Thursday, February 28, 2013

Pundits Are Terrible: 5 False Assumptions They Make All the Time (Atlantic Politics Channel)

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After 2 days of big gains, stocks turn mixed

NEW YORK (AP) ? The stock market on Thursday plodded rather than soared, flicking between small ups and downs after two days of triple-digit gains.

Big-name companies reported higher quarterly earnings, and the government reported that the jobless claims are falling and that the economy did better last year than first expected. But Washington's budget battle cast a pall over the market, with spending cuts set to automatically kick in Friday and no sign that the two political parties might work out their differences beforehand.

The Dow Jones industrial average darted between small gains and losses in early trading. At mid-morning, it was down three to 14,072. That tamped down some of the buzz from the last two days about when it might top its record high. The Dow hit its highest point, 14,164.53, in October 2007, before the effects of the financial crisis had manifested themselves.

Also at midmorning, the Standard & Poor's 500 was up two at 1,518. The Nasdaq composite edged up five to 3,167.

The economic data, while enough to edge the market higher for parts of the morning, painted a picture of investors' low expectations more than one of robust growth.

The government said the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the last three months of 2012. That's hardly ideal, but it's better than the previous estimate. Originally, the government thought the economy had shrunk 0.1 percent in the period.

The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid also fell last week, which economists described as mildly encouraging.

"We still have work to do, still a lot of headwinds to face," said Steve Sachs, head of capital markets at ProShares in Bethesda, Md. "But long story short, we're in a better position now than we were three years ago."

The past two days have been good for the stock market. The Dow gained a combined 291 points after reports showed that Americans are more confident and are buying more homes. Investors were also relieved by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's avowal that the Fed will keep trying to prop up the economy with bond purchases and other programs, although that also does signify that the Fed thinks the economy is doing poorly.

In Washington, lawmakers were preparing for another fiscal cliff. Automatic government budget cuts are set to take effect Friday, slashing spending in the defense industry and elsewhere. The cuts are happening because Democrats and Republicans haven't been able to compromise over the budget, and Thursday gave no indication that they will do so any time soon. Congressional leaders weren't scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama on the matter until Friday, after the cuts have already kicked in.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note edged down to 1.89 percent from 1.90 percent late Wednesday.

Among companies making big moves:

?Groupon, the coupons website, plunged 21 percent after reporting late Wednesday that its quarterly loss had expanded. The stock fell $1.26 to $4.72.

?J.C. Penney fell 19 percent. Investors were unnerved by the quarterly loss the department store reported late Wednesday, which was larger than they were expecting. The stock dropped $4.10 to $17.06.

?A number of retailers and restaurants reported results Thursday morning. Wendy's, Domino's and the clothing chain Chico's were all up after reporting higher profit and revenue.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/2-days-big-gains-stocks-turn-mixed-151657432--finance.html

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Christian Slater Announces Engagement To Brittany Lopez (VIDEO)

Christian Slater Announces Engagement To Brittany Lopez (VIDEO)

Actor Christian Slater appears on Jimmy Fallon showChristian Slater announced he is set to get married again to his longtime girlfriend Brittany Lopez during his appearance on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” on Wednesday. The actor confirmed the news and Christian described how he met his fiance in Florida in a very interesting way. Slater explained to Jimmy Fallon, “I went down ...

Christian Slater Announces Engagement To Brittany Lopez (VIDEO) Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/02/christian-slater-announces-engagement-to-brittany-lopez-video/

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Despite Yahoo ban, telecommuting may be the future

After the leak of an internal memo telling Yahoo employees they will no longer be allowed to work from home, CEO Marissa Mayer is receiving intense criticism, particularly from fellow working mothers. NBC's Kristen Dahlgren reports.

By John W. Schoen, NBC News

Maybe Yahoo should have done its homework before banning work-at-home.

For millions of American companies large and small, telecommuting has become a critical force in boosting worker productivity and growing profits in the information age.

Take the case of Dallas-based Ryan, LLC, the seventh largest corporate tax services firm in the U.S., with more than 900 employees in 45 locations in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. In August 2008, the company realized it had a problem. Voluntary turnover was roughly 20 percent. Some employees who quit said the long hours at the office left them little time for a personal life.

?We had a policy that required people to be physically present,? said Delta Emerson, the company?s chief of staff. ?If you were not seen, you were questioned as to whether or not you were working.?

The solution: a flexible work schedule that allowed employees to work remotely and set their own hours. Though the transition had its bumps, the results were surprising.

Not only did the work all get done, the company became even more productive. Revenues went up. Client satisfaction went up. And turnover went down.

Emerson said the lesson was that there?s more to productivity than just showing up at the office. Ryan workers know that their job performance is now being measured on how much work they get done, not how reliably they show up at the office, she said.

?Everyone knows what they have to do to cut it,? said Emerson. ?But people treasure this flexibility to the point that they will give their all to continue to work in an environment that allows that.?

By focusing more on measuring how well employees are doing their job, and worrying less about where the work gets done, companies with flexible work policies are seeing productivity go up, according to human resources experts.

That may be one more?reason American companies are adopting flexible work policies. As of last year, nearly two-thirds of employers offered flexible work rules to at least some of their employees ? up from about a third in 2005, according to a national study by the Society for Human Resource Management.

?We don?t see this trend going away,? said Michael Aitken, SHRM?s vice president of government affairs. "This is the way that work will get done in the future. I spend a great deal of time and energy in educating our members about the value that it offers.?

But old perceptions about the distractions of the home office persist. In her now?widely-read memo?explaining why Yahoo now forbids its employees to work from home, CEO Marissa Mayer explained that ?speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home.?

The vast majority of companies who support flexible work practices, however, disagree. Employees?who take advantage of telecommuting and other flexible policies often are more productive than if they worked only at the office, according to SHRM research. Some 97 percent of human resources managers at companies with those policies said that productivity is ?the same or better? than with office-only work rules.

