Below you can find some of the notable comments made Sunday on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." Political roundtable guests included former Newark Mayor Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.; ABC News political analyst and special correspondent Matthew Dowd; ABC News senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny; and editor and publisher of The Nation Katrina vanden Heuvel. Our special religion and politics roundtable included writer and religious scholar Reza Aslan; Rev. Calvin Butts, Pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York; author and atheist Susan Jacoby; Dr. Richard Land, of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission; and Sojourners president Rev. Jim Wallis, author of "On God's Side."
King describes North Korean government as 'organized crime family'
KING: As far as I see, this is not even government. It's more like an organized crime family running a territory. They are brutal, he is brutal, his father was brutal, his grandfather was brutal. I don't see any purpose at all in [direct talks with North Korea] at all. It would demoralize our allies in Asia, certainly in South Korea, and it would - to me - serve no constructive purpose whatsoever.
Vanden Heuvel on gay marriage: 'justice delayed is justice denied'
VANDEN HEUVEL: "Justice delayed is justice denied. But I think that the Supreme Court is lagging so far behind now that marriage equality has won in this country? It is moving in states, it is moving politically. And I think you've seen, perhaps, the most rapid mass evolution on an issue, among our politicos as well. They know where the future of this country is. It is also a qualifier to win a next generation."
So I think whatever happens in the court, and it may well be that Kennedy's - Justice Kennedy's consuming affection for state rights does lead to overruling DOMA, I think we are going to see a social, moral, and political paradigm shift that is extraordinary.
King supports President Obama's position on guns
KING: Let me say, I support the president's position on guns. So I'll say that. Having said that, it's going to be very difficult to get very meaningful legislation through the congress, because despite what [Mayor Booker] was saying? is that you get a majority of Americans who don't seem to want this type of legislation. And I support it. So I'm - I am again, supporting legislation on gun trafficking, on background checks, assault weapons, all of that. But I just don't see the intensity building up.
Vanden Heuvel states 'the Republican Party is a values challenged party'
VANDEN HEUVEL: If they don't go along with immigration. I mean, as you head into 2014, the Republican Party is a values challenged party. They have big problems on immigration, on same-sex marriage, on gun reform, commonsense gun reform. So I think this is going to be a test case
Land thinks immigration reform 'needs to be done'
LAND: "Immigration reform is tearing the social fabric of the country. It needs to be done. The lack of doing it is causing havoc that will be difficult to repair in the social fabric of the country. And there is a way to do it, and a way to do it that's fair, and a way to do it that will heal the country."
Like "This Week" on Facebook here. You can also follow the show on Twitter here.
Get more pure politics at ABC News.com/Politics and a different take on the news at OTUSNews.com.
"Come See Our New Home on Android," the invitation sent to members of the press on Thursday declared. Does this mean the long-rumored Facebook phone is about to become official? What is the social network's next move? And does it stand a chance?
Facebook is intending to introduce a modified version of Google's Android operating system, according to sourcing from TechCrunch's Josh Constine, the New York Times' Nick Bilton and Brian X. Chen, and the Wall Street Journal's Evelyn M. Rusli and Amir Efrati. This version of Android will put Facebook front and center and "will debut on a handset made by HTC, according to a Facebook employee and another person who were briefed on the announcement," Chen and Bilton explain.
"Imagine Facebook?s integration with iOS 6, but on steroids, and built by Facebook itself," Constine adds. "It could have a heavy reliance on Facebook?s native apps like Messenger, easy social sharing from anywhere on the phone, and more."
?It?s putting Facebook first,? a person familiar with the matter emphasized to Wall Street Journal reporters. But unlike competitors such as Amazon and Google, it is not putting Facebook itself into the hardware game.
"With Amazon, it's pretty clear," mobile industry consultant Chetan Sharma told NBC News. "They want to sell their content and services. They're building their own devices, which is different from what Facebook is doing."
However, the idea of a modified version of Android may be viewed as an act of hostility directed at Facebook's frenemy, Google.
"The reaction from Google will be interesting to see," Sharma pointed out. "There's obviously overlap ... It seems to Google that it's underpinning their Google+ efforts. Longer term, I don't see them letting it go and letting other people do their work."
But even if Google lets Facebook's plans fly, there are other issues to consider, Sharma says. "If it's just a phone that's going to be pushed by HTC, its chances are going to be limited," he explains. "[HTC] doesn't have the marketing powers." To truly stand a shot, Facebook needs to join hands with carriers.
Of course, some might wonder whether any carriers would be game. After all, Facebook's VoIP efforts and its baked-in Messenger service might conflict with carriers' business agendas, right?
Not necessarily so, says Sharma. "In certain markets [VoIP and Messenger] would be challenging," he elaborates. "In markets where unlimited voice and messaging is already bundled in ? in those scenarios operators have less resistance to the idea. They already make money on voice and messaging and they'll also make money on the data used by Facebook."
Initial whispers don't suggest that "Facebook Home," as the social network's device/software combo is expected to be named, is going to be pitched by any carriers, so we'll have to see how things fare with merely HTC. (Of course, that's assuming all these rumors and reports pan out.)
Things will be official on Thursday, April 4, and we'll be in Menlo Park, Calif., to report live.
Want more tech news or interesting links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.
"East Coast liberal elites" have lost another outlet for their opinions now that?National Public Radio is putting an end to one of its signature shows.?After 21 years on the air, the afternoon call-in show "Talk of that Nation" is being sent out to pasture, taking away the best opportunity the public radio listeners had for interacting with the show and getting their views on the airwaves.
