Russia, Turkey agree to differ over Syria conflict

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Russia and Turkey agreed to differ on Monday on strategies to end Syria's civil war, highlighting how distant the prospects of a negotiated solution to the 20-month-old conflict are.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan during a one-day visit to Istanbul aimed partly at ensuring differences over Syria do not damage a deepening trade and energy relationship.

"The positions of the Russian Federation and Turkey completely correspond regarding what has to be attained (in Syria), but as of yet no shared approach regarding methods of how to attain it has been reached," Putin told a joint news conference with Erdogan after the talks.

Turkey - worried about Syria's chemical weapons, a growing refugee crisis, and Syrian support for Kurdish militants - has been a major backer of the Syrian opposition and has led calls for international action against President Bashar al-Assad.

It sees Russia, one of Syria's closest allies, as key to quelling a conflict that has sent over a hundred thousand refugees fleeing to Turkish soil and stirred warnings of a sectarian war beyond Syria's borders.

"Our biggest wish is an immediate halt to the bloodshed and fighting in Syria, and we are taking steps to make sure our foreign ministers are carrying out extensive work with this aim," Erdogan told the news conference.

But Moscow has vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at putting pressure on the Syrian leader, blocking Turkish, Western and Arab efforts to provide U.N. support for the rebel forces trying to topple him.

As Syria's new opposition coalition consolidates, Russia has stepped up efforts to tell the world it is not on Assad's side, part of a bid to cast itself as a neutral player with an interest in peace alone. But it has shown no signs of shifting to join Western rivals in backing the rebels.

Turkish officials say Russia must be assured it does not stand to lose from the departure of Assad, who has been Moscow's chief Middle Eastern ally. Syria has been a major client for Russian arms and hosts a naval maintenance facility that is Russia's only military base outside the former Soviet Union.

Both sides have been careful to ensure their differences over Syria do not undermine a broader relationship governed by trade, Turkey's need for energy supplies and mutual security interests across an array of regional hotspots.

"Turkish-Russian relations have made significant progress in the last 10 years," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a television interview ahead of Putin's visit.

"Nobody should dwell on a scenario in which tensions emerge between Turkey and Russia over Syria."

ENERGY DEALS

Russia provides nearly two thirds of Turkey's gas supplies and often ramps up its exports to the country during frequent cuts in Iranian gas supplies in the winter.

Erdogan said Turkey would continue to buy natural gas from Iran despite the prospect of tighter U.S. sanctions aimed at ratcheting up economic pressure on Tehran over its disputed nuclear program.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, who was also in Istanbul, said on Sunday Russia was willing to increase gas supplies to Turkey - Gazprom's second-largest natural gas consumer after Germany - this winter if requested.

Turkish energy officials said Ankara, which usually buys around 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas from Russia each year, had requested an additional 3 bcm from Gazprom ahead of an anticipated rise in energy demand in the winter months.

Gazprom clinched a long-term deal to export natural gas to private companies in Turkey last month, securing a growing market for the Russian gas export monopoly as it faces declines from its core consumers in the European Union.

The move followed a one-year impasse in gas trade between Gazprom and Turkish firms after state pipeline company Botas did not renew an expiring 25-year contract at the end of 2011 due to a pricing dispute. Business has continued in the meantime only on a short-term basis.

State-controlled Russian energy group InterRao meanwhile said it had reached a tentative agreement to complete the purchase of a power station in Turkey this year by buying the Turkish subsidiary of U.S. firm AEI. [ID:nL5E8N3GAB]

Sources familiar with the matter say the deal had been held up for months amid tensions between Moscow and Ankara with Turkish government approval the last major hurdle.

(Additional reporting by Steve Gutterman and Thomas Grove in Moscow and Daren Butler in Istanbul; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-turkey-agree-differ-over-syria-conflict-181549025--finance.html

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Explainer: Why was pregnant duchess hospitalized?

FILE - Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge seen during her visit to St. Andrew?s School, where she attended school, in Pangbourne, England, in this file photo dated Friday, Nov. 30, 2012. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to announce that the Duchess of Cambridge is expecting a baby, St James's Palace officially announced Monday Dec. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Arthur Edwards, File)

FILE - Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge seen during her visit to St. Andrew?s School, where she attended school, in Pangbourne, England, in this file photo dated Friday, Nov. 30, 2012. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to announce that the Duchess of Cambridge is expecting a baby, St James's Palace officially announced Monday Dec. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Arthur Edwards, File)

Policeman stand guard outside the King Edward VII hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge has been admitted with a severe form of morning sickness, in London, Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. Prince William and his wife Kate are expecting their first child. St. James's Palace announced the pregnancy Monday, saying that the Duchess of Cambridge ? formerly known as Kate Middleton ? has a severe form of morning sickness and is currently in a London hospital. William is at his wife's side. The palace said since the pregnancy is in its "very early stages," the 30-year-old duchess is expected to stay in the hospital for several days and will require a period of rest afterward. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

(AP) ? While morning sickness in pregnant women is common, the problem the Duchess of Cambridge has been hospitalized with is not.

