BracketRacket: Zags, Ryan's Wiki and Geno is 59

Wichita State players and coaches celebrate a 76-70 win over Gonzaga during a third-round game in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 23, 2013. (AP Photo/George Frey)

Wichita State players and coaches celebrate a 76-70 win over Gonzaga during a third-round game in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 23, 2013. (AP Photo/George Frey)

Gonzaga head coach Mark Few looks down court late in their third-round game Wichita State in the NCAA college basketball tournament in Salt Lake City Saturday, March 23, 2013. Wichita State defeated Gonzaga 76-70. (AP Photo/George Frey)

Harvard's Siyani Chambers, Steve Moundou-Missi, Christian Webster and Wesley Saunders (23), from left, sit on the bench at the end of a third-round game in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 23, 2013. Arizona defeated Harvard 74-51. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan and his bench watch the final moments of the second half against Mississppi in a second-round game at the NCAA college basketball tournament Friday, March 22, 2013, in Kansas City, Mo. Mississippi won 57-46. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Louisville forward Chane Behanan, center, grabs a loose ball in front of Colorado State forward Pierce Hornung (4) in the first half of a third-round NCAA college basketball tournament game on Saturday, March 23, 2013, in Lexington, Ky. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Welcome back to BracketRacket, the one-stop shop for all your NCAA tournament needs.

Today, we say farewell to our first No. 1 seed and explain why Gonzaga's ouster was unusual compared to recent tournament history. We also check in with actor Josh Duhamel, browse Bo Ryan's Wikipedia page and get Coach K to compare Duke with the Yankees.

But first, let's see just how rough things have gotten for your bracket.

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BYE, GONZAGA

You hear the basketball experts every year: Just pencil the four No. 1 seeds straight to the Sweet 16. But Gonzaga, whom Vegas bookmakers put behind three lower seeded teams in odds to win the title when the tournament began, lost to Wichita State on Saturday night. Higher seeds were 6-2 on Saturday, with Oregon pulling the other upset over Saint Louis.

And as you'll soon see, the Sunday round of 32 is where upsets have usually come the past couple years.

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SORE LOSERS

Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan better hope nobody was using Wikipedia to research him recently.

After Wisconsin's first-round loss to Ole Miss, some bitter Badgers fans spent Friday vandalizing Ryan's page, the top hit on Google when you search for his name. The revisions quickly spread across social networks, touching off a back-and-forth wiki dance between anonymous fans and moderators fighting to keep the page as accurate as possible.

One revision replaced Ryan's image with side-by-side photos of Ryan and Jim Carrey's 2000 portrayal of the Grinch.

Another edit: "Bo Ryan has as many Final Fours as Daffy Duck, Tony the Tiger, Big Bird, your local mail man, the Geico lizard, Skeeter, Mickey Mouse, Homer Simpson, Sasquatch and Winnie the Pooh combined."

Technically, that's true, though Wisconsin has made the tournament all 12 years under Ryan, a run that's included five Sweet 16s and one Elite Eight. And while it's not NCAA hoops, Daffy Duck was on Michael Jordan's winning Space Jam squad in 1995.

Those and other less family-friendly changes to Ryan's bio page sprung several volunteer Wikipedia editors to action. Their mission: Undo.

One such editor, Dennis Murray of Pittsburgh, said he's not a big basketball fan and had never even heard of Bo Ryan before Friday, when he changed the page to "semi-protected" status, restricting who could edit it.

Murray says Wikipedia vandalism happens occasionally, depending on the event.

"You might see a similar level of activity if a referee makes a controversial call or if a player makes a boneheaded play, but that's not always a given. I would imagine Bill Buckner's Wikipedia article would have gotten pretty interesting if it was around back then," Murray told the AP on Saturday.

As if the former Boston Red Sox first baseman needs more reminders.

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CELEBRITY ALUM

Actor Josh Duhamel spent the week preparing to host Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards on Saturday night, but made sure to fax his bracket in time to enter sportscaster Dan Patrick's pool. A quick summary of the "Las Vegas" and "All My Children" actor's picks: Indiana wins it all, Pac-12 and Big Ten teams do well and Minnesota shows up as a dark horse.

"Duke, (Ohio State), Michigan State is always tough in the tournament. There's a lot of teams that could win it this year," Duhamel tells the AP's Ryan Pearson. "And there's been so many upsets that you know Miami could win the thing."

The 40-year-old Minot State alum says he tried several sports in college ? the Beavers are Division II ? but quickly got overwhelmed.

"I always thought I was going to be a professional athlete of some sort and then I realized I wasn't athletic enough."

___

FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING

Quick pop quiz: When was the last year neither Michigan nor Michigan State made the NCAA tournament?

Give up? It's 1997, and 1984 before that, the year before the field expanded to 64 teams.

But given the regular appearances and the schools' 17 combined Sweet 16 appearances since 1985, you might be surprised to learn that 2013 is the first time that both Michigan and Michigan State have made the tourney's regional semifinals in the same year.

Both teams advanced Saturday in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, with Michigan beating VCU and Michigan State downing Memphis.

They've just been good at different times. As of Saturday, Michigan has reached the Sweet 16 a dozen times, while Michigan State has done it in 17 tourneys.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said it might shock some fans, but he's pulling for Michigan as conference colleagues.

"Thank God they're going to a different region so we don't have to worry about facing another Big Ten team right away," Izzo said.

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JUST ONE EVIL EMPIRE (IN SPORTS)

Don't tell Mike Krzyzewski that Duke is college basketball's New York Yankees.

Coach K was asked Saturday about his Blue Devils being like the Bronx Bombers in terms of nonpartisan fans rooting against them because of their success. As AP Basketball Writer Jim O'Connell reports, Krzyzewski made sure at his news conference that everyone knew the rules are different for college programs than professional franchises.

"I don't know how the Yankees are. I don't coach the Yankees. We're not the Yankees," he said. "(Seth) Curry doesn't come back every year. We still don't have (JJ) Redick. (Christian) Laettner left a long time ago. If he was Mariano Rivera we'd still have Laettner. It's not the same. We have a different Duke team every time."

Either it's a remarkable coincidence that Laettner and Rivera are the same age, or Coach K's given this comparison some thought before.

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NO EASY BUCKETS

D.J. Stephens of Memphis has been getting a ton of notice this tournament for his dunks, but his biggest moment Saturday against Michigan State was one of his four first-half blocks: http://bit.ly/15FyesK . Adreian Payne probably had no business trying for an off-balance layup in that spot, but he got his revenge in the second half: http://bit.ly/YMQEDO .