By skipping the travel time required to get to the office, telecommuting boosts the number of productive hours each employee can devote to work. In a 2010 study, American Consumer Institute economists Joseph Fuhr and Stephen Pociask calculated that roughly 1.7 trillion minutes are spent commuting every year ? at a cost in lost work time and transportation expenses of roughly 7.2 percent of U.S. gross domestic product.

The economic benefits of expanding telecommuting could be huge. The authors estimate that, over 10 years, a 10 percent increase in telecommuting hours would save nearly $100 billion in lost time and expense.

We would all also breathe a little easier.?Fuhr and Pociask calculated that by saving 4.4 billion gallons of gasoline, along with the energy savings from reduced office space, a 10 percent increase in hours worked form home over the next decade would reduce greenhouse gas emission by more than half a billion tons of carbon dioxide.

To be sure, not all occupations are well-suited to telecommuting. Waiters and barge pilots aren?t ever going to be very productive working from a home office. But as more occupations become tied to a computer screen for much of the day, it matters less where that screen is situated.

As many home office workers can attest, some work is better performed in a group setting ? especially dull, menial tasks where the urge to goof-off and ready distractions are ever present.

That was also the conclusion of a 2012 study by economist Glenn Dutcher at the University of?Innsbruck, who found that while telecommuting ?has a positive impact on productivity of creative tasks? it has a ?negative impact on productivity of dull tasks.? So if your job involves a lot of copying and collating, you?ll probably get more done chatting with co-workers while?visiting the water cooler in the copy room.

Mayer also cited those kind of chance encounters in defense of her ?everyone back to the office? mandate.

?Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings,? she wrote.

From TODAY:?KLG sticks up for Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer

But for every serendipitous encounter that sparks the creation of a winning new product, there are many hours wasted sitting in someone else?s unproductive meeting or listening to a cube neighbor justify their picks in the Oscars pool, said Aitken.

?(Telecommuting) allows for less interruption at the office,? he said. ?No people swinging by and wanting to talk about what happened over the weekend.?

And while detractors argue that a home office present too many productivity-killing distractions, workers who telecommute are better able to juggle their work and home lives. That helps reduce absenteeism.

?I may want to go to a doctor?s appointment or pick up the dry cleaning or go to my son or daughter?s school play,? said Aitken. ?Telecommuting allows that worker the peace of mind to be able to do the things they may need to do for their life side and still meet their work obligations.?

Supporters of flexible work policies say the key to making the transition work is the development of better ways to measure how well their employees are doing. Being the first in the parking lot in the morning and the last to leave at night usually has little to do with how much actual work gets done in between.

?We used to measure people based on hours worked, and the person who worked the most hours was like a hero,? said Emerson. ?There was frequently no tie-in related to what else they had done. So people who put in the hours could get away with a lot. Now, we don?t even pay attention to hours anymore. We?re looking at results.?

Related story:

Hey Marissa! Working from home is alive and well

Source: http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2013/02/27/17120028-working-from-home-the-way-work-will-get-done-in-the-future?lite

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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Costs Of Private Jet Hire | Jet Charter Spain

If you sick of the hassles involved with delays, cancellations and diversions of aircrafts, then you can just add more money and opt for a private jet hire. However, this is not equal to the charges of a regular aircraft, but still the money will be well worth it as this is a very good option for those who are looking for smooth traveling along with time flexibility and luxury. There has been a surge in various private jet operators in the past decade in the domestic aviation industry. Since then, the industry has played it safe by providing great deals and offers to frequent travelers and jetsetters. You might be surprised to see that the prices of jets now are much lesser than those ten years back.

Source: http://www.spainjetcharter.com/2013/02/costs-of-private-jet-hire/

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Infrared digital holography allows firefighters to see through flames, image moving people

Feb. 26, 2013 ? Firefighters put their lives on the line in some of the most dangerous conditions on Earth. One of their greatest challenges, however, is seeing through thick veils of smoke and walls of flame to find people in need of rescue. A team of Italian researchers has developed a new imaging technique that uses infrared (IR) digital holography to peer through chaotic conflagrations and capture potentially lifesaving and otherwise hidden details.

The team describes its breakthrough results and their applications in a paper published February 26 in the Optical Society's (OSA) open-access journal Optics Express.

Firefighters can see through smoke using current IR camera technology. However, such instruments are blinded by the intense infrared radiation emitted by flames, which overwhelm the sensitive detectors and limit their use in the field. By employing a specialized lens-free technique, the researchers have created a system that is able to cope with the flood of radiation from an environment filled with flames as well as smoke.

"IR cameras cannot 'see' objects or humans behind flames because of the need for a zoom lens that concentrates the rays on the sensor to form the image," says Pietro Ferraro of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) Istituto Nazionale di Ottica in Italy. By eliminating the need for the zoom lens, the new technique avoids this drawback.

"It became clear to us that we had in our hands a technology that could be exploited by emergency responders and firefighters at a fire scene to see through smoke without being blinded by flames, a limitation of existing technology," Ferraro says. "Perhaps most importantly, we demonstrated for the first time that a holographic recording of a live person can be achieved even while the body is moving."

Holography is a means of producing a 3-D image of an object. To create a hologram, such as those typically seen on credit cards, a laser beam is split into two (an object beam and a reference beam). The object beam is shone onto the object being imaged. When the reflected object beam and the reference beam are recombined, they create an interference pattern that encodes the 3-D image.

In the researchers' new imaging system, a beam of infrared laser light is widely dispersed throughout a room. Unlike visible light, which cannot penetrate thick smoke and flames, the IR rays pass through largely unhindered. The IR light does, however, reflect off of any objects or people in the room, and the information carried by this reflected light is recorded by a holographic imager. It is then decoded to reveal the objects beyond the smoke and flames. The result is a live, 3-D movie of the room and its contents.

