Posnanski: Harvey more than New York hype

Mets' young ace joining ranks of baseball's all-time great pitching phenoms

Elsa / Getty Images

Matt Harvey's numbers in his first 15 starts are the third-best baseball has seen since World War II.

BY JOE POSNANSKI

NBCSports.com

updated 3:28 a.m. ET April 27, 2013

The New York Mets? Matt Harvey might be off to the greatest start for a starting pitcher in more than 50 years. That sounds like a lot of New York hype, but it shows up in the numbers and comparisons. Through 15 starts, the numbers suggest, Matt Harvey has been about as good as anybody starting a career since World War II.

But, really, the wonder of a pitching prodigy like Harvey goes beyond numbers or comparisons. It?s a feeling. There?s something about a pitching prodigy that gets the blood pumping a little faster. There?s something about a pitching prodigy that feels unlimited.

Why? Maybe it?s because the pitcher is unique in sports. He has the ball. He starts every play. He has his own mound. The pitcher is the only athlete in sports that is credited with a win or a loss. You could argue -- I have argued many times -- that it?s silly to credit a pitcher with a win or loss. We do it anyway and have for more than a hundred years. We don?t do that for a quarterback or a point guard or a goaltender or a goalkeeper. *

*Every now and again, you will hear someone talk about a quarterback?s or goaltender?s ?won-loss record,? but that?s a little bit different. The language is different. You might say, ?The Patriots are 136-39 in games that Tom Brady starts.? You would not say, ?Tom Brady completed 30 of 42 passes and earned his fifth victory of the season.? It?s a subtle but important distinction. Pitchers are the only ones who turn plural to singular, the one ones naturally fit the sentence: ?James Shields picked up the win, while David Price took his third loss of the year.?

So, when a young pitcher shows up like Matt Harvey with insane fastballs and exploding sliders ? there?s something magical about it. Something unlimited. A quarterback, even a perfect one, needs receivers, an offensive line, a running game, a shrewd offensive coordinator. A basketball player, no matter how good, cannot take on five defenders at a time. A pitcher, though, has the ball. He is only limited by the imagination.

And so every time a Hideo Nomo or Dwight Gooden or Matt Harvey shows up on the scene, the possibilities are endless. In many ways, I?ve marked my baseball life by the pitching phenoms who kept showing up.

* * *

I have no memory of Steve Rogers when he came up as a 23-year-old pitcher for Montreal. My memories of Rogers come from when he was older, that big mustache, the hair fighting to get out from under his red and blue eMb cap (Les Expos de Montreal Baseball), the glove arm sticking out to the left, the way he kicked the dirt on his follow through so that it seemed he might just fall forward and roll toward home plate.

But when Rogers first arrived on the scene as a 23-year-old former college superstar at the University of Tulsa, he was all but unhittable. He pitched a one-hit shutout at Philadelphia in his second start and followed it with a shutout in New York against the Mets. Through 15 games, he was 9-4 with a 1.32 ERA. Batters were hitting .192 against him.

He was in Montreal, of course, playing for a terrible Expos team. So it seems like his amazing start did not get the fanfare of some of the other phenoms of my lifetime. There was no ?RogersMania.?

Rogers would go on to be a fine pitcher, winning 158 games and leading the league in ERA in 1982. ?He was a five-time All-Star. But to me his pitching years -- and his Expos teams -- were always tinged with a kind of sadness and unfulfilled potential. The Expos should have won championships. Rogers should have won Cy Young Awards. They were good, but it always seemed like they should have been a little better.

* * *

While, I do not remember Steve Rogers? debut, I have very strong memories of The Bird. Every baseball fan my age or older has those memories of Mark Fidrych. I was 9 when The Bird came up to the Detroit Tigers, and that was the perfect age to be for his act. The Bird talked to the baseball (or talked to himself, it was never entirely clear). He smoothed out the mound with his hands. And, of course, he looked like Big Bird, which was why he got the nickname in the first place.

He was like a superhero in a Detroit Tigers? uniform. I?m semi-serious about that. You have to understand that to a boy of the 1970s, the line between comic books and real life people was hopelessly blurred. Was Steve Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man, real or fake? Fake? Well, then, how about Evel Knievel jumping over busses on his motorcycle? Oh, he was real. The Superman ads said, ?You will believe a man can fly,? and Fonzie started jukeboxes by simply hitting them, and Elvis Presley wore capes, and Nolan Ryan threw pitches 102 mph, and Roger Staubach (who they called Captain America) kept bringing the Cowboys back from certain defeat, and Muhammad Ali let George Foreman tire himself out by leaning against the ropes and taking every punch he could throw. What was real anyway?

Then, Mark Fidrych appeared in this blurry world, 21 years old, and he talked to the ball, and he wouldn?t pitch with the same ball that had given up a hit, and he did this little walk around the mound after each out, and it was wonderful. He didn?t have the Nolan Ryan fastball or Sandy Koufax?s curve. Instead, he had voodoo, crazy confidence, a heavy sinker and a rubber arm.

Here is the best baseball statistic you will here today: In Fidrych?s first 13 starts in the major leagues, he threw 120 1/3 innings.? I?ll do the math for you -- that averages out to MORE than nine innings per start. He completed 12 of those 13 games, and that included three different games where he pitched 11 innings.

He won Rookie of the Year, and he should have won the Cy Young Award in 1976 (he didn?t because he didn?t win 20 games), and then he was never the same. He had injuries. Well, what the Tigers did to him, allowing him to complete 24 games in his rookie season and throw a million pitches under duress would be viewed as criminal negligence today. But, like I say, back then the line between superhero and regular guy wasn?t as easy to see. Nobody thought the Fidrych magic would ever end.

* * *

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my teen daughter's drug supplier - Talk About Marriage

Today, 05:33 AM ? #5 (permalink)

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Join Date: Dec 2010

Posts: 4,673

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You'll be wasting your time trying to incriminate the dealers as if your daughter wants MJ chances are she'll find another dealer really quickly even if the one you reported got raided.

MJ is a socially acceptable drug that ALOT of people smoke in their leisure time, which is also why it's very easy to find replacement dealers, and also why it can be hard to quit. In parties, in gatherings, there's always going to be the temptation.

Even if your daughter goes through this program, there's nothing really stopping her from having a smoke once she goes out. But MJ is mild, I would be more worried if she went on heavier drugs. Hence I recommend education, encouragement, and support for your daughter rather than trying to make MJ usage forbidden/getting her in trouble for it. She has to learn personal responsibility, that's the only real defence that one has in the face of drugs.

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Source: http://talkaboutmarriage.com/family-parenting-forums/72351-my-teen-daughters-drug-supplier.html

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One in four people jobless in Spain

MADRID (AP) ? With over 6 million unemployed for the first time ever, Spain's jobless rate shot up to a record 27.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013, the National Statistics Institute said Thursday, in another grim picture of the recession-wracked country.

The agency said the number of people unemployed rose by 237,400 people in the first three months of the year, a 1.1 percent increase from the previous quarter. The total out of work stood at 6.2 million people, the first time the number has breached the 6-million mark.

Unsurprisingly, the details of the report make for grim reading.

