azimuth bipartisanship: February 2013

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Push for Pluto mission stamp gains ground

NASA / SWRI / Durda

Artist Dan Durda's concept for a U.S. postage stamp honoring the New Horizons mission to Pluto.

By Robert Z. Pearlman
Space.com

The grassroots mission to land a Pluto-bound planetary probe on a postage stamp has caught the attention of postal authorities, the team that organized the campaign announced on Monday.

"Recently, we were issued a letter from the (United States Postal Service) USPS informing us that the New Horizons mission stamp proposal?will be submitted for review and consideration before their Advisory Committee!" wrote Con Tsang, a research scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, in an e-mail addressed to supporters and posted on the NASA mission's Facebook page. "We have cleared the first hurdle!"

Last February, Tsang began a petition on the Change.org website urging the USPS and its Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee to honor the first mission to Pluto with its own postage stamp. Backed by the New Horizon's flight team, including the mission's principal investigator Alan Stern, the petition collected more than 12,000 signatures by the time the effort ended on March 13, 2012.

The campaign's conclusion was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the announcement of Pluto's discovery by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1930.

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft was launched on Jan. 19, 2006 on a mission to flyby Pluto and its moons in July 2015. Seven years into the journey, the probe is now more than halfway between the orbits of Uranus and Neptune.

As it turns out, the two and a half years that remain before New Horizons makes its closest approach to Pluto may be just enough time for the stamp advisory committee to make its decision. [New Horizons' Pluto Mission Explained (Video)]

"This entire process can take up to 3 years," Tsang wrote about the stamp selection timeline. "So we will most likely not know if a stamp is approved until around the time when New Horizons reaches Pluto in 2015."

The Citizen's Stamp Advisory Committee has overseen the choice of themes for U.S. postage stamps since 1967. The three year process is designed to give enough time for the committee to consider the proposal, as well as the design and production of the stamp should the subject be selected.

Over the past four decades, the committee has chosen to recognize the nation's space program on more than three dozen stamps. One of those stamps, issued in 1991, had a depiction of Pluto with the words "Not Yet Explored." An example of that stamp is flying aboard New Horizons.

Most recently, the USPS honored NASA's MESSENGER mission to the planet Mercury as part of a pair of stamps that also recognized the first American astronaut to fly in space, Alan Shepard.

The New Horizons' petition asked the advisory committee to consider a stamp for the mission not just to honor the first Pluto flyby, but also the first exploration of the Kuiper Belt, the first exploration of an ice dwarf planet, and the farthest object ever explored in space.

Source: http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/27/17122069-push-for-pluto-mission-postage-stamp-gains-ground?lite

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Park Chan-wook Talks Stoker

ROTTERDAM -- Ever since his international breakthrough,?Oldboy -- which won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2004, and is now being given a U.S. makeover by Spike Lee -- Park Chan-wook has been a regular on the global festival circuit. But touring with?Stoker,?which finally opens in the U.S. on March 1, represents a new adventure, as he's been presenting his first English-language film, and one based on material he didn't write.

The first script written by British actor Wentworth Miller, the story revolves around the change in 18-year-old India (Mia Wasikowska) as she comes to terms with her father?s death, the reaction of his widowed mother (Nicole Kidman) and then the arrival of a mysterious uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode).

VIDEO: Nicole Kidman Gets Creepy in 'Stoker' Trailer

Stoker premiered at Sundance, and?then screened as the closing film to the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Before the curtain came up in Rotterdam, Park spoke with?The Hollywood Reporter about discovering the soft spots in even the most seasoned Hollywood?A-lister, commissioning Philip Glass to write a piano duet that serves as a musical metaphor for sex, and getting pleasure from audiences? misguided reception of the film as a horror movie.

The Hollywood Reporter: What was it like for you working on your first U.S. production, with American actors?

Park Chan-wook: Actors, I think, are all the same. Both Korean actors and American actors are all very sensitive people, and they are all curious to know what the director thinks of them and how they are evaluated, and they try to satisfy the director. And they like it if you listen carefully to their opinions and accept them. I?m used to working with those kinds of actors. It was just that I was working within the boundary of Korea, but the actors I was working with there are the hugest stars there. So I felt all actors are similar, especially excellent ones, who are intelligent. It?s not because they are from good colleges or anything, but they are very bright in their thinking. They think a lot about human emotion. As for the system, in a word, the biggest difference is that there were too few shooting days. I had to shoot twice the speed as I shot in Korea; I had only 40 days, and there wasn?t enough time for additional shooting.

REVIEW:?Stoker

THR: How did you work with Wentworth Miller on his screenplay?

Park: Wentworth I had just one long conversation, and after that I just worked on it. I worked with Erin Cressida Wilson, an excellent screenwriter who helped me. We didn?t get writing credits, but from the beginning to end we had a lot of small and tiny revisions. Let me put it this way: If we?re talking about food, the ingredients are the same, but the cooking method is a little bit different. So the taste in the end is probably a bit different. But once it?s in your stomach it?s all the same.

THR: But you certainly brought your trademark visual style and musical choices.

Park: Visual elements are, of course, the director?s job. As for the music, there?s a bit where the two of them are playing the piano together. In Wentworth?s screenplay, I believe it?s described as Eric Satie-esque. But I changed that to Philip Glass, and so it is newly composed.

So if a different director had worked with Wentworth?s script, visually or aurally what kind of result would come out of it? It would be an interesting thing to imagine that. It would have been a very different result. But that has something to do with why I chose the script -- there?s a lot of space in there, there?s not a lot of dialogue, and any director taking it on could breathe their own style into the film.

STORY:?Park Chan-wook on Hollywood Debut 'Stoker': I Wish I Had More Time With the Actors

THR: And there?s a lot of sexually-charged symbolism in the film, such as the piano duet you mentioned.

