Cancer risk models tested

Women, wouldn't you like to know your precise risk of developing breast cancer, ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer? And wouldn't you like to know what changes you could make in your life to reduce that risk?

Researchers from the National Cancer Institute would like to help you. They've just published a study in the journal PLOS Medicine that takes a significant step toward that goal.

Ruth Pfeiffer, a senior investigator in the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, and colleagues focused on the predictive value of more than a dozen variables, including a woman's body mass index, number of children she has, how long she took birth control pills, whether she used hormone therapy to treat symptoms of menopause, family history of gynecological cancers, and use of cigarettes and alcohol. They examined those variables in tens of thousands of women who participated in two long-term health studies ? the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study and the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial ? and used statistics to look for patterns that could explain why some women were diagnosed with cancer and others were not.

The breast cancer model performed the best. Among a group of 56,638 women who were part of the Nurses' Health Study, the researchers predicted a total of 2,930 breast cancer cases. In real life, there were 2,934. That was slightly more accurate than the NCI's Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool, which forecast a total of 2,947 breast cancer diagnoses. However, although the new model got the total number almost exactly right, it "significantly underestimated the number of breast cancers in premenopausal women," the study noted.

The model for ovarian cancer worked pretty well too. It predicted 406 cases, about 8 percent higher than the 377 cases that were actually diagnosed.

The model for endometrial cancer was further off the mark. It anticipated 640 cases among the nurses, though in real life there were only 532 cases. However, the research team noted that theirs was the first published model to predict an absolute risk for endometrial cancer, which is the fourth most common cancer in women.

Generally speaking, women with lower BMIs had lower cancer risk. Compared with women with similar BMIs who were nonsmokers, smokers had higher cancer risk too.

Women who took birth control pills tended to have higher cancer risk than women who didn't. So did women who used hormone replacement therapy. Women who had three or four children tended to have lower cancer risk than women who had one, and it helped if they had their first child in their 20s instead of in their 30s or 40s.

All of the women used to develop the models were white and at least 50 years old, and none of them had mutations in their BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes that are known to boost the risk of breast or ovarian cancer. That means the results wouldn't necessarily apply to all women, they wrote.

In theory, reliable models could help women make important decisions about their health, especially in cases where a certain action decreases the risk of one type of cancer but raises it for another. Here's an example Pfeiffer and her colleagues described in the study: A woman with a high risk of breast cancer might consider taking tamoxifen to reduce that risk. But first, she might like to know her risk of endometrial cancer, since the drug would increase her risk for that.

In a Perspective essay that accompanied the PLOS Medicine study, two experts praised the idea of developing models to predict cancer risk. "What we want from models is that they help us make better decisions, leading to better outcomes for our patients," they wrote. But the jury is still out on the best way to judge any model's strengths and weaknesses, they added.

Source: http://www.montereyherald.com/lifestyle/ci_23792749/cancer-risk-models-tested?source=rss

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Win a box of AC swag!

It's the weekend, the bosses take the day off, and Michelle and I have cooked an awesome little plan where we're gonna give away three boxes full of random Android Central swag!

There may be a t-shirt, there may be stickers, there may be a coffee mug, pens, sticky notes or any manner of great AC stuff crammed into a box and sent to your door. We've got a big pile of it, and the best thing to do when you have a pile of cool stuff is to share some of it.

Want to try and win one of the boxes? That's the easy part. Make sure you registered at AC with a real email address. If we pick you, we need to know how to get in contact with you. If you didn't and we pick your name, we'll never know where to send your loot and we have to give it to someone else. That would totally suck, so make sure it doesn't happen. 

Once you've done that, just leave a comment below. At 11:59 PM Pacific time Sunday night, we'll shut it down and pick three winners at random. All that's left for you to do is check your email and see if you were one of them.

Ready? Set? Go!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/-NyuCYKbmxk/story01.htm

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President Obama to deliver speech Tuesday at Desert Vista High School - not open...

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Is It Really 'Gluten-Free'? FDA Sets New Limits

People with celiac disease can now trust that foods labeled "gluten-free" are safe for them to eat, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says.

