Apple today showed off new iPad and iPad Mini models. In the month before the iPhone 5c and 5s were announced, there were constant rumors about what they would sport. On the whole, the rumor mill was very accurate, no doubt thanks to a little help from Apple to keep the iPhone top of mind. By contrast, there were few rumors circulating about the new iPads.
Did that mean Apple has shocks in store -- or there's not much to say about them? It was more of the latter. As expected, the new iPad -- named the iPad Air -- uses Apple's 64-bit A7 processor and M7 motion coprocessor (both introduced in the iPhone 5s), but not the Touch ID fingerprint scanner. The big deal is that it is 20 percent thinner and much lighter, weighing 1.0 pound versus 1.4 pounds. The cheaper iPad Mini gains the Retina display and A7 processor, though it doesn't run as fast. They begin shipping in November at the same prices and configurations as the previous models.
Apple updated its iPad covers, but did not add built-in keyboard, à la Microsoft's Type Cover for its Surface Pro, as some rumors suggested. Apple also announced the significant updates promised earlier this year to the iWork suite for both iOS and OS X.
But for most people, new iPads are what's hot. A 64-bit iPad, coupled with the 64-bit iOS 7 and apps designed for 64-bit processing (there are now extremely few), could be a powerful alternative to a lightweight laptop. It could even run complex or compute-intensive apps such as Adobe Photoshop that today need more horsepower than what a tablet delivers.
I know many people who carry only an iPad while traveling, and at the Interop networking conference a few weeks ago, I met several CIOs who expected to have sizable tablet-only user communities in a few years, particularly for sales forces and field forces. The group could even extend to desk workers who require little beyond email, the Web, and core office productivity capabilities that you can already get on an iPad and and that Google, Microsoft, and Apple are all working to deliver via the Web.
You don't have to keep hanging on, Verizon subscribers: that critical Moto X camera fix is rolling out now. Though we've yet to see it on our own handset, Phandroid is reporting that Motorola's over-the-air update has finally passed Verizon's rigorous testing and should be hitting all handsets soon. ...
Parisians and tourists sit at a cafe along the Seine River. The mayor of Paris recently close down a major highway along the river to open it up for pedestrians. Some drivers however aren't pleased with the traffic diversion.
Christophe Morin /Landov
In a daring gamble, the mayor of Paris recently shut off a major vehicle thoroughfare through the city, the highway along the Seine River.
The move is part of his plan to reduce traffic in the city. Parisians and tourists were delighted by the new space this summer, but many wonder if it'll be such a hot idea during the cold winter months.
Away from the busy street, next to the Pont Alexandre III Bridge that spans the Seine River, a new recreation and leisure area called Les Berges, or the banks, is set up for pedestrians. The area was once filled with cars speeding by, but now it's a place to take a stroll, ride a bike or just sit and hang out.
And hanging out is exactly what people are doing down on the berges on a recent Indian summer day. The noise of the traffic on the streets above is now replaced with other sounds, like a speedboat cutting through the waters.
There are new sights as well, like close-up views of the ornate sculpture on the sides of the bridges. Children frolic on a new playground, where a wall has been fitted with ropes and footholds for rock climbing.
Further on there's shuffleboard and chess, and wooden decks covered with plants and lounge chairs. There's even a couple of shipping containers with glass fronts that have been comfily furnished. You can rent a few hours in them to lounge around with your friends, undisturbed. Xavier Janc is head of the Berges project at Paris City Hall. He says it's designed to give Parisians what they want: nature, culture and sport.
"But most of all we wanted to get rid of this urban highway that marred the historic heart of the city," Janc says. "We wanted to give the river back to people who love Paris."
Everyone seems happy to be here, like Brigitte Loir, who was visiting the berges for the first time. She thinks the project is a very good idea.
"I'm very happy because since a few years, there are less and less cars in Paris, and it's beautiful," Loir says.
Though kicked back in a chaise lounge chair, sipping a drink at one of the new riverbank cafes, medical student Daniel Secnasie says he is less excited about the project.
"Yeah, it's a good idea for two months a year, he says, but the rest of the time, when it's cold and deserted, it's just forcing more traffic onto the streets above," Secnasie says.
That's exactly the problem, says Jerome Dubus, with the French business organization Medef. The pleasant pedestrian walk has made it much harder to get through the city in a car, he says.
"It's very difficult now to have economic growth in Paris because of traffic," Dubus says. "It's more expensive for all people now, because we made more time, and time is money."
Dubus says the berges project will hurt delivery businesses and small services like plumbers and electricians, and will increase overall congestion. The mile-and-a-half stretch of highway that's been closed off carried about 2,000 cars an hour during peak times. Dubus says now those cars will be forced up into the tiny streets of the left bank. He believes the mayor will have to cancel the project when he sees the results of a study his organization is carrying out with the Paris chamber of commerce.
Back at city hall, Janc says reversibility is one of the main pillars of the project, but he doesn't think it will be necessary. He says the traffic problems haven't been nearly as bad as anticipated.
Janc also says they have a few surprises up their sleeve for this winter to attract people to the river. Those cozy shipping containers, they'll be heated for anyone who wants to hang out on the Seine, in the rain, in the middle of January.
After a couple of high-profilereports about how the plastic iPhone isn't faring too well in the laser-cut shadow of the iPhone 5s, here's a bit of evidence to the contrary. It comes courtesy of stat collectors at an app marketing platform called Localytics, who claim they've spotted a distinct upwards trend in the number of Americans using a 5c relative to a 5s. Whereas usage of the flagship metal iPhone was 3.4x higher during the launch weekend, this ratio has drifted down to 1.9x one month later, suggesting that a secondary wave of not-so-early adopters is happy to give the cheaper model a bit more consideration. Of course, these ratios don't tell us anything about absolute sales figures for either handset -- we'll have to wait on first-hand info from carriers or from Apple itself (perhaps as part of today's event) before we know those.