Park: The piano duet wasn?t in the script, and it wasn?t even my idea! When I first went to New York to meet with Philip Glass I asked him to create a song [India and Charlie] could play together for that scene. And he said, ?Well, I got to know what kind of scene it is for me to write it.? So we?re saying, it?s a piano performance, but it?s actually sex. And he said, ?Oh, I got it. I once made a piece called Four Hands, a married couple were playing it and one day the husband said, while we can play it like this, we can also play it like this' [mimes the man putting his arm around the woman to reach the other side of the keyboard]. Right away that night, I changed the script to have Charlie?s arm going around India.

Sex is part of the whole process of courting or being in love. And in this scene, it is expressed in stages: a A woman is alone and the man approaches quietly; she ignores him and plays the piece alone; he gets tired of waiting and suddenly boldly gets into it. At first she?s shy but then she reacts, and it escalates to more excitement and then climax. That?s the point of a woman feeling enough satisfaction and that the man, having taken care of her needs, just disappears. That?s what?s being shown in that scene.

THR: Is Stoker supposed to be the second installment of a trilogy about girls going through their rites of passage, with the first one being 2006?s I?m A Cyborg That?s OK?

Park: Before I got the script I hadn't been thinking any more about that sort of film. I looked through so many different scripts, but in the end I chose this one. And there's also the fact that I decided to focus on those themes more so than is in Wentworth?s original script. I think that must mean I hoped to make another film like I?m A Cyborg But That?s OK. I?m a father who?s raising a daughter, and it?s an interest I?ve naturally taken. As I grow older I spend more time with my wife and gradually my interest in the woman?s world is growing. I feel like there are comparatively less films that deal with this view. That?s why I became more interested in it.

Q&A: Park Chan-wook

THR: The film?s title reminds one of Bram Stoker, and there are quite a few visual devices common to horror films there. But the film doesn't exactly fit into that genre, does it?

Park: The title was Wentworth?s, so I can?t say anything about that. Idioms of horror films are there for sure. I didn?t have any idea of making a horror film. I think this kind of result is desirable -- me making a film with the presumption that I'm making a thriller, and the audience taking it as almost a horror film because they are so scared. Officially we define it as a psychological thriller, but in Sundance people just called it a horror film straight out. I find that an interesting outcome.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1926928/news/1926928/

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BroadSoft forecasts lower current-quarter revenue; shares fall

(Reuters) - Internet communications company BroadSoft Inc forecast current-quarter revenue below analysts' estimates, sending its shares down 24 percent after market.

BroadSoft, which sells software that telecom companies use to provide voice and video services, forecast first-quarter revenue of $37 million to $40 million, while analysts were expecting $43.6 million on average.

The company said it expects its growth to be affected by weakness in its consumer applications division prior to service providers ramping up their voice-over-LTE investment.

Consumer applications are part of the company's license software business, which accounts for more than half of its total revenue.

Network operators globally are currently in a multi-year investment cycle to upgrade mobile networks to a 4G technology known as LTE, which offers up to 10 times faster download speeds.

BroadSoft's fourth-quarter results, however, were above analysts' expectations. Excluding one-time items, the company earned 47 cents per share, ahead of analysts' expectations for 41 cents per share.

Revenue rose 13 percent to $45.8 million, also ahead of the $45.7 million Wall Street had estimated, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net income fell to $4.9 million, or 17 per share, from $5.5 million, or 19 cents per share, a year earlier.

Shares of the Gaithersburg, Maryland-based company fell to $23.42, after closing at $30.91 on Wednesday on the Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Neha Alawadhi in Bangalore; Editing by Sreejiraj Eluvangal)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/broadsoft-forecasts-lower-current-quarter-revenue-shares-fall-234846640--finance.html

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Michelle Obama highlights obesity progress in MS

First lady Michelle Obama and Food Network chef Rachel Ray greet students at a "Let's Move!" program at the Eastside and Northside Elementary Schools in Clinton, Miss., Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. Obama and Ray visited with the children and conducted a cooking contest between the schools chefs. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

First lady Michelle Obama speaks at a "Let's Move!" event for 400 children at the Eastside and Northside Elementary Schools in Clinton, Miss., Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. Obama and television chef/personality Rachel Ray visited with the children and conducted a cooking contest between the schools chefs. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

First lady Michelle Obama motions before speaking at a "Let's Move!" program for 400 children at the Eastside and Northside Elementary Schools in Clinton, Miss., Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. Obama and television chef Rachel Ray visited with the children and conducted a cooking contest between the schools chefs. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

First lady Michelle Obama and Food Network chef Rachel Ray discuss the lunches students from the Eastside and Northside Elementary Schools receive "Let's Move!" program at the Clinton, Miss., schools Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. The pair visited with the children and conducted a cooking contest between the schools' chefs. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

First lady Michelle Obama and Food Network chef Rachel Ray discuss lunches that students from the Eastside and Northside Elementary Schools receive during a "Let's Move!" program at the Clinton, Miss., schools Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. The pair visited with the children and conducted a cooking contest between the schools' chefs. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

CLINTON, Miss. (AP) ? Michelle Obama on Wednesday congratulated this Southern state for a more than 13 percent drop in its child obesity rates and said its example should inspire the rest of the country.

It's the reason the first lady made Mississippi the first stop on a two-day tour to promote her signature effort, the anti-childhood obesity campaign she launched three years ago called "Let's Move."

In remarks at an elementary school near Jackson, Mrs. Obama cited new research showing that childhood obesity rates among elementary school pupils in the state had declined by more than 13 percent between 2005 and 2011.

"What's happening here in Mississippi is really what 'Let's Move' is all about," she told an audience of state officials, school nutrition professionals and parents. She urged them to keep on doing what they've been doing.

"It's the story of what you all have achieved here that we want to tell. It's the story we want to be telling in every state all across this country," the first lady said.

When she visited Mississippi three years ago, she said, it had just been declared the most obese state in the nation.

Mrs. Obama attributed the decline in childhood obesity rates here to efforts by state lawmakers, the Board of Education and individual school districts, which she said took such steps as setting new standards for food and drinks in school vending machines, serving more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and replacing food fryers with steamers, to which she exclaimed, "Hallelujah."

Some churches even declared "no-fry" zones for their congregations, where only healthy food and nothing fried was allowed.

