novokuznetsk elision: March 2013

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Robot called 'Yeti' finds cracks in Antarctic ice

James Lever, U.S. Army's Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory

The Yeti rover in Greeland in April 2012, with its ground-penetrating radar sled.

By Becky Oskin, OurAmazingPlanet

Meet Yeti, a faithful rover of the robotic kind that sniffs out dangerous crevasses for convoys crossing the glaciers of Antarctica and Greenland, explores ice caves on an active volcano and finds old buildings buried under the polar ice.

This southern summer, Yeti trundled ahead of the bright orange tractors that deliver supplies to research outposts throughout Antarctica. Towing a ground-penetrating radar, the rover alerts drivers to hidden breaks in the ice. Snow often bridges the fissures, obscuring hazards, but the little robot is light enough (150 pounds, or 68 kilograms) to ford the breaks if not stopped in time.

"It's not likely to fall through, and there's no danger to the robot except losing the robot," said Laura Ray, an engineer at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., who led the robot's development. [Watch Yeti guide a tractor in Greenland]

Preventing injuries and equipment damage is crucial in Antarctica, where rescue operations are dangerous for both the injured and the rescue crews.

But Yeti offers more than protection for polar researchers. In December 2012, scientists mapped ice caves on Mount Erebus, an active volcano, with the radar. The robot also helped find abandoned, long-buried buildings from the original South Pole research station in December 2011. The structures were demolished after a tractor fell through ice atop one of the buildings. The robot also aids convoys in Greenland.

Yeti isn't the first robot to ply the Antarctica ice, but it is the smallest now roving on the continent's frozen surface. Researchers are also peering at buried glacial lakes with micro-submarines or mapping the seafloor with remotely operated vehicles. Earlier robotic explorers include the spiderlike Dante, sent into Mount Erebus in 1992; the Nomad rover, which hunted for meteorites in 2000; and a robotic rover tested by Kansas University in 2005.

Yeti running autonomously on the Greenland Ice-Cap

Ray thinks Yeti or similar robots can further complement polar research, for example, by finding buried streams and rivers. A robot will handily finish a survey of gridded points that would be tedious for people, she said.

"I do hope there's more of this because it's so costly to do science in these regions. Whatever you can do to reduce the cost enables you to do more science," Ray told OurAmazingPlanet.

Logistical costs ? moving people ? account for about 70 to 75 percent of most research budgets in Antarctica, Ray said. A National Science Foundation (NSF) report put the total cost of transportation and support even higher, at 90 percent of the polar science research budget. With the median NSF research grant at $125,000 in July 2012, any cost-savings in logistics frees up money for science. The Yeti-led supply convoys across the ice to McMurdo Station in Antarctica save $2 million annually over plane trips, the NSF estimates.

The Yeti robot, conceived and built by Dartmouth engineering students, cost about $25,000, Ray said. The Mars Curiosity Rover cost $2.5 billion to design, construct and land on another planet.

Constructed from off-the-shelf parts and batteries sturdy enough for very low temperatures, the rover has been a popular addition to the United States polar science program.

"It's always in the field or in transit," Ray said. "I would love to make a second or a third robot, or transfer this technology to a company so we can get them into more hands."

Email Becky Oskin or follow her @beckyoskin. Follow us?@OAPlanet, Facebook?or Google+. Original article on LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet .

Source: http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/05/17199738-robot-called-yeti-finds-cracks-in-antarctic-ice?lite

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Dow closes at another record high

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow closed modestly higher at another record on Wednesday as investors bet that favorable market conditions would continue, though the gains were slight on concerns the rally may run out of steam in the short term.

Based on the latest available data, the Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 42.47 points, or 0.30 percent, to finish unofficially at 14,296.24. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> advanced 1.67 points, or 0.11 percent, to finish unofficially at 1,541.46. But the Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> dipped 1.77 points, or 0.05 percent, to close unofficially at 3,222.36.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dow-surges-closing-high-economy-feds-help-032459668--sector.html

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US lawmakers push for tougher NKorea sanctions

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Likening North Korea to a mafia state for its illicit activities, Republican lawmakers Tuesday called for tough U.S. action to cut the authoritarian nation's access to hard currency that helps fund its missile and nuclear programs.

In addition to U.S.-supported moves afoot at the U.N. Security Council to tighten international sanctions in response to Pyongyang's latest nuclear test, there's also pressure in Congress for unilateral action by Washington.

That's driven by skepticism of the readiness of North's chief trading partner China to implement any U.N sanctions, and also by memory of the impact that the targeting of a bank based in the Chinese territory of Macau in 2005 had on Pyongyang's access to international banking.

On Tuesday, the Republican-led House foreign affairs panel examined how criminal activities support North Korea's government ? part of chairman Ed Royce's push to introduce legislation for tougher financial sanctions.

"It is important to realize we have more options other than to simply rely on Beijing to 'do more,'" Royce, R-Calif., said.

Royce said illicit activities such as missile sales, meth trafficking and counterfeiting $100 bills are continuing in North Korea and underwrite its weapons programs. The North is also believed to counterfeit cigarettes and pharmaceutical products.

The panel's top Democrat, Rep. Eliot Engel, said the North's criminal conduct, including the sale of nuclear and ballistic missile technology to Iran and Syria, serves as a lifeline to keep itself in power. Although the New York lawmaker did not explicitly say he supported new unilateral sanctions, he voiced skepticism about China's intent to enforce the measures expected to be adopted by the Security Council this week.

"I hope that China will not do what it's done in the past and agree to sanctions and then just evade those sanctions so the sanctions never really take hold," Engel said.

China is considered key to implementation of international sanctions since it accounts for 70 percent to 80 percent of North Korea's trade, although Beijing's admonitions against Pyongyang for conducting its latest nuclear test three weeks ago were ignored by the North's young leader, Kim Jong Un.

That China is supporting the latest draft U.N. resolution shows Beijing's patience is wearing thin with its ally. But the Obama administration may be reluctant to rock the boat further with Beijing by adopting extra unilateral measures targeting China-based banks suspected of working with North Korea.

