Mexicans head to the polls to elect a new president on Sunday. The election is widely seen as a referendum on current president?Felipe Calder?n?s drug policy. 50,000 people have died in drug violence since he took office. His party?s candidate is expected to lose.
The polls say Enrique Pe?a Nieto?will be the next president. Despite his slogan??T? me conoces? (?You know me?)?most Mexicans have no idea who he is. His time in the national spotlight has been short. But if the man is a mystery, his party is not. The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) ruled Mexico for 71 years?until?Calder?n?s predecessor, Vincente Fox, came to office in 2000. ?Throwing out the corrupt, authoritarian PRI,?in 2000, was a great moment for democracy in Latin America. Now it seems that Mexican voters are poised to bring the Party back,? writes?William Finnegan in the New Yorker.
Mexico has a huge problem with the drug cartels that has not?eased?under Calder?n. Calder?n?brought in the Army to fight the cartels when he took office, a policy that has done nothing to reduce the power and brutality of the cartels or?corruption in the government and police. Instead Mexico?s organized crime empire has split into ultraviolent, warring factions that prey on innocents as well as rivals, dumping the bodies of migrants in mass graves, beheading civilians, torturing enemies.
Despite this, Mexican democracy has been looking perky in the lead-up to this weekend?s election. Unhappy with the current leadership, Mexicans are poised to bring in a new administration.
Not that the vote will be by acclamation. Nieto has a two-digit lead in the polls, but he is not universally loved. In March, tens of thousands of students marched through Mexico City to protest the seemingly inevitable return of the PRI to power. But the youth protests, known as?#YoSoy132, and other movements have failed to have significant effect. As the Economist puts it,??If the PRI has managed to win its way back into Mexican hearts, that is partly a verdict on its opponents.??Calder?n?s vaunted plan to use the Army against the cartels didn?t change much and possibly created more violence, and largely because of this, his party is being chucked out of office. Meanwhile, the Mexican economy is trucking? along at an uninspiring but steady pace of about 3 percent each year, and the middle class is growing.
The international media?s coverage of Mexico tends to focus on drug violence. Much less attention is given to what doesn?t happen, but could: a military coup; the ultraviolent, ex-military Zetas cartel taking over the government by force; a complete devolution of the country into a narco-state. Violence has not engulfed the entire country. And some people point out rather dismally that the cartels have enough power to own politicians and influence policy and media coverage, or that Mexico already is a narco-state ? the 21st century equivalent of Nucky Thompson?s Boardwalk Empire.
There?s no doubt that our neighbors to the south have serious problems, some of which can be partially blamed on America?s terrible drug habits. But the support for democracy in Mexico even under difficult and frustrating circumstances is a good sign for the future, That, and the rise of a Mexican middle class, suggest that Mexico is one of the places where life just might get substantially better in the decades to come.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Food and Drug Administration has approved Arena Pharmaceutical's anti-obesity pill Belviq, the first new prescription drug for long-term weight loss to enter the U.S. market in over a decade.
Despite only achieving modest weight loss in clinical studies, the drug appeared safe enough to win the FDA's endorsement, amid calls from doctors for new weight-loss treatments.
The agency cleared the pill Wednesday for adults who are obese or are overweight with at least one medical complication, such as diabetes or high cholesterol.
The FDA denied approval for Arena's drug in 2010 after scientists raised concerns about tumors that developed in animals studied with the drug. The company resubmitted the drug with additional data earlier this year, and the FDA said there was little risk of tumors in humans.
"The approval of this drug, used responsibly in combination with a healthy diet and lifestyle, provides a treatment option for Americans who are obese or are overweight and have at least one weight-related comorbid condition," said FDA's drug center director, Dr. Janet Woodcock, in a statement.
With U.S. obesity rates nearing 35 percent of the adult population, many doctors have called on the FDA to approve new weight loss treatments.
But a long line of prescription weight loss offerings have been associated with safety problems, most notably the fen-phen combination, which was linked to heart valve damage in 1997. The cocktail of phentermine and fenfluramine was a popular weight loss combination prescribed by doctors, though it was never approved by FDA.
In a rare move, the FDA explicitly stated in a press release that Belviq "does not appear to activate" a chemical pathway that was linked to the heart problems seen with fen-phen.
The FDA said the drug acts on a different chemical pathway in the brain, which is believed to reduce appetite by boosting feelings of satiety and fullness.
Belviq is one of three experimental weight-loss drugs whose developers have been trying for a second time to win approval, after the FDA shot them all down in 2010 or early 2011 because of serious potential side effects.
Vivus Inc.'s Qnexa is thought to be the most promising of the drugs, achieving the most weight loss. But the FDA has delayed a decision on that pill until July.
Shares of San Diego-based Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. jumped $2.07, or 23.4 percent, to $10.92 in trading Wednesday afternoon. Shares of Mountain View, Calif.-based Vivus rose $1.61, or 6.1 percent, to $28.01
Arena's studies showed that patients taking Belviq, known generically as lorcaserin, had modest weight loss. On average patients lost just 3 to 3.7 percent of their starting body weight over a year. About 47 percent of patients without diabetes lost at least 5 percent of their weight or more, which was enough to meet FDA standards for effectiveness. By comparison, average weight loss with Qnexa is 11 percent, with more than 83 percent of patients losing 5 percent of their weight or more.
The FDA said patients should stop taking Belviq after three months if they fail to lose 5 percent of their body weight. Patients are unlikely to see any significant weight loss by staying with the drug.
Side effects with the drug include depression, migraine and memory lapses.
In May a panel of expert advisers to the FDA voted 18-4 to recommend approval of Arena's drug, concluding that its benefits "outweigh the potential risks when used long term" in overweight and obese people.
