Monday, January 21, 2013

Inside job, 2 Canadian militants in Algeria siege

Algerian firemen carry a coffin containing the body of a person killed during the hostage situation in a gas plant at the morgue in Ain Amenas, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013. At least 81 people have been reported dead, including 32 Islamist militants, after a bloody, four-day hostage situation at Algeria's remote Ain Amenas natural gas plant. (AP Photo/Anis Belghoul)

Algerian firemen carry a coffin containing the body of a person killed during the hostage situation in a gas plant at the morgue in Ain Amenas, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013. At least 81 people have been reported dead, including 32 Islamist militants, after a bloody, four-day hostage situation at Algeria's remote Ain Amenas natural gas plant. (AP Photo/Anis Belghoul)

This image taken from Algerian TV broadcast on Sunday Jan. 20 2013, shows what it said to be the aftermath of the hostage crisis at the remote Ain Amenas gas facility in Algeria. Algerian special forces stormed the plant on Saturday to end the four-day siege, moving in to thwart what government officials said was a plot by the Islamic extremists to blow up the complex and kill all their captives with mines sown throughout the site. (AP Photo/Algerie TV via Associated Press TV)

Undersecretary Raul Hernandez, Spokesman of the Department of Foreign Affairs, briefs newsmen on the Algerian hostage crisis Monday Jan. 21, 2013 in Manila, Philippines. Hernandez said six Filipino workers, who were working at the sprawling oil field in Algeria which was attacked by terrorists, were killed, four more unaccounted for and four were wounded in the attack. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Joseph Balmaceda, center, one of the four Filipino oil field workers who was wounded but survived the terrorist attacks of an oil field in Algeria, limps to his waiting vehicle after talking to the media at the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration in Manila, Philippines, Monday Jan. 21, 2013. In a separate briefing by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Spokesman Raul Hernandez said six Filipino workers were killed and four more are still unaccounted for. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Joseph Balmaceda, one of the four Filipino oil field workers who was wounded but survived the terrorist attacks of an oil field in Algeria, talks about his ordeal shortly upon arrival at the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration in Manila, Philippines Monday Jan. 21, 2013. In a separate briefing by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Spokesman Raul Hernandez said six Filipino workers were killed and four more are still unaccounted for. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) ? The Islamist militants who attacked a natural gas plant in the Sahara wore Algerian army uniforms, memorized the layout of the vast complex and included two Canadians and a team of explosives experts ready to blow the place sky-high, Algeria's prime minister said Monday.

The operation also appeared to have help from the inside ? a former driver at the plant, he said.

Algeria offered a grim toll in the attack, saying that 38 hostages and 29 militants died in four days of mayhem. The dead hostages included seven Japanese workers and three energy workers each from the U.S. and Britain.

Three of the attackers were captured and five foreign workers remain unaccounted for, the prime minister told reporters at a news conference in Algiers, the capital.

Monday's account offered the first Algerian government narrative of the four-day standoff, from the moment of the attempted bus hijacking to the moment when the attackers began to prepare to explode bombs across the massive gas plant that sprawled over 5 square kilometers ( 2 square miles).

All but one of the dead hostages ? an Algerian driver ? were foreigners. The prime minister said three attackers were captured but did not specify their nationalities or their conditions or say where they were being held.

He said the Islamists included a former driver at the complex who was from Niger and that the militants "knew the facility's layout by heart."

The militants had said during the standoff that their band included people from Canada, and hostages who had escaped recalled hearing at least one of the militants speaking English with a North American accent.

In addition to the Canadians, the militant cell included men from Egypt, Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Tunisia, as well as three Algerians.

"You may have heard the last words of the terrorist chief," Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal told reporters. "He gave the order for all the foreigners to be killed, so there was a mass execution, many hostages were killed by a bullet to the head."

A total of three Americans died in the attack and seven made it out safely, a U.S. official in Washington said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. Their bodies have been recovered, the official said.

The attack began early Wednesday with the attempted hijacking of two buses filled with workers outside the complex. Under assault from Algerian forces, the militants moved on the main complex, armed with missiles, mortars and bombs for their three explosives experts, Sellal said.

He praised the quick wits of a guard who set of an alarm that stopped the flow of gas and warned workers of an imminent attack.

"It was thanks to him that the factory was protected," he said.

Five foreigners remained unaccounted for, Sellal said. Japan's prime minister said Monday seven Japanese citizens were killed and three others are missing.

Sellal said the facility had 790 Algerian workers and 134 foreigners from 26 countries. The Algerians were freed early in the standoff ? former hostages said the attackers immediately separated out the foreigners, forcing some to wear explosive belts.

The prime minister said the heavily armed militants came from Mali carrying a great deal of explosives and mined the facility. They had prepared the attack for two months.

Sellal justified the helicopter attack Thursday on vehicles filled with hostages out of the fear the kidnappers were attempting to escape.

The Algerian special forces assault on the refinery on Saturday that killed the last group of militants and hostages came after the kidnappers attempted to destroy the complex.

In a statement, the Masked Brigade, the group that claimed to have masterminded the takeover, has warned of more such attacks against any country backing France's military intervention in neighboring Mali, where the French are trying to stop an advance by Islamic extremists.

Sellal said the militants had expected to return to Mali with the foreign hostages. Seven French citizens taken hostage in recent years are thought to be held by al-Qaida linked groups in northern Mali.

"Their goal was to kidnap foreigners," Sellal said. "They wanted to flee to Mali with the foreigners but once they were surrounded they started killing the first hostages."

The operation was led by an Algerian, Amine Benchenab, who was known to security services and was killed during the assault, he added. Sellal said negotiating was essentially impossible.

"They led us into a real labyrinth, in negotiations that became unreasonable," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Bradley Klapper contributed to this report from Washington.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-21-Algeria-Kidnapping/id-50953b1c48034b87827a68610f033643

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Be Cautious That Payday Loans Don't Dominate Your Financial ...

quick payday loans online Get unsecured personal loans in San Antonio, TX by using quick $ 700 payday loans online no fax .

