Leonardo DiCaprio, Anne Hathaway 'Honored' By Golden Globe Nods

Emily Blunt, Helen Mirren and Jessica Chastain also share how 'elated' they are to receive nominations from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
By Kara Warner


Leonardo DiCaprio in "Django Unchained"
Photo: Weinstein Company

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1698893/leonardo-dicaprio-anne-hathaway-golden-globe-nominations.jhtml

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Election over, administration unleashes new rules

WASHINGTON (AP) ? While the "fiscal cliff" of looming tax increases and spending cuts dominates political conversation in Washington, some Republicans and business groups see signs of a "regulatory cliff" that they say could be just as damaging to the economy.

For months, federal agencies and the White House have sidetracked dozens of major regulations that cover everything from power plant pollution to workplace safety to a crackdown on Wall Street.

The rules had been largely put on hold during the presidential campaign as the White House sought to quiet Republican charges that President Barack Obama was an overzealous regulator who is killing U.S. jobs.

But since the election, the Obama administration has quietly reopened the regulations pipeline.

In recent weeks, the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed rules to update water quality guidelines for beaches and other recreational waters and deal with runoff from logging roads. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, meanwhile, has proposed long-delayed regulations requiring auto makers to include event data recorders ? better known as "black boxes" ? in all new cars and light trucks beginning in 2014.

The administration also has initiated several rules to implement its health care overhaul, including a new fee to cushion the cost of covering people with pre-existing conditions.

Some GOP lawmakers fear the worst.

Obama has spent the past year "punting" on a slew of job-killing regulations that will be unleashed in a second term, said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla. With the election over, it's now "full speed ahead" for federal rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions, requiring cleaner gasoline and putting controls on drilling for oil and natural gas, said Inhofe, the senior Republican on the Senate Environment Committee.

"Under an Obama EPA that has earned a reputation for abuse, American families will be subjected to a regulatory onslaught that will drive up energy prices, destroy millions of jobs and further weaken the economy," he wrote in a 14-page report on expected EPA regulations for 2013. The report predicts an influx of regulations that "spell doom for jobs and economic growth."

Environmental groups say fears of a second-term regulatory deluge are overstated.

"At this point it still has the appearance of being more of a trickle than a flood," said Frank O'Donnell, president of the environmental group Clean Air Watch. "I don't see the hard evidence" of an avalanche of rules.

He said the EPA is principally focused on meeting court-ordered deadlines, such as Friday's deadline for a rule intended to reduce the amount of soot that can be released into the air. Other high-profile rules and initiatives are being rolled out more slowly, if at all, he added.

Randy Rabinowitz, director of regulatory policy at OMB Watch, a private group that tracks federal rules, said regulations now being released are long overdue ? in some cases months or even years after federal guidelines say they should have been published.

"We've been disappointed that Obama has been a tepid regulator" in his first term, Rabinowitz said, adding that she hopes the administration "moves more vigorously to protect the public from harm" in a second term.

"I would love for the election to be interpreted as a mandate for Obama to move forward with stronger protections for the public," she said.

A spokeswoman for the White House Office of Management and Budget, the gatekeeper for federal regulations, said the administration is focused on protecting public health and safety while avoiding unnecessary burdens on business.

"We intend to continue that approach moving forward, including careful analysis of costs and benefits as well as a commitment to protecting the health, welfare and safety of the American people at the same time that we promote economic growth," OMB spokeswoman Moira Mack wrote in an email.

In January 2011, Obama ordered all federal agencies to get rid of rules that were excessively burdensome, redundant, inconsistent or overlapping. The ax fell on hundreds of regulations, with moves made to streamline tax forms, let railroad companies pass on installing expensive technology and speed up the visa process for low-risk visitors to the U.S. The administration said the moves would save businesses about $10 billion over five years and spur job growth.

But some Republicans and business groups say new regulations, on top of rules already issued by the administration, could strangle the economy just as it begins to grow.