"So there's no reason why this success can't happen in cities and states all across the country ? if we're willing to work for it," Mrs. Obama said. "So now is the time for us to truly double down on these efforts. We know what works. We're seeing it right here. We know how to get results. Now we just need to keep stepping up."

The first lady said Mississippi, and other parts of the country that also have seen their childhood obesity rates come down ? including California and New York City and Philadelphia ? are showing others what works. After all, she said, "love for our children" is the motivating factor.

Mrs. Obama was joined by Food Network star and daytime talk-show host Rachael Ray, who arranged for two school chefs to compete to prepare lunches that meet newly adopted federal nutrition guidelines.

"I'm here to say, Mississippi, thank you. Thank you so much. Congratulations on your work," the first lady said. "Thank you for taking the lead on this issue. Thank you for serving as an inspiration for states and communities across the country."

About one-third of U.S. children are overweight or obese, putting them at higher risk for heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure, among other ailments.

Mrs. Obama launched "Let's Move" with the goal of helping to reduce childhood obesity rates within a generation. In response, a range of industry groups and others, including food companies, restaurants, retailers and others, promised to make their food healthier and make it easier for kids to get needed exercise.

Among the changes: Wal-Mart is now putting special labels on some of its store-brand products to help shoppers quickly spot healthier items. Millions of schoolchildren are helping themselves to vegetables from salad bars that have been donated for their lunchrooms. Kids' meals at Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants are automatically served with a side of fruit or vegetables and a glass of low-fat milk.

___

Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-02-27-US-Michelle-Obama/id-cd75773626d84f98aa3740c1ce111f8c

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Leap Motion Controller Ships Pre-Orders May 13, Hits Best Buy Store Shelves May 19 For $79.99

Leap Motion today announced that its innovative motion controller for PCs will start shipping to pre-order buyers beginning May 13, and will launch in the U.S. at Best Buy locations on May 19. Full retail price for the Leap Motion Controller will be $79.99, the company announced, $10 more than the pre-order asking price.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/W8SbAKcLb7I/

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Billions at stakes for BP in trial over Gulf oil spill

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? A University of California-Berkeley engineer who played a prominent role in investigating levee breeches in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina is scheduled to be the first witness Tuesday at a trial involving another Gulf Coast catastrophe: the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

Robert Bea, an expert witness for the plaintiffs who sued BP PLC and other companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, will share his theories about what caused BP's Macondo well to blow out on April 20, 2010, provoking an explosion on the Horizon rig that killed 11 workers and spewed an estimated 172 millions of gallons of crude into the Gulf.

Bea's testimony was scheduled for the second day of a civil trial that could result in the oil company and its partners being forced to pay tens of billions of dollars more in damages. The case went to trial Monday after attempts to reach an 11th-hour settlement failed.

The second witness slated to appear on the stand is Lamar McKay, president of BP America. The highest-ranking executive of BP scheduled to testify in the courtroom, McKay is likely to discuss corporate decisions that were made throughout the duration of the disaster. It was not clear if there would be time for his testimony Tuesday, however. Other BP officials were expected to give videotaped testimony.

In pretrial depositions and in an expert report, Bea argued along with another consultant that BP showed a disregard for safety throughout the company and was reckless in its actions ? the same arguments made in opening statements Monday by attorneys for the U.S. government and individuals and businesses hurt by the spill.

Attorneys for BP tried to block the testimony of Bea, whom they accused of analyzing documents and evidence "spoon-fed" to him by plaintiffs lawyers. BP accused Bea and the other expert, William Gale, a California-based fire and explosion investigator and consultant, of ignoring the "safety culture of the other parties" involved in the spill, in particular Transocean Ltd., the drilling company running operations aboard the Deepwater Horizon.

Gale does not appear on a list of potential witnesses to be called during the trial.

Just last year, Bea testified for plaintiffs who sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over broken levees in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

In opening statements Monday, U.S. Justice Department attorney Mike Underhill said the catastrophe resulted from BP's "culture of corporate recklessness."

"The evidence will show that BP put profits before people, profits before safety and profits before the environment," Underhill said. "Despite BP's attempts to shift the blame to other parties, by far the primary fault for this disaster belongs to BP."

BP attorney Mike Brock acknowledged that the oil company made mistakes. But he accused Transocean of failing to properly maintain the rig's blowout preventer, which had a dead battery, and he claimed cement contractor Halliburton used a "bad slurry" that failed to prevent oil and gas from traveling up the well.

BP has already pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other criminal charges and has racked up more than $24 billion in spill-related expenses, including cleanup costs, compensation for businesses and individuals, and $4 billion in criminal penalties.

But the federal government, Gulf Coast states and individuals and businesses hope to convince a federal judge that the company and its partners in the ill-fated drilling project are liable for much more in civil damages under the Clean Water Act and other environmental regulations.

One of the biggest questions facing U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, who is hearing the case without a jury, is whether BP acted with gross negligence.

Under the Clean Water Act, a polluter can be forced to pay a minimum of $1,100 per barrel of spilled oil; the fines nearly quadruple to about $4,300 a barrel for companies found grossly negligent, meaning BP could be on the hook for nearly $18 billion.

The judge plans to hold the trial in at least two phases. The first phase, which could last three months, is designed to determine what caused the blowout and assign percentages of blame to the companies involved. The second phase will determine what efforts the companies made to stop oil from spilling, and how much crude actually spilled into the Gulf.

During opening statements, BP and its partners pointed the finger at each other in a tangle of accusations and counter-accusations. But BP got the worst of it, from its partners and the plaintiffs in the case.

Jim Roy, who represents individuals and businesses hurt by the spill, said BP executives applied "huge financial pressure" to "cut costs and rush the job." The project was more than $50 million over budget and behind schedule at the time of the blowout, Roy said.

"BP repeatedly chose speed over safety," Roy said, quoting from a report by an expert who may testify.

Roy said the spill also resulted from Transocean's "woeful" safety culture and failure to properly train its crew. And Roy said Halliburton provided BP with a product that was "poorly designed, not properly tested and was unstable."

