contract on the loan ends in April, at which time Hutcheson must begin paying it back with a 5-percent interest rate.

Long-range plans

The hospital wants eventually to secure a total of $60 million in a long-term bond, which would essentially consolidate and include the $25 million bond anticipation note and the $20 million loan from Erlanger.

?The county (Catoosa) is committed to these bond phases,? Forgey said. ?The counties are allowing a short-term bond using all these properties as collateral.?

Hutcheson?s properties include the hospital building, which sits on about 100 acres; three family practice clinics ? Chickamauga Family Practice, LaFayette Physician?s Care and Trenton Family Practice; four specialty practices ? cardiology (located at the main hospital), endocrinology (located at Hutcheson on the Parkway on Battlefield Parkway in Ringgold), pulmonology (located at Hutcheson on the Parkway), and multi-specialty (located at Hutcheson on the Parkway).

Meanwhile the hospital authority of Walker, Dade and Catoosa Counties faces contention as the three counties decide the number of board members based on population. Changing the number of members from nine to 12 will require state legislative approval, according to Forgey.

?They will resolve the issue with members with the legislature and go ahead with the BAN (bond anticipation note),? Forgey said. ?It may take an amendment to the bylaws. Either way, it (the amendment) is not necessary before the BAN. It is before the (long-term) bond.?

The long-term bond may be reduced if Erlanger opts to exchange the $20 million loan payments for purchase or ownership, said Forgey about the different possibilities to minimize debts.

?I can't make everyone in the community want a hospital here,? Forgey said. ?The voice of the people is the (Catoosa) county commission and the commission wants a quality product. They like my staff and like what we are doing. The core services we offer we do a fine job at and each year we are improving.?

Source: http://catwalkchatt.com/bookmark/21566283

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BlackBerry Z10 review

DNP Z10 review

One cannot overstate the importance of this phone. This, the BlackBerry Z10, is the device upon which the fate of BlackBerry (formerly Research in Motion) hangs. That's not to say that the company will disappear if the Z10 -- and the BlackBerry 10 OS that it contains -- is not a mass-market success. But if this phone does not do its job of extending the reach of the 'Berry OS beyond those die-hard loyalists who have clung on to their Bolds and Torches and Storms, it's safe to say that BlackBerry is in for some very hard times.

The company hasn't exactly bet the proverbial farm on this BB10 release, but with massive financial losses tempered only by job cuts, plus an absolutely tectonic shift among the executive leadership and corporate culture architected by CEO and President Thorsten Heins, the phrase "make or break" feels pretty apt. So, then, is this the phone that's good enough to woo buyers away from the Galaxy S III or the iPhone 5 or any of the other delicious devices on the other platforms? The short answer is that no, as of now it isn't quite -- but of course it's a lot more complicated than that. Join us as we explore.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/745Y3M5c5M8/

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Professional training 'in the wild' overrides laboratory decision preferences

Jan. 29, 2013 ? Many simulation-based studies have been conducted, and theories developed, about the behaviors of financial market traders. New work by human factors/ergonomics (HF/E) researchers suggests that decision-making research on the behavior of traders conducted "in the wild" (i.e., real-world situations) can offer an alternative lens that extends laboratory insights and provokes new questions.

In their article in the Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making, "Understanding Preferences in Experience-Based Choice," authors Claire McAndrew (University College London) and Julie Gore (University of Surrey) examined the gap between the decision-making preferences of financial traders "in the wild" compared to laboratory experimentation where the probabilities of outcomes are known (prospect theory).

The authors conducted in-depth interviews about past financial trading decisions with eight traders to understand how decisions were made. All participants were employed by firms authorized and regulated by the UK Financial Services Authority and had, on average, 10.9 years of experience. The traders' decision-making processes were tracked step by step, focusing on their risk-seeking or risk-adverse behavior with respect to the probability of gains and losses.

"What we found is that professional training provides distinct objectives and goals that override preferences generated in the laboratory," said McAndrew. The study found that traders were risk adverse to three of the four scenarios compared with only two of four in the same scenarios suggested by prospect theory.

"Recognition of the interplay of the professional, task, and environment are clearly documented, which is often simply not possible in laboratory settings," said McAndrew. Whereas laboratory studies can be designed to emulate real-world conditions, trading markets are complicated and dynamic systems. The shifting, ill-defined, or competing issues that characterize trader environments are difficult to reproduce in laboratory studies. Many previous lab-based studies on financial traders could be augmented by "in the wild" examination.