Monetary problems will often demand fast focus. If perhaps there were some type of bank loan that folks could easily get that permitted these to get funds easily. Thankfully, such a bank loan does are present, and it?s referred to as payday advance. The subsequent report includes a myriad of assistance and recommendations on pay day loans which you might will need.

Do not expand your payday advance except if you totally need to. The interest rate is really at the top of a payday advance that it can be hard to pay the bank loan off of in the event you expand it past the initial pay time. Payday cash loans are short-run loans and ought to be handled as such.

Unless you know a lot in regards to a payday advance but they are in eager need for one particular, you may want to speak with a bank loan skilled. This might also be a buddy, co-worker, or member of the family. You would like to make sure you are certainly not obtaining conned, and you know what you really are stepping into.

Make sure you stay up to date with any tip adjustments in terms of your payday advance lender. Laws is definitely getting approved that adjustments how lenders may run so be sure to comprehend any tip adjustments and how they impact both you and your bank loan before you sign a contract.

Generally pay back the loan before the time frame has passed. There are usually large late fees attached to these loans. Then you won?t have the money that it requires to pay them. At this point, debt can mount. Carefully look at the regards to the money to make sure you will make the repayments.

Repaying a payday advance as fast as possible is definitely the best way to go. Paying out it off quickly is definitely the best thing to accomplish. Financing the loan via several extensions and paycheck cycles gives the interest rate time to bloat the loan. This will easily set you back several times the amount you obtained.

Ensure that you understand how, and whenever you will pay back the loan even before you get it. Get the bank loan repayment did the trick into the price range for your forthcoming pay time periods. Then you can promise you spend the funds back again. If you fail to repay it, you will definately get caught up paying out that loan extension payment, along with more attention.

Assume the payday advance firm to phone you. Each and every firm needs to verify the details they get from each prospect, and that implies that they need to get in touch with you. They should speak to you directly before they accept the money. Therefore, don?t allow them to have a quantity which you by no means use, or use whilst you?re at work. The more it will require for them to speak to you, the longer you must wait for funds.

Attempt eating your foods from your home. You will be surprised at just what you can help save by setting up fresh meals in the home. In the event you prepare food considerable amounts and refrigerate, you could have enough to nibble on for days. Even though eating dinner out is a lot easier, you will wind up investing more cash. This can actually assist in relation to paying off your payday advance.

If you feel a payday advance firm is doing you incorrect, tend not to be scared to document these to your condition organization. Whilst there are several wonderful payday advance companies, there are a lot of fakes. In order to get free of these artificial companies, their state must be produced conscious of them.

Choose your referrals smartly. Some payday advance companies need you to label two, or three referrals. These represent the individuals that they may get in touch with, if you find an issue and you should not be arrived at. Make certain your referrals can be arrived at. In addition, make certain you warn your referrals, that you will be making use of them. This helps these to assume any cell phone calls.

In the event you may need income extremely quick, a payday advance may be your best choice. You could have the funds deposited into the banking account in as little as an hour or so. Then, if needed, you may sign up for a regular bank loan that can take for a longer time to procedure to pay it off.

If you are planning to take out a payday advance, you ought to be certain that there is not an alternative. A payday advance comes along with extremely high rates of interest and may can even make your financial predicament initial. Just use a payday advance in case you have hardly any other decision, and will also assist rather than injured you financially.

With any luck ,, this article has you properly armed being a buyer, and well-informed concerning the information of pay day loans. Exactly like everything else in the world, you will find positives, and negatives. The soccer ball is your judge being a buyer, who need to understand the information. Weigh them, and get the best decision!

Source: http://www.dgstradinginc.com/be-cautious-that-payday-loans-dont-dominate-your-financial-situation/

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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Explosives hoaxer to apologize to each jet passenger

By Dan Stamm and Jackie Gailey, NBC10.com

A pizza cook who admitted making a hoax call warning of liquid explosives on a plane, causing the flight to be diverted, must write an apology letter to every delayed passenger.

Kenneth Smith Jr., 26, pleaded guilty Monday to malicious false information about an explosive, and false information and hoaxes, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney?s Eastern District of Pennsylvania Office.

The Philadelphia man's call to airport police led to US Airways flight 1267, bound for Dallas-Forth Worth, being diverted back to Philadelphia airport shortly after take-off on Sept 6.

Sixty-nine passengers and five crew members were on the plane.

Smith faces up to 15 years in prison and fines of up to $500,000 when he is sentenced on April 16. He has agreed to pay restitution and write an apology letter to every passenger who was on the flight when it was delayed, and reimburse the emergency response costs, prosecutors said.

Smith?s reasoning for the hoax, according to federal prosecutors, was to target a passenger on the flight, Christopher Shell, who was at the time identified as the ex-boyfriend of Smith?s girlfriend.

Reportedly Shell had posted a compromising photo of the woman on Facebook.

Shell was removed from the airplane in handcuffs. He later wound up making it to Dallas where we was arrested on two outstanding warrants, police said. NBC Dallas spoke to Shell in October about the plane hoax and how it derailed his career.

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/15/16519881-man-must-write-sorry-letters-to-airplane-passengers-over-explosives-hoax?lite

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Facebook settings to tweak for Graph Search

57 min.

Tweaking your?Activity Log just became a necessary and tedious new part of being a Facebook user. Thanks to the service's new Graph Search feature, all that profile info you've painstakingly updated over the years (employer, home town, relationship status, movie likes, etc) and all the photos you've added over time, are now to become data in a database of the social network's trillion connections between a billion users.?

Before Facebook rolls out this new search engine to the masses, it is rolling it out in a very limited beta to select users.

And while those guinea pigs test it out, the rest of us will have the chance to tweak a few things to ensure that our dirty laundry isn't so easily accessible. Granted, all this data has been available to our friends forever. We put it out there for them to see. All Facebook is doing is indexing that info for our friends, and friends of friends. No new data is being added and the general public won't have access to the name of your mother or the college you attended.