Experts say the challenge of weight loss drug development lies in safely turning off one of the body's fundamental directives: to eat enough food to maintain its current weight.
While several drugs are available for short-term weight loss, until Wednesday there was only one FDA-approved prescription drug for long-term weight loss: Xenical from Roche, which is seldom prescribed because of unpleasant digestive side effects and modest weight loss. Belviq is the first new prescription drug approved to treat obesity since Xenical's approval 13 years ago.
Other safety failures for diet pills have continued to pile up in recent years.
Four years ago Sanofi-Aventis SA discontinued studies of its highly anticipated pill Acomplia due to psychiatric side effects, including depression and suicidal thoughts. In 2010, Abbott Laboratories withdrew its drug Meridia after a study showed it increased heart attack and stroke.
Oligonucleotide Delivery: Biology, Engineering and Development ConferencePublic release date: 27-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kevin Korpics kevin@engconfintl.org Engineering Conferences International
An ECI Conference
Oligonucleotide technologies, such as siRNA, tap into endogenous, highly conserved and specific catalytic mechanisms to efficiently regulate gene expression. As such, they have the potential to enable the development of novel therapeutic options for disease targets previously considered un-druggable by conventional small molecule and biologics means. However, despite the promise, clinical development has been hindered by the challenges encountered by identifying and developing safe and efficacious delivery formulations.
Since its discovery in 1998, RNA silencing has attracted much attention, with over 50,000 peer-reviewed publications, multiple national and international conferences, and significant investment in the biotech and large pharma with the goal of developing new siRNA-based therapies. Despite the interest and investment this has proven to be more difficult that first envisioned. It is widely recognized that there are gaps in our basic understanding on how to best harness this technology for therapeutic use.
The major topics to be discussed are:
Liposomes, nanosomes, polymeric and nano-particulate delivery vehicles
RNA chemical modifications and conjugates to enable delivery
Protein transduction domain as delivery platforms
Mechanisms of cellular uptake and endosomal escape
Biophysical characterization methods
siRNA delivery vehicle toxicology
Local and systemic siRNA delivery case studies
Confirmed Speakers
Achim Aigner, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany
Saghir Akhtar, Kuwait University, Kuwait
Eben Alsberg, Case Western Reserve University, USA
Dan Anderson, MIT, USA
Tomohiro Asai, University of Shizuoka, Japan
Himanshu Brahmbhatt, EnGeneIC Ltd, Australia
Bob Brown, Dicerna, USA
Kenneth Clark, GlaxoSmithKline, UK
Pieter Cullis, University of British Columbia, Canada
Mark E. Davis, California Institute of Technology, USA
Derek M. Dykxhoorm, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, USA
Xavier de Mollerat Du Jeu, Life Technologies, USA
Omid Farokhzad, Harvard Medical School, USA
Elena Feinstein, Quark Pharma, Israel / USA
Mauro Ferrari, The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, USA
Mercedes Gonzlez-Juarrero, Colorado State University, USA
Tatsuhiro Ishida, The University of Tokushima, Japan
Rudy Juliano, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, USA
Jan Kamps, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Kazunori Kataoka, University of Tokyo, Japan
Jrgen Kjems, rhus University, Denmark
Troels Koch, Santaris Pharma A/S, Denmark / USA
lo Langel, Stockholm University, Sweden
Gabriel Lpez-Berestein, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA
Zheng-Rong Lu, Case Western Reserve University, USA
Jennifer MacDiarmid, EnGeneIC Ltd, Australia
Ram I. Mahato, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, USA
Muthiah Manoharan, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, USA
Nigel A.J. McMillan, Diamantina Institute, University of Queensland, Australia X
in Ming, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, USA
Tamara Minko, Rutgers University, USA
Andrs Montefeltro, nLife Therapeutics, Spain
Sterghios Moschos, University of Westminster, UK
Deborah Palliser, Albert Einstein School of Medicine, USA
Dan Peer, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Jean Phillipe Pellois, Texas A&M University, USA
Blake Peterson, The University of Kansas, USA
Tariq M. Rana, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, USA
Steven L. Regen, Lehigh University, USA
John Rossi, City of Hope, Duarte, USA
Dmitry Samarsky, RiboBio, China
Ansgar Santel, Silence Therapeutics AG, Germany
Alan D. Schreiber, ZaBeCor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., USA
Sabine Schreidler, Sanofi-Aventis, Germany
Georg Sczakiel, University of Lbeck, Germany
Peter H. Seeberger, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Berlin, Germany
Rita Serda, Methodist Hospital Research Institute, USA
Mouldy Sioud, Norwegian Radium Hospital, Norway
Anil Sood, MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA
Janos Szebeni, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
C. Shad Thaxton, Northwestern University, USA
Ernst Wagner, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat, Munchen, Germany
Roberto Weinmann, Sylentis, Spain
Johannes Winkler, University of Vienna, Austria
You-Yeon Won, Purdue University, USA
Matthew Wood, Oxford University, UK
Miqin Zhang, University of Washington, USA
###
Submission of Abstracts
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION IS NOW OPEN
Abstracts of approximately 300 words should be submitted as soon as possible and no later than June 15, 2012 to be considered for an oral presentation and June 30, 2012 for poster presentations. The abstract should include both significance of the research as well as results that will be discussed in order to allow a scientific assessment of the work by the organizers. Abstracts should be submitted electronically following the instructions given in On-line Abstract Submission. If unable to submit the abstract electronically, please contact the ECI (info@engconfintl.org).
Only a limited number of oral presentation slots are available and thus all submissions for oral presentation will be considered for both oral and poster presentation.
A poster competition among graduate student submissions is planned.