In a statement Monday, palace officials said she was hospitalized with hyperemesis gravidarum, a potentially dangerous type of morning sickness where vomiting is so severe no food or liquid can be kept down. Palace officials said the duchess was expected to remain hospitalized for several days and would require a period of rest afterward.

The condition most often affects women early in their pregnancy; the duchess is less than 12 weeks pregnant.

Doctors said the duchess would likely recover in a few days. Dr. Daghni Rajasingam, a spokeswoman for Britain's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said women with severe symptoms ? including dehydration, dizziness and persistent vomiting ? needed to be hospitalized for treatment, including being given fluids intravenously.

"However, this usually only means a few days in (the) hospital," she said in a statement. "The best advice for anyone suffering from (severe morning sickness) is to get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluid."

Severe morning sickness affects about 1 in 200 pregnant women, according to Britain's Department of Health. It is more common in young women, women who are pregnant for the first time and those expecting multiple babies.

Doctors aren't sure what causes it but suspect it could be linked to hormonal changes or nutritional problems.

If the problem is recognized and treated early, doctors say there are no long-term effects for either the mother or the child. Left untreated, the mother could be at risk of developing neurological problems ? including seizures ? or risk delivering the baby early.

Rajasingam said most pregnant women recover from the condition with no serious consequences.

"With early diagnosis and treatment, there is no reason why we shouldn't expect a healthy pregnancy," she said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-12-03-Britain-Royal%20Pregnancy%20Explainer/id-20fe921397954d28b01ec467bbb758c7

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Fox News exec urged Petraeus to run for president

Ailes, Petraeus (Fox News/Getty/File)

Fox News chief executive Roger Ailes wanted Gen. David Petraeus to run for president in 2012.

Ailes, former campaign adviser to Richard Nixon, had a contributor headed to Afghanistan in the spring of 2011 deliver the message to Petraeus, the recently disgraced director of the Central Intelligence Agency and then commander of U.S. and allied forces there, the Washington Post's Bob Woodward reports.

Kathleen T. McFarland, the Fox News contributor and former national security and Pentagon aide, spoke with Petraeus for 90 minutes in the general's office in Kabul. Woodward obtained an audio recording of the conversation, which was posted on the Post's website.

"[Ailes] loves you, and everybody at Fox loves you," McFarland told Petraeus at one point.

Near the end of their conversation, McFarland relayed the message from Ailes. If President Obama offered Petraeus the job of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, take it. "If you're offered anything else," McFarland said, "don't take it, resign in six months and run for president. Okay?"

"And I know you're not running for president," McFarland added. "But at some point when you go to New York next, you may want to just chat with Roger. And Rupert Murdoch, for that matter."

"Well, Rupert's after me, as well," Petraeus replied. "Look,? what I have told people is, I truly want to continue to serve my country if it is in a, you know, a quite significantly meaningful position. And there's all of about two of those in the world. You all have really got to shut your mouths?or shut your ... Yeah, shut your mouths, too."

"I'm only reporting this back to Roger," McFarland assured Petraeus. "That's our deal."

Petraeus said he would consider the Joint Chiefs chairman and possibly "one other" post "but that's about it."

"I'm not going to, you know, go to NATO meetings for the rest of my life, or fight service budget battles or anything like that," he said.

Petraeus was appointed CIA director in September 2011. He resigned last month after admitting to an extramarital affair with Paula Broadwell, his biographer.

Ailes confirmed to Woodward that he did give McFarland advice to deliver to Petraeus, but it was meant in jest.

"It was more of a joke, a wiseass way I have," Ailes said. "I thought the Republican field needed to be shaken up and Petraeus might be a good candidate."

"It sounds like she thought she was on a secret mission in the Reagan administration," Ailes added. "She was way out of line. ... It's someone's fantasy to make me a kingmaker. It's not my job."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/ailes-petraeus-president-run-fox-news-143926347--election.html

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Creating A More Heart Centered Business - Retirement Homes

As a residential or service provider for seniors, it is easy to get caught up with meeting State and Federal regulations, financial issues, personnel turnover, and dealing with the everyday running of a business. That said, the real priority is how well you can care for the seniors and their families whom place lives in your trust. Priority One is your Resident.

How can you easily improve how you serve your senior customer in a more Heart Centered manner?

1. Make it easy for communication with family to occur ? to and from. This includes phone usage (and long distance) any time of day. Ease for family members to connect with a ?live? caregiver any time of day. Most family members work and many live in different time zones, how easy to you make it for them to maintain communication with their family member but also with YOU?

  • Do you have a 1-800 number?
  • Can people leave a message besides voice mail? Something like a website plugin called Vicita can allow a person to type in their message to the company for answering.
  • Is there a ?live? person answering phones at all times?
  • Can the senior access a phone easily and have privacy (very important) any time of day?