RELATED: Maureen Corrigan: What I Read
The plan, according to Brian Stelter of The New York Times, is to replace "Talk" with the straight news program "Here and Now," which will expand to two hours and fill up the weekday afternoon schedule. "Here and Now" is produced by Boston University's WBUR.
RELATED: Katie Couric's CBS Salary Exceeds Two NPR Show Budgets Combined
It sounds more like a retirement?than a cancellation, since NPR says they offered other jobs to host Neal Conan and every staffer on "Talk." (Conan has decided to leave the network he's been working at since 1977, in order to "step away from the rigors of daily journalism.") Also, the topical once-a-week version of "Talk," which is known as "Science Friday," will continue to air in its regular slot.
RELATED: It's OK, Rush: Don't Fear the Twitter
NPR said the decision was made in part because member stations had requested another news magazine-style show to match "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered," and that there is already a glut of call-in shows on talk radio. The final episode will air at the end of July.
RELATED: NPR's New CEO Wants to Fix Its Liberal Problem
Also, what can be done to reduce the noise from the impact of the door closing, and the door mechanism slotting in into its position ?I don't understand.....Cannot picture it....how is that achievable..?
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Ten people were killed in Pakistan on Friday when a suicide bomber attacked a paramilitary police convoy, security officials said.
The assault took place in the northwestern city of Peshawar, about 200 meters (yards) from the U.S. consulate but there was no indication the compound was the target.
Abdul Majeed Marwat, a commander for the Frontier Constabulary, said he was the target. Two members of the force and eight civilians were killed and 15 people were wounded, said the security officials.
Pakistan's Taliban have carried out similar attacks on security forces as part of their campaign to topple the U.S.-backed government and impose their brand of Islam.
Peshawar, an ancient trading city and gateway to the Khyber Pass and Afghanistan, has been a focus of militant violence.
(Reporting by Jobran Ahmad; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Robert Birsel)
When Republicans talk about cutting taxes, streamlining regulations, and paring back entitlements like Social Security and Medicare, they often claim to do so in defense of "small businesses," the hallowed "job creators" that comprise the backbone of the American economy.
Well, a new report from the Main Street Alliance, a network of state-based small business coalitions, says not so fast! It turns out that many owners of small businesses (businesses with 100 or fewer employees) are counting on Social Security and Medicare to shore up their own retirement years.
Small business owners, like their employees, face challenges saving for retirement. A 2012 study by the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy found that business owners are ?significantly less likely to hold retirement assets than private sector wage and salary workers,? and that ?owners of smaller businesses with fewer than 25 employees are significantly less likely to invest in retirement assets and have lower amounts of retirement assets than owners of larger firms.?
The study also found that ?financially vulnerable small business owners?those who hold a high percentage of their net worth in business assets?are less likely to invest in retirement assets than owners who are less net worth vulnerable.
Thirty-seven percent of small business owners in Washington State are over the age of 55, according to the report. That's an awful lot of small business owners heading toward or already past the retirement age. And many of them are counting on Social Security and Medicare.
Not that the conservative think tanks that think up such policies could give a shit. One of the biggest American myths is that we cherish and respect small businesses. We don't. We hate entrepreneurialism. In fact, our whole system is set up to put truly small businesses at a competitive disadvantage. For example, our pre-Obamacare healthcare system is designed to shift a disproportionate share of costs onto the backs of small businesses and people forced to buy on the individual market.
No, what we really cherish and respect are successful business owners. Make a ton of money and you're a national hero. But if you are losing money or just comfortably (or barely) scraping by (you know, most small business owners)? You're either lazy or stupid or both. You made bad choices. Go get a real job.
And whatever you do, don't you dare count on the "job creators" to subsidize your medical bills in your old age.
NOvA neutrino detector records first 3-D particle tracksPublic release date: 28-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Andre Salles media@fnal.gov 630-840-6733 DOE/Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
What will soon be the most powerful neutrino detector in the United States has recorded its first three-dimensional images of particles.
Using the first completed section of the NOvA neutrino detector, scientists have begun collecting data from cosmic raysparticles produced by a constant rain of atomic nuclei falling on the Earth's atmosphere from space.
"It's taken years of hard work and close collaboration among universities, national laboratories and private companies to get to this point," said Pier Oddone, director of the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Fermilab manages the project to construct the detector.
The active section of the detector, under construction in Ash River, Minn., is about 12 feet long, 15 feet wide and 20 feet tall. The full detector will measure more than 200 feet long, 50 feet wide and 50 feet tall.
Scientists' goal for the completed detector is to use it to discover properties of mysterious fundamental particles called neutrinos. Neutrinos are as abundant as cosmic rays in the atmosphere, but they have barely any mass and interact much more rarely with other matter. Many of the neutrinos around today are thought to have originated in the big bang.
"The more we know about neutrinos, the more we know about the early universe and about how our world works at its most basic level," said NOvA co-spokesperson Gary Feldman of Harvard University.
Later this year, Fermilab, outside of Chicago, will start sending a beam of neutrinos 500 miles through the earth to the NOvA detector near the Canadian border. When a neutrino interacts in the NOvA detector, the particles it produces leave trails of light in their wake. The detector records these streams of light, enabling physicists to identify the original neutrino and measure the amount of energy it had.
When cosmic rays pass through the NOvA detector, they leave straight tracks and deposit well-known amounts of energy. They are great for calibration, said Mat Muether, a Fermilab post-doctoral researcher who has been working on the detector.
"Everybody loves cosmic rays for this reason," Muether said. "They are simple and abundant and a perfect tool for tuning up a new detector."
The detector at its current size catches more than 1,000 cosmic rays per second. Naturally occurring neutrinos from cosmic rays, supernovae and the sun stream through the detector at the same time. But the flood of more visible cosmic-ray data makes it difficult to pick them out.
