Recently, professional athletes are using?Twitter to unload their family pets.?
Kendrick Perkins??(basketball), Anthony Davis (football) and Isaiah Stanback (football) all posted the desire to sell their dogs on Twitter, and at least Perkins and Davis sold their family pet in under an hour with the requirement by Davis to "Just don't be mean to him".
As I am willing to defer to the professionals in sports, I would ask that they, in turn, let me and other credentialed professionals find unwanted pets new homes. Notwithstanding the difference between merely getting rid of a pet to the first bidder and actually finding a pet a new home-(The former accepts the tweet for the highest bid while the latter searches, screens and tries to assess compatibility with the family)- there are darker issues at play here.
Is the allure of the pet the fact that is belongs to a famous athlete? Is the intention to re-tweet and resell to the highest bidder? What is the effect on the dog who must travel, and readjust to new surroundings. Is this the message that pro athletes, often viewed as role models, want to convey to our youth about commitment and responsibility?
I would advise these athletes and those that will imitate them to turn their pets over to a local humane society or spca with a donation sufficient to ensure their well-being while they wait for a new family.?
While it is certainly possible that a good home may be found using Twitter. gambling with a pets' life is not the game these athletes should be playing. ?
http://news-hound.net/samsung-pays-a...-5-cent-coins/ Epic Trolling from Samsung
This morning more than 30 trucks filled with 5-cent coins arrived at Apple?s headquarters in California. Initially, the security company that protects the facility said the trucks were in the wrong place, but minutes later, Tim Cook (Apple CEO) received a call from Samsung CEO explaining that they will pay $1 billion dollars for the fine recently ruled against the South Korean company in this way.
The funny part is that the signed document does not specify a single payment method, so Samsung is entitled to send the creators of the iPhone their billion dollars in the way they deem best.
This dirty but genius geek troll play is a new headache to Apple executives as they will need to put in long hours counting all that money, to check if it is all there and to try to deposit it crossing fingers to hope a bank will accept all the coins.
Lee Kun-hee, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, told the media that his company is not going to be intimidated by a group of ?geeks with style? and that if they want to play dirty, they also know how to do it.
You can use your coins to buy refreshments at the little machine for life or melt the coins to make computers, that?s not my problem, I already paid them and fulfilled the law.
A total of 20 billion coins, delivery hope to finish this week.
In each issue of Distro, editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news.
This week is Microsoft's time to shine. Its Build conference, typically held later in the year, kicked off on Wednesday and along with it came a lot more about Windows 8.1 -- which we thought we already knew plenty about, honestly. But there was more to learn, including a new milestone for the Windows Store: 100,000 apps. Well, almost 100,000 apps. Steve Ballmer said the store was "approaching" that number and has racked up "hundreds of millions" of downloads. A bit of a far cry from Apple's 50 billion, but hey, it's early days yet.
More interesting to me is the inclusion of native 3D-printing support in Windows 8.1. Good 'ol 2D printers were certainly common before the traditional driver came into standard practice, but that market didn't really take off until they effectively became plug and play. One could say it's perhaps a bit early for that kind of native support to be needed in Windows for a 3D printer, but better too soon than too late.
Do you remember a time when the Sony Walkman was as high-tech as the iPhone 5? Even though we have the modern advantage of rechargeable batteries, the idea of having a portable cassette or CD player today seems laughable. However, when the transistor radio was invented in the 1950?s, the world suddenly had an idea that music could be handheld. Inventions like the boom box dominated certain decades, but it was the introduction of the Walkman by Sony in 1979 that would shape music listening for the next twenty years.
A Brief History Of The Walkman
Despite the fact that Sony launched the product, the actual inventor of the portable personal stereo audio cassette player was a man named Andreas Pavel. He filed a patent for a device he called a ?Stereobelt? in 1977. Since Pavel?s patent was rejected by the United States, Sony was able to gain a market there with their Walkman model. However, Pavel eventually reclaimed his financial losses from Sony and gained the title of ?Original Inventor of the Personal Stereo.? Nevertheless, it was Sony that made the Walkman popular. For the record, the first Sony Walkman was released in 1979.
The Walkman Takes Over America
Over the course of the 1980?s, the Sony Walkman became a household name. In fact, when other brands picked up the manufacturing of personal stereo products, consumers would still refer to it as their Walkman despite the fact it was not made by Sony. Similar to the way smartphones are regarded today, children in the 1980?s were usually encouraged to avoid using a Walkman because the first models were easy to break. In the mid-1980?s, Sony resolved this issue by producing a line of Walkman toys for children called My First Sony. This was one of many ways that Sony responded to the complaints of their customers. Other examples of improvements to the original design include their slim-line, waterproof and battery-efficient models.
The Walkman Goes Solar
Available in white or yellow, the solar revolution was part of the Walkman history. In 1987 when the Solar Walkman was released on the market, the solar-powered calculator was already prominent. Clearly, the WMF107 Solar Walkman was one of the next steps in getting rid of the need to buy AA batteries every week. Sadly, the Solar Walkman was never perfected, and the unit would not work at full capacity unless the sun was extremely bright. The first run model was also expensive for consumers and the rechargeable battery was difficult to care for.
The Walkman Says Good-Bye
Despite its absence in the modern marketplace, this product did not decline in popularity as early as you think. After decades of being a sought-after piece of technology, Sony finally announced that it would cease production of the device. It made one final batch of Walkmans, and then told the press that these were the final units. By the end of 2011, the days of the Walkman were drawn to a close. There are still many models for sale throughout the world, but you can no longer buy them from the manufacturer. Sony has stated in several reports that the main cause of decline for this product was the invention of the MP3 player.
And with that, the world says good-bye to another great must-have piece of technology.
This piece was written by Pete Salinsky, a freelance writer based in Baton Rouge, LA. Pete enjoys writing about gadgets, gadget accessories, computers, cell phones and other associated topics; those searching for iPad accessories should check out the Kensington iPad cover from kensington.com.
FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013,file photo, Thorsten Heins, CEO of Research in Motion, introduces the BlackBerry Z10, in New York. Research in Motion Ltd. reports quarterly financial results before the market opens on Friday, June 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013,file photo, Thorsten Heins, CEO of Research in Motion, introduces the BlackBerry Z10, in New York. Research in Motion Ltd. reports quarterly financial results before the market opens on Friday, June 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
TORONTO (AP) ? Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion plunged nearly 30 percent Friday after the company posted a loss and warned of future losses despite releasing its make-or-break new smartphones this year.
RIM also announced that it will stop developing new versions of its slow-selling tablet computer called the Playbook.
Analysts were looking for insight into how phones running RIM's new Blackberry 10 operating system are selling. It wasn't good.