A new study by the National Association of Manufacturers claims major new EPA rules could cost manufacturers hundreds of billions of dollars and eliminate millions of American jobs.

The report, issued in late November, said compliance costs for six major EPA regulations ? including rules limiting air and water pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants ? could total up to $111 billion by government estimates and up to $138 billion by industry estimates. Construction costs could total $500 billion, it said.

Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the manufacturing group, warned of a "devastating ripple effect" that could be felt throughout the U.S. economy if federal rules are not relaxed or delayed. Some manufacturers are likely to "close their doors for good" because of EPA rules, Timmons said.

Susan Dudley, director of the Regulatory Studies Center at George Washington University and the former head of a Bush administration regulatory office, said she has not seen a postelection surge in federal rule-making.

"It doesn't look like the floodgates are opening," she said, adding that with four more years in office, Obama is in no rush to implement rules that could damage a fragile economy.

The slowdown fits a pattern, Dudley said. During his first two years in office, Obama published a "record-setting" average of 63 economically significant final rules per year, she said, a pace that slowed to about 50 major rules in 2011 and fewer than two dozen this year.

Dudley said she expects a second Obama term to be more like his first two years in office than his third and fourth years ? in part because so many federal rules that have been started have been put on hold.

One of the most high-profile delays was on a pledge to set stricter limits for lung-damaging smog. President George W. Bush had shunned the advice of independent scientists who said the current ozone standard was too weak. Under Obama, the EPA had promised to change that, only to have the White House put on the brakes in September 2011, explaining it was acting to reduce regulatory burdens and uncertainty in a shaky economy. A new ozone rule is now likely to be finalized next year.

Other environmental regulations, including a rule to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from refineries and to lower the sulfur content in gasoline, are far behind schedule. EPA officials have said not to expect them anytime soon.

In the area of worker safety, the Obama administration said more than two years ago it would fight a resurgence of black lung disease, but a rule to set new standards for lung-damaging coal dust has languished at the Labor Department. A rule to protect workers at construction sites and glass manufacturing operations from cancer-causing silica also has been delayed.

___

Online:

White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs: http://www.reginfo.gov/public

___

Reach Matthew Daly on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/election-over-administration-unleashes-rules-081641511--finance.html

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Domestic Short Hair - Mack - Small - Baby - Male - Cat | Calhoun ...

Domestic Short Hair - Mack - Small - Baby - Male - Cat

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Globes go big with heavy lineup of studio films

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) ? A fairly predictable Golden Globes lineup has one thing that's become rarer in awards season: a solid presence of big studio favorites to balance the independent films that have come to dominate the competition in recent years.

Steven Spielberg's Civil War saga "Lincoln," with no fewer than three major studios behind it, led the Globe field Thursday with seven nominations, including best drama, a category fleshed out by four other big-talent, Hollywood-backed films: Ben Affleck's Iran hostage-crisis thriller "Argo"; Quentin Tarantino's slave-turned-bounty-hunter tale "Django Unchained"; Ang Lee's shipwreck adventure "Life of Pi"; and Kathryn Bigelow's Osama bin Laden manhunt story "Zero Dark Thirty."

Quite a departure from much of the past decade, when smaller films such as "The Artist," ''Crash," ''Slumdog Millionaire," ''The King's Speech," ''No Country for Old Men" and Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" have walked off with top film honors.

"There's been a sense that the studios weren't interested in making more complicated dramas and a variety of movies," said "Lincoln" producer Kathleen Kennedy. "To see the studios step up and start to support stories like this is definitely fantastic."

"I think it speaks to risks that studios are more willing to take now and interest on the part of filmmakers and studios to do something different, surprise the audience," Affleck said. "I'm really encouraged by that. The idea that the next time I want to make a movie about Iran that takes place in the '70s, and it's sort of an adult drama, that I won't be met with rolled eyes. Or at least people will roll their eyes behind my back."