However, Kim's confrontational approach and concerns that North Korea's nuclear program potentially poses a direct threat to the U.S. are stirring calls in Congress for tougher action. There is deep skepticism that the North can be trusted to negotiate in good faith and accept aid in exchange for disarmament.

On Tuesday, Pyongyang's military threatened to cancel the 1953 Korean War cease-fire.

At the hearing, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., called for North Korea to again be declared a state sponsor of terror on the grounds that it has supplied the weapons programs of Iran and Syria. The designation was lifted by the George W. Bush administration in 2008.

Royce called for U.S. sanctions similar to those imposed in 2005 on Banco Delta Asia, a Macau-based bank which held about $25 million in North Korean funds. That caused a ripple effect among other banks worried about being shut out of the international financial system. But the measure proved complicated to undo when nuclear negotiations with North Korea finally got back on track.

David Asher, a former U.S. official involved in implementing those restrictions, told Tuesday's hearing that Beijing had reacted pragmatically to the 2005 restriction as it feared more banks would be so designated by the Treasury Department. He said such sanctions could be imposed again, but it would require the resolve of the Obama administration to act against Chinese institutions and trading companies.

Marcus Noland, an expert on North Korea's economy at the Peterson Institute for International Economics who didn't testify, said the North's illicit activities continue, although their overall importance for the North's economy has declined as its international trade, particularly with China, has grown sharply.

In a rough estimate, Noland said arms and illicit exports accounted for just under 10 percent of the merchandise the North traded in 2011, compared with more than 30 percent in 1999, when the economy was at a low point after years of famine. International interdiction efforts have also impeded the illicit trade, he said.

The North's improved financial standing could help explain its recent provocative behavior in conducting rocket and nuclear tests, he said, but added it is now very dependent on China, particularly for its energy supplies, and would be economically vulnerable if Beijing changed its policy.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-05-US-NKorea-Sanctions/id-5a4830d466394b618118a55a1914b896

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LG Optimus G Pro review: a phone that lives up to Note-sized expectations

The large-phone craze is rocking the world like a hurricane, and LG is no stranger to this trend: within the last year, the Korean manufacturer has launched two big-screened smartphones as Optimus Vus (three if you count the LG Intuition on Verizon) to mediocre fanfare worldwide. Given the growing competition in the category -- most notably from its rival Samsung with the Galaxy Note series -- it was inevitable that a stronger campaign, as well as a leader to drive it, was necessary.

This is where the LG Optimus G Pro comes in, taking advantage of a 5.5-inch, 1080p True HD-IPS + LCD panel while pulling in several design and feature cues from its smaller (yet elder) siblings, the Optimus G and Nexus 4. As if the display wasn't enough, LG tops it off with one of the world's first Snapdragon 600 quad-core processors, 2GB RAM and a 13MP rear camera with all the trimmings. It may not be LG's current flagship, per se, but the laundry list of features indicates to us that it's sure acting the part, at the very least. Should its reputation be as large as its screen, or is the Optimus G Pro using that extra size to compensate for something? Follow along as we explore the inner and outer beauty of LG's large-on-life smartphone.

Gallery: LG Optimus G Pro review

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, LG

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Google Nexus 7 Essentials Kit

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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

How Do 20-Somethings Who Aren't Characters on 'Girls' Get Work Experience?

Charles Ogbuehi dreamed of being an architect the way some kids dream of walking on the moon. He didn?t apply to college after he graduated from high school in the Maryland suburbs; instead, he took a nurse?s assistant job. And that was going to be his future?low wages and night shifts?until Ogbuehi applied for Year Up, a program that trains low-income youth to work in I.T. departments and other corporate jobs.

?These past six months have changed my life,? Ogbuehi now says earnestly. An expressive 22-year-old who wears his hair in neat twists, he is studying to become a Cisco network architect. Before Year Up, he says, ?I wouldn?t have had the mindset of going to school and getting a better education for myself.?

Year Up seeks to solve two problems at the same time: young men and women like Ogbuehi need a path to better-paying jobs, and employers need better-trained workers. The program, which operates out of ten locations around the country, trains workers for the kind of jobs that are found in just about every office?I.T. support?with remarkable results.

Eighty-four percent of Year Up graduates are either employed or attending college full-time within four months of completing the program. Those who are employed four months after graduation make an average of $15 an hour, for an annual income of around $30,000. It?s a start to building a middle-class life.

From Atlanta to Seattle, the Year Up model is the same. Low-income 18-24 year olds with at least a high school degree or G.E.D. are eligible for the program, which includes six months of training followed by a six-month internship at a major corporation. Students receive a stipend for the year, which is crucial. Unlike many of their peers from wealthier families, they don?t have the luxury of taking an unpaid internship.

While the national unemployment rate hovers around 8 percent, young Americans have a particularly hard time finding work. Nearly 14 percent of those between ages 20 and 24 are currently unemployed, and they may stay that way without the right training for the jobs employers need to fill. ?For at least some of them, they?re too divorced from the actual jobs in the economy,? says Harry J. Holzer, public policy professor at Georgetown University. The fact that many employers are reluctant to train new workers makes matters worse.

Enter Year Up, with its focus on technical training, professionalism, and work experience. It?s a full-year immersion in professional culture for young people who may never have thought of themselves as professionals. Each student has an adviser and is paired with a corporate mentor, who help students as much with the cultural aspects of navigating the workplace as with the technical training.

The best career and technical education programs do four things, according to Holzer. They work closely with employers, offer paid work experience, teach skills that apply to more than one job, and provide a credential that actually means something in the industry. Year Up does all four. Students earn community college credits for Year Up classes, and they are given the chance to sit for industry certifications.

Despite its success, however, there may be limits to Year Up?s ability to expand. The program works because it requires students to commit to a lengthy training and it relies on corporate partners willing to pay $23,000 to sponsor an intern. So far, Year Up only operates in big cities, where there is a critical mass of employers and reliable public transit to get students to work on time. About half of Year Up?s funding comes from private donations, which means its budget can vary widely from year to year.