Brad Brian, a lawyer for Transocean, said the company had an experienced, well-trained crew on the rig. He said the Transocean workers' worst mistake may have been placing too much trust in the BP supervisors on the rig.

"And they paid for that trust with their lives," Brian said. "They died not because they weren't trained properly. They died because critical information was withheld from them."

A lawyer for Halliburton defended the company's work and tried to pin the blame on BP and Transocean.

"If BP had shut in the well, we would not be here today," Halliburton's Donald Godwin said.

Brock said Transocean's crew members ultimately were responsible for well control on the rig and didn't need permission from BP supervisors to shut in the well.

"Shut in the well, then seek advice," he said.

Underhill, the Justice Department attorney, heaped blame on BP for cost-cutting decisions made in the months and weeks leading up the disaster. He said two BP rig supervisors, Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine, disregarded abnormally high pressure readings that should have been glaring indications of trouble.

Kaluza and Vidrine have been indicted on federal manslaughter charges.

The 2010 spill fouled marshes, killed wildlife and closed fishing grounds. Scientists warn that the disaster's full effect may not be known for years. But they have reported dying coral reefs and fish afflicted with lesions and illnesses that might be oil-related.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/high-stakes-trial-resumes-over-2010-gulf-oil-102125525.html

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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Facebook Blocks Millions of Photos From Instagram-Like App

Step aside, Google: Now it's Facebook's turn to take flak from France. A few months back, France demanded that Google pay for displaying links to French media's news articles. Next, a French Internet service provider demanded that Google pay extra for bandwidth consumed by YouTube.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/28fb5b33/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C773940Bhtml/story01.htm

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Advanced breast cancer edges up in younger women

In this Monday, Feb. 25, 2013 photo, Dr. Rebecca Johnson, a cancer specialist at Seattle Children's Hospital, poses in an exam room at the hospital in Seattle. Johnson is the lead author of a new study that shows that advanced breast cancer cases have increased slightly among young women, a 34-year analysis suggests, raising many questions about possible reasons even as the disease remains uncommon in women younger than 40. Johnson herself was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer at age 27, 17 years ago. Unlike women in the study, Johnson?s cancer was caught early. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

In this Monday, Feb. 25, 2013 photo, Dr. Rebecca Johnson, a cancer specialist at Seattle Children's Hospital, poses in her office in Seattle. Johnson is the lead author of a new study that shows that advanced breast cancer cases have increased slightly among young women, a 34-year analysis suggests, raising many questions about possible reasons even as the disease remains uncommon in women younger than 40. Johnson herself was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer at age 27, 17 years ago. Unlike women in the study, Johnson?s cancer was caught early. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

CHICAGO (AP) ? Advanced breast cancer has increased slightly among young women, a 34-year analysis suggests. The disease is still uncommon among women younger than 40, and the small change has experts scratching their heads about possible reasons.

The results are potentially worrisome because young women's tumors tend to be more aggressive than older women's, and they're much less likely to get routine screening for the disease.

Still, that doesn't explain why there'd be an increase in advanced cases and the researchers and other experts say more work is needed to find answers.

It's likely that the increase has more than one cause, said Dr. Rebecca Johnson, the study's lead author and medical director of a teen and young adult cancer program at Seattle Children's Hospital.

"The change might be due to some sort of modifiable risk factor, like a lifestyle change" or exposure to some sort of cancer-linked substance, she said.

Johnson said the results translate to about 250 advanced cases diagnosed in women younger than 40 in the mid-1970s versus more than 800 in 2009. During those years, the number of women nationwide in that age range went from about 22 million to closer to 30 million ? an increase that explains part of the study trend "but definitely not all of it," Johnson said.

Other experts said women delaying pregnancy might be a factor, partly because getting pregnant at an older age might cause an already growing tumor to spread more quickly in response to pregnancy hormones.

Obesity and having at least a drink or two daily have both been linked with breast cancer but research is inconclusive on other possible risk factors, including tobacco and chemicals in the environment. Whether any of these explains the slight increase in advanced disease in young women is unknown.

There was no increase in cancer at other stages in young women. There also was no increase in advanced disease among women older than 40.

Overall U.S. breast cancer rates have mostly fallen in more recent years, although there are signs they may have plateaued.

Some 17 years ago, Johnson was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer at age 27, and that influenced her career choice to focus on the disease in younger women.

"Young women and their doctors need to understand that it can happen in young women," and get checked if symptoms appear, said Johnson, now 44. "People shouldn't just watch and wait."

The authors reviewed a U.S. government database of cancer cases from 1976 to 2009. They found that among women aged 25 to 39, breast cancer that has spread to distant parts of the body ? advanced disease ? increased from between 1 and 2 cases per 100,000 women to about 3 cases per 100,000 during that time span.

The study was published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

About one in 8 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, but only 1 in 173 will develop it by age 40. Risks increase with age and certain gene variations can raise the odds.

Routine screening with mammograms is recommended for older women but not those younger than 40.

Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, the American Cancer Society's deputy chief medical officer, said the results support anecdotal reports but that there's no reason to start screening all younger women since breast cancer is still so uncommon for them.

He said the study "is solid and interesting and certainly does raise questions as to why this is being observed." One of the most likely reasons is probably related to changes in childbearing practices, he said, adding that the trend "is clearly something to be followed."

Dr. Ann Partridge, chair of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's advisory committee on breast cancer in young women, agreed but said it's also possible that doctors look harder for advanced disease in younger women than in older patients. More research is needed to make sure the phenomenon is real, said Partridge, director of a program for young women with breast cancer at the Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The study shouldn't cause alarm, she said. Still, Partridge said young women should be familiar with their breasts and see the doctor if they notice any lumps or other changes.

Software engineer Stephanie Carson discovered a large breast tumor that had already spread to her lungs; that diagnosis in 2003 was a huge shock.

"I was so clueless," she said. "I was just 29 and that was the last thing on my mind."

Carson, who lives near St. Louis, had a mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation and other treatments and she frequently has to try new drugs to keep the cancer at bay.

