This screen shot shows eyewear coupons for the New York City area offered by Groupon.com. Daily deal sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial, best known for discounts at local restaurants and spas, are helping some people fill holes in health insurance coverage. (AP Photo/Groupon.com)
This screen shot shows eyewear coupons for the New York City area offered by Groupon.com. Daily deal sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial, best known for discounts at local restaurants and spas, are helping some people fill holes in health insurance coverage. (AP Photo/Groupon.com)
NEW YORK (AP) ? The last time Mark Stella went to the dentist he didn't need an insurance card. Instead, he pulled out a Groupon.
Stella, a small business owner, canceled his health insurance plan more than three years ago when his premium rose to more than $400 a month. He considered himself healthy and decided that he was wasting money on something that he rarely used.
So when a deal popped up on daily deals site Groupon for a teeth cleaning, exam and an X-ray at a nearby dentist, Stella, 55, bought the deal ? which the company calls a "Groupon" ? for himself and another for his daughter. He paid $39 for each, $151 below what the dentist normally charges.
Daily deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial are best known for offering limited-time discounts on a variety of discretionary goods and services including restaurant meals, wine tastings, spa visits and hotel stays. The discounts are paid for upfront and then it's up to the customer to book an appointment and redeem a coupon before it expires. Merchants like the deals because it gives them exposure and a pop in business. Customers use them to try something new, to save money on something they already use, or both.
The sites are increasingly moving beyond little luxuries like facials and vacations and offering deals that are helping some people fill holes in their health insurance coverage. Visitors to these sites are finding a growing number of markdowns on health care services such as teeth cleanings, eye exams, chiropractic care and even medical checkups. They're also offering deals on elective procedures not commonly covered by health insurers, such as wrinkle-reducing Botox injections and vision-correcting Lasik eye surgery. About one out of every 11 deals offered online is for a health care service, according to data compiled by DealRadar.com, a site that gathers and lists 20,000 deals a day from different websites.
"I was accustomed to going to the dentist every six months," said Stella who owns SmartPhones, a store and wholesale business in Miami that sells mobile phone covers and accessories. "This filled the gap."
The deals are popping up across the nation. In New York, a full medical checkup with blood, stool and urinalysis testing sold for $69 in December on Groupon ? below the regular price of $200. In Seattle, a flu shot was offered on AmazonLocal for $17, down from $35. In Chicago, LivingSocial sold a dental exam, cleaning, X-rays and teeth whitening trays for $99, a savings of $142.
About 9 percent of all offers on daily deal websites in November were for dental work or some kind of medical treatment, up from 4.5 percent in the beginning of 2011, said Dan Hess, CEO and founder of Local Offer Network, which runs DealRadar.com. The growth in health-related deals is good news for millions of Americans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 46.3 million Americans under 65 have no health coverage.
The number of health care deals began rising as copycat websites attempted to get a piece of the market. Search leader Google and shopping site Amazon.com have recently gotten into the game.
Not all have been successful. In August, social networking site Facebook dropped its plan to start a daily deal business, and Yelp, a site that allows customers to write reviews of restaurants and other businesses, scaled back its daily deal efforts. Many smaller sites have closed. But the shakeout in the industry hasn't hurt the number of health deals being offered since the industry leaders, like Groupon, are offering more deals and are moving into more markets, Hess said.
The health care deals may be attractive for people with gaps in their coverage or no insurance, but jumping from one health care provider to the next isn't ideal. Visiting the same doctor or dentist makes it easier to monitor how a patient's health is progressing, said David Williams, co-founder of medical consultancy group MedPharma Partners and author of HealthBusinessBlog.com.
Also, it's important for patients to do their own research before buying a medical or dental deal, Williams said. "A referral from someone you trust is the best path," said Williams.
Dental deals are the most popular among users of local deal websites ? likely because even more people lack dental insurance than health insurance. Among the 172 million people under 65 who have private health insurance in the U.S., about 45 million don't have dental coverage, according to the CDC.
Dentists have traditionally offered deals by mailing out coupons, but paper coupons have a low redemption rate, Williams said. Local deal sites are more attractive to doctors and dentists because they get paid up front and they reach new clients.
"We reached a whole new demographic who otherwise wouldn't find us," said Dr. Gregg Feinerman, an ophthalmologist who runs Feinerman Vision Center in Newport Beach, Calif. He offered a 58 percent discount on Lasik eye surgery through Groupon. "It's a better way to market," he said.
He used Groupon as a way to bring in patients under 30-years old with the hope that they would recommend his services to friends and rate him on review website Yelp. A good review might persuade someone else to visit his office, Feinerman said. He charges $5,000 for the surgery on both eyes; a price that he said can be "overwhelming for 20-to 30-year-olds."
Feinerman approached Groupon about listing the eye surgery for $3,000. Groupon, which is based in Chicago, pushed him to lower the price to $2,100.
Feinerman got exactly the type of patient he was looking for in Thomas Cho. Cho, 29, bought the offer and after the surgery wrote a review on Yelp. He gave the vision center five stars ? the highest rating on the website.
Cho said in an interview that his health insurance plan only covers 20 percent of the regular price of Lasik since it is considered a cosmetic procedure. He would have paid about $4,000 if he had used his insurance discount.
Cho decided to buy the Groupon, paying $2,100 initially. After consulting with the doctor, he upgraded his surgery to an all-laser procedure for $1,000 more. At the time, Cho's credit card issuer was offering a 20 percent cash back promotion on Groupon purchases. In all, he saved more than $1,300.
"I had my post-op checkup and I am seeing 20/20," Cho wrote on Yelp. "I couldn't be happier."
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Joseph Pisani can be reached at http://twitter.com/josephpisani
Both Prince William and Ryan Gosling have had a lot to celebrate in 2011! The royal made a memorable trip down the aisle with Kate Middleton, and the other ... well, what hasn’t he done? From blockbusters to breaking up street fights, the actor has been everywhere (except, to fans' chagrin, nabbingPeople’s Sexiest Man honor).