This insight into real-world decision-making behavior has consequences for the design of instructional training for novices and has the potential to minimize costly mistakes. Changes in professional training might extend to other complex sociotechnical systems, such as aviation, the military, and nursing -- domains where experts, like stock traders, are similarly risk averse except when faced with large-probability gains.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. C. McAndrew, J. Gore. Understanding Preferences in Experience-Based Choice: A Study of Cognition in the "Wild". Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making, 2012; DOI: 10.1177/1555343412463922

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/mind_brain/consumer_behavior/~3/SibiLh7nNuk/130129190307.htm

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British retailers pushing Samsung phones rather than recommending the iPhone

British retailers pushing Samsung phones rather than recommending an iPhoneBritish retailers are recommending the Samsung Galaxy S3 more times than any other device according to a mystery shopper survey. The survey showed some retailers offering the iPhone 5 while other manufacturers like Motorola and RIM had little or no presence at all. The survey was carried out by Informa Telecoms and Media who spoke with eight of the top UK retailers.

"The mystery shop showed that the most recommended Samsung handsets were the Galaxy SIII and the Galaxy Note II, despite having been on the market longer than the latest handsets from Apple, Nokia and HTC," said Julian Jest of Informa. "However, most surprising was the way that, despite an in-store advertising campaign and recent product launch, Apple was recommended in only two stores, 3 and Phones 4 U, with both recommending the iPhone 5."

The mystery shopper survey was carried out at John Lewis, Everything Everywhere, O2, 3, Maplins, PC World, Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U. Informa Telecoms and Media believe that the reason behind customer service assistants recommending Samsung phones over the iPhone is purely down to money. Informa believes it was "likely that sales assistants see the Samsung devices as a safe bet to earn greater commissions".

Source: The Telegraph



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/aa2FCCBpcBs/story01.htm

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UFC on Fox 6?s Three Stars: Anthony Pettis, Ricardo Lamas and T.J. Grant

In the home of the 6-0 Chicago Blackhawks, the UFC had its sixth showing on Fox. In hockey's tradition, here are the Three Stars from the card.

No. 1 star ? Anthony Pettis: Once upon a time, Pettis was the WEC champion and had a shot at the UFC lightweight title. But then Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard fought to a draw and required a rematch, and Pettis lost to Clay Guida. But with a nasty liver kick that took out Donald Cerrone, Pettis showed he was still worthy of that title shot.

No. 2 star ? Ricardo Lamas: Speaking of title shots, Lamas made a convincing case on Saturday night for the featherweight belt. He used punishing ground and pound to make Erik Koch's face explode on the way to a TKO. Lamas has four wins in a row, and has earned the shot to be the next fighter with a shot at the featherweight belt after this weekend's fight between Edgar and champion Jose Aldo.

No. 3 star -? T.J. Grant: The lightweight division is stacked, but Grant's showing on Saturday night showed another fighter creeping into the top ranks. He elbowed his way to a win over Matt Wiman.

These are Cagewriter's Three Stars. Who are yours? Speak up in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ufc-fox-6-three-stars-anthony-pettis-ricardo-142552282--mma.html

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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Obama lawyers to argue recess appointments again in March

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - While President Barack Obama considers his next move in one high-stakes legal fight to fill vacant jobs, his lawyers expect to go to court at least twice more to argue for his power to appoint when the U.S. Senate is not meeting.

Federal appeals courts in both Philadelphia and Richmond, Virginia, are likely to hear the issue of recess appointments in March, possibly during the same week.

The hearings will be an opportunity for Obama's lawyers to rebound after a blockbuster ruling on Friday, when a court in Washington, D.C., held that three recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) were invalid.

Although the three-judge ruling on Friday upturned 190 years of understanding about how a president may fill vacant jobs, it will not take effect immediately.

Under court rules, the Justice Department has 45 days to decide whether to ask the full, eight-judge Washington-based appeals court to reconsider the decision and 90 days to consider an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A Justice Department spokeswoman had no comment on Monday.

In one of the two other cases, privately held Enterprise Rent-A-Car is questioning the appointments as part of a labor dispute with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at an airport near Raleigh, North Carolina.

The case is scheduled to be heard in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, on March 22.

A nursing home in Newark, New Jersey - New Vista Nursing and Rehabilitation LLC - is bringing the other case as part of a nurse unionization fight with a local of the Service Employees International Union.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia is tentatively set to hear the issue on March 19.

Both cases have to do with the NLRB.

Once rare, recess appointments became more common in the late 1970s as a way to bypass the confirmation process, which senators have used increasingly to block a president's nominees, including the three Obama put forward for the NLRB.

RULINGS WEEKS FROM NOW

The convergence of the two arguments in the same week in March led a government lawyer to express concern in a court filing because Beth Brinkmann, a senior U.S. Justice Department lawyer, is expected to argue both and wants to ensure they are a few days apart.

Rulings from the two courts would likely come weeks later, potentially adding pressure to the U.S. Supreme Court to sort out what already are divided rulings in the lower courts.

A related case, challenging the recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is in pre-trial motions in a Washington federal court.

The U.S. Constitution says that presidents have the authority to fill a high-level vacancy without Senate approval if the Senate is in "the recess."

With such vague language, presidents of both major U.S. parties have made increasingly liberal use of the power.