Studio films also account for a good share of the acting nominees, among them "Lincoln" stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones, "Zero Dark Thirty" lead player Jessica Chastain, "Django Unchained" co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz, "Argo" co-star Alan Arkin, and Denzel Washington for the airline drama "Flight."

The Globes are Hollywood's second-highest honors after the Academy Awards, whose nominations come out Jan. 10, three days before the Globe ceremony. There's always plenty of nominations overlap between the two, so the Oscar lineup likely will feature a similar studio revival.

A few years ago, the Oscar nominations essentially were a "real celebration of the independent scene," said "King's Speech" filmmaker Tom Hooper, whose intimate period drama won him the directing Oscar and also claimed best picture two years ago.

Hooper's back with his Victor Hugo musical "Les Miserables," an epic studio adaptation of the stage show that earned four Globe nominations, including best musical or comedy.

Studio films such as "Ben-Hur," ''Lawrence of Arabia," ''Gandhi" and "Gone with the Wind" once had a stranglehold on awards season. Then studios began focusing on where the money is ? blockbuster action movies ? and actors and filmmakers turned to independent financers to make the sort of quality films that awards voters favor.

It may be shifting back now.

"What I'm hoping is that the studios actually kind of took note of this and realized that drama is not dead and you have to take risks and you can get amazing rewards even commercially from taking risks on these smaller movies," Hooper said.

Joining "Les Miserables" in the best musical or comedy category are the British retiree romp "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"; the first-love tale "Moonrise Kingdom"; the fishing romance "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"; and the lost-soul romance "Silver Linings Playbook."

Besides Day-Lewis in the title role of "Lincoln" and Washington in "Flight," nominees for dramatic actor are Richard Gere for "Arbitrage," John Hawkes for "The Sessions" and Joaquin Phoenix for "The Master."

"Zero Dark Thirty" star Chastain is joined in the dramatic-actress field by Marion Cotillard for "Rust and Bone," Helen Mirren for "Hitchcock," Naomi Watts for "The Impossible" and Rachel Weisz for "The Deep Blue Sea."

The acting categories have a nice mix of studio fare and indie films made on a shoestring, among them "The Sessions," an unusual story of a man (Hawkes) in an iron lung who aims to lose his virginity with help from a sex surrogate (supporting-actress nominee Helen Hunt). It's the first feature film since the mid-1990s from writer-director Ben Lewin.

"It is a Cinderella story when it is a tiny movie made by a director who hasn't had a movie in a long time, produced by his wife, paid for by friends and family," Hunt said. "For that kind of movie to be talked about next to all these big fancy movies, that's a real testament to what the director did."

There will be some friendly rivalry among the hosts at the Globe ceremony, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Both were nominated for best actress in a TV comedy, Fey for "30 Rock" and Poehler for "Parks and Recreation."

The Sarah Palin drama "Game Change" leads TV contenders with five nominations: best movie or miniseries and acting honors for Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Ed Harris and Sarah Paulson. "Homeland" was next with four: best drama series and acting nominations for Claire Danes, Damian Lewis and Mandy Patinkin.

Presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of about 90 reporters covering entertainment for overseas outlets, the Globes have a reputation as a loose gathering where stars share drinks and dinner ? and sometimes cut loose a bit more than they might at the stately Oscars.

"Everybody always says, and it's absolutely true, it's the most fun of the ceremonies," said Field, a two-time Oscar winner who's nominated for supporting actress as Mary Todd Lincoln in "Lincoln." ''It becomes slightly irreverent in its way. The fact that it's a dinner, and they make sure they ply you with as much alcohol as they can. Luckily, my category is one of the earliest ones up, so whatever happens, I'll be all right."

___

AP Entertainment Writers Sandy Cohen, Derrik Lang, Christy Lemire and Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.

___

Online:

http://www.goldenglobes.org

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/globes-big-heavy-lineup-studio-films-185611786.html

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Responding to Pro-IP Conservatives | The American Conservative

It sure is amusing to have comments from one of your copyright posts copied?and recirculated by a pro-copyright trade group. C?est la vie, fair use and all that.