DETROIT (AP) ? Before passing comment on someone's "baby bump," take a pregnant pause. Likewise, give up promoting "shared sacrifice." And if you're tempted to proclaim your desire to "win the future," you've lost it here in the present.
Michigan's Lake Superior State University is featuring those phrases in its annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness. The 2012 list, released Friday, was compiled by the university from nominations submitted from across the globe.
What else do the syntactical Scrooges want to cast out with the good cheer in the new year? The list also includes "occupy," ''ginormous," ''man cave" and "the new normal."
In all, a dozen words or phrases made the 37th end-of-the year list. The list started as a publicity ploy by the school's public relations department on New Year's Day 1976, and has since generated tens of thousands of nominations.
"Amazing" received more than 1,500 nominations, the most of any on this year's list. Disdain for the superlative was apparently universal among English speakers, garnering disparaging dispatches from across the United States and even the United Kingdom and Israel.
While it lacked a single pop-culture culprit, such as the proliferating protest movement that occupied the word "occupy" or the collective ooh-ing and aah-ing that accompanied Beyonce's "baby bump," nominations to banish "amazing" cite its overuse on reality television and by daytime talk show hosts. Social media also spurred the call to surrender the word's conversational credentials, notably through a Facebook page called "Overuse of the Word Amazing."
"The word has been overused to describe things only slightly better than mundane," Alyce-Mae Alexander of Maitland, Fla., wrote in her nomination. "I blame Martha Stewart because to her, EVERYTHING is amazing!"
University spokesman John Shibley said he and his colleagues were surprised that "amazing" hadn't already graced the archive of about 900 banished words.
"The simple ones are always the ones that get through the cracks ? until this year," he said.
Other terms circulating for years that have finally raised enough ire to earn a spot on the list include "blowback," ''man cave," ''the new normal" and "thank you in advance." The last one particularly annoys Mike Cloran of Cincinnati, Ohio.
"This is a condescending and challenging way to say, 'Since I already thanked you, you have to do this,'" Cloran wrote in his submission.
Lake Superior State University, located in Sault St. Marie ? the last stop before Michigan's northernmost border-crossing with Canada ? has seen its list survive despite many banished words stubbornly clinging to the language. For evidence, look no further than last year's "fail," ''viral" and "a-ha moment." And then there is, well, blowback from critics who can't take a little tongue-in-cheek critique.
Shibley said some people have missed the point over the years and complained that the list is an effort to control the language. But most seem to receive it in good cheer, rather than with jeers.
"A lot of people can take this wrong. We don't mean any malice when we publish it," Shibley said. "If it makes you angry, it gets you thinking about language. If it gets you laughing, it gets you thinking about language. It's done its job ? to get you to think about how you express yourself."
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Online:
Lake Superior State University's banished words: http://www.lssu.edu/banished
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Jeff Karoub can be reached at http://twitter.com/jeffkaroub
ScienceDaily (Dec. 27, 2011) ? Nevada, the "Silver State," is well-known for mining precious metals. But scientists Dennis Bazylinski and colleagues at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) do a different type of mining.
They sluice through every water body they can find, looking for new forms of microbial magnetism.
In a basin named Badwater on the edge of Death Valley National Park, Bazylinski and researcher Christopher Lef?vre hit pay dirt.
Lef?vre is with the French National Center of Scientific Research and University of Aix-Marseille II.
In a recent issue of the journal Science, Bazylinski, Lef?vre and others report that they identified, isolated and grew a new type of magnetic bacteria that could lead to novel biotech and nanotech uses.
Magnetotactic bacteria are simple, single-celled organisms that are found in almost all bodies of water.
As their name suggests, they orient and navigate along magnetic fields like miniature swimming compass needles.
This is due to the nano-sized crystals of the minerals magnetite or greigite they produce.
The presence of these magnetic crystals makes the bacteria and their internal crystals--called magnetosomes--useful in drug delivery and medical imaging.
The research was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Energy and the French Foundation for Medical Research.
"The finding is significant in showing that this bacterium has specific genes to synthesize magnetite and greigite, and that the proportion of these magnetosomes varies with the chemistry of the environment," said Enriqueta Barrera, program director in NSF's Division of Earth Sciences.
While many magnetite-producing bacteria can be grown and easily studied, Bazylinski and his team were the first to cultivate a greigite-producing species. Greigite is an iron sulfide mineral, the equivalent of the iron oxide magnetite.
"Because greigite-producing bacteria have never been isolated, the crystals haven't been tested for the types of biomedical and other applications that currently use magnetite," said Bazylinski.
"Greigite is an iron sulfide that may be superior to magnetite in some applications due to its slightly different physical and magnetic properties. Now we have the opportunity to find out."
Researchers found the greigite-producing bacterium, called BW-1, in water samples collected more than 280 feet below sea level in Badwater Basin. Lef?vre and Bazylinski later isolated and grew it leading to the discovery that BW-1 produces both greigite and magnetite.
A detailed look at its DNA revealed that BW-1 has two sets of magnetosome genes, unlike other such bacteria, which produce only one mineral and have only one set of magnetosome genes.
This suggests that the production of magnetite and greigite in BW-1 is likely controlled by separate sets of genes. That could be important in the mass production of either mineral for specific applications.
According to Bazylinski, the greigite-producing bacteria represent a new, previously unrecognized group of sulfate-reducing bacteria that "breathe" the compound sulfate rather than oxygen as most living organisms do.
"With how much is known about sulfate-reducing bacteria, it's surprising that no one has described this group," he said.