Engineering Conferences International (ECI) is a global engineering conferences program, originally established in 1962, that provides opportunities for the exploration of problems and issues of concern to engineers and scientists from many disciplines.
The format of the weeklong research conference provides morning and late afternoon or evening sessions in which major presentations are made. Available time is included during the afternoons for ad hoc meetings, informal discussions, and/or recreation. This format is designed to enhance rapport among participants and promote dialogue on the development of the meeting. We believe that the conferences have been instrumental in generating ideas and disseminating information to a greater extent than is possible through more conventional forums.
All participants are expected both to attend the entire conference and to contribute actively to the discussions. The recording/photographing of lectures and presentations is forbidden. As ECI conferences take place in an informal atmosphere, casual clothing is the usual attire.
[ | 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.
Oligonucleotide Delivery: Biology, Engineering and Development ConferencePublic release date: 27-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kevin Korpics kevin@engconfintl.org Engineering Conferences International
An ECI Conference
Oligonucleotide technologies, such as siRNA, tap into endogenous, highly conserved and specific catalytic mechanisms to efficiently regulate gene expression. As such, they have the potential to enable the development of novel therapeutic options for disease targets previously considered un-druggable by conventional small molecule and biologics means. However, despite the promise, clinical development has been hindered by the challenges encountered by identifying and developing safe and efficacious delivery formulations.
Since its discovery in 1998, RNA silencing has attracted much attention, with over 50,000 peer-reviewed publications, multiple national and international conferences, and significant investment in the biotech and large pharma with the goal of developing new siRNA-based therapies. Despite the interest and investment this has proven to be more difficult that first envisioned. It is widely recognized that there are gaps in our basic understanding on how to best harness this technology for therapeutic use.
The major topics to be discussed are:
Liposomes, nanosomes, polymeric and nano-particulate delivery vehicles
RNA chemical modifications and conjugates to enable delivery
Protein transduction domain as delivery platforms
Mechanisms of cellular uptake and endosomal escape
Biophysical characterization methods
siRNA delivery vehicle toxicology
Local and systemic siRNA delivery case studies
Confirmed Speakers
Achim Aigner, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany
Saghir Akhtar, Kuwait University, Kuwait
Eben Alsberg, Case Western Reserve University, USA
Dan Anderson, MIT, USA
Tomohiro Asai, University of Shizuoka, Japan
Himanshu Brahmbhatt, EnGeneIC Ltd, Australia
Bob Brown, Dicerna, USA
Kenneth Clark, GlaxoSmithKline, UK
Pieter Cullis, University of British Columbia, Canada
Mark E. Davis, California Institute of Technology, USA
Derek M. Dykxhoorm, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, USA
Xavier de Mollerat Du Jeu, Life Technologies, USA
Omid Farokhzad, Harvard Medical School, USA
Elena Feinstein, Quark Pharma, Israel / USA
Mauro Ferrari, The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, USA
Mercedes Gonzlez-Juarrero, Colorado State University, USA
Tatsuhiro Ishida, The University of Tokushima, Japan
Rudy Juliano, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, USA
Jan Kamps, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Kazunori Kataoka, University of Tokyo, Japan
Jrgen Kjems, rhus University, Denmark
Troels Koch, Santaris Pharma A/S, Denmark / USA
lo Langel, Stockholm University, Sweden
Gabriel Lpez-Berestein, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA
Zheng-Rong Lu, Case Western Reserve University, USA
Jennifer MacDiarmid, EnGeneIC Ltd, Australia
Ram I. Mahato, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, USA
Muthiah Manoharan, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, USA
Nigel A.J. McMillan, Diamantina Institute, University of Queensland, Australia X
in Ming, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, USA
Tamara Minko, Rutgers University, USA
Andrs Montefeltro, nLife Therapeutics, Spain
Sterghios Moschos, University of Westminster, UK
Deborah Palliser, Albert Einstein School of Medicine, USA
Dan Peer, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Jean Phillipe Pellois, Texas A&M University, USA
Blake Peterson, The University of Kansas, USA
Tariq M. Rana, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, USA
Steven L. Regen, Lehigh University, USA
John Rossi, City of Hope, Duarte, USA
Dmitry Samarsky, RiboBio, China
Ansgar Santel, Silence Therapeutics AG, Germany
Alan D. Schreiber, ZaBeCor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., USA
Sabine Schreidler, Sanofi-Aventis, Germany
Georg Sczakiel, University of Lbeck, Germany
Peter H. Seeberger, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Berlin, Germany
Rita Serda, Methodist Hospital Research Institute, USA
Mouldy Sioud, Norwegian Radium Hospital, Norway
Anil Sood, MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA
Janos Szebeni, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
C. Shad Thaxton, Northwestern University, USA
Ernst Wagner, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat, Munchen, Germany
Roberto Weinmann, Sylentis, Spain
Johannes Winkler, University of Vienna, Austria
You-Yeon Won, Purdue University, USA
Matthew Wood, Oxford University, UK
Miqin Zhang, University of Washington, USA
###
Submission of Abstracts
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION IS NOW OPEN
Abstracts of approximately 300 words should be submitted as soon as possible and no later than June 15, 2012 to be considered for an oral presentation and June 30, 2012 for poster presentations. The abstract should include both significance of the research as well as results that will be discussed in order to allow a scientific assessment of the work by the organizers. Abstracts should be submitted electronically following the instructions given in On-line Abstract Submission. If unable to submit the abstract electronically, please contact the ECI (info@engconfintl.org).
Only a limited number of oral presentation slots are available and thus all submissions for oral presentation will be considered for both oral and poster presentation.
A poster competition among graduate student submissions is planned.