The next step in moving this technology to the field is to develop a portable tripod-based system that houses both the laser source and the IR camera. The systems may also be suitable for fixed installation inside buildings or tunnels. In addition, the team is exploring other applications, most notably in the biomedical field for non-destructive testing of large aerospace composite structures.

"Besides life-saving applications in fire and rescue, the potential to record dynamic scenes of a human body could have a variety of other biomedical uses including studying or monitoring breathing, cardiac beat detection and analysis, or measurement of body deformation due to various stresses during exercise," Ferraro says. "We are excited to further develop this technology and realize its application for saving and improving human life."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Optical Society of America.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. M. Locatelli, E. Pugliese, M. Paturzo, V. Bianco, A. Finizio, A. Pelagotti, P. Poggi, L. Miccio, R. Meucci, P. Ferraro. Imaging live humans through smoke and flames using far-infrared digital holography. Optics Express, 2013; 21 (5): 5379 DOI: 10.1364/OE.21.005379

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/bXDcFd2sAks/130226101454.htm

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Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop dies | MyFOX8.com ...

Posted on: 5:11 pm, February 25, 2013, by Ali Scotti, updated on: 05:38pm, February 25, 2013

Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop

Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop

(CNN) ? Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop has died, Dartmouth College said Monday. He was 96.

Koop served as surgeon general from 1982 to 1989, under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

He was outspoken on public health issues and did much to elevate the office of the surgeon general.

He died peacefully at his home in Hanover, New Hampshire, Dartmouth said in a news release.

?Dr. Koop did more than take care of his individual patients ? he taught all of us about critical health issues that affect our larger society,? said Dartmouth President Carol L. Folt. ?Through that knowledge, he empowered each of us to improve our own well-being and quality of life. Dr. Koop?s commitment to education allowed him to do something most physicians can only dream of: improving the health of millions of people worldwide.?

Koop is perhaps best known for his work around AIDS. He wrote a brochure about the disease that was sent to 107 million households in the United States in 1988. It was the largest public health mailing ever, according to a biography of Koop on a website of the surgeon general.

Prior to his appointment, Koop was surgeon-in-chief at the Children?s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he was a pioneer in the field of pediatric surgery, the biography said.

He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and attended Dartmouth College, Weill Cornell Medical College and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Koop is survived by his wife, three children and eight grandchildren.

Source: CNN

Source: http://myfox8.com/2013/02/25/former-surgeon-general-c-everett-koop-dies/

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Networking In Canberra ? Business for Chicks | HerCanberra

As a much younger woman, working in an industry which was primarily male dominated, I found business mixers and networking events to be an interesting experience? I often dreaded heading off to business events on my own.

These days, as a business owner in a tech field I also find it?not entirely difficult?but challenging to connect with women. ?I know a lot of techs, mostly male, and these connections are great, but being able to connect with other women who work or own their own business is sometimes a nice change of pace.

Enter Business Chicks networking events. ?Business Chicks is a community for women whose goal is to be the tool in your career that you?d never consider putting down. ?What attracted me to Business Chicks initially wasn?t the name ? it was the fact that they actually run events in Canberra!

Networking at a Business Chicks Event

BUSINESS NETWORKING WITH A TWIST

Business Chicks introduced their ?Networking Evenings? to Canberra in October 2012 and I?ve now attended two. ?At a Business Chicks networking event, ?women can network with other women (and men) but these events have a few really unique twists:

You don?t hand your business card to everyone you meet

The Business Chick team encourage you to share your passions, things that drive you and not just ?business? stuff with the people you meet and only exchange business cards if you find common ground.

Don?t ask ?what do you do?

Find out about the person behind the business card.

Speed Networking

You get six minutes to talk to a new person and then move on. ?Six minutes may not seem very long ? but it?s long enough to work out if you would like to connect further with this person ? that?s when you exchange business cards.

Mystery Connection

When you sign in for the evening, you get someone?s name. ?Your mission is to find that person during the evening and connect with them.

BUSINESS CHICKS? NETWORKING ROCKS

The idea of not having to juggle business cards and actually think about a different approach in your introduction, makes a big difference.

I also take my 16 year old daughter, who is also my office admin, along. ?I believe that the experience she receives from meeting new people and talking about her passions, interests and what not is a great way for her to develop her skills.

UPCOMING BUSINESS CHICKS BREAKFAST

Business Chicks also present breakfast events with some very high profile and inspirational women?coming up on?Wednesday 27 March is 2005 Australian of the Year Professor Fiona Wood.

Best known for leading a courageous team to save victims of the Bali bombings and revolutionising the treatment for burns victims through her invention of spray on skin cells, Fiona believes??that any individual, regardless of their education or background, can make a significant difference. She?is an exponent of the mantra anything is possible and that every one of us has a crucial role in ?lifting the bar? through the support and celebration of each other.

She?s gutsy, brave and the type of woman who if you tell her something?s unachievable she?ll not only rise to the challenge but also accomplish it ten times over! A mother of six (yup!), Fiona is nothing short of phenomenal and is sure to be an amazing speaker.

You can find out more about the Business Chicks Breakfast and buy tickets at the Business Chicks website.

WIN A TICKET TO SEE PROFESSOR FIONA WOOD!

Thanks to Business Chicks, we have five tickets to the 27 March breakfast event to give away (each ticket is valued at $129).

Just leave a comment below telling us what you find most challenging about networking. Entries close 5pm Friday 1 March 2013.

NB: Please note that by entering, you are giving us permission to forward your email address to Business Chicks for inclusion on their email subscription list.

Source: http://www.hercanberra.com.au/index.php/2013/02/26/networking-in-canberra-business-for-chicks/

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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Twitter Windows Phone update brings it 'in line with other Twitter apps'

Image

Twitter has finally given some love to its Windows Phone app, a change the company promises will put it "in line with other Twitter apps." On the docket are changes to the UI and a slew of new features. The app now offers tabs for Home, Connect, Discover and Me, making it easier to keep up with your feed and mentions around the Twittersphere. Also new are Tweet and Search icons, which let you perform those activities from anywhere in the app. And those who hate going to the trouble of opening the app the old fashioned way can pin searches and lists to their phone's start screen now, thanks to a new Live Tile update. For more info on the changes, click the source link below.