Working with Bazylinski and Lef?vre on the project are David Pignol of the French National Center of Scientific Research and University of Aix-Marseille II; Nicolas Menguy of Pierre and Marie Curie University, France; Fernanda Abreu and Ulysses Lins of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Mihaly P?sfai of the University of Pannonia, Hungary; Tanya Prozorov of Ames Laboratory, Iowa; and Richard Frankel of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
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Journal Reference:
C. T. Lefevre, N. Menguy, F. Abreu, U. Lins, M. Posfai, T. Prozorov, D. Pignol, R. B. Frankel, D. A. Bazylinski. A Cultured Greigite-Producing Magnetotactic Bacterium in a Novel Group of Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria. Science, 2011; 334 (6063): 1720 DOI: 10.1126/science.1212596
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
The technology for harnessing solar energy to generate heat or thermal energy is called solar thermal energy (STE). The US Energy Information Administration has classified the solar thermal collectors as low, medium, or high temperature collectors. Low-temperature collectors are used to heat swimming pools, while medium-temperature collectors can be used to heat water or air for private or commercial purposes.
Every year, thousands of new gadgets emerge out of busy factories dotted along the eastern edge of the world: shrink-wrapped, matte or glossy, plastic armies marching to line the shelves of Best Buy and the warehouse floors of Amazon. More »
Heritage Global Partners to conduct public auction of cell towers telecommunications equipment, IT equipment and furnishings from leading nationwide wireless broadband company
SAN DIEGO?(BUSINESS WIRE)?Heritage Global Partners and Counsel RB Capital Inc. will conduct a global webcast auction of surplus assets held by Open Range Communications, Inc, a previous provider of broadband wireless Internet and digital phone services across the United States. The auction will be held on Wednesday, January 11 and Thursday, January 12, from 10 am MST, through 5 pm MST via live global webcast at www.hgpauction.com and in person at the company?s headquarters in Greenwood Village, CO.
The auction will feature large quantities of state-of-the-art networking, test equipment, IT equipment and office furnishings as well as more than 350 cell towers located throughout the United States.
?This auction is an opportunity for local or regional wireless telecom providers to purchase technologies and equipment to expand their services and better serve their customers,? said David Weiss, VP of Heritage Global Partners. ?We are pleased to represent Open Range, and leverage our global webcast platform and vast experience in selling assets around the world.?
HONOLULU ? President Barack Obama and his family spent a warm and sunny afternoon at one of the most popular snorkeling spots on the island of Oahu, where they released four green sea turtles into the water.
The Obamas arrived at Hanauma Bay Park on Tuesday after a scenic, 40-minute drive from their multimillion-dollar rented vacation home on Kailua Beach. The park is a favorite destination for the Obamas, who make an annual trip there during their Christmas holiday in Hawaii ? always on Tuesdays, when the park is closed to the public for maintenance.
This year, the president and his family released four green sea turtles into the bay's clear blue water. The 18-month-old turtles were born at Sea Life Park, a nearby marine sanctuary and aquarium that boasts of being the only place in the U.S. that raises green sea turtles in captivity.
The president and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, enjoyed their turtle experience so much that they decided to make a stop at Sea Life Park later in the day. The president appeared briefly before cameras as he left the park, climbed into a waiting SUV and headed back to his vacation rental.
The president has stayed largely out of the spotlight since arriving Friday evening in Hawaii, the state where he was born and mostly raised. He spent a low-key holiday with his family, attended Christmas church services and visited service members stationed at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, near Honolulu.
Obama also has hit the golf course, worked out at the gym on the Marine base and taken wife Michelle Obama out to dinner.
Behind the scenes, the president is being briefed by a small cadre of traveling staff on domestic and international developments, including his administration's debate over whether to allow Yemen's outgoing leader to come to the U.S. for medical treatment. Obama also announced two nominees to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors on Tuesday.
Obama has no public events planned during his vacation, which is expected to last until shortly after New Year's Day.
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Associated Press writer Audrey McAvoy contributed to this report.
The model that you just choose will give your company a sneak peek into what your marriage ceremony will probably be like, particularly you probably have a particular theme.
There are various kinds of motifs (the possibilities are infinite, truly), and a variety of ways during which to use them so as to add character to your wedding stationery. First think about the fundamentals of your wedding. Will it's formal? Then select a very small motif. Have it both engraved in gold ink or blind embossed for much more subtlety. A formal wedding ceremony calls for a traditional and symmetrical invitation, as well, so it would be best to place your motif on the top border of your invitation, proper in the center.
Less formal weddings can accommodate more eclectic makes use of of motifs. You would even select stationery which has your design printed on it, and the invitation wording printed on a vellum overlay. For example, in case you were having a destination wedding, complete with a breezy marriage ceremony robe and seaside marriage ceremony jewellery, an implausible invitation can be a picture of a sandy beach or a big tropical flower. If the invitation exhibits the seaside scene, tie the vellum layer on with a chunk of raffia, or use a fairly fuchsia ribbon over the tropical flower image. Your company will really get the seashore wedding ceremony feeling, and start packing their most festive apparel and jewellery in eager anticipation.
A easy manner to use a pretty design for a semi-formal marriage ceremony is to print, engrave, or letterpress it onto the paper in a color. You may actually have loads of enjoyable choosing your motif. Choose one which ties in instantly along with your wedding ceremony theme, or choose a design that reflects one thing personal. A very good instance of this would be a monogram or a family crest (both actual, or invented). Or if the bride and groom are both Texans, a small image of a pair of cowboy boots would be fun on the invitations. You can too design an entirely custom motif that will start in your marriage ceremony stationery and be carried throughout the rest of the wedding.
There are some traditional motifs from which a bride can choose for her wedding ceremony invitations. A backyard wedding ceremony, for instance, would be the perfect reason to adorn your stationery with your favourite flower, a watering can, or a ladybug. Different insect motifs which can be nice for weddings are a dragonfly or a bee (alongside the traces of the French royal style). Nautical motifs are wonderful for seaside wedding. Choose from an anchor, a lighthouse, a ship's wheel, or shell. Preppy brides can even select a whale or an alligator to decorate up their invitations.