Because most breast cancer is diagnosed in early stages, there's a misconception that women are treated, and then get on with their lives, Carson said. She and her husband had to abandon hopes of having children, and she's on medical leave from her job.

"It changed the complete course of my life," she said. "But it's still a good life."

____

Online:

JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/index.htm

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-26-Breast%20Cancer-Young%20Women/id-e7d15a71eea54219a9132a3261c3f2c7

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Inspired by This New Family of Four at Home | Inspired by This Blog

With tons of friends (and now Leila!) having babies recently, we?ve learned that there?s nothing crazier than trying to keep track of little ones while you?re out and about. ?That?s why we love this sweet newborn and family session that was taken in the comfort of their own home! ?Bringing home a new baby is a transition in itself but having another young sibling to worry about as well is a whole separate challenge. ?We love the way these photos capture the new siblings? love for each other as well as their parents? genuine adoration for their growing little family. ?Not to mention?how cute is that mama in her knee high socks and floral skirt!? ?She looks amazing!

Be Prepared to Be Inspired?

Sweet new siblings!

Not only do we love this shot?but that tub!! ?We need!

Love that they got a photo of just their little girl with her dad without the new baby as well!

Proud Dad of two now!

Loving this sweet mother-daughter moment!

Source: http://www.inspiredbythis.com/2013/02/inspired-by-this-new-family-of-four-at-home/

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Francis Crick's Nobel Prize medal to be auctioned

The family of Francis Crick, one of three men who received the Nobel Prize for discovering DNA structure, announced a plan to auction his 23-carat gold medal. Part of the proceeds are to be offered to research institutions.?

By Wynne Parry,?LiveScience / February 26, 2013

The 1962 Nobel Prize gold medal awarded to Dr. Francis Crick for his work in the discovery of the structure of DNA will be offered by his family in a public auction conducted by Heritage Auctions in New York City on April 10 with a portion of p

Heritage Auctions

Enlarge

Sixty years after the discovery of DNA's spiraling, ladder-like structure first hinted at the mechanism by which life copies itself, one of the Nobel Prize medals honoring this achievement is up for sale.

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Three men who played crucial roles in deciphering?DNA's double helix?in 1953 later received the?Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The family of one of those men, Francis Crick, plans to sell his medal, the accompanying diploma and other items at auction with a portion of the proceeds set to benefit research institutions in the United States and the United Kingdom.

"It had been tucked away for so long," said Kindra Crick, Francis Crick's 36-year-old granddaughter, of the medal. "We really were interested in finding someone who could look after it, and possibly put it on display so it could inspire the next generation of scientists." Francis Crick passed away?in 2004 at the age of 88.?

The value of Nobel gold

There is little precedent for this sale. Nobel medals appear to have changed hands publicly in only a couple of instances. This particular medal, like others made before 1980, is struck in 23-carat gold, and recognizes a particularly high-profile accomplishment in biology, one fundamental to?modern genetics.

The auction house handling the sale, Heritage Auctions, has valued the medal and diploma at $500,000, which is "an educated guestimate," said Sandra Palomino, Heritage Auctions' director of historical manuscripts. Estimates by Heritage's in-house coin experts went as high as $5 million, Palomino said. [See Photos of Crick's Medal & Other Auction Items]

The April auction will also include Crick's award check with his endorsement on the back, the scientist's lab coat, his gardening logs, nautical journals and books. Separately, the family hopes to sell a letter Crick wrote in 1953 to his then-12-year-old son Michael, who is Kindra's father, describing the discovery's meaning. The auction house Christies, which Kindra Crick said is handling the sale, declined to confirm plans to sell this letter.

Out of the box

The medal was not displayed much within Crick's family. Kindra remembers that the Nobel, which she has yet to see herself, was locked in a room with her grandfather's other awards and other family heirlooms after he moved to California at the age of 60. After the scientist's wife, Odile, passed away in 2007, the medal was sequestered in a safe deposit box. Crick's children, including Kindra's father, Michael, attended the award ceremony in 1962, but saw almost nothing of the medal afterward.

Kindra plans to get a look at the medal before the auction.

"My grandfather was not the type of personality to show off," she said. "His conversation tended to be on what's next as opposed to reminiscing about the past ? I guess he always thought there was more to come."

Crick's family hopes to see the medal displayed publicly after its sale; however, Kindra Crick acknowledged that a public auction offered no guarantee a buyer would display the award. But she is optimistic, saying those individuals or institutions with enough interest in science to bid on the medal are also likely to display it publicly. [Creative Genius: The World's Greatest Minds]

Crick's family and Heritage Auctions plan to donate a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the medal and the other items to The Francis Crick Institute, a medical research institute scheduled to open in London in 2015. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the letter will go to benefit the Salk Institute in California, where Francis Crick studied?consciousness?later in his career, Kindra said.

Sixty years later

On Feb. 28, 1953, according to legend, Crick and his colleague James Watson announced that they had discovered the "secret of life" in a pub frequented by other Cambridge University scientists.

This followed Watson's realization that the molecular bonds between the two types of base pairs in DNA ? adenine with thymine and cytosine with guanine ? were identical in shape, suggesting a double helix with complementary halves, Watson recounts in "The Annotated and Illustrated Double Helix" (Simon & Schuster, 2012).

This discovery was the result of a combination of approaches; Watson and Crick built models, trying to determine how the molecules known to make up DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) fit together. Meanwhile, two of their colleagues, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin, created images by bouncing X-rays off DNA crystals.

One of Franklin's images,?called Photograph 51, provided key evidence of a helical shape.

Crick, Watson and Wilkins received the Nobel Prize in 1962. Franklin did not because she passed away in 1958, and the Nobel Prize is not awarded posthumously.

Form means function

In the years prior to this discovery, scientists knew of the existence of DNA (a type of molecule known as a nucleic acid), but not what it looked like or its true function. They also knew genes carried traits from generation to generation, but many scientists believed genes to be made of proteins, said Jan Witkowski, executive director of the Banbury Center at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.