The agency issued a final rule today (Aug. 2) that requires foods with "gluten-free" labels to limit their gluten levels to less than 20 parts gluten per million parts of food.

The new rule also says that gluten-free foods cannot contain any wheat, rye or barley, or any of their crossbreeds. If any ingredients derived from these grains are used, they have to be processed to reduce their gluten to amounts less than the new limits, according to a statement from the FDA.

"This standard 'gluten-free' definition will eliminate uncertainty about how food producers label their products, and will assure people with celiac disease that foods labeled 'gluten-free' meet a clear standard established and enforced by FDA," said Michael R. Taylor, deputy FDA commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine.

People with the intestinal condition celiac disease have to avoid eating foods that contain gluten, proteins that occur naturally in wheat, rye and barley. Eating cakes, pasta and bread made with these grains' flours can be life threatening for people with celiac disease.

"The only choice for the up to 3 million Americans living with CD is to adhere strictly to a gluten-free diet," said Virginia A. Cox, associate commissioner of the FDA's Office of External Affairs.

For these people, consuming gluten can damage the intestines, prevent the absorption of vitamins and minerals, and lead to a host of other health problems, she said.

Celiac disease is a condition in which the body's defense system reacts to gluten by attacking the lining of the small intestine, and currently has no cure. The symptoms include pain, diarrhea and weight loss.

The new gluten limit is the lowest level that can be detected in foods using available tools, and is consistent with the limits set in other countries, according to the FDA.

"This is a tool that has been desperately needed," Andrea Levario, executive director of the American Celiac Disease Alliance said. "It keeps food safe for this population, gives them the tools they need to manage their health, and obviously has long-term benefits for them." [How to know if you have celiac disease]

The new rules are an addition to FDA requirements for other food labeled as "free": "Salt free" or "sodium free" means less than 5 grams of salt per serving, and items labeled "sugar free" should contain less than 0.5 g of sugar per serving. Foods labeled "zero calories" should have less than five calories in each serving.

Manufacturers have one year to ensure their gluten-free labels are consistent with the FDA requirements. Foods that carry labels stating they're gluten-free, free of gluten, without gluten and no gluten, but fail to meet the set limits, would be considered misbranded and subject to regulatory action by the FDA.
?

Email Bahar Gholipour or follow her @alterwired. Follow?LiveScience?@livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/really-gluten-free-fda-sets-limits-175806221.html

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If the order has not been shipped; please contact DinoDirect Live Support for order cancellation.You will get your refund within 24 hours.

If the order has already been shipped; you may return the item to us postmarked within 30 calendar days of delivery. Before that, please contact our Live Support to inform that.
In that case we will refund you the payment excluding actual shipping fees already incurred.

If the item is defective, please contact DinoDirect Live Support and send an email to us at cs-center@dinodirect.com attached an image or video file clearly showing the defect of the product. And we will give you a response within 24 hours whether we will resend the item or refund the payment to you for compensation.

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Snowden's WikiLeaks 'adviser' takes public role

LONDON (AP) ? The whole time Edward Snowden has been seeking asylum, WikiLeaks staffer Sarah Harrison has been by his side.

She has emerged as a central, if mysterious, figure in the saga that has taken Snowden across the world in an attempt to evade U.S. espionage charges. Harrison rose from intern to one of WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange's most trusted lieutenants in just a few years, but she has earned an even higher profile as Snowden's guide and adviser.

WikiLeaks says she traveled with the former NSA systems analyst from Hong Kong to Moscow. She appeared next to Snowden at a meeting with activists at the Moscow airport where he was stranded in hiding for weeks. She even slipped out of the airport in a taxi with him after Russia granted him asylum Thursday, according to the group.

WikiLeaks has otherwise not revealed much about her. But what is clear is that she has become indispensable to the organization.

It has described her as Snowden's legal adviser. While she does not appear to have a law degree, her bio on the Wikileaks websites lists Harrison as a "U.K. citizen, journalist and legal researcher." Media reports put her age at 31.

While interning at the Center of Investigative Journalism, based at London's City University, she helped WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange with the organization's disclosure of secret U.S. military records, according to the group's website. Harrison went on to join the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in August 2010, working as a researcher at the British not-for-profit that supports investigative journalism.