Friday's sweeping ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said that the president cannot decide on his own when the Senate is in recess and that "the recess" happens only about once a year, not whenever lawmakers break from Washington for a few weeks.

The decision directly contradicted a 2004 ruling from the federal appeals court in Atlanta.

(Editing by Howard Goller and Eric Beech)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-lawyers-argue-recess-appointments-again-march-005514310--sector.html

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Patients' own skin cells are transformed into heart cells to create 'disease in a dish'

Patients' own skin cells are transformed into heart cells to create 'disease in a dish'

Monday, January 28, 2013

Most patients with an inherited heart condition known as arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C) don't know they have a problem until they're in their early 20s. The lack of symptoms at younger ages makes it very difficult for researchers to study how ARVD/C evolves or to develop treatments. A new stem cell-based technology created by 2012 Nobel Prize winner Shinya Yamanaka, M.D., Ph.D., helps solve this problem. With this technology, researchers can generate heart muscle cells from a patient's own skin cells. However, these newly made heart cells are mostly immature. That raises questions about whether or not they can be used to mimic a disease that occurs in adulthood. In a paper published January 27 in Nature, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute and Johns Hopkins University unveil the first maturation-based "disease in a dish" model for ARVD/C. The model was created using Yamanaka's technology and a new method to mimic maturity by making the cells' metabolism more like that in adult hearts. For that reason, this model is likely more relevant to human ARVD/C than other models and therefore better suited for studying the disease and testing new treatments.

"It's tough to demonstrate that a disease-in-a-dish model is clinically relevant for an adult-onset disease. But we made a key finding here?we can recapitulate the defects in this disease only when we induce adult-like metabolism. This is an important breakthrough considering that ARVD/C symptoms usually don't arise until young adulthood. Yet the stem cells we're working with are embryonic in nature," said Huei-Sheng Vincent Chen, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor at Sanford-Burnham and senior author of the study.

To establish this model, Chen teamed up with expert ARVD/C cardiologists Daniel Judge, M.D., Joseph Marine, M.D., and Hugh Calkins, M.D., at Johns Hopkins University. Johns Hopkins is home to one of the largest ARVD/C patient registries in the world.

"There is currently no treatment to prevent progression of ARVD/C, a rare disorder that preferentially affects athletes. With this new model, we hope we are now on a path to develop better therapies for this life-threatening disease," said Judge, associate professor and medical director of the Center for Inherited Heart Disease at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Disease in a dish

To recreate a person's own unique ARVD/C in the lab, the team first obtained skin samples from ARVD/C patients with certain mutations believed to be involved in the disease. Next they performed Yamanaka's technique: adding a few molecules that dial back the developmental clock on these adult skin cells, producing embryonic-like induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The researchers then coaxed the iPSCs into producing an unlimited supply of patient-specific heart muscle cells. These heart cells were largely embryonic in nature, but carried along the original patient's genetic mutations.

However, for nearly a year, no matter what they tried, the team couldn't get their ARVD/C heart muscle cells to show any signs of the disease. Without actual signs of adult-onset ARVD/C, these young, patient-specific heart muscle cells were no use for studying the disease or testing new therapeutic drugs.

Speeding up time

Eventually, the team experienced the big "aha!" moment they'd been looking for. They discovered that metabolic maturity is the key to inducing signs of ARVD/C, an adult disease, in their embryonic-like cells. Human fetal heart muscle cells use glucose (sugar) as their primary source of energy. In contrast, adult heart muscle cells prefer using fat for energy production. So Chen's team applied several cocktails to trigger this shift to adult metabolism in their model.

After more trial and error, they discovered that metabolic malfunction is at the core of ARVD/C disease. Moreover, Chen's team tracked down the final piece of puzzle to make patient-specific heart muscle cells behave like sick ARVD/C hearts: the abnormal over-activation of a protein called PPAR?. Scientists previously attributed ARVD/C to a problem in weakened connections between heart muscle cells, which occur only in half of the ARVD/C patients. With the newly established model, they not only replicated this adult-onset disease in a dish, but also presented new potential drug targets for treating ARVD/C.

What's next?

Chen's team was recently awarded a new grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to create additional iPSC-based ARVD/C models. With more ARVD/C models, they will determine whether or not all (or at least most) patients develop the disease via the same metabolic defects discovered in this current study.

Together with the Johns Hopkins team, Chen also hopes to conduct preclinical studies to find a new therapy for this deadly heart condition.

###

Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute: http://www.burnham-inst.org

Thanks to Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute 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/126483/Patients__own_skin_cells_are_transformed_into_heart_cells__to_create__disease_in_a_dish_

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Court hears Italian "Devil's Advocate" was fake lawyer

LONDON (Reuters) - An Italian man known as the "Devil's Advocate" went on trial in London on Tuesday accused of posing as a lawyer to defraud 10 sets of victims of a total of almost one million pounds.