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GENO

The start of the women's tournament Saturday was also a special day for Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma ? his 59th birthday.

And the No. 1-seed Huskies have a tradition when a member of their team marks another year: Everyone sings and the honoree skips around the room.

So as the AP's Pat Eaton-Robb watched during shootaround, Auriemma's players began to sing and he was forced to do his part.

"He was a baby about skipping," said center Stefanie Dolson. "He barely skipped. But he did, a little."

UConn then went out and ran all over Idaho, routing the Vandals 105-37.

The Huskies improved to 8-1 in games played on Auriemma's birthday ? the lone loss coming in 1998.

___

STAT OF THE DAY

Recent history suggests Sunday is the prime day for upsets in the round of 32. In the 2011 and 2012 tournaments combined, higher-seeded teams went 15-1 on Saturdays in the round of 32. The only loss was by No. 1 seed Pittsburgh to No. 8 Butler in 2011 in Washington. But on the second day of the round of 32 ? Sunday, of course ? it was almost even, with higher seeds winning only nine of 16 games. The upsets included some big surprises: No. 11 Marquette over No. 3 Syracuse (2011), No. 11 VCU beating No. 3 Purdue (2011), No. 10 Florida State over No. 2 Notre Dame (2011) and No. 11 North Carolina State toppling No. 3 Georgetown (2012).

___

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"Florida Gulf Coast ? have you ever been there? I don't think it's hard to recruit to that campus. It's pretty nice." ? Indiana coach Tom Crean, as reported by the AP's Tom Withers.

___

Oskar Garcia is a news editor for The Associated Press in Honolulu. Write to him at ogarcia(at)ap.org and follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/oskargarcia

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-24-BKC-BracketRacket-032413/id-65592858cf714adbba5d95da3eb04c6d

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Skiing, Safety and the Law | Club Colorado

Some of our readers may have seen the recent Denver Post series supposedly about ski safety and the industry here in Colorado. Below Colorado Ski Country USA responds to the articles.

One of the major reasons people live in and visit Colorado is the opportunity to participate in the many outdoor activities our great state offers. Skiing and snowboarding are our state?s signature sports. There are 520,000 Coloradans who are active participants in skiing and snowboarding at Colorado?s 25 ski areas. Skiers and snowboarders spend nearly $3 billion each year pursuing their favorite sport in our state, with 60-70 percent of each dollar spent going to support a business other than a ski area. Colorado ski areas provide world class recreation opportunities in conjunction with our partners at the United States Forest Service and introduce many to our nation?s spectacular public lands.

These recreation opportunities would not be possible without the Colorado Ski Safety Act. Originally enacted in 1979 (when the few insurers willing to insure ski areas determined they would leave the state because of excessive and costly litigation), the Ski Safety Act does three primary things: 1) it establishes responsibilities for ski areas; 2) it establishes responsibilities for skiers and 3) it spells out risks inherent in the sport of skiing. All three tenets of the Ski Safety Act are as relevant, reasonable and necessary today as they were when the Act was adopted 34 years ago. It has stood the test of time. Since 1979, 27 states have modeled similar legislation on Colorado?s law.

Under the law, ski area responsibilities include: marking trails, posting various warnings, chairlift instructions (chairlift operations are governed by another law), marking certain structures, delineating boundaries and providing notice of on-mountain trail closures. Specific requirements apply to grooming vehicles and snowmobiles. Skiers can and do sue ski areas if they are injured by a ski area?s failure to carry out its responsibilities described in the Act. In fact, the Denver Post?s recent series of articles purportedly about ski safety came out of a close coordination with lawyers who make a handsome living suing ski areas.

Under the law, responsibilities of skiers and snowboarders include: knowing and skiing within the limits of one?s ability, maintaining control of one?s course and speed, obeying closures, heeding all posted information and warnings and avoiding skiing or riding chairlifts if impaired by drugs or alcohol. A skier?s behavior has as much, if not more, to do with the safety of the sport as any piece of equipment from helmet to chairlift.

The law states that skiing and snowboarding are inherently risky. The sports are gravity fed, and are practiced on snowy surfaces and inclines, from mild to steep. The Ski Safety Act articulates inherent risks including; changing weather conditions, snow conditions as they exist or may change, rocks, trees, collisions with natural or manmade objects, and variations in steepness or terrain; it requires ski areas to inform skiers about these risks and provides that skiers injured through them may not sue the ski area. This key provision of the Act was adopted to protect ski areas from claims and litigation for risks assumed by skiers because the risks are inherent and cannot be eliminated. It?s what allows ski areas to obtain insurance and keep the cost of skiing reasonable.

Ski areas? safety practices do not begin and end with the Ski Safety Act. Ski areas lead the recreation industry in their adoption of proactive safety measures and programs including Lids on Kids, Smart Style, Objects are Closer Than They Appear, terrainparksafety.org, Kids on Lifts and National Safety Awareness Week. All ski areas want their guests to have a safe and enjoyable experience. Some examples of these efforts are resorts going into schools and communities to educate and inform about mountain safety; guests and members of the community being invited to come to the resort and meet with patrollers, join patrollers on the mountain and learn firsthand about slope safety; and having dedicated resort safety experts make presentations to local clubs and organizations on safety and skier responsibilities. Your Responsibility Code spells out what?s expected of skiers and is visible everywhere, at every ski area, in multiple locations.

Many resorts conduct school visits and see great value in this as a way to educate kids about mountain safety. An example of a school visit series is Aspen/Snowmass? two part Fifth Grade Skier Education Program. The first part is a classroom visit by members of ski patrol who show safety videos and discuss on-mountain safety with the students. Part two includes bringing each class onto the mountain to spend a day with ski patrol. Children are shown how patrol does the morning trail checks, they learn about rescue equipment, they discuss boundary policies, lift evacuation, avalanche control and skier safety on the mountain. Kids learn valuable lessons and develop relationships with these safety experts.

Resorts also inform guests about safety conduct regarding specific parts of the resort such as chairlifts, terrain parks and treewells, to name a few. For example, Copper Mountain has a Lift Safety initiative directed at all beginner skiers and snowboarders. The initiative educates guests on the key elements of safe loading, riding and unloading a lift.?These important safety tips are presented in a fun format that resonates with young guests, they are also found at the bottom of all beginner lifts and in Copper?s School House (kids ski school center).

Some resorts, such as Winter Park, require terrain park users to watch a safety video before entering the park. Steamboat shows terrain park safety videos in their ticket offices and gondola loading area. Resorts with extensive tree skiing, such as Steamboat, will proactively post flyers informing the public about the hazards of treewells.