But, if you would rather not have your friends of friends be able to search for "single women in new york from kansas who like big bang theory" and come up with your name, you'll want to take a closer look at your profile.?

First off, you might want to limit who can search for you in Facebook. To stop friends of friends from seeking you out:

  1. Click the lock icon on the top right of your profile.?
  2. Click Edit next to "Who can look up your timeline by name."
  3. Select Friends from the drop-down menu that appears.?
  4. Click Close.

Next up, it's time to check out your Activity Log and make sure you're happy about all those photos your friends have tagged you in, the likes you've shared and the places you've checked in. The tedious part here is that you'll need to review every item ever entered on your timeline. So, settle in, cause this could take a while.?

  1. Click the lock icon on the top right of your profile.?
  2. Click Use Activity Log next to "Review all your posts and things you're tagged in."
  3. Click on the icon of two people's heads to the right of any post, like, tag, comment, photo, etc. that you'd prefer to limit visibility.?
  4. Click Report/Remove Tag (in the event of a photo; language changes depending on type of entry).
  5. Select "I want this photo removed from Facebook."
  6. Click Continue. A message will be sent to the person who posted that item, assuming it's not you, requesting that they remove it.?

The way Facebook works its privacy settings these days, you automatically limit future posts to just Friends. But, you may not have the same settings on your past post. To lock out friends of friends from your frat party pictures, you'll need to:?

  1. Click the lock icon on the top right of your profile.?
  2. Click Limit Past Posts next to "Limit the audience for old posts on your timeline."
  3. Click Limit Old Posts. Note, this step cannot be easily undone, per a warning pop-up.?

More from Laptop:

Copyright 2013 LAPTOP, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/3-privacy-settings-tweak-facebook-graph-search-rolls-out-1B7988034

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Pope's secretary "Gorgeous George" on Vanity Fair cover

ROME (Reuters) - Archbishop Georg Ganswein, Pope Benedict's private secretary, who has been dubbed "Gorgeous George" by the Italian media, is now a real-life cover boy.

The prelate has landed on the cover of Vanity Fair.

The cover on the Italian edition of the magazine shows the 56-year-old archbishop smiling, his blue eyes beaming, above a headline that reads "Father Georg - It's not a sin to be beautiful."

The magazine calls Ganswein "The George Clooney of St Peter's" and says it dedicated a cover story to honor his recent promotion to the rank of archbishop and as recognition of his growing power in the Roman Catholic Church.

A spokeswoman for the magazine said Ganswein was not interviewed for the article and did not pose for the cover photo, which she said was a close-up of an existing picture.

Ganswein, who has been Benedict's personal secretary since the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Roman Catholic leader in 2005, was elevated to the rank of archbishop earlier this month.

A German like the pope, he was also promoted to the job of Prefect of the Pontifical Household, a position that will significantly increase his power as the pope gets older and frailer.

As prefect, Ganswein - already one of the most recognizable and powerful figures in the papal court - will arrange all the pope's private and public audiences and his daily schedule.

And, because he will be keeping his job as chief private secretary, he will have even more power in deciding who has access to the 85-year-old pope.

Vanity Fair said the article about Ganswein was a "close up profile of a particular monsignor". The magazine goes on sale on Wednesday.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/popes-secretary-gorgeous-george-vanity-fair-cover-155809170.html

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Monday, January 14, 2013

Japan Red Cross Association to organise ?Hyouka X Blood Donation Drive? in late January

hyouka

The Japan Red Cross Association?s blood donation drive at Comic Market 83, where attendees who stopped by to do a good deed were rewarded with exclusive not-for-sale memorabilia, was a huge success. Never mind the actions of a few unscrupulous folks who decided to sully the act of good faith by auctioning off the Red Cross Association?s humble token of appreciation to the highest bidders online for money.

In fact, so successful was the donation drive that the Red Cross Association has decided to do it again, this time tying up with Kyoto Animation?s well-loved anime series of 2012, Hyouka.

Details for the new anime-themed donation drive have not yet been finalised, but the Japan Red Cross Association is planning to run the new drive sometime in late January.

Anime fans who head on down to a yet-unspecified location to donate their blood will receive an exclusive ?Hyouka X Blood Donation? poster (??????????).

Better yet, if two or more such anime fans come down to the location in a group, all blood donors in the group will also receive a bonus ?Hyouka X Blood Donation? clear file (?????????????), on top of the poster.

The designs for the Hyouka X Blood Donation poster and clear file will be unveiled at a later date.

blood donation

Although at the end of the day, there will always be people who feel that if they make the time and effort to go down and donate a few pints of their precious, noble blood, then they?re entitled to do whatever the hell they want with the token of appreciation from Red Cross or any other similar organisations ? including auctioning these exclusive posters off for untold amounts of fortunes, here at SGCafe we sincerely hope that those anime fans will search their conscience and realise that donating blood to save lives is for a good cause.

After all, the Japan Red Cross Association has to expense huge amounts of money to get these posters and clear files made, but they feel, too, that it is for a good cause: to make a couple of anime fans happy. I believe the standard practice at blood donation drives in most countries is simply to provide donors with a cookie or some sort of treat to replenish any blood sugars lost.

The very least that those lucky anime fans can do is to give out the posters to someone who wants ? nay, to someone who needs it ? if they truly have no use for the free anime character goods.

They should give it out to someone who needs the poster or clear file, in the same manner that their blood may one day be potentially transfused to a less fortunate anime fan (or anyone, really) needing it while on the brink of death.

????????????????????????????

Source: http://sgcafe.com/2013/01/hyouka-blood-donation-drive/

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The Gold Puppy: Radio Silence


A friend gave me this magical cone, from a Cedar of Lebanon, of all things. It was tightly closed when she gave it to me. But it began to open, slowly and gracefully, over a period of a few days. Incredible, how powerful the life force is! The other day it popped. Every one of those things on the right side of the pic are Cedar of Lebanon seeds. What should I do with them?

....................................................................................................

