tla entertainment: April 2013

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Small Business Expo coming soon! - Business - Jamaica Gleaner ...

The Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) is set to stage its sixth annual Small Business Expo on Tuesday, May 21, at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston. The event, which began in 2008, is keen on fulfilling specific objectives which will assist in the sustainable creation and development of micro, small and medium-size enterprises (MSMEs) in Jamaica.

Some of the main objectives are to provide training and development opportunities for entrepreneurs and MSMEs, to provide information on trending topics in the business sector, as well as to assist small business owners with the necessary skills and processes that will help them regularise their existing business functions. It is being hosted under the theme 'Taking Business to next Level: From Self-Employment to Entrepreneurship'.

The minister of state in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce Sharon Ffolkes Abrahams noted that the country was at a critical juncture and much effort is being made to put the economy on a firm and sustainable growth path.

"We are responsible for our growth, and it is our MSMEs that must lead in bringing the level of growth and innovation that we need. It is our MSME entrepreneurs that must help to stimulate economic growth by inventing new products, implementing new solutions for existing ideas, and by helping to provide new employment opportunities," she said.

In the meantime, JBDC Chief Executive Officer Valerie Veira highlighted the importance of enhancing the MSME business environment in order to facilitate the development and growth of the sector through business and technical-support services provided through the JBDC and other support agencies who will participate in the exposition.

Veira said, "... the Small Business Expo is a great platform for micro and small business owners to garner relevant information on the sector and make linkages with both small and large companies. Corporate Jamaica recognises the importance of this sector because it gives them an opportunity to provide bona fide benefits to small-business development in our country.

The JBDC Small Business Expo will bring more than 30 exhibitors on the conference floor from a variety of industries including manufacturing, craft, banking, accounting, transport, business, technology and more. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet with these organisations and access business-support services for authentic Jamaican products.

Other main highlights at the exposition and conference are interactive panel discussions with local and international business leaders and entrepreneurs, mini workshops for specific support areas, financial consultations, business clinics, as well as peer-to-peer mentoring and business-development support with industry experts.

To learn more, visit www.jbdc.net or email expo@jbdc.net/ as well as social networks including Facebook https://www.facebook.com/JBDC.net.

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20130429/business/business4.html

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Online poker is back: Legal website launches in NV

The home page for Ultimate Poker by the company Ultimate Gaming is seen on a computer screen at the company's headquarters, Monday, April 29, 2013, in Las Vegas. The social gaming company is expected to launch the first legal, real-money poker site in the U.S. Tuesday morning. The Ultimate Gaming site will be available only to in players in Nevada, but likely represents the shape of things to come for gamblers across the country. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Ultimate Gaming chairman Tom Breitling, left, and CEO Tobin Prior sit for a photo at their company headquarters, Monday, April 29, 2013, in Las Vegas. The social gaming company is expected to launch the first legal, real-money poker site in the U.S. Tuesday morning. The Ultimate Gaming site will be available only to in players in Nevada, but likely represents the shape of things to come for gamblers across the country. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

A sample poker game is played on the soon-to-be launched Ultimate Gaming website, Monday, April 29, 2013, in Las Vegas. The social gaming company is expected to launch the first legal, real-money poker site in the U.S. Tuesday morning. The Ultimate Gaming site will be available only to in players in Nevada, but likely represents the shape of things to come for gamblers across the country.(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Poker devotees will soon be able to skip the smoky casino and legally gamble their dollars away on the couch ? at least in the state of Nevada.

A Las Vegas-based social gambling company is expected to launch the first legal, real-money poker website in the United States on Tuesday morning.

The site, run by Ultimate Gaming, will accept wagers only from players in Nevada for now, but likely represents the shape of things to come for gamblers across the country.

Internet poker, never fully legal, has been strictly outlawed since 2011, when the Department of Justice seized the domain names of the largest offshore sites catering to U.S. customers and blacked them out.

This crackdown, dubbed "black Friday," left poker fanatics with two options: They could either get dressed and visit a visit a card room, or break the law and log into an offshore site.

More recently, the federal government softened its stance on Internet betting, and three states ? New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada? have legalized some form of online wagering within their borders.

With Tuesday's launch, Nevada wins the race to bring Texas Hold 'em back to the Internet.