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Comments

Source: Twitter

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/26/twitter-windows-phone/

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Oscars James Bond Tribute: Who Is Shirley Bassey?

Famed 007 singer honors franchise's musical tradition during Sunday's (February 24) ceremony.
By Kevin P. Sullivan


Shirley Bassey performs at the 2013 Oscars
Photo: Mark Davis/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702513/shirley-bassey-james-bond-oscars-tribute.jhtml

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Extremely high estrogen levels may underlie complications of single-birth IVF pregnancies

Feb. 25, 2013 ? Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have identified what may be a major factor behind the increased risk of two adverse outcomes in pregnancies conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF). Two papers published in the journal Fertility and Sterility support the hypothesis that extremely high estrogen levels at the time of embryo transfer increase the risk that infants will be born small for their gestational age and the risk of preeclampsia, a dangerous condition that can threaten the lives of both mother and child. They also outline a protocol that reduced those risks in a small group of patients.

Both papers addressed IVF pregnancies resulting in a single live birth, not multiple-birth pregnancies which continue to be the most significant risk factor of any assisted reproduction technology. But even single-birth IVF pregnancies are more likely than unassisted single-birth pregnancies to result in premature delivery, low birth weight and other serious complications. In the January 2013 issue of the journal, the investigators at the MGH's Vincent Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology report that freezing embryos of women who had excessively elevated estrogen at the time of egg retrieval, followed by embryo transfer in a later reproductive cycle when hormonal levels were closer to those of a natural cycle, significantly reduced the percentage of small newborns and eliminated the incidence of preeclampsia in a small group of patients.

"We've known for a long time that singleton pregnancies conceived by IVF were at higher risk of these adverse outcomes, but the reasons were unknown," says Anthony Imudia, MD, of the MGH Fertility Center, lead author of both articles. "Now we know which facet of IVF might be responsible, which will allow us to identify at-risk patients and implement ways of averting those risks."

At most fertility centers, IVF involves a sequence of coordinated events that stimulate the ovaries in a way that leads to the growth and maturation of several eggs at the same time. Prior to ovulation the eggs are retrieved for fertilization outside the mother's body. If fertilization is successful, embryos that appear to be developing normally are transferred into the woman's uterus within 5 days of egg retrieval in a process called fresh embryo transfer.

Egg cells grow and mature in ovarian sacs called follicles, which release estrogen, so the development of multiple maturing follicles can lead to significantly elevated estrogen levels. Animal studies have suggested that excessively elevated estrogen early in pregnancy can interfere with the development of the placenta, and other research has associated placental abnormalities with increased risk for both preeclampsia and delivery of small newborns.

In the June 2012 issue of Fertility and Sterility, the MGH team reported that -- among almost 300 IVF pregnancies that resulted in the birth of a single infant from 2005 through 2010 -- the women whose estrogen levels right before egg retrieval were highest had significantly greater incidence of preeclampsia and of delivering infants small for their gestational age. Women whose peak estrogen levels were at or above the 90th percentile had a nine-fold greater risk of a small infant and a five-fold greater risk of preeclampsia than women with lower peak estrogen levels.

To follow up that observation, the MGH team examined how a protocol instituted for mothers at risk of a complication of fertility treatment called ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) might affect the apparent risks associated with extremely high estrogen levels. At the MGH Fertility Center, if the estrogen levels for IVF patients exceed 4,500 pg/mL on the day they are scheduled to receive a hormonal trigger of final egg cell maturation -- indicating increased risk for OHSS -- standard practice is to counsel patients on alternatives. These included postponing the procedure until a future IVF cycle or proceeding with egg retrieval and fertilization but freezing the embryos for implantation in a later cycle to allow time for the ovary to recover.

The team's January Fertility and Sterility report compared the outcomes of 20 patients who choose to have their embryos frozen and implanted later because of their risk of OHSS with those of 32 patients with pre-retrieval estrogen levels over 3,450 pg/mL who proceeded with fresh embryo transfer. Only 10 percent of the infants of mothers who choose embryo freezing and transfer in a subsequent cycle were small for their gestational age, compared with 35 percent of the infants of mothers who had fresh embryo transfer. While the incidence of preeclampsia after fresh embryo transfer was almost 22 percent, none of the patients who chose embryo freezing with later implantation developed preeclampsia.

"Our center takes a very individualized and conservative approach to ovarian stimulation, so fewer than 10 percent of our patients had extremely high estrogen levels of greater than 3,450 pg/mL," says Imudia, who is an instructor in Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School. "If other centers validate our findings by following the same approach and achieving similar outcomes, we would recommend that each patient's hormonal dosage be adjusted to try and keep her estrogen levels below 3,000 pg/mL. If the estrogen level exceeds this threshold, the patient could be counseled regarding freezing all embryos for transfer in subsequent cycles, when her hormone levels are closer to that of a natural cycle."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Massachusetts General Hospital, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Anthony N. Imudia, Awoniyi O. Awonuga, Anjali J. Kaimal, Diane L. Wright, Aaron K. Styer, Thomas L. Toth. Elective cryopreservation of all embryos with subsequent cryothaw embryo transfer in patients at risk for ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome reduces the risk of adverse obstetric outcomes: a preliminary study. Fertility and Sterility, 2013; 99 (1): 168 DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2012.08.060

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/ExYwEf6xmzQ/130225131624.htm

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Monday, February 25, 2013

Treats to pamper pets or pet lovers this Valentine's Day | MNN ...