The Copyright Alliance represents?most?of the major players in the content industry. The four comments they copied were responses to a question I posed, asking whether conservative scholars, think tanks, or other intellectual heavyweights outside the industry itself actually support the current copyright regime. It seemed to me there weren?t many, and frankly, despite these few dissents, it still seems that way. But let?s take a look at some of the commenters? claims.

First there?s Tom Sydnor, of the Progress and Freedom Foundation. Snydor believes ?the RSC correctly disowned the anti-private-property rhetoric of the laughably flawed Three Myths about Copyright paper,? and makes a more lengthy case?here. While Derek Khanna?s paper was far from perfect, a line-by-line legal refutation is a bit like taking a gun to a knife fight, and the fact that he feels the need to do so while ignoring some of the more basic claims of IP-skeptics is telling. Snydor also relies heavily on the canard that IP skeptics including Derek Khanna are ?anti-private-property,? which is completely untrue.?It?s worth noting that the founder of the PFF?s Center for the Study of Digital Property is James DeLong, who?conceded?in?National Review?recently that copyright needs a complete overhaul.

Mark Schultz writes:

As a legal academic with a long history of working with free market organizations, I?m happy to affirm that, yes, many conservatives and libertarians do support copyright for principled reasons. While those organizations have included IP skeptics such as Stephan Kinsella, my experience has been that pro-IP sentiments have been the mainstream view among the free market advocates with whom I have worked.

I admire much of Stephan Kinsella?s work but the label IP-skeptic doesn?t really fit. He is decidedly anti-IP; opposed to the institution as a whole, damn the Constitution. There is a more moderate IP-skeptical position that holds that copyright is justifiable under some circumstances and allowed under the Constitution but the current system has metastasized into something indefensible. This is the position held by many free-marketers including James DeLong and Jerry Brito (and myself, FWIW), and Kinsella often?criticizes it.

Schultz goes on to freak out about how IP-skeptics hate property rights, arguing that the position is ?impoverished, amoral, and dangerous to liberty.? In a longer post, he says, ??Many modern copyright scholars and commentators have embraced a severe utilitarian view of copyright. In this view, the sole justification for copyright is the benefit that creators provide to society.? This is also the view of the Founders, based on the very clear utilitarian language of the copyright clause.

Schultz also says that IP-skeptics ?appear to forget that copyright law is private law, not public law.? That?s generally true, but one of the troubling developments of the last 15 years of copyright law has been the introduction of criminal penalties for infringing activities, starting with the DMCA. Surely he knows this.

Scott Cleland is a hack who gets paid by telecom companies to bash Google and tar IP-skeptics as crypto-Marxists. He is not a serious man. He objects to right-wing IP skepticism because some folks on the left are also skeptical (so what?), because copyright shouldn?t be a conservative priority (it should), and because he thinks any copyright reform that doesn?t specifically tackle piracy is ?directionally? anti-property (it?s not). Combating piracy is a legitimate policy goal. But even RIAA senior VP Mitch Glazier reluctantly conceded at the Cato Institute last week that the issue of sample clearinghouses and fair use was ?difficult.? So to say reform that doesn?t move in the direction of greater exclusivity and stronger penalties is illegitimate is to be completely ignorant of the unbroken upward trend in copyright protection since 1790.

The most persuasive argument comes from GMU?s Adam Mosoff, who?s written extensively on the nuances of copyright through history. Specifically, he argues that a natural-rights conception of copyright was far more common than one might expect given the phrasing of the copyright clause and Thomas Jefferson?s letter to Isaac McPherson, and that the distinction drawn between traditional property rights in land and IP rights is a fallacy from a legal standpoint?(Masoff is also?an?Objectivist, and there is no such thing as a utilitarian Objectivist). That makes sense to me, though I?d be interested to read a different take. However, regardless of their legal status and historical provenance, IP and regular property differ greatly for other reasons, and it doesn?t follow that governments should commit ever-greater resources toward fighting every instance of copyright infringement, take down websites in violation of due process (and property rights), and undermine the architecture of the Internet, as SOPA promised to do. Even Ayn Rand agreed that a natural-rights conception of IP still implies limits.