Year Up?s most ambitious goal might be the effort to change the way its students think about themselves. Rafael Alvarez, who founded a similar organization called Genysys Works, says that ?A big danger organizations have in this area is believing that you can have a meaningful impact on the trajectory of someone?s life with minimal intervention.? It takes time before students to feel they are in a safe environment.

Christina Chiles, one of Ogbuehi?s classmates at Year Up, credits the program with making her feel comfortable asking questions. ?There is a tremendous amount of support,? she says. ?They make it okay for you to talk.? Chiles and her peers are used to keeping their guards up, but they are slowly learning how to ask for help. It?s a lesson that could have saved Chiles from losing her last job. She was enrolled in community college and working part-time as an assistant in the school?s human resources department. Overwhelmed, Chiles fell behind on her coursework, dropped a class, and lost the job. That's not a mistake she's likely to make again.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/20-somethings-arent-characters-girls-experience-204137833--politics.html

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The Ocarina of Time Travel, Extra Dimensions, And Branching Universes

Screenshot from Ocarina of Time

One of the most critically acclaimed videogames of all time had a core mechanic that bends everyday physics. Borrowed and adapted to countless tales of science fiction, the time travel in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was fairly novel for a videogame. It allowed us to age or regress the protagonist, Link, seven years in an instant, depending on the task. This clever game mechanic didn?t have to answer to the laws of physics in a world of fairies and magic. But amid the pots and potions, can we actually make scientific sense out of the past and future Hero of Time?

A Link In The Past

27 years ago this month, Nintendo brought us a boy with a fairy and a world in dire need of saving (and small keys). In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (OoT), we see Link battle both as a boy and a young man with the aid of the time-warping Master Sword. After slaying a one-eyed spider, a fire-breathing lizard, and an electrified jellyfish, Link returns to the Temple of Time and removes the blade. Doing so instantly transports him to the Sacred Realm, where his body and mind slumbers for seven years. Upon awakening, he returns to the kingdom, Hyrule, and finds it transformed. Unsurprisingly, that shifty-looking thief from the game?s beginning has ruined everything.

In physics, time travel is possible, but only if you want to go into the future. It turns out that if you go fast enough, time dilates, or expands, for others relative to you. For example, if you were travelling in a spacecraft going 99.9999999% the speed of light, you could travel for 16 hours at this speed and find that the universe around you has aged 40 years. If you go fast enough, you can fling yourself far into the future.

Backwards time travel is another story. Unless we can develop warp drives or learn how to take advantage of wormholes and circumvent the many potential paradoxes, it looks as though the past will remain the past, and never a potential present.

But even with a scientifically accurate tweaking of time, what we see in OoT is still an oddity. It is true that if you travel fast enough, you can bound into the future. Relativity does not only affect space, however, it affects you. You actually age more slowly while traveling at relativistic speeds. So when Link yanks the Master Sword, King Arthur-style, from the pedestal we must not be seeing relativistic travel.

We can get around the perils of time travel if we take a look at what we know about OoT. When Link pulls out the Master Sword, he is spirited away to the Sacred Realm, where he is told he has been in stasis for seven years. At first this seems like a jump into the future, but Link is also told that seven years have passed in Hyrule. Link was too young (and presumably to weak) to stop the rise of evil in Hyrule, so he was sequestered until he was ready. Though nearly everything in Ocarina of Time implies it, Link does not rapidly travel forward in time, he instead lives normally through it.

This does leave one possibility for what we see in Ocarina: extra dimensions.

The Nintendo 64th Dimension

String theory in pop culture is usually shorthand for ?something really complicated.? It?s true; string theory is at the forefront of resolving numerous mysteries in physics, even though it has little empirical evidence to support it. But it does make some fascinating assertions. According to the math, and in order to jive with quantum mechanics, string theory asserts that we live in a universe of many dimensions, not just four. We can do some asserting of our own and suggest that perhaps the Sacred Realm of OoT resides in one of these elusive dimensions. What better place to cloister the Triforce?

It isn?t a crazy assertion either. In the classic book Flatland, the author describes what it would be like for a strictly two-dimensional creature to experience the third dimension (you can watch Carl Sagan describe this brilliantly here). The third dimension is inhabited by 3D beings, but is completely invisible to the simple 2D creatures. They cannot even dream of what an extra dimension looks like. Similarly, if Link were plucked from above into a higher dimension, it would be as if he simply vanished from the universe and returned seven years later.

So, a young Link grasps the hilt of the legendary sword and pulls, causing him to be snatched into another dimension. He resides there until he is ready to take on the evil Ganondorf and is then plopped back into 64-bit reality. It?s not exactly scientifically accurate, but it isn?t magic either.

Extra dimensions solve the problem of how Link becomes a man, but not how he returns to his youth.

Unfortunately, we do have to resort to magic for backwards time travel. Because of the many logical paradoxes and physical impossibilities, adult Link?s transformation into child Link is fantasy. But if it were possible, one way to explain Link?s retention of his memories and items backwards through time is the theory of temporal merging, crafted to resolve logical paradoxes. Upon returning to the past, adult Link merges with his original timeline. He assumes his child body but retains everything else. It would be as if the universe is sorting itself out and preventing paradoxes.

As the recent publication of the Hyrule Historia points out, tweaks of time play a big part not just in Ocarina of Time, but also in the larger Zelda universe. In fact, there are three distinct timelines in which Link is slashing skulltulas. But unlike backwards time travel, this branching timeline isn?t just interesting, it?s theoretically possible.

Like Branches On The Deku Tree

The official establishment of three timelines in the Zelda universe was a direct result of the actions at the end of Ocarina of Time. One timeline follows what Link does after he is sent back in time to warn Princess Zelda about Ganondorf, leading to the events of Majora?s Mask, and the other follows Princess Zelda after she sends Link back, leading to the events of Wind Waker. By sending Link back in time to change the past at the end of OoT, Princess Zelda adds a whole new branch to the universe. Amazingly, we have theories that say it could really happen.