No one who knows anything about me would consider me a woman of few words. Really, no one. Usually I'm like the mighty Mississippi River of words, pontificating and explaining all the Very Fascinating Things I've been thinking about. It's the one thing about me that seems more extraverted than introverted, the way I come into understanding about things through writing and speaking.

Believe it or not, before I write or speak, I spend a lot of time thinking, pondering, wondering, following the meandering paths of imagination, hopping various trains of thought. As a very slow processor of - well - everything, it takes awhile before what's going on becomes word ripe.

One of my friends who, by the way is not yet sixty, called this significant birthday an "inward journey." Perfect words. I'm grateful I didn't have to come up with that language since the word processing center in my brain seems to be on hold at the moment. The meandering path that leads to age sixty is challenging. It feels a little bit like a trek around Annapurna, in my mind/heart at least. There is a swirling in my mind/heart, but the shapes are vague and the colors ever changing. This birthday is potent!

Some friends have expressed concern that the river of words here has inexplicably slowed. All is well. I'm no longer on the verge of buying a ticket to Paris and the idea of getting a dog has been filed in the "Not Right Now" section of my priorities. I wouldn't say I'm exactly balanced again, but I'm getting there, surfing these last few weeks of the year of the Black Water Dragon as best I can.

What I'm doing lately, instead of radiating words, is a lot of cooking. I bought Deb Perelman's excellent Smitten Kitchen cookbook. She's a blogger. The book is written and presented like a blog; of course I love it. She is an excellent photographer as well as cook and writer. The pictures are exquisite. Here's her blog.

Everything I've made from her book so far has been wonderful. Last night I made a gallette of carmalized sweet onions and butternut squash. Absolutely yum. What should I make tonight?

Cooking is the perfect metaphor for my state of mind/heart these days. I'm cooking up a storm. As within, so without.

Shalom.

Source: http://thegoldpuppy.blogspot.com/2013/01/radio-silence.html

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Kaosu No Sekai

Kaosu No Sekai

You don't go to Tokyo without knowing how crazy things can get. CRAZY LIKE AN ANIME, THAT IS. Because you're stuck in one, now.

Owner:

Game Masters:

This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Kaosu No Sekai?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

Topic Tags:

Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.
This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "Kaosu No Sekai"

You may edit this first post as you see fit.

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"Join The Corps!"

User avatar
JayZeroSnake
Member for 3 years



I'm gonna reserve a spot
because I'm going to punch things in this.
SOOOO HARRRRDDDDDD

To try to deceive me is folly, for first you must gain my trust.
To manipulate me is a difficult task, for I am not one to listen.
To reason with me is a easy as reasoning with human nature, for I am human incarnate.
All that I am is dust and noise, a Trick of the Pulse we all share. I never miss a beat.
Join me

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PulseTrick
Member for 1 years


You and me both, Bro. I'm in it to SHORYUKEN

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JayZeroSnake
Member for 3 years



PART PEASANTS.

*appears out of nowhere on a spinning platform emerging out of an opening in the ground*

My cosplay will BLOW YOUR MIND.

*Insert character-specific pose here*

[Reserving le spot]

User avatar
Sinkai
Member for 1 years


Oh God.. The craziness level I can foresee in this roleplay is... No, just no. I REFUSE TO MAKE THE REFERENCE! -super saiyen mode-

May I reserve a spot please? -smiling warmly-

I have a thousand years of experience, went through a thousand years of battles, and have a thousand years of wisdom. What makes you think you'd out-smart me?

WHERE IS THE END OF THE WORLD NOW, HUH APOCOLYPSE THEORISTS?! Yeah, I said it. Hate me. I dare you! I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU- -Sorry, but we are experiencing technical dificulties-
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Asher MstrImmortalis
Member for 1 years



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Sunday, January 13, 2013

Colin Powell says GOP having `an identity problem'

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell says his own Republican Party is having "an identity problem."

The former Joints Chief of Staff chairman who twice endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president tells NBC's "Meet the Press" that in recent years there's been "a significant shift to the right," and that's produced two losing presidential campaigns.

He says the GOP needs to "take a very hard look at itself and understand that the country has changed" demographically, and that if the party doesn't change, "they're going to be in trouble." He also bemoans what he calls "a dark vein of intolerance" in some elements of the party.

He describes himself as a moderate but still a Republican.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/13/3180536/colin-powell-says-gop-having-an.html

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Baseball Writers Navigate Muddled Ethics

Originally published on Sun January 13, 2013 10:30 am

Host Rachel Martin talks with NPR's Mike Pesca about baseball's Hall of Fame shutout. This year, the Baseball Writers' Association of America did not select a player for the game's highest honor.

Source: http://delmarvapublicradio.net/post/baseball-writers-navigate-muddled-ethics

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Haiti quietly marks quake's 3rd anniversary

Relatives of those who died in the 2010 earthquake arrive for a memorial service at Titanyen, a mass burial site north of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013. Haitians recalled the tens of thousands of people who lost their lives in a devastating earthquake three years ago, marking the disaster's anniversary Saturday with a simple ceremony. Haiti's previous presidential administration said 316,000 people were killed but no one really knows how many died. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Relatives of those who died in the 2010 earthquake arrive for a memorial service at Titanyen, a mass burial site north of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013. Haitians recalled the tens of thousands of people who lost their lives in a devastating earthquake three years ago, marking the disaster's anniversary Saturday with a simple ceremony. Haiti's previous presidential administration said 316,000 people were killed but no one really knows how many died. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Haiti's President Michel Martelly, left, UN special envoy to Haiti and former President Bill Clinton, center ,and Haiti's first lady Sophia Martelly, right center, attend a memorial service for victims of the 2010 earthquake, at Titanyen, a mass burial site north of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013. Haitians recalled the tens of thousands of people who lost their lives in a devastating earthquake three years ago, marking the disaster's anniversary Saturday with a simple ceremony. Haiti's previous presidential administration said 316,000 people were killed but no one really knows how many died. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

(AP) ? President Michel Martelly urged Haitians to recall the tens of thousands of people who lost their lives in a devastating earthquake three years ago, marking the disaster's anniversary Saturday with a simple ceremony.