The question is where those limits ought to be. But we?ve never been able to have an honest debate about that, because the framework of copyright law has always been set by the industry, which understandably wants ever-longer terms, stronger enforcement, and greater exclusivity.

Be sure to check out Brito?s interview with?Reason?s Nick Gillespie:

Source: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/responding-to-pro-ip-conservatives/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=responding-to-pro-ip-conservatives

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Russia says Syrian opposition could defeat government: agencies

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Rebel forces are gaining ground against the Syrian government and could win the war against President Bashar al-Assad, the Kremlin's envoy for Middle East affairs said on Thursday.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov also said Russia was working on plans to evacuate its citizens from Syria if necessary,.

"One must look the facts in the face. The regime and government in Syria is losing control of more and more territory," Russian state-run RIA quoted Bogdanov as saying.

"Unfortunately, the victory of the Syrian opposition cannot be ruled out."

His remarks were the clearest sign yet that Russia is preparing for the possible defeat of Assad's government at the hands of opponents in a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people since March 2011.

"We are dealing with issues of preparations for an evacuation. We have mobilization plans and are clarifying where our citizens are located," Bogdanov said.

Russia, which has shielded Assad's government from censure by the U.N. Security Council and resisted Western pressure to join efforts to push him from power, will continue to insist upon a peaceful resolution, he said.

(Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Thomas Grove and Angus MacSwan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-says-syrian-opposition-could-defeat-government-agencies-100605242.html

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Social Media Marketing for Brick and Mortar Businesses | Social ...

Are you at a disadvantage owning a physical business in a digital world? Not at all. The introduction of smartphones and tablets has made the internet a part of our physical world, but your social media strategy isn't going to be identical to that of an eCommerce site or community.

What does it take to pull ahead of the pack using social networks? It's probably best to start with.

What Not to Do

I'll be frank: social media is not a sales channel. It is virtually impossible to sell products or services directly using social media. Some exception can be made for buying advertisements on social networks, but this hardly counts as social media marketing in the first place.

So what's the point? Reputation and customer retention. People who hear about you on social media are unlikely to need your products or services at the exact moment they hear from you. However, if they hear about you on social media and you make a good impression, they are more likely to think of you down the road when they do need your products and services.

Furthermore, if you manage to use social media to build an ongoing relationship with a customer, they will continue to buy from you, rather than jumping on the next great thing at a moment's notice.

Questions: Asking and Answering them

One of the most powerful tools in your social media arsenal is the question. Questions, whether you are asking or answering them, mean you are listening to people, interacting with them, and that you care.

Twitter is a great place to search for and answer questions. You can restrict your search to a specific city by, for example, searching ?near:Seattle? and, if you like, ?within:25mi? to get results within a certain distance. This allows you to find and answer questions from people who want to know about subjects that relate to your business.

Don't use these answers as an opportunity to drop a line about a sale or anything like that. Instead, focus on building credibility with your answers, which often leads to subscribers.

You can also answer questions on Facebook Pages, Events, and Groups, so be sure to join these communities if they are in your area or about subjects related to your business.

Other good places to answer questions are Quora and internet forums.

Answering questions is a good way to steadily build up your following. Once you have a decent-sized following, start asking your subscribers questions, the kinds of questions that keep a conversation going. Be sure to respond and ask followup questions to keep things moving.

Questions are at the heart of conversation. Remember, social media is about conversation, not broadcasting and announcements. You can certainly use it to make announcements, but only in this context.

Influencers: Get On Their Side

In addition to relationships with your customer base, you want to get influencers on your side. These are the social media personalities that have already developed a strong following, and who can use this influence to boost your reputation...if they care to.