Giovanni Di Stefano, 57, denies 25 offences of deception, fraud, money laundering and forgery allegedly committed between 2004 and 2012.

Lawyer David Aaronberg, opening the case for the prosecution at Southwark Crown Court, said Di Stefano had no legal qualifications but had built a reputation as a lawyer willing to take on cases considered unwinnable or too difficult to defend.

"Somewhere along the way, over the years, he acquired the soubriquet, or nickname, of 'Devil's Advocate' and he became more and more well-known," Aaronberg said.

The prosecutor said Di Stefano's name had been linked to many newsworthy cases all over the world, and that he had worked in Iraq and in Serbia, but he gave no details.

Under British law, media reports about the trial cannot give any background details not given to the jury in open court.

The court heard that some of the offences alleged in the indictment arose because Paul Bush, a man convicted of murder and kidnapping, saw a 2004 BBC documentary "Notorious: Devil's Advocate" on Di Stefano in prison.

He asked his partner, Paula Gregory-Dade, to obtain Di Stefano's services to launch an appeal against his convictions.

Aaronberg described how Di Stefano persuaded Gregory-Dade and others connected to Bush to pay some 120,000 pounds in legal fees and for a supposed bail security for Bush.

The court also heard that in 2003, when asked by a British judge to provide proof of his qualifications, Di Stefano had said he could not as there had been an earthquake in Campobasso, his native province, which had destroyed all the public records.

Aaronberg said this was a lie and the records were intact.

He said Di Stefano's defence against the charges would be that he "honestly believed himself entitled to describe himself as a qualified lawyer".

The trial continues on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/court-hears-italian-devils-advocate-fake-lawyer-175208957.html

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Fossilized conduits suggest water flowed beneath Martian surface

Jan. 29, 2013 ? Ridges in impact craters on Mars appear to be fossils of cracks in the Martian surface, formed by minerals deposited by flowing water. Water flowing beneath the surface suggests life may once have been possible on Mars.

Networks of narrow ridges found in impact craters on Mars appear to be the fossilized remnants of underground cracks through which water once flowed, according to a new analysis by researchers from Brown University.

The study, in press in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, bolsters the idea that the subsurface environment on Mars once had an active hydrology and could be a good place to search for evidence of past life. The research was conducted by Lee Saper, a recent Brown graduate, with Jack Mustard, professor of geological sciences.

The ridges, many of them hundreds of meters in length and a few meters wide, had been noted in previous research, but how they had formed was not known. Saper and Mustard thought they might once have been faults and fractures that formed underground when impact events rattled the planet's crust. Water, if present in the subsurface, would have circulated through the cracks, slowly filling them in with mineral deposits, which would have been harder than the surrounding rocks. As those surrounding rocks eroded away over millions of years, the seams of mineral-hardened material would remain in place, forming the ridges seen today.

To test their hypothesis, Saper and Mustard mapped over 4,000 ridges in two crater-pocked regions on Mars, Nili Fossae and Nilosyrtis. Using high-resolution images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the researchers noted the orientations of the ridges and composition of the surrounding rocks.

The orientation data is consistent with the idea that the ridges started out as fractures formed by impact events. A competing hypothesis suggests that these structures may have been sheets of volcanic magma intruding into the surrounding rock, but that doesn't appear to be the case. At Nili Fossae, the orientations are similar to the alignments of large faults related to a mega-scale impact. At Nilosyrtis, where the impact events were smaller in scale, the ridge orientations are associated with each of the small craters in which they were found. "This suggests that fracture formation resulted from the energy of localized impact events and are not associated with regional-scale volcanism," Saper said.

Importantly, Saper and Mustard also found that the ridges exist exclusively in areas where the surrounding rock is rich in iron-magnesium clay, a mineral considered to be a telltale sign that water had once been present in the rocks.

"The association with these hydrated materials suggests there was a water source available," Saper said. "That water would have flowed along the path of least resistance, which in this case would have been these fracture conduits."

As that water flowed, dissolved minerals would have been slowly deposited in the conduits, in much the same way mineral deposits can build up and eventually clog drain pipes. That mineralized material would have been more resistant to erosion than the surrounding rock. And indeed, Saper and Mustard found that these ridges were only found in areas that were heavily eroded, consistent with the notion that these are ancient structures revealed as the weaker surrounding rocks were slowly peeled away by wind.

Taken together, the results suggest the ancient Martian subsurface had flowing water and may have been a habitable environment.

"This gives us a point of observation to say there was enough fracturing and fluid flow in the crust to sustain at least a regionally viable subsurface hydrology," Saper said. "The overarching theme of NASA's planetary exploration has been to follow the water. So if in fact these fractures that turned into these ridges were flowing with hydrothermal fluid, they could have been a viable biosphere."

Saper hopes that the Curiosity rover, currently making its way across its Gale Crater landing site, might be able to shed more light on these types of structures.