RIM said it sold 6.8 million phones overall versus 7.8 million last year. That includes older models. In wasn't until well into a conference call with analysts that RIM announced that 2.7 million of the devices sold in the quarter were Blackberry 10 models.
RIM's Blackberry 10 operating system is critical to the company's comeback. New phones running the BlackBerry 10 software began selling around the world this year. The BlackBerry Z10, a touchscreen model and the Q10, which sports a keyboard, have received positive reviews, but there was a delay in getting them to market in the U.S.
The first quarter, however, included a substantial period of sales of the Z10 phone in the U.S. It didn't include sales numbers for the Q10 in the U.S. The Q10 just went on sale in the U.S. earlier this month.
Sales results and RIM's projections, however, signal that the new BlackBerry 10 phones are not selling well. The company said it anticipates it will generate an operating loss in the second quarter, too.
Mike Walkley, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity, said it's clear the new operating system has not turned the company around.
"With Z10, Q10, and Q5 all shipping in the August quarter and BlackBerry still guiding to a loss we believe that is strong evidence BB10 has not turned around BlackBerry in an extremely competitive smartphone market," Walkley said.
Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said on a conference call with analysts that the "transition takes time" and noted things are better compared to last year when "we were told the company was finished."
Shares of Research in Motion Ltd. dropped $4.02, or 28 percent, to close at $10.46 Friday.
The BlackBerry, introduced in 1999, was once the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people. But it lost its cachet not long after Apple released the first iPhone in 2007. Apple's device reset expectations for what a smartphone can do. RIM promised to catch up while developing new a software system called BlackBerry 10, which uses technology it got through its 2010 purchase of QNX Software Systems. But the company took more than two years to unveil new phones that were redesigned for the multimedia, Internet browsing and apps experience that customers now demand. During that time, RIM cut more than 5,000 jobs and saw shareholder wealth of more than $70 billion vanish.
The Canadian company said it lost $84 million, or 16 cents a share, in the three months ended June 1 on revenue of $3.1 billion. It lost $518 million, or 99 cents per share, on revenue of $2.8 billion a year ago.
Analysts expected RIM to earn 5 cents a share on revenue of $3.37 billion.
The number of BlackBerry users in the world also fell by four million to 72 million. RIM also said it anticipates it will generate an operating loss in the second quarter. Heins noted the highly competitive smartphone market makes it difficult to estimate revenue and levels of profitability.
Heins also announced on the call that he has halted further development of RIM's failed tablet offering, the Playbook. The Playbook has not sold well.
"Our teams have spent a great deal of time and energy looking at solutions that could move the BlackBerry 10 experience to Playbook, but unfortunately I am not satisfied with the level of performance and user experience and I made the difficult decision to stop these efforts and focus on our core hardware portfolio," Heins said.
Heins said they'll continue to support the PlayBook on the existing software platforms and configurations. Asked if RIM will continue to make the Playbook, a RIM spokeswoman said the company is evaluating its hardware strategy.
Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners, said said it's tough for RIM because it's hard to make money on handsets now.
"There are a lot of people that haven't been able to make it happen. For all the talk about Apple and Samsung, there are companies like Nokia and HTC," Gillis said.
Gillis said things look bleaker for the company and it's going to continue to be a struggle.
Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek said the high end global smartphone market is saturated and brutally competitive.
"Everybody is coming to this reality. You talk to HTC, Samsung and even Apple, the high end is saturated. That's a fact," Misek said. "Anybody in the high end who wants a smartphone in the world has one, so you have to knock somebody away from another platform. That is a brutal, brutal market."
RIM has unveiled a lower-cost BlackBerry aimed at consumers in emerging markets, but hasn't said if the device will be available in North America.
Misek was expecting the company to sell 4 million BlackBerry 10 phones. He said the sale of 2.7 million new BlackBerry 10 phones was the most disappointing news Friday.
More than half of US employees say they take business calls or check their work e-mails while on vacation. The convenience of laptops and mobile devices make vacation-time work easier than ever, but researchers say there is such a thing as too much work.
By Akane Otani,?Contributor / June 27, 2013
Tourists flock to the beach in southern Spain last month. More than half of US employees say they regularly check their e-mails and make business calls while they are on vacation.
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?Whether aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean?or a Jeep in the Sahara, more than half of American employees regularly check in on work while vacationing, according to a new study conducted by Pertino, a cloud networking software company.
Technology advances have enabled employees to go far beyond texting and e-mailing their colleagues on the go and actually work on documents. The catch: It is becoming harder for people to drop their work in their downtime.
?The Information Age has enabled unprecedented levels of employee productivity from the corner office to the factory floor, but it has also created a dependency on the applications, files, and data that employees depend on every day to get their job done. This can actually lead to anxiety when an employee is disconnected for a protracted period of time,? says Todd Krautkremer, vice president of marketing at Pertino, based in Los Gatos, Calif.
Some 64 percent of men say they work on vacation; 57 percent of women say the same, according to the Pertino study.
The desire to ward off work-related anxiety has led many employees to take their laptops, smartphones, and tablets on the road with them ? even to places that do not even come close to resembling an air-conditioned cubicle.
For instance, 36 percent of the employees surveyed say they have worked while basking in the sun on the beach. More unconventionally, 31 percent of US employees say they have worked from bathroom stalls, according to the study.
?If you have ability to be connected to your work at any time on any device, it does change way you work and you vacation,? Mr. Krautkremer says. ?Before, we would never have stood in lines at airports and pulled files beyond a firewall to take a quick look at them.?
Keeping a ready eye on every tweet and alert while ostensibly enjoying time off from work, however, can strain relationships or lead to burnout. Workaholics tend to have less time to spend with their families, lower satisfaction within their marriages, and even reduced health, researchers from the University of West Florida concluded in a 2008 study.
Although employees may assume that working around the clock will at least boost their job performance, some studies suggest that people who constantly work are actually less satisfied with their careers, the researchers said.
It is also possible that workaholics are less likely to enjoy the time they do have to relax, the researchers said, since most workaholics ?spend the majority of their waking hours involved in work-related activities and thoughts.?
Acknowledging that it is easy to get lost inside a ?workaholic world,? Mr. Krautkremer, says designating time for both work and nonwork activities is crucial. Mr. Krautkremer, for instance, says he does much of his work early in the morning ??then ?systematically unplugs? for the rest of the day.
?It?s all about setting whatever rhythm works for you,? he says.
When the former king of Caerda, King Jaricom was assassinated along with the rest of the royal family, the kingdom of Caerda was driven into pure anarchy. With dozens of rival warlords and militias that seek to claim the thrown as their own. Hundreds are slaughtered in massive battles and raids spread out across the land.
