Linking insulin to learning

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Though it's most often associated with disorders like diabetes, Harvard researchers have shown how the signaling pathway of insulin and insulin-like peptides plays another critical role in the body ? helping to regulate learning and memory.

In addition to showing that the insulin-like peptides play a critical role in regulating the activity of neurons involved in learning and memory, a team of researchers led by Yun Zhang, Associate Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, show that the interaction between the molecules can fine-tune how, or even if, learning takes place. Their work is described in a February 6 paper in Neuron.

"People think of insulin and diabetes, but many metabolic syndromes are associated with some types of cognitive defects and behavioral disorders, like depression or dementia," Zhang said. "That suggests that insulin and insulin-like peptides may play an important role in neural function, but it's been very difficult to nail down the underlying mechanism, because these peptides do not have to function through synapses that connect different neurons in the brain"

To get at that mechanism, Zhang and colleagues turned to an organism whose genome and nervous system are well described and highly accessible by genetics ? C. elegans.

Using genetic tools, researchers altered the small, transparent worms by removing their ability to create individual insulin-like compounds. These new "mutant" worms were then tested to see whether they would learn to avoid eating a particular type of bacteria that is known to infect the worms. Tests showed that while some worms did learn to steer clear of the bacteria, others didn't ? suggesting that removing a specific insulin-like compound halted the worms' ability to learn.

Researchers were surprised to find, however, that it wasn't just removing the molecules that could make the animals lose the ability to learn ? some peptide was found to inhibit learning.

"We hadn't predicted that we would find both positive and negative regulators from these peptides," Zhang said. "Why does the animal need this bidirectional regulation of learning? One possibility is that learning depends on context. There are certain things you want to learn ? for example, the worms in these experiments wanted to learn that they shouldn't eat this type of infectious bacteria. That's a positive regulation of the learning. But if they needed to eat, even if it is a bad food, to survive, they would need a way to suppress this type of learning."

Even more surprising for Zhang and her colleagues was evidence that the various insulin-like molecules could regulate each other.

"Many animals, including the humans, have multiple insulin-like molecules and it appears that these molecules can act like a network," she said. "Each of them may play a slightly different role in the nervous system, and they function together to coordinate the signaling related to learning and memory. By changing the way the molecules interact, the brain can fine tune learning in a host of different ways."

Going forward, Zhang said she hopes to characterize more of the insulin-like peptides as a way of better understanding how the various molecules interact, and how they act on the neural circuits for learning and memory.

Understanding how such pathways work could one day help in the development of treatment for a host of cognitive disorders, including dementia.

"The signaling pathways for insulin and insulin-like peptides are highly conserved in mammals, including the humans," Zhang said. "There is even some preliminary evidence that insulin treatment, in some cases, can improve cognitive function. That's one reason we believe that if we understand this mechanism, it will help us better understand how insulin pathways are working in the human brain."

###

Harvard University: http://www.harvard.edu

Thanks to Harvard University for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127040/Linking_insulin_to_learning

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Video: Captain King 'Fleet is shrinking before our eyes'

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UK study confirms GSK flu shot link to rare sleep disorder

LONDON (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline's Pandemrix swine flu vaccine has been linked to cases of the rare sleep disorder narcolepsy in children in a scientific study in England that confirms similar findings elsewhere in Europe.

The vaccine, more than 30 million doses of which were given during the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009-2010, contains a booster, or adjuvant, and may have triggered an adverse immune reaction in some children at higher genetic risk of narcolepsy, scientists said in new research published on Wednesday.

Researchers at Britain's Health Protection Agency (HPA) who published the study in the British Medical Journal said the at least 14-fold increased risk they found had "implications for the future licensing and use of adjuvanted pandemic vaccines".

Narcolepsy is a life-long disorder and thought to be an autoimmune disease in which patient's immune system attacks the body's own cells. Its symptoms include frequent bouts of daytime sleepiness and in its severe forms it also causes night terrors, hallucinations and cataplexies - when strong emotions trigger a sudden loss of muscle strength.

Studies in Finland, Sweden and Ireland have also found a Pandemrix link to narcolepsy, and GSK says more than 800 cases linked to the shot have been reported in Europe.

A spokesman for the British drugmaker told Reuters on Wednesday: "We really want to get to the bottom of this and understand more about the potential role of Pandemrix in the development of narcolepsy."

He added, however, that GSK believes "the available data are insufficient to assess the likelihood of a causal association between Pandemrix and narcolepsy."

As Reuters reported earlier this month, scientists investigating the link further are homing in on the vaccine's adjuvant, a booster called AS03, and analyzing whether its super-charging effect may have played a role.

According to the UK results, vaccination with Pandemrix at any time was associated with a 14-fold increased risk of narcolepsy, whereas vaccination within six months before onset of the disease was associated with a 16-fold increased risk.

"The increased risk of narcolepsy indicates a causal association," said the research team led by Liz Miller, a consultant epidemiologist with the HPA. They added, however, that because of variable delay in diagnosis, the risk may be overestimated because vaccinated children may have been referred to specialist sleep clinics more rapidly.

Scientists said the risk translated into around one in 50,000, lower than studies have found in other countries such as Finland and Sweden where Pandemrix was used more widely and the risk was around one in 16,000 to 17,000 children vaccinated.

In total, more than 30 million doses of the GSK shot were given in 47 mainly European countries during the H1N1 flu pandemic. It was not used in the United States.

The UK study looked at 75 children aged between four and 18 who were diagnosed with narcolepsy from January 2008 and who attended sleep centers across England. Eleven of the children had been vaccinated with Pandemrix before their symptoms began.

Finn stressed that Pandemrix is the only vaccine linked to this problem: "There is nothing to suggest that it occurs after other flu vaccines or vaccines against other diseases."

Narcolepsy is thought to be due to loss of function in cells called hypocretin cells in one of the brain's sleep centers.

John Shneerson, a consultant physician from the Respiratory Support and Sleep Centre at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge who co-led the UK study, said Pandemrix may have triggered an immune reaction against those cells, causing narcolepsy in some children who were genetically vulnerable.