The discovery of the structure of DNA was key to understanding the molecule's function as the code for genes. Watson and Crick understood this, but when they described their discovery in a paper in the journal Nature in April 1953, they wrote coyly of the implications: "It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for genetic material." [Code of Life: Photos of DNA Structures]

However, in the letter to 12-year-old Michael, dated March 19, 1953, Crick drew a diagram spelling out the scientists' theory of how DNA replicated: the double helix and its base-pair rungs separated to create templates for new strands.

"In other words, we think we have found the basic copying mechanism by which life comes from life," Crick wrote to his son. The scientists signed the letter, which appears in "The Annotated and Illustrated Double Helix," "lots of love, Daddy."

A geneticist himself, Witkowski lists the discovery of the structure of DNA as one of the three most pivotal accomplishments in biology, along with Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection and?Gregor Mendel's principles of inheritance. ?

"Of course, it wasn't so much what each discovery was in itself, but what avenues it opened up and what it led on to," said Witkowski, who with Alexander Gann, edited the "Annotated and Illustrated Double Helix."

Follow?LiveScience?on Twitter?@livescience. We're also on?Facebook?&?Google+.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/_D9pMYP8PV8/Francis-Crick-s-Nobel-Prize-medal-to-be-auctioned

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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

A fickle format that produces the right winner

Matt Kuchar kisses the Walter Hagen Cup after defeating Hunter Mahan 2 and 1 in the final round of play during the Match Play Championship golf tournament, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013, in Marana, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Matt Kuchar reacts after missing a putt on the 16th green in the final round of play against Hunter Mahan during the Match Play Championship golf tournament, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013, in Marana, Ariz. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Hunter Mahan tees off the eighth hole in the final round of play against Matt Kuchar during the Match Play Championship golf tournament, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013, in Marana, Ariz. Kuchar won 2 and 1. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Matt Kuchar runs up to the green to watch his ball's path after chipping from the rough on the 13th hole in the final round of play against Hunter Mahan during the Match Play Championship golf tournament, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013, in Marana, Ariz. Kuchar won 2 and 1. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Matt Kuchar picks up his children Cameron and Carson after defeating Hunter Mahan 2 and 1 in the final round of play during the Match Play Championship golf tournament, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013, in Marana, Ariz. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

MARANA, Ariz. (AP) ? For such a fickle format, the Match Play Championship sure does seem to produce the right winner.

Matt Kuchar had reason to pack a full suitcase for the high desert of Arizona based on his record in this tournament. He is the only player to reach the quarterfinals each of the last three years, and he wound up losing to the eventual champion the previous two times.

Sunday he went the distance to capture his first World Golf Championship.

Kuchar became only the second player in the 15-year history of the Match Play to win without ever seeing the 18th hole except in a practice round, or when the courtesy van ferrying him in after winning a match drove past the closing hole on the way to the clubhouse.

He played 96 holes in six rounds and only trailed after four of them.

He built a 4-up lead over Hunter Mahan in the championship match and held off a fierce rally on the back nine at Dove Mountain to close him out, 2 and 1, and add his name to an impressive list of winners.

"Match play I find to be such an amazing, unique format, so much fun to play and so much pressure," Kuchar said. "It seems like each hole there's so much momentum riding and so much pressure on every hole. To come out on top after six matches of playing the top 64 guys in the world, it's an incredible feeling."

One reason the PGA Championship abandoned match play in 1958 was that the field was cut in half after each round, giving the crowd fewer players to watch. And it was miserable for television when the biggest stars were eliminated.

That much hasn't changed.

Tiger Woods left on Thursday for the second year in a row, and the only reason he lasted that long was because of a snowstorm on Wednesday. He lost in the first round, as did Rory McIlroy, the No. 1 player in the world. By the weekend, the highest seed remaining was Masters champion Bubba Watson.

But a closer look will show that this tournament is won by some of the best in match play.

Kuchar's record improved to 15-3.

His last win came at the expense of Mahan, who had won 11 straight matches in this event ? 12 overall dating to his singles win in the 2011 Presidents Cup ? and had a staggering streak of 169 holes without trailing.

The previous four winners were Luke Donald, Ian Poulter, Geoff Ogilvy and Woods, all of them considered the best in the head-to-head game that many believe to be the purest form of golf.

Donald has a 17-8 record in this tournament alone, which doesn't speak to his prowess in the Ryder Cup. Poulter had a 19-3-2 record in match play worldwide the last three years, though he wound up losing twice in one day on Sunday ? to Mahan in the semifinals, and to Jason Day in a consolation match.

Ogilvy was disheartened at failing to qualify this year, and it's easy to see why. He has a 20-5 record at the Match Play, with two wins and three trips to the championship match. Ogilvy has never lost in singles in the Presidents Cup, with two of those wins over Steve Stricker.

Woods, of course, needs no introduction when it comes to Match Play. He won six straight USGA titles as an amateur, and even with a recent slump at Dove Mountain ? he has failed to get out of the second round since he won in 2008 ? his overall record in this format as a pro is 48-15-2.

Mahan had to take down Poulter in the semifinal, and it was no picnic. Mahan twice hit tough chips to within 6 feet to win a hole, and he chipped in from 70 feet behind the 12th green to grab a 3-up lead and coast in against the Englishman, who was off his game in that match. As tough as Poulter is in match play, Mahan knew that Kuchar would be just as difficult in his own way.

"It was definitely a different vibe, for sure," Mahan said. "Kooch and I had more conversation on the first hole than I did with Poulter all day. But that's the difference between the two guys. There's nothing wrong with it either way. Poults is very steely out there. He motivates himself in a different way than Kooch does."

Poulter and Mahan learned an old lesson the hard way. There is no good time in this tournament to have a bad day. Some players can get away with one in the early rounds, but not late in the bracket when those who are left got there for a reason.

When Mahan hit a weak pitch up the slope on No. 4 and made bogey, he paid for it more ways than one. It was the first time he trailed in any match since the sixth hole of the opening round last year. And he trailed Kuchar, who doesn't make many mistakes.