I could eat a garlic sandwich and my dog Lulu would still be happy to see me, covering my face with kisses if I let her. My friends and loved ones aren?t quite so generous with their affection. Perhaps that's why pet spending has steadily increased over the past decade, particularly during the sweetest month of the year. Valentine?s Day spending will reach an estimated $18.5 billion this year, according to a National Retail Federation survey. Even in this sluggish economy, that figure is up slightly from 2012, when consumers said they planned to spend $17.6 billion. In addition to candy hearts and flowers, expect to see plenty of carob-coated dog biscuits and heart-shaped catnip toys in the mix. Pet owners will spend an estimated $815 million on their furry friends this year.

?

?No matter what kind of difficulty people are going through ? whether it?s a natural disaster or what have you ? they cling to the people they love,? said pet lifestyle expert Kristen Levine, who offers advice on her Radio Beastro petcast. ?In today?s digital age, I communicate with my husband via text throughout the day, I talk to people by phone or email. Pets are the creatures we only communicate with face to face. It?s the only tangible physical relationship we have. You can?t cut corners with technology. We need that tangible connection.?

?

To celebrate that unconditional love, Levine offers a few fun suggestions to pamper pets and the people who love them.

?

1. Get pets moving.

Obesity applies to people as well as pets, so she recommends gifts that promote exercise. To facilitate lengthy walks and playtime in the park, Levine suggests the Sleash line for dog owners. Touted as an ?all-in-one dog outing system,? the sport pack ($44.95) includes a carrier that holds keys ? or poop bags ? as well as a slinger dog toy for hands-free fetch, a leash and two slotted rubber balls.

?

?It?s Chilly?s favorite ball by far and he has every toy imaginable,? said Levine of her 3-year-old Lab-Dalmatian mix. ?There are so many benefits to spending time with pets and helping them exercise. That?s what they want most from us is our time. Do it with exercise.?

?

To keep feline friends moving, she opts for modular Kitty?scape structures from Solvit. Interchangeable kits can be reconfigured to challenge frisky kitties. The basic kit ($74.95 at Amazon.com) contains a sea grass scratching column, three platforms and a teaser toy.

?

2. Tap into technology.

For the person who loves pets and gadgets, Levine strongly recommends the Tagg pet Tracker GPS system ($99.95) made especially for dogs. If pets go beyond a designated border, Tagg notifies owners via text messages or email. Levine and her husband put Tagg to the test last year when Chilly spent time with her sister.

?

?My husband I and were on an anniversary ski trip and we get a text that says, ?Chilly has left the property,?? Levine said. She immediately called her sister, who was providing baby-sitting duties along with her three young boys. ?I called her and said, ?Did you know my dog?s missing?? They found him six doors down at the neighbor?s house. I can?t imagine what I would do if my dog disappeared and I never found him.?

?

Cats also can pounce on the tech bandwagon with fun apps such as the popular ?Cat Fishing? game from Friskies. For those who feel particularly brave, check out the ?You vs. Cat? app and see who has the best reaction time. (The YouTube video?below is so hilarious that I?m almost tempted to get a cat and try this app myself.) And yes, there is a Friskies YouTube channel.

?

?

3. Spread the love.

For those of us who don?t own pocket pooches, Levine shares a way to show your puppy love on the go. iPhone cases ($30) and temporary tattoos ($10) from Steadfast Friends feature silhouettes of various dog breeds, ranging from Airedale terriers to Yorkies. Shipping is free and 10 percent of each purchase goes to a pet charity. She also is partial to the fun and funky apparel line called Dog is Good. As a former foster mom to active puppies, I have found myself living the message on one T-shirt from the company: ?It?s all fun and games until someone ends up in a cone.? Dog is Good has expanded to include gear for cat- and horse-lovers. The company also donates a percentage of profits to animal welfare organizations so pet love pays it forward.

?

4. Protect those chompers.

Since February is Pet Dental Health Month, Levine offers a Valentine?s Day gift idea that helps fight plaque buildup as well as boredom. Bristle Bones ($5.89 to $16.89 at Doctors Foster and Smith) combine the features of a chew toy, rubber ball and rawhide treat in one fun package that clean a dog?s teeth. When the sections get worn out, simply purchase replacements. Don't be offended if your four-legged Valentine rewards your generosity by dashing off in the opposite direction. It happens to me every year.

?

? Morieka Johnson

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Related stories on MNN:

Source: http://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/treats-to-pamper-pets-or-pet-lovers-this-valentines-day

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DRIVER BENEFIT: Legal Expenses Mount | WHOTV.com ? Des ...

Posted on: 10:33 pm, February 24, 2013, by Jodi Whitworth, updated on: 10:13pm, February 24, 2013

It has been a week since an accident on Interstate 80-35 pinned a car under a semi.

Now the family of the driver, Tara Lietzinger, is trying to figure out a way to pay for her hospital expenses but legal issues are standing in the way.

Tara Lietzinger?s family and friends never imagined something like this would happen, ?With brain injuries it?s just waiting, there?s no bench mark,? said family friend Chris Lappe.

A car and semi crash left Tara in a coma and in critical condition at Iowa Methodist.

Doctors say, only time will tell how long it takes for the Johnston resident to recover. While the family waits, there are other things that need to be taken care of.

?There are a lot of legal proceedings that need to be done and it takes time. Court papers need to be filed to get the ball rolling so it does take some time.?

Everything is in Tara?s name; bank accounts, bills and insurance and since Tara can?t speak for herself, they have to hire an attorney and that costs money, ?We?re looking for some donations to get the ball rolling on that.?

Lappe hopes to raise $4,000 to pay for an attorney. He began accepting donations less than 24 hours ago and has already raised more than $800.

?Her mom needs some help getting it done and that?s why we?re looking for some donations so we can get the ball rolling real quick and get it taken care of for Tara.?

Without the power of attorney, they can?t access anything of Tara?s, ?There?s just all these steps you have to go through and think about that takes a lot of time and effort.?

Steps the police are also having to go through. Investigators are missing relevant information, such as the cause of crash. They can?t access that information because of Tara?s condition.