2.Sexuality and Intimacy ? these two issues seem to be human needs that service providers and facilities shy away from. Do the people you serve have opportunities for intimacy with another resident, spouses, or their significant other? If not, why? Just because a person is, a senior doesn?t mean that their sex drive or need for intimacy is gone. Can a wife of a resident visit and spend the night with her husband who is under your care?

Please take some time to really see how your service can create a more responsive environment to meet the very basic needs of people ? intimacy, sexuality, and maintaining closeness with another person.

3. No matter how hard we try, staff will treat whom they serve differently for a variety of reasons and that isn?t going to change. The question is how do we turn that into a positive?

Some solutions may include in creating a biography of each senior served ? learn about the person?s past, hobbies once enjoyed, topics of discussion they enjoy, adventures they?ve experienced, and so forth. Involve family of the senior for more detail. In doing this, you allow staff to more fully recognize each senior as the individual they are and what kinds of life they had before becoming more limited. This exercise helps create relationships, for staff to view seniors they serve differently, and for a more ?family? environment to exist. Post the biography in the senior?s room so staff will always remember the wonderful life of the person they serve.

Have the seniors you serve create their own Adventure List vs. a Bucket List. Help those you serve to accomplish, in some manner, what they still want to get out of life.

Have the family create a collage of pictures, events, and other special moments of their senior family member. The collage should then be mounted in the resident?s room.

A great model is having staff responsible for seniors they prefer to work with. While working in an ICF, we had several staff that all preferred the same residents and they became a group of staff and residents who were always together. Other staff loved working with other residents and the model was repeated. The result was a significant improvement in the quality of care, less regression for residents, happier residents, less staff turnover, and much happier staff. Win-Win.

Creating a Heart Centered business doesn?t mean the business of being in business is any less but rather more. Adding in services, such as mentioned, create enormous intangible results that benefit seniors, staff, families, and your business. Tangible results will also be seen and many of them will be ones you would not have thought of.

Calling one?s self a Heart Centered business is common but how many are actually doing it fully? Discover and try various ways to create your own results achieving Heart Centered business and your business will thrive in the process.

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Source: http://www.retirementhomes.com/library/creating-a-more-heart-centered-business/

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'Cliff' talks: White House waiting on GOP move

This Nov. 30, 2012, photo provided by CBS News shows Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner answering questions about averting the "fiscal cliff" on the December 2nd edition of ?Face the Nation.? Geithner said Republicans have to stop using fuzzy ?political math? and say how much they are willing to raise tax rates on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans and then specify the spending cuts they want, Treasury Secretary. (AP Photo/CBS News, Chris Usher)

This Nov. 30, 2012, photo provided by CBS News shows Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner answering questions about averting the "fiscal cliff" on the December 2nd edition of ?Face the Nation.? Geithner said Republicans have to stop using fuzzy ?political math? and say how much they are willing to raise tax rates on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans and then specify the spending cuts they want, Treasury Secretary. (AP Photo/CBS News, Chris Usher)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, after private talks with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the fiscal cliff negotiations. Boehner said no substantive progress has been made between the White House and the House" in the past two weeks. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

This Nov. 30, 2012, photo provided by CBS News shows Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner answering questions about averting the "fiscal cliff" on the December 2nd edition of ?Face the Nation.? Geithner said Republicans have to stop using fuzzy ?political math? and say how much they are willing to raise tax rates on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans and then specify the spending cuts they want, Treasury Secretary. (AP Photo/CBS News, Chris Usher)

(AP) ? Republicans have to stop using "political math" and say how much they are willing to raise tax rates on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans and then specify the spending cuts they want, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said in an interview that aired Sunday.

Just four weeks from the proverbial "fiscal cliff," House Speaker John Boehner countered that Republicans have a plan for providing as much as $800 billion in new government revenue over the next decade and would consider the elimination of tax deductions on high-income earners. But when pressed on "Fox News Sunday" for precise details, the Ohio Republican declined to say.

There are "a lot of options in terms of how to get there," Boehner said.

Both Boehner's and Geithner's latest remarks indicate it could be some time before serious negotiations begin between the White House and Republicans on how to avert economic calamity expected in less than a month when President George W. Bush-era tax cuts expire and automatic, across-the-board spending cuts kick in.

Last week, the White House delivered to Capitol Hill its opening plan: $1.6 trillion in higher taxes over a decade, hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending, a possible extension of the temporary Social Security payroll tax cut and enhancing the president's power to raise the national debt limit.

In exchange, the president would back $600 billion in spending cuts, including $350 billion from Medicare and other health programs. But he also wants $200 billion in new spending for jobless benefits, public works projects and aid for struggling homeowners. His proposal for raising the ceiling on government borrowing would make it virtually impossible for Congress to block him.

Republicans said they responded in closed-door meetings with laughter and disbelief.

"I was just flabbergasted," Boehner said. "I looked at him (Geithner) and I said, 'You can't be serious.'" Boehner described negotiations as going "nowhere, period," and said "there's clearly a chance" the nation will go over the cliff.