Kuchar built a 4-up lead at the turn on the strength of two good birdies and two bad bogeys from Mahan, but the defending champion fought back. He won the next two holes, both into a fierce, cold wind, which the cut deficit in half and gave Mahan loads of momentum. And then he hit an 8-iron into 10 feet on the par-3 12th.

That's where the match turned in Kuchar's favor. He followed with an 8-iron to just inside 15 feet, still a difficult putt.

"The shot was certainly good, but the putt was really crucial, and when that went in, I felt like I was still in control of the match," Kuchar said. "Had that putt not gone in, it would have been only a 1-up lead, and I think the match was in anybody's hands at that point."

Mahan kept fighting and trailed by one hole when they got to the 17th, and an exciting back nine ended with a thud. Both hit into the fairway bunker on 17, but Mahan's ball was slightly sunk in the sand, and his approach never came close to reaching the green. Instead, it rolled through a patch of desert until it lodged in a bush. Mahan took four shots to reach the green and conceded the match.

Kuchar won for the fifth time in his career, pocketing just over $3.2 million for his last two titles ? the WGC and The Players Championship. He moved to No. 8 in the world and is sure to be looked up on as a contender in the majors this year.

And now, no one will be deceived by Kuchar's easy smile and happy-go-lucky nature when they return to Dove Mountain next year.

"He does it differently," Mahan said. "He's more like a fuzzier, Peter Jacobsen kind of guy who likes to talk. He's super competitive, there's no doubt about it. He plays golf to win, and he works hard at it."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-02-25-GLF-Match-Play/id-59a04a65a60a4b6a96e8626ab6ee2e76

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Bathroom pipe breaks, makes mess at Oscars

By Alyssa Toomey, E! Online

It's the Oscars -- accidents happen. Less than an hour before the 85th Annual Academy Awards began, a pipe burst in the women's bathroom at the Dolby Theatre, causing an embarrassing (and very speedy!) cleanup after the floor was totally flooded.

Guests were shuttled around the waterlogged location to prevent any further mishaps while more than half a dozen workers attacked the mess.

All the details on Ben and Jen's pre-Oscar "mayhem"

Of course, the water was mopped up in no time, and the bathroom was back in business by the time the show began.

But luckily, Hollywood Reporter's Matthew Bellani snapped a quick shot?and posted it on his social media page before the clean-up was complete.

It's just one of many unexpected moments bound to occur on movie's biggest night.

And hey, no one got hurt, so no harm done!

See all the red carpet arrivals!

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Standard Digital News - Kenya : Coffee societies face auction over ...

Updated Monday, February 25 2013 at 00:00 GMT+3

By Erastus Mulwa

KENYA:? Coffee farmers in Kangundo and Matungulu districts, Machakos County have called on the Government to step in and save their factories from imminent auction by creditors and former employees.

The farmers drawn from at least three coffee societies, including Sengani and Kyaume -both in Matungulu District, as well as Mbilini in Kangundo District have expressed fears that they would incur huge loses should their creditors make good their threat to wind up their coffee societies owing to unsettled debts running to millions of shillings.

In a letter dated January 22 this year, addressed to the chairman of Sengani Farmers Co-operative Society Ltd, several creditors and former employees have through their lawyer Anthony Mulekyo, issued a notice of intention to wind up the society.

According to the notice, the petitioners are demanding a prompt payment of a cumulative amount of Sh2,400,239 together with an interest at court rates, failure to which winding up against the society shall commence.

Interest

The letter further alleges the debt had been accruing for a long period, and that the society had breached all consents entered into between all parties in court.

?By copy of this letter, we have taken liberty to inform the PS, Ministry of Co-operatives of our intentions to file a winding up and a petition cause under section 64 of the Co-operative Societies Act, unless the outstanding total of Sh2,400,239 is paid as demanded together with accrued interest,? reads the notice in part.

Credible sources have confined to The Standard that similar notices have been issued to Kyaume and Mbilini farmers? co-operative societies.

The debts, The Standard established, relate to unpaid salaries and benefits, legal and accounting fees as well as NHIF/NSSF deductions by the petitioners which the management committees have been accused of failing to deposit with the said statutory institutions.

On Sunday, area DCO Maisha Muthoka confirmed he disbanded the Sengani management committee after it emerged officials had been engaging in corrupt practices. ?I convened a special general meeting of the farmers on February 21 where members appointed an interim committee to investigate the activities of the former office bearers and table a report within 90 days,? said Muthoka.

Source: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000078073&story_title=Kenya:%20Coffee%20societies%20face%20auction%20over%20debts

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Monday Brief: Mobile World Congress, Nokia Music+, and more!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/jM-jDr3jIic/story01.htm

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Chinese smartphone makers Huawei, ZTE target top tier

BARCELONA (Reuters) - China's Huawei, little known to consumers just a couple of years ago, is now leading the pack of smartphone makers chasing Apple and Samsung, with ZTE, another Chinese company, snapping at its heels.

Huawei, which sold 32 million smartphones in 2012, up 60 percent on 2011, unveiled its new flagship Ascend P2 smartphone in Barcelona, boasting a connection speed of 150 MB per second, the fastest on the market.

The company was third in smartphone sales in the final quarter of 2012, according to research firm IDC, with ZTE in fifth place and Sony sandwiched in between. Samsung and Apple, however, were far in front with half the market between them.

Wan Biao, chief executive of Huawei Device Co, said the Ascend P2's faster download speeds would make a difference to customers using 4G networks in countries such as Japan.

The device also includes power-saving technology, developed using expertise from its networks business, which Biao said helped it stand out against other high-end phones running Google's Android software.

"Our target is for Huawei to provide the best smartphones in the world, better than the iPhone, better than Samsung," he said in an interview on Monday. "Our target is top three in market share."

Huawei, which became established by selling unbranded phones to operators, said the Ascend P2 would be available from the second quarter priced at 399 euros, hundred of euros less than flagship devices from its rivals.

Biao said that the company was still establishing itself as a brand in the minds of consumers, so its phones did not attract high subsidies from network operators.