Getting influencers on your side often starts with promoting them first. Search Google+, Twitter, and Facebook for such larger than life personalities who happen to live in your general area (if you are a local business).

Be the first to give a thoughtful and helpful answer to their questions, and contribute to the conversations they are a part of. Don't be afraid to email them (or call them!) directly in order to give the conversation a more intimate tone.

If these influencers have a book or a product to promote, do some of the promoting for them. As with your own products, don't get too ?salesy,? but re-share their content and mention them in a few of your blog posts. Try getting in touch to see if they'd like to be interviewed by you or if they'd like help with any projects they're working on.

Most influencers will be happy to return the favor with some cross-promotion, as long as you are willing to put in the effort first.

Be sure to interact with them like people. Do not construct your emails and messages the way you would construct ad copy. Pay attention to what they like and what they are interested, and talk to them the way you would talk to somebody if you were trying to make a friend.

Content Marketing

In addition to relationships, content is an important part of a social marketing strategy, even for brick-and-mortar businesses. This gives your target audience a reason to subscribe to your blog and social accounts, knowing that you will have something helpful, interesting, or entertaining to share on a regular basis.

Some businesses can only manage to share content that they have found elsewhere on the web, and this isn't necessarily problematic, especially for small businesses. However, it is worth considering creating your own content, since this increases the likelihood of other people sharing your content and drawing viral attention to your business.

When you create content, you should focus most of your attention on these things:

  • It is created for the kind of person who likes to share and pass things along
  • It is visually attractive
  • It uses small paragraphs and subheadings, possibly lists or bullet points
  • It solves a problem that hasn't been solved elsewhere
  • It is intelligent but not too formal
  • It is emotional
  • It is surprising
  • It is original

You can use promoted Facebook ads to get this content in front of people in your area in addition to sharing it on your own profiles. This can help exposure and increase the likelihood of your content going viral. However, if the content doesn't seem to get shared often as a result of the ads, the issue is usually with the content, not the spending budget.

Remember, the goal of social media is not to sell. It is to create and strengthen relationships that will naturally lead to sales and long term customers.

How else can we use social media to promote brick and mortar businesses? What has worked for you?

Source: http://socialmediatoday.com/khadimbatti/1076206/social-media-marketing-brick-and-mortar-businesses

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Obama: John Boehner 'Doesn't Want To Look Like He's Giving In To Me'

President Obama said Thursday that he believes House Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) unwillingness to raise taxes on the nation's top earners is motivated by a desire to remain in good graces with House Republicans.

In an interview with Minnesota CBS affiliate WCCO, Obama was asked if "trust" has been an issue while negotiating with Boehner.

"You know, my sense is, it?s less an issue of trust and this has more to do with politics," Obama said. "I think the idea of not raising taxes has become sort of a religion for a lot of members of the Republican Party. I think Speaker Boehner has a contentious caucus, as his caucus is tough on him sometimes so he doesn?t want to look like he?s giving in to me somehow because that might hurt him in his own caucus."

Obama and Boehner met at the White House on Thursday to discuss the ongoing negotiations over how to address the tax hikes and spending cuts set to kick in on January 1. Few details have emerged on the meeting.

"The President and Speaker had a frank meeting in the Oval Office tonight," read identical statements put out by both the White House and Boehner's office. "It lasted approximately 50 minutes. There will be no further readout of the meeting, but lines of communication remain open."

The president and House speaker also met privately on Sunday, and have spoken over the phone at least twice in recent days. However, negotiations apparently remain stalled, with both Obama and Boehner unwilling to budge on taxes.

On Wednesday, Boehner warned his caucus to not make plans for the upcoming holiday, signaling that he does not expect to reach a deal by Christmas.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/13/obama-john-boehner_n_2297520.html

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Emerging virus in raccoons may provide cancer clues

Dec. 12, 2012 ? Rare brain tumors emerging among raccoons in Northern California and Oregon may be linked to a previously unidentified virus discovered by a team of researchers, led by scientists from the University of California, Davis. Their findings, published December 12 in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, could lead to a better understanding of how viruses can cause cancer in animals and humans.