There she worked on the team handling a series of Iraq War files released by WikiLeaks to several major media organizations ?before moving into WikiLeaks itself in October 2010. Since then, she has maintained a constant, but mostly silent, presence at Assange's side.

She was with him at the English country manor where he lived under house arrest while resisting extradition to Sweden on sex-related allegations. She was also with him at his court appearances. She was among those who forked over funds for his bail, money they lost when he sought refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in violation of his bail conditions.

But with Assange holed up in the embassy, Harrison has taken on a more public role with the organization.

She appeared at London's Frontline Club last year to announce that WikiLeaks was in the process of publishing material from 2.4 million Syrian emails, many of which it said came from official government accounts. In that appearance, she acknowledged that WikiLeaks was facing "a difficult time at the moment" but said "we are continuing to work through that."

On Thursday, WikiLeaks announced that Snowden had left the Moscow airport ? under Harrison's care. Rarely seen publicly in their weeks hiding out at the Sheremetyevo airport transit zone, that appears unlikely to change now that they have taken a taxi to somewhere in Russia.

"Harrison has remained with Mr. Snowden at all times to protect his safety and security, including during his exit from Hong Kong," WikiLeaks said in a statement. "They departed from the airport together in a taxi and are headed to a secure, confidential place."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/snowdens-wikileaks-adviser-takes-public-role-201056405.html

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Networking within UK businesses has increased by 15% since 2012

Networking has increased within UK companies according to a new report. The marketing technique is now used by nearly three out of five (58%) companies, a sign that companies today prefer to deepen relationships by face-to-face contact.

Compared to a similar report last year (the 2012 Channel Vision report), networking has increased by 15% over the last 12 months, a sign that in today?s digital age companies feel the need to boost their relations with their customers in a more personal way.

The new report, ?Channel Vision ? Version 2.0?, put together by design, marketing and print specialists Catalogues 4 Business (C4B) questioned over 100 organisations within the UK. The report was drawn from a diverse mix of businesses, both B2B and B2C, and a combination of industry sectors.

The report reflects that networking is second in terms of importance for delivering sales, managing director at C4B, Ian Simpson said: ?A majority of companies within the UK have found that networking has become a crucial element to their organisation. Even though social media and digital marketing has been increasing in popularity, networking has become that much more important. People prefer to talk to humans rather than computers and prefer to receive information in their hand rather than in an email. Its much more personal and appealing. A catalogue therefore becomes a great sales tool for any networker.?

The report also found that almost every company that can sell off the web could sell by catalogue too. It states that one in five businesses don?t use catalogues, who argue that it isn?t appropriate to their business. However, it highlighted that there is a need for catalogue and mail order specialists to educate the market and increase sales.

Ian Simpson said: ?The importance of offline marketing has come back into focus for companies compared to last year. With such a heavy focus on the digital era, the personal touch of networking has been lost and undervalued.?

He added: ?Now that offline marketing has flown back into the market, it is important to remember that you, as a business, need to create personal relationships with your customers and continue to build your brand. If you integrate networking with tangible materials such as catalogues, you have a strong, solid system.?

Using catalogues as a brand builder has significantly increased, a reported 39% use the technique. While looking ahead, 38% of companies aim to increase their sales by up to 20% this year, which could be done through networking and several sales platforms. Using catalogues as a sales channel is growing in importance with 17% saying that it will be crucial in the next year.

Questions surrounded their current and future business as well as their sales and marketing plans. Within the report, views of significant players were asked with 13% of those having a turnover in excess of ?20 million.

To download a copy of the report, click here or for more details phone: 0845 2300 258.

Source: http://the-gma.com/archives/networking-within-uk-businesses-has-increased-by-15-since-2012

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Berlusconi conviction leaves Italian government hanging

By Roberto Landucci

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's fragile coalition government, already struggling to contain deep divisions over tax and economic policy, woke up to a whole set of new problems on Friday after Silvio Berlusconi's conviction for tax fraud was upheld by the supreme court.