Experts say around 25 percent of Europeans have a genetic profile making them more susceptible. Narcolepsy has no known cure, but specialist doctors say symptoms can be treated with drug combinations aimed at re-regulating the sleep-wake cycle.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Will Waterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-study-confirms-gsk-flu-shot-rare-sleep-084807870.html

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Apple agrees to settle lawsuit over in-app purchases made by children

Looks like Apple's set to put an end to the 2011 in-app purchase class action lawsuit filed on behalf of those whose children were spending a Smurphy amount of their money without account holder permission. According to the settlement, Apple could wind up giving a $5 gift certificate to upwards of 23 million customers. In matters where purchases total $30 or more, cash refunds may be awarded. The suit claims that Apple "failed to adequately disclose" the presence of in-app purchases in titles targeted at children, an issue Apple has since address by requiring passwords to be entered when making in-app purchases.

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Research update: Chemists find help from nature in fighting cancer

Public release date: 27-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Sarah McDonnell
s_mcd@mit.edu
617-827-7637
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Inspired by a chemical that fungi secrete to defend their territory, MIT chemists have synthesized and tested several dozen compounds that may hold promise as potential cancer drugs.

A few years ago, MIT researchers led by associate professor of chemistry Mohammad Movassaghi became the first to chemically synthesize 11,11'-dideoxyverticillin, a highly complex fungal compound that has shown anti-cancer activity in previous studies. This and related compounds naturally occur in such small amounts that it has been difficult to do a comprehensive study of the relationship between the compound's structure and its activity research that could aid drug development, Movassaghi says.

"There's a lot of data out there, very exciting data, but one thing we were interested in doing is taking a large panel of these compounds, and for the first time, evaluating them in a uniform manner," Movassaghi says.

In the new study, recently published online in the journal Chemical Science, Movassaghi and colleagues at MIT and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) designed and tested 60 compounds for their ability to kill human cancer cells.

"What was particularly exciting to us was to see, across various cancer cell lines, that some of them are quite potent," Movassaghi says.

Lead author of the paper is MIT postdoc Nicolas Boyer. Other authors are MIT graduate student Justin Kim, UIUC chemistry professor Paul Hergenrother and UIUC graduate student Karen Morrison.

Improving nature's design

Many of the compounds tested in this study, known as epipolythiodiketopiperazine (ETP) alkaloids, are naturally produced by fungi. Scientists believe these compounds help fungi prevent other organisms from encroaching on their territory.

In the process of synthesizing ETP natural products in their lab, the MIT researchers produced many similar compounds that they suspected might also have anti-cancer activity. For the new study, they created even more compounds by systematically varying the natural structures adding or removing certain chemical groups from different locations.

The researchers tested 60 compounds against two different human cancer cell lines cervical cancer and lymphoma. Then they chose the best 25 to test against three additional lines, from lung, kidney and breast tumors. Overall, dimeric compounds those with two ETP molecules joined together appeared to be more effective at killing cancer cells than single molecules (known as monomers).

The structure of an ETP natural product typically has at least one set of fused rings containing one or more sulfur atoms that link to a six-member ring known as a cyclo-dipeptide. The researchers found that another key to tumor-killing ability is the arrangement and number of these sulfur atoms: Compounds with at least two sulfur atoms were the most effective, those with only one sulfur atom were less effective, and those without sulfur did not kill tumor cells efficiently.

Other rings typically have chemical groups of varying sizes attached in certain positions; a key position is that next to the ETP ring. The researchers found that the larger this group, the more powerful the compound was against cancer.

The compounds that kill cancer cells appear to be very selective, destroying them 1,000 times more effectively than they kill healthy blood cells.

The researchers also identified sections of the compounds that can be altered without discernably changing their activity. This is useful because it could allow chemists to use those points to attach the compounds to a delivery agent such as an antibody that would target them to cancer cells, without impairing their cancer-killing ability.

Complex synthesis

Now that they have some initial data, the researchers can use their findings to design additional compounds that might be even more effective. "We can go in with far greater precision and test the hypotheses we're developing in terms of what portions of the molecules are most significant at retaining or enhancing biological activity," Movassaghi says.

###

The research was funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Written by: Anne Trafton, MIT News Office

---

[ | 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.

Public release date: 27-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Sarah McDonnell
s_mcd@mit.edu
617-827-7637
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Inspired by a chemical that fungi secrete to defend their territory, MIT chemists have synthesized and tested several dozen compounds that may hold promise as potential cancer drugs.

A few years ago, MIT researchers led by associate professor of chemistry Mohammad Movassaghi became the first to chemically synthesize 11,11'-dideoxyverticillin, a highly complex fungal compound that has shown anti-cancer activity in previous studies. This and related compounds naturally occur in such small amounts that it has been difficult to do a comprehensive study of the relationship between the compound's structure and its activity research that could aid drug development, Movassaghi says.

"There's a lot of data out there, very exciting data, but one thing we were interested in doing is taking a large panel of these compounds, and for the first time, evaluating them in a uniform manner," Movassaghi says.

In the new study, recently published online in the journal Chemical Science, Movassaghi and colleagues at MIT and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) designed and tested 60 compounds for their ability to kill human cancer cells.

"What was particularly exciting to us was to see, across various cancer cell lines, that some of them are quite potent," Movassaghi says.

Lead author of the paper is MIT postdoc Nicolas Boyer. Other authors are MIT graduate student Justin Kim, UIUC chemistry professor Paul Hergenrother and UIUC graduate student Karen Morrison.

Improving nature's design

Many of the compounds tested in this study, known as epipolythiodiketopiperazine (ETP) alkaloids, are naturally produced by fungi. Scientists believe these compounds help fungi prevent other organisms from encroaching on their territory.

In the process of synthesizing ETP natural products in their lab, the MIT researchers produced many similar compounds that they suspected might also have anti-cancer activity. For the new study, they created even more compounds by systematically varying the natural structures adding or removing certain chemical groups from different locations.

The researchers tested 60 compounds against two different human cancer cell lines cervical cancer and lymphoma. Then they chose the best 25 to test against three additional lines, from lung, kidney and breast tumors. Overall, dimeric compounds those with two ETP molecules joined together appeared to be more effective at killing cancer cells than single molecules (known as monomers).

The structure of an ETP natural product typically has at least one set of fused rings containing one or more sulfur atoms that link to a six-member ring known as a cyclo-dipeptide. The researchers found that another key to tumor-killing ability is the arrangement and number of these sulfur atoms: Compounds with at least two sulfur atoms were the most effective, those with only one sulfur atom were less effective, and those without sulfur did not kill tumor cells efficiently.

Other rings typically have chemical groups of varying sizes attached in certain positions; a key position is that next to the ETP ring. The researchers found that the larger this group, the more powerful the compound was against cancer.

The compounds that kill cancer cells appear to be very selective, destroying them 1,000 times more effectively than they kill healthy blood cells.