As the memory of the old regime which has ruled for the past 1000 years fades from memory, darkness finds a foothold and out of the darkness a powerful necromancer named Kyros Wrath unleashes an massive army of demonic creatures from the abyss of despair to do his bidding...
As the false king Kyros continues to conquer the land with an iron fist the people of Caerda are forced to swear loyalty to the necromancer or die...
But when chaos rules the land and all hope is lost, the exiled prince and rightful king of Caerda reveals himself and attempts to unite the rival clans and rebels to fight against the necromancers armies... ________________________________________________________________________________________________
KEEP IN MIND This rp could end in any way, weather it be the necromancer crowned as emperor, the exiled prince uniting the rebels or both of them dieing and Caerda remaining in anarchy... It all depends on the characters that take part. ________________________________________________________________________________________________
BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) - Talks between the United States and Russia to set up a Syrian peace conference produced no deal on Tuesday, with the powers on either side of the two-year civil war failing to agree when it should be held or who would be invited.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal accused the Syrian government of "genocide" and described the involvement in the conflict of foreign militias backed by Iran as "the most dangerous development".
Washington and Moscow announced plans for the peace conference last month, but their relations have since deteriorated rapidly, as momentum on the battlefield has swung in favor of President Bashar al-Assad.
Washington decided this month to provide military aid to the rebels fighting Assad, while Moscow refused to drop its support for the Syrian leader it has continued to arm.
After five hours of talks in Geneva sponsored by the United Nations, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said there was still no agreement over whether Assad's ally Iran should be allowed to attend the conference, or who would represent the Syrian opposition.
The United States and Western European powers have joined Arab countries and Turkey in supporting the mainly Sunni Muslim rebels. Russia and Iran support Assad, who has made gains in recent weeks with the help of thousands of fighters from the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shi'ite militia Hezbollah.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet next week, and further talks on the conference are expected to follow, a U.N. statement said.
In Damascus, Assad's forces fired mortars and shells at Zamalka and Irbin, just east of the government-held city centre, in an assault backed by air strikes, opposition activists said.
Rebels who grabbed footholds in Damascus nearly a year ago say they now face an advancing Syrian military buoyed by support from Hezbollah.
If the insurgents are driven from the capital's eastern suburbs, they would lose supply routes and suffer a heavy blow in their drive to end four decades of Assad family rule.
In Jeddah, Prince Saud repeated Saudi Arabia's call for the rebels to be armed. "Syria is facing a double-edged attack. It is facing genocide by the government and an invasion from outside the government," he told a news conference with Kerry. "(It) is facing a massive flow of weapons to aid and abet that invasion and that genocide. This must end."
The Saudi foreign minister attacked Iranian involvement. "The most dangerous development is the foreign participation, represented by Hezbollah and other militias supported by the forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard," he said.
Saudi Arabia, a Sunni state which views Shi'ite Iran as its arch-rival, has increased aid to Syrian rebels in recent months, supplying anti-aircraft missiles among other weapons.
Security in Syria's neighbors Iraq and Lebanon, where the conflict has aggravated Sunni-Shi'ite tensions, has crumbled.
Suicide bombers killed eight people north of Baghdad on Tuesday, a day after 39 people died when 10 car bombs exploded in the capital. Violence has spiraled in Iraq since April.
"GETTING OUT OF HAND"
In Lebanon, clashes between the Lebanese army and gunmen led by an anti-Hezbollah Sunni cleric engulfed the southern port of Sidon on Sunday and Monday. At least 40 people were killed, including 18 soldiers, security sources said.
Sectarian hatred has even flared in Sunni-majority Egypt, where a crowd attacked and killed five Shi'ites on Sunday.
Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.-Arab League mediator, urged the United States and Russia to help "contain this situation that is getting out of hand, not only in Syria but also in the region".
Speaking in Geneva before the talks with U.S. and Russian officials, Brahimi said he doubted that the Syria peace conference could take place next month, citing disarray among Assad's political opponents.
More than 93,000 people have been killed in Syria since peaceful protests erupted in March 2011. Assad's violent response helped to provoke what is now a civil war that has driven nearly 1.7 million refugees into neighbouring countries.
Outgunned rebels are looking to Western and Arab nations to help them to reverse Assad's gains. But although the United States announced unspecified military aid this month, it is unclear whether this can shift the balance against the Syrian leader and his allies.
Kerry wants to ensure aid to the rebels is properly coordinated, partly out of concern that weapons could end up in the hands of Islamist militants who are prominent in their ranks. "Our goal is very clear, we cannot let this be a wider war, we cannot let this contribute to more bloodshed and prolongation of the agony of the people of Syria," he said.
(Additional reporting by Mahmoud Habboush in Dubai and Lesley Wroughton in Jeddah; Writing by Alistair Lyon and Peter Graff, editing by David Stamp)
THE fight against crime is like a bottomless pit, one into which we could keep throwing resources without ever noticing much difference. That is an especially big problem now that police departments around the world are being forced to make cuts in the wake of the global recession. The squeeze on police budgets will worry many of us, yet there are those who see it as an opportunity.
"There's nothing quite like 30 per cent less funding to drive innovation and a desire to do things differently," says Peter Neyroud at the University of Cambridge's Institute of Criminology. A former chief constable of one of the UK's regional police forces, Neyroud is an ardent advocate of evidence-based policing ? the idea that policing strategies should be guided by research into which crime prevention and detection measures work best. Until now, few police forces have shared his enthusiasm. But as cuts ...
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DETROIT (AP) - Jhonny Peralta's ninth-inning homer gave the Detroit Tigers a joyful break from all that talk about their beleaguered bullpen.
It was Boston's closer who lost this game, and now the Red Sox have some relief issues of their own to sort out.
Peralta hit a two-run homer off Andrew Bailey in the bottom of the ninth to give the Tigers a 4-3 victory over the Red Sox on Thursday night. Boston led 3-2 when Victor Martinez drew a leadoff walk off Bailey, and Peralta followed with a line drive over the fence in left field for his seventh homer of the year.
"I don't try to hit a home run, but I try to have good contact with the ball," Peralta said. "That's what happened when I had good contact."
Detroit manager Jim Leyland said before the game he was ready to use Joaquin Benoit to close instead of struggling Jose Valverde - although he stopped short of officially naming Benoit as the closer for the long term.
After the game, Red Sox manager John Farrell said Bailey would be given a break from closing.
"We're going to back him out of there right now and try to get him fixed, so we'll look at some other internal options to close," Farrell said. "His velocity hasn't come back since the DL stint, and although he says he feels fine, the results obviously aren't there."