Seasonal motifs are at all times lovely. An intricate snowflake can be festive for a Winter Wonderland theme wedding. Autumn brides can embellish their invitations with a leaf design. A falling leaf print down one side of the stationery can be very nice. For a spring wedding, a cheerful watercolor print of a tiny bouquet of tulips would be the right touch for the top of the wedding invitations. And for summer season weddings, there are all kinds of fun options, together with Adirondack chairs, palm trees, and fruit.
Adorning your wedding ceremony invitations with a particular motif or theme is a wonderful solution to introduce your guests to the style of your wedding. It will also add personality to your stationery and assist to set it apart from the essential invites that many couples use. A customized motif is one of those small details that can add a lot to a wedding.
Calling all couples out there who want to minimize the price of their wedding.
A big must for all couples is to have a practical finances and persist with the budget plan. Easier said then accomplished I hear you all say. Simply think should you do not then costs could spiral out of control very quickly. Important thing to remember is your wedding ceremony is for one day whereas marriage is for life.
All couples who're planning a wedding will know that the cost of printed invitations could be over 1500 dollars. That is a giant chunk of cash out of your price range right away.
Why not purchase wedding invitation kits at a fraction of the price of marriage ceremony stationery invites. Have a go at making your individual invites with the kits. You will note how gifted you actually are.
A recent wedding ceremony invite we received from a cousin was produced from one of the kits. The front page confirmed a photograph of the completely satisfied couple on a latest journey abroad with a gorgeous back drop. On the reverse of the marriage invitation the couple had inserted the marriage invitation words. The invitations not only looked skilled however had an added sparkly private contact from the couple.
Invitation kits come ready supplied with all of the supplies you require to make your invites. The one factor that you must purchase is glue. An example of what is supplied you probably have selected an ivory colored invite. You'd receive envelopes, paper, card, buckle and ribbon on to your house. Once you able to make your invites. Glue the buckle and ribbon to the front of your card. Insert the wedding wording and you might be able to send.
Brides might choose a coronary heart shaped invite kit. You'll obtain a sash, ribbon, paper, card, and envelopes. Once more as soon as you are ready to begin. Glue the sash to the aspect of your invite. Secure with a ribbon around the sash. Insert your printed wedding ceremony words on the within of the card. The invite is finished ready to ship out to your guests.
VATICAN CITY ? Pope Benedict XVI called for an end to the bloodshed in Syria and the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in his Christmas message Sunday, an appeal for peace that was challenged by deadly attacks on Nigerian churches.
Benedict delivered his "Urbi et Orbi" speech (Latin for "to the city and to the world") from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica overlooking a sun-drenched piazza below, before thousands of jubilant tourists and pilgrims, and hundreds of colorful Swiss Guards and Italian military bands.
The 84-year-old pope, fresh off a late-night Christmas Eve Mass, said he prayed that the birth of Jesus, which Christmas celebrates, would send a message to all who need to be saved from hardships.
He cited refugees from the Horn of Africa and flood victims in Thailand, among others, and called for greater political dialogue in Myanmar, and stability in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa's Great Lakes region.
He said he prayed that God would help the Israelis and the Palestinians resume talks.
"May he bring an end to the violence in Syria, where so much blood has already been shed," he said.
The pope didn't mention the deadly blasts on churches in Nigeria, but the Vatican issued a statement denouncing the attacks as a sign of "cruelty and absurd, blind hatred" that shows no respect for human life.
Early Sunday, an explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria's capital of Abuja, and an emergency worker reported that 25 people were killed. A second explosion struck near a church in Nigeria's restive central city of Jos, while two other explosions hit the northeast state of Yobe.
There was no immediately claim of responsibility for either explosion, but Nigeria has suffered a wave of sectarian attacks blamed on the radical Muslim sect Boko Haram.
Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said the Catholic church was praying for all Nigerians confronting "this terrorist violence in these days that should be filled with peace and joy."
The Vatican press office noted that Benedict's speech was prepared well in advance of the attacks.
After his speech, Benedict delivered Christmas greetings in 65 different languages, from Mongolian to Maori, Aramaic to Albanian, Tamil to Thai. He finished the list with Guarani and Latin, as the bells tolled from St. Peter's enormous bell towers.
In the West Bank, hundreds of Christian faithful, defying lashing rains and wind, celebrated Christmas Mass at Jesus' traditional birthplace of Bethleham on Sunday, spirits high despite the gloomy weather.
Worshippers dressed in their holiday best rushed under cover of umbrellas into St. Catherine's Church on Manger Square, leaving the plaza, with its 50-foot-tall (15-meter-tall) Christmas tree, deserted. The church was packed, and the overflow crowd waited eagerly in an arched corridor for a chance to enter.
Inside, supplicants, some dressed in the traditional attire of foreign lands, raised their voices in prayer, kissed a plaster statue of a baby Jesus and took communion. St. Catherine's is attached to the smaller Church of the Nativity, which is built over a grotto where devout Christians believe Jesus was born.
"Lots of pilgrims from around the world are coming to be here on Christmas," said Don Moore, 41, a psychology professor from Berkeley, Calif., who came to Bethlehem with his family. "We wanted to be part of the action. This is the place, this is where it all started."
With turnout at its highest in more than a decade, proud Palestinian officials said they were praying the celebrations would bring them closer to their dream of independence.
In Britain, the leader of the world's Anglicans, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said the summer riots in Britain and the financial crisis have broken bonds and abused trust in British society.
In his Christmas Day sermon, Rowan Williams appealed to those congregated at Canterbury Cathedral to learn lessons about "mutual obligation" from the events of the past year. He said Sunday "the most pressing question" now facing Britain is "who and where we are as a society."
"Bonds have been broken, trust abused and lost," he said.
WASHINGTON: Scientists have discovered the genetic cause of thyroid cancer, which can lead to the formulation of more targeted treatment for the disease.