It was the beginning of a very very good night for Kanye West! Shortly before he proposed to Kim Kardashian in San Francisco, the rapper, 36, was hundreds of miles south in Hollywood to present the first trophy of the night at the Hollywood Film Awards. With guests like Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock,Jake Gyllenhaal, Matthew McConaughey and many others looking on, West was unusually cool, calm and serene presenting the Breakout Director Award to 12 Years a Slave helmer Steve McQueen.
After quickly noting to the crowd that he planned to head back to San Francisco immediately after the show, the "Black Skinhead" emcee (in a black blazer and white shirt) tamely gushed about his love and respect for McQueen, whose film is one of the most acclaimed buzzed -bout of the season.
Afterwards, West boarded a private jet and quickly headed to AT&T Park in San Francisco, where Kim was with family and friends (including sisters Kourtney and Khloe); he projected "PLEEESE MARRY MEEE!!!" on the stadium screen. A surprised and overjoyed Kardashian, celebrating her 33rd birthday that day, quickly said yes.
Results from a study led by researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital found more than three-fourths of breast milk samples purchased over the Internet contained bacteria that can cause illness, and frequently exhibited signs of poor collection, storage or shipping practices.
The study, published online today and in the November issue of Pediatrics, is the first to examine the safety of selling breast milk to others over the Internet, a trend that has become more frequent in the past several years. It is unknown exactly how common purchasing breast milk online is, but an earlier study cited 13,000 postings were placed on U.S. milk sharing websites in 2011.
The research team from the Center for Biobehavioral Health at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital purchased breast milk listed for sale on public websites and then analyzed it in the lab. The research was completed in collaboration with Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and The Ohio State University.
"We were surprised so many samples had such high bacterial counts and even fecal contamination in the milk, most likely from poor hand hygiene. We were also surprised a few samples contained salmonella," said Sarah A. Keim, PhD, principal investigator in the Center for Biobehavioral Health. "Other harmful bacteria may have come from the use of either unclean containers or unsanitary breast milk pump parts."
Individuals posted classified ads on websites describing the breast milk they wanted to sell or why they were seeking breast milk. Researchers responded to ads from sellers who did not ask about the infant receiving milk and who did not require a phone call before a transaction was made.
Researchers analyzed 101 samples bought online and compared the findings to 20 samples obtained from a milk bank. In the U.S., twelve non-profit milk banks follow the Human Milk Banking Association of North America guidelines and provide pasteurized milk from carefully screened donors to fragile and sick infants. Because the milk banks pasteurize their milk, harmful bacteria are killed before the milk reaches an infant, unlike milk purchased online. Even before pasteurization, the milk bank samples were less likely to contain several types of bacteria and had lower bacterial growth in many instances.
Shipping practices also played a role in the levels of bacteria in the milk purchased online. The longer the shipping time, the more contaminated the milk. Nineteen percent of sellers did not include dry ice or another cooling method, and the temperature of the milk was outside of recommended range for storage. Researchers found particularly high levels of one or more types of bacteria in 17 percent of the samples.
Information provided by sellers in their classified ads online, such as "I eat an organic diet" or "great quality" had no direct implication on the safety of the breast milk. However, sellers often did not include information about the use of hygienic milk handling or storage practices, screening for diseases transmissible by milk, or limiting or abstaining from legal or illegal drugs.
"Major milk-sharing websites post a lot of guidance about milk collection, storage, shipping and provider screening. However, results from this study showed sellers do not often follow this advice because hygiene and shipping practices were often compromised," said Dr. Keim, also a faculty member at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. "Based on our research, it is not safe to buy breast milk online, and the Food and Drug Administration recommends against sharing milk obtained in that way. Recipients are not able to determine for sure if the milk has been tampered with, or contains harmful drugs or pharmaceuticals, or if the information the provider supplied about their health was truthful."
According to Dr. Keim, it is difficult to know if a particular infant would be sickened by consuming any given bottle of milk, but the types of bacteria found in the online samples contained bacteria that could cause illnesses known to be linked to contaminated breast milk.
Milk banks are a safer alternative for breast milk for sick babies if the mother cannot provide milk because donors receive proper instructions and the milk is pasteurized, limiting the risk of bacterial illness, said Dr. Keim. Human breast milk can help strengthen the immune system and has been shown to protect against severe illnesses like necrotizing enterocolitis, a potentially deadly condition affecting thousands of infants each year.
Dr. Keim said women who have extra milk should consider donating it to a milk bank where the milk can be handled properly and they will ensure it goes to a baby who badly needs it, rather than selling it. Milk sold online and contaminated with bacteria that causes illness can be particularly harmful for premature infants or those with weakened immune systems, who are already particularly susceptible to infection.
"Our research results may not apply to situations where milk is shared among friends or relatives or donated rather than soldthe potential risks of those situations are less well understood," said Dr. Keim. Moms pumping for their own child should sanitize the parts of the breast pump that come into contact with the milk, use clean containers and wash their hands before pumping and handling milk. Also, keep milk cold and feed it to the baby soon.
"Our goal is to identify infant feeding practices that optimize child and maternal health. In addition to lactation consultants who are available at hospitals and clinics, there are community-based lactation consultants and peer-support organizations where women can help each other," said Dr. Keim. "We will continue to study breastfeeding in the context of contemporary society since where and how infants are fed is rapidly changing."