Every year resorts dedicate an entire week to focus solely on informing guests about safety. During National Safety Awareness Week resorts will set up complete safety villages at their bases and hold education events, host safety equipment demonstrations and complimentary equipment checks, involve kids with contests about safety, and incorporate local emergency and health professionals such as Flight for Life, National Ski Patrol, USFS Rescue Groups, and representatives from medical centers. Heavy machinery such as snowcats, groomers, and helicopters are on display and used as education tools. The skiing public can participate in free avalanche safety classes, helmet giveaways, terrain park safety classes, and outdoor education classes. In 2011-2012, Colorado ski areas won industry awards for Best Chairlift Safety Education Program, Best Employee Safety Education Program and Most Creative Safety Program.

Despite ski areas? proactive measures and comprehensive safety education programs, and because the sport is not risk free, skiers do suffer fatal and serious injuries annually on our slopes. On average, a skier?s chance of having a fatal accident is about one in a million. In 2011-2012, 54 skiers and snowboarders died accidentally on ski slopes around the U.S. To put this in perspective, the National Safety Council (Injury Facts, 2012 edition) reports that in 2010, 5,200 pedestrians were killed, 2,500 people drowned while swimming in public pools and 800 people died while bicycling. While not an aspect of active participant sports that anyone wants to emphasize, these statistics are released annually to inform the public.

Ski areas have grown up in Colorado and matured over the years. The sports of skiing and snowboarding have evolved, but they continue to play a large role in the state?s identity with people who live outside of Colorado and around the world. Skiing drives our winter tourism economy and is a source of pride for all who live here. Skiing and snowboarding equipment has evolved. Countless entrepreneurial individuals have started ski and snowboard related businesses in Colorado, manufacturing and selling skis and snowboards and winter outdoor clothing and gear. Grand Junction is home to Leitner-Poma, one of a very small number of ski lift manufacturers in the world. What hasn?t changed, is the desire of skiers and snowboarders to enjoy the pull of gravity, feel the cold fresh air in our faces, take in the splendor of our mountains and revel in the unmatched camaraderie of a day on the slopes with friends or family. Colorado?s Ski Safety Act provides a reasonable and sensible framework for all this to happen. Let?s not mess with success.

Source: http://blog.coloradoski.com/2013/03/24/skiing-safety-and-the-law/

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The IRS's Horrible Parody Video Is the Worst Star Trek Episode Ever

We all have our favorite Star Trek episodes, and the ones we think aren't quite up to snuff. But here's something we can all agree on: the IRS's nearly $60,000 Star Trek-inspired training video from 2010 would be the worst Star Trek episode ever. No contest. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/_PLUbDXt6LE/this-horrible-irs-training-video-is-the-worst-star-trek-episode-ever

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China's new leader visits Russia on first foreign trip

By Thomas Grove

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Chinese leader Xi Jinping sent a signal to the United States and Europe on Friday by visiting Russia on his first foreign trip as president, underlining the importance of Beijing's growing alliance with Moscow.

The world's largest energy producer, Russia, and its biggest consumer, China, want particularly to bolster their clout as a financial and geopolitical counterweight to Washington, whose "Asia pivot" regional strategy worries Beijing.

Xi and President Vladimir Putin, who meet at 3:00 p.m. (1100 GMT), may preside over deals that would make Beijing Russia's top customer for oil, although they are not expected to sign a long-sought agreement on supplies of pipeline gas to China.

Just before Xi arrived with first lady Peng Liyuan, a $2 billion deal was announced by Russian and Chinese companies to develop coal resources in eastern Siberia, which underlined the countries' intentions.

Putin has said he wants to "catch the Chinese wind in our economic sail" and that desire will grow stronger if China overtakes the United States as the world's largest economy during Xi's 10-year term.

Perhaps symbolically, Xi's visit overshadowed a meeting between leaders of the Russian government and the European Union's Commission that was also taking place in Moscow.

Putin and Xi, less than a year apart in age, echoed one another in interviews before the visit, each saying the Chinese leader's choice of Moscow as his first destination was evidence of the "strategic partnership" between the nations.

A smiling Xi, 59, recalled that he read Russian literature in his younger days. Putin, 60, said Russian-Chinese relations were at "the best in their centuries-long history".

The two U.N. Security Council members' solidarity on important global issues has strengthened in recent years.

They have joined forces three times to block Western-backed measures on the conflict in Syria despite talk of grumbling in Beijing, and Russia has followed China's lead on North Korea - two issues likely to come up in Friday's talks.

They have negotiated alongside the West on Iran's nuclear program, but have watered down past sanctions in the Security Council and opposed new punitive measures as counterproductive.

Russia has added to Japan's woes over territorial disputes with Beijing by playing up its control of an archipelago claimed by Tokyo. Beijing and Moscow have also stood side-by-side in rejecting Western criticism of their record on human rights.

But the lockstep movement on the global stage has not translated into easy agreement on bilateral energy deals, underlining the limits that persist in the relationship.

NEW PRESIDENT, NEW IMPETUS

A huge business complex on the edge of Moscow, decorated with Chinese paintings and red silk armchairs, is the kind of enterprise Xi wants to nurture in Russia.

Just off the traffic-choked highway ringing Moscow, a jumble of Chinese and Russian firms, a 400-room hotel and conference venues sprawl over the 200 square km (77 square mile), $350 million Greenwood complex, which was built by a Beijing-controlled consortium with materials shipped from China.

Xi's presidency is seen as a chance to put new impetus into such projects and into ties with Russia as a whole, although Putin said this week that bilateral trade had more than doubled in five years and reached $87.5 billion in 2012.

But the trade volume is still about five times smaller than Russia's with the European Union, and also far smaller than China's trade with the United States.

The rising influence of China, with its proximity to Russia's sparsely populated eastern parts and nearly 10 times more people, has also given rise in Russia to worries that China may one day challenge Moscow's influence on its own territory.

Russia has created a separate ministry to channel resources to its far east, which complains of neglect and underfunding more than 20 years after the Soviet Union collapsed.

Defense analysts say Russian efforts to allocate military resources, including air defenses and nuclear submarines, to its eastern coast is an effort to counter China's rising military might - even as Russia sells weapons to its neighbor.

Like their populations, their economies are uneven. China's gross domestic product grew 7.8 percent last year, while Russia's growth was about 3.5 percent and was close to stagnating in February, with 0.1 percent year-on-year growth.

