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By Solarina Ho

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index retreated sharply on Friday as lower commodity prices triggered a slump in shares of natural resource companies and weak economic data out of Europe and the United States dampened investor sentiment.

While almost every major sector declined, the index still looked on track for a gain in May, reversing losses in the previous two months.

South of the border, U.S. stocks ended down 1 percent on Friday, but all three index were positive for the month, with the S&P 500 <.spx> rising 14.34 percent so far this year - its best first five months since 1997.

The TSX, which is up about 1.6 percent this month and 1.7 percent for 2013, slipped 0.2 percent on the week.

"It wasn't really surprising to see a degree of profit-taking on the last day of the month," said Elvis Picardo, strategist and vice president of research at Global Securities.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index <.gsptse> finished 96.13 points, or 0.8 percent lower, at 12,650.42, after falling as low as 12,620.08 earlier.

Data showed that unemployment reached a new high in the euro zone and inflation remained well below the European Central Bank's target. U.S. consumer spending fell in April for the first time in almost a year and inflation pressures were subdued, pointing to a slowdown in economic activity.

The commodities-exporting market, which has been hit sharply this year by volatility in resource prices, reacts to global economic trends because of its large exposure to materials and energy stocks.

"You boil all this (data) together and you get an economic stew around the world that continues to be one of positive growth, but certainly not as quick as most investors would like or up to capacity," said Craig Fehr, Canadian market strategist at Edward Jones in St. Louis, Missouri.

The growth prospects for the global economy look better in the second half of the year than in the first half, Fehr said.

"As the global growth story starts to improve, Canada's stock market and the economy should benefit from that," he added.

Official data showed rising exports helped rouse the Canadian economy from a sluggish second half of 2012 to grow at an annualized rate of 2.5 percent in the first quarter, the fastest pace in six quarters.

Nine of the index's 10 main sub-groups stumbled into negative territory.

The materials sector, which includes mining stocks, shed 0.6 percent. The prices of commodities such as gold and silver declined.

In company news, New Gold Inc agreed to acquire gold exploration company Rainy River Resources Ltd for about C$310 million ($301 million) to expand its asset base in Canada.

New Gold shares fell 8 percent to C$7.05, but Rainy River surged 34.8 percent to C$3.64.

A drop in oil prices pulled energy shares down 0.9 percent. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd slipped 3.3 percent to C$30.90. Suncor Energy gave back 1.9 percent to C$31.45.

Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, gave back 1 percent.

Royal Bank of Canada extended Thursday's losses amid uncertainty about its future growth after it reported in-line quarterly results. Canada's biggest bank lost 2.1 percent to C$61.53 and played the biggest role of any single stock in leading the market lower.

(Additional reporting by John Tilak; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Bob Burgdorfer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tsx-may-open-lower-commodity-prices-slip-124434452.html

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bupsete · May 31, 2013

May 31, 2013 ? In a new study, published in Science, Columbia Engineering researchers demonstrate that graphene, even if stitched together from many small crystalline grains, is almost as strong as graphene in its perfect crystalline form. This work resolves a contradiction between theoretical simulations, which predicted that grain boundaries can be strong, and earlier experiments, which indicated that they were much weaker than the perfect lattice.

Graphene consists of a single atomic layer of carbon, arranged in a honeycomb lattice. "Our first Science paper, in 2008, studied the strength graphene can achieve if it has no defects -- its intrinsic strength," says James Hone, professor of mechanical engineering, who led the study with Jeffrey Kysar, professor of mechanical engineering. "But defect-free, pristine graphene exists only in very small areas. Large-area sheets required for applications must contain many small grains connected at grain boundaries, and it was unclear how strong those grain boundaries were. This, our second Science paper, reports on the strength of large-area graphene films grown using chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and we're excited to say that graphene is back and stronger than ever."

The study verifies that commonly used methods for post-processing CVD-grown graphene weaken grain boundaries, resulting in the extremely low strength seen in previous studies. The Columbia Engineering team developed a new process that prevents any damage of graphene during transfer. "We substituted a different etchant and were able to create test samples without harming the graphene," notes the paper's lead author, Gwan-Hyoung Lee, a postdoctoral fellow in the Hone lab. "Our findings clearly correct the mistaken consensus that grain boundaries of graphene are weak. This is great news because graphene offers such a plethora of opportunities both for fundamental scientific research and industrial applications."

In its perfect crystalline form, graphene (a one-atom-thick carbon layer) is the strongest material ever measured, as the Columbia Engineering team reported in Science in 2008 -- so strong that, as Hone observed, "it would take an elephant, balanced on a pencil, to break through a sheet of graphene the thickness of Saran Wrap." For the first study, the team obtained small, structurally perfect flakes of graphene by mechanical exfoliation, or mechanical peeling, from a crystal of graphite. But exfoliation is a time-consuming process that will never be practical for any of the many potential applications of graphene that require industrial mass production.

Currently, scientists can grow sheets of graphene as large as a television screen by using chemical vapor deposition (CVD), in which single layers of graphene are grown on copper substrates in a high-temperature furnace. One of the first applications of graphene may be as a conducting layer in flexible displays.

"But CVD graphene is 'stitched' together from many small crystalline grains -- like a quilt -- at grain boundaries that contain defects in the atomic structure," Kysar explains. "These grain boundaries can severely limit the strength of large-area graphene if they break much more easily than the perfect crystal lattice, and so there has been intense interest in understanding how strong they can be."