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Study shows buying breast milk online is likely to cause illness in infants
Results from a study led by researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital found more than three-fourths of breast milk samples purchased over the Internet contained bacteria that can cause illness, and frequently exhibited signs of poor collection, storage or shipping practices.
The study, published online today and in the November issue of Pediatrics, is the first to examine the safety of selling breast milk to others over the Internet, a trend that has become more frequent in the past several years. It is unknown exactly how common purchasing breast milk online is, but an earlier study cited 13,000 postings were placed on U.S. milk sharing websites in 2011.
The research team from the Center for Biobehavioral Health at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital purchased breast milk listed for sale on public websites and then analyzed it in the lab. The research was completed in collaboration with Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and The Ohio State University.
"We were surprised so many samples had such high bacterial counts and even fecal contamination in the milk, most likely from poor hand hygiene. We were also surprised a few samples contained salmonella," said Sarah A. Keim, PhD, principal investigator in the Center for Biobehavioral Health. "Other harmful bacteria may have come from the use of either unclean containers or unsanitary breast milk pump parts."
Individuals posted classified ads on websites describing the breast milk they wanted to sell or why they were seeking breast milk. Researchers responded to ads from sellers who did not ask about the infant receiving milk and who did not require a phone call before a transaction was made.
Researchers analyzed 101 samples bought online and compared the findings to 20 samples obtained from a milk bank. In the U.S., twelve non-profit milk banks follow the Human Milk Banking Association of North America guidelines and provide pasteurized milk from carefully screened donors to fragile and sick infants. Because the milk banks pasteurize their milk, harmful bacteria are killed before the milk reaches an infant, unlike milk purchased online. Even before pasteurization, the milk bank samples were less likely to contain several types of bacteria and had lower bacterial growth in many instances.
Shipping practices also played a role in the levels of bacteria in the milk purchased online. The longer the shipping time, the more contaminated the milk. Nineteen percent of sellers did not include dry ice or another cooling method, and the temperature of the milk was outside of recommended range for storage. Researchers found particularly high levels of one or more types of bacteria in 17 percent of the samples.
Information provided by sellers in their classified ads online, such as "I eat an organic diet" or "great quality" had no direct implication on the safety of the breast milk. However, sellers often did not include information about the use of hygienic milk handling or storage practices, screening for diseases transmissible by milk, or limiting or abstaining from legal or illegal drugs.
"Major milk-sharing websites post a lot of guidance about milk collection, storage, shipping and provider screening. However, results from this study showed sellers do not often follow this advice because hygiene and shipping practices were often compromised," said Dr. Keim, also a faculty member at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. "Based on our research, it is not safe to buy breast milk online, and the Food and Drug Administration recommends against sharing milk obtained in that way. Recipients are not able to determine for sure if the milk has been tampered with, or contains harmful drugs or pharmaceuticals, or if the information the provider supplied about their health was truthful."
According to Dr. Keim, it is difficult to know if a particular infant would be sickened by consuming any given bottle of milk, but the types of bacteria found in the online samples contained bacteria that could cause illnesses known to be linked to contaminated breast milk.
Milk banks are a safer alternative for breast milk for sick babies if the mother cannot provide milk because donors receive proper instructions and the milk is pasteurized, limiting the risk of bacterial illness, said Dr. Keim. Human breast milk can help strengthen the immune system and has been shown to protect against severe illnesses like necrotizing enterocolitis, a potentially deadly condition affecting thousands of infants each year.
Dr. Keim said women who have extra milk should consider donating it to a milk bank where the milk can be handled properly and they will ensure it goes to a baby who badly needs it, rather than selling it. Milk sold online and contaminated with bacteria that causes illness can be particularly harmful for premature infants or those with weakened immune systems, who are already particularly susceptible to infection.
"Our research results may not apply to situations where milk is shared among friends or relatives or donated rather than soldthe potential risks of those situations are less well understood," said Dr. Keim. Moms pumping for their own child should sanitize the parts of the breast pump that come into contact with the milk, use clean containers and wash their hands before pumping and handling milk. Also, keep milk cold and feed it to the baby soon.
"Our goal is to identify infant feeding practices that optimize child and maternal health. In addition to lactation consultants who are available at hospitals and clinics, there are community-based lactation consultants and peer-support organizations where women can help each other," said Dr. Keim. "We will continue to study breastfeeding in the context of contemporary society since where and how infants are fed is rapidly changing."
###
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Risk of Amazon rainforest dieback is higher than IPCC projects
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
21-Oct-2013
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Contact: Marc Airhart mairhart@jsg.utexas.edu 512-471-2241 University of Texas at Austin
A new study suggests the southern portion of the Amazon rainforest is at a much higher risk of dieback due to stronger seasonal drying than projections made by the climate models used in the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). If severe enough, the loss of rainforest could cause the release of large volumes of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It could also disrupt plant and animal communities in one of the regions of highest biodiversity in the world.
Using ground-based rainfall measurements from the past three decades, a research team led by Rong Fu, professor at The University of Texas at Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences, found that since 1979, the dry season in southern Amazonia has lasted about a week longer per decade. At the same time, the annual fire season has become longer. The researchers say the most likely explanation for the lengthening dry season is global warming.
"The dry season over the southern Amazon is already marginal for maintaining rainforest," says Fu. "At some point, if it becomes too long, the rainforest will reach a tipping point."