"In the site at Gale Crater, there are thought to be mineralized fractures that the rover will go up and touch," Saper said. "These are very small and may not be exactly the same kind of feature we studied, but we'll have the opportunity to crush them up and do chemical analysis on them. That could either bolster our hypothesis or tell us we need to explore other possibilities."

The research was supported by a grant from NASA's Rhode Island Space Grant Consortium and through a NASA subcontract with the Applied Physics Lab at Johns Hopkins University.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Brown University.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Lee Saper, John F. Mustard. Extensive linear ridge networks in Nili Fossae and Nilosyrtis, Mars: Implications for fluid flow in the ancient crust. Geophysical Research Letters, 2013 DOI: 10.1002/grl.50106

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/S8LpqS3XZBI/130129121941.htm

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Is Your Email Marketing System Doing All It Should? | Cashillion

A superior?email marketing system?does far more than just deliver emails to your subscribers. Of course you want an exceptional delivery rate, but there is much more to it than that. A dependable and reliable email marketing system should also offer many other features in order for you to determine how well your campaigns are working, and how effective they are.

Those who have been in business for any length of time know that building a list is a must. Most people do not buy a product/service the first time they are exposed to it; building a trusting relationship is the foundation of any successful business. In developing this relationship, you have the potential to market your product/service to your subscribers for years to come. Therefore, an exceptional email marketing system is essential to your long-term success and profitability.

There are many services on the market today that offer the features you need. Unfortunately, many of them are hard for the average person to figure out. An email marketing system that is too technical or confusing isn?t advantageous to any business owner. When you have to spend the biggest portion of the day trying to learn how to use your email marketing system, it takes away from time that needs to be spent on other areas of your business.

What should you look for in a service? Some of the features you want for your business include user friendliness, flexibility, list management capabilities and exceptional reporting and analytical tools. Your business may require that you survey your subscribers occasionally, or you may want to send out a newsletter on a weekly or monthly basis. Before you invest in any email marketing system, make sure it offers all of the features you need to run your business most effectively.

When you first begin to consider building a list of targeted subscribers it can be intimidating. You have no idea how an autoresponder works, or how to determine if it is doing what you intended for it to do, which is build your business. You want an?email marketing system?that is known for delivering your messages on time, every time ? but you also want one that you will be able to use without having to take a course to do so.

The ultimate success of any online business hinges on building relationships. Be sure that when you choose an email marketing system, it is one that offers all of the features you need at a price you can afford. Also be certain that the provider offers exceptional support of their services, so that you can quickly get solutions when you need them.

Source: http://www.cashillion.com/2013/is-your-email-marketing-system-doing-all-it-should/

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Monday, January 28, 2013

The Sunday Shows (TIME)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/279889284?client_source=feed&format=rss

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AZ of better web writing - 4 Syllables

If you want to write better web content, here?s an A-Z that should help. It covers attributes of quality content and issues you should be aware of as a web writer.

A ? Abbreviations

You use abbreviations with care.?Acronyms and other types of abbreviations are convenient if we all know them. They make speaking and writing faster. But if your users aren?t familiar with them, they make reading and understanding slower.

B ? Beginnings

Your beginnings deliver the information your users want.?You structure your?content so it starts with the most important, useful information. And you take the same approach with paragraphs and sentences. You never try to make users read everything. You always put their information needs first.

C ? Conciseness

You write concisely.?You include all the detail a user might need, but you waste no words in doing so.

D ? Direct links

Your links take users directly to the named resource.?You never dump users on the home page of another website and expect them to find their own way. You know their time is limited. ?And you take the time needed to maintain these links.

E ? Egoless

Your content is written to inform, not impress. You always write for your users?not for?yourself or your manager.

F ? Findable

You write accurate and meaningful titles to help people find and recognise your content in search results, social media links, their browser history, tabs and bookmarks. You provide useful meta descriptions. You use file and folder names that are meaningful. You use the right keywords.

G ? Gobbledygook

You never use gobbledygook (or ?weasel words?, as Australian writer Don Watson calls it). You don?t try to sound impressive or hide what?s really going on. You?re clear and direct.

H ? Headings

Your headings break up and label your content. They reveal its structure, using appropriate heading level tags (h1, h2 and so on).

I ? Images

Your images are usable and accessible. They help users understand your content. You don?t rely on colour to convey meaning, but supplement it with labels, patterns or textures. You choose images with strong colour contrast. You avoid images of text. And you include text alternatives.

J ? Jargon and idioms

You avoid jargon and non-literal phrases that may make your content more difficult for some. Instead, you use words and phrases your users will understand.

K ? Keywords

You know the words your users search with. You use them as your topic terms, rather than using internal language.??You don?t overuse them though. You know that keyword density can make your content sound unnatural, and isn?t going to help you get better search rankings. And you?know it?s pointless writing keyword metadata for public search engines.