Once the upgraded Fermilab neutrino beam starts, the NOvA detector will take data every 1.3 seconds to synchronize with the Fermilab accelerator. Inside this short time window, the burst of neutrinos from Fermilab will be much easier to spot.
The NOvA detector will be operated by the University of Minnesota under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.
The NOvA experiment is a collaboration of 180 scientists, technicians and students from 20 universities and laboratories in the U.S and another 14 institutions around the world. The scientists are funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and funding agencies in the Czech Republic, Greece, India, Russia and the United Kingdom.
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Fermilab is America's premier national laboratory for particle physics research. A U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science laboratory, Fermilab is located near Chicago, Illinois, and operated under contract by the Fermi Research Alliance, LLC. Visit Fermilab's website at http://www.fnal.gov and follow us on Twitter at @FermilabToday.
The DOE Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.
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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.
NOvA neutrino detector records first 3-D particle tracksPublic release date: 28-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Andre Salles media@fnal.gov 630-840-6733 DOE/Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
What will soon be the most powerful neutrino detector in the United States has recorded its first three-dimensional images of particles.
Using the first completed section of the NOvA neutrino detector, scientists have begun collecting data from cosmic raysparticles produced by a constant rain of atomic nuclei falling on the Earth's atmosphere from space.
"It's taken years of hard work and close collaboration among universities, national laboratories and private companies to get to this point," said Pier Oddone, director of the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Fermilab manages the project to construct the detector.
The active section of the detector, under construction in Ash River, Minn., is about 12 feet long, 15 feet wide and 20 feet tall. The full detector will measure more than 200 feet long, 50 feet wide and 50 feet tall.
Scientists' goal for the completed detector is to use it to discover properties of mysterious fundamental particles called neutrinos. Neutrinos are as abundant as cosmic rays in the atmosphere, but they have barely any mass and interact much more rarely with other matter. Many of the neutrinos around today are thought to have originated in the big bang.
"The more we know about neutrinos, the more we know about the early universe and about how our world works at its most basic level," said NOvA co-spokesperson Gary Feldman of Harvard University.
Later this year, Fermilab, outside of Chicago, will start sending a beam of neutrinos 500 miles through the earth to the NOvA detector near the Canadian border. When a neutrino interacts in the NOvA detector, the particles it produces leave trails of light in their wake. The detector records these streams of light, enabling physicists to identify the original neutrino and measure the amount of energy it had.
When cosmic rays pass through the NOvA detector, they leave straight tracks and deposit well-known amounts of energy. They are great for calibration, said Mat Muether, a Fermilab post-doctoral researcher who has been working on the detector.
"Everybody loves cosmic rays for this reason," Muether said. "They are simple and abundant and a perfect tool for tuning up a new detector."
The detector at its current size catches more than 1,000 cosmic rays per second. Naturally occurring neutrinos from cosmic rays, supernovae and the sun stream through the detector at the same time. But the flood of more visible cosmic-ray data makes it difficult to pick them out.
Once the upgraded Fermilab neutrino beam starts, the NOvA detector will take data every 1.3 seconds to synchronize with the Fermilab accelerator. Inside this short time window, the burst of neutrinos from Fermilab will be much easier to spot.
The NOvA detector will be operated by the University of Minnesota under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.
The NOvA experiment is a collaboration of 180 scientists, technicians and students from 20 universities and laboratories in the U.S and another 14 institutions around the world. The scientists are funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and funding agencies in the Czech Republic, Greece, India, Russia and the United Kingdom.
###
Fermilab is America's premier national laboratory for particle physics research. A U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science laboratory, Fermilab is located near Chicago, Illinois, and operated under contract by the Fermi Research Alliance, LLC. Visit Fermilab's website at http://www.fnal.gov and follow us on Twitter at @FermilabToday.
The DOE Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.
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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.
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) ? A secular rebel group seeking independence in northern Mali said late Wednesday it has appointed a civil administrator for the region of Kidal, signaling it is retaking control of the government there as French forces battle radical Islamic fighters.
The National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad, or NMLA, has been reasserting its presence in Kidal since the French-led intervention forced many of the extremists into the surrounding desert.
Mohamed Aly Ag Al Bessati was chosen Tuesday for the position, according to NMLA representative Moussa Ag Assarid.
"Today our priority is to protect people and property," he said. "These people need an administration to better lead activities and regain daily life."
The secular rebels have said they are willing to work with the French forces but not Malian troops, whom they accuse of committing reprisals against the lighter-skinned Tuaregs and Arabs.
"We can't entrust our destiny to any army that executes our families," Assarid said.
By comparison, Malian soldiers have bolstered the French presence in the northern cities of Gao and Timbuktu that also had been overrun by the radical Islamic fighters.
The Tuareg separatists who make up the NMLA have long sought independence from Mali, and their rebellion last year triggered a March coup in the distant capital.
In the aftermath, the Tuaregs and Islamic extremists had both made rapid advances across northern Mali and the poorly armed Malian soldiers fled.
For several months, the Islamic extremists controlling northern Mali coexisted with the secular Tuareg rebels who want their own state.
The black flag of the extremists fluttered alongside the multi-colored one of the secular rebels, each occupying different areas of the towns.
In late May 2012, the two sides attempted to sign a deal, agreeing to create an independent Islamic state called Azawad.
The agreement between the bon vivant Tuareg rebels and the Taliban-inspired extremists seemed doomed from the start. It fell apart days later. By June, the Islamic extremists had chased the secular rebels out of northern Mali's main cities.
However, a French-led military operation launched in mid-January forced the radical Islamists to flee northern Mali's major towns.