"There was black Friday, and now we're going to have 'trusting Tuesday,'" said Ultimate Gaming CEO Tobin Prior. "Players won't have to worry if their money is safe. They are going to be able to play with people they can trust and know the highest regulatory standards have been applied."

The site, UltimatePoker.com, will look familiar to anyone who participated in the poker craze of the 2000s. Only the account setup and login process have changed. Instead of checking a box certifying they are older than 18, players will have to endure a lengthy account setup process involving a Social Security number and a Nevada address. Only those older than 21 will be allowed to play.

Ultimate Gaming and the two dozen other companies still fine-tuning their Nevada poker sites hope they will win the trust not only of players, but of regulators and politicians.

"It's an opportunity to show the world how to properly run online poker," Ultimate Gaming chairman Tom Breitling said.

Several cash-hungry states are weighing legislation that would allow them to tap into what is expected to be a multibillion-dollar market. Some bills would legalize only poker, as Nevada has, while others would throw open the gates to all casino games, including slots, as New Jersey and Delaware have done.

Earlier this year, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval approved legislation that gives him the ability to sign deals with other governors to facilitate interstate Internet gambling.

Online gamblers around the world currently wager an estimated $35 billion each year, according to the American Gaming Association. A fully realized U.S. online poker market could generate $4.3 billion in revenue its first year, and $9.6 billion by year five, according to London-based research firm H2 Gambling Capital.

Still, with federal efforts to legalize Internet poker stalled, it may be a while before a critical mass of states link together to lure professional players back from overseas and drive up jackpots.

Nevada, a state of just 2.8 million, attracts 47 million visitors a year? more than the population of California. But who wants to go on vacation just to fire up their laptop and play some virtual cards?

"I think the real excitement will be when we get a very populous state like a California or a New York allowing these companies to expand," ITG casino analyst Matthew Jacob said. "But these changes often take longer to occur than people assume. It requires a change in law and then it takes a while from when the law passes until the sites are up and running."

Prior says he intends to make Ultimate Poker profitable within a matter of years, in part through cross-promotion with mixed martial arts giant Ultimate Fighting Championship. The companies share a common owner: Frank Fertitta III and his brother Lorenzo, who also own Station Casinos Inc., an extensive chain that caters to locals in Las Vegas.

The Ultimate Poker logo has enjoyed prime placement in the UFC fight octagon for months. The Ultimate Poker Facebook page, which steers fans to a zero-stakes version of the site, features a mix of UFC glamour shots and stock images of guys in hoodies staring into laptop screens.

"When you look at the demographic of the UFC fan and the online poker player, it's almost a perfect overlap," Breitling said.

In the coming months, Ultimate Gaming will have to prove that its technology and 111 employees can prevent minors and out-of-state players from wagering real dollars, and guard against money laundering.

It will also have to pay 6.75 percent of its revenue in Nevada state taxes.

It's unclear how much of a boon the new market will be to the cash-strapped state. In 2012, the Pew Center on the States analyzed 13 states that had recently legalized new types of gambling, and found that more than two-thirds of "failed to live up to the initial promises or projections."

The gambling industry is hoping the return of Internet poker will revitalize interest in the game and help brick and mortar casinos capture a younger market.

The rise of Internet poker is generally credited with helping spark the poker fad of the last decade. The end of online gambling is thought to have helped quash interest in the game.

In the coming months, the industry will be watching closely to see if poker players come flocking back from their new hobbies, replacement computer games and illegal offshore gambling sites.

"This is a really huge moment for our company, the state of Nevada and the gaming community," Breitling said. "We're hoping to make poker fun again."

___

Hannah Dreier can be reached at http://twitter.com/hannahdreier

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-04-30-Internet%20Gambling/id-95ba87dc875f43caab23c23e61eedd97

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The Sahara Conflict Reached a Deadlock: Christopher Ross ...

By Loubna Flah

Morocco World News

Casablanca, April 28, 2013

Mr. Christopher Ross, the UN envoy to the Sahara said in his latest report to the Security Council on Monday that his attempts to bridge the gap between Morocco and the Polisario Front failed according to the daily al Massae.

I could create a less formal atmosphere for face-to-face negotiations, I pinpointed the commonalities between both parties and I suggested a detailed study of the pending issues but all my efforts failed, he was quoted by the Moroccan news paper as saying.