L ? Link text

You label your links clearly, so users know where a link will lead them. You never use ?click here?, ?read more?, ?this website? or other uninformative labels for links. You also let users know when a link will open a document.

M ? Meta descriptions

Your web pages have meta descriptions that accurately summarise or describe their content. The descriptions are concise?not more than 160 characters?and unique.

N ? Noun strings

You never use noun strings?a series of 3 or more nouns strung together. You rewrite sentences that do.

O ? Optimised images

You always use images that are optimised for the web. You make sure they?re cropped to show the relevant detail, resized to fit the appropriate space on screen, and saved in the right format.

P ? Planned

You always plan before you start writing. You identify your target audiences and consider their information needs. You get all the information you need by talking with your colleagues and anyone who might contribute to, review or approve your content.

Q ? Quality standards and guidelines

Your content meets relevant quality standards. You know your editorial and web style guides well. You?re familiar with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

R ? Readable

Your content is easy to read. You use short, everyday words. You avoid long sentences. You use the active voice and the present tense whenever possible. You avoid noun strings and nominalised verbs. You use personal pronouns.

S ? Scannable

Your content is easy to scan. You lead with the most important information. Your headings act as signposts, and start with the most informative words. You keep paragraphs short and focused on a single topic. You use dot points where appropriate, keeping each point short. You don?t clutter the page with loads of links. Instead you carefully choose and position the links.

T ? Text alternatives

Your images use an appropriate text alternative. You know when to use a long text alternative and when to use a blank one. You never repeat a caption as the text alternative, but write something shorter instead.

U ? Useful

You publish useful content. You don?t publish content because you have it, or because you can?you always identify a need first. And you check to make sure you?re not duplicating content already on your site. You maintain your content and remove pages no longer useful.

V ? Verbs, not nouns

You use verbs rather than turning them into nouns (nominalisations). You check your drafts to look for common signs of nominalised verbs:

  • Nouns with these endings: -ion, -ing, -al, -ment, -ance or -dom
  • Verbs often used nearby: give, make, undertake, take, achieve, effect, have.

W ? Word and PDF documents

You rarely publish Word or PDF documents online. You only do it when people need to print or redistribute the content. You never do it because because it?s faster or easier for you.

X ? X-channel (cross channel)

Your content always considers where users have come from to reach it. It doesn?t repeat what they?ve already seen. You liaise with your colleagues who handle communications in print or social media, so users are referred to the right page, the relevant information, the next step.

Y ? You and other personal pronouns

You use ??you? and ?your? when referring to your users. And you?re not afraid of using ?we? and ?our? when referring to your organisation.

Z ? Zzz (sleep)

You put some distance between writing your draft and reviewing it. ?You always wait at least overnight, and longer when web publishing deadlines allow.

Related information

Many of our articles offer more depth on some of these topics. See:

You might also consider our?web writing course?completely rewritten and updated for 2013.

I was inspired write this by an article with a similar approach:A-Z of better writing. And I pinched a couple of the terms it used (Beginning, Jargon, Zzz), but they discussed here with reference to web writing.

Source: http://www.4syllables.com.au/2013/01/a-z-better-web-writing/

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Insert Coin: You have two weeks left to submit your project for a chance at $20,000!

Insert Coin You have 2 weeks left to submit your project for a chance at $20,000!
Hey makers, tinkerers, and inventors -- have you entered our Insert Coin: New Challengers contest yet? Seriously, you could win $20,000 at Expand this March, a review on Engadget, and a nice promotional boost before you begin a crowdfunding campaign. What are you waiting for?

We implore you to help us spread the word, so we can get the very best projects up on our stage for you (yes, you!) to vote on for a chance to win 20 grand. If you know anyone with a cool project in the works, or a friendly local makerspace, college campus or startup accelerator/incubator whose members might want money and exposure, please send them our way! We really want to give new inventors an extra boost on the road to success.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, February 8.

If you don't qualify for our Insert Coin contest but still want to get your sweet product in front of the eyes of the Expand audience of early adopters and tech enthusiasts, we have very affordable sponsorship opportunities in the Indie Corner section of our exhibition hall. You can sign up for a table right here, and please give us a shout at sponsors [at] engadget [dot] com with any questions about getting onto our show floor.

Read on to find out who's speaking at Expand...

Speakers at Expand

Insert Coin You have 2 weeks left to submit your project for a chance at $20,000!

Lastly, we hope you've been watching our speaker announcements! We're excited to bring you the news about the awesome folks we're assembling to speak to you at Expand, and look forward to unveiling the remainder of the agenda over the coming weeks. To refresh your memory, here's the list of speakers we've shared so far:

  • Chris Anderson: CEO, 3D Robotics and former editor-in-chief, Wired
  • Scott Croyle: Vice President of Design, HTC
  • Ryan Block: Co-founder of gdgt
  • Avi Reichental: President and CEO, 3D Systems
  • Julie Uhrman: Founder and CEO, OUYA
  • Walter de Brouwer: CEO and Founder, Scanadu
  • Veronica Belmont: Co-host, Tekzilla
  • Gene Munster: Research Analyst - Devices & Internet, Piper Jaffray

So what are you waiting for?! Grab your tickets at an early-bird discount today!