Bailey (3-1) missed time in May because of a bicep problem. Joel Hanrahan, Boston's top choice to close, is out for the season after elbow surgery.
David Ortiz homered and drove in a tiebreaking run with an eighth-inning single to put Boston up, but Drew Smyly (3-0) replaced Phil Coke for Detroit and prevented any further scoring by the Red Sox. He struck out four in two innings of relief.
Detroit improved to only 2-19 when trailing after eight innings.
The Red Sox wasted a nice performance by John Lackey, who allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings. Koji Uehara pitched a perfect eighth, but Bailey didn't get an out.
Detroit's Jose Alvarez allowed two runs and five hits in five innings in his second big league start, and Luke Putkonen got five straight outs in relief.
Then Leyland brought in Coke, the left-hander who has struggled against right-handed hitters. Coke struck out the left-handed hitting Jacoby Ellsbury to end the Boston seventh, but he walked switch-hitting Shane Victorino and right-handed hitting Dustin Pedroia to start the eighth.
The lefty-swinging Ortiz followed by pulling a base hit to right to give the Red Sox the lead.
Ortiz was 1 for 15 off Coke before that hit, which is why Leyland stuck with the left-hander and hoped he could get out of trouble.
"He didn't do very good, because he walked guys," Leyland said. "He gets those two guys out, he probably gets Ortiz out. But he walked them, and that's a no-no."
Peralta made up for that with one swing and was of course mobbed at the plate.
"I see everybody at home plate, it's a good feeling, hitting a walk-off home run," Peralta said. "It's the best that I can feel."
Smyly, one Detroit reliever who has been terrific this year, kept the deficit at one and gave the Tigers a decent chance at a comeback.
"It's too late to score three or four runs. You've got to keep it where it's at," Smyly said. "I'm glad I was able to do that."
Alvarez, who held Cleveland to a run in six innings in his major league debut earlier this month, handled Boston's lineup reasonably well, but Ortiz went deep in the fourth for his 15th homer of the season, a solo shot to open the scoring.
Jose Iglesias led off the fifth with a triple and scored on Ellsbury's single to make it 2-0.
In the bottom of the fifth, Torii Hunter's soft line drive with the bases loaded fell in for a two-run single, tying the game.
Alvarez is expected to make at least one more start for the Tigers in place of the injured Anibal Sanchez.
NOTES: Detroit scratched OF Matt Tuiasosopo before the game because of a mildly strained intercostal muscle. ... Farrell announced that RHP Allen Webster will start Saturday night's game against the Tigers. ... Boston LHP Jon Lester (6-4) faces Detroit RHP Doug Fister (6-4) on Friday night.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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??HBT Daily: O's teammates Chris Davis and Manny Machado lead the early AL MVP race. Who does Craig Calcaterra favor for the award?
Allow him to reintroduce himself: His name is Jay-Z, and he's now an officially licensed NBA agent.
Ron Berkowitz, a spokesman for Jay's newly formed sports agency Roc Nation Sports, confirmed the news to ESPN.com's Darren Rovell.
It's still unclear exactly when he can start representing players (he'll need to sell his minority stake in the Brooklyn Nets first), but he's already making an impact on the hoops world. Oklahoma City Thunder star and three-time scoring champion?Kevin Durant has reportedly already aligned himself with Roc Nation Sports.
Although his agency is still in its infancy stage, the hip-hop mogul's clientele already features a number of notable names. New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano, New York Jets rookie quarterback Geno Smith and Tulsa Shock guard Skylar Diggins have all signed with the firm.
Where Roc Nation Sports goes from here is anyone's guess.?
While Jay-Z's celebrity status doesn't hurt the company, it's also far from the biggest reason that sports icons are flocking to him like his rabid fans. Few understand the importance of branding like the Brooklyn native.
Music propelled him onto the national scene, but that's far from the only egg in his basket now. Roc Nation has its own music division, featuring hit-makers like Rihanna and Shakira among others. His other business ventures have included launching fashion lines, investing in Carol's Daughter beauty products, owning a string of upscale sports bars called the 40/40 Club and once serving as the CEO of Def Jam Recordings.
Have something to tell us at The Call? Drop us a line at thecall@ny1.com and we'll post it to our blog.
Natasha's blog entry will be posted later...
After sitting on the sidelines in the last mayoral election, the United Federation of Teachers announced today it is endorsing former City Comptroller Bill Thompson for mayor. The endorsement from the powerful teachers union is expected to give Thompson a boost in the polls and more "get out the vote" support leading up to Election Day.
Earlier in the week, Mayor Bloomberg said the UFT's endorsement is nothing more than a "kiss of death." The Bloomberg administration has clashed with union leadership over teacher contracts, evaluations, tenure, and test prep in recent years.
What's your reaction to Bill Thompson receiving the endorsement of the teachers union? How will it affect the race for City Hall? Will it influence your vote? Do you consider the UFT's support a "kiss of death"? Which mayoral candidate is best suited to oversee the Department of Education?
Send your thoughts using the link above.
I think it was a good choice. He has some good ideas and the schools need fixing, Bloomberg will leave them in shambles. I would like to see a Thompson vs Lhota election. Anything but an extension of the Bloomberg Oligarchy.
Roscoe Park Hill
I am proud to stand with my brothers/sisters of the UFT to endorse Bill Thompson.
He believes in fair contracts, respect and just relying on test scores for students!
I support this endorsement!!!
I invite him to spend a day with my students and I in September!
Fanilow Flushing
I think Thompson will do very well at the polls and as Mayor. It was very close in the last election and of course it was quite obvious that there were some shenanigans that went on.
As far as the remark that Bloomberg made. Well it just goes to show you that instead of making a remark such as ?THE KISS OF DEATH? because Thompson accepted the support of the UFT. The mayor should have given his blessings. But it just goes to show us that no matter how much money and possessions he has this mayor has never, ever shown any class at all.
THIS BLOOMBERG SHOULD ALSO REMEMBER THAT HE STOOPS SO LOW THAT HE IMPOSES THE KISS OF DEATH ON EVERYONE JUST BY BUYING WHAT EVER HE WISHES TO HAVE. NO MATTER WHAT IT MIGHT BE. PEOPLE, PLACES, THINGS, ETC.
I?M AFRAID THAT HE WILL CONTINUE TO BE AND ALBATROSS AROUND ALL OF OUR NECKS RIGHT ON TO THE END OF HIS STAY IN OFFICE AND FAR BEYOND THAT.
Maxxiee Morris Park
I want our next mayor to make sure the students graduate on time so they'll be ready for college he or she should bring back bilingual education for the students if the parents dont know english they should be able to take classes so they can learn and they'll be abe to help their kids with homework and study for tests the kids are our future
Herman Upper West Side
I think this is a mistake - Bill Thompson will not win the general election, if he even makes it to a runoff.