The number of people considered long-term unemployed ? out of a job for more than a year ? increased to 3.5 million while the unemployment rate for those aged under 25 was a staggering 57 percent. The government body also said its survey found the number of households without any one working had risen by 72,400 to a 1.91 million.

"The situation is really bad, with all the cuts that there have been, there are families that are going through a bad time because a lot of families have all the members unemployed and they don't have any income," said shop assistant Rodrigo Limpias , 30.

Labor Ministry employment secretary Engracia Hidalgo described the figures as "dramatic" but said the government was working non-stop to try make Spain a job creator once again.

Spain has been in recession for much of the past four years as it struggles to deal with the collapse of its once-booming real estate sector in 2008. In the previous decade its economy was thriving, generating millions of jobs.

In just over a year in office, the conservative government has launched a series of financial and labor reforms and pursued a raft of spending cuts and tax increases that have managed to reduce a swollen deficit. Even so, the country had the highest budget deficit among the 17 European Union countries that use the euro in 2012.

"This is getting worse every day. (The government) has no solution, there are more and more people unemployed and we don't have enough to eat," said Maria Carmen Huerta, 55, an unemployed IT worker.

The government's handling of the crisis has sparked almost daily protests.

On Thursday, 1,400 police were to be deployed around Parliament and the building was totally cordoned off ahead of an evening demonstration. Parliament cancelled its session for the day but blamed reasons other than the rally.

Several previous rallies close to Parliament have ended in clashes with police. The Interior Ministry said police arrested four people and confiscated material they believe was to be used to start fires at bank offices in the city. The ministry claims violent, anti-establishment groups are behind the rally.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has acknowledged that 2013 will be a bad year but insists that it would have been worse without the reforms. The International Monetary Fund indicated last week that Spain's economy will contract by 1.6 percent this year.

The government is predicting that Spain will return to growth, which should help the labor market. Rajoy has promised reforms to be presented Friday that will "make the economy more flexible, more competitive and will turn those predictions around."

Opposition parties said the unemployment figures highlight how Rajoy's austerity policies are damaging the economy.

"6 million people unemployed is 6 million reasons for the government to withdraw the labor reform and change its economic policy," said Oscar Lopez of the leading opposition Socialist party.

But the EU's top economic official, Commissioner Olli Rehn said "Spain should maintain the reform momentum by including comprehensive and concrete policy measures" in its programs.

He said that "despite significant progress in 2012, there are still excessive macroeconomic imbalances" with high domestic and external debt continuing to pose risks for growth and financial stability.

____

Associated Press writer Juergen Baetz in Brussels contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/spains-jobless-above-6-million-first-time-111922081--finance.html

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Colorado court rules marijuana smokers may be fired

Medical and recreational marijuana is legal in Colorado, but federal law says employers can lawfully fire workers who test positive for the drug, ruled a Colorado appeals court Thursday.

By Steven K. Paulson,?Associated Press / April 25, 2013

Brandon Coats works on his computer at his home in Denver. Coats, a quadriplegic medical marijuana patient, was fired from his job in 2010 as a telephone operator at Dish Network after testing positive for marijuana. The Colorado Court of Appeals on Thursday, April 25, 2013, upheld the firing of Coats.

(AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File)

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Medical and recreational marijuana may be legal in Colorado, but employers in the state can lawfully fire workers who test positive for the drug, even if it was used off duty, according to a court ruling Thursday.

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The Colorado Court of Appeals found there is no employment protection for medical marijuana users in the state since the drug remains barred by the federal government.

"For an activity to be lawful in Colorado, it must be permitted by, and not contrary to, both state and federal law," the appeals court stated in its 2-1 conclusion.

The ruling concurs with court decisions in similar cases elsewhere and comes as businesses attempt to regulate pot use among employees in states where the drug is legal. Colorado and Washington state law both provide for recreational marijuana use. Several other states have legalized medical use. Police departments have been especially concerned since officers are sworn to uphold both state and federal laws.

The Colorado case involves Brandon Coats, 33, a telephone operator for Englewood, Colo.-based Dish Network LLC. Coats was paralyzed in a car crash as a teenager and has been a medical marijuana patient in the state since 2009.

He was fired in 2010 for failing a company drug test, though his employer didn't claim he was ever impaired on the job.

Coats sued to get his job back, but a trial court dismissed his claim in 2011. The judge agreed with Dish Network that medical marijuana use isn't a "lawful activity" covered by a state law intended to protect cigarette smokers from being fired for legal behavior off the clock. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, more than half of all states have such laws.

Dish Network did not return a call seeking comment.

Coats' attorney, Michael Evans, issued a statement saying the ruling has wide implications for Colorado marijuana laws.

"This case not only impacts Mr. Coats, but also some 127,816 medical marijuana patient-employees in Colorado who could be summarily terminated even if they are in legal compliance with Colorado state law," Evans noted.

Evans plans to ask the state Supreme Court to review the case.

Morgan Fox, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, called it a setback.

"It's unfortunate, considering how much support there is for medical marijuana, that employers don't see this like any other medication," Fox said.

The Marijuana Policy Project said the ruling appears to be limited to state law because it does not fall under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

Judge John Webb dissented in the split decision, saying he couldn't find a case addressing whether Colorado judges should consider federal law in determining the meaning of a Colorado statute.

Marijuana supporters say the courts are discriminating against them because Colorado's Lawful Off-Duty Activities law protects workers being fired for legal behavior off the clock, citing cigarette smoking as a protected activity.

The court said lawmakers could act to change the law to protect people who use marijuana, but there have been no plans to do that at the state Capitol.

Colorado's amendment legalizing recreational marijuana doesn't give people a constitutional right to smoke pot and doesn't protect users from criminal prosecution, from being fired or from other negative consequences. Backers said smoking off the job was a gray area and warned people to be familiar with their employers' drug policies.

The Washington state Supreme Court also has found that workers can be fired for using marijuana, even if authorized by the state's medical marijuana law.

Last year, a federal appeals court ruled against a cancer survivor in Battle Creek, Mich., who was fired from his job with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. after failing a drug test for marijuana. Joseph Casias had a medical marijuana card and said he used pot to alleviate symptoms of an inoperable brain tumor.

According to the Marijuana Policy Project, the California Supreme Court also has ruled that people could be fired for testing positive for marijuana. The Legislature passed a bill to change that in 2008, but it was vetoed.

___

Associated Press writers Colleen Slevin, Peter Banda and Eugene Johnson contributed to this report.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/3V2h1ut-DU0/Colorado-court-rules-marijuana-smokers-may-be-fired

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IBM CEO Rometty urges employees to act faster: WSJ

(Reuters) - IBM Corp's Chief Executive Virginia Rometty told employees the company had become too sluggish and unresponsive, after it posted weak first-quarter results, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing IBM's internal video message addressed to its employees.

The technology services company posted on Thursday a rare quarterly earnings miss as a sliding yen hurt earnings from Japan and it failed to close a number of major deals, especially in Europe and the United States.

Rometty set a new rule. If a client has a request or question, IBM must respond within 24 hours, the newspaper reported she said in that call. She addressed the call to over 434,000 employees worldwide.