The Columbia Engineering team wanted to discover what was making CVD graphene so weak. In studying the processing techniques used to create their samples for testing, they found that the chemical most commonly used to remove the copper substrate also causes damage to the graphene, severely degrading its strength.

Their experiments demonstrated that CVD graphene with large grains is exactly as strong as exfoliated graphene, showing that its crystal lattice is just as perfect. And, more surprisingly, their experiments also showed that CVD graphene with small grains, even when tested right at a grain boundary, is about 90% as strong as the ideal crystal.

"This is an exciting result for the future of graphene, because it provides experimental evidence that the exceptional strength it possesses at the atomic scale can persist all the way up to samples inches or more in size," says Hone. "This strength will be invaluable as scientists continue to develop new flexible electronics and ultrastrong composite materials."

Strong, large-area graphene can be used for a wide variety of applications such as flexible electronics and strengthening components -- potentially, a television screen that rolls up like a poster or ultrastrong composites that could replace carbon fiber. Or, the researchers speculate, a science fiction idea of a space elevator that could connect an orbiting satellite to Earth by a long cord that might consist of sheets of CVD graphene, since graphene (and its cousin material, carbon nanotubes) is the only material with the high strength-to-weight ratio required for this kind of hypothetical application.

The team is also excited about studying 2D materials like graphene. "Very little is known about the effects of grain boundaries in 2D materials," Kysar adds. "Our work shows that grain boundaries in 2D materials can be much more sensitive to processing than in 3D materials. This is due to all the atoms in graphene being surface atoms, so surface damage that would normally not degrade the strength of 3D materials can completely destroy the strength of 2D materials. However with appropriate processing that avoids surface damage, grain boundaries in 2D materials, especially graphene, can be nearly as strong as the perfect, defect-free structure."

The study was supported by grants from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/k6UIrVd9FQw/130531114733.htm

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bupsete · May 30, 2013

May 30, 2013 ? Research has shown that healthy behaviors are associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia, but less is known about the potential link between positive lifestyle choices and milder memory complaints, especially those that occur earlier in life and could be the first indicators of later problems.

To examine the impact of these lifestyle choices on memory throughout adult life, UCLA researchers and the Gallup organization collaborated on a nationwide poll of more than 18,500 individuals between the ages of 18 and 99. Respondents were surveyed about both their memory and their health behaviors, including whether they smoked, how much they exercised and how healthy their diet was.

As the researchers expected, healthy eating, not smoking and exercising regularly were related to better self-perceived memory abilities for most adult groups. Reports of memory problems also increased with age. However, there were a few surprises.

Older adults (age 60-99) were more likely to report engaging in healthy behaviors than middle-aged (40-59) and younger adults (18-39), a finding that runs counter to the stereotype that aging is a time of dependence and decline. In addition, a higher-than-expected percentage of younger adults complained about their memory.

"These findings reinforce the importance of educating young and middle-aged individuals to take greater responsibility for their health -- including memory -- by practicing positive lifestyle behaviors earlier in life," said the study's first author, Dr. Gary Small, director of the UCLA Longevity Center and a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA who holds the Parlow-Solomon Chair on Aging.

Published in the June issue of International Psychogeriatrics, the study may also provide a baseline for the future study of memory complaints in a wide range of adult age groups.

For the survey, Gallup pollsters conducted land-line and cell phone interviews with 18,552 adults in the U.S. The inclusion of cell phone-only households and Spanish-language interviews helped capture a representative 90 percent of the U.S. population, the researchers said.

"We found that the more healthy lifestyle behaviors were practiced, the less likely one was to complain about memory issues," said senior author Fernando Torres-Gil, a professor at UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs and associate director of the UCLA Longevity Center.

In particular, the study found that respondents across all age groups who engaged in just one healthy behavior were 21 percent less likely to report memory problems than those who didn't engage in any healthy behaviors. Those with two positive behaviors were 45 percent less likely to report problems, those with three were 75 percent less likely, and those with more than three were 111 percent less likely.

Interestingly, the poll found that healthy behaviors were more common among older adults than the other two age groups. Seventy percent of older adults engaged in at least one healthy behavior, compared with 61 percent of middle-aged individuals and 58 percent of younger respondents.

In addition, only 12 percent of older adults smoked, compared with 25 percent of young adults and 24 percent of middle-aged adults, and a higher percentage of older adults reported eating healthy the day before being interviewed (80 percent) and eating five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables during the previous week (64 percent).

According to the researchers, older adults may participate in more healthy behaviors because they feel the consequences of unhealthy living and take the advice of their doctors to adopt healthier lifestyles. Or there simply could be fewer older adults with bad habits, since they may not live as long.

While 26 percent of older adults and 22 percent of middle-aged respondents reported memory issues, it was surprising to find that 14 percent of the younger group complained about their memory too, the researchers said.

"Memory issues were to be expected in the middle-aged and older groups, but not in younger people," Small said. "A better understanding and recognition of mild memory symptoms earlier in life may have the potential to help all ages."

Small said that, generally, memory issues in younger people may be different from those that plague older generations. Stress may play more of a role. He also noted that the ubiquity of technology -- including the Internet, texting and wireless devices that can result in constant multi-tasking, especially with younger people -- may impact attention span, making it harder to focus and remember.

Small noted that further study and polling may help tease out such memory-complaint differences. Either way, he said, the survey reinforces the importance, for all ages, of adopting a healthy lifestyle to help limit and forestall age-related cognitive decline and neurodegeneration.

The Gallup poll used in the study took place between December 2011 and January 2012 and was part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which includes health- and lifestyle-related polling questions. The five questions asked were:

(1) Do you smoke?