While I respect the work of teachers, their union's endorsement will not affect my vote (nor the votes of many teachers I know, who are not planning on voting for Thompson). I am a long-time public school parent who has been let down time and again by this administration. I will wholeheartedly support Bill de Blasio, who I think knows how to listen and to lead.
DOLPH? ZIGGLER ?The crowd had been chanting my name from the first minute of Raw. I?ve re-watched that several times, because I?ve never heard an ovation like that in my entire career. And, of course, in classic Dolph fashion, it?s not just ?I show up, beat somebody up and win.? That would never happen. I almost lost?twice! And the crowd was there with me every second of it. When I was in that Cross Armbreaker, the entire crowd went from ?We Want Ziggler? to ?Oh?no.? They?d been through so much with me, and they saw this huge opportunity but knew that there was a chance that I could get screwed. That?s why they lived and died with me on a four-minute match against an injured champion.?
THE MIZ ?The thing that I remember the most was the reaction that was caught on camera of the fans. It put a staple on my reign as WWE Champion. And it wasn?t only ?Angry Miz Girl,? it was the crowd. They were all angry. They were upset. They couldn?t believe it.?
KANE ?For me, since I won the briefcase and cashed it in on the same night, those moments blended together. But I don?t think fans thought I was going to come right back out and win the World Heavyweight Championship. The brief
JACK SWAGGER ?After I cashed in the Money In The Bank briefcase, I was in Vegas with my now-wife. And I remember walking through the Venetian hotel in Vegas with the World Heavyweight Championship on my shoulder. And later that night, I pulled out a ring and proposed to her that night in our room. I thought it was cool, and I wanted to share that moment with her. It was a very good week for me.?
To read more exclusive reflections of wiining including Daniel Bryan, Edge and Alberto Del Rio pick up the all American issue?featuring John Cena now or SUBSCRIBE HERE?and save 70 percent off newsstand sale price.
DENVER (AP) ? A new wildfire in the foothills southwest of Denver forced the evacuation of dozens of homes Wednesday as hot and windy conditions in much of Colorado and elsewhere in the West made it easy for fires to start and spread.
The Lime Gulch Fire in Pike National Forest was small but devouring trees about 30 miles southwest of Denver in southern Jefferson County. Evacuation calls went out to more than 400 telephone numbers in the area, and residents within 3 miles of the fire were ordered to leave, said Jefferson County sheriff's spokeswoman Jacki Kelley. That order was later extended to the unincorporated township of Buffalo Creek.
The immediate fire zone is steep mountain terrain, heavily forested and several miles south of where last year's Lower North Fork Fire damaged and destroyed 23 homes and killed three people. That fire was triggered by a prescribed burn that escaped containment lines.
The cause of Wednesday's blaze was unknown, and it came as up to 600 Arizona firefighters battled a nearly 8-square-mile wildfire in Prescott National Forest. It was zero percent contained since erupting Tuesday afternoon and residents of 460 homes had been told to evacuate.
A large blaze in New Mexico charring through southern New Mexico's Gila National Forest grew to 47 square miles, and could expand to another nine if wind gust reach 35 miles per hour as expected.
In Colorado, two U.S. Air Force Reserve C-130s arrived quickly to drop slurry around the fire. The specially-equipped cargo planes, attached to the 302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson Air Force Base, were operating out of Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in suburban Denver, said Airlift Wing spokeswoman Ann Skarban at Peterson.
The C-130s had just finished duty on Sunday fighting a 22-square-mile wildfire near Colorado Springs that destroyed 509 homes and killed two people. More than 960 fire personnel at the Black Forest Fire contended with wind gusts Wednesday as they tried to contain the fire and find and extinguish hot spots.
In Black Forest, northeast of Colorado Springs, authorities said Marc and Robin Herklotz were killed as the fire erupted June 11. Their bodies were found in their garage by a car, as if they were trying to flee, El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa has said.
Marc Herklotz, 52, and Robin Herklotz, 50, worked at Air Force Space Command, which operates military satellites, and were based at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, the Air Force said. Marc Herklotz entered the Air Force in 1983 but most recently was working as a civilian employee. Robin Herklotz was an Air Force contractor.
Their home was about 4 miles northeast of where the fire was first reported.
A neighbor, Bob Schmidt, said he received an evacuation call that day but that the Herklotzes had said they did not get a call. Their homes lay just outside a mandatory evacuation boundary announced on Twitter by El Paso County at 3:34 p.m. that day. The zone was expanded to include their Jicarilla Drive home two hours later.
Schmidt said the Herklotzes were fixtures in the area, walking their dog every night and coming by to get eggs from Schmidts' chickens.
"They loved the forest," Schmidt.
The Black Forest Fire was 85 percent contained. Investigators say they believe it was human-caused but have yet to determine what triggered it.
In California, officials said an unattended campfire near a main route into Yosemite National Park grew into a blaze that led to the evacuations of 1,500 people. As many as 500 remained evacuated Wednesday. The fire was 40 percent contained.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA--(Marketwired - Jun 19, 2013) - Prima BioMed Ltd (ASX: PRR) (NASDAQ: PBMD) (ISIN: US74154B2034) ("Prima," the "Company") today announced that the abstract titled "Clinical study of autologous dendritic cell therapy targeting mucin 1 for treatment of ovarian cancer patients in first remission" has been selected by the European Cancer Congress Scientific Committee for oral presentation at its 2013 annual meeting in Amsterdam. Clinical and immunological data from the CAN-003 study will be presented.
The lead author, Dr. Jeffrey Goh will deliver the oral presentation during the Gynecological Cancer session that starts at 9:00am, Central European Time, on October 1st, 2013. The exact time and location of Dr. Goh's presentation will be made available closer to the conference date.
Dr. Goh, the CAN-003 study team, Dr. Sharron Gargosky, and Dr. Heidi Gray are the authors of the abstract. CAN-003 is a 63-patient phase 2 study evaluating the effect of CVac on progression free and overall survival, as well as safety and immune responses, in patients in remission after first line treatment for epithelial ovarian cancer. Interim data from the CAN-003 trial, presented in October and November 2012, demonstrated positive trends in progression free survival and immune responses.
About Prima BioMed
Prima BioMed is a globally active leader in the development of personalized bio-therapeutic products for cancer.?Prima is dedicated to leveraging its technology and expertise to bring innovative treatment options to market for patients and to maximize value to shareholders. Prima's lead product?is CVac?,?an?autologous dendritic?cell-based product?currently in clinical trials for ovarian cancer patients in remission and soon to be in trials for additional cancer types.