Cleveland Clinic researchers have discovered three genes that increase the risk of thyroid cancer, which is has the largest incidence increase in cancers among both men and women.
Research led by Charis Eng, M.D., Ph.D., Chair and founding Director of the Genomic Medicine Institute of Cleveland Clinic?s Lerner Research Institute, included nearly 3,000 patients with Cowden syndrome (CS) or CS-like disease, which is related to an increased risk of breast and thyroid cancer.
Mutations in the PTEN gene are the foundation of Cowden syndrome. PTEN is a tumour suppressor gene, helping to direct the growth and division of cells. Inherited mutations in the PTEN gene have been found in approximately 80 percent of Cowden syndrome patients.
These mutations prevent the PTEN protein from effectively regulating cell survival and division, which can lead to the formation of tumours.
?Our investigation into the genetics behind thyroid disease raises important details relevant to diagnosis and treatment,? said Dr. Eng.
?We hope to promote the earliest diagnosis and most targeted treatment possible.?
The study found that all six patients under age 18 had pathogenic PTEN mutations. The researchers recommend that the thyroids of children with PTEN mutation-causing CS-related disease receive increased surveillance.
Children with thyroid cancer are recommended to have testing for PTEN mutations, which could warrant surveillance for additional cancers or maladies. In contrast, alterations in the SDH and KLLN genes did not associate with thyroid cancer in children.
PTEN gene testing in the setting of genetic counselling is already routinely practiced, and has been a powerful gene-enabled diagnostic test, which then personalizes clinical screening and treatment.
Once SDH and KLLN findings are independently validated, the tests could be implemented as a clinical routine test as well. Importantly, these three genes belong to different cell pathways so that specific molecular-targeted treatments can be utilized depending on which gene is involved.
The study has been published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Once our credit cards have cooled down, the shelves have been stripped bare and the January sale signs are gone, the first month of the year is time best spent saving. Most of us wouldn't dream of buying anything as flashy as a tablet computer, except for maybe the new Archos budget Android tab, of course.?
Sporting the not-too-shabby Android 3.2 Honeycomb operating system, the Archos 70b tablet goes on sale in January at a very reasonable ?180, which is extraordinary value for money, especially considering what's under the bonnet. Archos claims that it's the cheapest tablet on the market to run Honeycomb, and we can't say that we're in?a position to object.
The Archos 70b also features a 1.2 GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. We're also keen to see what the 7" multi-touch display looks like when running our favourite movie, games and video apps.
Almost identical to its predecessor - the Archos 70 internet tablet (pictured) - the 70b isn't anywhere near as attractive as rivals such as the?iPad, but that's to be expected considering the price. The only other drawback we've spotted is that it confusingly shares its name with the Archos 70b e-Reader?- how many people do you think will order one of those?
About Liam Martin I love gadgets, gizmos and games and look forward to a future where humans and robots can co-exist peacefully. My most wanted includes a Wii U, a Pac-Man heat changing mug and the impressively compact Yamaha YHT-S400 home cinema system.
If the NFL season ended today, the Washington Redskins would have the seventh pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. Of course, the season does not end today; it instead ends next week. Where will the Redskins ultimately end up in the 2012 NFL Draft order? Here's our best attempt to answer that question.
First, the current order:
Indianapolis Colts: 2-13
St. Louis Rams: 2-13
Minnesota Vikings: 3-12
Jacksonville Jaguars: 4-11
Cleveland Browns: 4-11
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 4-11
Washington Redskins: 5-10
Miami Dolphins: 5-10
Carolina Panthers: 6-9
Buffalo Bills: 6-9
Kansas City Chiefs: 6-9
The Redskins are out of contention for the top three picks. However, if things break right, the Redskins could surge to as high as No. 4. Why? Strength of schedule, which is the first tiebreaker. Here is the current strength of schedule of the teams near the Redskins:
Tampa Bay: 55.1 percent
Cleveland: 53 percent
Buffalo: 51.7 percent
Kansas City: 51.6 percent
Miami: 51.4 percent
Carolina: 50.8 percent
Jacksonville: 50.4 percent
Washington: 46.9 percent
The Redskins are far and away the worst of that group, which means that if they lose and the Jaguars, Browns and Buccaneers all win, the Redskins would likely vault up to No. 4. It also means that if the Redskins win, the worse they would likely finish is No. 8 if the Dolphins win.
Here are the Week 17 matchups worth watching.
Redskins at. Eagles (7-8)
Buccaneers at Falcons (9-5)
Jaguars vs. Colts (2-13)
Browns vs. Steelers (11-4)
Dolphins vs. Jets (8-7)
For more 2012 NFL Draft order scenarios, visit this StoryStream.
FILE - In this April 14, 2011, file photo, Oakland Athletics' Gio Gonzalez pitches against the Detroit Tigers during a baseball game in Oakland, Calif. Gonzalez said Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011, the Washington Nationals have agreed to acquire him in a trade from the Athletics, and the deal is nearly finished. "It's 99 percent done," Gonzalez said in a phone interview. "It's pending a physical and I'm just waiting to hear from my agent." (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)
Source: AP - Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Three astronauts arrived today (Dec. 23) at the International Space Station just in time for a zero gravity holiday party as they begin a five-month stay in orbit.
NASA astronaut Don Pettit, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, and Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers of the European Space Agency (ESA), docked at the orbiting laboratory today at 10:19 a.m. EST (1519 GMT) as the two spacecraft sailed 240 miles over southern Russia. They arrived aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which launched Wednesday (Dec. 21) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.?
"The Soyuz crew arrives down the chimney of the space station with an early Christmas present for the station's crew," said NASA spokesman Rob Navias during ?the televised space rendezvous.
Waiting aboard the space station are their crewmates, commander Daniel Burbank of NASA and flight engineers Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin of Russia. With the new crewmembers' arrival, the space station is fully staffed.