"Where we haven't transformed rapidly enough, we struggled," Rometty said in the video published on IBM's internal website, reviewed by the newspaper. "We have to step up with that and deal with that, and that is on all levels."

IBM was not immediately reachable for comment on the report.

IBM blamed a poor performance by its sales force for some of the shortfall for the poor quarterly results. But analysts said it was not just one quarter - the company's sales have been weakening consistently, dragging down results with or without the changes in the yen.

Rometty said IBM needs to speed its shift to new computing models to get back on track, the Journal reported citing the video. (Wall Street Journal article: http://link.reuters.com/dah67t)

IBM also reassigned one of its most senior executives, the head of its computer hardware business, following a sharp drop in first-quarter sales at the unit, the Journal reported citing a person familiar with the matter.

(Reporting by Thyagaraju Adinarayan in Bangalore; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ibm-ceo-rometty-urges-employees-act-faster-wsj-004041466--finance.html

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Children routinely injured or killed by guns, U.S. study shows

Apr. 23, 2013 ? While gun control issues usually surface after major incidents like the fatal shooting of 20 elementary school students in Newtown, Connecticut, a new U.S. study shows that children are routinely killed or injured by firearms.

The study, conducted by the Colorado School of Public Health, Denver Health and Children's Hospital Colorado, was published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). It examined trauma admissions at two emergency rooms in Denver and Aurora over nine years and found that 129 of 6,920 injured children suffered gunshot wounds.

"In 14% of these cases children managed to get access to unlocked, loaded guns," said the study's lead author Angela Sauaia, MD, Ph.D., at the Colorado School of Public Health and the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "In an area with so much disagreement, I think we can all agree that children should not have unsupervised access to unlocked, loaded guns."

The study shows that at least 14 children between the ages 4 and 17 are injured by firearms every year in the Denver metro area alone. That number excludes those found dead at the scene. It also doesn't count those who did not go to the emergency department, so Sauaia believes the injury rates exceed 14 or about 2 percent of all trauma admissions.

The number of gun injuries to children has changed little over the years.

According to state data, Colorado firearm death rates for children were 2.2 per 100,000 in the year 2000, 1.9 per 100,000 in 2009 and 2.8 per 100,000 in 2011.

"People tend to only pay attention to gun safety issues after these mass killings but this is happening all the time to our children and it's totally preventable," Sauaia said. "Are we as a society willing to accept that 2 percent of our children shot each year is an acceptable number?"

Sauaia, an associate professor of public health, medicine and surgery, studied child trauma admissions from 2000-2008 at Children's Hospital Colorado and Denver Health Medical Center. She found those who had been shot suffered significantly more severe wounds than children hurt with other objects and that the severity of the firearm injuries in increasing

At the same time, 50 percent of shooting victims required intensive care. And 13 percent died compared to 1.7 percent of children hurt in non-firearm incidents. The majority of those shot were adolescent males whose injuries were often self-inflicted.

Sauaia did not include the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School, which killed 12 students and injured another 21, in her study. The 2012 Aurora theater shootings, which killed 12 and wounded 58 last year, were also left out.

"When we examined the data we found that 7 percent of the injuries to children were related to violence and of those 38 percent were related to guns," she said. "If the injury was gun related, the odds of dying were 10 times greater than from any other kind of injury."

Sauaia and her colleagues had done another study in 1993 that found that 42 percent of people who died from trauma incidents in Denver were killed by guns. That compared to 26 percent killed in car accidents.

She conducted both studies entirely without federal funding.

"There is little money to do gun research, which is unfortunate," Sauaia said. "But the point we can all agree upon is that, no matter what side of the gun divide you fall on, we need to store these weapons safely to protect our children from death or serious injury."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Colorado Denver, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Angela Sauaia, Joshua I. Miller, Ernest E. Moore, David Partrick. Firearm Injuries of Children and Adolescents in 2 Colorado Trauma Centers: 2000-2008. JAMA, 2013 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2013.3354

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/KwaTdY2X4os/130423161907.htm

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'console-ification' of PCs means for gamers - Giveaway of the Day

Brad Chacos @BradChacos

Apr 23, 2013 3:25 AM
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Traditionally, gamers have voluntary segregated themselves into two camps: console gamers and PC gamers. Hostility between the two runs irrationally deep, and rare is the gamer who?s willing to proclaim allegiance to both sides. Either you?re part of the Alliance, or you?re part of the Horde.

But the times, they are a-changin?.

Convergence is the buzzword of the day, and it?s rearing its head big-time in the gaming world. On one side, the upcoming PlayStation 4 console sports a suspiciously computer-esque core. On the other side, a wave of new technologies is bringing a remarkably console-like experience to PC gaming. The lines are beginning to blur. Mr. Miyamoto, tear down that wall!

The implications of a shared gaming backbone could span a whole series of articles, but this is PCWorld, not Game Informer. As such, we?ll limit our scope thusly: What does this titanic technology shift mean for you, die-hard PC gamer?
Diff?rent strokes
PS4 controllerThe PlayStation 4?s controller: Nowhere near as complex as a full QWERTY keyboard.

Computers maintain some crucial advantages over consoles, including overall customizability and control-scheme complexity, as well as the absence of a central Nintendo-esque gatekeeper for the ecosystem. That said, consoles hold a number of advantages over gaming PCs, too. Most revolve around their sheer simplicity.

?You plug a console in to your power plug and TV, and you?re good to go,? TechHive executive editor Jason Cross pointed out while we were discussing the topic. ?Every game works the way it?s supposed to without configuration. You turn it on and you?re up and running in seconds. You can?t mess it up. You can?t delete a critical file. There?s no game your system isn?t good enough to run well.?

All are valid points, and PC gaming doesn't currently offer any of the benefits mentioned above. But it may be able to soon, thanks largely to the efforts of Valve and Nvidia.
The best of both worlds

Valve is already a legendary game developer and it runs Steam, the premiere digital distribution service for PC gaming. The late 2012 launch of Steam?s Big Picture mode?which transmogrifies the traditional Steam interface into a living room-friendly 10-foot interface similar to YouTube Leanback?paved the way for easily playing games on your big screen. And, now, Valve?s upcoming Steam Box venture bodes even more portentously for so-called PC consoles.
Steam?s Big Picture mode was made for HDTV viewing.

Most of the details are still nebulous, but the Steam Box ideal revolves around small, quiet PCs built to fit in with your receiver, Blu-ray player, and Xbox 360. Because Steam Box is more a series of certification blueprints than anything else, many manufacturers will be able to build them. Valve?s Gabe Newell says Steam Boxes will fall into three categories:

Good?A ?good? Steam Box seems highly reminiscent of the Ouya Android console. Costing around $100, it would run only casual Web or mobile games. Newell also wants these "good" iterations to double as gaming set-top boxes of sorts, streaming games that are being run on more-powerful, traditional PCs to your TV.

Better?Valve will reign over the approved specs at this tier, and its own Steam Box will be of the ?Better? variety. These ?consoles? should cost around $300 (good luck with that) and contain CPUs and graphics processors powerful enough to play most recent titles at solid frame rates. Since most TVs top out at 720p or 1080p, that shouldn?t be too difficult to achieve.