Xi and Putin are expected to attend a summit next week of the BRICS group of emerging market economies, another vehicle for their efforts to counter Western clout, and the Chinese leader will visit African nations Beijing is courting.

(Editing by Timothy Heritage)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinas-leader-meet-russias-putin-first-foreign-trip-000812374.html

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France confirms death of Al-Qaida chief Abou Zeid

This photo taken March 8, 2013 and released on March 14, 2013, by the French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD) shows French soldiers patrolling in the Mettatai region in northern Mali. France, Mali's former colonial ruler, started the campaign in January, fearing the region was becoming a terrorist haven. But the fighting has grown tougher and French forces aren't ready to pull out yet.(AP Photo/Arnaud Roine/ECPAD)

This photo taken March 8, 2013 and released on March 14, 2013, by the French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD) shows French soldiers patrolling in the Mettatai region in northern Mali. France, Mali's former colonial ruler, started the campaign in January, fearing the region was becoming a terrorist haven. But the fighting has grown tougher and French forces aren't ready to pull out yet.(AP Photo/Arnaud Roine/ECPAD)

PARIS (AP) ? The death of a top al-Qaida-linked warlord in combat with French-led troops represents a victory in the battle against jihadists who had a stranglehold on northern Mali. But it is far from the defining blow against a wily enemy that can go underground and regroup to renew itself. Even the fearsome Abou Zeid is replaceable.

A top commander of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, Abou Zeid had been in the crosshairs of the French military and their African partners since they moved in to Mali on Jan. 11 to rout radicals seen as a threat to northwest Africa and to Europe. An announcement Saturday by the French president's office that Abou Zeid's death in late February has been "definitively confirmed" ends weeks of speculation about his fate.

Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, an Algerian thought to be 47, was a pillar of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb's southern realm, responsible for the death of at least two European hostages and a leader of the extremist takeover of northern Mali, which followed a coup d'etat a year ago. He joined a succession of radical insurgency movements in Algeria starting in the early 1990s and became known for his brutality and involvement in high-profile hostage-taking.

President Francois Hollande's office said the death of Abou Zeid "marks an important step in the fight against terrorism in the Sahel," the borderlands where the Sahara meets the sub-Saharan jungle, encompassing several nations where radicals are on the rise.

French officials have maintained for weeks that the Abou Zeid was "probably" dead but waited to conduct DNA tests to verify.

But jihadists have shown again and again that they can overcome the death of individual warlords. Even French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has said that eliminating leaders "doesn't solve everything."

"It's the entire structure that has to be put down and not this or that leader," he said in an interview with Le Monde earlier this month.

Al-Qaida rebounded after commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan were killed. Leaders of jihadist movements in Algeria that gave birth to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, known as AQIM, were killed and seamlessly replaced. The top AQIM leader in Mali, with the title Emir of the Grand Sahara, Nabil Makloufi, was quickly replaced after being killed last fall in a road accident, according to Matthieu Guidere, an expert on radical Islam who monitors AQIM and other jihadist movements. The new top emir, Yahya El-Hammam, could now step into Abou Zeid's warlord role, according to one scenario.

Abou Zeid was killed in operations in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains in Mali's far north, the French statement said. The area where mountains meet the desert was Abou Zeid's stronghold ? and thought to be where he was keeping four French hostages captured two years ago at a uranium mine in Niger. Their fate is unclear.

The French military says the French-led forces have killed hundreds of extremist fighters in the two-month campaign in Mali, and French officials say they have cornered the al-Qaida-linked groups in a patch of northern mountains.

However, even a clear military success by the French and their African partners in Mali would not guarantee that AQIM will die.

While based in northern Algeria, it has proven extremely mobile, latching on to political instability in the region and arming itself with weapons from Libya. AQIM has seeded ties with other radical Islamic movements like the violent Boko Haram in Nigeria. Last week, AQIM put out a call to jihadists throughout northern Africa to join the fronts in Mali and Algeria ? or to stay home, and wage a war of preaching in countries like Tunisia or Morocco to turn the tide against "secularists," according to the SITE Intel Group which monitors jihadist statements.

Interviews with a series of experts on AQIM and other jihadist groups all suggest that a military victory is not the definitive answer to snuffing out jihadist terror, which can change form, move on to new theaters of operation or reignite if the instability it breeds on is not eliminated, too.

"The problem doesn't go away by eliminating terrorists," Sajjan Gokel of the London-based Asia-Pacific Foundation said in a recent interview. "For every terrorist captured or killed there are at least five other terrorists coming down the assembly line."

One analyst suggested that Abou Zeid's death may lead to greater unity among the various al-Qaida-linked factions.

Jean-Paul Rouiller, director of the Geneva Center for Training and Analysis of Terrorism, describes AQIM's organization as a set of insulated cells under the larger al-Qaida umbrella, which existed independently of each other. The region of Mali ? known in the group's parlance as the "emirate of the Sahara" ? was divided between units loyal to Abou Zeid and those loyal to his arch-rival Moktar Belmoktar, who led an attack on a gas plant in Algeria in January that left dozens of foreign hostages dead.

Rouiller said El-Hammam will likely take over control of Abou Zeid's katibat, or brigade. He said it was Hammam who had acted as the go-between when Abou Zeid wanted to communicate with Belmoktar.

"Especially if Hammam takes over, there could be a chance for a better coordinated relationship with Moktar Belmoktar," said Rouiller. "I would not be surprised if we see a more united Saharan emirate."

Chad's government claimed that Belmoktar was also killed in fighting in northern Mali, but the claim has not been independently verified.

Mystery surrounds the powerful and shadowy figure of Abou Zeid, even regarding his real name. Along with his nom de guerre, Abou Zeid had an alias, Mosab Abdelouadoud, and nicknames, the emir of Timbuktu, the fabled city that became his fief during the 10-month-long occupation of Mali, and the little emir, due to his diminutive size. But the Algerian press has raised questions about his legal identity ? Abid Hamadou or Mohamed Ghedir.

He was viewed as a disciplined radical with close ties to the overall AQIM boss, Abdelmalek Droukdel, who oversees operations from his post in northern Algeria.

Abou Zeid fought with a succession of Islamist insurgency movements trying to topple the Algerian state since 1992. He reportedly joined the brutal, and now defunct, Armed Islamic Group that massacred whole villages in northern Algeria, then joined the Salafist Group for Call and Combat that morphed into al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in 2006 under Droukdel's rule.

An Algerian court tried him in absentia in January 2012, convicting him of belonging to an international terrorist group and sentencing him to life in prison.