Martelly also thanked other countries and international organizations for their help after the Jan. 12, 2010 disaster.

"Haitian people, hand in hand, we remember what has gone," Martelly said as a gigantic Haitian flag flew half-mast before him on the front lawn of the former National Palace, a pile of tangled steel reinforcement bars nearby. "Hand in hand, we're remembering, we're remembering Jan. 12."

Clad in black, several dozen senior government officials gathered where the elegant white palace had stood before it collapsed in the temblor and was later demolished. Foreign diplomats and Czech supermodel Petra Nemcova, earlier named by Martelly as one of Haiti's goodwill ambassadors, were also there.

In the speech, Martelly announced a government contest seeking designs for a monument to honor those who died in the quake. He also said the government had just released a new construction code aimed at ensuring new buildings are seismically resistant but didn't provide details.

Later in the day, Martelly, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and former U.S. president Bill Clinton placed a wreath at a mass burial site north of the capital of Port-au-Prince. Crosses that once spiked the makeshift grave have since vanished.

Haiti's previous presidential administration said 316,000 people were killed but no one really knows how many died. The disaster also displaced more than a million others.

Most of the rubble created by the quake has since been carted away but more than 350,000 people still live in grim displacement camps.

Many people had hoped the reconstruction effort would have made more headway by now, but progress has been stymied by political paralysis, the scale of devastation and a trickle of aid.

Jan. 12 was observed as a national holiday the last two years to remember the quake. This year, the government said the day would no longer be a holiday but called for the Haitian flag to be flown at half-mast and for nightclubs and "similar establishments" to close.

The anniversary this year has been used by Haiti observers to criticize the reconstruction process and by foreign aid groups to promote their work and raise money.

But for some Haitians, it was just another day.

"We can't remain focused on Jan. 12th," said Asaie St. Louis, a 56-year-old teacher and devout church-goer, Bible in hand. "It's passed already."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-12-CB-Haiti-Quake-Anniversary/id-790444ee88ec4b16addf4f3f0cf9be42

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Saturday, January 12, 2013

Simulating The Red Planet, On The Pale Blue Dot

Copyright ? 2013 National Public Radio. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

IRA FLATOW, HOST:

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Ira Flatow. Ever wondered what it would be like to live on Mars? You wake up to the sun peeking over a red horizon. Outside, it's a balmy minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit. Time for breakfast, right? Mars has a little gravity, at least about third of the Earth, so at least your fried egg would probably stay in the pan. Better yet, at the end of the day you have 40 extra minutes to waste on Facebook or read a novel or tend your Martian garden. That's right, the Martian day, or sol, is 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds - just a bit longer than our days here on Earth. Well, before we actually send astronauts there, scientists are busy preparing for the trip here on Earth. They're creating Martian habitats all over the planet. They have one in the Arctic, in the Antarctic, in Russia, the Utah desert, even on the side of a Hawaiian volcano, to see how humans really fair with longer days, limited light and a different menu. Seems like a good idea to work out the kinks before that six month journey, right?

Well, here to talk about what's going on in these experiments are my guests: Kim Binsted is a co-investigator on the HI-SEAS Project, that's the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation. She's also an associate professor at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. And she joins us today from Hawaii Public Radio. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY.

KIM BINSTED: Great to be here.

FLATOW: Welcome - Charles Czeisler is the Baldino professor of sleep medicine at Harvard Med School. He's also the chief of the division of sleep medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He joins us from the BBC in Manchester, England. Welcome back to SCIENCE FRIDAY, Dr. Czeisler.

CHARLES CZEISLER: Thank you, Ira.

FLATOW: Dr. Binsted, you're working on a study to make a better, quote, "space menu." Tell us what's wrong with the old space menu. What are astronauts eating today and what should they be eating tomorrow on their way to Mars?

BINSTED: Well, that they have today on the space station tastes great but what they are essentially is individually pre-prepared meals. You'll get sort of a TV dinner chunk to heat up, maybe add some water to and eat. The problem with that is that once you have you pre-prepared, say, individual serving of lasagna, it will stay lasagna for the rest of time. It will never be anything else.

(LAUGHTER)

FLATOW: And if you're looking at a two-and-a-half year mission to Mars, it would be nice, probably, to have some variety. So what we're looking at is instead of sending pre-prepared meals, sending shelf-stable ingredients that the astronauts can combine into different dishes.

So you're giving them basically the kitchen pantry to take with them instead of the pre-made stuff?

BINSTED: That's right. It's a specialized pantry. It has to be shelf-stable. That means it needs to be able to last the length of the mission without go bad. But yeah, essentially that's what we're doing.

FLATOW: Yeah. And I'm looking at some of the ingredients here. You've got truffle oil, dried shiitake mushrooms, Korean chili paste. This is better than the stuff I'm eating now.

(LAUGHTER)

FLATOW: Well, if you think about it, the cost of food on Mars, the most of the cost is going to be getting it there. So truffle oil weighs the same as the canola, so we might well send the good stuff.

All right, Charles Czeisler, let's talk about the study out this week in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences about the Mars500 mission. You didn't take part in this particular study but tell me about this mission and what they found.

CZEISLER: What they found was that one of the most prominent issues that came up when they did the simulation was difficulty adapting their sleep-wake cycles to the conditions of the experiment. So they were there for about 17 months.

FLATOW: How many people were put where?

There were six months - excuse me, six people who were there for 17 months, and they simulated many of the aspects of travel to Mars, the confinement, being in an environment where you're with a particular crew the entire time. And they were about the same age as the crew members - current astronauts on the International Space Station are. And they had mission tasks to do and they had a simulated time when they landed on Mars. The only thing that they did not include in the simulation was the Martian day, that 40-minute extra time that needs to be factored in to adaptation to Mars. But even without that aspect, four out of the six crew members developed quite severe abnormalities in the timing of their sleep-wake schedule. One was unable to maintain the 24-hour day and began exhibiting what we call non-24-hour disorder, where every day he was going to bed and waking up about an hour later each day even though the rest of his crew and the rest of the activities were scheduled on a 24-hour day. A couple of the crew members had delayed sleep phase disorder where they were having trouble going to bed at night and trouble waking up in the morning.