Best?Beefy and boisterous, these represent the current status quo in PC gaming, without any size or spec restrictions. If manufacturers bother to get a certification for this class of machine, they?ll likely be Steam Boxes in name only rather than viable living room alternatives.

Having Big Picture mode, a roughly $300- price point, and a Steam Box certification plan would go a long way toward bringing PC gaming into the living room. The price point is especially noteworthy.

?If you come out with a PC that?s going to be twice as much money as a typical game console, I think that you?re going to have a very tough time gaining marketshare, no matter how powerful the hardware or how many games you have available,? says Lewis Ward, a gaming-focused research analyst at IDC.

All that said, a pair of GeForce-branded solutions from Nvidia?a company that is also looking to crack the living room with its Project SHIELD handheld?could do even more to console-ify PCs by keeping it simple, stupid.
Streamlined simulations in the cloud

Driver maintenance and settings optimization have long been two of the biggest pains in PC gaming. Simply put, making sure your games are running as sweetly as possible is a headache. Nvidia?s nascent GeForce Experience changes that.

The cloud-connected software pings Nvidia?s servers to automatically check for driver updates?hallelujah! But, more crucially, it also scans your PC?s hardware configuration, and then checks it against Nvidia?s crowd-sourced database to intelligently optimize the graphics settings in your games. You read that right: With GeForce Experience, you?ll never have to slog through tedious tessellation options to achieve tip-top frame rates again.
NvidiaNvidia?s GeForce GRIDcan deliver a full-blown PC gaming experience on any connected device, including smart TVs.

At least, that?s the theory. GeForce Experience is still getting its sea legs. The technology currently works with only a limited number of titles and Nvidia?s last three generations of graphics cards, so it?ll be a while before we get a feel for its full potential.

Another Nvidia initiative could negate the need for GeForce Experience entirely. Nvidia?s GeForce GRID promises far greater cloud gaming potential than forebearers like OnLive and Gaikai. The ability to simply and seamlessly play games on any piece of hardware?console, tablet, PC, smart TV, whatever?is the Holy Grail of gaming. Nvidia will have to conquer bandwidth and latency concerns in order for GRID to take off, however, as well as prove that there?s actually consumer demand for cloud gaming?something OnLive, sadly, has yet to do.
Under the hood

The biggest effect on PC gaming might have nothing to do with computers becoming more streamlined or showing up in the living room, though. Instead, the biggest shock to rock the PC gaming ecosystem may come from the increased computerization of consoles.

As we?ve discussed in depth before, Sony?s upcoming PlayStation 4 console packs an eight-core AMD APU at its heart, and Microsoft?s upcoming Xbox 720 (for lack of a better name) is said to sport a similar chip. If that?s true, all the major home consoles will share the same x86 backbone as traditional PCs.

That could be good, or it could be bad. Theoretically, the shift could put an end to shoddy console ports, as developers will use the same base-level tools to create console and computer games alike. AMD hardware may enjoy a surge in popularity as many new games are optimized for the APUs at the core of the consoles. Heck, one could even envision a proliferation of games designed for a shared multiplayer experience across multiple platforms, ? la the recent Skulls of the Shogun game.
MicrosoftIs ?Skulls of the Shogun? a template for the PC game of the future?

?I think what we?re going to see is a convergence of triple-A, 3D PC games and triple-A, 3D console games, so that more games will be released on multiple platforms going forward,? IDC?s Ward says. ?The back end will be more like PC game development. Converting a game to the right executable format or a specific UI will be relatively painless, so it?ll make sense to release titles on as many platforms as possible.?

One could also envision a few nightmare scenarios related to that. What if, for example, more PC games start sporting streamlined (read: dumbed down) interfaces for easier console portability? Or what about the possibility of face-melting graphics becoming less face-melting in future software generations as more games are built with console hardware in mind?

Ward says not to worry?precisely because premiere Crysis 3-style PC blockbusters are already a rarity.

?There are a lot of low-end gaming laptops and desktops out there that are nowhere near as powerful as consoles or high-end gaming PCs,? he says. ?So you?ve already got a range of computers that have been out there for five or so years, with a wide range of technical capabilities, and game developers and publishers already try to hit a sweet spot in the install base of active users.

?Most developers already don?t really go up to the real ceiling [of PC gaming technology], since it?ll inherently limit their market,? says Ward
One potential result of a shared x86 backbone: More cross-platform Mass Effect, less power PC-optimized Crysis 3.

I tried contacting several cross-platform game developers?from the biggest of the big companies to the popular little guys?to get a feel for their perspective, but no one would speak on the record. The few people I managed to even get on the phone clammed up once they realized the thrust of my questions.

?We?d prefer not to participate in this particular interview because the console transition is such a hot-button topic and we?re generally taking a wait-and-see approach,? one anonymous big-name indie developer told me. ?We don?t like to speculate about this stuff, though we find all of it very, very interesting and I think you?ve asked a lot of great questions here.?

Geez, thanks. Every other developer said something similar (compliments on my reporting style aside).
Not today, not tomorrow, but one day

We?re teetering on the precipice of a new tomorrow for PC gaming. All of these technologies are still in their infancy, but it?s obvious that some sort of convergence is coming.

PCs will no doubt lead the bleeding edge of performance gaming for years to come, technology-wise, but will that matter if games are designed for ubiquitous platform portability? What does the future actually hold? Even the people making games don?t know the answers to these questions.

Consoles and PCs and pixel-pumping tablets like the Razer Edge each handle control so differently that full-blown convergence seems difficult to ever imagine. Nonetheless, the underlying seeds for at least a basic sort of unification are being laid right now. Someday?not today, not tomorrow, but someday?the dividing wall will crumble, and PC fanboys and console fanboys will have no choice but to lay down their pitchforks and torches and call themselves just plain gamers.

On that day, we?ll all be part of the Horde.

article plus visuals

Source: http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/65675

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What planets are made of: Findings establish counterintuitive potential planet-forming materials

Apr. 24, 2013 ? A team of researchers led by Artem R. Oganov, a professor of theoretical crystallography in the Department of Geosciences, has made a startling prediction that challenges existing chemical models and current understanding of planetary interiors -- magnesium oxide, a major material in the formation of planets, can exist in several different compositions. The team's findings, "Novel stable compounds in the Mg-O system under high pressure," are published in the online edition of Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. The existence of these compounds -- which are radically different from traditionally known or expected materials -- could have important implications.

"For decades it was believed that MgO is the only thermodynamically stable magnesium oxide, and it was widely believed to be one of the main materials of the interiors of the Earth and other planets," said Qiang Zhu, the lead author of this paper and a postdoctoral student in the Oganov laboratory.

"We have predicted that two new compounds, MgO₂ and Mg₃O₂, become stable at pressures above one and five million atmospheres, respectively. This not only overturns standard chemical intuition but also implies that planets may be made of totally unexpected materials. We have predicted conditions (pressure, temperature, oxygen fugacity) necessary for stability of these new materials, and some planets, though probably not the Earth, may offer such conditions," added Oganov.