A branching universe is one of the few possible explanations for the paradoxes we get from time travel and the mysteries of quantum mechanics. Specifically, a universe with separate, branching timelines gets around a temporal paradox, where one is logically locked out of time travel. For example, the grandfather paradox occurs if you were to travel back in time and kill your grandfather. If you kill him in the past, you couldn?t exist in the future, and therefore couldn?t have travelled back in time and killed him in the first place. Parricide aside, paradoxes make the whole idea of wading against time?s current logically impossible.

To get around illogical loops, theoretical physicists came up with the ?many worlds? interpretation of the universe. The theory posits that time does not have a single unfurling trunk but many braches, where each possible future rests. Such an idea can resolve mind-bending problems like the one of Schr?dinger?s poor cat, both alive and dead until you observe him. The many worlds theory would state that the cat is both alive and dead, with each outcome in a separate branch of the universe, and both equally real. When we open the box to find a purring kitten, we simply happen to be in the branch where the kitten lives. The other branch has a more somber reality.

When Link is sent back to his childhood, there remains a past where he grows up and defeats Ganondorf, as he did in OoT, because that has been established in the future. However, once the returned Link warns Princess Zelda of Ganondorf?s evil, another timeline springs up. Zelda?s decision to send Link back in time splits the universe. Link is shot between temporal braches, which is way cooler than any transforming mask or incessant fairy. The only way to maintain the idea that separate Zelda games could have followed OoT is the invoking of a theory meant to resolve the loftiest ideas in quantum mechanics.

One of most revolutionary installments in gaming history is better understood with time travel and string theory and extra dimensions, themselves all having footholds in this earthly realm. If that isn?t yet another reason to praise The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, I don?t know what is.

The next time you hear a physics professor say, ?Hey listen!? perhaps you should.

Images: Screenshot from Nintendo 64 title; Emblem of The Legend of Zelda by Jesmar.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=cb343f6c889c0d1276ad3b09a04f86b1

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Monday, March 4, 2013

Human-made material pushes the bounds of superconductivity

Mar. 3, 2013 ? A multi-university team of researchers has artificially engineered a unique multilayer material that could lead to breakthroughs in both superconductivity research and in real-world applications.

The researchers can tailor the material, which seamlessly alternates between metal and oxide layers, to achieve extraordinary superconducting properties -- in particular, the ability to transport much more electrical current than non-engineered materials.

The team includes experts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Florida State University and the University of Michigan. Led by Chang-Beom Eom, the Harvey D. Spangler Distinguished Professor of materials science and engineering and physics at UW-Madison, the group described its breakthrough March 3, 2013, in the advance online edition of the journal Nature Materials.

Superconductors, which presently operate only under extremely cold conditions, transport energy very efficiently. With the ability to transport large electrical currents and produce high magnetic fields, they power such existing technologies as magnetic resonance imaging and Maglev trains, among others. They hold great potential for emerging applications in electronic devices, transportation, and power transmission, generation and storage.

Carefully layered superconducting materials are increasingly important in highly sophisticated applications. For example, a superconducting quantum interference device, or SQUID, used to measure subtle magnetic fields in magnetoencephalography scans of the brain, is based on a three-layer material.

However, one challenge in the quest to understand and leverage superconductivity is developing materials that work at room temperature. Currently, even unconventional high-temperature superconductors operate below -369 degrees Fahrenheit.

An unconventional high-temperature superconductor, the researchers' iron-based "pnictide" material is promising in part because its effective operating temperature is higher than that of conventional superconducting materials such as niobium, lead or mercury.

The research team engineered and measured the properties of superlattices of pnictide superconductors. A superlattice is the complex, regularly repeating geometric arrangement of atoms -- its crystal structure -- in layers of two or more materials. Pnictide superconductors include compounds made from any of five elements in the nitrogen family of the periodic table.

The researchers' new material is composed of 24 layers that alternate between the pnictide superconductor and a layer of the oxide strontium titanate. Creating such systems is difficult, especially when the arrangement of atoms, and chemical compatibility, of each material is very different.

Yet, layer after layer, the researchers maintained an atomically sharp interface -- the region where materials meet. Each atom in each layer is precisely placed, spaced and arranged in a regularly repeating crystal structure.

The new material also has improved current-carrying capabilities. As they grew the superlattice, the researchers also added a tiny bit of oxygen to intentionally insert defects every few nanometers in the material. These defects act as pinning centers to immobilize tiny magnetic vortices that, as they grow in strength in large magnetic fields, can limit current flow through the superconductor. "If the vortices move around freely, the energy dissipates, and the superconductor is no longer lossless," says Eom. "We have engineered both vertical and planar pinning centers, because vortices created by magnetic fields can be in many different orientations."

Eom sees possibilities for researchers to expand upon his team's success in engineering human-made superconducting structures. "There's a need to engineer superlattices for understanding fundamental superconductivity, for potential use in high-field and electronic devices, and to achieve extraordinary properties in the system," says Eom. "And, there is indication that interfaces can be a new area of discovery in high-temperature superconductors. This material offers those possibilities."

Funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences, National Science Foundation, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research supported the researchers' work. Eom's collaborators include Eric Hellstrom's and David Larbalestier's group at Florida State University; and Xiaoqing Pan's group at the University of Michigan.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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

Journal Reference:

S. Lee, C. Tarantini, P. Gao, J. Jiang, J. D. Weiss, F. Kametani, C. M. Folkman, Y. Zhang, X. Q. Pan, E. E. Hellstrom, D. C. Larbalestier, C. B. Eom. Artificially engineered superlattices of pnictide superconductors. Nature Materials, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nmat3575

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/matter_energy/physics/~3/YnuQYS5s1Dg/130303154859.htm

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Bud Selig calls for tougher drug penalties

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig speask with reporters at a press conference regarding drug testing in major league baseball during a spring training baseball game at Salt River Fields near Scottsdale, Ariz., Saturday, March 2, 2013. He said he wants tougher penalties for major league players who violate the sport's drug agreement. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Cheryl Evans) MARICOPA COUNTY OUT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) ? Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig called for tougher penalties for major leaguers who violate the sport's drug agreement, a move the union is willing to consider but not for the 2013 season.