Smoothies are a great way to enjoy a?nutritious?drink, and coconut milk is a wonderful alternative to dairy milk if you?re craving that creamy taste. The almonds give it a protein boost and you can easily sneak in a portion of fruit too!
1 banana
150ml coconut water
100 ml coconut milk
A pinch of grated ginger
A handful of almonds
Blend ingredients together and sip away.
Recipe by Madeleine Shaw. For more recipes see her webiste
Commerce SafeCam Program ? City of Philadelphia, Department of Commerce
The City of Philadelphia Department of Commerce has a new program for every legal business in Philadelphia to install Exterior cameras. Each business has a chance to get 50% reimbursement up to $3,000. Please read the? guideline/application (available for download below) carefully and remember not to install the exterior cameras until getting our approval.
The Commerce SafeCam Program is encourages businesses and property owners within neighborhood commercial corridors to install surveillance cameras, making these areas safer for shoppers and the community while growing their vitality and economic performance.
The program reimburses owners of commercial buildings and businesses up to 50% of the total cost of eligible improvements, for a maximum reimbursement of $3,000.00 for a single commercial property.
The digital camera security system must have the ability for remote log in by the Philadelphia Police Department and be installed on the outside of your building providing surveillance for your business and the public space.
Click here for Guidelines. Click here for an Application.
If you have any questions, contact . . .
Samuel Kuang-hsien Chueh Business Services Manager City of Philadelphia Department of Commerce Office of Business Services 1515 Arch Street, 12th Floor | Philadelphia, PA 19102 P: 215.683.2014 | F: 215.683.2085 | E: Samuel.Chueh@phila.gov
You can also contact our camera vendor, Corey Nydick,?215-264-4234 or cfnydick@verizon.net for more information and assistance with this program.
?Northern Liberties Townwatch
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Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...
A University of Oregon film student felt compelled to respond to some of the issues surrounding the Steubenville rape case -- and has 1.3 million views on YouTube.
Samantha Stendal, 19, directed ?A Needed Response? and addressed it to ?the Steubenville rapists ? or any rapists out there,? in order to show the world how real men treat women.
"It is horrifying to me that some people can say that people deserve rape when they are passed out," said Stendal to the NY Daily News.
Samantha Stendal
Samantha Stendal is a sophomore at the University of Oregon.
In Stendal?s 26-second-long video, a woman (Kelsey Jones) pretends to be passed out, and a man (Justin Gotchall) gets her some water and places a pillow under her head. Then he faces the camera and says, ?Real men treat women with respect.?
"I was studying for my finals, and on the side I was reading about the Steubenville rape case. I grew very frustrated with the media," Stendal told NBC News on Tuesday. "That's when I came up with the idea for this video."
Gotchall, who is a philosophy major, added, "After we saw the media coverage of the Steubenville rape cases, we just had to do this."
"I think this video is powerful in its simplicity," Desertra87 posted as a comment on YouTube. After being up only four days, the video already has more than 4,000 comments and more than a million views.
Last week, Steubenville High School football players Trent Mays and Ma?lik Richmond were convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl at a raucous house party in the small Ohio town.
The story had already made headlines because of the issues surrounding the case, such as social media harassment and teenage partying gone wild. But media coverage following the convictions generated even more controversy and angered many when some reporters seemed to focus on the loss of the two football players? bright future -- and not on the victim?s trauma.
"What really upsets me is what the news is going to, what the Internet is going to ? which is asking what the victim could have done differently," Stendal told KVAL 13 News in Eugene, Ore. "I'm upset that in our culture that is one of the first questions asked."
Stendal, a sophomore, added, "The message I hope that people can get from this video is that we need to treat one another with respect.?No matter what gender, we should be listening to each other and making sure there is consent."
Stendal, now on her spring break, is applying for video internships.
Moffitt researchers analyze HPV vaccination disparities among girls from low-income familiesPublic release date: 27-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kim Polacek kim.polacek@moffitt.org 813-745-7408 H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
Pediatricians and private practice physicians have higher vaccination rates; Doctors practicing in multi-specialty settings less likely to vaccinate
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues at the University of Florida studied health care providers to determine the factors associated with disparities in Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among girls, ages 9 to 17, from low-income families. They found that physician vaccination strategies and the type of practice play a role in whether or not girls were vaccinated.
The study results were published in the Feb. 1 issue of Cancer.
"The HPV vaccine has made cervical cancer preventable. However, low-income and minority women still experience a higher number of deaths from the disease," said Susan T. Vadaparampil, Ph.D., M.P.H., member of the Health Outcomes and Behavior Program at Moffitt. "There are no-cost HPV vaccination programs available, such as the Vaccines for Children program, to help, but we still find low-income and minority females are less likely to receive the vaccination series."
The HPV vaccine has been recommended for females ages 11 to 26 since 2006. Despite the availability of the vaccine, more than 12,700 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer and 4,290 died from the disease in 2011. As a result, the federal government has included the reduction of HPV infection rates and an increase in HPV vaccination rates in its Healthy People 2020 program.
In order to assess the factors associated with low HPV vaccine rates, the researchers surveyed a random sample of 800 Florida health care providers from the Medicaid Master Provider File. The researchers mailed the providers a 27-item survey that evaluated the characteristics of their practice, their HPV information and knowledge, possible barriers to HPV vaccination, and their vaccine recommendation and strategy practices.
The researchers found that:
Family physicians had a lower patient HPV vaccination prevalence than pediatricians.
Physicians in multi-specialty practice were less likely to vaccinate than those in single specialty practice.
Providers using two or more strategies to ensure HPV vaccination were more likely to vaccinate than those with no strategies.