CZEISLER: Another one split the timing of their sleep-wake schedule so that they were taking part of their sleep during day and part of it during the night. And yet another one was having trouble sleeping at night and trouble staying awake during the day.

FLATOW: Is lack of sleep - is that a real problem on a Mars mission if you're just basically on your way to Mars?

CZEISLER: Yes. Because what it does is it causes a deterioration of our ability to perform during the daytime. And in addition to that, there are adverse effects on the body as well as the brain. So in addition to increasing the risk for error and accident, which could be catastrophic on the way to Mars, it also causes difficulty even in metabolizing the meals that are being prepared.

So if we give a standard meal to someone whose circadian rhythms are disrupted and who's not getting enough sleep, and even if they've only been on that kind of a schedule for a few weeks, they already begin to go into a pre-metabolic state where their pancreas is no longer putting out enough insulin, even though their blood sugar levels are going higher.

FLATOW: Wow. 1-800-989-8255. Talking about a simulated trip to Mars. And Kim Binsted, you actually participated in one of those mock Mars mission a few years ago. And you did live on the Martian day, right?

BINSTED: Right. We were up at Mars on Devon Island for four months. And of those four months, we spent five weeks living on a Mars day. And the reason we could do this is we were out there in the Arctic summer, so there was very little natural light variation over 24 hours. It was bright all day. And we found that of our crew, seven, there were couple of us who were already suffering the kind of sleep disruption that has already been described. And those people got worst when we went onto Mars time. The rest of us - I mean I can speak personally. I loved it.

(LAUGHTER)

BINSTED: It was like having an extra bonus 40 minutes at the end of the day.

FLATOW: Is there any kind of, you know, I remember when I was in the Antarctic so many years ago, they talked about being there over the winter time when there were six months of darkness. And there was loneliness and actual - a predictable depression that people left alone for such a long time went through. Kim, did you see that? Charles? Do you think that they have to plan for something like that?

BINSTED: We didn't see it, but then again we were in quite a different circumstance. We had brightness all the time. We had sunlight all the time. So we didn't have the sort of depressing darkness that they would have in Antarctica or the artificial light only that they had at Mars500 in Russia.

FLATOW: Charles, wouldn't they have some artificial light somewhere?

CZEISLER: Well, they would, but the seasonal affective disorder occurs even here on Earth in the northern latitudes where they - especially during the winter when there's a reduced amount of sunlight every day. And that is something that would have to be of a concern in preparing for a mission to Mars.

And so one of the things that we learned in our laboratory when we did several mock missions simulating a trip to Mars where we included the Martian day was that specific counter-measures, in particular evening exposure to brighter lights, such as when they might have to be tending their Martian gardens and being in with the sunlight. Instead of like here on Earth, the farmers getting up with the chickens, we would advise that they spend the time - the brighter light exposure in the evening just before going to bed so that that would help facilitate their adaptation to the Martian day.

FLATOW: Mm-hmm. 1-800-989-8255. Let's go to the phones. Let's talk to Elaine in Sacramento. Hi, Elaine.

ELAINE (CALLER): Hi. How are you?

FLATOW: Fine. How are you? Go ahead, please.

(CALLER): I have a question about the ingredients in the pantry of available food stuff for the Mars-bound ship. I'm assuming this is kind of a high altitude. And I wondered, will there be people on board who know how to assemble these ingredients? In other words - the same question I would ask anybody here on Earth. You know how to cook? If you were given a basket of ingredients, would you know how to put them together to make a meal? Or will there be a chef on board?

FLATOW: Yeah. Would you choose people on a mission who knew how to cook, you know, and didn't bring water? Good question, Elaine. What do you think, Kim?

BINSTED: Well, we picked our crew according to their astronaut-like capabilities instead of their cooking abilities. So we've got quite a range in our crew. But just to make sure that everyone knew what they were doing, we gave them cooking lessons. Cornell had a workshop earlier this year. And it was great to see them learning how to work with these ingredients. They made all sorts of wonderful things. You'd be amazed what you can do with chef table's ingredients with a little bit of know-how.

FLATOW: Why is it that we always see so much hot sauce popular with astronauts all the time?

BINSTED: Yeah. That's commonly observed. And there's a couple possible reasons for that. One is that in microgravity the fluids shift in your body so you tend to get more congested. And as you know, the sense of smell is a really important part of your sense of taste. So if that shuts down, then maybe you want to start stimulating your taste buds in other ways. That's one possibility. Another is that space is a low sensory stimulation environment. So maybe people are looking psychologically for whatever stimulation they can get. And again turn to the hot sauce.

FLATOW: Can I give you...

BINSTED: Yet another possibility is that when you're in a closed, cramped space, it gets kind of smelly. And so maybe your sense of smell shuts down for those reasons. We're investigating all three of these ideas in our study.

FLATOW: Can I throw in a fourth possibility?

BINSTED: Mm-hmm.

FLATOW: The astronauts were all trained in Houston.

(LAUGHTER)

BINSTED: Very possibly that too.

FLATOW: Well, you know, Texas hot sauce. Maybe they're just used to doing that and they take it up with them to space; could be a very simple answer. 1-800-989-8255. Let's go to Mike in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Hi, Mike.

MIKE: Hey, great, fascinating subject, one that I actually follow pretty closely. I, for about two years, worked in a job where for three days a week I was basically locked inside with the same people. Keep in mind, I could go home for the other four days, but we are pretty much indoors for three consecutive days. And at the end of that time, we were basically at each other's throats.