Geithner, the administration's point man for negotiations, was slightly more optimistic while saying the ball was in Boehner's court. But the treasury secretary also said he didn't expect a counteroffer right away, as Republicans work to sort out tensions within the party in the wake of bruising national elections that left Democrats in charge of the White House and the Senate.

Boehner acknowledged in his interview, aired Sunday, that he wasn't happy with public remarks by Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who said he was ready to go along with Obama's plan to renew expiring income tax cuts for the majority of Americans and negotiate the rates on top earners later.

"They're trying to figure out where they go next," Geithner said of Republicans, "and we might need to give them a little time to figure out where they go next."

He called the back-and-forth "normal political theater," saying all that's blocking a timely deal is the GOP's reluctance to accept higher tax rates on the wealthy.

"It's welcome that they're recognizing that revenues are going to have to go up. But they haven't told us anything about how far rates should go up ... (and) who should pay higher taxes," Geithner said.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that she will try to force a vote on the Senate-passed bill favored by Democrats to avert a fiscal cliff. But she was unlikely to line up enough Republicans to succeed.

Republican leaders have said they accept higher tax revenue overall, but only through what they call tax reform __ closing loopholes and limiting deductions __ and only coupled with tough measures to curb the explosive growth of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

"If we gave the president $1.6 trillion of new money, what do you think he'd do with it?" asked Boehner. "He's going to spend it. It's what Washington does."

Cole didn't back down Sunday on his earlier comments that Republicans should agree to Obama's plan for continuing Bush's tax rates for middle-class America and focus the negotiations on the other issues. Doing so, he said, would make the GOP position even stronger.

"The reality is, nobody can look at this budget and think if you don't reform entitlements you can balance it. You can give the president every tax increase he's asked for, you'd still be in the hole," he said.

Geithner appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation," NBC's "Meet the Press," CNN's "State of the Union," ABC's "This Week" and "Fox News Sunday." Cole appeared on ABC "This Week."

___

Associated Press writers Mark S. Smith in Washington and Erik Schelzig in Nashville, Tenn., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-02-Fiscal%20Cliff/id-2cc914c5ad494a90ac0c434c28057a60

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Notre Dame vs. Alabama: Star power, power football

Notre Dame running back Theo Riddick, right, and wide receiver Luke Massa, left, celebrate after Notre Dame defeated Southern California 22-13 in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)

Notre Dame running back Theo Riddick, right, and wide receiver Luke Massa, left, celebrate after Notre Dame defeated Southern California 22-13 in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)

Alabama defensive lineman Quinton Dial (90) runs on the field with a Alabama flag after their 32-28 win in the Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football?game against Georgia, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

(AP) ? On one side, a blossoming dynasty from the college football capital of the Deep South. On the other, the sport's most famous team, trying to reclaim its place among the elite.

Notre Dame and Alabama bring star power and power football to the BCS championship.

The matchup becomes official Sunday night when the full BCS lineup is announced on ESPN. There's still some mystery about whether Northern Illinois or Boise State could slip in as a BCS buster, but there's no drama about the main event: No. 1 Notre Dame against No. 2 Alabama in Miami on Jan. 7.

The Irish clinched their spot a week ago in Los Angeles by completing a perfect season against rival Southern California.

Alabama earned its spot Saturday, beating Georgia 32-28 in a thrilling Southeastern Conference title game.

The program that coach Paul Bryant turned into an SEC behemoth in the 1960s and 70s, winning six national championships during his tenure, is again dominating college football with a modern-day version of the Bear leading the way in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Coach Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide are on the verge of one of the great runs in history. Alabama would become the first team to repeat as champions since the Bowl Championship Series was implemented in 1998, and the 11th team to win consecutive AP titles since the poll started in 1936.

The Tide also won the 2009 BCS championship. The last team to win three major national titles in four seasons was Nebraska, which went back-to-back in 1994 and '95 and finished No. 1 in the final coaches' poll in 1997.

In a spread-the-field, hurry-up offense world, the Tide is homage to traditional football.

The Tide put its no-frills muscle on display Saturday, mashing Georgia with 350 yards rushing, most impressively when Alabama trailed 21-10 in the second half and you might have expected the Tide to open up its passing game.

Eddie Lacy, listed at a conservative 220 pounds, went for 181 against the Bulldogs to up his season total to 1,182 with 17 touchdowns. T.J. Yeldon, at 216 pounds, provides more speed with his punch. The freshman has run for 1,000 yards and scored 12 touchdowns.

But this is no 3 yards and a cloud of dust. Both backs average over 6 yards per carry, behind an offensive line anchored by All-American center Barrett Jones. And quarterback AJ McCarron has thrown 26 touchdowns with only three interceptions.