In addition to their general chemical interest, MgO₂ and Mg₃O₂ might be important planet-forming minerals in deep interiors of some planets. Planets with these compounds would most likely be the size of Earth or larger.

The team explained how its paper predicted the structures in detail by analyzing the electronic structure and chemical bonding for these compounds. For example, Mg₃O₂ is forbidden within "textbook chemistry," where the Mg ions can only have charges "+2," O ions are "-2, and the only allowed compound is MgO. In the "oxygen-deficient" semiconductor Mg₃O₂, there are strong electronic concentrations in the "empty space" of the structure that play the role of negatively charged ions and stabilize this material. Curiously, magnesium becomes a d-element (i.e. a transition metal) under pressure, and this almost alchemical transformation is responsible for the existence of the "forbidden" compound Mg₃O₂.

The findings were made using unique methods of structure prediction, developed in the Oganov laboratory. "These methods have led to the discovery of many new phenomena and are used by a number of companies for systematically discovering novel materials on the computer -- a much cheaper route, compared to traditional experimental methods," said Zhu.

"It is known that MgO makes up about 10 percent of the volume of our planet, and on other planets this fraction can be larger. The road is now open for a systematic discovery of new unexpected planet-forming materials," concluded Oganov.

This work is funded by the National Science Foundation and DARPA.

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Journal Reference:

1. Qiang Zhu, Artem R. Oganov, Andriy O. Lyakhov. Novel stable compounds in the Mg?O system under high pressure. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2013; DOI: 10.1039/C3CP50678A

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/e0dYr5OduAk/130424125444.htm

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AT&T Q1 2013 earnings: $3.7 billion income on revenue of $31.4 billion

AT&T just posted its earnings for the first quarter of 2013, and the market couldn't help but ding the company, which is now trading down in after hours markets. The business as a whole posted a net income of $3.7 billion, which is slightly up from $3.6 billion one year ago. Meanwhile, company revenues took a slight hit, which sit at $31.4 billion -- down 1.4 percent from the previous year. In terms of the company's wireless business, though, there's plenty of reason for optimism. The company was able to snag an additional 296,000 postpaid subscribers and put a solid 1.2 million people on smartphone plans during the quarter. For those keeping track, smartphone sales now account for 88 percent of AT&T's postpaid handsets. Unsurprisingly, the company is making more money than ever off of its data plans, which account for $5.1 billion of the company's business. As for the wireless segment as a whole, income is up 21 percent and AT&T is pulling in revenues of $16.6 billion with a 28 percent profit margin.

Encouraging signs were also revealed for U-verse, as the company's broadband service netted an additional 731,000 internet subscribers and 232,000 television subscribers during the quarter -- its best performance in two years -- for a grand total of 8.7 million subscribers. Naturally, one segment of Ma Bell's business isn't looking too hot, and that's the traditional wireline business, as revenues have fallen 10 percent from the previous year. Given the size of this segment, and the weakening demand for the service, it's easy to understand why investors might be slightly uneasy, even in light of all the encouraging news.

Filed under: Wireless, HD, Mobile, AT&T

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Source: AT&T

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/_89FzC3DQTA/

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Politics, Priorities, Psychology and Hope WITHIN The Black ...

Dear THE BLACK (Progressive) Agenda Is Safe - Right Through These Doors

Dr Boyce Says: (5:25 mark)

1. Fight For Our Right To Have .......................A Good Education?
2. Fight For Our Right To Have........................A Job?
3. Fight For Our Right To ...............................Get Out Of Prison?

Sir - I do not consider you "ignorant and manipulative" like most of the "Embedded Black Fox Confidence Men" - but you are no less complicit.

WHY ARE YOU SURPRISED that the "Embedded Confidence Men" told "The Blacks" that THEIR VOTES ARE GOING TO BE STOLEN - during the run up to the "Presidential Election Of 2012" - only to go back into "Obama Promotion Mode" today?

WHERE WERE YOU?????..........................Telling The Masses Of Negroes That THE BLACK ATTORNEY GENERAL WOULD NEVER ALLOW Their Vote To Be Stolen? ?AND IF They Were Fearful That A POLICE MAN, STANDING IN FRONT OF THE POLLING PLACE Then They Probably Beat The Hell Out Of Some Member Of The Black Community - AND THE BLACK COMMUNITY DOESN'T NEED THEIR VOTE - Only THE DEMOCRATS AND PROGRESSIVE FUNDAMENTALISTS DO?

1. How Do You VOTE FOR YOUR SALVATION And Get A GOOD EDUCATION - Unless There Is A Dependency On SOME EXTERNAL FORCE OUTSIDE OF YOUR COMMUNITY?
2. How Do You VOTE FOR THE PRESIDENT OF THE NATION With The Hopes For A JOB That Is Near Your Community - Unless SOME ECONOMIC PRINCIPLE Of "Value Add" / "Supply And Demand" Is Molested? ?Does VOTING INCREASE THE MARKET VALUE That You Have To Offer Someone To EXCHANGE YOUR COMPETENCIES In Exchange For A SALARY - OR, Dr Watkins Are You Telling Us That THE NATION Should VALUE THE LABORER - By Spiking His SALARY Using $17 TRILLION DEBT MONEY? ?
3. Of Those "Mass Incarcerated" That You Speak Of - Arrested By OUT OF DATE LAWS - How Many Of The FAVORABLE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS That The Black Community Has VOTED FOR With Pride - KEEP ARRESTING NEGROES Under These Same Statutes? ?IF OBAMA Can IGNORE THE "DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT" BECAUSE HE SAYS THAT IT IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL - HOW MANY NEGROES HAVE TOLD THE LOCAL DA, POLICE CHIEF, Judge OR SHERIFF That The Voted For To NOT "MASS INCARCERATE ANY MORE YOUNG NEGROES" - Lest They Feel The WRATH Of The CONGREGATION?

WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP THE "CONFIDENCE SCHEME" IN 2012 WHEN IT COUNTED?

WHAT DID DR BOYCE WATKINS EXPECT AS THE "OPERATIONALZATION OF THE BLACK AGENDA" THAT WAS FRAUDULENT IN THE FIRST PLACE?

December 2012 - Yes I remember. ? "The Black Progressive Thought Leadership" went to Washington DC and did a number upon the "Black Community Development Consciousness" that as MORE DESTRUCTIVE than the "White Republicans in January 2009" went to the same restaurant to plot to make Obama a ONE TERM PRESIDENT.

The Republicans succeeded in RILING UP "THE BLACKS" - keeping them on the defensive, to ensure that they FAILED at their "racist scheme".
In the mean time:

• Africa was bombed by the US Government - but the Negro needed to be silent lest the Right Wing win
• The American Negro - after 50 years of investments of his valuables in the scheme voiced by Bayard Rustin but expertly executed by Dr Ronald Daniels - STILL suffered from unemployment that was double that of his "Perfect 1.0 White Reference".
• For the first time in American history - the US COMMANDER IN CHIEF was said to be a VICTIM OF RACISM - this despite the fact that he had full faith and confidence of the OFFICE -to impose any US Foreign Policy, Military, Or Economic Sanction upon ANY OTHER NATION - in the name of the United States - AND NOT GET ARRESTED for doing so

This so called "Black Leadership" convinced the "Americanized Negro" to fuse their BLACK COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CONSCIOUSNESS into the Oval Office.