(2) Did you eat healthy all day yesterday?

(3) In the last seven days, on how many days did you have five or more servings of vegetables and fruits?

(4) In the last seven days, on how many days did you exercise for 30 minutes or more?

(5) Do you have any problems with your memory?

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/5qdFDYjjT4s/130530170050.htm

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates ??Cond? Nast International continued the expansion of its?non-publishing businesses,?yesterday, opening a second Vogue Caf?, situated in The Dubai Mall, in partnership with Inspired Brands.

In recent years, the company has stepped up its efforts to extend its most famous magazine brands ? powerful lifestyle signifiers ? into a number of non-publishing businesses, following a dip in advertising revenue experienced during the Great Recession and in response to the promising profitability of its current hospitality ventures.

Jonathan Newhouse, chairman and chief executive of Cond? Nast International, told BoF in April: ?These businesses are already having a significant impact, the restaurant business which began in earnest two years ago, outperforms many countries where we publish magazines.?

Dubai?s Vogue Caf? joins Cond? Nast International?s existing hospitality ventures, including a Vogue Caf? and GQ Bar in Moscow, where there is also a Tatler club, and a second GQ Bar in Istanbul. A Vogue Club is set to open in Singapore in June.

Stuart Nielsen, director of restaurants at Cond? Nast International, told press at yesterday?s event, ?We will soon be announcing further expansion plans in the UAE.? In the past Nielsen has identified??the Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin American markets? as key to the company?s plans.

Read more about Cond? Nast International?s brand extensions:

Drinks at GQ

Source: http://www.businessoffashion.com/2013/05/conde-nast-opens-vogue-cafe-in-dubai-continuing-brand-extensions.html

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In this Sunday, May 5, 2013 photo, Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee speaks during the Ohio State University spring commencement in Columbus, Ohio. Gee told a university committee last December that Notre Dame wasn?t invited to join the Big Ten because they?re not good partners while also jokingly saying that ?those damn Catholics? can?t be trusted. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

This photo made Sunday, May 5, 2013, shows Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee during the Ohio State University spring commencement in Columbus, Ohio. Gee told a university committee last December that Notre Dame wasn?t invited to join the Big Ten because they?re not good partners while also jokingly saying that ?those damn Catholics? can?t be trusted. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) ? The president of Ohio State University said Notre Dame was never invited to join the Big Ten conference because the university's priests are not good partners, joking that "those damn Catholics" can't be trusted, according to a recording of a meeting he attended late last year.

Gordon Gee also took shots at schools in the Southeastern Conference and the University of Louisville, according to the recording of the December meeting of the school's Athletic Council that The Associated Press obtained under a public records request.

The university called the statements inappropriate and said Gee is undergoing a "remediation plan" because of the remarks.

Gee was on a long-planned family vacation and unavailable for comment, Ohio State spokeswoman Gayle Saunders said. He apologized in a statement released to the AP.

"The comments I made were just plain wrong, and in no way do they reflect what the university stands for," he said in the statement. "They were a poor attempt at humor and entirely inappropriate. There is no excuse for this and I am deeply sorry."

Gee, who has taken heat before for uncouth remarks, told members of the council that he negotiated with Notre Dame officials during his first term at Ohio State, which began more than two decades ago.

"The fathers are holy on Sunday, and they're holy hell on the rest of the week," Gee said to laughter at the Dec. 5 meeting attended by Athletic Director Gene Smith, several other athletic department members, professors and students.

"You just can't trust those damn Catholics on a Thursday or a Friday, and so, literally, I can say that," said Gee, a Mormon.

The Big Ten had for years courted Notre Dame, but the school resisted as it sought to retain its independent status in college football. In September, the school announced that it would join the Atlantic Coast Conference in all sports except football and hockey but would play five football games each year against ACC teams.

In the recording, Gee referred specifically to dealing with the Rev. Ned Joyce, Notre Dame's longtime executive vice president, who died in 2004.

"Father Joyce was one of those people who ran the university for many, many years," Gee said.

Gee said the Atlantic Coast Conference added Notre Dame at a time when it was feeling vulnerable.

"Notre Dame wanted to have its cake and eat it, too," Gee said, according to the recording and a copy of the meeting's minutes.

Notre Dame spokesman Dennis Brown called the remarks regrettable, especially the reference to Joyce, "who served Notre Dame and collegiate athletics so well and for so long." Gee contacted Notre Dame's president, the Rev. John Jenkins, to offer an apology, which was accepted, Brown said Thursday in an email, declining to say when the apology was made.

Notre Dame has a storied collegiate football history and is perhaps the nation's pre-eminent Roman Catholic university. Ohio State, with about 56,000 students on its main campus, is among the country's biggest universities, and it has its own long football tradition.

A message was left with Smith, the Ohio State athletic director who attended the December meeting and who also is a 1977 Notre Dame graduate. NCAA President Mark Emmert declined to comment, saying he hadn't heard the remarks.

Ohio State's Athletic Council meets monthly during the fall, winter and spring and makes recommendations on athletic policy including ticket prices. December's meeting was at Ohio Stadium.

Gee was introduced by Athletic Council then-chairman Charlie Wilson, and Gee's name and introduction are included in written minutes of the meeting. His comments drew laughter, at times loud, occasionally nervous, but no rebukes, according to the audio.

Ohio State trustees learned of Gee's "offensive statements" in January, met with the president at length and created the remediation plan for Gee to "address his behavior," board president Robert Schottenstein said in a statement.