The researchers also identified sections of the compounds that can be altered without discernably changing their activity. This is useful because it could allow chemists to use those points to attach the compounds to a delivery agent such as an antibody that would target them to cancer cells, without impairing their cancer-killing ability.

Complex synthesis

Now that they have some initial data, the researchers can use their findings to design additional compounds that might be even more effective. "We can go in with far greater precision and test the hypotheses we're developing in terms of what portions of the molecules are most significant at retaining or enhancing biological activity," Movassaghi says.

###

The research was funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Written by: Anne Trafton, MIT News Office

---

[ | 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/2013-02/miot-ruc022713.php

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Expert: Cardinals likely to choose an 'extrovert'

Leading historian Michael Walsh discusses the impact of Pope Benedict XVI's resignation, his legacy and whether there's a chance the next pontiff will be a non-European.

By By Sohel Uddin, Producer, NBC News

LONDON - With Pope?Benedict XVI set to step down on Wednesday, questions are swirling over what's next for the soon-to-be ex-pontiff and who will be chosen as the next leader of the Catholic Church.

"There is a tendency of the electors in a conclave to choose somebody who is unlike the predecessor," papal historian Michael Walsh said. ?"If you are not going to elect an Italian necessarily, then I don't think there is any problem about whether he comes from Africa or from Asia or from America."

Walsh added that the cardinals would be more likely to choose an "extrovert ... who relates much more easily to the people than cardinal Ratzinger did."

A conclave, which follows the pope's?historic Feb. 11 announcement that he would be stepping down, will begin next month to choose Pope Benedict's successor is an ?anomaly since it's been centuries since a sitting pontiff resigned.

Related:

'Amateur hour': Vatican conclave drama is one for the history books, experts say

Pope says Vatileaks probe will stay secret

Britain's top Catholic cleric resigns amid allegations of inappropriate behavior

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/26/17100312-papal-historian-cardinals-likely-to-choose-an-extrovert?lite

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NASA's NuSTAR helps solve riddle of black hole spin

Feb. 27, 2013 ? Two X-ray space observatories, NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton, have teamed up to measure definitively, for the first time, the spin rate of a black hole with a mass 2 million times that of our sun.

The supermassive black hole lies at the dust- and gas-filled heart of a galaxy called NGC 1365, and it is spinning almost as fast as Einstein's theory of gravity will allow. The findings, which appear in a new study in the journal Nature, resolve a long-standing debate about similar measurements in other black holes and will lead to a better understanding of how black holes and galaxies evolve.

"This is hugely important to the field of black hole science," said Lou Kaluzienski, a NuSTAR program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The observations also are a powerful test of Einstein's theory of general relativity, which says gravity can bend space-time, the fabric that shapes our universe, and the light that travels through it.

"We can trace matter as it swirls into a black hole using X-rays emitted from regions very close to the black hole," said the coauthor of a new study, NuSTAR principal investigator Fiona Harrison of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "The radiation we see is warped and distorted by the motions of particles and the black hole's incredibly strong gravity."

NuSTAR, an Explorer-class mission launched in June 2012, is designed to detect the highest-energy X-ray light in great detail. It complements telescopes that observe lower-energy X-ray light, such as XMM-Newton and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. Scientists use these and other telescopes to estimate the rates at which black holes spin.

Until now, these measurements were not certain because clouds of gas could have been obscuring the black holes and confusing the results. With help from XMM-Newton, NuSTAR was able to see a broader range of X-ray energies and penetrate deeper into the region around the black hole. The new data demonstrate that X-rays are not being warped by the clouds, but by the tremendous gravity of the black hole. This proves that spin rates of supermassive black holes can be determined conclusively.

"If I could have added one instrument to XMM-Newton, it would have been a telescope like NuSTAR," said Norbert Schartel, XMM-Newton Project Scientist at the European Space Astronomy Center in Madrid. "The high-energy X-rays provided an essential missing puzzle piece for solving this problem."

Measuring the spin of a supermassive black hole is fundamental to understanding its past history and that of its host galaxy.

"These monsters, with masses from millions to billions of times that of the sun, are formed as small seeds in the early universe and grow by swallowing stars and gas in their host galaxies, merging with other giant black holes when galaxies collide, or both," said the study's lead author, Guido Risaliti of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., and the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics.

Supermassive black holes are surrounded by pancake-like accretion disks, formed as their gravity pulls matter inward. Einstein's theory predicts the faster a black hole spins, the closer the accretion disk lies to the black hole. The closer the accretion disk is, the more gravity from the black hole will warp X-ray light streaming off the disk.

Astronomers look for these warping effects by analyzing X-ray light emitted by iron circulating in the accretion disk. In the new study, they used both XMM-Newton and NuSTAR to simultaneously observe the black hole in NGC 1365. While XMM-Newton revealed that light from the iron was being warped, NuSTAR proved that this distortion was coming from the gravity of the black hole and not gas clouds in the vicinity. NuSTAR's higher-energy X-ray data showed that the iron was so close to the black hole that its gravity must be causing the warping effects.

With the possibility of obscuring clouds ruled out, scientists can now use the distortions in the iron signature to measure the black hole's spin rate. The findings apply to several other black holes as well, removing the uncertainty in the previously measured spin rates.

For more information on NASA's NuSTAR mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/nustar .

For more information on ESA's XMM-Newton mission, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/YUYpI6 .

The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/nasa/~3/mGV3Xds4pSo/130227132544.htm

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Seth MacFarlane says "no way" he would host Oscars again

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian Seth MacFarlane said on Tuesday that he would not host the star-studded Academy Awards ceremony again, after TV critics panned Sunday's show.

"Family Guy" creator and star MacFarlane was asked on Twitter whether he would host the Oscars a second time after making his debut in Sunday's show, and replied: "No way. Lotta fun to have done it, though."

MacFarlane's response came after TV critics slammed the telecast, in which 40.3 million Americans saw Iran hostage thriller "Argo" take home the top prize for Best Picture.

In a night of risqu? jokes about female nudity and zingers about gays and Jews, MacFarlane, 39, poked fun at himself in an opening sketch with William Shatner and the "Star Trek" star told him he was in danger of being deemed "the worst Oscar host ever."

While some critics lashed out at MacFarlane's hosting, others placed more blame on the overall song-and-dance-heavy show, produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, which ran for 3 1/2 hours.

MacFarlane's appeal among young people did though provide an 11 percent bump in the 18-49 demographic coveted by TV networks and advertisers. And overall viewer ratings were up, making for the largest Oscar audience in three years.