The researchers also found that providers of the no-cost Vaccine for Children program were more likely to vaccinate than those who did not participate in the program. Also, physicians who reported caring for minority groups had higher vaccination averages than those caring for non-minorities.
"This research helps us identify key ways in which we can target future provider interventions," Vadaparampil said. "Our next steps will be to develop interventions that target the providers and settings where vaccination rates were lowest."
Given that black and Hispanic women have higher rates of cervical cancer when compared to their white counterparts, these physicians may be more sensitized to the importance of vaccination against cervical cancer, said the researchers.
The finding they called "interesting" was that vaccination rates were relatively low in light of a patient's eligibility for free vaccination through the Vaccine for Children program. Other factors may have impeded vaccination, they suggested, such as disruption of provider vaccination supply or patient refusal.
"Since all patients of all physicians surveyed were eligible for free vaccination due to their participation in the Florida Medicaid program, our findings suggest that cost may not be the only barrier to vaccination," explained Teri Malo, Ph.D., M.P.H., applied research scientist in the Health Outcomes and Behavior Program at Moffitt.
"Our findings suggest that HPV vaccination disparities among low-income females, even in the absence of cost, require targeted intervention to increase vaccination rates among underserved populations," concluded the researchers. The intervention may focus on family physicians and specialty physicians who practice in non-private and multi-specialty settings who see primarily non-Hispanic white patients and use no strategies to ensure vaccination completion.
###
Funding for this study included grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01AI076440-01; K01AA018255) and University of Florida-Moffitt Cancer Center Collaborative Initiative Grant (UF09035).
About Moffitt Cancer Center
Located in Tampa, Moffitt is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitt's excellence in research, its contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Since 1999, Moffitt has been listed in U.S. News & World Report as one of "America's Best Hospitals" for cancer. With more than 4,200 employees, Moffitt has an economic impact on the state of nearly $2 billion. For more information, visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the Moffitt momentum on Facebook, twitter and YouTube.
Media release by Florida Science Communications
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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.
Moffitt researchers analyze HPV vaccination disparities among girls from low-income familiesPublic release date: 27-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kim Polacek kim.polacek@moffitt.org 813-745-7408 H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
Pediatricians and private practice physicians have higher vaccination rates; Doctors practicing in multi-specialty settings less likely to vaccinate
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues at the University of Florida studied health care providers to determine the factors associated with disparities in Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among girls, ages 9 to 17, from low-income families. They found that physician vaccination strategies and the type of practice play a role in whether or not girls were vaccinated.
The study results were published in the Feb. 1 issue of Cancer.
"The HPV vaccine has made cervical cancer preventable. However, low-income and minority women still experience a higher number of deaths from the disease," said Susan T. Vadaparampil, Ph.D., M.P.H., member of the Health Outcomes and Behavior Program at Moffitt. "There are no-cost HPV vaccination programs available, such as the Vaccines for Children program, to help, but we still find low-income and minority females are less likely to receive the vaccination series."
The HPV vaccine has been recommended for females ages 11 to 26 since 2006. Despite the availability of the vaccine, more than 12,700 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer and 4,290 died from the disease in 2011. As a result, the federal government has included the reduction of HPV infection rates and an increase in HPV vaccination rates in its Healthy People 2020 program.
In order to assess the factors associated with low HPV vaccine rates, the researchers surveyed a random sample of 800 Florida health care providers from the Medicaid Master Provider File. The researchers mailed the providers a 27-item survey that evaluated the characteristics of their practice, their HPV information and knowledge, possible barriers to HPV vaccination, and their vaccine recommendation and strategy practices.
The researchers found that:
Family physicians had a lower patient HPV vaccination prevalence than pediatricians.
Physicians in multi-specialty practice were less likely to vaccinate than those in single specialty practice.
Providers using two or more strategies to ensure HPV vaccination were more likely to vaccinate than those with no strategies.
The researchers also found that providers of the no-cost Vaccine for Children program were more likely to vaccinate than those who did not participate in the program. Also, physicians who reported caring for minority groups had higher vaccination averages than those caring for non-minorities.
"This research helps us identify key ways in which we can target future provider interventions," Vadaparampil said. "Our next steps will be to develop interventions that target the providers and settings where vaccination rates were lowest."
Given that black and Hispanic women have higher rates of cervical cancer when compared to their white counterparts, these physicians may be more sensitized to the importance of vaccination against cervical cancer, said the researchers.
The finding they called "interesting" was that vaccination rates were relatively low in light of a patient's eligibility for free vaccination through the Vaccine for Children program. Other factors may have impeded vaccination, they suggested, such as disruption of provider vaccination supply or patient refusal.
"Since all patients of all physicians surveyed were eligible for free vaccination due to their participation in the Florida Medicaid program, our findings suggest that cost may not be the only barrier to vaccination," explained Teri Malo, Ph.D., M.P.H., applied research scientist in the Health Outcomes and Behavior Program at Moffitt.
"Our findings suggest that HPV vaccination disparities among low-income females, even in the absence of cost, require targeted intervention to increase vaccination rates among underserved populations," concluded the researchers. The intervention may focus on family physicians and specialty physicians who practice in non-private and multi-specialty settings who see primarily non-Hispanic white patients and use no strategies to ensure vaccination completion.
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Funding for this study included grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01AI076440-01; K01AA018255) and University of Florida-Moffitt Cancer Center Collaborative Initiative Grant (UF09035).