Comments by a university leader about "particular groups, classes of people or individuals are wholly unacceptable," Schottenstein said. "These statements were inappropriate, were not presidential in nature and do not comport with the core values of the university."

Gee has gotten in trouble before for offhand remarks, most recently during a memorabilia-for-cash and tattoos scandal under football coach Jim Tressel's watch.

Gee was asked in March 2011 whether he had considered firing Tressel. He responded: "No, are you kidding? Let me just be very clear: I'm just hopeful the coach doesn't dismiss me." Tressel stepped down three months later.

In November 2010, Gee boasted that Ohio State's football schedule didn't include teams on par with the "Little Sisters of the Poor." An apologetic Gee later sent a personal check to the real Little Sisters of the Poor in northwest Ohio and followed up with a visit to the nuns months later.

Last year, Gee apologized for comparing the problem of coordinating the school's many divisions to the Polish army, a remark that a Polish-American group called bigoted and ignorant.

In 1992, in a moment of frustration over higher-education funding, Gee told a student newspaper reporter, "the governor's a damn dummy." Then-Gov. George Voinovich laughed it off, and the two became allies.

Gee was named the country's best college president in 2010 by Time magazine, and he has one of the highest-profile resumes of any college leader in recent history. He has held the top job at West Virginia University, the University of Colorado, Brown University and Vanderbilt University. He was Ohio State president from 1990 to 1997 and returned in 2007.

Gee, 69, earns about $1.9 million annually in base pay, deferred and performance compensation and retirement benefits.

He is a prolific fundraiser and is leading a $2.5 billion campaign at Ohio State. He is omnipresent on campus, attending everything from faculty awards events to dormitory pizza parties. He is known for his bow ties ? he has hundreds ? and his horn-rimmed glasses.

During his comments to the Athletic Council, Gee also questioned the academic integrity of schools in the Southeastern Conference and the University of Louisville.

The top goal of Big Ten presidents is to "make certain that we have institutions of like-minded academic integrity," Gee said. "So you won't see us adding Louisville," which is also joining the ACC.

After a pause followed by laughter from the audience, Gee added that the Big Ten wouldn't add the University of Kentucky, either.

Louisville spokesman Mark Hebert said the university accepted Gee's apology but planned to forward Gee information about the upward trajectory of its academic and athletic programs. Kentucky president Eli Capilouto declined to comment.

During the meeting, Gee also said he thought it was a mistake not to include Missouri and Kansas in earlier Big Ten expansion plans. Missouri has since joined the SEC.

"You tell the SEC when they can learn to read and write, then they can figure out what we're doing," Gee said when asked by a questioner how to respond to SEC fans who say the Big Ten can't count because it now has 14 members.

Gee noted he was chairman of the SEC during his time as Vanderbilt University chancellor. He also told the audience that speculation about the SEC "remains right here," according to the recording.

Despite his SEC comments, Gee gave the commencement address at an SEC institution ? Louisiana State University's Health Sciences Center ? on May 16, Ohio State confirmed. Gee's daughter is assistant professor of Public Health and Medicine at Louisiana State University.

Gee took a swipe at Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany, one of the most powerful leaders in college athletics, when he answered a question about preserving Ohio State's financial interests in light of Big Ten revenue-sharing plans.

"No one admires Jim Delany more than I do. I chaired the committee that brought him here," Gee said. "Jim is very aggressive, and we need to make certain he keeps his hands out of our pockets while we support him."

Gee's comments "were inappropriate and in no way represent the opinions of the conference," Delany said in a statement, adding he had apologized to Notre Dame and the SEC.

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said Gee called to apologize for the comments about a week ago, saying they might become public. Delany called after that, also to apologize. Both apologies were accepted, Slive said.

"Our focus is on the SEC," he said Thursday. "Our goal is to make us better, and we've been very successful and we're comfortable here. There really isn't much more to add to that."

___

Associated Press writers John Seewer in Toledo, Tom Coyne in South Bend, Ind., Janet Cappiello in Louisville, Ky., Stephen Hawkins in Irving, Texas, and Mark Long in Destin, Fla., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-05-30-Ohio%20State%20President/id-409acaac9b4e4c44b384c83a7b94af8c

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All Critics (50) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (47) | Rotten (2)

Most films are experiences to be ignored or at best forgotten. "Blancanieves" is a little classic to be treasured.

It is a full-bodied silent film of the sort that might have been made by the greatest directors of the 1920s, if such details as the kinky sadomasochism of this film's evil stepmother could have been slipped past the censors.

Blancanieves, which won 10 Goyas (Spain's equivalent of the Oscars) and was a smash hit in its native Spain, has traces of a kinky undertone and an uncommon willingness to embrace the darkness inherent in this fairy tale.

As if bewitched, the legend of Snow White is transferred to Seville in the early twentieth century and transformed into high melodrama.

Sensuous, mischievous, hotblooded retelling of the old Teutonic fairy tale.

This gorgeous silent film is an unexpected gift from the gods of pure cinema.

A boldly conceived fairy tale from Spain

Succeeds in all its cinematic experiments

The story might be familiar, but Berger's film is so beautifully shot and so wonderfully scored - and so distinctively Spanish - that it stands as its own film.

Blancanieves holds to the structure, but not strictures, of the source fairy tale.

A new, purely silent movie from Spain that never once speaks and doesn't need to speak. What's more, it seems to get the infinite possibilities of silence, and how much passion can come from it.

Berger's film doesn't show loyalty to any traditional version of Snow White. Berger's Blancanieves takes a darker approach, which seems appropriate.