Dear Sir - that "Quality Black Education" that you have vacated the local institutions and now look toward the White House to provide to you......................................

HERE IS YOUR QUALITY BLACK EDUCATION - THE "PROTECTORS OF BLACKNESS ARE HAPPY AND APPEASED" ...................................NOW YOU GET IT INSTANTIATED WITHIN THE BLACK COMMUNITY!!!!

He Became A Scholar By LOOKING INTO THE FAVORABLE PRESIDENT'S EYES

THE ANSWER TO YOUR CHALLENGE - DR BOYCE

EITHER you use your inside contacts to schedule every single Black male represented in this latest report with an individual session to TOUCH OBAMA'S HEAD and thus become A-STUDENTS...........................

OR YOU WORK TO PUT A STOP TO THIS FOOLISHNESS - DISALLOWING the "BLACK COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CONSCIOUSNESS" to be STOLEN INTO POLITICS - USING THE NEGRO BY TAKING HIS VALUABLES!!!!

LIMIT what "The Negro" EXPECTS to be addressed through VOTING and INSTEAD BE HONEST by telling him WHAT HE MUST DO MORE LOCALLY lest his pockets continue to get picked!!

Source: http://withintheblackcommunity.blogspot.com/2013/04/dear-dr-boyce-watkins-black-agenda-is.html

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More rain expected for already swollen Midwest rivers

CLARKSVILLE, Mo. (AP) ? Communities along the Mississippi River and other Midwestern waterways are vigilantly eyeing ? and in some cases hastily fortifying ? makeshift levees to hold back floodwaters that meteorologists say could worsen or be prolonged by looming storms.

An inch of rain was expected to fall from Oklahoma to Michigan through Tuesday, a new drenching that led the National Weather Service to heighten the forecast crest of some stretches of rivers while blunting the progress of other waterways' slow retreat.

Mark Fuchs, a National Weather Service hydrologist, said the latest dousing could be especially troubling for communities along the Illinois River, which he said is headed for record crests.

"Along the Illinois, any increase is going to be cause for alarm, adding to their uncertainty and, in some cases, misery," he said late Monday afternoon.

Last week's downpours brought on sudden flooding throughout the Midwest, and high water is blamed for at least three deaths. Authorities in LaSalle, Ill., spent Monday searching for a woman whose van was spotted days earlier near a bridge, and a 12-year-old boy was in critical condition after being pulled from a river near Leadwood, Mo., about 65 miles south of St. Louis.

The additional rain isn't welcome news in Clarksville, Mo., about 70 miles north of St. Louis.

Days after bused-in prison inmates worked shoulder to shoulder with the National Guard and local volunteers to build a makeshift floodwall of sand and gravel, the barrier showed signs of strain Monday. Crews scrambled to patch trouble spots and build a second sandbag wall to catch any water weaseling through.

In Grafton, Ill., some 40 miles northeast of St. Louis, Mayor Tom Thompson said small community was holding its own against the Mississippi that by early Monday afternoon was 10 feet above flood stage. Waters lapped against some downtown buildings, forcing shops such as Hawg Pit BBQ to clear out and detours to be put up around town ? one key intersection was under 8 inches of water.

"If it gets another foot (higher), it's going to become another issue," Thompson said. Many businesses "are kinda watching and holding their breath. ... Some things are going to really be close to the wire."

Elsewhere, smaller rivers caused big problems. In Grand Rapids, Mich., the Grand River hit a record 21.85 feet, driving hundreds of people from their homes and flooding parts of downtown.

Spots south of St. Louis aren't expected to crest until late this week, and significant flooding is possible in places like Ste. Genevieve, Mo., Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Cairo, Ill. Further downriver, flood warnings have been issued for Kentucky and Tennessee.

___

Salter reported from St. Louis.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/more-rain-expected-already-swollen-rivers-070400840.html

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Boston mayor says authorities may never question bomb suspect

(Reuters) - Boston Mayor Tom Menino said on Sunday authorities may never be able to question the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, who lies seriously injured and unable to speak after eluding police for 24 hours.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was in "very serious" condition at a Boston hospital after being captured Friday night, Menino told ABC's "This Week" program.

"And we don't know if we'll ever be able to question the individual," he said without elaborating.

Tsarnaev's brother, Tamerlan, 26, was killed in a firefight with police earlier on Friday as officers hunted them for the twin blasts on Monday that killed three and injured 176.

U.S. Senator Dan Coats, a member of the Intelligence Committee, said it was questionable whether Tsarnaev would be able to talk again.

"The information that we have is that there was a shot to the throat," Coats told the ABC program.

"It doesn't mean he can't communicate, but right now I think he's in a condition where we can't get any information from him at all," said Coats, an Indiana Republican.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Susan Cornwell; Editing by Vicki Allen and Philip Barbara)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boston-mayor-says-authorities-may-never-bomb-suspect-151354409.html

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Reese Witherspoon charged with disorderly conduct

This combination of undated photo provided by the City of Atlanta Department of Corrections shows Reese Witherspoon, left, her husband James Toth. The Oscar-winning actress was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a state trooper said she wouldn't stay in the car while Toth was given a field sobriety test in Atlanta. (AP Photo/City of Atlanta Department of Corrections)

This combination of undated photo provided by the City of Atlanta Department of Corrections shows Reese Witherspoon, left, her husband James Toth. The Oscar-winning actress was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a state trooper said she wouldn't stay in the car while Toth was given a field sobriety test in Atlanta. (AP Photo/City of Atlanta Department of Corrections)

This undated photo provided by the City of Atlanta Department of Corrections shows Reese Witherspoon. The Oscar-winning actress was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a state trooper said she wouldn't stay in the car while her husband, James Toth, was given a field sobriety test in Atlanta. (AP Photo/City of Atlanta Department of Corrections)

This undated photo provided by the City of Atlanta Department of Corrections shows James Joseph Toth. Oscar-winning Actress Reese Witherspoon was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a state trooper said she wouldn't stay in the car while Toth, her husband, was given a field sobriety test in Atlanta. (AP Photo/City of Atlanta Department of Corrections)

FILE - In this Friday, March 8, 2013 file photo, actress Reese Witherspoon and her husband, Jim Toth, watch the Toronto Raptors take on the Los Angeles Lakers in an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles. Police in Georgia say that Witherspoon has been arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a traffic stop involving her husband in Atlanta. A Georgia State Police incident report says that Witherspoon was arrested early Friday, April 19, 2013, and charged with disorderly conduct. The report says a state trooper observed that a car driven by Toth was failing to stay in its lane. The officer writes that Witherspoon disobeyed multiple orders to stay in the car while he performed a field sobriety test on Toth. After she refused to return to the car, she was handcuffed and arrested. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

ATLANTA (AP) ? Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a state trooper said she wouldn't stay in the car while her husband was given a field sobriety test in Atlanta.

Witherspoon was released from jail after the Friday morning arrest and was in New York Sunday night for the premiere of her new film "Mud." She posed for cameras on the red carpet but did not stop to talk to reporters.