Just three months after center-left Prime Minister Enrico Letta took office at the head of an uneasy alliance with Berlusconi's People of Freedom party (PDL), Italy, the euro zone's third largest economy, is again mired in uncertainty.

Letta repeated on Friday that Italy must have a stable government, saying the last thing it needs is to be worn down by partisan battles.

But everything hangs on the unpredictable reaction of Berlusconi.

The 76-year-old billionaire and his supporters have reacted angrily to his conviction and prison term, the first definitive sentence he has received in dozens of trials during his two decades in politics.

While he is unlikely to spend any time in jail due to his age, the verdict was an unprecedented blow and he could lose his seat in parliament within weeks with a vote on expelling him from the Senate likely in September.

He has declared he will continue his political activities under the "Forza Italia" (Go Italy!) name of his first party and press for a reform of the justice system, with speculation growing that his daughter Marina may succeed him as party leader.

So far he has given no indication of wishing to bring the government down and pitch Italy into fresh elections, but the already dim prospects of significant reforms to revive Italy's stagnant economy and cut its massive debt have receded further.

Agreement over thorny issues such as privatizations due in the autumn or the much-disputed IMU property tax which Berlusconi wants to scrap but which would blow a hole in already strained public finances will be difficult.

"It depends on the PDL," deputy Economy Minister Stefano Fassina, from Letta's center-left Democratic Party (PD) told Reuters.

"It's not something which can be settled in the next few hours but over the next few weeks, we'll have to settle the IMU issue and on an issue like this, it can't just be about Berlusconi's personal interests," he said.

Problems just as serious could also come from Fassina's own fractious camp, with many in the center-left unhappy at the prospect of remaining in alliance with a convicted tax evader. To add to the problems facing Letta, Matteo Renzi, the ambitious young mayor of Florence, is widely expected to mount a bid to lead the party.

MARKETS CALM

Letta himself said that the situation was "politically very delicate" and he called on all sides to show responsibility in the interests of the country. But he acknowledged that there were limits to what could be accepted.

"I don't consider that continuing at any cost is necessarily in the interests of the country," he said.

For all the drama surrounding the sentence, financial markets have shrugged off the ruling at least for now, encouraged by the European Central Bank's guarantee to backstop countries that ran into difficulty on the bond markets.

The main barometer of investor sentiment, the spread between Italian 10 year bond yields and their safer German equivalents, actually fell on Friday to 262 basis points from 270 the previous day.

Italy's blue-chip share index opened flat, although shares in Berlusconi's Mediaset media empire fell as much as 4 percent in volatile early trade.

But the calm could change if prolonged political instability fuelled doubts about Italy's badly strained public finances and created the kind of pressure that brought down Berlusconi's last government as the euro zone crisis peaked two years ago.

With Italy's stagnant economy showing the first faint signs of improvement after two years of recession, it can ill afford months of debilitating stalemate.

Claudio Aspesi, an analyst at research firm Bernstein said markets anticipated little action during the August summer holidays but tensions would intensify once activity picked up after the break.

"In September this could reignite concerns on the government's survival and the repercussions for the economy," he said.

President Giorgio Napolitano, the man who would have to decide whether to call new elections if the ruling coalition fell apart, has urged calm, saying the country needed "serenity and cohesion."

Whether that will be possible will be seen in the months ahead.

As well as the tax fraud case, Berlusconi is also fighting a separate conviction for paying for sex with a minor, in the notorious "bunga bunga" prostitution case that tarnished his final months in office in 2011.

(Additional reporting Danilo Masoni, Francesca Landini and Francesco Canepa; Writing by James Mackenzie and Silvia Aloisi; Editing by Barry Moody)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/berlusconi-conviction-leaves-italian-government-hanging-075259833.html

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Oil soars on positive signs for global economy

NEW YORK (AP) ? The price of oil is suddenly marching upward again.

Oil rose $2.86 a barrel Thursday, for a two-day gain of $4.81, or 4.7 percent. That erased a $4 decline in the week ended Tuesday.

Positive signs on the global economy were the catalyst Thursday. Data from China and Europe showed improvement in manufacturing. In the U.S., in addition to a strong report on manufacturing, a drop in unemployment claims indicated a strengthening job market.