The new results are in stark contrast to forecasts made by climate models used by the IPCC. Even under future scenarios in which atmospheric greenhouse gases rise dramatically, the models project the dry season in the southern Amazon to be only a few to 10 days longer by the end of the century, and therefore the risk of climate change-induced rainforest dieback should be relatively low.
The report appears this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The length of the dry season in the southern Amazon is the most important climate condition controlling the rainforest," says Fu. "If the dry season is too long, the rainforest will not survive."
To see why the length of the dry season is such a limiting factor, imagine there is heavier than usual rainfall during the wet season. The soil can only hold so much water and the rest runs off. The water stored in the soil at the end of the wet season is all that the rainforest trees have to last them through the dry season. The longer the dry season lasts, regardless of how wet the wet season was, the more stressed the trees become and the more susceptible they are to fire.
The researchers say the most likely explanation for the lengthening dry season in the southern Amazon in recent decades is human-caused greenhouse warming, which inhibits rainfall in two ways. First, it makes it harder for warm, dry air near the surface to rise and freely mix with cool, moist air above. And second, it blocks cold front incursions from outside the tropics that could trigger rainfall. The climate models used by the IPCC do a poor job representing these processes, which might explain why they project only a slightly longer Amazonian dry season, says Fu.
The Amazon rainforest normally removes the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but during a severe drought in 2005, it released 1 petagram of carbon (about one-tenth of annual human emissions) to the atmosphere. Fu and her colleagues estimate that if dry seasons continue to lengthen at just half the rate of recent decades, the Amazon drought of 2005 could become the norm rather than the exception by the end of this century.
"Because of the potential impact on the global carbon cycle, we need to better understand the changes of the dry season over southern Amazonia," says Fu.
Some scientists have speculated that the combination of longer dry seasons, higher surface temperatures and more fragmented forests resulting from ongoing human-caused deforestation could eventually convert much of southern Amazonia from rainforest to savanna.
Earlier studies have shown that human-caused deforestation in the Amazon can alter rainfall patterns. But the researchers didn't see a strong signal of deforestation in the pattern of increasing dry season length. The dry season length increase was most pronounced in the southwestern Amazon while the most intense deforestation occurred in the southeastern Amazon.
Because the northwestern Amazon has much higher rainfall and a shorter dry season than the southern Amazon, Fu and others think it is much less vulnerable to climate change.
###
Fu's co-authors at The University of Texas at Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences are Lei Yin, Robert Dickinson, Lei Huang and Sudip Chakraborty. The team also includes Wenhong Li at Duke University; Paola A. Arias at Universidad de Antioquia in Colombia; Ktia Fernandes at Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society; Brant Liebmann at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); Rosie Fisher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research; and Ranga Myneni at Boston University.
This work is supported by the National Science Foundation (AGS 0937400) and the NOAA Climate Program Office Modeling, Analysis, Prediction and Projection Program (NA10OAAR4310157).
The University of Texas at Austin is committed to transparency and disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest of its researchers. The university is not aware of any conflicts of interest for any of the team members.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Risk of Amazon rainforest dieback is higher than IPCC projects
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
21-Oct-2013
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]
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Contact: Marc Airhart mairhart@jsg.utexas.edu 512-471-2241 University of Texas at Austin
A new study suggests the southern portion of the Amazon rainforest is at a much higher risk of dieback due to stronger seasonal drying than projections made by the climate models used in the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). If severe enough, the loss of rainforest could cause the release of large volumes of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It could also disrupt plant and animal communities in one of the regions of highest biodiversity in the world.
Using ground-based rainfall measurements from the past three decades, a research team led by Rong Fu, professor at The University of Texas at Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences, found that since 1979, the dry season in southern Amazonia has lasted about a week longer per decade. At the same time, the annual fire season has become longer. The researchers say the most likely explanation for the lengthening dry season is global warming.
"The dry season over the southern Amazon is already marginal for maintaining rainforest," says Fu. "At some point, if it becomes too long, the rainforest will reach a tipping point."
The new results are in stark contrast to forecasts made by climate models used by the IPCC. Even under future scenarios in which atmospheric greenhouse gases rise dramatically, the models project the dry season in the southern Amazon to be only a few to 10 days longer by the end of the century, and therefore the risk of climate change-induced rainforest dieback should be relatively low.
The report appears this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The length of the dry season in the southern Amazon is the most important climate condition controlling the rainforest," says Fu. "If the dry season is too long, the rainforest will not survive."
To see why the length of the dry season is such a limiting factor, imagine there is heavier than usual rainfall during the wet season. The soil can only hold so much water and the rest runs off. The water stored in the soil at the end of the wet season is all that the rainforest trees have to last them through the dry season. The longer the dry season lasts, regardless of how wet the wet season was, the more stressed the trees become and the more susceptible they are to fire.
The researchers say the most likely explanation for the lengthening dry season in the southern Amazon in recent decades is human-caused greenhouse warming, which inhibits rainfall in two ways. First, it makes it harder for warm, dry air near the surface to rise and freely mix with cool, moist air above. And second, it blocks cold front incursions from outside the tropics that could trigger rainfall. The climate models used by the IPCC do a poor job representing these processes, which might explain why they project only a slightly longer Amazonian dry season, says Fu.
The Amazon rainforest normally removes the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but during a severe drought in 2005, it released 1 petagram of carbon (about one-tenth of annual human emissions) to the atmosphere. Fu and her colleagues estimate that if dry seasons continue to lengthen at just half the rate of recent decades, the Amazon drought of 2005 could become the norm rather than the exception by the end of this century.
"Because of the potential impact on the global carbon cycle, we need to better understand the changes of the dry season over southern Amazonia," says Fu.