Filed under: ,

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/28/insert-coin-deadline-reminder/

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Perfect storm of errors, neglect in Brazil fire

SANTA MARIA, Brazil (AP) ? There was no fire alarm. There were no sprinklers or fire escapes. And when a band member tried to put out a fire that had been started by pyrotechnics, the extinguisher didn't work.

All the elements were in place for the tragedy at the Kiss nightclub early Sunday. The result was the world's worst fire of its kind in more than a decade, with 231 people dead and this southern Brazilian college town in shock and mourning.

Funerals began on Monday, as reports continued to emerge about the accumulation of neglect and errors at the packed night spot.

According to state safety codes here, clubs should have one fire extinguisher every 1,500 square feet as well as multiple emergency exits. Limits on the number of people admitted are to be strictly respected. None of that appears to have happened at the Santa Maria nightclub.

"A problem in Brazil is that there is no control of how many people are admitted in a building," said Joao Daniel Nunes, a civil engineer in nearby Porto Alegre. "They never are clearly stated, and nobody controls how many people enter these night clubs."

Santa Maria's mayor, Jose Fortunati, told Radio Gaucha that dozens of night spots were closed last year for failing to meet norms.

"At that time, we had lots of protest from those who frequented them, but I think that today people understand it better and that at times hard stands must be taken so that steps are taken to not put people's lives at risk," Fortunati said.

Brazilian police said they detained three people in connection with the blaze, while the newspaper O Globo said on its website that a fourth person had surrendered to police. Police Inspector Ranolfo Vieira Junior said the detentions were part of the ongoing police probe and those detained can be held for up to five days.

Vieira declined to identify those detained, but the Brazilian newspaper Zero Hora quotes lawyer Jader Marques saying his client Elissandro Spohr, a co-owner of the club, had been held. Globo reported that the fourth person detained was another club co-owner. G1, Globo Television's internet portal, reported that Spohr acknowledged the club's operating license was not up to date but said the pyrotechnics show started the blaze.

Zero Hora said police also detained two members of the band. The band's guitarist told Brazilian media he saw flames lick the ceiling after the group's spark machine was deployed.

More than 100 people remained hospitalized for smoke, local officials said.

National Health Minister Alexandre Padilha cautioned that the death toll could worsen dramatically. Speaking to media in Santa Maria, he said that 75 of those injured were in critical condition and could die.

However, Paulo Afonso Beltrame, a doctor helping coordinate the emergency response, said he was optimistic at least some of those injured would pull through.

"It's impossible to predict what will happen, because they are all in a very delicate state, but there's hope for all of them," said Beltrame, adding that more than 40 survivors had been sent to neighboring cities for treatment of burns and smoke inhalation. "One of the problems we're having here is that all these people need to be on respirators and we don't have enough respirators in the city."

The event raises questions of whether Brazilian authorities are up to the task of ensuring safety in such venues ahead of it hosting next year's World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

Some critics have said conditions in many Brazilian bars and clubs are ripe for another deadly blaze. In addition to modernizing sometimes outdated safety codes and ensuring sufficient inspectors, people have to change their way of thinking and respect safety regulations.

Funeral services were held for several of the 231 victims, most of them college students 18 to 21 years old. Some of the victims were minors. Most died from smoke inhalation rather than burns.

Witnesses said security guards who didn't know about the blaze initially blocked people from leaving without paying their bills. Brazilian bars routinely make patrons pay their entire tab at the end of the night before they're allowed to leave. Many of the dead were found in the club's two bathrooms, where the blinding smoke caused them to believe the doors were exits.

Rodrigo Martins, a guitarist for the group Gurizada Fandangueira, told Globo TV network in an interview Monday that the flames broke out minutes after the deployment of a pyrotechnic machine that fans out colored sparks, at around 2:30 a.m. local time.

"I felt that something was falling from the roof and I looked up and I saw the fire was spreading, and I shouted 'Look, it's catching on fire, man, it's catching fire,'" Martins said. "Then the drummer tried to throw water on it, and it looked like the fire spread more then. Then the security guards came with an extinguisher, tried to use it, but it didn't work."

He added that the club was packed and estimated the crowd at about 1,200-1,300 people.

"I thought I was going to die there. There was nothing I could do, with the fire spreading and people screaming in front."

Martins confirmed that the group's accordion player Danilo Jacques, 28, died, while the five other band members made it out safely. Martins said he thought Jacques made it out of the building and later returned to save his accordion.