Abou Zeid was believed to be the most brutal of the top jihadist leaders in Mali. He held a Frenchman who was executed in July 2010. He's also been linked to the execution of a British hostage in 2009.

In the Sahara, Abou Zeid's reputation for brutality toward hostages outdid that of Belmoktar, who in general allowed the foreigners in his care to receive medicine when needed. Rouiller says that an analysis done by his center of proof-of-life videos released by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb suggests that Hammam and another jihadist commander, Targui, are just as brutal toward hostages as was Abou Zeid.

"Based upon the analysis of the video sequences, I don't think either Hammam or Targui are more humane ? the line will not change."

___

Associated Press writers Greg Keller in Paris and Rukmini Callimachi in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report.

Follow Ganley on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/Elaine_Ganley

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-23-Mali-Al-Qaida/id-8d7affae435f49849180ea521045079d

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Ride-Sharing Startup SideCar Opens For Business In Washington ...

Residents of our nation?s capital will now get to see what ride-sharing is all about, as San Francisco-based startup SideCar announced today that it is making its service available Washington, D.C. The launch there marks the ninth market that SideCar has launched in, as the company is aggressively expanding across the country. But it also raises questions about how city officials will react to newer transportation services.

As in its other markets, SideCar is launching with a bit of a staggered rollout in D.C. ? the service will initially be available on weekends only, before making rides available more generally during the week. The new city follows a launch in Chicago, Boston, and Brooklyn last week, as SideCar is rolling out around the country. It?s also got drivers in San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia, Austin, and Los Angeles.

But the launch in D.C. could prove contentious with local officials, based on their reaction to another transportation service launching there. Previously, Uber had a run-in with the D.C. city council. The city first tried to make the on demand car service prohibitively expensive with a so-called ?Uber amendment? that would have set a minimum rate it could charge. That amendment ended up getting shelved, allowing Uber to continue operating in the nation?s capital.

After months of negotiations, Uber later got the blessing of the D.C. city council for its on-demand mobile apps, with the passage of new rules that legitimized its services there. But while the D.C. e-hail rules will allow Uber to offer its e-hail services in the city?s capital, it?s less clear that they will work for ride-sharing services like SideCar.

That?s because the D.C. rules allow for users to hail rides with mobile apps and allows providers to charge based on distance travelled, but require drivers to be licensed as taxi or limo operators. As a result, SideCar?s community drivers wouldn?t qualify under the same rules.

No doubt SideCar is prepared for a fight. After a run-in with local officials in Austin, the company sued the local department of transportation there for prohibiting its ride-share service from launching around SXSW. It?s also run up against problems in Philadelphia, where three of its drivers had their cars impounded.

Nevertheless, SideCar continues to operate in those markets, and it?s pretty well capitalized to continue fighting legal battles. It raised $10 million in Series A financing from Lightspeed Venture Partners and others, and has hired a head of public policy in order to face these challenges.

SideCar is a real-time ridesharing community that connects drivers with spare seats in their car to passengers who need instant rides across the city, via a user-friendly proprietary smartphone technology. It helps drivers because they use their own car and help cover the costs of maintenance - all while meeting people in the city. Meanwhile for passengers it makes it easy to get a ride, cheaper than alternatives, and gives them a unique personal interaction.

? Learn more

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/22/sidecar-washington-d-c/

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Atypical brain circuits may cause slower gaze shifting in infants who later develop autism

Atypical brain circuits may cause slower gaze shifting in infants who later develop autism

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Children who are later diagnosed with autism have subtle but measurable differences in attention as early as 7 months of age, finds a study published today in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Researchers found that infants who went on to be diagnosed with autism are slower to shift their gaze from one object to another, compared to peers who did not receive the diagnosis. The scientists also identified specific brain circuits that seem to cause the slower response. The findings point to a problem with "sticky attention", a phenomenon observed in preschool and older children with autism, but not well studied before in babies at risk for autism.

The study was conducted by the Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS) Network, which includes researchers at the Center for Autism Research at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

"This is a very exciting study, because the impairments in shifting gaze and attention that we found in 7-month-olds may be a fundamental problem in autism," said Robert T. Schultz, Ph.D. Director of the Center for Autism Research at CHOP and a co-author on the study. "These results are another piece of the puzzle in pinpointing the earliest signs of autism. Understanding how autism begins and unfolds in the first years of life will pave the way for more effective interventions and better long-term outcomes for individuals with autism and their families."

These findings suggest that 7-month-olds who go on to develop autism show subtle, yet overt, behavioral differences prior to the emergence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). They were slower than both high-risk-negative and low-risk infants to orient or shift their gaze to objects that appeared outside their direct gaze (by approximately 50 millisceconds). Results also implicate a specific neural circuit (the splenium of the corpus callosum), which may develop differently in those at risk for ASD compared to typically developing infants, who show more rapid orienting to visual stimuli. The study concluded that atypical visual orienting is an early feature of later emerging ASD and is associated with a deficit in a specific neural circuit in the brain.

The study included 97 infants: 16 high-risk infants later classified with an ASD, 40 high-risk infants not meeting ASD criteria (i.e., high-risk-negative) and 41 low-risk infants. For this study, infants participated in an eye-tracking test and a brain scan at 7 months of age and a clinical assessment at 25 months of age.

###

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: http://www.chop.edu

Thanks to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127379/Atypical_brain_circuits_may_cause_slower_gaze_shifting_in_infants_who_later_develop_autism

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American Eagle Skinny Skinny Jeans: When Regular Skinny Jeans Aren't Skinny Enough!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/american-eagle-skinny-skinny-jeans-when-regular-skinny-jeans-are/

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Mark Sanford Campaign Rising From Disgrace

Mark Sanford could get a head start in his primary runoff.

The scandalized former South Carolina governor won Tuesday's 16-way primary for his old House seat, but there's some confusion about whom he'll face in Round 2, a GOP runoff slated for April 2.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday night, former Charleston County councilman Curtis Bostic led state Sen. Larry Grooms by 493 votes, which would trigger an automatic recount. With the runoff between the top-two finishers two weeks away, Sanford, 52, could enjoy some lead time in campaigning while his eventual opponent is sorted out.

The South Carolina GOP, meanwhile, has declared that Bostic will advance.

"Mark Sanford and Curtis Bostic both understand that to get our country back on track, we must get our fiscal house in order. South Carolina would be well served by having either man in Congress," state party Chairman Chad Connelly said today in a written statement, congratulating them as the top finishers.

The state party has scheduled a runoff debate for Thursday, March 28.