Lappe say the accident has him thinking differently as to what he would do if something happened to him, ?Yeah, ?it?s definitely not a bad idea to make sure you have a close family member who is able to give them access to your passwords, your bank accounts so they can at least go online. ?

One way to avoid this happening to you is planning ahead for unexpected situations with living wills to make things a little easier for family during difficult times.

Source: http://whotv.com/2013/02/24/driver-benefit-legal-expenses-mount/

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Mozilla, AT&T And Ericsson Team Up To Demo Seamless Web-To-Mobile WebRTC Integration At MWC

webrtc_drawingWhat if your browser could know when you are getting a call on your mobile phone? Earlier this month, Google and Mozilla demonstrated how their browsers’ WebRTC implementations could interoperate. Today, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Mozilla is going a step further. The organization has teamed up with AT&T and Ericsson to show a proof-of-concept called WebPhone, which demonstrates how its Firefox browser can use Mozilla’s Social API, AT&T’s API Platform and Ericsson’s Web Communication Gateway to let Firefox users sync with a user’s existing phone number and provide calling services without the need to install any plugins or special apps. WebPhone, which isn’t currently available to the public, demonstrates how users can receive calls and texts on their desktops. The system was built on top of WebRTC, the developing standard that allows for in-browser file transfers and real-time video, audio and text chats without plugins. According to Mozilla, this demo shows “how consumers can easily take and receive video calls from their mobile phones or desktop browser using WebRTC or share their web experiences with friends or family who might be on a desktop PC or mobile phone across the other side of the world.” The demo shows how users can start a call from their Firefox browser. Using the operators’ APIs, the web application in the browser gets access to the user’s contacts on the phone and could eventually allow them to, for example, start calls on their mobile device and then transfer them to their desktop once they get home and receive calls right through their browser. ?We believe there is value for operators bundling mobile and fixed broadband offerings with browsers, and Firefox will be the first browser to give them this opportunity,” Magnus Furustam, Vice President Product Area Core and IMS, Business Unit Networks at Ericsson said in a statement today. “The open source project with Mozilla means operators can contribute resources to the project and in a new way, jointly collaborating with other innovators to shape the future of web communications.? We will likely hear quite a bit more about WebRTC as this year’s Mobile World Congress gets underway. The standard is now stable enough that developers can feel relatively confident that most browser vendors will support it in their stable release versions relatively soon (with the exception of Microsoft, which is backing a different version of the standard). Browser developers are

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/80vnVqZw_BA/

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Sunday, February 24, 2013

Packers to visit Texas A&M to study read-option

By John Breech | CBSSports.com

Packers coach Mike McCarthy will be sending his defensive staff to College Station, Texas this offseason and he has 579 reasons why. The San Francisco 49ers burned the Green Bay defense for 579 yards in the Packers' divisional playoff loss, so McCarthy is sending his defensive staff to Texas A&M to get some tips on stopping the read-option offense.

"Five hundred seventy-nine. That's a number that will stick in our focus as a defense throughout the offseason," McCarthy said at the NFL Combine on Friday, via the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "We're studying the read-option."

Since it's doubtful other NFL coaches will be sharing any read-option secrets with McCarthy any time soon, the Packers coach decided to he's going to send his staff to Texas A&M. With Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel running the show, the Aggies finished third overall in the nation in total offense in 2012.

"Our defensive staff is going to take a trip to Texas A&M," McCarthy said. "[Aggies coach] Kevin Sumlin is someone I have great respect for and with his ability to share from both the offensive side and defensive side his experience in the read-option, it's something from an education, preparation standpoint that we will grow as a staff and be better prepared for in the future."

In the Green Bay's divisional round playoff loss to the 49ers, the Packer defense surrendered an NFL quarterback rushing-record 181 yards to Colin Kaepernick.

"It's about getting better, it's about improvement and we need to do a better job stopping the read-option. That's definitely something we're focused on," McCarthy said.

Learning how to stop the read-option is obviously high on McCarty's offseason to-do list. McCarthy said that this is the first time he's sent his staff to study with college coaches.

As for the connection between McCarthy and Sumlin: Sumlin coached with Shawn Slocum for two seasons at Texas A&M over a decade ago (2001-02). Slocum is now the special teams coach for the Packers and has been with the team since McCarthy was hired in 2006.

For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow @EyeOnNFL on Twitter, subscribe to our RSS Feed, watch Pro Football 360 daily at 3 p.m. ET and NFL newsletter. You can also follow John Breech @JohnBreech.

Tags: Green Bay Packers, Texas A&M Aggies, NFL

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cbssportsline/nfl_news/~3/Sik4qDiXUPc/packers-staff-heading-to-texas-am-to-study-read-option-offense

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Microsoft joins list of companies recently hacked

(AP) ? Microsoft has joined the list of prominent technology companies confirming they have been hit by a recent computer hacking attack.

In a blog posting Friday, Microsoft said it had found no evidence that any customer data had been heisted.

Microsoft Corp. gave few other details about the break-in, except to say that was it similar to a hacking attack that online social networking leader Facebook Inc. disclosed last week. Facebook had said its investigation had discovered other companies had been hacked, but didn't identify the other victims.

Like Facebook, Microsoft says it is still investigating how malicious software was planted on what it said were a small number of its computers.

Online messaging service Twitter also recently disclosed that hackers may have stolen information about 250,000 of its users.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-22-Microsoft-Hacked/id-253c8ab4ed784c5da999c5c2f55cac82

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Video: Researchers develop protein 'passport' that help nanoparticles get past immune system

Video: Researchers develop protein 'passport' that help nanoparticles get past immune system

Friday, February 22, 2013

The body's immune system exists to identify and destroy foreign objects, whether they are bacteria, viruses, flecks of dirt or splinters. Unfortunately, nanoparticles designed to deliver drugs, and implanted devices like pacemakers or artificial joints, are just as foreign and subject to the same response.

Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science and Penn's Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics have figured out a way to provide a "passport" for such therapeutic devices, enabling them to get past the body's security system.