Engineering Conferences International (ECI) is a global engineering conferences program, originally established in 1962, that provides opportunities for the exploration of problems and issues of concern to engineers and scientists from many disciplines.
The format of the weeklong research conference provides morning and late afternoon or evening sessions in which major presentations are made. Available time is included during the afternoons for ad hoc meetings, informal discussions, and/or recreation. This format is designed to enhance rapport among participants and promote dialogue on the development of the meeting. We believe that the conferences have been instrumental in generating ideas and disseminating information to a greater extent than is possible through more conventional forums.
All participants are expected both to attend the entire conference and to contribute actively to the discussions. The recording/photographing of lectures and presentations is forbidden. As ECI conferences take place in an informal atmosphere, casual clothing is the usual attire.
[ | 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.
When a family that once had it all is cursed to be horrible disfigured beast, can they change to find love before time runs out?
Owner:
Game Masters:
This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?The Beautiful Curse?. Anything posted here will also show up there.
Topic Tags:
Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup. In a modern day beauty and the beast, will the royal family be able to find true love and be loved in return?
Ok we need 2 male and 2 female characters for this roleplay. If your interested please reserve/submit your character and if you have any questions, ideas, or comments, feel free to comment in the OOC or here.
Thank you
~Living-Dead Doll~
Member for 2 years
Post a reply
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PARIS (AP) ? Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Tuesday that she holds no grudges against the military regime that kept her under house arrest for some 15 years and considers them people to work with toward reform.
Her focus is on practical matters, Suu Kyi said at a news conference, not "abstract ideas of justice."
Suu Kyi met with the press after a meeting with President Francois Hollande on the first day of her four-day visit to France to close out a European tour that has taken her to Switzerland, Norway, Ireland and Britain. She and the French president were having dinner Tuesday night.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been a world symbol of courage and hope for facing down Myanmar's military regime, which ruled for 49 years until last year. She is now helping the country usher in what many hope is a transition to democracy. And pragmatism seems to be her watchword.
"I certainly do not bear any grudges against the military regime," she said. "I never think of them as those people who placed me under house arrest for so many years. This is not the way we bring about national reconciliation.
"I think of them as people with whom I would like to work in order to bring reform to our country," she added.
Hollande, at her side, said that France intends to support all those involved in the democratic transition, and "not consider it a tranquil process," so that Myanmar achieves a "full and complete democracy."
He cautioned that France will keep a vigilant eye on financial transactions and industrial projects that a more open Myanmar will likely attract.
It was unclear whether he was making reference to the French oil giant Total which has been present in Myanmar for decades under military rule there, and became the object of criticism.
Suu Kyi said she wants "democracy-friendly, human rights-friendly" investments that protect the environment of her country, which she refers to by its colonial name, Burma. However, she added, "I do not want to be shackled by the past."
She said that "we must go forward to the future," and that Total had made compensations to people displaced by a gas pipeline. In response to a question, she said that investment in technology would be welcome from France and others.
"We would like to give everybody an opportunity to engage in business that actually strengthens the process of democratization," she added.
Suu Kyi, who turned 67 this month during her trip, is putting the accent on youth during her visit to France and, during her news conference the word "future" constantly found its way into her remarks. Among her activities in France is a conference-debate on Thursday with some 1,400 students at the Sorbonne University. Education is vital so that the new generation can carry the ball, and anchor the hoped for democracy once people like herself retreat from the foreground.
Youth make up 32 percent of Myanmar's population and play an important role in Suu Kyi's party, which was the big winner in partial parliamentary elections in April.
On Wednesday, Suy Kyi was meeting with Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, and planting a "tree of liberty" in the ministry garden.
She has been collecting honors during her travels that were conferred on her many years ago while trapped at home, from her Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo to her honorary degree from Oxford which she once attended.
In Paris, she will pick up an award on Wednesday granted in 2004 making her an honorary citizen of the city of Paris.
On her European travels, Suu Kyi has been accorded the attention of a diva. Asked at the news conference if she sees herself as the icon she embodies for many in the world, she scoffed, calling it unsettling, even if she understands the human need to put a face on everything.
"I represent the human face of the movement for democracy in Burma and I think that is where it should remain," she said. "I'm always very disturbed when people speak of me as an icon. Icons just seem to sit there doing nothing at all ? And I work very, very hard, I assure you."
I would love to be able to share with you today that you could promote your business once and you will have customers and recruits flooding in for the rest of your life. Unfortunately, it doesn?t work that way. It is going to require time and consistent effort to be able to get your name out there, but once you do the results will be worth it.
After several years of promoting myself and my business, people will come up to me and say, ?Are you the Avon Lady?? and I always respond with pride and offer them something, either the earning opportunity or a brochure of my products. It is not unusual for me to receive phone calls from new people because they got my name from one of my good customers. At least ? of my customers have come from referrals. That is a wonderful place to be, potential customers and recruits coming to you instead of you trying to find them.
I have been asked many times how did I do it, so today I am going to share with you some of the ways and places that I go to prospect for customers and recruits.
1) I booked myself into every local event that would allow me in. 2) I rented space in the local mall. 3) I put recruiting ballot boxes in any business that would let me. I always thanked them with some free product. 4) I took out the occasional newspaper ads. 5) Wore my company?s products everywhere. 6) I talked to new people anywhere and everywhere I went. On the street, in parks, cashiers and other business people. I would offer them a chance to learn more about earning money with my company or a brochure.
It may seem like a lot, but it takes a lot to build momentum. I was very intentional about promoting my business. I had activities planed every week so that my funnel was always filled with leads that I could work on. Consistency is the key. One thing I need to warn you about. In the beginning you might go through a period of time where you don?t get a lot of results. That is normal. It takes time to perfect your prospecting skills and for people to get to know who you are. Don?t just do a couple of events and quit. Practice, practice, practice until you become so good, that everyone is amazed.