A completely enchanting fairy tale about the vicissitudes of fate, in live action and glorious black and white.

The fun in the Spanish "Blancanieves" is the way it plays with our expectations.

May not have much depth to its characters or particular surprise, but its lovely depiction of family's ability to harm and mend has the flair of flamenco and the sorrow of opera.

No, "Blancanieves" isn't subtle, but it's an unforgettable time at the movies.

Inspired filmmaking steeped in the imagery of silent film history, a dark Iberian strain of Roman Catholicism and the magic of fairy tales.

... lusty and heartfelt, fiery flamenco and spirited country jig. Don't go expecting a Disney-fied fable. Berger seasons with S&M and the kind of macabre touches you'd expect in vintage Browning or Bunuel.

If not for some faintly disturbing imagery and a pleasingly feminist heroine, you could mistake this for a movie actually made in the 1920s (and even those two factors weren't utterly unknown then).

A loving tribute to European silent films of the 1920s; a reminder that cinema need not be constrained by words.

By the time the film arrives at its grand theatrical finale, you're almost prepared for Berger's last great twist. Almost.

this beautifully shot and imaginatively told fairy tale should be seen my many, but only a few will likely get to enjoy it. This is a shame for the audience it is intended for.

This film is simply gorgeous, pure beauty on film, a vision that leaves you breathless and reeling.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blancanieves/

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Earlier this year, Philip Kaplan expanded Fandalism, his social network for musicians, with a service called Fandalism Distro, which allows musicians to bring their songs and albums to iTunes and elsewhere. Today he's spinning out the distribution service as a separate site, which he's calling DistroKid.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Pd8HFx00Da4/

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bupsete · May 28, 2013

May 28, 2013 ? A large scientific study has discovered new genes causing severe seizure disorders that begin in babies and early childhood. The finding will lead to new tests to diagnose these conditions and promises to lead to improved outcomes.

Epileptic encephalopathies are severe seizure disorders occurring in infants and children. The seizures are accompanied by slow development and intellectual problems.

Paediatric neurologist and researcher Professor Ingrid Scheffer from the University of Melbourne and the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, and the clinical leader of the study said "these children have devastating disorders. Finding the cause is the first step in developing targeted treatments."

"Overall, our findings have important implications for making a diagnosis in patients, optimizing therapy and genetic counseling for families," she said.

The study published in Nature Genetics today revealed two new genes associated with these severe epilepsies.

In the study, researchers analysed the genes of 500 children who have epileptic encephalopathies.

Using recent advances in genetic testing, next generation sequencing of a gene panel was performed. Researchers analysed 65 genes of which 19 had previously been associated with epileptic encephalopathies and 46 were hypothesized to potentially cause these devastating disorders.

Results revealed that mutations that cause epileptic encephalopathy were found in 52 out of the 500 patients (more than 10% of the study population).

Mutations were found in 15 of the 65 genes, including two new genes, CHD2 and SYNGAP1, which have not previously been found to cause epileptic encephalopathies.

"This is a very exciting breakthrough which could lead to dramatic benefits in the lives of the children who suffer this condition," Professor Scheffer said.

These genes will now become a diagnostic test for children with these severe epilepsies and enable genetic counseling in their families.

Collaborators on the study included geneticists from the University of Washington, US and paediatric neurologists from around Australia, New Zealand, Denmark and Israel. The study was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia and the National Institutes of Health, US.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/YI8YTqyry84/130528100145.htm

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Meme
(click here for raw shot)

For the past few weeks I?ve chosen somewhat difficult memes and for next week I have something really challenging planned. Therefore, I thought that this week I would keep it short and simple. I?m going to be nosy again and ask a series of questions about how you communicate and socialize inworld, I hope you guys participate.

Meme instructions: Copy and paste the following questions and answers into your post, delete my answers and input your own. All of your answers should reflect your activity within Second Life. Remember to leave your link in this meme?s comments so others can come by and read your answers as well!

Who did you speak to last inworld today? Harlow Heslop
Who has taught you most about SL? Probably Roosevelt Dagger and Catero Revolution
Who do you turn to for help? Zaara Kohime mostly however, I do want to add though that the people on my plurk timeline have also helped me tremendously over the years with finding things I need inworld, getting more information about SL, helping me decide on inworld purchases, etc?
Who is the most entertaining person on your friend list? Winter Jefferson
Do you speak to your SL friends outside of SL? I do, on social networks, via email and other chat/im programs such as gtalk and skype.
Are you part of a community or family inworld? No, I?m not. I used to be a regular/hostess at certain clubs back in 2007/2008 and had a group of people I used to hang out with on a regular basis but that sim is no longer and we?ve all seemed to have gone our separate ways. I?ve never been part of a family or roleplay community though.
Are you usually around a lot of people or do you spend most of your time alone inworld? I would say I am mostly alone (when I can be). However, I do spend a lot of time with clients as I have a few photoshoots each day. But I don?t consider that as socializing, just work. I do try to get as much alone time as possible though, as I like peace and quiet so I can concentrate on my pictures and blogging. I was a lot more open to being social earlier in my SL but lately I prefer to be on my own. I guess I like the solitude because I?m usually surrounded by my family in real life so SL to me is kind of an escape from people and things.

I know it?s rather strange of me to not be as social inworld, especially since SL is a virtual world where people go to be more social. But I guess I?m kind of over that aspect of it and I just want to focus on other things. I do try to participate with community projects and challenges though within the blogger community. One challenge that I am kind of looking forward to trying is the Avatar Blogger Month in June. You can check the iRez blog for all of the details about that and I hope you participate in it as well!