The Tide has been more potent offensively this season than last to make up for a defense that has slipped, but only a bit. Alabama leads the nation in total defense (246 yards per game) and is second in points allowed (10.7 per game). Linebackers Adrian Hubbard, Nico Johnson, CJ Mosley and Trey Depriest average 242 pounds.

When Brian Kelly was hired at Notre Dame three years ago, he looked at Alabama and the SEC, which has won six straight BCS titles, and decided the Irish needed to play like that.

Kelly built his reputation and winning teams at previous stops on fast-paced spread offenses. In South Bend, Ind., he has put the fight back in the Irish, who have won eight AP national titles ? only Alabama has as many ? but none since 1988.

Notre Dame has allowed the fewest touchdowns in the country (10) and is sixth overall in total defense (286 yards per game). The face of the Irish isn't a strong-armed quarterback or speedy ball carrier. It's middle linebacker Manti Te'o, a 255-pound offense wrecker with a nose for the ball. The senior has seven interceptions and is a likely Heisman finalist.

Te'o, along with 300-pound linemen Stephon Tuitt and Louis Nix, have formed a red-zone wall for the Irish. Late goal line stands highlighted victories against Stanford and USC.

While nurturing redshirt freshman Everett Golson, Kelly has leaned on Notre Dame's running game, which averages 202 yards. Alabama averages 224 on the ground.

If Notre Dame, making its first appearance in a BCS championship, is going to break the SEC's strangle hold on the crystal ball trophy, the Irish will try to beat 'Bama at its own game.

And Kelly will try to uphold a Notre Dame tradition, by winning a national title in his third season as coach. Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine and Lou Holtz all won it all in Year 3 playing in the shadows of the Golden Dome.

Notre Dame will try to become the first team since BYU in 1984 to start the season unranked a win a national title.

Expect plenty to be watching. With the popularity of both programs, the second-to-last BCS title games is expected to be the highest rated ever.

In two years, college football switches to a four-team playoff to determine its champion. No doubt fans of Florida (11-1), Oregon (11-1), Stanford (11-2) and Kansas State (11-1) wish they could push the start date up on that, but for the most part there isn't much griping about this championship matchup.

Notre Dame is the only undefeated team that is eligible ? thanks to Ohio State's NCAA sanctions ? and Alabama is the champion of the league that has produced the last half dozen national champs.

Roll Tide or return to glory? To be determined in south Florida.

___

Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphdrussoap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-12-02-T25-BCS%20Championship/id-bac8fa9a30cc4a59aba054cc20b4647b

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Glowing fish shed light on metabolism

Monday, December 3, 2012

A tiny, translucent zebrafish that glows green when its liver makes glucose has helped an international team of researchers identify a compound that regulates whole-body metabolism and appears to protect obese mice from signs of metabolic disorders.

Led by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the work demonstrates how a fish smaller than a grain of rice can help screen for drugs to help control obesity, type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders, which affect a rising 34 percent of American adults and are major risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Described this week in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, the new compound emerged from a panel of 2,400 medications and drug-like compounds tested in the zebrafish. The test was designed to identify key regulators of "fasting metabolism"? a state most people face every day after the lingering remnants of their long-digested meals pass slowly down their digestive tract.

Fasting metabolism is the body's way of fulfilling its energy needs between meals by turning to fat and other stored sources. It involves a carefully balanced and coordinated cascade of reactions that see numerous genes in various tissues kick into action and do things like burn fat.

In type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases, this careful balance is lost.

"The body cannot keep up with the breakdown of energy, and lipids [molecules of fat] can accumulate to toxic levels in the liver," said UCSF postdoctoral fellow Philipp Gut, MD, who led the research with Didier Y.R. Stainier, PhD, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics.

How the Screen Works

Some screens can be conducted in cell culture by taking living cells grown in the laboratory and exposing them to various drugs. The ability to rapidly test large libraries of compounds in the last few decades through such screens has revolutionized biomedical science.

But looking for drugs that regulate biological processes like metabolism, which involves multiple interacting organs in the body, and even more types of cells, cannot be done in cell screens because they lack the same complexity. Mice are often used to test pharmacological compounds, but screens of this magnitude would require thousands of mice, which would be ethically impossible to justify and prohibitively expensive.

Gut and his colleagues set out to develop the zebrafish screen as an ethical and inexpensive solution, and the new paper demonstrates the validity of this approach, he said. Furthermore, this study illustrates the fact that model organisms should be an integral part of the new roadmap defined by the NIH and other medical research organizations around the world to translate the most advanced laboratory science into benefits for patients, Stainier said.

Of the thousands of compounds the team screened, two appeared to turn on a handful of genes that caused the animals to burn fat as a way of producing energy ? an end that would be desirable for many people with metabolic disorders.

Further experiments with one of these compounds in mice showed that it could protect obese mice from metabolic problems.

###

University of California - San Francisco: http://www.ucsf.edu

Thanks to University of California - San Francisco for this article.

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

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125651/Glowing_fish_shed_light_on_metabolism

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Risky Business: A Conversation Between Lynne Meadow and ...