I want you to know that I believe in you and your ability to succeed. For some of you, this will be the hardest thing you have ever done and I applaud you for continuing on even though it is difficult.
To your success, Kim Thompson-Pinder
?Kim Thompson-Pinder has been in MLM/Network Marketing and Direct Sales for over 15 years and enjoys helping others to succeed. If you would like practical, easy to use, free ways to build your business online and locally then check out www.kimthompsonpinder.com
Bally Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: BYI), a leader in slots, video machines, casino-management, interactive applications, and networked and server-based systems for the global gaming industry, today became the first company to receive an interactive gaming supplier license from the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB).
Nevada is the first state to adopt a statute allowing interactive gaming and the first state to adopt regulations for online gaming of any kind.
?We are grateful to the State of Nevada for this opportunity,? said Bally Technologies? Chief Executive Officer Richard Haddrill. ?We look forward to Bally expanding its leadership role in this exciting new arena of online gaming.?
At the NGCB?s meeting today, board members unanimously approved Bally Technologies for a license to act as an interactive gaming system manufacturer and service provider. This enables Bally to provide business-to-business iGaming solutions for the state?s casino operators, including wager-based online poker.
Bally Technologies is offering its iGaming platform technology and content to casino operators. The Company?s iGaming platform features an open architecture, which enables operators to choose from best-of-breed content from a multitude of providers. The iGaming platform is also designed for mobile integration and is ready to accommodate online wagering beyond poker, such as casino table games, video slots, bingo, social, and sports wagering when authorized.
Bally expects to make incremental investments in its interactive division during fiscal 2013 and beyond to ensure leadership in business-to-business iGaming support for the casino industry.
About Bally Technologies, Inc.
With a history dating back to 1932, Las Vegas-based Bally Technologies designs, manufactures, operates, and distributes advanced gaming devices, systems and technology solutions worldwide. Bally?s product line includes reel-spinning slot machines, video slots, wide-area progressives, interactive and mobile applications, and Class II, lottery, and central-determination games and platforms. Bally also offers an array of casino management, slot accounting, bonusing, cashless and table management solutions. For more information, please contact Laura Olson-Reyes, Senior Director, Marketing Corporate Communications, at 702-584-7742, or visit http://www.ballytech.com. Connect with Bally on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.
Copyright (2012) Business Wire. All Rights Reserved.
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One of our greatest goals at Nextiva is to raise customers? expectations ? and meet them ? by delivering our signature Amazing Service?.? We like to look at service as the foundation of everything we do, as a component of our product line.? Just as we strive to provide our customers with the strongest, most reliable VoIP telephone service, we want our customers to experience the highest levels of service.
We?ve identified five key factors to running a successful support center with optimal customer service, and would love to share with you how Nextiva abides by them:
Be a good listener. ?Each of our customers have different system setups, so we make sure to take the time to listen to the needs of each caller so that we can set up new accounts and resolve any issues as quickly and easily as possible.
Make customers feel important and appreciated. ?We understand that your time is valuable, so we guarantee little or no hold time when you call Nextiva.? In fact, 95% of our calls are answered by the second ring!
Help customers understand your systems. ?Our trained support team can give you a simple and logical explanation of any network set-up so you understand your system in business terms.
Treat employees well. ?Nextiva?s office is filled with happy, healthy employees thanks to our activity lounge, generous vacation time, free meals and casual environment.
Know how to apologize. We admit: things aren?t perfect 100% of the time.? In the unusual instance of an outage, our engineers are able to quickly restore the network and relay any critical messages to our support team regarding downtime.
We recognize that excellent service depends on excellent systems and people. That?s why we build and maintain our powerful unified communication platform with a dedicated team of more than 200 expert engineers. The technology platform supports all of our business VoIP phone systems and services. And our customer advocates and support team are ready to provide you with Amazing Service?. Learn the top ten reasons small businesses choose Nextiva and see for yourself. Or simply call 866-435-3843!
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Anders Behring Breivik, the confessed gunman who killed 77 people last year in a bomb and shooting rampage, center, reacts in court as prosecutors deliver their closing arguments in the court in Oslo, Norway Thursday June 21, 2012. After nearly 10 weeks of grueling testimony of one of the worst peacetime massacres in modern history, it's time for prosecutors to decide their position on whether they think confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is insane or not. (AP Photo/Berit Roald/Scanpix NTB POOL)
Anders Behring Breivik, the confessed gunman who killed 77 people last year in a bomb and shooting rampage, center, reacts in court as prosecutors deliver their closing arguments in the court in Oslo, Norway Thursday June 21, 2012. After nearly 10 weeks of grueling testimony of one of the worst peacetime massacres in modern history, it's time for prosecutors to decide their position on whether they think confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is insane or not. (AP Photo/Berit Roald/Scanpix NTB POOL)
Anders Behring Breivik, the confessed gunman who killed 77 people last year in a bomb and shooting rampage, center, is seated between his defense lawyers Geir Lippestad, left, and Vibeke Hein Baera, right, before prosecutors deliver their closing arguments in the court in Oslo Thursday June 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Berit Roald/Scanpix NTB POOL)
Prosecutor Svein Holden delivers closing arguments in the trial against Anders Behring Breivik, the confessed gunman who killed 77 people last year in a bomb and shooting rampage, unseen, in the court in Oslo, Norway Thursday June 21, 2012. After nearly 10 weeks of grueling testimony of one of the worst peacetime massacres in modern history, it's time for prosecutors to decide their position on whether they think confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is insane or not. (AP Photo/Vegard Groett/Scanpix NTB POOL)
Prosecutor Inga Bejer Engh delivers closing arguments in the trial against Anders Behring Breivik, the confessed gunman who killed 77 people last year in a bomb and shooting rampage, unseen, in the court in Oslo, Norway Thursday June 21, 2012. After nearly 10 weeks of grueling testimony of one of the worst peacetime massacres in modern history, it's time for prosecutors to decide their position on whether they think confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is insane or not. (AP Photo/Berit Roald/Scanpix NTB POOL)
Anders Behring Breivik, the confessed gunman who killed 77 people last year in a bomb and shooting rampage, left, with prosecutor Svein Holden, background, during closing arguments in the court in Oslo, Norway Thursday June 21, 2012. After nearly 10 weeks of grueling testimony of one of the worst peacetime massacres in modern history, it's time for prosecutors to decide their position on whether they think confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is insane or not. (AP Photo/Berit Roald/Scanpix NTB POOL)
OSLO, Norway (AP) ? Prosecutors on Thursday asked a court to send confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik to a mental institution instead of prison for his massacre of 77 people in a gun and shooting rampage.