The research was conducted by professor Dennis Discher, graduate students Pia Rodriguez, Takamasa Harada, David Christian and Richard K. Tsai and postdoctoral fellow Diego Pantano of the Molecular and Cell Biophysics Lab in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Penn.

It was published in the journal Science.

"From your body's perspective," Rodriguez said, "an arrowhead a thousand years ago and a pacemaker today are treated the same ? as a foreign invader.

"We'd really like things like pacemakers, sutures and drug-delivery vehicles to not cause an inflammatory response from the innate immune system."

The innate immune system attacks foreign bodies in a general way. Unlike the learned response of the adaptive immune system, which includes the targeted antibodies that are formed after a vaccination, the innate immune system tries to destroy everything it doesn't recognize as being part of the body.

This response has many cellular components, including macrophages ? literally "big eaters" ? that find, engulf and destroy invaders. Proteins in blood serum work in tandem with macrophages; they adhere to objects in the blood stream and draw macrophages' attention. If the macrophage determines these proteins are stuck to a foreign invader, they will eat it or signal other macrophages to form a barrier around it.

Drug-delivery nanoparticles naturally trigger this response, so researchers' earlier attempts to circumvent it involved coating the particles with polymer "brushes." These brushes stick out from the nanoparticle and attempt to physically block various blood serum proteins from sticking to its surface.

However, these brushes only slow down the macrophage-signaling proteins, so Discher and colleagues tried a different approach: Convincing the macrophages that the nanoparticles were part of the body and shouldn't be cleared.

In 2008, Discher's group showed that the human protein CD47, found on almost all mammalian cell membranes, binds to a macrophage receptor known as SIRPa in humans. Like a patrolling border guard inspecting a passport, if a macrophage's SIRPa binds to a cell's CD47, it tells the macrophage that the cell isn't an invader and should be allowed to proceed on.


Penn's Dennis Discher explains how his lab designed a protein that acts a "passport" for the body's immune system. Nanoparticles equipped with this passport last longer in the bloodstream than equivalent particles without it.Credit: Kurtis Sensenig, University of Pennsylvania

"There may be other molecules that help quell the macrophage response," Discher said. "But human CD47 is clearly one that says, 'Don't eat me'."

Since the publication of that study, other researchers determined the combined structure of CD47 and SIRPa together. Using this information, Discher's group was able to computationally design the smallest sequence of amino acids that would act like CD47. This "minimal peptide" would have to fold and fit well enough into the receptor of SIRPa to serve as a valid passport.

After chemically synthesizing this minimal peptide, Discher's team attached it to conventional nanoparticles that could be used in a variety of experiments.

"Now, anyone can make the peptide and put it on whatever they want," Rodriguez said

The research team's experiments used a mouse model to demonstrate better imaging of tumors and as well as improved efficacy of an anti-cancer drug-delivery particle.

As this minimal peptide might one day be attached to a wide range of drug-delivery vehicles, the researchers also attached antibodies of the type that could be used in targeting cancer cells or other kinds of diseased tissue. Beyond a proof of concept for therapeutics, these antibodies also served to attract the macrophages' attention and ensure the minimal peptide's passport was being checked and approved.

"We're showing that the peptide actually does inhibit the macrophage's response," Discher said. "We force the interaction and then overwhelm it."

The test of this minimal peptide's efficacy was in mice that were genetically modified so their macophages had SIRPa receptors similar to human. The researchers injected two kinds of nanoparticles ? ones carrying the peptide passport and ones without ? and then measured how fast the mice's immune system cleared them.

"We used different fluorescent dyes on the two kinds of nanoparticles, so we could take blood samples every 10 minutes and measure how many particles of each kind were left using flow cytometry," Rodriguez said. "We injected the two particles in a 1-to-1 ratio and 20-30 minutes later, there were up to four times as many particles with the peptide left."

Even giving therapeutic nanoparticles an additional half-hour before they are eaten by macrophages could be a major boon for treatments. Such nanoparticles might need to make a few trips through the macrophage-heavy spleen and liver to find their targets, but they shouldn't stay in the body indefinitely. Other combinations of exterior proteins might be appropriate for more permanent devices, such as pacemaker leads, enabling them to hide from the immune system for longer periods of time.

While more research is necessary before such applications become a reality, reducing the peptide down to a sequence of only a few amino acids was a critical step. The relative simplicity of this passport molecule to be more easily synthesized makes it a more attractive component for future therapeutics.

"It can be made cleanly in a machine," Discher said, "and easily modified during synthesis in order to attach to all sorts of implanted and injected things, with the goal of fooling the body into accepting these things as 'self.'"

###

University of Pennsylvania: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews

Thanks to University of Pennsylvania for this article.

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

This press release has been viewed 57 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126976/Video__Researchers_develop_protein__passport__that_help_nanoparticles_get_past_immune_system

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Poulter, Mahan on collision course at Match Play

MARANA, Ariz. (AP) ? Before the first shot of the Match Play Championship, and before the first snowfall, Hunter Mahan was asked for three players with the best reputation in match play.

Ian Poulter was on his list.

Now he gets to find out for himself.

Poulter again proved to be one tough customer Saturday when he beat Steve Stricker with one big putt after another, advancing to the semifinals and improving his record in match play around the world to 19-3-2 over the last four years.

Next up is Mahan, who is leaving his own mark at Dove Mountain. Mahan outlasted U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson in 18 holes, leaving him two wins away from joining Tiger Woods as the only repeat winners of this World Golf Championship. Not only has Mahan won every match he has played ? 11 in a row ? over the last two years, he now has gone 151 consecutive holes at the Match Play Championship without trailing.

Poulter is aiming for his second Match Play win in the last four years.

"I have so much respect for the guy and how he plays," Mahan said. "There's not one part of his game that really shines. He has a great short game and he's a great putter, but to me, his determination and his will is his greatest strength. He's never going to think he's out of a hole."