Even with those signs of improvement, global central bankers show no inclination of easing up on measures that have kept interest rates at historic lows ? and prompted investment in riskier assets like oil and stocks.

On Thursday Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank, indicated it is nowhere near withdrawing its help for the euro area's economy. On Wednesday the U.S. Federal Reserve hinted that it's not ready to slow its bond-buying program, which has kept long-term rates low in an effort to boost borrowing and spending.

At the gas pump, drivers paid an average of $3.63 Thursday, down 3 cents from a week ago, but still 11 cents higher than at this time a year ago.

Benchmark oil for September delivery gained 2.7 percent to close at $107.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On Friday attention will be focused on the release of hiring figures for July, which will be examined for hints about future energy demand in the world's No. 1 economy.

Brent crude, traded on the ICE Futures exchange in London, rose $1.84 to finish at $109.54 per barrel.

In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:

? Heating oil was up 4 cents to end at $3.10 a gallon.

? Natural gas fell 6 cents to finish at $3.39 per 1,000 cubic feet.

? Wholesale gasoline rose 3 cents to end at $3.03 a gallon.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-08-01-Oil-Prices/id-af8f81a71db9447b98cf47c6af5c92bd

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Goodell: NFL will not punish Riley Cooper further than the Eagles already have

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Microsoft Office Mobile arrives to Android phones, but not tablets http://ow.ly/...

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Kim Jong-un Confirms Design For a $200 Million International Airport

First Instagram, now this: An architecture and planning firm in Hong Kong has reportedly been chosen to turn a military airstrip in North Korea into an international airport. The plans show two donut-shaped terminals that could contribute to what some are describing as a tiny-but-not-imperceptible North Korean economic boom.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/XqmVnbQqViM/kim-jong-un-confirms-design-for-a-200-million-internat-954565144

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Rare Naked Ladies Crocus Infected with Even Rarer Smutty Fungus

Who knew botany and mycology could be so naughty? Naked ladies and smut have come to light in the U.K., but not in the way you might think.

Yes, you can get your minds out of the gutter. We?re talking about the rare plant called the naked ladies crocus (Colchicum autumnale) and the even rarer sooty-black smut fungus (Urocystis colchici). The fungus showed up this month on a single naked ladies crocus at Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire, England, which marked only the fourth time the critically endangered smutty fungus has been observed since 1938. (At least eight other varieties and forms of the fungus can be found around the world, including the U.S., where it affects onions, but the base species has only been observed in the U.K.)

The naked ladies crocus, which itself is listed as a ?near threatened? species in the U.K., gets its name from its propensity to lose its spring leaves before the plant flowers in the autumn, leaving the buds ?naked.? The rotting spring leaves, meanwhile, are the only known host for the sooty-black smut fungus. (Smut fungi, by the way, get their name from the German word schmutz, meaning dirt, which they resemble. There are about 1,000 known species of smut fungi around the world.)

Dave Shorten of the Cotswold Fungus Group, who discovered this month?s fungus, found it growing on a few leaves of a single plant within the 242-hectare park during one of the group?s ?fungus forays,? in which the mycological enthusiasts spend their Sundays documenting the fungi of various parks in the Gloucestershire region. As you can see from the photo accompanying this article, the fungus does look like a small spot of dirt on the leaves of the crocus. According to the U.K. Forestry Commission, each cluster of fungus produces hundreds of thousands of brown-black spores, each 15 to 35 microns in diameter. (A micron is one millionth of a meter.)

This is actually the second sooty-black smut fungus sighting this year but just the 27th time it has ever been recorded in the U.K. The most recent sighting took place on May 10 about 80 kilometers away, in Oxfordshire. Mycologists also observed the fungus in 2002 and 2003 at Moccas Park in Herefordshire. Before that, the last sighting was in 1938.

Shorten says the way the Forestry Commission manages the arboretum makes the site a perfect habitat for a large variety of fungi. The arboretum?s many paths are kept clear, but any wood or leaves that fall on the ground are left to decay naturally. Not only does this provide extra nutrients to the soil, it has also created a perfect breeding ground for birds, insects and fungi. Shorten says he and his predecessors have cataloged 1,271 fungi species at Westonbirt so far, and expects to identify still more in the coming months.