This piece marks the first in a partnership between HowlRound and the?League of Professional Theatre Women?(LPTW). For many years, LPTW has been publishing an annual magazine, Women in Theatre (WIT). This year they?ve expanded the magazine to include an?online format?and are collaborating with HowlRound to provide content covering an array of issues and perspectives within the theater, all highlighting women?s voices. The co-editors for this project are Eliza Bent and Alexis Clements. Look for bi-monthly content from WIT on HowlRound ranging from interviews to articles and blog responses.

Running a not-for-profit theater company takes guts and comes with great risk, whether you?are a small Off-Off Broadway company or have made it all the way to Broadway. It is a labor of love and it is not for the squeamish. To make theater a part of your life, you have to be resilient, wear many hats, and try not to lose your passion and drive along the way. In her forty years as the visionary and artistic leader of Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC), Lynne Meadow has been an inspiration to many theater-makers, creating adventurous work that has put the company at the forefront of the American stage. Gladys Chen, has been the President of Second Generation Productions (2g) for sixteen years. 2g is a not-for-profit Off-Off Broadway theater company with a mission to nurture the new work of Asian American artists. Gladys also holds a MBA from the Wharton School of Business and has held numerous positions in advertising and marketing at several Fortune 500 companies. These two women, both at very different stages of their careers, discuss their theaters, who and what has shaped them as artists and leaders, and how they manage their lives outside of the theater.

Gladys Chen: One of the challenges that I face with a small non-profit theater company is how to expand. How do you manage growing MTC both artistically and financially? Do you ever experience growing pains?

Lynne Meadow: I think that we?ve experienced growing pains from day one. First and foremost, just trying to survive. That?s always the tough one?trying to survive every season. Every season we think, ?Are we going to make the numbers that we need?? When I first started, we had a tiny budget, our annual budget was $75K. Now, it?s a lot more, but it?s always the same pressure.

Gladys: With that pressure in mind, how do you manage risk when it comes to choosing work to produce?

Lynne: It?s a constant source of discussion. I used to say, ?Our highest risks were always our greatest successes.? Every show that we did, that we really took a risk on, and had no idea how it was going to turn out, was a show in our history that had great acclaim.

One of the first plays I ever directed was a play called Ashes, by David Rudkin. I remember going to talk to Barry Grove, MTC?s Executive Producer, and I said to him, ?I?m going to do a play about a couple who are trying to have a baby. It is a very raw play?very graphic, lots of blood on the stage. I?m a little nervous about it, but I want you to know that I feel strongly about it.? He said, ?Well, if you feel strongly about it, we have to do it.? And that?s what we?ve tried to do for over thirty-five years?if you feel strongly about it, you do it.

Ashes turned out to be a highlight in MTC?s history. It was a very important play at its time. Joe Papp went on to produce it at the New York Shakespeare Festival. In a way, it has been a prototype and a beacon. I think everyone working in the theater is doing it for some reason that involves passion and risk.

Gladys: I agree. Like you, I also started producing theater when I was twenty-four and I had just quit graduate school. When you tell your Chinese parents that you are quitting medical school to start a theater company with a friend, they look at you like you?ve gone mad and decided to join the circus. I remember our first show at Second Generation was a musical called Making Tracks, which was about a young Asian American rock musician that journeyed through six generations of his family?s history to understand their long labor to find a voice in America. I financed the show with my personal credit card and just prayed that we could make it.

Lynne: That must have been very difficult!

Gladys: Yes. I had just quit medical school, moved back home with my parents, and gotten my first job in advertising. Not exactly a time to finance a theater production on your personal credit card. But, as you said, it was one of the most rewarding experiences. Maybe you take more risk because you don?t know what you don?t know.

Lynne: It is a lot easier when you don?t know anything.

Gladys: Can you talk about the development of MTC and what you think has accelerated its growth?

Lynne: One of the paradigms that allows us to sustain MTC has been not being too dependent on one source of income to sustain us. You try to have support from many areas. Ticket sales, fundraising, corporate support, government support?we haven?t relied on a single donor to sustain us. We also have a wonderful Board that has always been very helpful.

Gladys: Can you identify specific events that have been turning points for MTC?

Lynne: At one point, very early on, we got our first multi-year grant from the Ford Foundation in 1977. It was a three-year grant. Barry and I looked at each other and said, ?Now we know that we have to be here for three more years.? It was a very crucial moment for us. It was someone saying to us ?we believe in you.? That was a real turning point for us. The support that came from foundations and government meant so much. In 1975, the National Endowment for the Arts gave us a grant for $5,000, which was like a ?Good Housekeeping seal of approval;? one that said, ?we believe in what you are trying to do.? Those early gifts are things that you really remember. I hope you have a long and productive time so that you also remember your earliest supporters.