For this post I wanted to create a soft and peaceful image with a relaxed theme, because that?s what I crave in my virtual world. The pose and arbor in this picture are from this month?s Zodiac Gemini. The dress was at FaMESHed this month but now you can find it in the Zaara mainstore.

Please remember that you can participate in any of the memes at any time. You?ll find them all under my Blog Challenges category along with other memes and challenges I?ve done over the years.

Credits:
Skin: League Aria Golden -Special Edition -Chest C by Nena Janus
*Hair: ??D!va?? Hair ?Asami? (Type A)(Brown diamond) by Marisa Kira
*Dress: Zaara : [Mesh] Chaitra chiffon dress (S) *ivory* by Zaara Kohime
*Mesh Feet & Hands: SLink by Siddean Munro
Sandals: Slink Ilena Sandals Large White by Siddean Munro
*Pose: aDORKable Poses: Smart Pack by Adorkable Peapod (@ Zodiac Gemini)
*Arbor: *Solange!* Gemini Arbor by Solange by Solange Cerveau (@ Zodiac Gemini)
*Flowers: meadowWorks Opium Poppy Flowers Lots 01 by Garvie Garzo

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Source: http://strawberrysingh.com/2013/05/27/communications-meme/

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Last week at CTIA, we sat down with Lixin Cheng -- CEO of ZTE USA -- for a candid discussion about the company's future in the US. The conversation started with ZTE's current portfolio in the US, which consists of 18 SKUs -- primarily inexpensive Android smartphones (most with LTE) for the prepaid market. Mr. Cheng mentioned that the company's doing quite well in the US thanks to an 85.7 percent year-to-year growth in market share. ZTE is now in third place among prepaid handset manufacturers with a market share of 17 percent. He explained that carriers are seeing revenue growth from prepaid services which now account for 22.5 to 29 percent of revenue. This puts the company in a strong position for the future, despite last year's investigation by Congress. So we asked Mr. Cheng if and when ZTE would bring flagship phones like the Grand S or Grand Memo to the US in partnership with the four major carriers. His reply:

I have promised you at CES that we're going to bring the Grand S or Memo series into [the] US, and we are working on that, and I think that very soon we will announce some good news.

That's good news indeed. Hit the break for more, including our video interview and full transcript.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/27/the-engadget-interview-lixin-cheng-on-ztes-us-future-at-ctia-2/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Book blurbs are strange territory for a writer: we go to other authors and solicit from them the time to read our (as yet unpublished) stories and the effort and marketing savvy to write a capable sales blurb for the book (which will go on the cover, inside the cover, or on the web).

You hate to even ask for blurbs because you?re forced to blacken your shame sensors with the heel of a boot just to get up the gumption to ask other authors (many of whom are writers you respect, even?adore) to kind of become? advertising shills for your book.

They, as the authors granting blurbs, are ideally hoping to be curators in a way similar to (if also larger than) the retweet ? the hope on Twitter is that someone retweets something because it?s content they find interesting and compelling, not because of some kind of back-scratching favor. And so it is with blurbs: you want that author not to provide a blurb to you or anybody else as a favor but because they actually want potential readers (including their own) to see that they have given it something of a?seal of approval.

As a blurb writer it?s like, well, okay, I don?t just want to sound like a shill ? ?Better than Cats! I?ll read it again and again!? ? and you want to put a little bit of your voice into it but not so much you?re sounding like you want to show off a fucking?promotional blurb. It?s not all about you, right? And you certainly don?t want to put anything that could even sniff a little bit of negativity (?Brilliant book despite its poopy third act!?), nor do you want to cram it into a niche (?Canadian meth addicts will love it!?). You want to say something about the book without it sounding really generic (?It is a book that has many words put together in great sentences!?) but also don?t want to get specific (?ROSEBUD IS A FUCKING SLED?).

So, blurbs are weird. Asking for them. Writing them.

It gets even weirder when you consider that sometimes, authors don?t even write the blurbs. (Sometimes editors or agents will write them on behalf of authors who may or may not have even read the books.) And sometimes blurbs are culled from reviews or statements online.?And, once in a blue moon, you see one of those blurbs from a mega-star author on a not-mega-star book (?This book was the holy tits!? ? J.K. Rowling) and you?re like,?how the hell did that happen? Did someone have incriminating evidence? Did they get J.K. Rowling really drunk one night on creme de menthe and they recorded whatever insane blurbs fell out of her mouth? Is there some other J.K. Rowling? Maybe some hair stylist from Reseda?

Anyway.

Couple questions, then.

Writers: what do you want in a blurb? And what do you aim for when you?write one?

Readers: what do you like in a blurb? What catches your attention and sells the book? Further: are there any authors whose blurbs carry significant weight with you ? and why?

Source: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/05/27/an-examination-of-the-wily-book-blurb/

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Just found this place, so I hope I'm doing everything right. . .

Setting: Southside of Chicago, IL, 1978

What I need to know: Is it reasonable for a neighborhood library to have a bound copy of Illinois Legal Code (specifically the Criminal Code) in its reference section? Or is this the sort of thing that would only be found at the central library downtown? Or only in a specialized law library?

What I tried: Google, with terms like "legal code book" and "public library" adding and subtracting "Illinois" and "criminal" in varying combinations. But all I could find were actual Illinois statutes related to libraries. I wanted to just search the Chicago Public Library catalog, but when I go to their site I keep getting error messages.