Because of its rarity, the smutty fungus is a legally protected species in the U.K. and is considered to be of ?principal conservation importance.? The Forestry Commission warns that it should not be picked and asks anyone else who observes it in the region to contact the Cotswold Fungus Group.

Photo: The sooty-black smut fungus (Urocystis colchici) on the leaves of a naked ladies crocus (Colchicum autumnale). Photo by Dave Shorten, courtesy of the U.K. Forestry Commission

Previously in Extinction Countdown:

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/~r/sciam/basic-science/~3/2U5hj5xlXlc/post.cfm

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What if Apple and Google Went to War?

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Source: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/07/apple-google-war

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Are tablets now as good as games consoles | Best Technology ...

Comparing tablet computers to games consoles is fairly tricky because on the surface they are very different products.

Tablets are all-in-one devices designed to let you consume media content, apps and games when you are sitting on your sofa or out and about. Games consoles are dedicated systems aimed at delivering interactive entertainment in a living room environment, with no innate portability built in.

But in recent years the lines between these two types of gadget have blurred, raising the question of whether you could replace a console with a tablet and still satisfy your gaming needs.

So should you get money for your old games console and invest it in a tablet, or is there still space for both devices in your home?

Ways to Play

Tablet gaming is all about bite-sized play sessions that can last just a few minutes, with most titles relying on touchscreen or motion controls to let you manage the action.

Consoles, on the other hand, remain the premier platform for longer bouts of gaming, with story-driven single player experiences and online multiplayer experiences which can last for hours at a time. Physical control pads are also the chief form of interaction, although some tablet-style features have begun to appear on certain consoles.

The Wii U, for example, has a primary controller with a large touchscreen display at its centre. Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 can be used with a tablet app called SmartGlass which turns your portable device into another controller. The upcoming PlayStation 4 DualShock 4 control pad will have a built-in touch panel.

Graphic Content

You may think that the biggest difference between tablets and home consoles is in the visual department, since games like Angry Birds use simple 2D graphics while high end console releases deliver rich 3D worlds with hundreds of thousands of polygons on show.

Interestingly, however, most tablet games belie the power of the device on which they are running. The iPad can, for example, support a modified version of the Unreal Engine, which is the same toolkit used to create console franchises like Gears of War.

So the point is not that tablets are less able to generate realistic 3D graphics than consoles, but rather than developers choose not to harness this technology particularly often.

Value Considerations

One reason to choose a tablet rather than a console for gaming is the price of the software. With a console, you not only have to buy the hardware, but you then also pay ?40-?60 for a new game.

Tablets, on the other hand, have access to thousands of games that are free or incredibly cheap, offering hours of fun for relatively minimal investment. So even if a tablet costs more than a console upfront, you will pay less in the long run, particularly when you compare the price of cross-platform games.

Using a tablet is easy ? it is always close to hand ? ?so if you have a console gathering dust, it makes sense to sell it to raise cash for a tablet.

Source: http://www.besttechnology.org/2013/07/30/are-tablets-now-as-good-as-games-consoles/

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Monday Buzz

Monday Buzz

Friends Throw Fergie a Baby Shower in Beverly Hills?[The Frisky] Selena Gomez Talks Growing Up into an Adult?[HollyWire] Celebrities Boycott Florida Over Zimmerman Verdict??[Right Celebrity] Johnny Depp Giving Up Acting Career Soon?[The Celebrity Cafe] Marilyn Monroe Poses For Hair Ad?[The Huffington Post] Mario Lopez Flaunts His Six Pack?[The Blemish] Hoda Kotb to Join The View??[Celeb ...

Monday Buzz Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/07/monday-buzz/

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TUNE IN to watch The Perfect Holiday starring the SEXY Gabrielle Union and Morri...

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This Robot Can Draw Your Blood

Some people are champs about having blood drawn and even go back as often as they're allowed to donate blood. If you're one of those people that's frickin great. Go pat yourself on the back. If not you are probably thinking that you don't want a robot coming anywhere near you with a needle. But the robot might actually be the better bet.