He went on to say that ?the Sahara conflict has reached a deadlock.?

Mr. Christopher Ross stated also hat he has been conducting secrete talks with Morocco and the Polisario Front in order to move forward and reach a mutually accepted solution to the conflict.

Ross revealed that he had expected the conflict to ease in the wake of the Arab spring and with the terrorist threat lurking in the Sahel region.

?I thought that the threat in the Sahel region would create a feeling of urgency but is did not,? he noted.

Ross hailed Morocco?s efforts to promote Human Rights through the National Council for Human Rights and especially its regional committees in Layoune and Dakhla cities. On the other hand, he reported growing disgruntlement among the youth in Tindouf camps and their inclination to armed struggle.

Earlier this month, the US had submitted a proposal to task the MINURSO (The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) with new prerogatives namely, the monitoring of Human Rights in the Sahara.

The American proposal stirred strong reactions and staunch opposition from the Moroccan government. Morocco deployed intensive diplomatic talks against the American proposal and called on the Security Council to show wisdom and to refrain from taking any step that may derail the political process.

After the lobbying of other members of the Group of Friend of the UN Secretary General on the Western Sahara, Washington withdrew its proposal.

Need to paving the way towards a political solution

In his annual report on the ?Situation concerning Western Sahara?, the UN chief, Ban Ki-moon, called on the parties to move beyond their stern positions and pave the way towards finding a solution to the conflict.

Ban makes went on to make it clear that no party can expect to obtain the totality of its demands, hence, the need that the two parties, Morocco and the Polisario, ?move beyond presenting and defending their respective proposals.?

?Each party must accept that neither will obtain the totality of its demands, but rather has to engage in a logic of give and take?, said the report in a direct message to the parties to show more flexibility and realism in the negotiation process.

Source: http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2013/04/88878/the-sahara-conflict-reached-a-deadlock-christopher-ross-2/

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Prison Planet.com ? CPS Takes Child After Parents Question ...

Anthony Gucciardi
Prison Planet.com
April 28, 2013

In California, seeking a second opinion for your child might just end up in a CPS home invasion. As one couple experienced after attempting to bring their child to another medical doctor for a second opinion following failed and improper treatment of a potentially serious condition,?all it takes is one angry healthcare provider in order to lose your child to a CPS home raid.

It all started when Anna Nikolayev and her husband Alex?took a trip to?Sutter Memorial Hospital over some flu-like symptoms that their 5-month-old son was experiencing. Intended to be a visit centered around ensuring the health of their child, who?Anna says is the most important thing to her, they were met with resistance when questioning the treatment their young son was receiving. In fact, simply asking why their son was being given antibiotics, which absolutely destroys the small?amounts of beneficial gut bacteria in children, was unacceptable.

Child Dosed Up With Antibiotics for ?Flu-Like? Symptoms

Anna recounts asking a nurse why exactly the antibiotics were being given to the 5-month-old, considering that antibiotics do nothing to combat the flu (as it is viral, not bacterial). In response to the reasonable question as to why the child was on routine antibiotics, the nurse at the hospital explained she did not ?know? why antibiotics were prescribed. Later on, Anna says that a doctor confirmed that the child absolutely should not have been on antibiotics.

So what did Anna do? What any reasonable person who cares about their child would do, get the heck out of the hospital prescribing 5-month-old children antibiotics for flu-like symptoms. Before this, the Sutter Hospital doctors actually went a step further. Beyond the antibiotic dosing, they actually admitted the couple?s son Sammy into the ICU and started discussing the possibility of heart surgery. Sammy has been receiving treatment for a?heart murmur since birth.

To Anna, this was yet another step that was not explained and not making much sense. As a result, she pulled Sammy from the hospital and headed over to find a doctor at?Kaiser Permanente who could offer a second opinion.

No Second Opinion For You

Ultimately, this turned out to be a move that would end with Sammy being taken away from the couple for what may be an extremely long time. And although their case will likely be shared thousands of times and potentially lead to the CPS being under such a great degree of public fire that they are forced to return Sammy to his parents, ?we need to understand that?not everyone will receive the same attention.

Instead, it must be seriously understood that the CPS went and took this child even after the medical doctor at?Kaiser Permanente had stated: ?I do?not have concern for the safety of the child at home with his parents.?