All three newly arrived astronauts are space veterans, and have visited the station before. The new crew was greeted with warm hugs by the three men aboard the space station.
"I feel like I'm back home," Pettit told his wife Micki and 11-year-old twin boys Evan and Garrett via a video call from the station. "I promise to write often."
"We wish you good luck on your flight and merry Christmas," Evan said.
In between their busy work conducting science experiments in microgravity and maintaining the space station, the six spacemen will celebrate the holidays in orbital style. Burbank, Shkaplerov and Ivanishin have already decked the station's halls with festive decorations, and were just waiting for the new trio to stage a holiday feast. [ Holidays in Space: An Astronaut Photo Album ]
"With their arrival, ISS will be back at full strength but we'll also have three good friends to join us," Burbank said in a holiday greeting video he sent from space. "We'll also have them just in time for the Christmas and new years holidays. We'll celebrate the holidays in great fashion after they get here."
Commercial spaceship arrival
Early in the new year, the station crew will begin preparing for a milestone event: the first arrival of a commercial spaceship at the ISS.
The unmanned Dragon space capsule, built by private company SpaceX of Hawthorne, Calif., will make a cargo delivery to the station in early February. Dragon has already flown on one test flight to orbit, but this mission will be the vehicle's first trip to the space station.
SpaceX is developing Dragon under a NASA program to stimulate the growth of commercial spacecraft to take over the duties of the retired space shuttle fleet. Dragon will begin by carrying supplies, and if all goes well, the vehicle will eventually carry astronauts to the space station as well.
For this test mission, Dragon will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and autonomously rendezvous with the space station. Once within reach, the station crew will grab onto the capsule with the space station's robotic arm and berth it to the outpost.
"I think that it's really a great idea to engage more companies participating in the space program, that contribute to the manned space program in particular," Kononenko told SPACE.com in a preflight interview. "The only thing that I would like to emphasize is that I would like these commercial vehicles to be absolutely safe."
Greetings, Earthlings
While in space, the astronauts plan to stay in touch with friends and family, and even the public, through technology. In addition to regular calls and emails home, the spaceflyers will use social media to share their experiences.
"I'm planning to use Twitter," Pettit said in a press conference before the launch. "I have a hard time saying anything in less than 140 characters. I'm still groping with how can I use that kind of medium." He also plans to blog, he added.
The crew's Expedition 30 mission aboard the space station will be particularly followed by people in the Netherlands. Kuipers is only the third Dutch astronaut to travel to space, and the first to do so twice.
"A bit to my surprise, there's a lot of attention again," Kuipers said. "This is my second flight. To small countries, of course, the flight of a national astronaut is a big thing."
You can follow SPACE.com assistant managing editor Clara Moskowitz on Twitter @ClaraMoskowitz. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcomand on Facebook.
? 2011 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.
USC quarterback Matt Barkley, who announced Thursday that he would return for his senior season, revealed his initial plan was to leave for the NFL on the ?Mason and Ireland? show on Friday.
"At first, I was pretty much positive that I was leaving right after the season because I was on such an emotional high," Barkley said on the show. "I figured I was going."
?But after looking over everything -- and we gathered every fact we could to help make the decision -- I ultimately knew in my heart that I was coming back to USC."
Barkley had a banner season in 2011, accumulating 3,528 yards, 39 touchdowns and only seven interceptions during a year in which USC was not allowed to compete for a conference or national title because of NCAA sanctions.
Due to his success, Barkley was projected to be as high as the second quarterback taken and a top-10 pick if he chose to enter the NFL Draft.
As quarterbacks Matt Leinert, Sam Bradford, Jake Locker and Andrew Luck have in the past, Barkley received criticism for returning to school and possibly losing out on millions of dollars.
"No one truly knows what I've been through and what the team's been through," Barkley told ?Mason and Ireland? show. "It's so much more than just a check. I think the opportunity to come back and do something special at USC with the team that we have, but they don't know my situation.
"The money will be there."
Barkley?s family has financial security, putting him in a different position than many players who enter the draft early.
"He didn't want to be left looking back and saying what could have been," Barkley?s father, Les, said Thursday after the announcement.
> Aldi Finalizes Plan for Florida Warehouse, Offices
Dec 22, 2011 12:43 PM,
By SN STAFF
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. ? Aldi will build a 500,000-square-foot warehouse and office here, city officials confirmed this week.
The new facility will be used for divisional headquarters and support further expansion of stores in Florida ? between 60 and 70 new stores in South Florida, according to a report in the Sun-Sentinel newspaper. The project represents a $50 million investment for Aldi, the Batavia, Ill.-based discounter.
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While memorials of all kinds and sizes have been presented since his death, the world's first statue of the late Steve Jobs has today been unveiled in Budapest, Hungary. It's made completely of bronze and stands nearby the entrance of architectural software maker Graphisoft's headquarters. Jobs seems to be presenting a new product on stage, or possibly waving as he was known to do upon exiting the stage.
In the increasingly fierce smartphone patent wars, HTC is an underdog, and now that Apple's successfully won a ban on several HTC phones beginning on April 12, 2012, some wonder if the South Korean company can survive another fight. The International Trade Commission (ITC) handed down the ruling on Monday, stating that HTC must either settle or stop selling its device in the United States due to infringing on Apple's patents. HTC quickly issued a statement ensuring the public that its "designers have created alternate solutions" that would avoid the ban. The court paperwork cites the patents in question, noting the the ban applies specifically to patent #5,946,647. HTC said, "the ?647 patent is a small UI experience and HTC will completely remove it from all of our phones soon." Fortune explains what the patent actually covers in plain English:
When an iPhone receives a message that contains a phone number or an address -- e-mail, Web or street -- those bits of data are automatically highlighted, underlined and turned into clickable links.
Click on the phone number, and the iPhone asks if you want to dial it. Click on the Web address, and it opens in Safari. Click on the street address, and Maps will display it.