Not to be outdone, Matt Kuchar reached the semifinals for the second time in three years with steady play, rarely taking himself out of position. That proved way too much for Robert Garrigus, who was 4 down through 10 holes and didn't make it beyond the 16th green.

Kuchar will play Jason Day of Australia, who won a tight match against Graeme McDowell in 18 holes.

The biggest stars in golf might be long gone. In their place are two guys who might be the best in match play over the last few years.

"I know it's not the top four in the world, probably what everyone was hoping for," Mahan said. "But there's been a lot of great golf played, a lot of great shot, a lot of great putts. There's a lot of great players."

Along with a perfect singles record in the Ryder Cup, Poulter has won the WGC version of the Match Play Championship and the World Match Play Championship in Spain in 2011. He wasn't aware of his sterling record since 2010, nor did he sound terribly surprised.

"I'm pretty proud of it," he said. "Does it surprise me? I love match play."

That much is becoming abundantly clear. After he pulled away from Tim Clark of South Africa in the third round Saturday morning, he faced his toughest challenge yet in Stricker, who started his 46th birthday celebration by making eight birdies in a brilliantly played match against Scott Piercy in the third round.

Stricker holed a 30-foot putt on the final hole for the win, and then ran into someone who putted even better.

The match effectively turned on the third hole. After they traded birdies, Stricker stuffed his tee shot into 6 feet, while Poulter pulled his shot some 40 feet away above the ridge. Poulter wound up making the putt, and all Stricker could do was laugh. He missed his short birdie, and the momentum shifted for good.

Describing the big moment, it wasn't clear if Poulter was talking about his putt or driving through a roundabout in England.

"It was 40 feet, left-to-right, right-to-left, right-to-left again, hopefully slowing down on the ridge, taking a left-hand turn, down the slope and then chucking a little left to right at the end to drop it," Poulter said. "It was really nice."

Stricker didn't win another hole until he was 3 down at the turn, and while he made birdie on the 10th to pick up a little momentum, he gave it right back with a tee shot into the desert on the par-5 11th, leading to a bogey. Poulter won the next with a 20-foot birdie putt, and from there it was a matter of time.

Even the final hole showed Poulter's putting prowess.

Poulter was 3 up with three holes remaining when he missed the green to the right. Stricker came up short and chipped to about 3 feet. As Poulter was studying his chip, a fan near Poulter said, "Pick it up," and Stricker did just that.

"I think it was close enough, anyway, but for a split second, it was a little off-putting," Poulter said. "And I guess I had to hole a 12-footer to finish the match."

That he did, and now plays the defending champion.

Mahan hasn't lost any match around the world since Martin Kaymer beat him in the third round at Dove Mountain in 2011. He exacted a small piece of revenge by beating Kaymer in the third round. Mahan had to play only 43 holes to reach the quarterfinals.

But his match against Simpson was tough from the start, and it was the first time Mahan played the 18th hole in competition since his opening match a year ago.

Neither player led by more than one hole, and Mahan took the lead for good on the par-3 16th when Simpson missed a 10-foot par putt. Mahan had to make a 7-foot par putt on the 16th for his par and the lead, and the finished with pars.

Day fell two holes behind immediately against McDowell, and the turning point might have been the seventh. McDowell had a tough chip behind the green that he moved only a few inches and wound up making bogey. Day holed a 6-footer for par to square the match, and it was a see-saw match the rest of the way.

In the gallery with McDowell was Shane Lowry, the No. 64 seed to eliminated Rory McIlroy in the opening round. McDowell made three birdies in a five-hole stretch at the turn to build a comfortable lead and went on to win, 3 and 2.

His putter let him down against Day, however. He missed a 10-foot par putt on the 17th that gave Day the lead, and then missed a 15-foot putt from just off the green that would have extended the match.

Day became the first Australian to reach the semifinals since Geoff Ogilvy won in 2009, and it took a lot to get there. He beat the Masters champion (Bubba Watson) and a former U.S. Open champion (McDowell) on the same day.

"It's like playing on Sunday every day here," Day said.

He faces Kuchar, who lost to the eventual champion each of the last two years. Garrigus had said earlier in the week that he looked at his bracket and figured didn't see anyone he couldn't beat. He must have overlooked Kuchar, who birdied the ninth for a 3-up lead and never let Garrigus get close.

Poulter at No. 11 is the highest seed remaining. The other seeds are No. 21 (Kuchar), No. 23 (Mahan) and No. 41 (Day).

Given the nature of 18 holes of match play, and the fine line of talent in golf at the highest level, the seeds don't mean much in this tournament. Poulter and Mahan have shown that to be the case.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/poulter-mahan-collision-course-match-play-004213906--spt.html

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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Locals to receive posthumous military medals for relatives

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HYANNIS ? U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., will present posthumous medals to the families of two U.S. Army veterans of World War II at the outreach center of the Nam Vets Association this morning.

Tech Sgt. Joseph Byrne was a private first class in the 48th Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division, when he was killed in action in the battle to retake the village of St. Vith, Belgium, a conflict that occurred in the aftermath of the Battle of the Bulge.

He was promoted posthumously to the rank of sergeant. Keating will present a Purple Heart to his sister, Regina Burkinshaw, a resident of South Yarmouth.

Cpl. William Zakrzewski enlisted in the Army a year and a half before Pearl Harbor and was assigned to a transport division in the Pacific. Following Pearl Harbor, he fought in the Central Pacific campaign and saw action in New Guinea. He was discharged in August 1945. Keating will present a number of service medals, including three bronze service stars, to Zakrzewski's son Michael, who lives in Harwich.

The ceremony is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. at the outreach center, located at 569 Main St. Hyannis.

State Sen. Dan Wolf, D-Harwich, state Reps. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, and Cleon Turner, D-Dennis, are scheduled to attend.

DOUG FRASER


Source: http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130219/NEWS/302190317/-1/rss01

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