Source: http://little-details.livejournal.com/3325184.html

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Report Xbox One has remote play between consoles so a friend can help

Unnamed sources speaking with Polygon say the Xbox One has a remote play feature between consoles, both hardwired and online, allowing friends to take over gameplay remotely. The demonstration the sources claim to have witnessed featured one Xbox One connecting to another using "a local hardwired connection between consoles," with a Skype call bridging the two users. A similar feature is available on Sony's next-generation console, the PlayStation 4, both between consoles and via PlayStation Vita.

The other piece of the report adds to a bit we already knew concerning the new Kinect. "At some point, we'll be able to have conversational understanding," Microsoft hardware lead Todd Holmdahl told us last week. That "some point" may be sooner than later, as Microsoft reps were apparently already demonstrating the functionality, and said it'll be available either at launch or "post-launch within the first few months."

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, Software, HD, Microsoft

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Source: Polygon

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/25/report-xbox-one-remote-play/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) ? A suspect in the savage killing of a British soldier on a London street was arrested in Kenya in 2010 near the East African country's border with Somalia, an anti-terrorism police official said Sunday.

Michael Adebolajo was believed to have been preparing to train and fight with the al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group al-Shabab in 2010 when he was arrested with five others, Kenya's anti-terrorism police unit head Boniface Mwaniki told The Associated Press.

The revelations came as London's Metropolitan Police said specialist firearms officers arrested another man suspected of conspiring to murder 25-year-old soldier Lee Rigby. Police did not provide details about the suspect, only saying he is 22 years old.

The latest arrest followed the detainment in London late Saturday of three others, aged 21 to 28, also suspected in the case.

Rigby, who has served in Afghanistan, was run over and stabbed with knives in the Woolwich area in southeast London on Wednesday afternoon as he was walking near his barracks.

Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, are the main suspects in the killing and remained under armed guard in separate London hospitals after police shot them at the scene.

In Kenya, Mwaniki said that Adebolajo was deported after his arrest in 2010. However, Kenya's government spokesman said he was arrested under a different name, and taken to court before being handed to British authorities.

"Kenya's government arrested Michael Olemindis Ndemolajo. We handed him to British security agents in Kenya and he seems to have found his way to London and mutated to Michael Adebolajo," spokesman Muthui Kariuki said. "The Kenyan government cannot be held responsible for what happened to him after we handed him to British authorities."

Kariuki said Adebolajo was traveling on a British passport, but he could not confirm if it was authentic.

When asked about reports that British embassy officials were involved, a Foreign Office statement said: "We can confirm a British national was arrested in Kenya in 2010. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office provided consular assistance as normal for British nationals."

Rigby's grieving family visited the scene of his murder on Sunday, pausing for a few moments in reflection and laying flowers to join the hundreds of floral tributes already left at the nearby Woolwich Barracks by wellwishers.

The soldier's gruesome murder has horrified Britain, partly because it was captured by witnesses' cellphones. A video picked up by British media showed one of the suspects, with bloodied hands, making political statements and warning of more violence as the soldier lay on the ground behind him.

Hardline Muslim leaders have identified the man in the video as Adebolajo, an Islam convert who allegedly used to take part in London demonstrations organized by British radical group al-Muhajiroun. The group catapulted to notoriety after the Sept. 11 attacks by organizing an event to celebrate the airplane hijackers, and was banned in Britain in 2010.

More than 20 supporters of the group have been arrested over terrorism offenses, including a foiled plot to blow up central London nightclub Ministry of Sound and a bomb attack on London's Territorial Army base.

Anti-terrorism head Mwaniki rejected allegations that Adebolajo was tortured while in custody, but said the unit would further investigate.

Abu Nusaybah, a friend of Adebolajo's, has asserted in a BBC interview that Adebolajo became withdrawn after he allegedly suffered abuse by Kenyan security forces during interrogation in prison there. Mwaniki said at the time, there were no indications of torture or abuse.

Mwaniki said dozens of foreign youth are arrested every year attempting to cross the Kenyan border to join al-Shabab, which claims to be fighting a jihad or holy war against the Somali government and African Union forces.

Al-Shabab controlled Mogadishu from roughly 2007 to 2011. The group still dominates most of southcentral Somalia but has seen its territory reduced after military pushes by African Union and Somali forces.

According to an August U.S. State Department report on terrorism, al-Shabab continues to maintain training camps in southern Somalia for young recruits, including Americans who have traveled there from Somali communities in the United States.

The camps have churned out dozens of bombers who've launched attacks in and outside Somalia.

Al-Shabab boasts several hundred foreign fighters, mostly East African nationals and veterans from the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars.

British officials have been on the lookout for security threats originating from Somalia for some years.

In a speech in 2010, Jonathan Evans, then head of Britain's MI5 domestic security service, warned that "a significant number" of British residents were training in al-Shabab camps to fight in the insurgency there.

"I am concerned that it is only a matter of time before we see terrorism on our streets inspired by those who are today fighting alongside al-Shabab," he said.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Osborne, head of Scotland Yard's counterterrorism command, said officers are pursuing CCTV, social media, forensic and intelligence leads in the investigation. He appealed for anyone who knew the two attackers to contact police with information.

___

Hui reported from London.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kenya-uk-soldier-killing-suspect-arrested-2010-132149952.html

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Today's Doodle 4 Google image, the winning entry submitted by Wisconsin teenager Sabrina Brady, shows an emotional military parent-child reunion and reminds us that the kids of military parents go through their own suffering, and they need our support too.?