About Moffitt Cancer Center
Located in Tampa, Moffitt is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitt's excellence in research, its contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Since 1999, Moffitt has been listed in U.S. News & World Report as one of "America's Best Hospitals" for cancer. With more than 4,200 employees, Moffitt has an economic impact on the state of nearly $2 billion. For more information, visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the Moffitt momentum on Facebook, twitter and YouTube.
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Mar. 25, 2013 ? For the first time, the complete genomes of three separate populations of aye-ayes -- a type of lemur -- have been sequenced and analyzed in an effort to help guide conservation efforts. The results of the genome-sequence analyses will be published in an early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences online during the week of March 25.
The team of scientists is led by George H. Perry, assistant professor of anthropology and biology at Penn State University; Webb Miller, professor of biology and of computer science and engineering at Penn State; and Edward Louis, director of conservation genetics at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium and director of the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership, NGO.
The aye-aye -- a lemur that is found only on the island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean -- recently was re-classified as "endangered" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. "The aye-aye is one of the world's most unusual and fascinating animals," said Perry. "Aye-ayes use continuously growing incisors to gnaw through the bark of dead trees and then a long, thin, and flexible middle finger to extract insect larvae, filling the ecological niche of a woodpecker. Aye-ayes are nocturnal, solitary and have very low population densities, making them difficult to study and sample in the wild."
Perry added that he and other scientists are concerned about the long-term viability of aye-ayes as a species, given the loss and fragmentation of natural forest habitats in Madagascar. "Aye-aye population densities are very low, and individual aye-ayes have huge home-range requirements," said Perry. "As forest patches become smaller, there is a particular risk that there won't be sufficient numbers of individual aye-ayes in a given area to maintain a population over multiple generations. We were looking to make use of new genomic-sequencing technologies to characterize patterns of genetic diversity among some of the surviving aye-aye populations, with an eye towards the prioritization of conservation efforts."
Louis, with his team at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium and the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership, worked to locate aye-ayes and collect DNA samples from three separate regions of Madagascar: the northern, eastern, and western regions. To discover the extent of the genetic diversity in present-day aye-ayes, the researchers generated the complete genome sequences of 12 individual aye-ayes. They then analyzed and compared the genomes of the three populations. They found that, while eastern and western aye-ayes are somewhat genetically distinct, aye-ayes in the northern part of the island and those in the east show a much more significant amount of genetic distance, suggesting an extensive period of time during which interbreeding has not occurred between the populations in these regions.
"Our next step was to compare aye-aye genetic diversity to present-day human genetic diversity," explained Miller. "This analysis can help us to gauge how long the aye-aye populations have been geographically separated and unable to interbreed." To make the comparison, the team gathered 12 complete human DNA sequences -- the same number as the individual aye-aye sequences generated -- from publicly available databases for three distinct human populations: African agriculturalists, individuals of European descent, and Southeast Asian individuals. Using Galaxy -- an open-source, web-based computer platform designed at Penn State for data-intensive biomedical and genetic research -- the team developed software to compare the two species' genetic distances. They found that present-day African and European human populations have a smaller amount of genetic distance than that found to exist between northern and eastern aye-aye populations, suggesting that the aye-aye populations were separated for an especially lengthy period of time by geographic barriers.
"We believe that northern aye-ayes have not been able to interbreed with other populations for some time. Although they are separated by a distance of only about 160 miles, high and extensive plateaus and major rivers may have made intermingling relatively infrequent," explained Miller. He added that the results of the team's data further suggest that the separation of the two aye-aye populations stretches back much longer than 2,300 years, which is when human settlers first arrived on the island and started burning the aye-ayes' forest habitat and hunting lemurs.
The team members hope that their findings will help to guide future conservation efforts for the species. "This work highlights an important region of aye-aye biodiversity in northern Madagascar, and this unique biodiversity is not preserved anywhere except in the wild," said Louis. "There is tremendous historical loss of habitat in northern Madagascar that is continuing at an unsustainable rate today. This study is an excellent example of how a comprehensive and coordinated effort in the field and laboratory can identify previously unknown patterns of biodiversity for an endangered species, which then can be used by conservation organizations to base their management strategies."
The authors added that, in future research, they would like to sequence the genomes of other lemur species -- more than 70 percent of which are considered endangered or critically endangered -- as well as aye-ayes from the southern reaches of the island of Madagascar.
In addition to Perry, Miller, and Louis, other scientists who contributed to this research include Stephan C. Schuster, Aakrosh Ratan, Oscar C. Bedoya-Reina, and Richard Burhans from Penn State; Runhua Lei from the Center for Conservation and Research at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium; and Steig E. Johnson from the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.
Funding for aye-aye sample collection was provided by Conservation International, the Primate Action Fund, and the Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation, along with logistical support from the Ahmanson Foundation and the Theodore F. and Claire M. Hubbard Family Foundation. Additional support comes from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State University.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Penn State. The original article was written by Katrina Voss.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
George H. Perry, Edward E. Louis, Jr., Aakrosh Ratan, Oscar C. Bedoya-Reina, Richard C. Burhans, Runhua Lei, Steig E. Johnson, Stephan C. Schuster, and Webb Miller. Aye-aye population genomic analyses highlight an important center of endemism in northern Madagascar. PNAS, March 25, 2013 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1211990110
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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
(Reuters) - Two of the most prominent U.S. investors could upset Michael Dell's $24.4 billion buyout bid for Dell Inc, after billionaire Carl Icahn opened the door to an alliance with Blackstone Group to wrest control of the computer maker from its founder.
Icahn said on Monday he has started preliminary talks with Blackstone. Both sides have made bids that could be superior to the offer on the table from Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake.
The backroom negotiations show how what started as Michael Dell and Silver Lake's plan to take the PC maker private could turn into a months-long process.