Speaking at a news conference Saturday at the Arizona Diamondbacks' spring training ballpark, Selig said last year's positive drug test for All-Star game MVP Melky Cabrera and allegations players received banned substances from a now-closed Florida anti-aging clinic helped lead him to seek stiffer penalties as quickly as possible.

He declined to give specifics, saying MLB Executive Vice President Rob Manfred and players' union head Michael Weiner will meet.

Weiner said Monday that some players have expressed support for tougher penalties. Selig said he was encouraged by Weiner's comments.

"The players have been discussing whether changes in the penalties are warranted since the offseason," Weiner said Saturday during a telephone interview. "As I've said throughout spring training, there's a variety of player views on this subject. In fact, during the offseason we suggested to the commissioner's office the possibility of differential penalties, namely advanced penalties for certain intentional violations but reduced penalties for negligent violations.

"That format was not of interest to MLB at that time. We look forward to ongoing negotiations over the drug program, but any change in the penalties would be a 2014 issue. It would be unfair to change the drug-testing rules now that the 2013 program has begun to be implemented."

MLB and the union started urine testing with an anonymous survey in 2003 and added penalties in 2004, when a first offense resulted in treatment. A 10-day suspension for a first offense was instituted for 2005, and the current discipline structure has been in place since the 2006 season: 50 games for an initial PEDs infraction, 100 games for a second and a lifetime ban for a third. No player has reached the third level.

The initial penalty for a stimulants offense is follow-up testing, with a 25-game penalty for a second violation, 80 games for a third and the discipline for additional offenses to be determined by the commissioner under a "just cause" standard.

Selig wants a tougher penalty for first-time offenders.

"There's no question about that," he said.

Twelve players were given 10-day suspensions in 2005. Thirty suspensions have been announced from 2006 on, including just two 100-game bans ? to pitcher Guillermo Mota and catcher Eliezer Alfonzo. The penalty for Alfonzo was cut to 48 games because of procedural issues similar to the ones that led an arbitrator last year to overturn Ryan Braun's positive test for elevated testosterone before a suspension was announced.

Suspensions for positive urine samples announced in 2012 increased to eight, when Cabrera, Bartolo Colon and Yasmani Grandal all tested positive for testosterone.

"We've made meaningful adjustments to our testing, and the time has come to make meaningful adjustments to our penalties," Selig said. "There is no question that there have been enough events that say to me the program is good, but apparently the penalties haven't deterred some people."

Players and management added spring training blood testing for human growth hormone last year and in January announced a deal expanding it to the regular season. Also in January, they said the World Anti-Doping Agency laboratory in Laval, Quebec, will keep records of each player, including his baseline ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone. The lab will conduct Carbon Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) tests of any urine specimens that "vary materially."

MLB was the first major sports league in North America to test for HGH.

Selig said those who have violated the anti-drug rules are "a very small percentage" of players.

"A great majority really, really have been terrific," Selig said, "and I give the players' association a lot of credit. We had lots of problems two decades ago, 10 years ago, but I'm confident that Michael and Rob will sit down, because I feel very strongly about this."

Cabrera, who was leading the NL in hitting for the San Francisco Giants, was suspended for 50 games last year. After asking for a rules change that prevented him from winning the NL batting title, he signed a $16 million, two-year contract with Toronto during the offseason.

Selig would not comment on the now-defunct Biogenesis of America clinic in Coral Gables, Fla., other than to say it is the subject of a "very thorough investigation" by MLB.

The facility was alleged in media reports to have provided performance-enhancing substances to several players, including Cabrera, Alex Rodriguez and Nelson Cruz. The players have denied they obtained banned drugs from the clinic. MLB has been trying to obtain purported records of the clinic posted online by The Miami New Times, which initially revealed the allegations.

"The program is working fine," Selig said, "but I've come to the conclusion the more I've thought about this that obviously there are some people, small in number, who need to be given a tougher lesson."

In the year ending with the 2012 World Series, there were seven positives for performance-enhancing substances and 11 for stimulants among 3,955 urine tests and 1,181 blood tests, according to a report issued in November by baseball's independent program administrator, Dr. Jeffrey M. Anderson.

"We're way ahead of what anybody could have thought, but my father used to tell me life is nothing but a series of adjustments," Selig said, "and this is an adjustment that you have to make based on what you see."

Joe Torre and Tony La Russa, retired managers who work for Major League Baseball, both voiced support for the tougher penalties at Selig's news conference.

Torre, the former New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers skipper who will manage the United States in the World Baseball Classic, said it is important to remove questions fans may have about whether players are clean.

"Until we can gain the total respect back from fans and have them trust us again, we've got work to do," he said.

La Russa, longtime manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, said although the punishment already is severe, it apparently isn't enough.

"Just make that risk so punishing that we can eliminate this," he said.

Selig said stiffer penalties are in the best interest of baseball.

"Anybody who will be dismayed by this announcement is living in a world that I don't understand," he said, "and in my own feeling frankly doesn't exist."

___

AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.

___

Follow Bob Baum at www.twitter.com/Thebaumerphx

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-03-02-BBO-Selig-Drugs/id-7f12f5dbe2fc4637acec7aa006c88cc5

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Sunday, March 3, 2013

Kevin Clash: Accusers Have No Right to Sue Given Statute of Limitations

Source:

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The details matter when documenting discipline ? Business ...

The next time you discipline an em??ployee, consider how his conduct compares to others who broke a similar rule. Then detail the differences if the punishment varies. That way, you can later explain why two employees violating a similar rule deserved different punishments.

Recent case: When Brian broke up with his co-worker Gina, he allegedly threatened her so much that she sought a restraining order against him. He ignored it twice, including once in their employer?s parking lot. Brian was fired under a no-threats-or-violence rule.

He sued, alleging that Gina should also have been fired for bringing a gun to work.