MacFarlane was also a hit on social media, where 13 percent of conversation across Facebook, Twitter and blogs rated him the "best host ever" according to social media research firm Fizziology.

MacFarlane, the creator and voice star of Fox network's animated shows "Family Guy," "American Dad" and "The Cleveland Show," made his directorial debut on the big screen with the R-rated comedy "Ted" last year.

He is currently working on his next project - writing and directing a live action comedy film "A Million Ways to Die in the West," starring Amanda Seyfried and Charlize Theron.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant and David Brunnstrom)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/seth-macfarlane-says-no-way-host-oscars-again-183911503.html

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Advanced breast cancer edges up in younger women

CHICAGO (AP) ? Advanced breast cancer has increased slightly among young women, a 34-year analysis suggests. The disease is still uncommon among women younger than 40, and the small change has experts scratching their heads about possible reasons.

The results are potentially worrisome because young women's tumors tend to be more aggressive than older women's, and they're much less likely to get routine screening for the disease.

Still, that doesn't explain why there'd be an increase in advanced cases and the researchers and other experts say more work is needed to find answers.

It's likely that the increase has more than one cause, said Dr. Rebecca Johnson, the study's lead author and medical director of a teen and young adult cancer program at Seattle Children's Hospital.

"The change might be due to some sort of modifiable risk factor, like a lifestyle change" or exposure to some sort of cancer-linked substance, she said.

Johnson said the results translate to about 250 advanced cases diagnosed in women younger than 40 in the mid-1970s versus more than 800 in 2009. During those years, the number of women nationwide in that age range went from about 22 million to closer to 30 million ? an increase that explains part of the study trend "but definitely not all of it," Johnson said.

Other experts said women delaying pregnancy might be a factor, partly because getting pregnant at an older age might cause an already growing tumor to spread more quickly in response to pregnancy hormones.

Obesity and having at least a drink or two daily have both been linked with breast cancer but research is inconclusive on other possible risk factors, including tobacco and chemicals in the environment. Whether any of these explains the slight increase in advanced disease in young women is unknown.

There was no increase in cancer at other stages in young women. There also was no increase in advanced disease among women older than 40.

Overall U.S. breast cancer rates have mostly fallen in more recent years, although there are signs they may have plateaued.

Some 17 years ago, Johnson was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer at age 27, and that influenced her career choice to focus on the disease in younger women.

"Young women and their doctors need to understand that it can happen in young women," and get checked if symptoms appear, said Johnson, now 44. "People shouldn't just watch and wait."

The authors reviewed a U.S. government database of cancer cases from 1976 to 2009. They found that among women aged 25 to 39, breast cancer that has spread to distant parts of the body ? advanced disease ? increased from between 1 and 2 cases per 100,000 women to about 3 cases per 100,000 during that time span.

The study was published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

About one in 8 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, but only 1 in 173 will develop it by age 40. Risks increase with age and certain gene variations can raise the odds.

Routine screening with mammograms is recommended for older women but not those younger than 40.

Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, the American Cancer Society's deputy chief medical officer, said the results support anecdotal reports but that there's no reason to start screening all younger women since breast cancer is still so uncommon for them.

He said the study "is solid and interesting and certainly does raise questions as to why this is being observed." One of the most likely reasons is probably related to changes in childbearing practices, he said, adding that the trend "is clearly something to be followed."

Dr. Ann Partridge, chair of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's advisory committee on breast cancer in young women, agreed but said it's also possible that doctors look harder for advanced disease in younger women than in older patients. More research is needed to make sure the phenomenon is real, said Partridge, director of a program for young women with breast cancer at the Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The study shouldn't cause alarm, she said. Still, Partridge said young women should be familiar with their breasts and see the doctor if they notice any lumps or other changes.

Software engineer Stephanie Carson discovered a large breast tumor that had already spread to her lungs; that diagnosis in 2003 was a huge shock.

"I was so clueless," she said. "I was just 29 and that was the last thing on my mind."

Carson, who lives near St. Louis, had a mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation and other treatments and she frequently has to try new drugs to keep the cancer at bay.

Because most breast cancer is diagnosed in early stages, there's a misconception that women are treated, and then get on with their lives, Carson said. She and her husband had to abandon hopes of having children, and she's on medical leave from her job.

"It changed the complete course of my life," she said. "But it's still a good life."

____

Online:

JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/index.htm

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/advanced-breast-cancer-edges-younger-women-213007230.html

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BlackBerry's response to Samsung's SAFE Knox for enterprise: 'We've been doing that since 1999'

With Samsung stepping on Blackberry's enterprise turf via its SAFE with Knox launch, it's not too surprising the Canadian outfit has a few choice words on the subject. We spoke with mobile computing Executive VP David J. Smith, who finds it "flattering" that Samsung is taking a similar interest in enterprise security, but said it may take awhile to catch up since his own company's been doing it "since 1999." He said that experience means "nothing is more secure" than BB10 smartphones combined with its Balance work/home app and Blackberry Enterprise Service 10 (BES). Of course, the latter now supports Android and iOS devices, but Smith added that the main problem with Samsung's approach is Android itself -- which he feels brings its own bag of insecure worms to the enterprise space.

With Samsung touting Knox's ability to separate enterprise functions from a user's "personal space," Smith pointed to the Balance app -- which has been doing that since 2011 -- claiming it's the only solution that "can effectively keep sensitive corporate information secure while keeping an individual's personal information private." In contrast, Smith said Android is still inherently "vulnerable" due to its open nature, while BB engineered its Blackberry OS kernel in-house to be secure and that aspect was "completely understood" by company engineers. He added that programmers are constantly fine-tuning those features for its own BB10 and legacy handsets, adding that it would bring new Android and iOS "containers" and other features later this year to further boost security for those devices. Naturally, the outfit's likely hoping you'll want one of its shiny new devices to swipe or click, but failing that, says that you'll be the most secure under its BES 10 umbrella, regardless of your handset.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Software, Mobile, Blackberry

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/25/blackberry-response-samsung-knox-balance/

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Swimming in Sperm and Eggs

Sea anemone in?Carrie Bow Cay, Belize, during the 2012 spawning season

Courtesy of Abby Wood

The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, a narrow band of coral stretching from the Yucatan to northern Honduras, hugs the Belizean coastline like a giant parenthesis. In a few places, the main spine of the reef rises above the surface, forming low islands exposed to the wind and waves of the open sea.