Icahn has proposed paying $15 per share for 58 percent of Dell. Blackstone has indicated it can pay more than $14.25 per share. The Silver Lake group offered $13.65 per share for all of Dell.
Dell and Silver Lake declined comment. Blackstone did not respond to requests for comment.
Icahn, who owns a $1 billion stake in Dell, said both his and Blackstone's offers give the company's largest investors what they wanted most - the ability to retain publicly traded shares of Dell.
Southeastern Asset Management, Dell's largest independent shareholder and one of the most vocal opponents of the Silver Lake plan, said it was pleased about that prospect, as well as the higher offers.
Another investor, Bill Nygren, co-manager of the Oakmark Fund, added, "Given the wide range of estimated values for Dell shares, if all else is nearly equal, we believe a proposal is superior if it allows investors who want to remain invested in Dell the opportunity to do so."
The outcome of the auction would determine the future of Dell, which was regarded as a model of innovation as recently as the early 2000s but has struggled to make up for declining market share of the global PC market.
A source earlier said that Dell had slashed its internal forecast for fiscal 2013 operating profit to about $3 billion - down sharply from the $3.7 billion it had predicted previously.
Dell's shares closed up 2.6 percent to $14.51 on Monday, indicating investors expect a deal to be done at a price higher than the Silver Lake bid. Earlier in the session they touched $14.64, the stock's highest level in 10 months.
"We continue to believe a higher bid than the current $13.65 per share offer will likely be offered but, based on our assumptions, a $15 per share bid may be a threshold," Wells Fargo Securities analyst Maynard Um said in a note.
"We believe a higher Silver Lake/Dell bid might still be a more attractive and strategic option, assuming information regarding the public stub and financial services sale is accurate," he said.
Late on Sunday, two sources close to the matter said that the Silver Lake group had no plans yet to increase or amend its offer until Dell's special committee comes out with a ruling on the rival proposals.
DOES DELL STAY?
As part of his deal with the special committee of Dell's board that is running the auction process, Michael Dell has to explore the possibility of working with third parties on alternative offers. On Monday, Dell said he had reaffirmed that commitment.
Still, Michael Dell is very concerned that Blackstone's offer would dismantle the PC maker he founded in 1984, two people close to Michael Dell said. The founder is worried that the buyout firm's plans would be inconsistent with his strategy to reinvest in the company, the sources said.
Michael Dell is planning to meet with Blackstone to discuss the private equity firm's bid, two other sources familiar with the situation said.
Blackstone made no mention of asset sales in its preliminary offer. But people familiar with the matter have told Reuters that Blackstone has considered a potential sale of Dell's financial services business as part of its turnaround plan.
Michael Dell's role also remains unclear in a Blackstone-led deal. The buyout firm has already made an unsuccessful push to recruit Oracle Corp President Mark Hurd to run Dell if it takes over the company, one source familiar with the situation said last week. {ID:nL1N0CD0MI]
A number of issues remain to be addressed, a separate person familiar with the matter said on Monday of Michael Dell. Among them, what Michael Dell would do if a buyer wanted to sell a business and he did not, the source said.
Potential buyers are likely to want to sit down with Michael Dell to discuss his plans for a privately held Dell Inc in more detail, the source said, adding that Blackstone had not done so yet.
Switching bidding allegiances could preserve an affiliation with the company for Michael Dell, who founded the technology giant at the age of 19 with just $1,000.
Under the Silver Lake plan, he planned to contribute his roughly 16 percent share of Dell's equity to the deal, along with cash from his investment firm MSD Capital, and remain CEO of the company. Silver Lake is putting up $1.4 billion.
(Additional reporting by Nadia Damouni and Jessica Toonkel in New York and Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Writing by Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Paritosh Bansal and Andrew Hay)
What is it about the extra chromosome inherited in Down syndrome?chromosome 21?that alters brain and body development? Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) have new evidence that points to a protein called sorting nexin 27, or SNX27. SNX27 production is inhibited by a molecule encoded on chromosome 21. The study, published March 24 in Nature Medicine, shows that SNX27 is reduced in human Down syndrome brains. The extra copy of chromosome 21 means a person with Down syndrome produces less SNX27 protein, which in turn disrupts brain function. What's more, the researchers showed that restoring SNX27 in Down syndrome mice improves cognitive function and behavior.
"In the brain, SNX27 keeps certain receptors on the cell surface?receptors that are necessary for neurons to fire properly," said Huaxi Xu, Ph.D., professor in Sanford-Burnham's Del E. Webb Neuroscience, Aging and Stem Cell Research Center and senior author of the study. "So, in Down syndrome, we believe lack of SNX27 is at least partly to blame for developmental and cognitive defects."
SNX27's role in brain function
Xu and colleagues started out working with mice that lack one copy of the snx27 gene. They noticed that the mice were mostly normal, but showed some significant defects in learning and memory. So the team dug deeper to determine why SNX27 would have that effect. They found that SNX27 helps keep glutamate receptors on the cell surface in neurons. Neurons need glutamate receptors in order to function correctly. With less SNX27, these mice had fewer active glutamate receptors and thus impaired learning and memory.
SNX27 levels are low in Down syndrome
Then the team got thinking about Down syndrome. The SNX27-deficient mice shared some characteristics with Down syndrome, so they took a look at human brains with the condition. This confirmed the clinical significance of their laboratory findings?humans with Down syndrome have significantly lower levels of SNX27.
Next, Xu and colleagues wondered how Down syndrome and low SNX27 are connected?could the extra chromosome 21 encode something that affects SNX27 levels? They suspected microRNAs, small pieces of genetic material that don't code for protein, but instead influence the production of other genes. It turns out that chromosome 21 encodes one particular microRNA called miR-155. In human Down syndrome brains, the increase in miR-155 levels correlates almost perfectly with the decrease in SNX27.