The trooper noticed the car driven by her husband wasn't staying in its lane early Friday morning, so a traffic stop was initiated. Her husband, James Toth, had droopy eyelids, watery, bloodshot eyes, and his breath smelled strongly of alcohol, according to the report.

Toth told the trooper he'd had a drink, which Witherspoon said was consumed at a restaurant two hours before the traffic stop, the trooper writes.

Before the field sobriety test began, the 37-year-old Witherspoon got out of the car, was told to get back in and obeyed, the report said. After the "Walk the Line" star got out a second time, the trooper said he warned her that she would be arrested if she left the car again.

As the test continued, "Mrs. Witherspoon began to hang out the window and say that she did not believe that I was a real police officer. I told Mrs. Witherspoon to sit on her butt and be quiet," Trooper First Class J. Pyland writes.

Toth, 42, was then placed under arrest. He was charged with driving under the influence and failure to maintain the lane.

At that point, the report says, Witherspoon got out and asked the trooper what was going on. After being told to return to the car, she "stated that she was a 'US Citizen' and that she was allowed to 'stand on American ground,'" the report states.

The trooper then began to arrest Witherspoon. The report says Witherspoon was resistant at first but was calmed down by her husband.

"Do you know my name?" Witherspoon is quoted as asking the trooper. She also said: "You're about to find out who I am" and "You're about to be on national news," according to the report.

Toth and Witherspoon were then taken to jail.

A message left at the office of Witherspoon's publicist, Meredith O'Sullivan Wasson, wasn't immediately returned Sunday.

News of the arrest broke shortly before Witherspoon arrived on the "Mud" red carpet.

"I can't say anything because I don't know," said director Jeff Nichols. " I literally ? the first guy on the press line to say something was the first time I heard about it so I gotta go figure it out."

Matthew McConaughey, who plays the lead role in "Mud" and is represented by Toth, said "I'm not going to comment on that because it's too fresh."

__

AP reporter Lauri Neff contributed to this report from New York.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-04-21-Reese%20Witherspoon%20Arrest/id-ffbcc35b0fc64fc198fab266dea58f0b

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Social stress and the inflamed brain

Apr. 21, 2013 ? Depression is the leading cause of disability with more than 350 million people globally affected by this disease. In addition to debilitating consequences on mental health, depression predisposes an individual to physiological disease such as heart disease, and conversely heart disease increases the risk of depression. According to the World Health Organization by the year 2020 heart disease and depression will be the number one and number two leading causes of disability in developed countries. While the co-occurrence of these disorders is well recognized, an understanding of the underlying mechanisms that lead to this relationship are lacking.

Dr. Susan K. Wood, a Research Associate at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, investigates brain-related biomarkers for depression-heart disease comorbidity. She uses a rodent model of social stress likened to bullying in people that she has found to produce depressive-like behaviors and dysfunctional cardiovascular changes in a susceptible subset of rodents. Her previous work highlighted a role for the stress-related neurohormone corticotropin-releasing factor in rendering an individual vulnerable to stress-induced depression and heart disease. Intrigued by what other biomarkers may be distinct her latest study is the first to identify gene and protein expression differences in the brains of rodents that are either vulnerable or resilient to developing stress-induced depressive-like behaviors and cardiovascular dysfunction.

The study, conducted in male rats, compared expression of 88 genes involved in signaling within the brain between socially stressed and non-stressed rats. It revealed more than 35 genes in stressed rats that had altered expression compared with non-stressed controls. Many of the genes that were differentially expressed were related to inflammation. Follow-up studies measuring protein levels revealed that Interleukin-1? and Monocyte chemotactic protein-1, inflammatory markers known to play a role in depression and heart disease, were suppressed in the brains of the resilient subset of rats and Interleukin-1? was increased in the vulnerable group. Dr. Wood measured the gene and protein levels under resting conditions 24 hours after just 5 daily 30-minute exposures to social stress.

The identification of factors in the brain that distinguish susceptibility and resiliency to depression and heart disease comorbidity would be a major advance in predicting, preventing and treating these disorders. Dr. Wood is continuing these studies as an Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine with the hope that these findings will uncover new targets to treat the mind and body.

Her findings will be presented April 21st, 2013 during Experimental Biology 2013 in Boston, MA.

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/mind_brain/mental_health/~3/bG-TTU4qHd8/130421153839.htm

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Fallout for states rejecting Medicaid expansion

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Rejecting the Medicaid expansion in the federal health care law could have unexpected consequences for states where Republican lawmakers remain steadfastly opposed to what they scorn as "Obamacare."

It could mean exposing businesses to Internal Revenue Service penalties and leaving low-income citizens unable to afford coverage even as legal immigrants get financial aid for their premiums. For the poorest people, it could virtually guarantee that they will remain uninsured and dependent on the emergency room at local hospitals that already face federal cutbacks.

Concern about such consequences helped forge a deal in Arkansas last week. The Republican-controlled Legislature endorsed a plan by Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe to accept additional Medicaid money under the federal law, but to use the new dollars to buy private insurance for eligible residents.

One of the main arguments for the private option was that it would help businesses avoid tax penalties.

The Obama administration hasn't signed off on the Arkansas deal, and it's unclear how many other states will use it as a model. But it reflects a pragmatic streak in American politics that's still the exception in the polarized health care debate.

"The biggest lesson out of Arkansas is not so much the exact structure of what they are doing," said Alan Weil, executive director of the nonpartisan National Academy for State Health Policy. "Part of it is just a message of creativity, that they can look at it and say, 'How can we do this in a way that works for us?'"

About half the nearly 30 million uninsured people expected to gain coverage under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul would do so through Medicaid. Its expansion would cover low-income people making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, about $15,860 for an individual.

Middle-class people who don't have coverage at their jobs will be able to purchase private insurance in new state markets, helped by new federal tax credits. The big push to sign up the uninsured starts this fall, and coverage takes effect Jan. 1.

As originally written, the Affordable Care Act required states to accept the Medicaid expansion as a condition of staying in the program. Last summer's Supreme Court decision gave each state the right to decide. While that pleased many governors, it also created complications by opening the door to unintended consequences.

So far, 20 mostly blue states, plus the District of Columbia, have accepted the expansion.

Thirteen GOP-led states have declined. They say Medicaid already is too costly, and they don't trust Washington to keep its promise of generous funding for the expansion, which mainly helps low-income adults with no children at home.

The remaining states are still weighing options. Concerns about the unintended consequences could make the most difference in those states.

A look at some potential side effects:

?The Employer Glitch

States that don't expand Medicaid leave more businesses exposed to tax penalties, according to a recent study by Brian Haile, Jackson Hewitt's senior vice president for tax policy. He estimates the fines could top $1 billion a year in states refusing.

Under the law, employers with 50 or more workers that don't offer coverage face penalties if just one of their workers gets subsidized private insurance through the new state markets. But employers generally do not face fines under the law for workers who enroll in Medicaid.

In states that don't expand Medicaid, some low-income workers who would otherwise have been eligible have a fallback option. They can instead get subsidized private insurance in the law's new markets. But that would trigger a penalty for their employer.