One of these islands, 13 miles offshore, houses the Smithsonian Institution?s Carrie Bow Cay Marine Field Station. When I stepped ashore one sweaty evening, the station had an air of cheerful dereliction. Researchers in bikinis and half-zipped wetsuits circled in and out of the bare-bones laboratories. A hand-lettered wooden sign near the station house entry read ?FREE BEER TOMORROW.?

The evening?s task would be delicate, however, and tension was building. It was three days after the full moon, and some of the corals near Carrie Bow were expected to begin their annual spawn once night fell. A team of aquarists and marine scientists had gathered on the island in hopes of collecting sperm and eggs released into the water by endangered coral species.

If all went well, the scientists would each return home with a supply of coral larvae ready to be raised in captivity?and, perhaps, serve as an insurance policy for the Caribbean?s fast-declining reefs. If not ? well, they were trying not to think about that possibility. When it comes to coral, they know they can?t count on much.

On the sandy back steps of the research station, Mary Hagedorn of the Smithsonian sat in front of a picnic table piled with equipment. ?OK, everyone, let?s rehearse,? she said. She turned to Abby Wood, a professional actor who volunteers in the invertebrate department at the National Zoo. ?So I?m a coral,? Hagedorn said, sticking her hands over her head and laughing. ?You?re going to slip the bag over me ??

Wood, a dark-haired 30-year-old with a big, deep voice?she played Tybalt in an all-female production of Romeo and Juliet?pantomimed what Hagedorn and the aquarists hoped would soon happen in the water.

Divers would hitch the silk bags over a few branches of spawning coral, catching the sperm and egg bundles as they floated upward and collecting them in plastic vials attached to the tops of the bags.

Underwater in Carrie Bow Cay, Belize, during the 2012 spawning season

Courtesy of Abby Wood

When the spawn petered out?spawns last only a few minutes?the divers would carefully cap the vials and hand them to a snorkeler, who would ferry them back to the research boat. Wood mugged her way through the demonstration. It was part practice, part ritual.

Coral sex is more complicated than one might imagine. Corals can reproduce asexually?that is, coral fragments can grow into clones of their parent. But corals can also reproduce through the fertilization of eggs by sperm. Sexual reproduction preserves genetic diversity, and with it a species? ability to withstand and adapt to change.

But coral sex probably doesn?t happen as much as it used to. In the Caribbean, warming water, disease, overfishing, and other problems have killed 80 percent of the region?s coral, turning many reefs into rocks and seaweed. Similar foes are killing coral in the Pacific, where the extent of living coral is thought to have shrunk by half in recent decades. These smaller, weaker, and more diffuse populations seem to be less likely to spawn?and when they do, their sperm and eggs are less likely to meet in the water.

In 2006, a group of European and U.S. aquarists, experts in aquatic plant and animal husbandry, were concerned about the ongoing declines in coral worldwide and decided to try raising sexually reproduced coral in captivity. They knew it would be a challenge: They would have to collect coral sperm and eggs in the wild during infrequent, never-quite-predictable coral spawns, fertilize the eggs in the laboratory, and, once they had young, living corals, figure out how to keep them alive through adolescence. They hoped that sexually reproduced captive coral could be used to revitalize or restore wild coral populations damaged by overfishing, climate change, or other forces.

The aquarists managed to bring some endangered staghorn coral larvae back to their aquaria, where they varied water temperatures, water chemistry, flow rates and feeding regimes, trying to find the optimal conditions for each species. ?We were basically trying to re-create the ocean in a box,? says Michael Henley, an invertebrate curator at the National Zoo.

Each year, as the techniques improved, a few more coral larvae survived and grew. The largest captive-grown staghorn coral colony, which lives at a research station in southern Florida, is now as broad as a dinner plate. In the summer of 2010, the aquarists began releasing young captive-grown corals on a reef near Cura?ao, and many are still alive?an encouraging sign for larger-scale restoration efforts.

Now, on the coast of Belize, the aquarists wanted to try their techniques with elkhorn coral, another gravely endangered coral species in the Caribbean.

Just after sunset, the crew loaded a boat with gear and set off for a half-submerged atoll near Carrie Bow with some large, healthy-looking specimens of coral. Lightning flashed in the distance, over the open sea, and the moon began to rise, huge and orange.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=43c3a69ffa75f43c03ba1762020a8043

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?R to cut public finance deficit to below 3% this year | Prague Monitor

?TK |

25 February 2013

Prague, Feb 22 (CTK) - The Finance Ministry expects to keep public finance deficit below the planned 3 percent of GDP this year on condition the economic situation in Europe does not worsen dramatically, Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek said in reaction to estimates released by the European Commission Friday.

The EC said in its new forecast it expects the Czech public finance deficit to reach 3.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year. The Finance Ministry reckons with a 2.9 percent deficit.

For the year 2012, the EC expects a public finance deficit at 5.2 percent owing to a one-off operation involving the entry of the restitution of church property on budget accounts. The restitution claims contributed 1.5 percent to the deficit.

The EC also said Friday it expects the Czech economy to stagnate this year.

"This is a forecast. Unless the economic situation in Europe worsens markedly, we will maintain the deficit below 3 percent so as we can finish the excessive deficit procedure," Kalousek said.

Kalousek does not plan to introduce any extraordinary measures in the state budget if the deficit is higher,

"Two or three tenths of percent of GDP is a task that the government can cope with in operating expenses of its ministries," he said.

The EC opened the excessive deficit procedure for the Czech Republic in 2009 when the country's budget deficit was almost double the permitted limit. The EU demands that the Czech government should cut the deficit below 3 percent of GDP by 2013.

The procedure might lead to a suspension of European subsidy payments in an extreme case.

The public finance deficit is calculated as the difference of revenues and expenditures of ministries and other government institutions, municipalities, selected state-subsidised organisations, state and other off-budget funds (Land Fund, Support and Guarantee Agricultural and Forestry Fund, Wine Fund and others), Railway Infrastructure Administration, transformation institution Prisko, PPP Centre, public universities, public research institutes, health insurance companies, associations and unions of health insurance companies, and Centre of Interstate Settlements.

CR's macroeconomic indicators:

2012 2013 2014
GDP (change in pct against previous year) - 1.1 0.0 1.9
Unemployment (in pct, Eurostat methodology) 7.0 7.6 7.3
Inflation (HICP, in pct) 3.5 2.1 1.6
Budget deficit (as pct of GDP) - 5.2 - 3.1 3.0
Debt (as pct of GDP) 45.5 48.0 49.5

Source: European Commission

Copyright 2011 by the Czech News Agency (?TK). All rights reserved.
Copying, dissemination or other publication of this article or parts thereof without the prior written consent of ?TK is expressly forbidden. The Prague Daily Monitor and Monitor CE are not responsible for its content.