I mean we just didn't like each other, even though we had all started out as fast friends, we're all grown professionals. And I just often think about this experience and how you will not - how you would prevent this from happening to astronauts that are going to be gone for two, two and half years on a Martian mission. And I also have the answer for hot sauce, if you're wondering.

FLATOW: Yeah. What's your hot sauce suggestion?

MIKE: It's very prevalent within the military. If you don't - you've never eaten it or used it in food, you learn very early on to use it. So these are all mostly, I'm guessing, naval aviators. They were exposed to it as young cadets at Annapolis or as young sailors or as young naval officers. So...

FLATOW: Yeah. Well, you know, some of the pay load specialists were not, but then again they were - I'm sticking with my Houston. And I'll go with your - I'll go with your military explanation. Thanks, Mike. 1-800-989-8255 is our number. We're talking about the missions to Mars on SCIENCE FRIDAY from NPR. And let me get to his question and answer. What about people at each other's throat? Charles?

CZEISLER: It is...

BINSTED: Well, what we...

CZEISLER: Go on.

BINSTED: I was just going to say that what we've learned with these crews is they tend to either do very well together and bond very closely, or things can go quite badly wrong. When things go wrong in these small groups, they can go quite badly wrong. So one possible solution is to just make sure that you've tested your crew as a crew in these kinds of environments to see how they do before you send them off. So maybe you send your Mars crew to Antarctica for a few months before you send them to Mars.

FLATOW: Do you agree, Charles?

CZEISLER: Yes, I agree. And there's also a developing set of technologies to recognize with safe observation when things are going wrong with crew members even if they're not talking about it. And Dr. David Dinges at the University of Pennsylvania is working on technology that would allow earlier detection of problems within a crew so that interventions can be deployed.

FLATOW: Kim Binsted, if we have an international crew of astronauts, not just from the United States, you're going to have to widen your menu a bit, are you not to...

BINSTED: Well, as you saw from our ingredients list, we're doing our best to keep it quite wide right now. But yes, you'll find that they way they combine these ingredients, of course, they'll have preferences on recipes and how they use them. Right now we're seeing that as a plus, that it'll provide more variety. But there could well be conflict if one crew member loves a particular dish and another one hates it. That could be a source of conflict rather than pleasure.

FLATOW: And you actually have a recipe contest going on now?

BINSTED: That's right. It's just - I think it's just opening today, so we're - we've posted our ingredient list on our website, hi-seas.org. And we invite people to go and send us their recipes, look at what we've got. And the finalists are going to be tried out by the crew when their in the habitat for four months. And yeah, prizes to the winners.

FLATOW: And when does the habitat begin? Give us the schedule on it.

BINSTED: It's going to be - they're right now in their training mission in Utah, and then they go into the habitat here in Hawaii at the beginning of April for four months.

FLATOW: And that's on the side of a mountain, a volcano?

BINSTED: That's right. It's on the slopes of Mauna Loa, and it's a wonderful area. It's extremely Mars-like. When you see pictures of it, it looks just like the images coming back from the rover on Mars right now. Very little plant life, all of this wonderful reddish regolith, very little sight of human activity, you know, a telescope off in the distance but not much else. It's not the sand and waving palm trees that you're thinking of necessarily.

FLATOW: But it's certainly not that episode on "The Twilight Zone" where the guy went a little nutty by himself. Remember that one? He thought he was alone in the town?

BINSTED: Let's hope it's not like that.

(LAUGHTER)

FLATOW: Any last words, Charles? Any last words of advice on people who are going to be going to space, to Mars?

CZEISLER: Well, I think maintaining - keeping their circadian rhythms in sync with a 24-hour day is going to be critical, and light is the most important synchronizer of our internal circadian rhythm. So coordinating the timing of light exposure is going to be crucial. And it's exciting that on the International Space Station, it's just being refitted with new solid-state lighting systems that are going to enable us to control the wavelength of the exposure and not just the intensity. And wavelength is critical because the shorter wavelength, the bluer end of the spectrum, is much more effective at resetting circadian rhythms.

FLATOW: There we go. Thank you all for taking time to be with us today. Have a good weekend.

BINSTED: Thank you.

CZEISLER: Thank you, Ira. Good afternoon.

FLATOW: You're welcome. Kim Binsted is co-investigator of the HI-SEAS project. That's the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, also associate professor at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. You can get - go on our website and she's got that recipe contest up there. Charles Czeisler is the Baldino professor of sleep medicine at Harvard Med School, also chief of the division of sleep medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Copyright ? 2013 National Public Radio. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/01/11/169144855/simulating-the-red-planet-on-the-pale-blue-dot?ft=1&f=1007

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Apple exec dismisses cheaper phone as a market share grab: report

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Source: http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/breaking-news/technology/apple-exec-dismisses-cheaper-phone-market-share-grab-report-20130111

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Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Family Loses Home in Massive Fire

Battalion Chief Eric Jones on House Fire

Flames Engulf Flames Home in Northeast Lincoln - Kim Eiten Live

Lincoln Fire and Rescue say a family is without a home after a major house fire near 112th and Holdrege Streets.

The 911 call came just before 8 p.m. Monday for a fire at 1241 Piper Way.

According to Battalion Chief Eric Jones, before the first engine arrived LFR called for more help -- specifically more engines and tankers.

The neighborhood was recently annexed by the City of Lincoln and responding crews knew getting water to the fire would be a problem, particularly since no city water mains or hydrants had been installed.

Jones said they called for assistance with water delivery from Southeast Rural, Waverly and Air Guard fire departments. Crews from these departments shuttled water between the dump tanks and 98th Street at Holdrege.

Hoses were stretched about 1/4 mile from the water dump tanks at Cessna Road and Holdrege Streets, to the fire. Jones said they estimate putting nearly 60,000 gallons on the house fire.

One viewer told 10/11 the flames were 30 feet high and she believed the house was gone.

Initial reports indicated the fire started in the garage. Neighbors said the home appeared to be a complete loss.

Jones said the residents had returned home to see fire in their garage and called 911. The residents reported that when they arrived, their garage door was going up and down repeatedly and they could see flames inside when the door went up.