The South Carolina Election Division lists Sanford and Bostic as the unofficial runoff candidates on its website. But the commission confirmed to ABC News that a recount is scheduled to begin as early as Friday to determine Sanford's runoff opponent. Grooms, a Commission official said, can waive the recount if he notifies the Election Commission in writing.

Grooms, meanwhile, is not conceding, his campaign confirmed to ABC News, despite a Facebook post earlier today in which Grooms had written that his House bid had "ended."

The winner of the April 2 runoff, be it Sanford, Bostic or Grooms, will face Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in the general election May 7.

This post has been updated.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mark-sanford-campaign-rising-disgrace-191006671--abc-news-politics.html

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Major computer crash in SKorea; hackers suspected

A customer sits in a branch of Shinhan Bank in Seoul, South Korea, after th ebank's computer networks was paralyzed Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Police and South Korean officials were investigating the simultaneous shutdown Wednesday of computer networks at several major broadcasters and banks. While the cause wasn't immediately clear, speculation centered on a possible North Korean cyberattack. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A customer sits in a branch of Shinhan Bank in Seoul, South Korea, after th ebank's computer networks was paralyzed Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Police and South Korean officials were investigating the simultaneous shutdown Wednesday of computer networks at several major broadcasters and banks. While the cause wasn't immediately clear, speculation centered on a possible North Korean cyberattack. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Computers networks at two major South Korean banks and three top TV broadcasters went into shutdown mode en masse Wednesday, paralyzing bank machines across the country and prompting speculation of a cyberattack by North Korea.

Screens went blank promptly at 2 p.m. (0500 GMT), with skulls popping up on the screens of some computers ? a strong indication that hackers planted a malicious code in South Korean systems, the state-run Korea Information Security Agency said. Some computers started to get back online more than 2 ? hours later.

Police and South Korean officials investigating the shutdown said the cause was not immediately clear. But speculation centered on North Korea, with experts saying a cyberattack orchestrated by Pyongyang was likely to blame.

The shutdown comes amid rising rhetoric and threats of attack from Pyongyang in response to U.N. punishment for its December rocket launch and February nuclear test. Washington also expanded sanctions against North Korea this month in a bid to cripple the regime's ability to develop its nuclear program.

North Korea has threatened revenge for the sanctions and for ongoing routine U.S.-South Korean military drills it considers invasion preparation.

Accusations of cyberattacks on the Korean Peninsula are not new. Seoul believes Pyongyang was behind at least two cyberattacks on local companies in 2011 and 2012.

The latest network paralysis took place just days after North Korea accused South Korea and the U.S. of staging a cyberattack that shut down its websites for two days last week. The Thai-based Internet service provider confirmed the outage, but did not say what caused the shutdown in North Korea.

"It's got to be a hacking attack," Lim Jong-in, dean of Korea University's Graduate School of Information Security, said of Wednesday's events. "Such simultaneous shutdowns cannot be caused by technical glitches."

Shinhan Bank, a lender of South Korea's fourth-largest banking group, reported a system shutdown, including online banking and automated teller machines. The company couldn't conduct any customer activities at bank windows, including retail and corporate banking.

At one Starbucks in downtown Seoul, customers were asked to pay for their coffee in cash, and lines were forming outside disabled bank machines. Seoul is a largely cashless society, with many people using debit and credit cards.

Broadcasters KBS and MBC said their computers went down at 2 p.m., but officials said the shutdown did not affect daily TV broadcasts.

YTN cable news channel also said the company's internal computer network was completely paralyzed. Local TV showed workers staring at blank computer screens.

The South Korean military raised its cyberattack readiness level Wednesday following the shutdown, the Defense Ministry said. Defense officials reported no signs of cyberattacks on its ministry's computer network and had no immediate details about the broader shutdown.

LG Uplus Corp., South Korea's third-largest mobile operator, which also operates landline services, said the company's networks are operating normally and it did not see any signs of a cyberattack, company spokesman Lee Jung-hwan said.

The companies whose networks shut down Wednesday afternoon use not just LG Uplus' services but also other services from SK Telecom Co. and KT Corp, he said.

The investigation will take months, Lim said.

"Hackers attack media companies usually because of a political desire to cause confusion in society," he said. "Political attacks on South Korea come from North Koreans."

Massive shutdowns of the networks of major companies take at least one to six months of planning and coordination, said Kwon Seok-chul, chief executive officer of Seoul-based cyber security firm Cuvepia Inc.

___

Associated Press writers Sam Kim and Foster Klug contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-03-20-SKorea-Computer%20Crash/id-ca4457cac3064aa98290f07f797aa7b4

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New tax rule to bring in less than some expected

By Tom Bergin

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain expects to raise some 20 million pounds a year within three years through a new measure to tackle tax avoidance, according to budget forecasts on Wednesday which tax experts and campaigners called surprisingly low.

The General Anti Abuse Rule (GAAR), going through parliament as part of a wider finance bill, is being introduced by the government under pressure to tackle tax avoidance by companies which it estimates at 5 billion pounds a year.

Taxation experts and tax campaigners voiced surprise at how little the government expected to raise through the measure - an amount set to climb from 20 million pounds in the 2015-2016 tax year to 85 million pounds a year in 2017-18.

"I was surprised the numbers were so low," said John Overs, head of tax at law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner.

Campaigning group War on Want said the figures in Chancellor George Osborne's budget statement showed the measure was "a hollow PR stunt".

A spokeswoman for the finance ministry said that in addition to increasing the amount of tax paid, it hoped the GAAR would also protect revenue by deterring further tax avoidance. That benefit was estimated at 185 million pounds by the end of the period for which estimates were given.

Revelations that multinational corporations were channelling billions of pounds in income out of Britain have provoked public anger, but a panel of MPs had said that the GAAR would in any case have little impact on such entirely legal moves.

The government also announced other measures to cut down on tax avoidance and tax evasion by companies and individuals, including a measure to stop the use of offshore vehicles to avoid income tax. It predicted those steps would raise hundreds of millions of pounds each year.

Tax campaigner Richard Murphy, who sits on a government panel advising on the GAAR, said the narrow focus of the measure was the reason why it would capture so little. Businesses had welcomed the idea in principle, but had also been concerned they might suffer if its focus was too broad.

As part of the government's aim to give Britain the most competitive tax regime in the G20 group of major economies, Osborne said the headline corporation tax rate would be cut to 20 percent from 21 percent.

(Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tax-rule-bring-less-expected-004106423--business.html

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Osborne boxed in by austerity on budget day

By William Schomberg

LONDON (Reuters) - Chancellor George Osborne faces the daunting task on Wednesday of delivering another austerity budget to a country impatient with near-zero growth.