The unemployment rate of college graduates is half that of people with only a high school diploma.
But that doesn't mean recent college graduates haven't struggled to find work. So which majors struggle the most?
A May 2013 study from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce reveals that students who studied architecture have a high unemployment rate of 12.8 percent among recent college graduates, defined as those between ages 22 and 26 with bachelor degrees. Graphic design and history majors are doing a little better, with unemployment rates for recent grads near 10 percent.
Meanwhile, people who were elementary education majors have a 5 percent unemployment rate among recent grads, the study found, and students who studied agriculture and health sciences have an even lower unemployment level, well below the national average. The overall unemployment rate for recent graduates, according to the study, is 7.9 percent.
However, it's worth noting recent grads often have a more difficult time finding employment in their field.
Half of recent grads are working jobs that don't require a degree, according to research from the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, released in January.
But in 2000, before the economy fell into a recession, the share of recent college graduates who were either jobless or underemployed hit a record low of 41 percent.
Check out slideshow below to see how recent graduates in 15 different majors are doing finding employment:
Elementary Education: 5%
Elementary education: 5 percent <em>Note: Information in this slideshow comes from a <a href="http://www9.georgetown.edu/grad/gppi/hpi/cew/pdfs/HardTimes.2013.2.pdf" target="_blank">May 2013 Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce study</a>.</em>
by Cory Clements, a 2013 Judge K.K. Legett Fellow at the Washington Legal Foundation and a student at Texas Tech School of Law.
The act of patent trolls asserting patent rights without first proving them is parallel to the actions of the troll in the fairy tale Three Billy Goats Gruff. Like the troll asserting a right to control who may and may not pass over his bridge, so too the patent troll asserts control over those who may be using technologies covered by broad patents ? the acquisition of which makes up their entire business. The troll neither invented the bridge nor the patent troll the patent. These ?trolls? are in the business, as one Forbes contributor puts it, to ?buy up patents, sometimes by the tens of thousands, then scour the marketplace for people who may be infringing these patents.?
A New York Times article illustrates an interesting aspect of how this trend of patent litigation began. Many critics of patent litigation argue that big corporations are to blame in initiating this type of litigation, and it?s not hard to see why. Apple has spent billions of dollars litigating patent suits initiated both by and against it. According to the article, Steve Jobs? attitude was to patent every idea Apple employees came up with because even if they didn?t move forward with the idea, they would have a defensive tool.
This attitude might lead one to believe corporations like Apple are to blame for the influx of troll-initiated patent litigation. That is, until one learns of some of the first lawsuits against Apple. A few notable cases include a 2004 settlement with E-Data over Apple?s popular iTunes, after which E-Data initiated lawsuits against 14 other companies. Then there was the 2005 Hong-Kong based Pat-rights suit demanding 12 percent from all iTunes and iPod sales followed by a 2006 suit by Singapore-based Creative Technologyresulting in a $100 million settlement.
While it might be plausible that patent trolls were influenced to initiate patent suits by these corporations, their motives are quite different. Apple was in survival mode and on the defensive. Mr. Jobs had a business to save and maintain. Patent trolls, on the other hand, have expanded an arguably necessary business practice into an entire industry.
The emergence of this nascent patent litigation industry recently grabbed the attention of both Congress and the Obama Administration. In 2011, Congress enacted the America Invents Act (AIA), which contained a provision known as the transitional program for covered business method patents. This provision made it easier to invalidate patents on covered business methods in financial products or services. Specifically, this provision allows patent infringement defendants to challenge the validity of the patents on business methods outside of court with a new administrative board within the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). This potentially could save defendants millions ? if not billions ? of dollars on litigation. This program is certainly a step in the right direction, but some fear it may be construed too narrowly to properly address the problem with patents that at face value do not fall within ?financial products and services.?
The PTO issued a ruling last September clarifying whether the language from Section 18 of the AIA meant to exclude patents with no relation to the financial industry from the program. They determined that it did not. In all respects, the PTO elected a broad interpretation of the terms ?financial products or services,? and reiterated in each response throughout their ruling that patents covered under AIA?s transitional program are ?not limited to the products or services of the financial services industry.?
Even with this clarification, litigation has been on the rise specifically with software patents. Senator Schumer has proposed a bill seeking to rectify potential issues. First, the ?transitional? program for covered business method patents would become permanent. This will ensure the AIA will not serve as a temporary fix in minimizing abusive litigation which could result upon the ?transitional? program?s expiration. The second major change proposed by the Schumer bill is the inclusion of all software patents when dealing with ?business method? patents.
In light of the PTO ruling, it might seem as though the Senator?s bill is more about the programs permanency than its expansion; however, the PTO?s ruling that other patents could be covered under the program, did not specify how broadly this legislation is to be interpreted. Many software patents are conceivably covered as a ?business method?; however, Schumer?s proposed legislation would conspicuously clarify that all software patents can be subject to the scrutiny of the PTO board outside of court. This distinction is far more than semantics considering sixty-two percent of all patents asserted by patent trolls between 1990 and 2010 were software patents.
Growing concern over frivolous patent litigation soon reached the White House. President Obama recently issued five executive actions and seven legislative recommendations meant to ?prevent innovators from frivolous litigation and ensure the highest-quality patents in our system.? Among these is a legislative recommendation that tracks the language of the Schumer bill with regard to expanding the PTO?s transitional program: ?Expand the PTO?s transitional program?for covered business method patents to include a broader category of computer-enabled patents and permit a wider range of challengers to petition for review of issued patents before the Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB).?
Industry leaders agree that something has to be done to quell all the litigation revolving around software patents. What started out as a bitter, broader battlebetween operating companies is arguably fading into fatigue. Tech giants may be realizing that abusive software patent litigation is cannibalizing business and a truce might be in both their best interests. The New York Times articlepreviously mentioned illustrates these sentiments discussing the frequency with which attorneys from companies like Google and Apple speak with one another regarding the litigation. The article also cites an alleged ?cease-fire? proposed by Google in 2012 and their withdrawal of the Motorola suit against Apple as indications of a potential allegiance against the common enemy ? the patent troll.
Next step on the road to accident-free driving. Next-generation intelligent networking: Mercedes-Benz brings Car-to-X technology to the roads
-Mercedes-Benz is to be the first automotive manufacturer to bring Car-to-X technology to series production vehicles by the end of this year -Enhanced safety and convenience: Mercedes-Benz customers become aware of hazardous locations sooner thanks to Car-to-X technology -Modular approach: retrofitting of Car-to-X technology is possible in many Mercedes-Benz models
Stuttgart. As part of its "Intelligent Drive" strategy, Mercedes-Benz is all set to bring Car-to-X technology to our roads by the end of this year which will enable the exchange of information between individual vehicles as well as between vehicles and the traffic infrastructure. Through the use of Car-to-X communication, information on potential road traffic dangers can be passed on to drivers at an early stage so that they can take appropriate action and even help to avoid critical situations arising in the first place.