By Lisa Suhay,?Guest Blogger / May 23, 2013

. Today's Google Doodle, depicting a girl embracing her father upon return to the US, reminds us that life's tough for the kids whose parent is on a tour of duty abroad. Here, a military dad catches his daughter by surprise after she throws the first pitch at a baseball in Florida, May 17.

Today?s Doodle 4 Google image by Wisconsin teenager Sabrina Brady illustrates the powerful emotion of a military parent-child reunion. Looking at it, I suddenly realized?the images I usually associate with soldiers coming home from a tour of duty are images of adults in the throes of emotion ? Norman Rockwell?s famous?Saturday?Evening Post cover of a GI returning home, the sailor dipping a nurse and stealing a kiss on VJ Day.?

Skip to next paragraph Lisa Suhay

Lisa Suhay, who has four sons at home in Norfolk, Va., is a children?s book author and founder of the Norfolk (Va.) Initiative for Chess Excellence (NICE) , a nonprofit organization serving at-risk youth via mentoring and teaching the game of chess for critical thinking and life strategies.

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Sabrina's image shows it?s actually more powerful to see images of children in a moment of?commingled?relief and joy. It reminds us that supporting our troops also means supporting their kids.

The theme for this year?s Doodle 4 Google competition, which invites K-12 students to submit an illustration incorporating the search giant's logo, was ?My Best Day Ever...? Sabrina won with her piece, ?Coming Home,? an illustration of her running toward her father upon his return from an 18-month deployment in Iraq.

The image shows the stages of military childhood: from steadfast support, through expectation, and into embrace.

While my family members are not in the military, nearly all our friends and neighbors here in Norfolk, Va., are Navy families. Deployments are hard on anyone who has a loved one in harm?s way. However, I believe the greatest price paid for our freedom comes from the emotional piggy banks of the children of military families.

Nearby to Naval Station Norfolk ? a Navy base supporting US naval forces in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans ? this is sure to be the most popular Google Doodle of the year.

The image resonates even more strongly as President Barack Obama draws overseas troop levels down and military personnel return from deployments.

One such moving reunion moment came a week ago when Alayna Adams, 9, threw out the first pitch at a Tampa Bay Rays baseball game in honor of her father, a lieutenant colonel in the Army stationed in Afghanistan. However, when Alayna threw the pitch, the catcher took off his mask and revealed himself to be her father.

I watched that moment on television at the gym while I ran on the treadmill and had to stop to cry my eyes out along with four others in the room. Women and grown men who were there pumping iron alongside me paused, too. The emotion of the images on the big flatscreen flattened us all.

Seeing today?s Google Doodle brought it right back, and here I sit, at my computer, with tears running down my face in unison with the downpour outside my window.

In another TV reunion moment, Army Spc. Larry Shaffer arrived home last week from his stint in Afghanistan to his wife Misty who had lost over 100 lbs in his absence.

But for me, the more gut-wrenching moment came when Mr. Shaffer tried to hold his daughter Nevaeh (Heaven spelled backward) at the Wilmington, N.C., airport, but had to hold back as the little one shrieked and cried in panic at the sight of this ?stranger? trying to hug her. She clung to her grandmother, hysterical, as her father helplessly looked on, powerless to reconnect for the moment.

Parents in the military make the ultimate sacrifice in the name of our nation?s security and freedom. There are men and women, fathers and mothers, in every branch of service who would rather face death a thousand-fold rather than their own child who has been separated from them for so long they recoil from their parent?s ?strange? embrace. Maybe it was just the excitement that had Nevaeh unglued, but here in Norfolk it?s not uncommon to see children becoming tense and either overly emotional or shut-down as they wait in anticipation for a military mom or dad to come home after being away for many months.

For her ability to capture that in a ?doodle? and bring it all home for use, I believe Sabrina deserves all the accolades and prizes heaped on her today. Besides the home-page display, Google announced in a press release that Sabrina has won ?a $30,000 college scholarship, a Chromebook computer and a $50,000 technology grant for her school.? She beat out a field of 130,000 submissions that collectively drew millions of online votes. Google reports that she?ll attend the Minneapolis College of Art and Design this fall.

I want to thank Sabrina for letting us into her moment. We should all take a moment to do something kind for the child of a military family to show them that we support all our troops, great and small.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/t_TFABWKb58/Doodle-4-Google-shows-us-that-to-support-our-troops-we-must-support-their-kids

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Best Buy's deal of the day is Barnes and Noble's NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight for only $80. That's $30 off the next best offer and perhaps more importantly, $40 less than Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite (with ads).

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Friday, May 31, 2013

Soft data, commodity prices take TSX to one-week low

Even with defects, graphene is strongest material in the world

Healthy lifestyle choices mean fewer memory complaints

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Thursday, May 30, 2013

Ohio St president jabs Notre Dame, Catholics, SEC

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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Fandalism's Philip Kaplan Launches DistroKid, An Affordable Way To Upload Music To Stores Like iTunes

Finding a genetic cause for severe childhood epilepsies

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Bob Dole: GOP should be 'closed for repairs' (Washington Post)

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Monday, May 27, 2013

The Engadget Interview: Lixin Cheng on ZTE's US future at CTIA 2013

An Examination Of The Wily ?Book Blurb? ? terribleminds: chuck ...

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little_details: Book of Legal Code Found in Illinois Public Libraries?

Report: Xbox One has remote play between consoles so a friend can help

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Kenya: UK soldier killing suspect arrested in 2010

Doodle 4 Google shows us that to support our troops we must support their kids

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