Some scientists have speculated that the combination of longer dry seasons, higher surface temperatures and more fragmented forests resulting from ongoing human-caused deforestation could eventually convert much of southern Amazonia from rainforest to savanna.
Earlier studies have shown that human-caused deforestation in the Amazon can alter rainfall patterns. But the researchers didn't see a strong signal of deforestation in the pattern of increasing dry season length. The dry season length increase was most pronounced in the southwestern Amazon while the most intense deforestation occurred in the southeastern Amazon.
Because the northwestern Amazon has much higher rainfall and a shorter dry season than the southern Amazon, Fu and others think it is much less vulnerable to climate change.
###
Fu's co-authors at The University of Texas at Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences are Lei Yin, Robert Dickinson, Lei Huang and Sudip Chakraborty. The team also includes Wenhong Li at Duke University; Paola A. Arias at Universidad de Antioquia in Colombia; Ktia Fernandes at Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society; Brant Liebmann at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); Rosie Fisher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research; and Ranga Myneni at Boston University.
This work is supported by the National Science Foundation (AGS 0937400) and the NOAA Climate Program Office Modeling, Analysis, Prediction and Projection Program (NA10OAAR4310157).
The University of Texas at Austin is committed to transparency and disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest of its researchers. The university is not aware of any conflicts of interest for any of the team members.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
E-cigarettes are a booming business among smokers who want to light up indoors, smokers who want to quit and, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last month, among children.
And right now, e-cigarette-makers have a tremendous amount of latitude in the U.S. to market those products as they choose, even on television, where traditional cigarette ads have been banned since 1971.
That's because the Food and Drug Administration has not yet determined whether e-cigarettes, which deliver nicotine to the lungs through a battery-generated vapor rather than via tobacco smoke, should be considered tobacco products — with all the regulation that designation entails. The agency is expected to make its determination as early as this month.
In the meantime, "the marketing that you're seeing in these cigarettes now, it's the wild west," Stanton Glantz, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, tells NPR's Melissa Block on All Things Considered. "They're using celebrities, movies, television — it's just like getting into a time machine."
Perhaps some readers will remember those heady, hazy days, when TV was filled with ads touting cigarettes' health benefits, as the center of a refreshing set break for John Wayne — even as part of a wholesome breakfast:
Not surprisingly, today's e-cigarette ads look a lot slicker than their midcentury tobacco cousins. Actors Stephen Dorff and Jenny McCarthy crank up the sex appeal in their advertisements for Blu eCigs, owned by Lorillard, which manufactures Kent and Newport tobacco cigarettes. At the bar, McCarthy says, "I can whip out my Blu, and not worry about scaring that special someone away."
And FIN electronic cigarette's national television spot goes for a stylish smash-up of vintage and modern, complete with a retro-looking diner waitress.
Andries Verleur, co-founder of VMR Products, which makes V2 Cigs, told Bloomberg News that the industry does expect the FDA will eventually clamp down on e-cigarette advertising.
As Mitchell Zeller, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, told Shots, the jury's still out on the health effects of e-cigarettes. But, for now, as NJoy King put it in its TV ad that ran during the Super Bowl in February, "the most amazing thing about this cigarette is, it isn't one."
At least, not yet.
You can hear more about the e-cigarette industry in Melissa Block's story on Monday's All Things Considered.
Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie debates Democratic challenger Barbara Buono at Montclair University in Montclair, N.J., on Tuesday. Christie's decision not to fight gay marriage in the state takes away an issue Buono had been campaigning hard on.
Mel Evans/AP
Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie debates Democratic challenger Barbara Buono at Montclair University in Montclair, N.J., on Tuesday. Christie's decision not to fight gay marriage in the state takes away an issue Buono had been campaigning hard on.
Mel Evans/AP
Republican Chris Christie's decision Monday to drop his administration's legal challenge to same-sex marriage made perfect sense for the governor of New Jersey,
But for the potential 2016 presidential candidate, whose path would presumably start in Iowa — where the Republican Party is dominated by social conservatives — the calculation is a bit more complicated.
Bob Vander Plaats, Iowa's powerful evangelical conservative, put it bluntly Monday.
"Gov. Christie has basically backed away from one of the most fundamental social institutions — marriage, between one man and one woman," said Vander Plaats, who heads The Family Leader organization and is considering a U.S. Senate run.
"This is not going to play well for him if he chooses to enter the Republican primary for president of the United States," he said. "It will have tentacles way beyond Iowa."
Politicos in New Hampshire, which traditionally follows Iowa in the primary ramp up, disagree.
"In no way does this negatively affect Gov. Christie here," says James Pindell, who writes Political Scoop and is the on-air political analyst for New Hampshire's WMUR-Channel 9.
"We've had gay marriage here since 2009," Pindell says, noting that it was a Republican-dominated state Legislature that beat back the last attempt to repeal the law.
"The lay of the land is not Iowa," he says.
Now, let's back up.
In New Jersey, polls show that more than 60 percent of voters support legalizing gay marriage and that an overwhelming majority wanted Christie — who is running for re-election next month — to drop his appeal of a court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in the state.
The openly gay daughter of Christie's Democratic opponent in the race, state Sen. Barbara Buono, has also been using the governor's opposition to same-sex marriage — he vetoed the state gay marriage bill last year — to help raise money for her mom.
"For Christie, this takes away an issue that Barbara Buono had been hitting hard," says Bob Ingle, senior political columnist for Gannett New Jersey newspapers. "We're a blue state, and the surprise in this was that it took this long."
Christie, who as a politician has consistently opposed same-sex marriage, couched his announcement in familiar conservative "activist court" terms.