"It highlights how complicated the Affordable Care Act is," said Haile. "We wanted to make sure the business community understood."

?The Immigrant Quirk

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, called attention this year to this politically awkward problem when she proposed that her state accept the Medicaid expansion.

Under the health law, U.S. citizens below the poverty line ? $11,490 for an individual, $23,550 for a family of four ? can only get coverage through the Medicaid expansion. But lawfully present immigrants who are also below the poverty level are eligible for subsidized private insurance.

Congress wrote the legislation that way to avoid the controversy associated with trying to change previous laws that require legal immigrants to wait five years before they can qualify for Medicaid. Instead of dragging immigration politics into the health care debate, lawmakers devised a detour.

Before the Supreme Court ruling, it was a legislative patch.

Now it could turn into an issue in states with lots of immigrants, such as Texas and Florida. It could create the perception that citizens are being disadvantaged versus immigrants.

?The Fairness Argument

Under the law, U.S. citizens below the poverty line can only get taxpayer-subsidized coverage by going into Medicaid. But other low-income people making just enough to put them over the poverty line can get subsidized private insurance through the new state markets.

An individual making $11,700 a year would be able to get a policy. But someone making $300 less would be out of luck, dependent on charity care at the emergency room.

"Americans have very strong feelings about fairness," said Weil. "The notion of 'Gee, that's just not fair' is definitely a factor in the discussion."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fallout-states-rejecting-medicaid-expansion-072613081.html

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Genetics defines a distinct liver disease

Apr. 21, 2013 ? Large-scale genetic study defines relationship between primary sclerosing cholangitis and other autoimmune diseases.

Researchers have newly associated nine genetic regions with a rare autoimmune disease of the liver known as primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). This brings the total number of genetic regions associated with the disease to 16.

Approximately 70 per cent of people who suffer from PSC also suffer from IBD. The team showed that only half of the newly associated genetic regions were shared with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). For the first time, this definitively proves that PSC, although genetically related to IBD, is a distinct disease.

PSC is a chronic, progressive disease of the bile ducts that channels bile from the liver into the intestines. It can cause inflammation of the bile ducts (cholangitis) and liver scarring that leads to liver cirrhosis and liver failure. There are no effective treatments available. Although PSC affects only one in 10,000 people, it is a leading cause of liver transplant surgery.

?Before our study, it was never quite clear whether PSC was a complication of IBD or a distinct disease in its own right,? says Dr Carl Anderson, lead author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. ?We have proven it to be a unique disease, and hope that our results will inform the development of more effective treatments, designed to target the biological pathways involved in causing the disease?.

The work involved an international group of scientists from the International PSC study group recruiting patients from 13 countries within Europe and North America. Without this large collaborative effort it would not have been possible to obtain the large number of patient DNA samples necessary for the study.

The team used DNA genotyping technology to survey more thoroughly regions of the genome known to underlie other immune-related diseases to discover if they also play a role in PSC susceptibility.

In addition to the nine genetic regions newly associated, they also saw strong signals at three regions of the genome previously associated with the disease. Of these twelve genetic regions, six are also associated with IBD, while the six other regions showed little to no association in a recent large study of IBD.

?Using the Immunochip genotyping chip, we can pull apart the genetic relationships between these autoimmune diseases and begin to see not only their genetic similarities, but also the differences,? says Jimmy Liu, PhD student and first author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. ?As PSC is a rare disorder, sample collection is more difficult than for other, more common, autoimmune diseases. We hope that with more samples from patients, we?ll be able to link more genetic regions to the disease, and it will become easier to identify underlying pathways that could act as therapeutic targets.?

Three of the genetic regions associated with PSC fall within a single biological system that underlies variation in T cells, cells important to our immune response. One gene that controls this pathway, HDAC7, is known to be a key factor in immune tolerance and the new data strongly suggests exploring the possibility that drugs affecting HDAC7 function may serve as future therapeutics in PSC.

In an extended analysis, the team identified an additional 33 genetic regions that are also involved in several common immune-mediated conditions (celiac disease, Crohn?s disease, ulcerative colitis, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, sarcoidosis and psoriasis). This analysis shows that PSC shares many genetic risk loci with other immune-mediated diseases and opens up the possibility for testing drugs known to be effective in genetically similar diseases for efficacy in PSC.

The next step for the team is to do a high-powered search throughout the entire genomes of PSC patients to find specific regions associated with PSC outside of the regions included on the Immunochip genotyping chip.

?This study has uncovered more about the genetics underlying PSC than any before it, but this is only the first step? says Dr Tom Hemming Karlsen, lead author from Oslo University Hospital, Norway. ?We hope the ongoing scientific and clinical research being conducted through the International PSC study group will help improve the outlook for those currently suffering at the hands of this disease?

?Our study, which is the largest of its type for PSC, would not have been possible without the help of the patients with this rare disorder,? adds Dr Hemming Karlsen.

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Journal Reference:

1. Jimmy Z Liu, Johannes Roksund Hov, Trine Folseraas, Eva Ellinghaus, Simon M Rushbrook, Nadezhda T Doncheva, Ole A Andreassen, Rinse K Weersma, Tobias J Weism?ller, Bertus Eksteen, Pietro Invernizzi, Gideon M Hirschfield, Daniel Nils Gotthardt, Albert Pares, David Ellinghaus, Tejas Shah, Brian D Juran, Piotr Milkiewicz, Christian Rust, Christoph Schramm, Tobias M?ller, Brijesh Srivastava, Georgios Dalekos, Markus M N?then, Stefan Herms, Juliane Winkelmann, Mitja Mitrovic, Felix Braun, Cyriel Y Ponsioen, Peter J P Croucher, Martina Sterneck, Andreas Teufel, Andrew L Mason, Janna Saarela, Virpi Leppa, Ruslan Dorfman, Domenico Alvaro, Annarosa Floreani, Suna Onengut-Gumuscu, Stephen S Rich, Wesley K Thompson, Andrew J Schork, Sigrid N?ss, Ingo Thomsen, Gabriele Mayr, Inke R K?nig, Kristian Hveem, Isabelle Cleynen, Javier Gutierrez-Achury, Isis Rica?o-Ponce, David van Heel, Einar Bj?rnsson, Richard N Sandford, Peter R Durie, Espen Melum, Morten H Vatn, Mark S Silverberg, Richard H Duerr, Leonid Padyukov, Stephan Brand, Miquel Sans, Vito Annese, Jean-Paul Achkar, Kirsten Muri Boberg, Hanns-Ulrich Marschall, Olivier Chazouill?res, Christopher L Bowlus, Cisca Wijmenga, Erik Schrumpf, Severine Vermeire, Mario Albrecht, John D Rioux, Graeme Alexander, Annika Bergquist, Judy Cho, Stefan Schreiber, Michael P Manns, Martti F?rkkil?, Anders M Dale, Roger W Chapman, Konstantinos N Lazaridis, Andre Franke, Carl A Anderson, Tom H Karlsen. Dense genotyping of immune-related disease regions identifies nine new risk loci for primary sclerosing cholangitis. Nature Genetics, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/ng.2616

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/Eq8ub1bLGf0/130421152410.htm

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