The chancellor of the exchequer, as he is formally known, will make more cuts to day-to-day public spending as he tries to free up some cash for investment. He is also likely to announce another round of weaker economic forecasts.

Despite a slump in opinion polls, Osborne and Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron are sticking to their push to fix Britain's budget deficit and rising public debt, hoping for a recovery before they fight for re-election in two years time.

Cameron's spokesman prepared the way for another round of belt-tightening, saying on Tuesday that the country still faced "an unprecedented peacetime economic crisis", more than four years after the near collapse of the banking system.

Committed to fiscal austerity, Osborne may seek to get the Bank of England to do more with monetary policy to mend the weak growth that has knocked the government off its fiscal targets.

When the government took office in 2010, the budget deficit was a hefty 11 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), hammered by a global economic slump and years of over-reliance on London's giant international banks to provide tax revenues.

Britain's independent budget watchdog at the time predicted the deficit would fall to 1.1 percent of GDP by 2015-16, in part due to the tough cost-cutting measures laid out by Osborne.

The deficit in the fiscal year ending this month, on a like-for-like basis, is likely to be 7.7 percent of GDP, the watchdog said in December, among the highest in the European Union.

Rather than grow by nearly 3 percent this year - as forecast in 2010 - Britain's economy may be back in a recession again, while rising inflation is hurting households.

GROWTH QUANDARY

The government puts much of the blame on the crisis in the euro zone, Britain's main export market. The opposition Labour Party shows no mercy in hammering Osborne for his austerity.

Some inside Cameron's coalition are now showing unease. The Liberal Democrat business minister has questioned whether markets would punish Britain if it borrowed to fund growth.

Business leaders largely agree that fixing Britain's fiscal health should remain a government priority, for now. But John Longworth, head of the British Chambers of Commerce, thinks the government might need to reverse course and borrow more if there is no prospect of growth within six months: "It would be a sort of defibrillator approach to the economy," he said.

Osborne will announce on Wednesday that some government departments will have to cut spending by a further 1 percent in each of the next two financial years, on top of previously announced cuts to ministerial budgets, to provide an extra 2.5 billion pounds for investment.

"If this is the only additional investment in infrastructure in the budget, it will be a huge disappointment," said Chris Leslie, a Labour finance spokesman.

Other budget measures will include tax breaks to help working parents pay for childcare from 2015. There might also be further cut to corporate tax rates and an increase in the tax-free allowance for individuals' incomes, local media have said.

With little sign of strong growth any time soon, Britain could suffer further downgrades of its credit rating. Moody's stripped Britain of its prized triple-A rating last month.

CENTRAL BANK

Many in financial markets will pay most attention to what Osborne says about the Bank of England's remit. He wants the central bank to do more to boost growth on top of the 375 billion pounds it has spent on buying government debt. It has also cut interest rates to a historic low of 0.5 percent.

Osborne may announce a review of the Bank's official remit of targeting inflation of 2 percent, or take the bolder step of making growth less of a secondary objective for the governor.

The pound has lost about 7 percent of its value against the dollar so far this year. Much of the fall is due to speculation that the Bank might be encouraged to pump more money into the economy, either before or after its new governor, Mark Carney, arrives from the Bank of Canada in July.

Former monetary policymakers say any changes to the British central bank's remit must be made carefully.

Charles Goodhart, who served at the Bank from 1997 to 2000, argues that its flexible approach to fighting inflation had worked well for the past two decades. "Changing a long-term regime for short-term purposes would be undesirable," he said.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/osborne-boxed-austerity-budget-day-001311596--business.html

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Chris Brown Paints Graffiti ... For Charity!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/chris-brown-paints-graffiti-for-charity/

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Under the skin, a tiny laboratory

Public release date: 19-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Lionel Pousaz
lionel.pousaz@epfl.ch
41-795-597-161
Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne

EPFL scientists have developed a tiny, portable personal blood testing laboratory that sends data through mobile phone network

Humans are veritable chemical factories - we manufacture thousands of substances and transport them, via our blood, throughout our bodies. Some of these substances can be used as indicators of our health status. A team of EPFL scientists has developed a tiny device that can analyze the concentration of these substances in the blood. Implanted just beneath the skin, it can detect up to five proteins and organic acids simultaneously, and then transmit the results directly to a doctor's computer. This method will allow a much more personalized level of care than traditional blood tests can provide. Health care providers will be better able to monitor patients, particularly those with chronic illness or those undergoing chemotherapy. The prototype, still in the experimental stages, has demonstrated that it can reliably detect several commonly traced substances. The research results will be published and presented March 20, 2013 in Europe's largest electronics conference, DATE 13.

Three cubic millimeters of technology

The device was developed by a team led by EPFL scientists Giovanni de Micheli and Sandro Carrara. The implant, a real gem of concentrated technology, is only a few cubic millimeters in volume but includes five sensors, a radio transmitter and a power delivery system. Outside the body, a battery patch provides 1/10 watt of power, through the patient's skin thus there's no need to operate every time the battery needs changing.

Information is routed through a series of stages, from the patient's body to the doctor's computer screen. The implant emits radio waves over a safe frequency. The patch collects the data and transmits them via Bluetooth to a mobile phone, which then sends them to the doctor over the cellular network.

A system that can detect numerous substances

Great care was taken in developing the sensors. To capture the targeted substance in the body such as lactate, glucose, or ATP each sensor's surface is covered with an enzyme. "Potentially, we could detect just about anything," explains De Micheli. "But the enzymes have a limited lifespan, and we have to design them to last as long as possible." The enzymes currently being tested are good for about a month and a half; that's already long enough for many applications. "In addition, it's very easy to remove and replace the implant, since it's so small."

The electronics were a considerable challenge as well. "It was not easy to get a system like this to work on just a tenth of a watt," de Micheli explains. The researchers also struggled to design the minuscule electrical coil that receives the power from the patch.

Towards personalized chemotherapy

The implant could be particularly useful in chemotherapy applications. Currently, oncologists use occasional blood tests to evaluate their patients' tolerance to a particular treatment dosage. In these conditions, it is very difficult to administer the optimal dose. De Micheli is convinced his system will be an important step towards better, more personalized medicine. "It will allow direct and continuous monitoring based on a patient's individual tolerance, and not on age and weight charts or weekly blood tests."

In patients with chronic illness, the implants could send alerts even before symptoms emerge, and anticipate the need for medication. "In a general sense, our system has enormous potential in cases where the evolution of a pathology needs to be monitored or the tolerance to a treatment tested."