As Gizmodo points out, this particular function could apply to a wide range of HTC phones: "?Droid Incredible, Evo 4G, T-Mobile G2, Nexus One and a bunch of older Android devices." But again, as HTC gleefully asserted, all it takes is a quick software update and the infringing problem goes away. However, the fact that Apple successfully won a ruling means that the software war will only continue.?Everybody has their own idea of what this patent battle means, but the extent to which this latest case flipped from threat to ban to solution -- a span of a few days -- serves as a fresh reminder that the process is a little silly, if not a total waste of time.
Emory and US CDC partner to continue building global public health network with $6 million grantPublic release date: 16-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Holly Korschun hkorsch@emory.edu 404-727-3990 Emory University
Emory University's Global Health Institute has received a three-year, $6 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to further develop a model for strengthening national public health institutes (NPHIs) globally. The grant will build upon a previous foundation grant to the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI), which since 2006 has created or substantially increased capacity at NPHIs in 10 low-resource countries.
Under the new grant, IANPHI, through its Secretariat at the Emory Global Health Institute, will collaborate with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in three-year capacity building projects in four low-resource countries, to be named later this year.
In the process, IANPHI technical assistance methods and model for NPHI capacity building will be transferred to the CDC, with the intent that they be sustained over time as part of its future global health capacity building efforts. It is anticipated that other IANPHI members will use the jointly developed model, seeking out funding to undertake capacity building projects in partnership with IANPHI.
"We are grateful to the Gates Foundation for its strong commitment to IANPHI's project work through its international community of public health institutes, which since 2006 has used a peer-assistance model to strengthen national capacity to respond to health threats," says Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, vice president for global health at Emory, IANPHI president, and principal investigator for the new grant.
"We live in an increasingly interconnected society, and the public health issues of one country can quickly affect the entire world. It's important to think globally not only about public health problems, but also about developing and disseminating public health solutions. Because health risks are global, ineffective disease detection and response systems in one country can weaken the world."
IANPHI, based at the Emory Global Health Institute and Finland's National Institute of Public Health and Welfare, is an unparalleled network of the world's top public health leaders from 80 NPHIs. These CDC-like organizations lead national public health systems that can swiftly pinpoint and control disease outbreaks, rapidly identify pathogens and viruses through laboratory science, reduce deaths and disability due to smoking and other risk factors, and do research to inform national health policy.
IANPHI since 2006 has improved public health through some 50 projects in 35 countries with a focus on long-term projects to strengthen NPHIs in low-resource countries or create new ones. IANPHI-funded NPHI development projects have leveraged more than $50 million in technical assistance, financial support, equipment, and in-kind services from other countries, organizations, and donors.
"With this grant, CDC will partner with IANPHI to develop new NPHIs and strengthen existing ones and will work toward making this role a sustainable aspect of its global health efforts," Koplan says. "Catalyzing NPHI-to-NPHI technical assistance is a key component of IANPHI's success, including partnerships between IANPHI members from Brazil and Mozambique, France and Togo, and Nigeria and Uganda. We anticipate further such partnerships as IANPHI members' commitment to, and engagement in, the program continues to grow."
"CDC has had a longstanding and successful collaboration with Emory University in a broad range of global public health efforts," says Dr. Peter Bloland, director of the Division of Public Health Systems and Workforce Development, Center for Global Health. "The grant from the Gates Foundation to IANPHI through the Emory Global Health Institute provides an exciting new platform for CDC and IANPHI to work collaboratively on building essential public health capacity in low-income countries.
"CDC's more than 60 years as the United States' national public health institute uniquely qualifies us to support other NPHIs. This collaboration complements CDC's other capacity development programs, such as the Field Epidemiology Training Program and the Sustainable Management Development Program. We look forward to having even greater success with helping resource-poor countries increasingly address their own public health priorities."
Dr. Koplan, who is a former director of the U.S. CDC, says that concerns about the aftermath of natural disasters and conflicts, infectious diseases, tobacco use and obesity, pollution and food-borne toxins, injuries and other health-related losses that compromise national security and productivity are pushing countries to establish or strengthen NPHIs.
NPHIs provide science-based leadership and public health services and are on the front lines of public health challenges including food safety, H1N1 influenza, tuberculosis, polio, malaria, cholera, rabies, AIDS, and a host of other infectious or non-communicable diseases and conditions.
Coordinating core public health functions through an NPHI can result in more efficient use of resources and improved delivery of public health services. NPHIs are particularly beneficial in low-resource countries where they reduce brain drain by attracting and keeping qualified people, and stemming the tide of experts leaving government service for higher paying jobs.
This is the second grant to IANPHI from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has supported IANPHI's vision of improving health outcomes since the organization's inception. In 2006, the foundation granted IANPHI close to $20 million to improve health outcomes, particularly in low-resource countries, by strengthening or creating national public health institutes.
Since then, IANPHI membership has more than doubled to more than 80 institutes from 74 countries, benefiting more than 79 percent of the world's population. IANPHI members include Brazil's Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), the Netherland's National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Japan's National Institute for Public Health, the China CDC, and India's National Centre for Disease Control.
This community of public health leaders has led to numerous scientific and other partnerships, including technical exchanges during the H1N1 outbreak and earthquake disasters. Besides awarding numerous seed grants for research and short-term technical assistance, IANPHI also has funded expansive long-term projects to strengthen NPHIs or create new ones. These efforts include rebuilding the war-torn public health system in Guinea-Bissau, creating new NPHIs in Mozambique and Ghana, and creating new national capacity for noncommunicable disease research and prevention in Tanzania.
###
Emory's Global Health Institute, directed by Dr. Koplan, is a university-wide initiative established to develop innovative research, training and programs to address the most pressing health challenges around the world, particularly in low-resource countries.
For more than 60 years, CDC has used its scientific expertise to help people throughout the world live healthier, safer, longer lives and help other countries build essential public health capacity.