According to Prof. Dr. Thomas Weber, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development: "With the introduction of Car-to-X technology, we are once again reaffirming our tradition as a safety pioneer, and demonstrating that we are continuing to bring innovations to the roads with benefit for both our customers, and also other road users.
Car-to-X expands the telematic horizon Car-to-X technology is able to significantly expand the scope of existing vehicle sensors, such as radar or camera systems for example. It enables motorists to see around corners or beyond obstacles, thereby helping to reduce the blind spots from which existing sensor systems suffer. The technology's greatest potential lies in this expansion of the telematic horizon. "With Car-to-X communication we have made a base technology ready for the market which in the future will enable a new generation of driver assistance systems to be developed", explains Prof. Dr. Weber. "Through the intelligent fusion of sensor data, we are able to obtain an extremely precise picture of the vehicles surrounding including areas further away from the vehicle ? which also helps us with the further development of our autonomous driving functions."
In addition to enhancing safety and convenience, Car-to-X technology can also contribute to making mobility more efficient by using the highly precise information on traffic conditions available via Car-to-X communication, for example to improve the flow of traffic by controlling traffic light signals.
Car-to-X technology set to make an appearance this year Mercedes-Benz to bring Car-to-X technology to the roads by the end of this year. As part of an initial step the Drive Kit Plus will be used, which in combination with a smartphone and the Digital DriveStyle app developed by Mercedes-Benz turns the vehicle into a simultaneous transmitter and receiver of information.
Daimler is using this mobile communication-based approach because it promises to offer the quickest way to deploy the future technology and therefore also the quickest possible shortcut to unlocking the safety potential of Car-to-X technology. However, Daimler is also involved in the further development of Car-to-X communication and, based on a hybrid approach, is also able to extend its systems into the area of so-called ad-hoc communication between vehicles.
How does Car-to-X technology work in vehicles? When warning messages are issued in the vicinity of the vehicle, from example by an emergency services vehicle or a broken down vehicle, the driver receives a warning in advance in good time and the hazardous location is marked on the map. With this information he has the option of adjusting his driving style and speed in such a way that a dangerous situation does not even arise in the first place. Thanks to Car-to-X technology, the driver can also be warned at an early stage about wrong-way drivers or dangerous weather conditions.
In addition to receiving warning messages, each vehicle fitted with Car-to-X communication can also transmit information on dangers to other road users and therefore contribute to enhancing road safety. Mercedes-Benz passenger cars are able to detect many of these dangers automatically and without the driver being required to take any action, thanks to the seamless integration of the Car-to-X system in the vehicle's own systems. For dangers which are not detected automatically, or which cannot yet be detected automatically, an efficient manual notification option has been created. At the press of a button, immobile vehicles or animals on the road, wrong-way drivers or shed loads can be notified via the Mercedes Cloud. This then sends a warning message to all vehicles fitted with Car-to-X technology which are in the vicinity of the hazardous location.
Of course when developing the system, emphasis was placed on ensuring that anything which may distract the driver from the road conditions is avoided. The Car-to-X communication works in the background and provides the driver with highly accurate information on situations which may have an impact on safety. The system ultimately works so reliably because Car-to-X technology exclusively distributes up-to-the-minute information on current dangers. As such, Car-to-X technology fits into the Mercedes-Benz "Intelligent Drive" strategy, making additional information available for merging with sensor data.
Modular approach ensures quick market launch and enables the technology to be retrofitted in many Mercedes-Benz vehicles Since Car-to-X technology can contribute to making road traffic safer overall, it is particularly important for Mercedes-Benz as a safety pioneer to bring this technology to our roads quickly and make its use as widespread as possible.
Through the integration of Car-to-X technology in the Drive Kit Plus and the Digital DriveStyle app, Mercedes-Benz is creating the ideal conditions to enable as many Mercedes-Benz customers as possible to benefit from Car-to-X technology. This is because the Drive Kit Plus can be ordered for new vehicles and also installed in stock vehicles as a retrofit solution. This means that Car-to-X communication is not dependent on the market launch of a new model, and will be offered to customers across the board from the end of the year.
Naturally Mercedes-Benz is also working on full system integration of Car-to-X technology in future models to enable drivers and other road users to benefit from additional safety and convenience. Besides equipping its own model range with Car-to-X technology, the company is also maintaining close ties with other stakeholders. Since the use of Car-to-X systems will increase with each new additional participant, the aim is to seek an exchange of data - for example on reported hazardous locations - with other vehicle manufacturers. Ideally Car-to-X technology could be fitted as quickly as possible and in as many motorway maintenance vehicles, police or emergency services vehicles as possible.
Pioneer of Car-to-X communication Daimler spotted the tremendous potential of Car-to-X communication at an early stage and for decades has been a driving force behind the research and the development of this technology. The company therefore initiated research projects designed to create the necessary technology base and has been, and still is, involved in major projects around the world focusing on Car-to-X communication. As a founding member of the Car 2 Car Communication Consortium, Daimler is actively working on a Europe-wide standardised system for Car-to-X communication. And by acting as the project manager of a German and European field trial for the practical testing of Car-to-X communication, Daimler is also driving force behind the preparations for the market launch of Car-to-X systems.
June 17, 2013 ? Using drugs to treat an infection could allow other co-existing conditions to flourish, a study in wild animals has shown.
Researchers studying wild mice -- which typically carry multiple parasitic infections at once -- found that when these animals were treated for one type of bug, other infections they had tended to worsen.
The findings suggest that infections that co-exist in our bodies can compete with each other to alter disease. Treating one infection may have unintended consequences by enabling others to gain a stronger foothold -- perhaps to the overall detriment of our health.
Scientists from the University of Edinburgh treated wild wood mice for a gut worm infection over several weeks. During treatment, researchers monitored levels not only of the worm, but also tested the animals for dozens of other common parasite infections. During treatment, levels of the gut worm fell, but levels of other parasites in the gut increased.
The study is the first of its type to show that multiple infections in wild animals can compete with one another, and that treating one infection can directly impact on others that may be present.
The study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, was carried out in collaboration with The University of Liverpool and supported by the Natural Environment Research Council and the Wellcome Trust.
Dr Amy Pedersen, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences, who led the study, said: "In nature, infections rarely occur by themselves, and this study shows for the first time that treating infections in isolation can have knock-on effects for other diseases that may be present. More work is needed to understand the effect of drug treatment for disease where individuals are prone to, or likely to be carrying a range of infections."