Source: http://praguemonitor.com/2013/02/25/%C4%8Dr-cut-public-finance-deficit-below-3-year

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Mizuho hunting for banking assets in Asia, U.S

TOKYO (Reuters) - Mizuho Financial Group Inc , Japan's second-largest lender by assets, is looking to further expand overseas by acquiring either an Asian investment bank or a U.S. commercial bank over the next three years.

"Possible targets include an Asian investment bank, especially a bond market player," Mizuho President Yasuhiro Sato told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday. "We also have to take a fresh look at the United States, whose economy, we expect, will become very strong in next five years."

Japanese banks such as Mizuho are leveraging their ample cash holdings to expand overseas to counter sluggish demand for loans at home. The retreat of European rivals in the wake of the debt crisis in the euro zone has also spurred lenders such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc to pick up assets around the world.

Mizuho is also looking to streamline its overall operations and cut costs by merging its international and corporate banking unit, Mizuho Corporate Bank, with its retail and small and medium enterprises unit Mizuho Bank in July.

It has said the merger and other group reorganization will cut costs by 30 billion yen ($319.83 million) and boost revenue by 60 billion yen over a three-year period.

Mizuho was created in 2000 by a merger of three banks, and its structure as a holding company with two core banking units has long been criticized as an inefficient way of splitting management duties among the three lenders.

Sato, who became CEO of Mizuho Financial in 2011, has been working to make the banking group more nimble and more cost-efficient in the face of tepid loan demand at home.

Sato said domestic lending is likely to remain flat or grow slightly over the next three years, while overseas loans are expected to increase.

Citing huge overseas bad loan problems suffered by Japanese banks in the past, Sato said his bank will stick to lending to blue chip firms abroad, even though loan interest margins tend to be thin for such borrowers.

He said Mizuho is trying to secure fatter profits by winning bond and share issuance and other investment banking business from these clients.

In its business plan for the three years starting in April announced on Tuesday, Mizuho said it aims to report a net profit of 550 billion yen for the year ending in March 2016. That's up 10 percent from the 500 billion yen forecast for the current financial year.

($1 = 93.8000 Japanese yen)

(Editing by Ryan Woo)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mizuho-hunting-banking-assets-asia-u-091050388--finance.html

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NVIDIA GTX Titan review roundup: the fastest single-GPU card ever tested

Looking to cut to the chase? Those yearning for the fastest single-GPU powered graphics card ever tested need look no further... for the moment, anyway. NVIDIA's beastly GTX Titan has been making the rounds on test benches across the world, and while demo titles and stress factors varied somewhat, the overall conclusion seems pretty unanimous. The folks at Hot Hardware proclaimed: "In every benchmark or game we threw at it, regardless of resolution, the GeForce GTX Titan clearly outpaced the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition and the GeForce GTX 680, sometimes by margins over 50 percent." Meanwhile, the crew at AnandTech stated: "It's simply in a league of its own right now, reaching levels of performance no other single-GPU card can touch." Oh, and it can totally play Crysis 3. For those needing any additional convincing, you'll find a plethora of links below; in other news, you still need a grand to buy one. Huzzah!

Filed under: Peripherals, NVIDIA

Comments

Source: Hot Hardware, AnandTech, PC Gamer

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/25/nvidia-gtx-titan-review-roundup-fastest-single-gpu-ever/

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Academy Awards (Oscars) 2013 Live Blog (Photos)

Academy Awards (Oscars) 2013 Live Blog (Photos)

It’s finally Hollywood’s big night! The 2013 Oscars aka the 85th Academy Awards show! The show was hosted by “Family Guy” creator, Seth MacFarlane, which is sure to be entertaining. MacFarlane opened the show by saying of his hosting gig, “It’s an honor that everyone else said no”. The opening monologue featured Captain Kirk, William ...

Academy Awards (Oscars) 2013 Live Blog (Photos) Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/02/academy-awards-oscars-2013-live-blog-photos/

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Pierce lifts road-weary Celtics over Jazz in OT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) ? The Boston Celtics weren't too tired after playing five games in seven days back and forth across time zones.

They had enough left to play overtime to close out a long Western road trip, beating the Utah Jazz 110-107 on Monday night.

Thirty-five-year-old Paul Pierce led Boston with 26 points, including seven straight in the extra session.

"It was huge," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "Whatever that was, it was the best win of the year for me. . To go into overtime and still have enough to win."

It wasn't just the ageless Pierce. Kevin Garnett, three months shy of his 37th birthday, stood strong at the end, refusing to let Rivers sub him out by insisting, "I am good."

Rivers didn't believe that, "but I kept him in and he was terrific."

Garnett had four points in overtime on 2-of-2 shooting, with three rebounds. He finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds, a blocked shot and steal.

The Celtics also got a big game from Avery Bradley, who scored a season-high 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting.

Pierce had a chance to win it in regulation, but his 19-footer at the buzzer rimmed out.

Alec Burks' reverse layup pulled Utah to 108-105 with 37 seconds left in overtime. Garnett's banked 3-pointer with 13 seconds left came after the shot clock expired, giving the Jazz another chance.

Paul Millsap was fouled before he could get off a 3, but made two free throws with 4.2 seconds remaining.

Courtney Lee added two free throws at the other end with 1.2 seconds left to bump Boston's lead back to three, and Randy Foye's 26-footer at the buzzer missed everything.

It was another one the Jazz let get away, though Monday's game had huge swings both ways from start to finish.

Overall, the game had 13 lead changes and was tied 17 times.

"We were in position," said Jazz forward Marvin Williams. "We fought back in the fourth quarter to force overtime but Boston just made big plays down the stretch."

Gordon Hayward led Utah with 26 points, Millsap had 16 and Al Jefferson finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

The Celtics (30-27) were playing their fifth game in seven days, but didn't seem to care down the stretch.

The Jazz (31-26) led 101-99 in overtime on DeMarre Carroll's 21-footer, but Pierce countered with a 3-pointer, then followed with a pull-up jumper over Carroll and a 15-footer to give the Celtics a 106-101 edge with 1:12 left.

Jefferson hit a 15-footer with 1:05 left to get Utah within 106-103, but Garnett's jumper helped seal it.