The court dismissed Brian?s lawsuit after learning that Gina brought the gun out of fear for her life, not to en??gage in violence. The court reasoned the two employees weren?t similarly situated and could be punished differently. (Bond v. City of Bethlehem, No. 11-4291, 3rd Cir., 2012)

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Facebook Redesign - Business Insider

Two months ago, an Australian designer named Fred Nerby redesigned Facebook as a side project for himself and posted it to Behance.

His design went nuclear. Nerby says at minimum it's received 20 million views worldwide.?

With such notice comes some perks.

Just twenty-four hours after his design went live, he says firms from around the world started reaching out to him. "I honest lost count after a couple of days," Nerby tells us over email. "Things changed drastically for me and I got invited to spend time overseas talking to a large number of companies and creatives within the digital space, both agencies and more product/platform based companies in the California region (Facebook being one of them) and also Australia, which has been fantastic!"

He wouldn't reveal much about his conversations with Facebook, other than he's not going to be working there. Instead, he says he took a job with a different firm, though he won't reveal where.

The lesson here: If you do good work, and it gets noticed, you can end up with a sweet new gig. It is a little bit of a needle in a haystack, but it's possible.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-redesign-2013-2

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Saturday, March 2, 2013

Husband and wife behind 'The Bible' miniseries

NEW YORK (AP) ? Mark Burnett was taken aback by the scale of what his wife, actress Roma Downey, had in mind when she suggested over tea one morning four years ago that they make a television miniseries based on the Bible.

"Momentarily, I think he thought I'd lost my mind," Downey recalled. "He went out on his bicycle and he prayed on it and he came back and said, 'You know what, I think it's a good idea. I think we should do it together.' We shook hands and haven't looked back."

The series debuts on History Sunday at 8 p.m. EST, the first of five two-hour chunks that will air each weekend. The finale airs on Easter Sunday.

Different stories in the Bible have been Hollywood fodder for years. Burnett, the prolific producer behind "Survivor" and "The Voice," said no one had tried to tie it all together and use modern computer graphics to bring images like Moses parting the Red Sea to life on screen.

Instead of being all-encompassing, they tried to concentrate on stories in depth and on characters who would emotionally engage the audience. The first episode illustrates the wisdom of that approach: it flounders at the start with a discussion about the world's creation but becomes more gripping when the emphasis turns to the lives of Abraham and Moses.

Burnett said he believes there's a growing "Biblical illiteracy" among young people.

"It's like saying you never heard of Macbeth or King Lear," he said. "In school, you have to know a certain amount of Shakespeare, but no Bible. So there's got to be a way to look at it from a pure literature point of view. If it wasn't for the Bible, arguably Shakespeare wouldn't have written those stories."

Downey, the former star of "Touched By an Angel," said she wanted to be part of something that would glorify God.

After pitching their idea to several networks, Burnett and Downey found a fit with Nancy Dubuc, History's president and general manager. She likes the challenge of ideas that seem unwieldy. History made the 2010 miniseries "America the Story of Us," which was a big hit, and 2012's "Mankind the Story of All of Us," which wasn't. Last spring's miniseries on the Hatfields and McCoys was an eye-opening success.

Burnett and Downey have been building anticipation for "The Bible" by previewing it at churches and for religious leaders. Rick Warren, Joel Osteen and Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, have all endorsed the work.

"The faith community is going to sample it, unquestionably," Dubuc said. "Whether they stay or go remains with the TV gods. Our job has been to present this as an epic tale of adventure."

History's own campaign is not targeting a religious audience, emphasizing some of the dramatic scenes to suggest that audiences won't be preached to. The screening that Downey and Burnett have sweated the most was when their teenage children showed it to some friends.

"We knew that we could make it heartfelt," Downey said. "We knew we could make it faithful. But we wanted to be sure that we could make it cool."

Downey spent nearly half of 2012 in Morocco supervising filming, beginning in the cold of February and ending in the blistering heat of July. "We wanted it to be gritty and authentic," she said. "We didn't want it to look like somebody had just stepped out of the dry cleaners."

Her husband flew back and forth to the United States, where he would work on his other programs. Downey said she initially had no intention of appearing onscreen, but stepped in when they had trouble casting an actress for an older Mary, mother of Jesus.

Except for Downey, few of the actors involved are well known in the United States. Portuguese TV star Diogo Morgado portrays Jesus Christ, and many of the other lead actors are based in Britain.

The television airing of "The Bible" on History is only the beginning for this project. Lifetime will air a repeat each week after a new episode appears on History. It will air internationally, and a DVD package will go on sale this spring. The series' scripts are bound together into a book. Producers will make a theatrical release movie of a portion of the story, and are looking at showing it in stadiums this fall. Burnett and Downey have also reached a deal to make parts of the film available as part of a religious education curriculum for churches.

"More people will watch this than any of our other series combined over the next three decades," Burnett said.

Even better, their marriage survived the grueling process intact ? even stronger, Downey said.

"Nobody has taken on the broad vision from Genesis to Revelation, and I think we probably realized at midpoint why no one had done it before," she said. "It was maddeningly complicated and extraordinarily hard work. We approached it humbly, but we were exhilarated by it."

___

EDITOR'S NOTE ? David Bauder can be reached at dbauder(at)ap.org or on Twitter (at)dbauder.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/husband-wife-behind-bible-miniseries-161636981.html

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Cream Cheese Stuffed Coffee Cake - Chocolate Covered Katie

Vegan Junk Food

It might seem strange to see the author of ?the healthy dessert blog? holding a book all about junk food. Contrary to what one might assume from reading the title of my blog, however, I don?t only eat healthy food 100% of the time.

And I don?t think I am any less healthy for it.