Necropsies conducted since March 2010 by scientists at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and UC Davis-led California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory found brain tumors in 10 raccoons, nine of which were from Northern California, the article reports. The 10th was sent to UC Davis by researchers at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Ore.

The common factor, found in all of the tumors, was a newly described virus, dubbed raccoon polyomavirus. Researchers suspect this virus contributes to tumor formation.

Polyomaviruses, which are prevalent but rarely cause cancer, do not typically cross from one species to another, so the outbreak is not expected to spread to people or other animals.

Two more raccoons with the tumor and the virus have been found in Yolo and Marin counties since September 2012, when the article was submitted to the journal for publication.

"Raccoons hardly ever get tumors," said study author Patricia Pesavento, a pathologist with the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. "That's why we take notice when we get three tumors, much less 12."

Polyomaviruses are known to cause cancer under laboratory conditions. Less is known about their ability to cause cancer under natural conditions among people, because cancer often takes decades to develop.

Raccoons, with their short lifespans of two to three years, can provide a model for studying how these viruses spread outside the laboratory, how they cause cancer, and how easily they can jump from species to species.

Of the 12 raccoons affected, 10 were collected from Marin County. Pesavento said this does not mean the virus is limited to that county, or even to Northern California. Marin County is home to WildCare, an animal rescue and rehabilitation center that routinely submits animal remains for diagnostic testing, which might result in a sampling bias.

Other California raccoons were submitted by Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Contra Costa County and Sonoma Wildlife Rescue. Pesavento said her lab is collecting specimens and data from other sources across the country, looking for the virus and for raccoon exposure to it.

Pesavento said more research is needed to understand whether an environmental toxin, genetics or other explanation is contributing to the cancer. The study said that raccoons are exposed daily to human waste, garbage, environmental toxins and environmental pathogens as they travel along sewer and water lines.

"This is just the beginning of a story," said Pesavento, adding that high rates of cancer among wildlife are found in animals that live in close proximity to humans. "Wildlife live in our fields, our trash cans, our sewer lines, and that's where we dump things. Humans need to be guardians of the wildlife-human interface, and raccoons are important sentinel animals. They really are exquisitely exposed to our waste. We may be contributing to their susceptibility in ways we haven't discovered."

Infectious pathogens, such as viruses, are associated with 15-20 percent of all human cancers worldwide, according to the American Cancer Society. For example, human papillomavirus can lead to cervical cancer. Feline leukemia virus, for which UC Davis developed a vaccine, can cause cancer in cats. UC Davis also continues to study Marek's disease, a deadly virus in chickens that is providing insight into human cancer.

"This work to investigate natural associations of cancer verifies the importance of our One Health approach to addressing complex biomedical problems, such as viral causes of cancer," said Michael Lairmore, dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine, of which the UC Davis One Health Institute is a part. "Understanding how infectious agents may contribute to cancer in animals has provided fundamental new knowledge on the cause of cancer in people."

The study was funded through The Bernice Barbour Foundation, the UC Davis Center for Companion Animal Health, and Meadowview Foundation.

The study's authors include lead author Florante Dela Cruz, Federico Giannitti and Leslie Woods from UC Davis; Eric Delwart from University of California, San Francisco, and Blood Systems Research Institute in San Francisco; Linlin Li from Blood Systems Research Institute; and Luis Del Valle from Louisiana State University in New Orleans.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Davis.

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Journal Reference:

  1. F. N. Dela Cruz et al. Novel Polyomavirus associated with Brain Tumors in Free-Ranging Raccoons, Western United States. Emerging Infectious Diseases, Volume 19, Number 1; January 2013

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/JlHvM1hw7o4/121212130946.htm

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