"Although the governor strongly disagrees with the court substituting its judgment for the constitutional process of the elected branches or a vote of the people," a statement from his office read, "the court has now spoken clearly as to their view of the New Jersey Constitution, and, therefore, same-sex marriage is the law."
Christie's decision to abandon a legal challenge came on the same day The Washington Post published a front-page article on efforts by some deep-pocketed Republican donors to "push the party toward a more welcoming middle ground."
That middle ground may ultimately be occupied by candidates who oppose same-sex marriage, the paper reported, but donors like hedge fund executive Paul Singer, whose son is gay, are encouraging rhetoric that is less hateful and supporting federal legislation barring workplace discrimination against gay Americans.
"It's important to remember that LGBT equality is more than just marriage," says Michael Cole-Schwartz of the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights advocacy group.
The campaign is working with Singer's American Unity Fund to promote the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit hiring and workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The Senate, controlled by Democrats, is expected to consider it before year's end, Cole-Schwartz says.
Its prospects for seeing daylight in the GOP-controlled House, however, remain dim, at best.
"We do realize," Cole-Schwartz says, "that the House Republican leadership has not shown any appetite to bring these measures to a vote."
In Iowa, Vander Plaats dismissed the "middle ground" efforts as a rejection of what he characterized as "core value issues."
"If the party and party leaders walk away from core value issues, this wing will walk away from the party," he said. "The party needs a leader who is a full-spectrum conservative on social issues like marriage, on fiscal issues like Obamacare and the debt ceiling, and on liberty issues like the role of the courts."
Someone, he says, like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Christie was already in the sights of social conservatives for opposing so-called gay-conversion therapy for minors, and nominating an openly gay judge to the state Supreme Court.
"I don't see outrage," Vander Plaats says about reaction to Christie among those in his wing of the party, "just confirmation of their suspicions."
Same-sex marriage became legal in Iowa in 2009 through a state Supreme Court decision. A recent poll showed that while a majority of the state's voters oppose a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages, a majority of Republicans — including 61 percent of evangelical Christians — support such a prohibition.
Back in New Hampshire, Pindell says the state's motto of "Live Free or Die" still informs voters' ideology about social issues.
"Most Republicans when you ask them about abortion or same-sex marriage, their answer is, 'I don't care,' " he said. "This will set Chris Christie apart from what will likely be a crowded primary field, and in a way he could benefit."
Though Ingle, the New Jersey columnist and author of Chris Christie: The Inside Story of His Rise to Power, notes that the 2016 presidential race is still "so far away," it's never too soon to begin the political speculation, right?
Ted Cruz, after all, is heading to Iowa this week to give the keynote address at the state Republican Party's annual Reagan Dinner and to go hunting with Rep. Steve King, a social conservative and Tea Party Republican.
Stanford scientists use Flickr photos to assess value of natural tourist attractions
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
21-Oct-2013
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Contact: Bjorn Carey, Stanford bccarey@stanford.edu 650-725-1944 Stanford University
Scientists affiliated with the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University have found a way to use photo-sharing site Flickr to measure where and when people are using natural areas for recreation and tourism. This information can help measure the benefits and value that these areas provide to society.
Tourism is big industry, contributing $6 billion a year to the world economy, and it's expected to grow to $10 billion over the next 10 years. While a great deal is known about how man-made tourist destinations, such as Disneyland, contribute to local economies, it has been hard to figure out the contribution of natural areas such as parks and beaches.
Tapping into the big data collected by social media sites, researchers at the Natural Capital Project utilized information from 1.4 million geo-tagged images in Flickr, and the user profiles associated with them, to see where people were going and where they were coming from. Comparing this information to data from on-site surveys at 836 recreational sites around the world, they found that the information from Flickr can serve as a reliable indicator of how many people visit a tourist attraction each year and when they are visiting. Their research was published Oct. 17 in Scientific Reports.
This is the first study to ground truth the use of social media data to predict these visitation rates.
The research shows how "information from crowd-sourced social media is revolutionizing the way we study people and understand their choices," said lead author Spencer Wood.
"No one has been able to crack the problem of figuring out visitation rates and values for tourism and recreation without on-site studies until now," said Anne Guerry, lead scientist at the Natural Capital Project. Until now, researchers had to rely on local surveys and head counts to get this type of visitation information. Using social media to get ideas of where people are visiting, and where they are coming from, is faster, less expensive and better for looking at changes over time and space.
This new approach provides the chance to clarify what attracts people to natural areas, and to determine if changes in ecosystems lead to changes in visitation rates. It also holds the promise of better natural area management because land-use planners, park managers and government officials can use the information on visitation rates to better manage their lands for the people who use them.
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Stanford scientists use Flickr photos to assess value of natural tourist attractions
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
21-Oct-2013
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]
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Contact: Bjorn Carey, Stanford bccarey@stanford.edu 650-725-1944 Stanford University
Scientists affiliated with the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University have found a way to use photo-sharing site Flickr to measure where and when people are using natural areas for recreation and tourism. This information can help measure the benefits and value that these areas provide to society.
Tourism is big industry, contributing $6 billion a year to the world economy, and it's expected to grow to $10 billion over the next 10 years. While a great deal is known about how man-made tourist destinations, such as Disneyland, contribute to local economies, it has been hard to figure out the contribution of natural areas such as parks and beaches.