The prototype has already been tested in the laboratory for five different substances, and proved as reliable as traditional analysis methods. The project brought together eletronics experts, computer scientists, doctors and biologists from EPFL, the Istituto di Ricerca di Bellinzona, EMPA and ETHZ. It is part of the Swiss Nano-Tera program, whose goal is to encourage interdisciplinary research in the environmental and medical fields. Researchers hope the system will be commercially available within 4 years.

###

---

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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.

Public release date: 19-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Lionel Pousaz
lionel.pousaz@epfl.ch
41-795-597-161
Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne

EPFL scientists have developed a tiny, portable personal blood testing laboratory that sends data through mobile phone network

Humans are veritable chemical factories - we manufacture thousands of substances and transport them, via our blood, throughout our bodies. Some of these substances can be used as indicators of our health status. A team of EPFL scientists has developed a tiny device that can analyze the concentration of these substances in the blood. Implanted just beneath the skin, it can detect up to five proteins and organic acids simultaneously, and then transmit the results directly to a doctor's computer. This method will allow a much more personalized level of care than traditional blood tests can provide. Health care providers will be better able to monitor patients, particularly those with chronic illness or those undergoing chemotherapy. The prototype, still in the experimental stages, has demonstrated that it can reliably detect several commonly traced substances. The research results will be published and presented March 20, 2013 in Europe's largest electronics conference, DATE 13.

Three cubic millimeters of technology

The device was developed by a team led by EPFL scientists Giovanni de Micheli and Sandro Carrara. The implant, a real gem of concentrated technology, is only a few cubic millimeters in volume but includes five sensors, a radio transmitter and a power delivery system. Outside the body, a battery patch provides 1/10 watt of power, through the patient's skin thus there's no need to operate every time the battery needs changing.

Information is routed through a series of stages, from the patient's body to the doctor's computer screen. The implant emits radio waves over a safe frequency. The patch collects the data and transmits them via Bluetooth to a mobile phone, which then sends them to the doctor over the cellular network.

A system that can detect numerous substances

Great care was taken in developing the sensors. To capture the targeted substance in the body such as lactate, glucose, or ATP each sensor's surface is covered with an enzyme. "Potentially, we could detect just about anything," explains De Micheli. "But the enzymes have a limited lifespan, and we have to design them to last as long as possible." The enzymes currently being tested are good for about a month and a half; that's already long enough for many applications. "In addition, it's very easy to remove and replace the implant, since it's so small."

The electronics were a considerable challenge as well. "It was not easy to get a system like this to work on just a tenth of a watt," de Micheli explains. The researchers also struggled to design the minuscule electrical coil that receives the power from the patch.

Towards personalized chemotherapy

The implant could be particularly useful in chemotherapy applications. Currently, oncologists use occasional blood tests to evaluate their patients' tolerance to a particular treatment dosage. In these conditions, it is very difficult to administer the optimal dose. De Micheli is convinced his system will be an important step towards better, more personalized medicine. "It will allow direct and continuous monitoring based on a patient's individual tolerance, and not on age and weight charts or weekly blood tests."

In patients with chronic illness, the implants could send alerts even before symptoms emerge, and anticipate the need for medication. "In a general sense, our system has enormous potential in cases where the evolution of a pathology needs to be monitored or the tolerance to a treatment tested."

The prototype has already been tested in the laboratory for five different substances, and proved as reliable as traditional analysis methods. The project brought together eletronics experts, computer scientists, doctors and biologists from EPFL, the Istituto di Ricerca di Bellinzona, EMPA and ETHZ. It is part of the Swiss Nano-Tera program, whose goal is to encourage interdisciplinary research in the environmental and medical fields. Researchers hope the system will be commercially available within 4 years.

###

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/epfd-uts031513.php

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TV show jokes about alcoholism among Ariz. tribes

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) ? Arizona tribal members say they're shocked by a television sitcom that made fun of one of the most pervasive social ills on American Indian reservations ? alcoholism.

One of the characters on the CBS show "Mike & Molly" joked about drunken Indians in Arizona, a state that is home to 21 federally recognized American Indian tribes. Although drinking and selling alcohol largely is banned on reservations, it can easily be found in border towns, brought in by bootleggers or sneaked past authorities.

No one disputes that public intoxication is a problem on and off the reservations, but tribal members say alcoholism often is linked to poverty, hopelessness and a history of trauma within American Indian families that is hard to overcome. American Indians and Alaska Natives die at a higher rate from alcoholism than other Americans, according to federal data, and authorities say alcohol fuels a majority of violent crimes on reservations.

"You can see somebody who is drunk and tripping over themselves and it's easy to make fun of them," said Erny Zah, a spokesman for the Navajo Nation, which extends into Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. "But the disease itself isn't funny, the coming home late at night, possibly beating on family members, the absence of family members, the fear it instills in a lot of children."

The Native American Journalists Association called on CBS to apologize, saying it's inexplicable for a highly entertaining show to resort to humor at the expense of Arizona tribes. The group urged screenwriters to think twice about what might offend minority groups and to work to overcome stereotypes.

"I think a lot of times people make excuses for when they do those type of jokes or sarcasm," said NAJA President Rhonda LeValdo, who is from Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico. "To me, it's not funny making fun of a minority group. Are we supposed to be the entertainment for mainstream?"

The joke about American Indians in Arizona last week was brief and made by Mike's mother on the show, played by Rondi Reed. The show that airs on Mondays debuted in September 2010, starring Billy Gardell and Melissa McCarthy as a couple who found love at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting.

CBS spokesman Chris Ender declined to comment.

Not all viewers were offended by the joke, with some posting on the show's Facebook page that anyone who didn't like it can tune out.

Racheal Povatah, a member of the Hopi tribe in northern Arizona, didn't watch the episode that included the joke but heard about it and was offended. Despite a strong cultural and traditional background, she said tribal members turn to alcohol, drugs and self-destructive behavior to mask the pain of trauma they have suffered.

"Sometimes it's a decision it doesn't seem like we can make on our own, it's just there," she said. "There's so much that goes along with it."

Zah said an apology won't fix the negative perception of American Indians that the show perpetuated, and joking about alcoholism disregards the progress tribes have made or their contributions to address alcoholism.

"I would hope the rest of the country would be educated enough to understand we are more than what that comment made us out to be," he said. "We have educated people who are in the highest parts of the government, science, everywhere within this country."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tv-show-jokes-alcoholism-among-ariz-tribes-224707347.html

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