Read more about IANPHI at www.ianphi.org, the U.S. CDC at http://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/dphswd/ and the Emory Global Health Institute at www.globalhealth.emory.edu.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
Emory and US CDC partner to continue building global public health network with $6 million grantPublic release date: 16-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Holly Korschun hkorsch@emory.edu 404-727-3990 Emory University
Emory University's Global Health Institute has received a three-year, $6 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to further develop a model for strengthening national public health institutes (NPHIs) globally. The grant will build upon a previous foundation grant to the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI), which since 2006 has created or substantially increased capacity at NPHIs in 10 low-resource countries.
Under the new grant, IANPHI, through its Secretariat at the Emory Global Health Institute, will collaborate with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in three-year capacity building projects in four low-resource countries, to be named later this year.
In the process, IANPHI technical assistance methods and model for NPHI capacity building will be transferred to the CDC, with the intent that they be sustained over time as part of its future global health capacity building efforts. It is anticipated that other IANPHI members will use the jointly developed model, seeking out funding to undertake capacity building projects in partnership with IANPHI.
"We are grateful to the Gates Foundation for its strong commitment to IANPHI's project work through its international community of public health institutes, which since 2006 has used a peer-assistance model to strengthen national capacity to respond to health threats," says Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, vice president for global health at Emory, IANPHI president, and principal investigator for the new grant.
"We live in an increasingly interconnected society, and the public health issues of one country can quickly affect the entire world. It's important to think globally not only about public health problems, but also about developing and disseminating public health solutions. Because health risks are global, ineffective disease detection and response systems in one country can weaken the world."
IANPHI, based at the Emory Global Health Institute and Finland's National Institute of Public Health and Welfare, is an unparalleled network of the world's top public health leaders from 80 NPHIs. These CDC-like organizations lead national public health systems that can swiftly pinpoint and control disease outbreaks, rapidly identify pathogens and viruses through laboratory science, reduce deaths and disability due to smoking and other risk factors, and do research to inform national health policy.
IANPHI since 2006 has improved public health through some 50 projects in 35 countries with a focus on long-term projects to strengthen NPHIs in low-resource countries or create new ones. IANPHI-funded NPHI development projects have leveraged more than $50 million in technical assistance, financial support, equipment, and in-kind services from other countries, organizations, and donors.
"With this grant, CDC will partner with IANPHI to develop new NPHIs and strengthen existing ones and will work toward making this role a sustainable aspect of its global health efforts," Koplan says. "Catalyzing NPHI-to-NPHI technical assistance is a key component of IANPHI's success, including partnerships between IANPHI members from Brazil and Mozambique, France and Togo, and Nigeria and Uganda. We anticipate further such partnerships as IANPHI members' commitment to, and engagement in, the program continues to grow."
"CDC has had a longstanding and successful collaboration with Emory University in a broad range of global public health efforts," says Dr. Peter Bloland, director of the Division of Public Health Systems and Workforce Development, Center for Global Health. "The grant from the Gates Foundation to IANPHI through the Emory Global Health Institute provides an exciting new platform for CDC and IANPHI to work collaboratively on building essential public health capacity in low-income countries.
"CDC's more than 60 years as the United States' national public health institute uniquely qualifies us to support other NPHIs. This collaboration complements CDC's other capacity development programs, such as the Field Epidemiology Training Program and the Sustainable Management Development Program. We look forward to having even greater success with helping resource-poor countries increasingly address their own public health priorities."
Dr. Koplan, who is a former director of the U.S. CDC, says that concerns about the aftermath of natural disasters and conflicts, infectious diseases, tobacco use and obesity, pollution and food-borne toxins, injuries and other health-related losses that compromise national security and productivity are pushing countries to establish or strengthen NPHIs.
NPHIs provide science-based leadership and public health services and are on the front lines of public health challenges including food safety, H1N1 influenza, tuberculosis, polio, malaria, cholera, rabies, AIDS, and a host of other infectious or non-communicable diseases and conditions.
Coordinating core public health functions through an NPHI can result in more efficient use of resources and improved delivery of public health services. NPHIs are particularly beneficial in low-resource countries where they reduce brain drain by attracting and keeping qualified people, and stemming the tide of experts leaving government service for higher paying jobs.
This is the second grant to IANPHI from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has supported IANPHI's vision of improving health outcomes since the organization's inception. In 2006, the foundation granted IANPHI close to $20 million to improve health outcomes, particularly in low-resource countries, by strengthening or creating national public health institutes.
Since then, IANPHI membership has more than doubled to more than 80 institutes from 74 countries, benefiting more than 79 percent of the world's population. IANPHI members include Brazil's Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), the Netherland's National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Japan's National Institute for Public Health, the China CDC, and India's National Centre for Disease Control.
This community of public health leaders has led to numerous scientific and other partnerships, including technical exchanges during the H1N1 outbreak and earthquake disasters. Besides awarding numerous seed grants for research and short-term technical assistance, IANPHI also has funded expansive long-term projects to strengthen NPHIs or create new ones. These efforts include rebuilding the war-torn public health system in Guinea-Bissau, creating new NPHIs in Mozambique and Ghana, and creating new national capacity for noncommunicable disease research and prevention in Tanzania.
###
Emory's Global Health Institute, directed by Dr. Koplan, is a university-wide initiative established to develop innovative research, training and programs to address the most pressing health challenges around the world, particularly in low-resource countries.
For more than 60 years, CDC has used its scientific expertise to help people throughout the world live healthier, safer, longer lives and help other countries build essential public health capacity.
Read more about IANPHI at www.ianphi.org, the U.S. CDC at http://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/dphswd/ and the Emory Global Health Institute at www.globalhealth.emory.edu.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Despite dueling announcements claiming technological breakthroughs in all-plant bottles, neither Coke nor Pepsi is confident enough in the technology to offer a firm timetable.
While 
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Public release date: 16-Dec-2011
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