Martins said the group nearly always used the so-called Sputnik pyrotechnics machine and that it had never before caused any problem, even in smaller venues. An electrical short circuit could also possibly have been to blame for the fire, he suggested.

Still, police were leaning toward the pyrotechnics as the likely cause of the tragedy. Police inspector Antonio Firmino, who's part of the team investigating Sunday's blaze, said it appeared the club's ceiling was covered with an insulating foam made from a combustible material that ignited with the pyrotechnics. He said the number and state of the exits is under investigation but that it appeared that a second door was "inadequate," as it was small and protected by bars that wouldn't open.

Television images from Santa Maria showed black smoke billowing out of the Kiss nightclub as shirtless young men who attended the university party joined firefighters using axes and sledgehammers to pound at the hot-pink exterior walls, trying to reach those trapped inside. Teenagers sprinted from the scene after the fire began, desperately seeking help. Others carried injured and burned friends away in their arms. About half of those killed were men, and another half women.

The party was organized by students from several academic departments at the Federal University of Santa Maria. Such organized university parties are common throughout Brazil.

"This shook the whole town," said Ocimar Franco, neighbor of fire victim Taize Santos, before her funeral Monday. "I feel the whole world is watching our town. I wish it were for another reason."

Among the dead were also brothers Pedro and Marcelo Salla, who were both buried Monday.

Beltrame said he was told the club had been filled far beyond its capacity, and the crowds and thickness of the smoke made it hard for people to find their way out.

"Large amounts of toxic smoke quickly filled the room, and I would say that at least 90 percent of the victims died of asphyxiation," Beltrame said. "The toxic smoke made people lose their sense of direction so they were unable to find their way to the exit. At least 50 bodies were found inside a bathroom."

Beltrame said people who were inside the club and thought they made it out safely have started to turn up at area hospitals with symptoms of smoke inhalation, which he said can take hours or even days to appear. He estimated that around 15 people have sought out help in the past few hours and said some have had to be intubated.

Santa Maria Mayor Cezar Schirmer declared a 30-day mourning period, and Tarso Genro, the governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, said officials were investigating the cause of the disaster.

The blaze was the deadliest in Brazil since at least 1961, when a fire that swept through a circus killed 503 people in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro.

Sunday's fire also appeared to be the worst at a nightclub anywhere in the world since December 2000, when a welding accident reportedly set off a fire at a club in Luoyang, China, killing 309 people.

___

Associated Press writers Marco Sibaja contributed to this report from Brasilia, Brazil, Stan Lehman and Bradley Brooks contributed from Sao Paulo and Jenny Barchfield contributed from Rio de Janeiro.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/neglect-errors-blame-brazil-nightclub-fire-200250681.html

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Barbara Walters hospitalized with chickenpox

FILE - This June 23, 2012 file photo shows Barbara Walters presenting an award onstage at the 39th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Walters has the chickenpox and remains hospitalized more than a week after going in after falling and hitting her head at a pre-inaugural party in Washington on Jan. 19. A fellow host on the ?The View,? Whoopi Goldberg, said Monday, Jan. 28, that Walters has been transferred to a New York hospital and hopes to go home soon. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, file)

FILE - This June 23, 2012 file photo shows Barbara Walters presenting an award onstage at the 39th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Walters has the chickenpox and remains hospitalized more than a week after going in after falling and hitting her head at a pre-inaugural party in Washington on Jan. 19. A fellow host on the ?The View,? Whoopi Goldberg, said Monday, Jan. 28, that Walters has been transferred to a New York hospital and hopes to go home soon. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, file)

FILE - This June 23, 2012 file photo shows Barbara Walters presenting an award onstage at the 39th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Walters has the chickenpox and remains hospitalized more than a week after going in after falling and hitting her head at a pre-inaugural party in Washington on Jan. 19. A fellow host on the ?The View,? Whoopi Goldberg, said Monday, Jan. 28, that Walters has been transferred to a New York hospital and hopes to go home soon. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, file)

(AP) ? Barbara Walters would probably like to hit the reset button on 2013.

She's got the chickenpox and remains hospitalized more than a week after going in after falling and hitting her head at a pre-inaugural party in Washington on Jan. 19. A fellow host on the "The View," Whoopi Goldberg, said Monday that Walters has been transferred to a New York hospital and hopes to go home soon.

"She's been told to rest. She's not allowed any visitors," Goldberg said. "And we're telling you, Barbara, no scratching!"

The 83-year-old news veteran, who underwent heart surgery in May 2010, apparently avoided a disease that hits most people when they are children. It can be serious in older people because of the possibility of complications like pneumonia.

Even after concern about her fall had subsided, Walters had been kept hospitalized last week because of a lingering fever, and doctors found the unexpected cause.

"We love you, we miss you," Goldberg said on "The View," in a message to the show's inventor. "We just don't want to hug you."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-28-US-TV-Barbara-Walters/id-ff5d9be7192d4caba0247154edfc9cfc

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