"We knew this was probably going to be the toughest game for us physically and mentally," Pierce said. "Talking about a long road trip, coming in to one of the toughest places to play. We felt we could salvage this trip with a win here. So guys did a good job of just being mentally tough, digging in and doing what we had to do to get the win."

The Celtics, who went 2-3 on the trip, also were smart down the stretch, fouling with fouls to give and finding a wide-open Lee on the inbounds pass when the Jazz needed a late steal in overtime. His free throws provided the final margin.

The Jazz trailed by eight entering the fourth but opened on a 13-2 run.

Jefferson's 10-foot turnaround jumper over Brandon Bass tied it at 93 with 2:46 left in regulation.

Pierce hit an 18-footer with Carroll diving at him for a 97-95 Boston lead with 36 seconds remaining in regulation, only to see Burks tie it with a tough layup with 19 seconds left.

"We wanted to win in regulation," Pierce said. "It would have felt better just to get a stop when we needed it. That's what we need to get better at. We didn't do it in Portland. We didn't do it tonight. That's what we need to start focusing on. When we get the lead and we need crucial stops, we have to figure out how to get them."

The game took a 16-point swing in the third, as Boston trailed 58-50 only to counter with a 20-4 run and lead 80-72 entering the fourth.

Pierce ignited the run with a 3-pointer, Bradley hit two more 3s and Lee added a dunk after a steal and another 3-pointer. Pierce capped the run with a jumper over Hayward for a 70-62 Boston lead.

The Celtics hit 6 of 13 3-pointers in the 32-point third quarter, while Utah made just 5 of 16 from the field.

It was the same story as Saturday, when the Jazz fought back early only to see the Los Angeles Clippers go on a 23-4 run and douse any hopes.

A Jazz team that had won three straight and seven of 10 has now dropped two in a row.

While Hayward showed he is recovered from a right shoulder injury despite missing a pair of shots in overtime, the Jazz still need point guard Mo Williams back from a thumb injury.

Monday, Earl Watson started over Jamaal Tinsley, but Burks ended up playing the position during Utah's big second-quarter run.

Pierce said Boston reverted to various defenses to slow the Jazz.

"We did a lot of zone, did a lot of man and tried to force turnovers," Pierce said. "That's what we have to do. A lot of times we had to go to small because they had plenty of size and they rebound well. We just junked up the game a little bit by changing our defense."

It may have been junk, but it was a win nonetheless.

"We have champions," said guard Jason Terry, who made four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points and two assists off the bench for Boston.

"When you have champions that have been through so many tough games as we have, then you know you're in good hands. For us, we hang our hat on executing down the stretch."

NOTES; Jazz F Derrick Favors picked up his third foul with 9:06 left in the second quarter. . Jazz G Foye needed four 3-pointers to tie Mehmet Okur (129, 2006-07) for the franchise single-season record. Foye went 0-5 Saturday but hit his first Monday and finished 2 of 6. . Bradley started 5 of 5 and had 10 points in six minutes for Boston, while Millsap started 4 of 4 for Utah. . The Jazz led 53-48 at halftime.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-02-26-Celtics-Jazz/id-4b9bd71341154dd2931541011ec2b2f2

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Israel says it successfully tests new missile defense

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel carried out a successful test of its upgraded Arrow interceptor system on Monday, which is designed to destroy in space the kind of missiles held by Syria and Iran, the Israeli Defense Ministry said.

The U.S.-backed Arrow III system deploys "kamikaze" satellites that target ballistic missiles above the earth's atmosphere, hitting them high enough to allow for any non-conventional warheads to disintegrate safely.

Monday's test was the first live flight for the Arrow III, but did not involve the interception of any target.

"The test examined for the first time the capabilities and the performance of the new Arrow III, considered to be the most innovative and revolutionary interceptor in the world," the Defense Ministry said.

A ministry official said the test, which was conducted from a site along Israel's Mediterranean coast and lasted six and a half minutes, was "100 percent successful".

Designers say the system has proved a success in up to 90 percent of previous tests.

"The success of the test is an important milestone in the operational capabilities of the state of Israel to be able to defend itself against threats in the region," the ministry statement added.

But the ministry official said the timing of the test, which took months to prepare, was not related to current tensions with Iran or Syria. He said Israel plans another flight test followed by a simulated interception in space over the Mediterranean.

U.S. BACKING

Arrow is the long-range segment in Israel's three-tier missile shield. This also includes the successfully deployed "Iron Dome", which targets short-range rockets and projectiles, and the mid-range "David's Sling", still under development. They can be deployed alongside other U.S. systems.

Officials say that if Arrow failed to hit an incoming missile at high altitude, there would still be time to destroy it with other systems before it hit its intended target.

The Pentagon and the U.S. firm Boeing are partners in Arrow. Washington has described its support for Israeli missile interceptors as a means of reassuring Israel, which in the past has launched preventative wars against perceived threats, that it has a more passive means of defending itself.

Israel has accused Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons and has hinted it might strike the Islamic Republic in an effort to halt its atomic program.

Boeing thinks that potential clients for the system may include India, Singapore and South Korea.

"As we prove out that technology, and show that it's not only affordable but effective, we think there will be additional global market opportunities for that capability," Dennis Muilenburg, chief executive of Boeing's defense, space and security arm, told Reuters last year.

The United States and Israel have been developing Arrow jointly since 1988. Boeing's counterpart on the project is state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries.

The U.S. financial contribution to progressively improved versions of the Arrow system tops $1 billion, the Congressional Research Service said in a March 2012 report to lawmakers.

(Reporting by Dan Williams; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-carries-arrow-missile-interceptor-test-official-064443952.html

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Tribal fighting in Darfur leaves 60 dead

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) ? Renewed fighting between two Arab tribes over mining rights has left 60 people dead in the northern Darfur region, Sudan's state news agency said Sunday.

The state news agency said fighting on Saturday was the worst since a cease-fire agreement was reached last month. The agency said fighting began when a group of armed tribesmen in vehicles and riding camels attacked the El-Sireaf area in North Darfur.

Sudan's western region of Darfur has been afflicted by violence since 2003, when rebels took up arms against the central government in Khartoum. Fighting also periodically erupts between tribes in the area.