Neighbors also said both residents made it out uninjured, but were unable to grab any personal possessions.

Jones said firefighters battled the flames with little relief from replacement crews because of the distance of the scene from the nearest fire station. Normal rotation is about every 15 to 20 minutes. For this fire, Jones said it was more like 30 to 45 minutes between breaks.

One neighbor was kind enough to offer crews the use of their garage to let the 80 or so firefighters get out of the cold and take a break.

Chief Jones credits the relationship Lincoln Fire and Rural Departments have with each other to fight this fire effectively. Most importantly, Jones said without the other departments bringing them water, this house would have been completely destroyed.

LFR crews are still investigating the damage done by the fire and will resume their investigation during daylight, Tuesday morning.

Some crews remained at the scene overnight to insure there is no rekindle of the fire.

Source: http://www.1011now.com/home/headlines/LFR--185957851.html

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Monday, January 7, 2013

Seahawks top Redskins: Injury a warning sign for RG3's future?

The Seahawks-Redskins playoff game saw Robert Griffin III leave with an injury in the 24-14 loss. It raises questions about RG3's durability ? and whether he should have been taken off earlier.

By Mark Sappenfield,?Staff writer / January 6, 2013

Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III sits on the bench after a knee injury during an NFL wild card playoff football game against the Seattle Seahawks in Landover, Md., Sunday. The Seahawks defeated the Redskins 24-14.

Evan Vucci/AP

Enlarge

Just in case any of us were in doubt, Sunday provided irrefutable evidence that Robert Griffin III's right knee is a national treasure. President Obama should assign a Special Forces team to protect it. Congress should check the fine print to make sure it is not in the sequester. The Smithsonian should reserve a wing.

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Because without it, the most exciting player in pro football looked terrifyingly pedestrian.

For the best part of this National Football League season, the sporting world has stood slack-jawed at what the future held in store. However brilliant the present ? however awesome Griffin's talents, however inconceivable his speed ? it was merely the downpayment for a generation of greatness to come.

For years, Griffin would do battle with fellow rookies Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson. Over the course of a career, he would redefine the quarterback position with his loping grace, his pinpoint passing precision, his Indy-car acceleration. We salivated at the prospect that, delectably, the best was ahead.

That future still remains. But in the wake of the Washington Redskins' 24-14 loss to the Seattle Seahawks Sunday, it cannot help but feel a bit more fragile.

Two plays after Griffin appeared to reinjure an already tender knee in the first quarter, he threw a four-yard touchdown pass. To that point, the Redskins had 14 points and 135 yards of offense. Over the remaining 51:36 of the game, they would add only 69 yards and never again cross midfield.

After the game, Griffin said the knee did not affect his ability to throw. If that is true, it is an indictment in itself, suggesting that, without his mobility to fall back on, Griffin needs to make significant progress as a passer. More likely, he was taking one for the team ? playing when he should not have been on the field.

But that raises its own questions. Griffin tweaked his knee in the first quarter and then injured it further in the fourth ? to the point where he finally did come out ? without being touched by a defender either time. And this was three weeks after suffering what doctors called one of the milder knee strains possible.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/94obVsYo_pE/Seahawks-top-Redskins-Injury-a-warning-sign-for-RG3-s-future

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Friday, January 4, 2013

Study suggests gene variation may shape bladder cancer treatment

Jan. 3, 2013 ? Patients who have inherited a specific common genetic variant develop bladder cancer tumors that strongly express a protein known as prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA), which is also expressed in many pancreatic and prostate tumors, according to research at the National Institutes of Health.

A therapy targeting the PSCA protein on the tumor cell surface is under evaluation in clinical trials for prostate and pancreatic cancer. The researchers hope that this therapy will be tested in bladder cancer patients with the genetic variant, which could help to reduce potentially harmful side-effects, lower costs, and improve treatment efficacy.

Every gene contains a very long string of DNA components termed nucleotides (referenced commonly as T, C, G or A). A single letter variation in the string of letters can lead to changes in cell development, resulting in cancer.

In a previous study, the researchers identified a variant located in the PSCA gene on chromosome 8 as associated with bladder cancer susceptibility. The gene determines whether the corresponding protein is expressed in bladder tumor tissue. In the latest report, they found that the 'T' nucleotide that comprises a gene variant called rs2294008 is a strong predictor of PSCA protein expression. The variant results in increased delivery of the protein to the cell surface, where it is involved in signaling and promotes tumor growth. The study by scientists from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, appeared online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute on Dec. 23, 2012.

"We've been pursuing this mechanism for some time now. It started with our early results from the initial genome-wide association study that revealed a marker in the PSCA gene related to bladder cancer risk. This latest work reveals how a specific letter change in DNA influences protein expression at the cell surface. The big payoff is that a simple genetic test can determine which patients could benefit from anti-PSCA therapy," said Ludmila Prokunina-Olsson, Ph.D., NCI Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, and senior author of this publication.

In 2012 in the United States alone, there were an estimated 73,510 new cases of bladder cancer and 14,880 deaths. The recurrence rate of bladder cancer is between 50 and 70 percent, and patients require life-long surveillance and treatment, making it an expensive cancer to live with and a major economic burden on the health care system and patients. Up to 75 percent of bladder cancer patients carry this genetic variant.

"This is one of the first studies to show direct clinical implications of a genetic variant identified through genome-wide association studies for common cancers," said Stephen J. Chanock, M.D., acting co-director for the NCI Center for Cancer Genomics.

The scientists note that additional work is needed to develop alternative drugs targeting PSCA, and to evaluate drug delivery methods, such as systemic delivery for advanced muscle-invasive tumors and local, inter-bladder delivery in the case of non-muscle invasive tumors. Anti-PSCA therapy is likely to be effective only against tumors that express PSCA. A genetic test for the "T" nucleotide of this genetic variant can identify bladder cancer patients who could benefit from this treatment.

This research was supported by intramural funding at the NCI under contract number ZIA CP010201-04.

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