Gladys: We have been very fortunate to receive support from the NEA, New York State Council for the Arts (NYSCA), Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) and Theater Communications Group (TCG) and the support of other Asian American theater companies who really stepped up to help us. That funding has been so important to Second Generation; giving us the freedom to identify new artists and produce work that I am very passionate about. How do you develop your pipeline of work?

Lynne: It is manifold at this point. We receive many submissions. We have an artistic producing office and play development office. We are constantly on the lookout and constantly evaluating plays and responding and trying to do as much behind the scenes work as we can. It?s complex because we are a large producing organization and we produce Off-Off-Broadway, Off-Broadway and on Broadway.

Gladys: What about audience? One of the biggest lessons for Second Generation, as a theater company that develops the work of Asian American artists, is that we are able to cultivate a large audience of young Asian Americans who otherwise may not be avid theater-goers because they are hungry for stories about themselves and their demographic. I?m always so shocked that the vast majority of our audience is from the lay community.

Lynne: My hunch is that it is not simply content, although that is a large part of it. It is also that our world becomes less and less intimate because of cyberspace. Theater is a very important thing in that it brings people together, and it will become more important as our world becomes more and more technological. I think we, as people who make theater, have an obligation to maintain intimacy. There is nothing more intimate in terms of an artistic form than a night at the theater.

Gladys: If you could go back in time, let?s say right after you graduated from Yale and you started at MTC, what advice would you give to yourself?

Lynne: I actually took a leave of absence from Yale School of Drama?which I?m still on.

Gladys: I wish I had told my parents that I was just taking a leave from medical school. It may have prevented many, ?What are you doing with your life?? conversations.

Lynne: My father was horrified when I left Yale and when I said that I wanted to go on into the theater. I was a French major in college and that is what he thought I should continue to do. I think I have the same advice for myself as I did when I started MTC, ?Listen to your instincts.?

Gladys: Who have been your role models along the way?

Lynne: My role models were mostly men. When I started, Zelda Fichandler [co-founder of Arena Stage] was in Washington DC and Ellen Stewart was in New York running La MaMa. There weren?t women directors. I was the only woman director at Yale. One of the things that gives me a tremendous sense of pride is that I?ve been a role model to women directors, women producers, and women artistic directors.

Gladys: How did you find your mentors?

Lynne: One of my mentors was Nikos Psacharopoulos, who was my teacher at Yale and also ran the Williamstown Theater Festival. He approached me to assist him there. He was extremely influential in my life. He was very supportive of me. I learned so much from him. Also, I was very close to Joe Papp. In the early days of MTC, I actually approached him to help me get the rights to a play that I wanted to direct. From then on, he would stay in touch with me about various things he wanted me to work on. He was a great believer and someone that I would go to for advice. Also, Lloyd Richards. He approached me to direct at the O?Neill. I was the first woman to direct at the O?Neill.

Gladys: So, you either took the initiative to approach a mentor, or they approached you to offer their mentorship. I always think that?s helpful for younger artists to know?sometimes we need to raise our hand and express that we need help.

Lynne: People who have been in the business have to carve out time for people around who have not been in the business. It can be very helpful to someone to be noticed and to be in a dialogue with someone [with more experience]. It is shared responsibility for mentee and mentor.

Gladys: Today is actually a sad day for me because I found out this morning that my college mentor, Howard Stein, whom you may know from Yale Drama, just passed away.

Lynne: Yes, I knew Howard at Yale. I am so sorry to hear this!

Gladys: He was a real mentor to me. I had the good fortune of celebrating Howard?s 90th birthday this July. Some of Howard?s former students and I organized a reading of a play that he had been working on during the last few years of his life. Howard really fueled my passion for theater when I was in college. That?s why I decided to help Welly Yang, one of my close friends and also a student of Howard?s, to create Second Generation. Sixteen years later, I made a commitment to building Second Generation, even with a day job and getting married and other life events.

Lynne: I am so sorry to hear this! Howard was my Dean at Yale Drama and taught me Yiddish.

Gladys: My favorite story about Howard?s class was one day, early in the semester, Welly was late to class. Howard scolded him and asked, ?How would you feel if I was late to your show?? Welly was never late to class ever again. None of us were.

Lynne: That?s a great story.

Gladys: So with all of your success, you have become a sort of ?triple threat? in the theater world?you direct, you produce, and you develop artists. How do you fuse all of those roles?

Lynne: I?m also a wife and mom.

Gladys: You are a quintuple threat.

Lynne: Yes, there is a lot of juggling. I hesitate to categorize this, but women can be very good at juggling different roles. Not that men can?t, but women are particularly gifted. I love everything that I do. My heart is in everything that I do. I think if you have the passion, you find the way to have a few extra pairs of arms.

Gladys: Do these roles ever come into conflict? What do you do when that happens?

Lynne: I?m not sure I would say ?conflict.? Sometimes there are an awful lot of priorities and trying to juggle the priorities can be intense. I think that we all lead such busy lives. Here you have a day job and a night job. We all have day jobs and night jobs too, but I?m sure that it?s complicated for you as well?dealing with theater and your day job. Life has gotten pretty fast.