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Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-robot-can-draw-your-blood-943974838

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Save Caribbean snorkeling and 'eat a lion,' conservationists say.

Red lionfish have invaded the Caribbean and threaten to devastate the marine ecosystem in a region renowned for diving and snorkeling.

By Ezra Fieser,?Correspondent / July 27, 2013

An Indo-Pacific red lionfish swims in the Caribbean in this undated photograph.

Courtesy of Mark Albin/Oregon State University/Reuters

Enlarge

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic

Here?s the last thing you?d expect to hear from a conservationist: Eat a lion.

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But that?s exactly what marine biologists are telling people across the Caribbean, where red lionfish ? an invader from the Pacific ? threaten to devastate the marine ecosystems that make the region a renowned destination for SCUBA divers and snorkelers.

Lionfish share little with their big cat namesake other than a fan of fins that resembles a flowing mane and, more importantly, a veracious appetite. The fish gobble up the small native fish that are an integral piece of the food chain and an important link in maintaining dazzling underwater seascapes.?With no natural predators or diseases to keep the population in check, lionfish are now found on nearly every coral reef from New York to Venezuela and they are multiplying fast. Lacking other options, conservationists are pushing a simple message: capture them and cook them. Fishing communities are learning how to catch and process lionfish, which carry a painful dose of venom in their fins. And restaurants and markets are trying to sell the white flakey filets, which taste like snapper or grouper.?

Researchers say divers and fisherman appear to be the only players that can do anything to keep lionfish numbers down. Native predators, such as large groupers and sharks, don?t recognize lionfish as a prey.

"In addition to further research, it seems that the only thing we can do to control lionfish at this point is to keep spearing them," says Serena Hackerott, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. Ms. Hackerott was the lead?author on a 2013 study, published in PLOS One, that found native predators, such as large groupers and sharks, are not controlling lionfish populations to a discernible degree.

"I think that?s our best bet now. I'm not optimistic that natural resistance is going to be enough of an interdiction to control the population."

?Great eating fish?

Unlike other fish that can be caught on a line, lionfish have to be netted or speared, making it a time-consuming catch. Across the Caribbean, conservation groups have worked with local communities to teach them how to capture and then process lionfish, pointing out how to avoid getting pricked by one of the venomous spines.

?My arm was inflamed all the way up to my shoulder,? says Mildred Minaya, a public relations executive for a Dominican bank who, with six office workers, formed a SCUBA diving group that goes out monthly to monitor and control the lionfish population at a marine park outside of the capital, Santo Domingo. ?And I wasn?t even pricked directly. It just nicked me.?

The venomous fins are easily removed, and lionfish are completely safe to eat. Convincing diners of that, however, is another matter.

In Caribbean and Florida restaurants, you can find the fish fried whole, saut?ed, served up in traditional sauces, or even raw in sushi plates.

?It?s a great eating fish. Even in places where it?s not being consumed or offered in a restaurant or at a fish retailer, there?s a lot of personal consumption taking place,? says Lad Akins, director of special projects at REEF, a Key Largo-based marine conservation nonprofit. ?But it?s an expensive fish to collect, and the market place is still learning how to deal with it.?

At a white tablecloth restaurant off of Santo Domingo?s oceanfront boulevard, Jos? Esteves, a ma?tre d? has been trying to push the lionfish in coconut milk sauce for the past year.

?It?s not very well known and people are a little hesitant to order it,? Mr. Esteves says. The restaurant, Vesuvio, sells the dish for $16.50, about $4 less than the more popular snapper plate. ?There was a campaign, ?eat a lion,? that helped a little. The fish has a nice flavor.?

A ?deepening? problem

Even if there?s a permanent market for lionfish filets, humans might never be able to get ahead of the problem. New research is showing that lionfish are found at depths divers can?t reach: A submersible vessel spotted one 1,000 feet down off the Bahamas. The recommended maximum for recreational divers is around 100 feet or a little deeper.