If the court comes to the same conclusion when it issues its ruling, expected next month, it would mean that Breivik will avoid criminal responsibility for Norway's worst peacetime massacre.
The attacks at Norway's government headquarters and a youth summer camp would then not be considered acts of political terrorism, but the work of a blood-thirsty madman.
"We request that he is transferred to compulsory psychiatric care," prosecutor Svein Holden told the court in closing arguments.
The defense is likely to refute the insanity finding on Friday, the last day of the 10-week trial. Breivik, who styles himself as an anti-Muslim militant, claims he is sane and that his attacks were motivated by his political views.
Just like when the trial stared in mid-April, the 33-year-old Norwegian flashed a clenched-fist salute with his right arm before he was led out of the court on Thursday.
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ScienceDaily (June 19, 2012) ? Human brains process large and small numbers of objects using two different mechanisms, but infants have not yet developed the ability to make those two processes work together, according to new research from the University of Missouri.
"This research was the first to show the inability of infants in a single age group to discriminate large and small sets in a single task," said Kristy vanMarle, assistant professor of psychological sciences in the College of Arts and Science. "Understanding how infants develop the ability to represent and compare numbers could be used to improve early education programs."
The MU study found that infants consistently chose the larger of two groups of food items when both sets were larger or smaller than four, just as an adult would. Unlike adults, the infants showed no preference for the larger group when choosing between one large and one small set. The results suggest that at age one infants have not yet integrated the two mental functions: one being the ability to estimate numbers of items at a glance and the other being the ability to visually track small sets of objects.
In vanMarle's study, 10- to 12-month-old infants were presented with two opaque cups. Different numbers of pieces of breakfast cereal were hidden in each cup, while the infants observed, and then the infants were allowed to choose a cup. Four comparisons were tested between different combinations of large and small sets. Infants consistently chose two food items over one and eight items over four, but chose randomly when asked to compare two versus four and two versus eight.
"Being unable to determine that eight is larger than two would put an organism at a serious disadvantage," vanMarle said. "However, ongoing studies in my lab suggest that the capacity to compare small and large sets seems to develop before age two."
The ability to make judgments about the relative number of objects in a group has old evolutionary roots. Dozens of species, including some fish, monkeys and birds have shown the ability to recognize numerical differences in laboratory studies. VanMarle speculated that being unable to compare large and small sets early in infancy may not have been problematic during human evolution because young children probably received most of their food and protection from caregivers. Infants' survival didn't depend on determining which bush had the most berries or how many predators they just saw, she said.
"In the modern world there are educational programs that claim to give children an advantage by teaching them arithmetic at an early age," said vanMarle. "This research suggests that such programs may be ineffective simply because infants are unable to compare some numbers with others."
VanMarle's research was published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Missouri-Columbia.
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Journal Reference:
Kristy vanMarle. Infants use different mechanisms to make small and large number ordinal judgments. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2012; DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2012.04.007
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Was Charlotte Neve’s coma cured by an Adele song? That’s what the 7-year-old’s mother believes, and there’s no reason to doubt it. This is a really sad story that may have a happy ending. A young girl suffered a brain hemmorage that left her in a coma. First of all, I can’t even imagine that. As a mother it is my absolute worst nightmare to see anything happen to my children. But to sit there helpless while one of them barely held onto life would be unbearable. So just when this mother was told by doctors to try to say goodbye, she decided to sing one of the girl’s favorite songs to her: Adele’s Rolling In The Deep. That’s when the girl actually smiled. Now the girl seems to be starting a slow recovery. Get more of this amazing story here – E! Online. Jenny McCarthy did WHAT to her dentist on accident?? – Bumpshack. Finally the full version of the Oprah interview with 50 Cent is available online. There were some pretty intense moments – Diva Artist. Is Johnny Depp single again? We think so – I Need My Fix. This is pretty funny stuff. Male celebrities photoshopped to [...]
CAIRO (Reuters) - Painted on a wall on the edge of Cairo's Tahrir Square is a large portrait that illustrates how many view the man who has ruled Egypt since Hosni Mubarak was overthrown last year.
Half the face is of the ousted president juxtaposed to the other portion showing Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the 76-year-old who was Mubarak's defense minister for 20 years.
After ending Mubarak's 30-year rule 16 months ago, many feel they have replaced him with a carbon copy, just as reluctant to relinquish power or to rein in the extensive business interests and privileges that the army has built up over six decades.