Gladys: Absolutely. I think that it is getting faster and faster.

Lynne: I?m not sure I would recognize it if it were slow.

Source: http://www.howlround.com/risky-business-a-conversation-between-lynne-meadow-and-gladys-chen-by-denyse-owens/

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From the experts: Debugging an Android application like a boss

Developer options

Remember how you can tap things and do a little voodoo to enable developer options in Android 4.2? Most of us still won't need to enable any of these other than USB debugging, but folks who are developers have some serious tools at their disposal in there. That's why we're fine with them being hidden for more normal users. Out of sight, out of mind, and the folks who need them know where to look.

One of those folks is Romain Guy. He's an extraordinary photographer, but he's also an Android engineer at Google who focuses on graphics and animation. In short, he knows what he's doing. Turns out he's a fan of the new Falcon Twitter client, and likes it enough to notice that there might be a hiccup or two in the timeline scrolling. Software engineers are regular people for the most part, but in our imaginations they grab a cable and a laptop to investigate anything that gets them curious. This time, out imaginations are correct.

Have an excellent read of just how he uses the developer tools available to track down the issue, and see just what developers have to go through sometimes to pump out awesome Android applications. Chances are you'll only understand part of it, but that will be enough to have a better appreciation of what these guys do.

Source: curious-creature.org

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/HYIUiR-jUv0/story01.htm

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'Twilight,' 'Skyfall' remain top picks for fans

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The "Twilight" finale and "Skyfall" continued to dominate the box office on a typically slow post-Thanksgiving weekend that brought big business for holdover films but a poor start for Brad Pitt's new crime story.

Sunday studio estimates put "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 2" out front for the third-straight weekend with $17.4 million domestically.

That raised the domestic total to $254.6 million for the vampire tale released by Lionsgate banner Summit Entertainment. The movie added $48.4 million overseas for an international haul of $447.8 million and a worldwide sum of $702.4 million, approaching the franchise record of $710 million for last year's "Breaking Dawn ? Part 2."

Sony's James Bond adventure "Skyfall" was a fraction behind with $17 million domestically, raising revenue to $246 million after four weekends.

"Skyfall" also brought in $34 million overseas to put its international take at $623 million and the worldwide total at $869 million, the best cash haul ever for a Bond flick.

Pitt's "Killing Them Softly," the weekend's top new release, tanked with just $7 million domestically, coming in at No. 7 behind a big batch of holdovers.

The "Twilight" finale and "Skyfall" were close enough that domestic rankings could flip-flop when final numbers are released Monday. Either way, the two movies have led a brisk start to the holiday season that could lift Hollywood to record domestic revenues for the year.

"I keep upping my revenue estimates for the full end-of-year box office because it's just been a lot stronger than anticipated lately," said Paul Dergarabedian, analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com.

With domestic business totaling $9.9 billion so far in 2012, receipts are running 6 percent ahead of last year's and are on track to top the record of $10.6 billion set in 2009, according to Hollywood.com.

After record revenue over Thanksgiving, business eased off, though it still was a stronger-than-usual post-holiday weekend. Domestic revenues totaled $115 million, up 42 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Breaking Dawn ? Part 1" led with $16.5 million.

A Weinstein Co. release, "Killing Them Softly" averaged just $2,888 in 2,424 theaters, meager results compared to the "Twilight" finale's average of $4,344 in 4,008 cinemas over its third weekend.

Adapted from George V. Higgins' novel "Cogan's Trade," ''Killing Them Softly" stars Pitt as a gang enforcer on the trail of two small-time crooks who held up a mob-protected card game.

The weekend's other new wide release, LD Entertainment's horror tale "The Collection," also flopped at No. 10 with $3.4 million, averaging $2,430 in 1,403 theaters.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 2," $17.4 million ($48.4 million international)

2. "Skyfall," $17 million ($34 million international).

3. "Lincoln," $13.51 million.

4. "Rise of the Guardians," $13.5 million ($40 million international).

5. "Life of Pi," $12 million ($21.5 million international).

6. "Wreck-It Ralph," $7.02 million ($1.5 million international).

7. "Killing Them Softly," $7 million ($700,000 international).

8. "Red Dawn," $6.6 million ($500,000 international).

9. "Flight," $4.5 million.

10. "The Collection," $3.4 million.

___

Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:

1. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 2," $48.4 million.

2. "Rise of the Guardians," $40 million.

3. "Skyfall," $34 million.

3. "Life of Pi," $21.5 million.

4. "26 Years," $5.2 million.

5. "Argo," $4.1 million.

6. "Hotel Transylvania," $3.5 million.

7. "Wreck-It Ralph," $1.5 million.

8. "Silver Linings Playbook," $1.3 million.

9. "Killing Them Softly," $700,000.

10. "Red Dawn," $500,000.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

http://www.rentrak.com

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/twilight-skyfall-remain-top-picks-fans-164004173--finance.html

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