According to the United Nations, more than 100 people have been killed and other 70,000 displaced from their homes because of recent tribal warfare in Darfur. The United Nation-African Union Mission in Darfur said in a report issued last month that the deaths and displacement resulted from clashes between the Abbala and Beni Hussein tribes in Jabel Amir, the site of gold mines in North Darfur state.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tribal-fighting-darfur-leaves-60-dead-121235951.html

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NVIDIA Tegra 4 benchmarked, breaks all sorts of speed records (video)

When NVIDIA unveiled Tegra 4 back at CES, we scrambled to get hands-on with a reference device. And though our initial performance impressions were positive -- it runs 1080p video and games smoothly -- there was only so much we could say to illustrate how fast the performance is. After all, Tegra 3 already does a fine job handling games and full HD movies. What we really needed were benchmarks, some quantitative data to help show the difference between Tegra 4 devices and whatever's currently on the market. Fortunately for all of you, we just got our chance: here at Mobile World Congress, the company has reference tablets set up expressly for the purpose of running tests. So, we did just that... over and over and over until we had a long list of scores. Meet us after the break to see how it fared.

Filed under: Tablets, Mobile, NVIDIA

Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/24/nvidia-tegra-4-benchmarked/

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Study: Clean-energy investments a plus for NC

Thinkstock.com

A new report says increased use of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency should save N.C. utility customers money over the next 13 years.

State and local incentives totaling $72 million have attracted $1.4 billion worth of renewable-energy and energy-efficiency investment in North Carolina, according to a study commissioned by the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association.

The study performed by LaCapra Associates of Boston and RTI International of the Research Triangle Park measured the impact of renewable-energy programs in the state from 2007 to 2012.

And the report says renewable sources and energy conservation have not cost customers additional money, despite the surcharges placed on customer bills for those items. The study contends the costs to customers in 2012 were marginally less than what customers would have paid without renewables and energy conservation in the mix.

The study estimates that by 2026 the currently mandated use of renewables and conservation in North Carolina will save customers $173 million in costs for generating electricity. Rates will be 0.6% to 1.3% lower by 2026 because of renewables and conservation than they would be using only conventional energy sources, the report predicts.

The report estimates that the use of clean-energy technologies have created the equivalent of more than 21,000 jobs in the state since 2007 through direct and indirect economic impacts.

The report says the clean-energy industry is growing in the state. But it faces threats, including moves in the N.C. General Assembly that could eliminate a 35% tax credit for renewable-energy projects and alter or eliminate state mandates that will require utilities to get 12.5% of the power they sell from renewable sources by 2021.

John Downey covers the energy industry and public companies for the Charlotte Business Journal.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bizj_charlotte/~3/V84fr0sYczA/study-clean-energy-investments-a-plus.html

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Mophie Juice Pack Helium

Apple's Lightning connector certification process has been painfully slow, which has held up popular accessories like battery cases from hitting the market. Mophie is one of the first companies out of the gate with an iPhone 5 battery case?the Juice Pack Helium ($79.95 direct). The Helium won't quite double your iPhone 5's battery life, like many of the battery cases made for iPhone 4/4S, but it is sleek and lightweight, nicely complementing the svelte iPhone 5. If you're an iPhone 5 user who's scrambling for an outlet by midday, it's definitely worth the investment.

Design and Features
The Juice Pack Helium draws from the design aesthetics of Juice Packs past, which is a good thing, as Mophie's products have been of high quality. The case is available in silver or dark metallic, and is made from a sturdy plastic coated in a pleasantly grippy soft touch material. The Helium is the thinnest and lightest Juice Pack, at 0.59 inch thick and 2.4 ounces, but the case itself is a bit long at 5.49 inches?that's taller than gargantuan 5.4-inch Samsung Galaxy S III, and if you have pants with shallow pockets that could prove a bit problematic. There are cutouts for the camera lens, the Power and Volume buttons, and the headphone jack. The latter is deeply recessed, but Mophie includes a long and skinny 3.5mm extender that you can attach to your favorite headphone pair. The Power button is also a bit too recessed, but it's only a minor inconvenience. On the inside of the case, there are small silicone bumps that help keep the iPhone 5's scratch-prone aluminum back safe.

The case has two parts: The bottom section houses the Lightning connector on the inside and a micro USB port on the outside for charging, while the top portion houses the actual battery pack. The two pieces securely snap together, and installation is as easy as sliding an iPhone 5 into the top section and snapping the bottom on. I like Mophie's choice to use a micro USB port for charging and syncing, as micro USB cables are plentiful and affordable, while Lightning cables are expensive and currently only available through Apple. This design is head and shoulders above the Unu Ecopak, which is really just an iPhone 5 case with a detachable battery pack. There's no Lightning connector built into the Ecopak, so you have to carry your own cable with you.

On the back of the bottom half of the Juice Pack Helium are four status LEDs along with an Indicator button that enables them, and a standby switch for activating the flow of juice. Plugging in a micro USB cable allows pass-through charging of both the iPhone 5 and Helium case, but you'll need to sync your iPhone using Wi-Fi instead.

Performance and Conclusions
Mophie chose a smaller 1500mAh battery for the Helium, compared with the 2000mAh battery found in the Juice Pack Plus?for the iPhone 4/4S. It makes for a slimmer case, but it doesn't add quite as much extra power. Mophie claims the Helium should add about 80 percent battery life to the iPhone 5, or 6 hours of talk time. In our tests, making a continuous call with LTE enabled with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off, the Juice Pack Helium added 6 hours, 20 minutes of talk time to our dead iPhone 5. (The iPhone 5 alone lasted 8 hours, 40 minutes on the same test.)

The Unu Ecopak features a beefier 2500mAh battery, but only added 7 hours of battery life. The Helium also outputs at 1 amp, opposed to the 0.5-amp output of older Juice Packs, so it'll charge your phone faster. In my tests, I found that the Helium fully charged the iPhone 5 in about two hours, which is on par with Apple's standard wall adapter. ?

The Juice Pack Helium is one of the first iPhone 5 battery cases available, and it sets the bar high. In our tests, it extended the iPhone's battery by more than 6 hours, boosting the overall battery life to 15 hours total?plenty to get most heavy users through the day. And it's not terribly bulky like many other battery cases. Right now, your only other option is the Unu Ecopak, which is a case with an attachable battery that requires you to add your own Lightning cable. We'll test more iPhone 5 battery cases as they become available, but for now, the Mophie Juice Pack Helium is your best bet.

More Cases & Carrying Gear Reviews:
??? Mophie Juice Pack Helium
??? Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard mini
??? Belkin Portable Keyboard Case for iPad mini
??? Unu Ecopak Detachable iPhone 5 Battery Case
??? Kubxlab Ampjacket (for iPhone 5)
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/rFNkcGK6rX4/0,2817,2415394,00.asp

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