Tapping into the big data collected by social media sites, researchers at the Natural Capital Project utilized information from 1.4 million geo-tagged images in Flickr, and the user profiles associated with them, to see where people were going and where they were coming from. Comparing this information to data from on-site surveys at 836 recreational sites around the world, they found that the information from Flickr can serve as a reliable indicator of how many people visit a tourist attraction each year and when they are visiting. Their research was published Oct. 17 in Scientific Reports.
This is the first study to ground truth the use of social media data to predict these visitation rates.
The research shows how "information from crowd-sourced social media is revolutionizing the way we study people and understand their choices," said lead author Spencer Wood.
"No one has been able to crack the problem of figuring out visitation rates and values for tourism and recreation without on-site studies until now," said Anne Guerry, lead scientist at the Natural Capital Project. Until now, researchers had to rely on local surveys and head counts to get this type of visitation information. Using social media to get ideas of where people are visiting, and where they are coming from, is faster, less expensive and better for looking at changes over time and space.
This new approach provides the chance to clarify what attracts people to natural areas, and to determine if changes in ecosystems lead to changes in visitation rates. It also holds the promise of better natural area management because land-use planners, park managers and government officials can use the information on visitation rates to better manage their lands for the people who use them.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Addressing complaints that theater screens, especially when showing a 3D movie, are too dark, the digital cinema industry has been exploring laser-illuminated projection technology. And some of these new developments will be highlighted at theater owners confab ShowEast, which starts Monday at the Westin Diplomat & Spa in Hollywood, Fla.
Proponents say laser light can also offer lower operating costs, reduced power consumption compared to the xenon lamps currently in use and increase systems' lifespan. However, others believe the cost of this technology could be a barrier to entry along with regulatory issues because the FDA monitors the use of lasers.
To address these issues, projector maker NEC plans to demonstrate a new laser-light source projector aggressively priced at $38,000 and targeted to exhibitors with small screens up to 36 ft. Scheduled to become available in March, the new NC1100L 2K projector is being developed to offer brightness of 14-ft-L (using a 1.8 gain screen) with 10,000 lumens of light -- a low enough number that the projector won't require FDA approval.
Jim Reisteter, general manager of digital cinema at NEC Display Solutions, believes this can be an attractive option with its “aggressive” price and a projected “20,000 hours of expected light source usage.” In particular, he is looking toward Latin America, where many screens still need to covert to digital, as well as the U.S. as key markets for the technology.
For larger screens, NEC is working through a partnership with Laser Light Engines to develop an option for large screens (70 ft. or higher), that will involve retrofitting any NEC Series 2 projector. At this point, that option would need FDA approval; the technology will be demonstrated in Los Angeles during the week of Nov. 11.
On Wednesday at ShowEast, Christie and Dolby are teaming up for a demonstration featuring Christie’s prototype 4K laser projector, fronted by a RealD XL Cinema System and accompanied by Christie Vive Audio speakers and amplifiers configured for Dolby Atmos.
Last summer Christie announced that it received a US FDA approval of a variance allowing the sale of these laser projectors for use in a cinema. The first is scheduled to be installed in Seattle's Cinerama Theatre in early 2014.
Barco has already developed a prototype laser projector, but the company believes the economics don’t work at this stage.
Similarly Sony is developing a laser projector, though its execs have stated that the company believes the market is still several years away.
Despite uncertainty in Washington and rising oil prices and interest rates, companies are upbeat on the prospects for economic growth in the next year, according to a quarterly survey of business economists.
But economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics weren't as optimistic about hiring, according to the survey released Monday. Only 27 percent reported rising employment at their firms from July through September, down from 29 percent in the second quarter. And 37 percent expected their companies to expand payrolls in the next six months, down from 39 percent in the second quarter.
The slower hiring occurred even as sales and profit margins grew during the third quarter, according to the survey.
Still, optimism about future economic growth remained strong last quarter. Almost 70 percent of the economists in the survey predicted gross domestic product growth of 2-to-3 percent, with another 19 percent expecting growth of 1-to-2 percent. The figures are nearly identical to those from the second-quarter survey, released in July.
The U.S. economy grew at a 2.5 percent annual rate from April through June, an improvement from the first three months of the year. But many economists worry that the growth rate may be slowing.
The NABE surveyed 65 of its member economists between Sept. 16 and Oct. 1, with most of the survey finished prior to the partial government shutdown that began Oct. 1. The economists work for companies from a variety of industries, including manufacturing, transportation and utilities, finance, retail and other services.
Among the findings:
— Sales growth accelerated in the third quarter. Forty-two percent of the economists reported rising sales at their companies, up from 35 percent in July. Only 12 percent reported falling sales, down from 15 percent in July.
— Profit margins also rebounded. One-third of the economists said margins were up at their firms, up from 21 percent in July and the highest percentage in more than a year. Those reporting falling profit margins fell to 19 percent, down from 25 percent in the second quarter.
— Only 16 percent of economists said their firms were raising wages and salaries, down from 19 percent in July and 31 percent in April.
— Most economists, 81 percent, said the Affordable Care Act had no impact on employment during the past three months. But a "sizeable minority," 18 percent, reported a negative impact. And 22 percent expected a negative impact on employment in the next year, compared with only 2 percent expecting a positive impact. The responses also suggested a small shift toward more part-time and fewer full-time employees, according to the survey.
— Most economists, 80 percent, reported no impact on their businesses in the third quarter from rising long-term interest rates, according to the survey.
But a quarter of the economists expect rising interest rates and increasing oil prices to drag on sales during the next 12 months.
Twenty-five percent expect a negative impact from rising rates, but 62 percent expect no impact.
Also, 25 percent of panelists expect rising oil prices to hurt sales in the next year more than in the past three months, but a majority, 64 percent, expects no impact.