Maybe in a perfect world, all of the desserts sold in stores and at restaurants would be a heck of a lot healthier ? with more whole grains, fewer processed ingredients, and much less sugar. Since this is not the case (yet!), we as consumers have two choices: never dine out, decline invites from friends, and only eat foods prepared from scratch; or eat as healthfully as we can for the majority of the time and don?t sweat the small stuff. If you live in a super-health-conscious community, you might not need to choose. And if you have allergies, you might not be able to choose. But for someone like me, who enjoys being social (and also who doesn?t always have time to make everything from scratch), it might be a good idea to follow the 80-20 rule: eat as well as you can 80% of the time and don?t worry so much about the other 20%.

I wrote more about all of this here: Orthorexia: the new eating disorder.

There?s a difference between eating a healthy diet and eating a ?perfect? diet, and if you are spending your entire life stressing over what, when, or where to eat for optimal health, it could be doing more harm than good.

Copycat Hostess Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

?
Enough babbling. Time for food.

With a buttery streusel and cream cheese filling, this delicate crumb cake is reminiscent of those beloved?New-York-style coffee cakes made by Hostess or Entenmann?s. It?s a wonderful addition to any brunch or tea party.

However, as is clear by the title of the book from where the recipe comes, this is not health food. If calories, fat, and sugar are an issue, I?d recommend a different recipe, such as my Coconut Breakfast Cake.

best coffee cake ever.

Although the majority of people who read this blog might not be a good fit for the Vegan Junk Food cookbook by Lane Gold, I wanted to review it for anyone interested in quick and not-so-complicated recipes, many of which can easily be tweaked to fit one?s specific dietary requirements. (Note: I am not getting paid to review this book. Opinions are my own.) The book author?s definition of junk food is not ?food devoid of nutrition? but rather ?sinfully delicious? food. So really, the cookbook is more comfort food than junk food. If you are the type of person who doesn?t ever follow a recipe anyway, you might have fun adapting some of the creative ideas to suit your needs. Recipes include: Deep Dish Hawaiian Pizza, Taquitos with Avocado Sauce, Eggplant BLTs, Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Bars, and Sticky Caramel Baked French Toast.

As with many ?normal? recipes (i.e. recipes that haven?t been given a healthier makeover), you can probably cut back on the sugar and fat in Gold?s recipes and still end up with a tasty result. However, since I was doing a cookbook review and wanted to stay true to the book, I made the following coffee cake recipe almost exactly as written. The only change I did make was to use ww pastry flour for the all-purpose, knowing it would be my own fault if the recipe didn?t turn out well. Gold calls for sugar in her recipe; I used evaporated cane juice, which is essentially the same thing. But if you?d prefer to use xylitol for a lower-sugar option, that will be fine. (As a reference: xylitol can be subbed for sugar in non-yeasted baked foods in a 1-to-1 ratio.)

best coffee cake ever.

Cheesecake Filled Crumb Cake

(reprinted with permission)

Print this recipe

Cake layer:

3/4 cup milk of choice (180g)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (15g)
2 cups ww pastry, spelt, or all-purpose flour (280g)
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup coconut or vegetable oil (80g)
1 cup xylitol or sugar (195g)

Filling:

1 8-oz container cream cheese-style spread (I used Tofutti non-hydrogenated)
1/3 cup xylitol or sugar (65g)
2 tbsp ww pastry, spelt, or all-purpose flour (16g)
2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Topping:

2/3 cup brown sugar or coconut brown sugar (120g)
1/2 cup ww pastry, spelt, or all-purpose flour (70g)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup butter-type spread, softened (I used Earth Balance) (150g)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a 9?9 baking dish. Combine milk and vinegar in a medium bowl; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add the the oil and sweetener to the vinegar mixture, stirring. Now add wet to dry and stir until completely smooth. Pour half the batter into the prepared baking dish.

In a medium bowl, mix filling ingredients and pour over the batter layer. Cover with remaining batter. Then, in a small bowl, mix together the topping and crumble over the cake. Bake 40-45 minutes, or until topping is golden brown. Let cool completely before cutting. Serves 8-12.

View Nutrition Facts

hostess coffee cake recipe

To win a copy of the cookbook, simply leave a comment on this post, telling me your favorite junk food. (My favorite so-called ?junk? foods include cinnamon rolls, chocolate milkshakes, and macaroni an cheese!)

Link of the day:

coconut cake

??.Coconut Breakfast Cake

Source: http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2013/03/01/cream-cheese-stuffed-coffee-cake/

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Venezuela rejects "absurd" rumors over Chavez's death

CARACAS (Reuters) - Senior aides and relatives of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez countered on Friday a crescendo of rumors that the socialist president may be dead from cancer, saying he was still battling for his life.

"There he is, continuing his fight, his battle, and we are sure of victory!" his older brother Adan Chavez, the governor of Barinas state, told cheering supporters.

Speculation about Chavez, 58, hit fever pitch this week, fed in part by assertions from Panama's former ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Guillermo Cochez, that the Venezuelan leader had died.

"The launching of absurd and bizarre rumors by the right wing simply discredits them and isolates them further from the people," said Chavez's son-in-law Jorge Arreaza, adding that the president was "calm" in a hospital with his family and doctors.

Apart from one set of photos showing Chavez lying in a Havana hospital bed, he has not been seen nor heard from in public since December 11 surgery in Cuba, his fourth operation.

The president made a surprise pre-dawn return to a military hospital in Caracas last week, with none of the fanfare that had accompanied his previous homecomings after treatment.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro, the OPEC nation's de facto leader and Chavez's preferred successor, urged Venezuelans to stay calm, patient and respectful of the president's state.

"The treatments Commander Chavez is receiving are tough, but he is stronger than them," Maduro said after a Catholic Mass in Chavez's honor at a chapel in the hospital.

"He's in good spirits, battling ... . Leave him in peace. He deserves respect for his treatments, because he's a man who has given everything for our fatherland."

Opposition politicians accuse the government of being deceitful about Chavez's condition, and compare the secrecy over his medical details with the transparency shown by other Latin American leaders who have suffered cancer.

"Maduro has lied repeatedly to the president's supporters and to Venezuelans about his real situation," opposition leader Henrique Capriles said on Friday. "Let's see how they explain to the nation in coming days all the lies they have told."