"Operators give a high subsidy to Samsung and Apple," he said. "We have a very high quality product but the price we set is not as high as these two smartphones; we have to develop differentiated products."

Analyst Carolina Milanesi at Gartner said the Ascend P2 was a notable step forward for the Chinese company, showing a focus on the most important aspects for consumers, such as speed, an impressive screen and longer battery life.

ZTE, which also developed its technology by making devices for others, is equally ambitious. On Monday, it said it expected to increase smartphone revenue by 30 percent this year.

"We at ZTE consider ourselves as not tier one yet, we see ourselves as tier two, comparable to HTC, Sony and Motorola," He Shiyou, head of mobile services division, said in an interviewer via a translator. "We have to be as aggressive as possible."

He said ZTE would reduce its product range to achieve larger sales of fewer models, and focus on the strongest markets for smartphones - the United States, China, Europe and Australia.

It previously took ZTE six months to catch up with the Samsung's software and hardware specifications, he said, but now it only took a quarter. "We need to close that gap," he said.

"By 2015, we are hoping to achieve the top three by market share, but in terms of branding image and also pricing segmentation, we want to reach the top five," he said.

ZTE unveiled a 5.7 inch Grand Memo handset in Barcelona, firmly in the "phablet" screen dimensions that Samsung has popularized in its Note range, and the ZTE Open, a smartphone running on Mozilla's Firefox OS open ecosystem.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-smartphone-makers-huawei-zte-target-top-tier-201207025--finance.html

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Gunplay's Robbery Case Dismissed

Maybach Music rapper plans to finish his debut, play video games and spend time with his loved ones now that charges are behind him.
By Rob Markman

Gunplay
Photo:

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702594/gunplay-robbery-case-dismissed.jhtml

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LG's 5.5-Inch Optimus Pro Has a 1080p IPS Screen (Hands On)

PPI might not matter much, but LG's new Optimus Pro, which we've seen in Korean form, has a 1080p screen, and it's pretty damn gorgeous. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/awMuSXOFV3U/lgs-55+inch-optimus-pro-has-a-1080p-ips-screen-hands-on

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Thursday, February 21, 2013

Bracelet-like device controls chronic acid reflux

Feb. 20, 2013 ? A bracelet-like device with magnetic beads can control the chronic digestive disorder gastroesophageal reflux disease, according to a study published online February 20 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The device encircles the valve at the junction of the esophagus and stomach and helps it stay closed when a person is not eating or drinking. It eased symptoms in 92 of 100 patients with chronic acid reflux and allowed 87 percent of patients to stop using acid-suppressing drugs, third-year results from the five-year study showed. Ninety four percent of patients were satisfied with the treatment.

The advance is significant, says study co-author C. Daniel Smith, M.D., chair of the Surgery Department at Mayo Clinic in Florida and a specialist in treating reflux disease. Mayo Clinic is the only medical center in Florida and one of two in the Southeast to help study the device. Mayo Clinic in Arizona also offers treatment with the device.

"This is the first new, safe and effective treatment we have to treat reflux disease in 20 years," Dr. Smith says. "The device is simple, elegant and functional, and it provides an opportunity to help a very large number of patients. The only treatment options in the past have been acid-suppressing agents or surgery. Acid-suppressing agents don't directly address the underlying ineffective valve, leaving patients with persistent symptoms; surgery can lead to distressing side effects of bloating and inability to vomit in 20 percent of patients. These side effects occurred rarely with this new device."

Roughly 1 in 3 people in the United States have the chronic condition, the American Gastroenterological Association estimates. It can lead to serious health problems.

Acid reflux stems from a deficient or incompetent sphincter valve located at the bottom of the esophagus and the top of the stomach. The sphincter, a ring of muscle, normally stays constricted when a person is not eating; that prevents acid and other digestive juice from leaving the stomach and entering the esophagus.

If the muscle is too weak or relaxes inappropriately, stomach acid can work its way into the lining of the esophagus causing pain and burning -- commonly known as heartburn -- and regurgitation. These episodes can happen at any time, and in people of all ages.

Excessive acid can damage the esophagus and lead to a precancerous condition known as Barrett's esophagus and to esophageal cancer, which is rising rapidly in the U.S., Dr. Smith says. The epidemic of chronic acid reflux may explain the increase in cancer, he says. Dr. Smith has been offering the device to patients who qualify since March 2012, when the Food and Drug Administration approved it for use. He performs about 200 acid reflux-related surgeries a year.

Installation of the device is minimally invasive and takes one to two hours. After the procedure, patients stay overnight in the hospital.

Patients who may be helped by the device are those whose acid reflux is chronic with symptoms incompletely controlled by acid-suppressing drugs, Dr. Smith says.

Not all patients in the study fared well with the device. Serious adverse events occurred in six patients, and the device was removed in 4 patients without any significant long-term consequences. Dysphagia -- difficulty swallowing -- occurred in 68 percent of patients following installation of the device, but this side effect tapered off over time.

The study's lead researcher is Robert A. Ganz, M.D., from Minnesota Gastroenterology in Plymouth, Minn.

The study was supported by Torax Medical, which developed the LINX Reflux Management System. Mayo Clinic physicians and scientists helped Torax Medical develop the device, and Mayo Clinic licensed related technology to the company in exchange for equity. Dr. Smith and Ken DeVault, M.D., chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Florida, who also participated in this study, are paid consultants to Torax Medical.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Mayo Clinic.

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

Journal Reference:

Robert A. Ganz, Jeffrey H. Peters, Santiago Horgan, Willem A. Bemelman, Christy M. Dunst, Steven A. Edmundowicz, John C. Lipham, James D. Luketich, W. Scott Melvin, Brant K. Oelschlager, Steven C. Schlack-Haerer, C. Daniel Smith, Christopher C. Smith, Dan Dunn, Paul A. Taiganides. Esophageal Sphincter Device for Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease. New England Journal of Medicine, 2013; 368 (8): 719 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1205544

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/47bQC08YIvg/130220184726.htm

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