Even as Egyptians picked a new president in two days of voting that ended on Sunday, the army council led by Tantawi was clawing back powers from the presidency with a declaration limiting the presidential remit. To many it smacked of a military coup - but without having to move a single tank.
"The military hands over power, to the military," wrote Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper in a headline over a picture of Tantawi on Monday, mocking his vow to hand over control to a civilian president by July 1. The oft-repeated pledge now looks hollow.
Instead, the paper noted, the "constitutional declaration" means the generals will probably have lawmaking powers until 2013, given a timetable it laid out for drafting a constitution, holding a referendum on it and, finally, electing a parliament to replace the Islamist-led one Tantawi dissolved last week.
Even if, as the Muslim Brotherhood claimed, its candidate Mohamed Morsy has won the presidential election, Tantawi will remain in the driving seat of the Arab world's most populous state as it stumbles through a political transition that first drew angry and often violent protests but now seems to have given way to exhaustion, frustration and desperation for order.
LITTLE CHANGED
Tantawi spoke little in public in the days when Mubarak, himself a product of the armed forces, was in charge. But he often appeared by his side at military parades and other events.
That has changed little now he heads the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), a body so deep in the shadows that Egyptians struggle to be sure which generals are part of it.
Some activists have also been infuriated by newspaper photos of Tantawi opening roads and other projects, images that bear a striking resemblance to kind of inaugurations Mubarak attended.
As Egyptians voted on Sunday, a stony-faced Tantawi was filmed in Saudi Arabia sitting next to King Abdullah to pay condolences after the death of the Saudi crown prince. Again, it was Tantawi as chief representative of the Egyptian state.
He was too close to the former president to be personally popular with protesters who led the uprising in Tahrir Square, even though the army's move to appease the demonstrators by deposing Mubarak won the military their gratitude as an institution. But desire for change and respect for troops under Tantawi's command trumped concerns many had when he took power.
"People expected that after the downfall of Mubarak that he might be changed and he might be serious about leading the country to change," said Khalil al-Anani, an Egyptian analyst at Britain's Durham University.
Instead, he said, Egyptians discovered Tantawi had "the same mentality as Mubarak, who would like to keep things as it is".
That view had been echoed, back in 2008, well before the Arab Spring in a leaked diplomatic cable from the U.S. ambassador to Cairo. Francis Ricciardone described Tantawi as "charming and courtly" but "aged and change-resistant".
The U.S. envoy was in a good position to know, as the United States gives Egypt's military $1.3 billion in aid each year.
"He and Mubarak are focused on regime stability and maintaining the status quo through the end of their time," Ricciardone wrote. "They simply do not have the energy, inclination or world view to do anything differently."
Tantawi is of the same generation as the 84-year-old Mubarak, now jailed for life for failing to stop his security services killing protesters in the uprising against him. After dozens more deaths over the past year on Tantawi's watch, he and the other generals are determined that a transfer of power will not land them in the dock, diplomats say.
GENERATION GAP
Both Tantawi and Mubarak are decorated veterans of wars against Israel in 1956, 1967 and 1973. The army remains widely admired for its role in conflicts portrayed - by a succession of military rulers - as a struggle against colonialism.
But the field marshal is now leading a nation where the bulk of the population of 82 million is too young to have any recollection of the last war. Many youths' memories are being shaped by protests and occasional street battles with police.
"The problem is a gap between two generations: one thinking about a new Egypt and another that leans toward the continuation within the old regime," said Nabil Abdel Fattah, an expert at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.
"He is the son of the military institution and is interested in the military keeping its status and the shape of the military relationship within the new political system."
Tantawi has sought to give a more down-to-earth image. He was caught in video footage walking in a civilian suit near Tahrir Square in September, chatting jovially to passers-by.
But the shot was lampooned by web activists as a stunt to boost his popularity. They said the suit, a stark contrast to the military uniforms he is normally seen in, looked brand new.
"Did they want me to wear a torn-up suit?" Tantawi responded in remarks made a week or so after the criticism.
One instance that angered many Egyptians was his testimony in the trial of Mubarak, in which he spoke to the judges behind closed doors and failed to provide evidence that might have condemned his mentor for ordering the killing of protesters.
Mubarak was convicted of the lesser charge of failing to prevent their deaths and avoided the execution many had wanted.
Even this cute baby (my daughter) got into things she shouldn't!
Before a baby even starts to crawl, parents should begin baby proofing the home. ?Speaking from experience, there are many things an infant can get into. Many parents, like myself 12 years ago, wonder where to start when it comes to the safety of their child. I quickly learned that power cords, a sharp table corner, cabinets, electrical outlets and the pool if the family has one, are some of the dangers parents may want to start baby proofing first.
Parents can baby proof electrical outlets by using plastic?outlet plugs. Outlet covers are cheap and available in any store that sells baby items. ?Electrical outlets are extremely dangerous. ?I should know.. I put a bobby pin in one when I was a child. ?It is very important to baby proof all outlets in your house by using outlet plugs. ?Outlet plugs are difficult for a baby or toddler to remove but parents are able to remove them easily.
Example: Safety 1st Deluxe Press Fit Outlet Plugs
There are table corner protectors to soften sharp edges of coffee tables, end tables and counters. ?My daughter, now 6, has had her fair share of head-to-table encounters if you know what I mean. ?She has always been on the more clumsy side than my son was so we went all out on the baby and child proofing supplies during her clumsy years.
Example: Safety 1st Expandable Table Edge Bumper
Cabinet safety locks and latches?keep small children out of cabinets that contain dangerous products. Cabinet locks can be found in the baby section of most retail stores and are easy to install. ?Cabinet safety locks are relatively easy to install and make it so that parents and older children are able to get into a cabinet easily while babies and toddlers aren?t.?