Full price hits $399 with a two-year contract and no smart phone purchase bundle
AT&T has finally announced the availability and pricing of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, and it is offering an interesting new option to purchase the device. Starting June 21st, the LTE-enabled device will be available for $399 with a two-year contract, which may seem a bit steep but isn't the only purchase option. AT&T is also offering a smart phone bundle deal, so that if you choose to buy a Galaxy S4, Galaxy S4 Active or Galaxy Note 2 at the same time the price of the Note 8.0 drops to $199. Bundling may save you some money on the data plan side as well if you opt to go with a mobile share plan, which only adds $10 per month to your bill to access your shared data.
If you needed a quick refresher, the Note 8.0 is an Android 4.1 Jelly Bean device with a 1.6GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 1280x800 display and a sizable 4600mAh battery. You've of course got all of the nice S Pen stylus functionality as well as Samsung's software included to take advantage of it. You'll be able to take advantage of the smart phone bundle deal both online and in-store starting this friday.
Mayo Clinic: Rotavirus vaccine given to newborns in Africa is effectivePublic release date: 17-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Bob Nellis newsbureau@mayo.edu 507-284-5005 Mayo Clinic
Vaccine may save thousands of lives annually
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic and other researchers have shown that a vaccine given to newborns is at least 60 percent effective against rotavirus in Ghana. Rotavirus causes fever, vomiting and diarrhea, which in infants can cause severe dehydration. In developed nations, the condition often results in an emergency room visit or an occasional hospitalization, but is rarely fatal. In developing countries, however, rotavirus-related illness causes approximately 500,000 deaths per year. The findings appear this week in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Currently, there is no neonatal rotavirus vaccine available and infants do not receive their first dose of a rotavirus vaccine until they are approximately 2 months old, leaving younger infants at serious risk of rotavirus infection. In the study, the first of two doses was administered within the first 29 days of life (neonatal dosing), and the second dose before 60 days of age.
"For the first time in a large-scale study, we have demonstrated that protection against rotavirus gastroenteritis can be achieved earlier in life," says co-author and pediatrician Robert M. Jacobson, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic Children's Center. "The next step should be additional studies in neonates to provide earlier protection against life-threatening rotavirus diarrhea. The rotavirus vaccines used in America and Europe are administered later -- when babies are 2 to 4 months old -- but younger infants also contract the virus in the first two months of life."
Two vaccines serve as standard protection in developed countries, but are not especially effective in African or Asian countries, says Dr. Jacobson. Besides, he says, protection is also needed from birth due to the widespread risk of the virus.
"There is a huge protection gap right now in the first months of life," says Dr. Jacobson. "This study points to a clear and practical solution."
In Ghana, 998 newborns were selected for the randomized, double-blind, placebo trial from two of the poorest parts of the country. Half received the oral reassortant rotavirus tetravalent vaccine (RRV-TV) in the first two months of life, half received a placebo. Results showed a significant response in parameters of efficacy, safety and immune impact of the vaccine.
###
The study was funded by the International Medical Foundation. Co-authors include George Armah, Ph.D., University of Ghana; Albert Kapikian, M.D., National Institutes of Health; Timo Vesikari, M.D., Ph.D., University of Tampere, Finland; Nigel Cunliffe, M.D., Ph.D., University of Liverpool, U.K.; D. Bruce Burlington, M.D., Gaithersburg, Md.; and Leonard Ruiz Jr., Ph.D., International Medica Foundation, Rochester.
About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit http://www.mayoclinic.org/about and http://www.mayoclinic.org/news.
Journalists can become a member of the Mayo Clinic News Network for the latest health, science and research news and access to video, audio, text and graphic elements that can be downloaded or embedded.
MULTIMEDIA ALERT: Video of Dr. Jacobson
is available on the Mayo Clinic News Network.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Mayo Clinic: Rotavirus vaccine given to newborns in Africa is effectivePublic release date: 17-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Bob Nellis newsbureau@mayo.edu 507-284-5005 Mayo Clinic
Vaccine may save thousands of lives annually
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic and other researchers have shown that a vaccine given to newborns is at least 60 percent effective against rotavirus in Ghana. Rotavirus causes fever, vomiting and diarrhea, which in infants can cause severe dehydration. In developed nations, the condition often results in an emergency room visit or an occasional hospitalization, but is rarely fatal. In developing countries, however, rotavirus-related illness causes approximately 500,000 deaths per year. The findings appear this week in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Currently, there is no neonatal rotavirus vaccine available and infants do not receive their first dose of a rotavirus vaccine until they are approximately 2 months old, leaving younger infants at serious risk of rotavirus infection. In the study, the first of two doses was administered within the first 29 days of life (neonatal dosing), and the second dose before 60 days of age.
"For the first time in a large-scale study, we have demonstrated that protection against rotavirus gastroenteritis can be achieved earlier in life," says co-author and pediatrician Robert M. Jacobson, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic Children's Center. "The next step should be additional studies in neonates to provide earlier protection against life-threatening rotavirus diarrhea. The rotavirus vaccines used in America and Europe are administered later -- when babies are 2 to 4 months old -- but younger infants also contract the virus in the first two months of life."
Two vaccines serve as standard protection in developed countries, but are not especially effective in African or Asian countries, says Dr. Jacobson. Besides, he says, protection is also needed from birth due to the widespread risk of the virus.
"There is a huge protection gap right now in the first months of life," says Dr. Jacobson. "This study points to a clear and practical solution."
In Ghana, 998 newborns were selected for the randomized, double-blind, placebo trial from two of the poorest parts of the country. Half received the oral reassortant rotavirus tetravalent vaccine (RRV-TV) in the first two months of life, half received a placebo. Results showed a significant response in parameters of efficacy, safety and immune impact of the vaccine.
###
The study was funded by the International Medical Foundation. Co-authors include George Armah, Ph.D., University of Ghana; Albert Kapikian, M.D., National Institutes of Health; Timo Vesikari, M.D., Ph.D., University of Tampere, Finland; Nigel Cunliffe, M.D., Ph.D., University of Liverpool, U.K.; D. Bruce Burlington, M.D., Gaithersburg, Md.; and Leonard Ruiz Jr., Ph.D., International Medica Foundation, Rochester.
About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit http://www.mayoclinic.org/about and http://www.mayoclinic.org/news.
Journalists can become a member of the Mayo Clinic News Network for the latest health, science and research news and access to video, audio, text and graphic elements that can be downloaded or embedded.
MULTIMEDIA ALERT: Video of Dr. Jacobson
is available on the Mayo Clinic News Network.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 17-Jun-2013
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