No one is certain how lionfish arrived in the Atlantic and Caribbean, but scientists believe enough of the popular aquarium fish were dumped into the Atlantic to create a breeding population. When they arrived, they left behind the diseases and natural predators that have kept the Pacific population in check and the population has exploded in recent years.

Although relatively small (around 12 to 18 inches on average), they are skilled hunters. Just before striking, lionfish blow a jet of water to stun and position their prey headfirst to more easily eat them, researchers believe.

Divers observe them lazily hovering around the coral, eating anything they can fit in their mouths, from crustaceans to small fish. Among those fish they?re eating are the young of fish key to maintaining the health of coral reefs already under stress thanks to warming sea temperatures and ocean acidification.

Take parrotfish, a group made up of some 90 often brilliantly colored reef fish found throughout the Caribbean. Parrotfish feed on the algae that chokes ? and eventually kills ? coral reefs. They are key in helping reefs rebound from years of die-off, but they?re also a favorite meal for the lionfish. Unfortunately, because lionfish are recent arrivals, young parrotfish don?t recognize them as predators, making them helpless prey.

The seemingly insatiable appetite doesn?t stop there. It also poses a huge risk to Atlantic fisheries as they wolf down the young of fish like snapper and grouper.

Mr. Akins says evolution will eventually find a way to control the lionfish population. What happens in the meantime is the question.

?What a balance will look like is a complete unknown and the fear is that the picture once that balance is formed may be pretty dire,? he says. ?The species we rely on commercially could be dramatically impacted to the point of potential collapse.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/8_-rFhNNa3o/Save-Caribbean-snorkeling-and-eat-a-lion-conservationists-say

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Google blasted for persisting online drug ads

JACKSON, Miss.? -- Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says Google (GOOG) is still selling Internet ads promoting illegally sold drugs, and that the technology giant refuses to drop those websites from search results.

The Democrat demanded Thursday that Google CEO Larry Page attend a meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General on June 18 in Boston to answer questions, saying earlier responses were "evasive" and "overly technical." Hood, who is one of three co-chairs of the association's intellectual property committee, said that if Google doesn't cooperate, he's going to recommend forcing the company to produce documents.

"I hope the CEO is not aware of what Google has been doing," Hood said at a news conference.

Company spokesman Aaron Stein said Google takes safety "very seriously" and has explained to Hood how it fights illegal pharmacies.

"In the last two years, we've removed more than 3 million ads for illegal pharmacies," he wrote in an email. "We continue to work on this issue with industry partners and groups like the Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies."

The Mountain View-based company also said it has responded to more than 16 million requests in the last month alone for copyrighted material to be removed.

Stein didn't respond to further questions about whether Page would attend the meeting.

Google paid $500 million to the federal government in 2011 to settle claims over ads sold to pharmacies that were illegally shipping drugs into the United States.

Hood said it's wrong for Google to auto-complete searches helping someone to buy drugs without a prescription or illegally download music and movies. He reiterated those points in a May 21 letter to Page, noting that Google has blocked search results for child pornography and won't auto-complete phrases such as "free child porn."

Hood wrote that providing search results or auto-complete for a phrase such as "buy oxycodone online no prescription" similarly promotes illegal activity and should be blocked. He also wants Google to remove content from its YouTube unit that instructs people on how to buy drugs without a prescription, saying that Google is making money from ads that appear alongside those and every other YouTube video.

Hood warned that Google could be prosecuted as an accessory before the fact for illegal drug sales. He also said state nuisance laws could apply.

"We would hold a skating rink responsible if this activity was going on around it," he said.

Hood said officials have been able to get credit card companies to cut off payments to online retailers they consider illegal and have improved communications between law enforcement and Facebook.

"Google ought to do like other companies involved," Hood said.

Hood said a lawsuit against Google could be difficult, but he noted that attorneys general worked together to sue tobacco companies. Mississippi was a leader in that effort, but the suit and the money it brought for plaintiffs' attorneys brought a furious backlash from state Republicans. They continue to say that Democratic attorney generals give lucrative cases to their political allies, who in turn give campaign contributions back to the official.?

Source: http://www.denverpost.com/technology/ci_23743820/google-blasted-persisting-online-drug-ads?source=rss

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