Example: Dreambaby Cabinet Safety Latches
Baby gates?keep toddlers from going into areas they don?t need to crawl around in, like the backyard where the family pool is. The great thing about baby gates is that they can be stretched to fit different sized doorways. They can also be moved around to any doorway, insuring infant safety. ?At one time we had four safety gates installed around our house, including one on our front porch. ?You never know where your baby or toddler will venture off to so it?s better to be safe than sorry and install a baby safety gate wherever you think your baby should not wander off to.
Example: Dreambaby Extra Tall Swing Close Gate
There are also products to baby proof and conceal power cords that can be found in hardware stores and retail stores.
If parents still aren?t certain they have covered all the basics then they might want to consider contacting a local baby proofing company. The company would provide parents with all the products and materials they needed to make their home a safer environment for their child.Children get into trouble all the time. They are always sticking things in their mouths, taking a tumble down the stairs, poking hair pins into outlets and knocking their heads on sharp corners. This is why it is so important to make sure that the home environment is a safe haven before the baby becomes mobile.
* Some links featured in this article are affiliate links. ?If an item is purchased using affiliate links, we may receive a small commission.
4 Baby Proofing Products No Home Should Be Without! is a post from: The Mommy Insider. It looks like you are reading this post in your favorite RSS reader. Don't be shy..hop on over to check out our current giveaways, coupon codes, and to share your comments!
Highlights from the 220th AAAS meeting held June 10-14 in Anchorage, Alaska
Web edition : 2:26 pm
20 hours of fame
Seen in gamma rays, the sun is usually dark. But on March 7, it blazed for 20 hours after a massive solar flare dumped high-energy particles and light into space. ?The sky looked completely different,? Stanford University?s Nicola Omodei said on June 11. NASA?s Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope captured the sun?s brief moment in the ? sun, and recorded "the highest-energy light ever detected during a solar flare,? Omodei said. Scientists studying the gamma-ray?producing particles determined that instead of only being flung outward by the initial flare-producing shock, the particles were probably also accelerated by reconnecting solar magnetic fields after the event.
Sun?s short-term memory
Scientists trying to forecast peaks in solar cycle activity have generated vastly variable estimates, ranging from Wimpy to Hulk. Dibyendu Nandy, from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Kolkata, suggests an explanation for the prognostic failure. ?The sun has a very short memory,? he said on June 11. ?It forgets its history of past activity.? That?s because a process called ?turbulent pumping? mixes the solar magnetic field and erases ?memories? of past cycles of activity. This mixing makes previous solar cycles bad indicators of future intensity. Instead, Nandy suggests that solar maximums, or periods when the sun has its highest number of sunspots, can be reliably predicted only using the previous minimum ? which means the sun remembers its own history for just 5.5 years.
Getting to know the dwarfs next door
Astronomers studying M dwarfs, the most abundant of our stellar neighbors, are beginning to understand more about how these redder, dimmer stars evolve and age. That understanding is important because these stars are likely to be common hosts of exoplanets. On June 12, Scott Engle of Villanova University reported that an M dwarf?s magnetic field betrays the star?s age, which can theoretically reach 100 billion years. Aging stars lose mass and spin more slowly, reducing the magnetic field strength in a predictable way ? a relationship Engle discovered after studying M dwarfs in binary systems with companions of known ages. Older M dwarfs are also expected to emit fewer potentially harmful X-rays and less ultraviolet radiation, which could make an orbiting planet a more comfortable place to live.
Small telescope, big planet
Sometimes, a little eye turned toward the sky can see big things. In this case, the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope ? essentially the equivalent of a digital camera ? discovered two enormous stellar companions orbiting faraway stars. One of these bodies is a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a star bright enough to allow scientists to study the planet?s atmosphere. The other, a big brown dwarf, is ?something that has never been seen before,? said Ohio State University graduate student Thomas Beatty ?on June 13. Like NASA?s Kepler spacecraft, KELT looks for dips in light caused by bodies passing between a star and Earth. KELT-1b, the brown dwarf with a mass equivalent to 30 Jupiters, is one of these star-dimming objects. It circles its star in just 29 hours, receiving 6,000 times the amount of sunlight that Earth gets. ?It sort of resets the bar for weird,? Beatty said.
Small planets don?t mind metal-poor stars
Smaller planets tend to live around stars with variable metal content, being equal-opportunity inhabitants of stellar systems that are both metal-rich and metal-poor. This nonpreference is unlike that of Jupiter-sized planets with close-in orbits, which are devoted metalheads that associate primarily with metal-rich stars. In stellar astronomy, ?metal? refers to any element heavier than helium. Scientists spied the differing characteristics of the two groups after surveying more than 200 planet candidates in the Kepler field and correlating the planets? sizes with their host stars? metal content. The result, reported June 13 at the meeting and online in Nature, suggests that smaller planets form more easily and earlier in a star?s evolution than Jupiter-sized planets. ?They could be widespread in our galaxy,? said study coauthor Lars Buchhave of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.
Weird and distant planet
It?s not just their names that are weird. The dwarf planet Quaoar (Kwa-war) and its satellite Weywot present some unusual characteristics. Quaoar, which orbits its sun at roughly 40 times the Earth-sun distance, is much denser than expected. Weywot takes a more oval-shaped path around Quaoar than it should, if theories describing satellite formation apply to the two tiny Kuiper Belt bodies. Both of these characteristics suggest the system formed after an unusually violent collision blasted away Quaoar?s outer icy sheath, leaving behind a dense chunk of rock. And Weywot, instead of condensing from the resulting debris disk, was borne of a large fragment ? the remainder of an ?unusually high velocity collision,? said Wesley Fraser of Canada?s Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics on June 13.