Panamanian diplomat Cochez said Chavez's relatives had switched off his life support several days ago after he had been in a vegetative state since the end of December. He challenged officials to prove him wrong by showing the president in public.

HIGH STAKES

Across the South American nation of 29 million people, Venezuelans are extremely anxious, speculating almost non-stop about Chavez's condition and wondering what the potential end of his 14-year rule might mean for them.

Adding to the tension, several dozen opposition-supporting students have chained themselves together in a Caracas street, demanding to see the president and arguing that Maduro has no right to rule because he was not elected.

With the country on edge, the relatively routine shooting by police of a murder suspect during a gun battle in downtown Caracas on Friday forced Information Minister Ernesto Villegas to take to Twitter to issue reassurances.

"(Some people) took advantage of the episode to try to sow panic in the city center," he said. "The situation is calm."

Should Chavez die or step down, a vote would be held within 30 days, probably pitting Maduro against Capriles for leadership of the country which boasts the world's biggest oil reserves.

The stakes are high for the region, too. Chavez has been the most vocal critic of Washington in Latin America and financed hefty aid programs for leftist governments from Cuba to Bolivia.

Amid the flurry of rumors, Spain's ABC newspaper said on Friday that Chavez had been taken to a presidential retreat on La Orchila island in the Caribbean off Venezuela's coast with his closest family to face the "final stages" of his cancer.

Venezuelan officials have frequently lambasted ABC as being part of an "ultra-right" conspiracy spreading lies about Chavez.

"The bourgeoisie harass him and they assault him constantly," added Maduro, singling out ABC and Colombia's Caracol radio for particular criticism.

"Stop the attacks on the commander! Stop the rumors, stop trying to create instability!"

In the latest of a series of short updates on Chavez's health, the government said last week that his breathing difficulties had worsened, and he was using a tracheal tube.

Officials say he suffered a severe respiratory infection following the six-hour operation he had in December for a cancer that was first detected in his pelvic region in June 2011.

Chavez has never said what type of cancer he has.

Remarkably, two opinion polls this week showed that a majority of Venezuelans - 60 percent in one survey, 57 percent in another - believe he will be cured.

Chavez's millions of passionate supporters, who love his down-to-earth style and heavy spending of oil revenue on welfare policies, are struggling to imagine Venezuela without him.

"Of course, he's coming back, back to government," said Jose Urbina, 47, though he was also buying photos of Chavez at a pro-government rally as mementoes. "I want to remember him. I want to put them in my house."

(Additional reporting by Girish Gupta; Editing by Kieran Murray and Xavier Briand)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuela-rejects-absurd-rumors-over-chavezs-death-020932453.html

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Friday, March 1, 2013

Leak reveals HTC?s first new Windows Phone of 2013

MADRID, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Lionel Messi has rarely been accused of failing to deliver in big games, having scored in two European Cup finals, but after subdued performances against AC Milan and Real Madrid, questions are being asked. The four-times World Player of the Year and leading scorer in one of the greatest club teams of all time, was a shadow of his usual self at the San Siro in a Champions League last-16 first leg last week, when Barcelona slumped to a 2-0 defeat. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/leak-reveals-htc-first-windows-phone-2013-020515900.html

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Trackable drug-filled nanoparticles: Potential weapon against cancer

Feb. 28, 2013 ? Tiny particles filled with a drug could be a new tool for treating cancer in the future. A new study published by Swedish scientists in Particle & Particle Systems Characterization shows how such nanoparticles can be combined to secure the effective delivery of cancer drugs to tumour cells -- and how they can be given properties to make them visible in MR scanners and thus rendered trackable.

The team, which consisted of scientists from Karolinska Institutet (KI) and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, and from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, developed so-called 'theranostic nanoparticles' by combining therapy and diagnostics in one and the same nano material.

"For this study, we produced theranostic nanoparticles able to make pinpoint deliveries of drug payloads to breast cancer cells," says Professor Eva Malmstr?m of the School of Chemical Science and Engineering at KTH. "They are also detectable in an MR scanner and can therefore be used diagnostically. The building blocks that we use are biodegradable and show no signs of toxicity."

The new study has resulted in a method of making such theranostic nanoparticles that spontaneously form themselves out of tailored macromolecules (polymers). The balance between hydrophilic (water attracting) and hydrophobic (water repelling) components are important to the successful outcome of this process, the latter being what makes it possible for the particles to be filled with the drug. A relatively high concentration of the naturally occurring isotope 19F (fluorine) makes the particles show up clearly in high-resolution MR tomograms, and by tracking the theranostic nanoparticles through the body, researchers can learn about how the drug is taken up by the tumour and how efficacious the treatment is.

The researchers filled the nanoparticles with the chemotherapeutic doxorubicin, which is used to treat cancer of the bladder, lungs, ovaries, and breast. They showed through experiments on cultivated cells that the particles, while harmless in themselves, are effective at killing cancer cells when loaded with the drug.

The next step is to develop the system to target brain tumours, pancreatic cancer and drug-resistant breast cancer tumours, which are currently difficult to treat effectively with chemotherapy.

"Adding targeting groups to the surface or by changing the size of or adding ionic groups to our nanoparticles will make it possible to increase the selective uptake of these particles in tumours," says Dr Andreas Nystr?m, Associate Professor in nanomedicine at the Swedish Medical Nanoscience Center, part of Karolinska Institutet's Department of Neuroscience.

It is hoped that one day this research will lead to tailored chemotherapy treatments that specifically seek out tumour cells. In that the drug, which is toxic to the body, can be delivered more precisely to the tumour, the treatment can be made much more effective with greatly reduced side-effects.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Karolinska Institutet, 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:

Christian Porsch, Yuning Zhang, ?sa ?stlund, Peter Damberg, Cosimo Ducani, Eva Malmstr?m, and Andreas M. Nystr?m. 19F-based Polymer Nanoparticles as Breast Cancer Theranostics. Particle & Particle Systems Characterization, 28 February 2013 DOI: 10.1002/ppsc.201300018

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/Yb6Iq-SCyv0/130228113440.htm

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