Xu and his team concluded that, due to the extra chromosome 21 copy, the brains of people with Down syndrome produce extra miR-155, which by indirect means decreases SNX27 levels, in turn decreasing surface glutamate receptors. Through this mechanism, learning, memory, and behavior are impaired.
Restoring SNX27 function rescues Down syndrome mice
If people with Down syndrome simply have too much miR-155 or not enough SNX27, could that be fixed? The team explored this possibility. They used a noninfectious virus as a delivery vehicle to introduce new human SNX27 in the brains of Down syndrome mice.
"Everything goes back to normal after SNX27 treatment. It's amazing?first we see the glutamate receptors come back, then memory deficit is repaired in our Down syndrome mice," said Xin Wang, a graduate student in Xu's lab and first author of the study. "Gene therapy of this sort hasn't really panned out in humans, however. So we're now screening small molecules to look for some that might increase SNX27 production or function in the brain."
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Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute: http://www.burnham-inst.org
Thanks to Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute for this article.
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U.S. President Barack Obama ended his Middle East trip with a visit to the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, Saturday.
By Steve Holland, Reuters
PETRA, Jordan -- President Barack Obama marveled at the sights of Jordan's ancient city of Petra on Saturday as he wrapped up a four-day Middle East tour by setting aside weighty diplomatic matters and playing tourist for a day.
The visit followed a trip to Israel and the Palestinian Territories that was capped by Obama's brokering of a rapprochement between Israel and Turkey, but which offered little more than symbolic gestures toward Middle East peacemaking.
Before heading to Petra, Obama used his stop in Jordan to ratchet up criticism of Syrian President Bashar Assad, but he stopped short of promising military aid to Syrian rebels to help end a two-year-old civil war that has claimed 70,000 lives.
President Obama receives applause from a crowd in Jerusalem Thursday by challenging groups that reject Israel.
U.S. officials privately voiced satisfaction with the results of Obama's first foreign trip of his second term, but the president's aides had set expectations so low that it was not hard to proclaim it a mission accomplished.
Shifting into sightseeing mode on Saturday, Obama flew by helicopter to Petra and took a walking tour of the restored ruins of a city more than 2,000 years old which is half-carved into sandstone cliffs.
Ordinary tourists had been cleared out for the president's visit, and guards with assault weapons dogged his every step.
"This is pretty spectacular," the president, wearing sunglasses, khaki trousers and a dark jacket, said as he craned his neck to look up at the Treasury, a towering rose-red fa?ade cut into a mountain. "It's amazing."
The U.S. president arrived in Jordan on Friday after an unexpected diplomatic triumph in Israel, where he announced a breakthrough in relations between Israel and Turkey after a telephone conversation between the countries' prime ministers.
President Barack Obama on Thursday urged the Israeli people to put themselves in the shoes of Palestinians and recognize their "right to self-determination, their right to justice." NBC's Chuck Todd reports.
Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu apologized on behalf of his country for the killing of nine Turkish citizens in a 2010 naval raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, and the two feuding U.S. allies agreed to normalize ties.
The 30-minute call was made in a runway trailer at Tel Aviv airport, where Obama and Netanyahu huddled before the president boarded Air Force One for a flight to Jordan.
The rapprochement could help Washington marshal regional efforts to contain spillover from the Syrian civil war and ease Israel's diplomatic isolation in the Middle East as it faces challenges posed by Iran's nuclear program.
Larry Downing / Reuters
Obama, left, looks at the Treasury while he receives a tour of the ancient historic and archaeological site of Petra on Saturday.
During his visit, Obama appeared to have made some headway in easing Israelis' suspicions of him, calming their concerns about his commitment to confronting Iran and soothing his relationship with the hawkish Netanyahu.
Obama attempted to show Palestinians he had not forgotten their aspirations for statehood but he left many disappointed that he had backtracked from his previous demands for a halt to Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
The president offered no new peace proposals but he promised his administration would stay engaged while putting the onus on the two sides to set aside mutual distrust and restart long-dormant negotiations - a step the president failed to bring about in his first term.
Muhammad Hamed / Reuters
Members of the U.S. Secret Service Counter Assault Team survey a path after Obama walked through it during his tour of the ancient historic and archaeological site of Petra on Saturday.
After visiting both Israel and the West Bank, President Obama met with King Abdullah of Jordan, a country facing some very turbulent times of its own, post Arab Spring. But there may be no stronger Arab ally to the U.S. and Israel than Jordan. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.
As Obama's critics were complaining that his Middle East trip was heavy on symbolism and lacking in substance, the last-minute move toward Israeli-Turkish reconciliation gave his aides a chance to tout a tangible achievement.
On the last leg of his trip, Obama promised further humanitarian aid in talks with Jordan's King Abdullah, a close ally, as the economically strapped country grapples with a refugee crisis caused by Syria's civil war.
Obama also used the opportunity to underscore U.S. wariness about arming rebels fighting to overthrow Assad, despite pressure from Republican critics at home and from some European allies to do more.
He warned that a post-Assad Syria could become an "enclave" for Islamist extremism and insisted it was vital to help organize the Syrian opposition to avoid that, but he stopped short of announcing any new concrete steps.
Related:
Palestinian activists frustrated by lack of US action as Obama ends visit
Obama lays stone from MLK memorial on grave of Israeli PM slain for trying to make peace
Obama appeals to Israelis: Give justice to the Palestinians
Obama: 'Still time' for diplomatic solution to Iran nuke dispute
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