NUS scientists identify molecular switch that suppresses development of liver cancer
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
21-Oct-2013
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Contact: Carolyn Fong carolyn@nus.edu.sg 65-651-65399 National University of Singapore
Findings by researchers contribute towards the development and application of therapeutics for liver cancer
A team of scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has found that activating a family of small protein, known as Rho, could suppress liver malignancies. This is the first time that a research group has provided evidence to show that the signaling crosstalk between different protein switches has an influence on the development of cancer tissues. The findings pave the way for the development and application of therapeutics targeted at liver cancer.
The team, led by Associate Professor Low Boon Chuan from the Department of Biological Sciences at the NUS Faculty of Science and the Mechanobiology Institute at NUS, first published the research in the journal Oncogene.
Importance of signalling crosstalk between proteins
The proteins Ras and Rho are among the key molecular switches that control cell dynamics, cell growth and tissue development through their distinct signalling pathways. Although much has been studied about their individual functions, the underlying molecular mechanism of signalling crosstalk between these two proteins in an in vivo context remains largely unknown, especially in the area of liver development and formation of liver tumours.
In order to identify the consequences of their signalling crosstalk, the research team generated different scenarios with different liver-specific proteins and genes that have the potential to cause cancer, using the zebrafish as an in vivo model.
Due to its ability to reverse and forward genetics and low incidence of spontaneous tumours, the zebrafish is fast becoming a popular model for studying human cancers.
Through the use of quantitative bioimaging and molecular markers, the team found that when the zebrafish is induced to produce an active state of Kras (a form of Ras), which is an oncogene, liver enlargement is observed, and liver cancer that resembles the human liver cancer was formed. Subsequently, in adult zebrafish, the hepatocellular carcinoma, a major form of liver cancer, was developed. However, when the same cells were made to turn on Rho, these abnormalities were abated.
The team also found that when an inactive form of Rho was introduced when Kras is kept active, the Kras-mediated liver overgrowth and tumour formation were elevated.
These findings provided evidence about the significance of the previously understudied signalling crosstalk between the proteins Kras and Rho in regulating liver overgrowth, transformation of liver tissue and cancer mortality. As Rho is a known inducer of mechanical force, the team's findings also implicate the possible role of mechanical and physical forces in regulating cancer development and other functions in the liver.
The Next Step
The group is now investigating the exact chain of biochemical reactions that specify such unique signalling crosstalk. They are also investigating the aspects of cell metabolism and other major growth related pathways that are being affected to address the inherent inconsistency associated with cell-based studies. They hope to establish zebrafish as an alternative drug screening platform that is relatively cheap and convenient to identify novel targets for therapeutic intervention.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NUS scientists identify molecular switch that suppresses development of liver cancer
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
21-Oct-2013
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Contact: Carolyn Fong carolyn@nus.edu.sg 65-651-65399 National University of Singapore
Findings by researchers contribute towards the development and application of therapeutics for liver cancer
A team of scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has found that activating a family of small protein, known as Rho, could suppress liver malignancies. This is the first time that a research group has provided evidence to show that the signaling crosstalk between different protein switches has an influence on the development of cancer tissues. The findings pave the way for the development and application of therapeutics targeted at liver cancer.
The team, led by Associate Professor Low Boon Chuan from the Department of Biological Sciences at the NUS Faculty of Science and the Mechanobiology Institute at NUS, first published the research in the journal Oncogene.
Importance of signalling crosstalk between proteins
The proteins Ras and Rho are among the key molecular switches that control cell dynamics, cell growth and tissue development through their distinct signalling pathways. Although much has been studied about their individual functions, the underlying molecular mechanism of signalling crosstalk between these two proteins in an in vivo context remains largely unknown, especially in the area of liver development and formation of liver tumours.
In order to identify the consequences of their signalling crosstalk, the research team generated different scenarios with different liver-specific proteins and genes that have the potential to cause cancer, using the zebrafish as an in vivo model.
Due to its ability to reverse and forward genetics and low incidence of spontaneous tumours, the zebrafish is fast becoming a popular model for studying human cancers.
Through the use of quantitative bioimaging and molecular markers, the team found that when the zebrafish is induced to produce an active state of Kras (a form of Ras), which is an oncogene, liver enlargement is observed, and liver cancer that resembles the human liver cancer was formed. Subsequently, in adult zebrafish, the hepatocellular carcinoma, a major form of liver cancer, was developed. However, when the same cells were made to turn on Rho, these abnormalities were abated.
The team also found that when an inactive form of Rho was introduced when Kras is kept active, the Kras-mediated liver overgrowth and tumour formation were elevated.
These findings provided evidence about the significance of the previously understudied signalling crosstalk between the proteins Kras and Rho in regulating liver overgrowth, transformation of liver tissue and cancer mortality. As Rho is a known inducer of mechanical force, the team's findings also implicate the possible role of mechanical and physical forces in regulating cancer development and other functions in the liver.
The Next Step
The group is now investigating the exact chain of biochemical reactions that specify such unique signalling crosstalk. They are also investigating the aspects of cell metabolism and other major growth related pathways that are being affected to address the inherent inconsistency associated with cell-based studies. They hope to establish zebrafish as an alternative drug screening platform that is relatively cheap and convenient to identify novel targets for therapeutic intervention.
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You don't have to keep hanging on, Verizon subscribers: that critical Moto X camera fix is rolling out now. Though we've yet to see it on our own handset, Phandroid is reporting that Motorola's over-the-air update has finally passed Verizon's rigorous testing and should be hitting all handsets soon. ...
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