Even police, after seeing that the child was safe, allowed the child to stay in the home ? but that was before CPS came. So why would CPS take a child from a home where his safety is not in danger? As you hear in the video, CPS acts on orders from healthcare providers.

Providers like those from?Sutter Memorial Hospital, who were improperly drugging up the child with antibiotics for no reason (at least not one they could provide) and discussing serious heart surgery. And despite what appears to be their utter malpractice, their rage that the parents left the hospital for a second opinion (and loss of serious profits) may have led to a CPS raid that you can see take place in the video above.

As Alex, the 5-month-old?s father,?recounts:

?I was pushed against the building, smacked down. I said, ?am I being placed under arrest?? He smacked me down onto the ground, yelled out, ?I think I got the keys to the house??It seems like parents have no right whatsoever.?

And he?s right, parents are increasingly losing their rights to treat their own child or even receive a second opinion from another medical doctor.

This post originally appeared at Natural Society

This article was posted: Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 5:12 am

Source: http://www.prisonplanet.com/cps-takes-child-after-parents-question-doctors-seek-second-opinion.html

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Sunday, April 28, 2013

Wikileaks suspect named SF Pride parade marshal (Providence Journal)

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Second Child on the Way for Vince Vaughn

Vaughn and his wife Kyla will welcome their second child together this August.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/o-6h1hVFIHc/

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integument kingmaker: D is for Dentist: get happy series: start it up.

Our fitness challenge wrapped up this week! I began this challenge beginning of this semester with my vegetarian transition, maybe a little too ambitiously. With a busy dental school schedule and marathon training, I spent a lot of time stressing out about what I should be doing. I had actually gained weight!

I chatted with Sharon right after my weigh-in. She set me off to deep thought about the way I think about health and fitness. An interview with her, our inaugural SHAPE challenge winner!!!, will be coming up soon- meanwhile, you can read her interview about her HPSP (military scholarship for dental school) here.

Being healthy isn?t just about weighing a certain number or looking a certain way. This is why I?m excited to start this ?Get happy series?. (I took this picture on my run crossing the bridge to New Jersey!- Philadelphia looked so beautiful with the sun setting in the background.)

gethappy

I?ll be write about health, physical fitness, nutrition, dentist ergonomics and emotional health***: many things I should pay more attention to. To start off, here?s my baseline right now with a busy school schedule.

I sit on average 8 hours a day at school + 3-5 hours studying/working/writing.
I walk about 3000 steps on average on days I don?t run.
I snack throughout the day into the night out of fatigue-boredom-stress.

I want to focus more on the mental/emotional health on this dental school journey. Once school lightens up a bit I?m going to organize and structure this blog a bit, so look forward to new changes.

I?m heading to DC tomorrow morning bright and early to tackle 13.1 miles. Sleep tight, everyone! Please send me some badass running vibes!!!

Source: http://www.disfordentist.com/2013/04/get-happy-series-start-it-up.html

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Source: http://integument-kingmaker.blogspot.com/2013/04/d-is-for-dentist-get-happy-series-start.html

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Saturday, April 27, 2013

Bomb suspect moved; FBI searches landfill

BOSTON (AP) ? Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhohkar Tsarnaev was moved from a hospital to a federal prison medical center while FBI agents shifted the focus of their investigation to how the deadly plot was pulled off and searched for evidence Friday in a landfill near the college he attended.

Tsarnaev, 19, was taken from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he was recovering from a throat wound and other injuries suffered during an attempt to elude police last week, and he was transferred to the Federal Medical Center Devens, about 40 miles from Boston, the U.S. Marshals Service said. The facility, at a former Army base, treats federal prisoners.

"It's where he should be; he doesn't need to be here anymore," said Beth Israel patient Linda Zamansky, who thought his absence could reduce stress on bombing victims who have been recovering at the hospital under tight security.

The FBI's investigation of the April 15 bombing has turned from identification and apprehension of suspects to piecing together details of the plot, including how long the planning took, how it was carried out and whether anyone else knew or was involved.

A federal law enforcement official not authorized to speak on the record about the investigation told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity on Friday that the FBI was gathering evidence regarding "everything imaginable."

FBI agents picked through a landfill near the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where Tsarnaev was a sophomore. FBI spokesman Jim Martin would not say what investigators were looking for.

An aerial photo in Friday's Boston Globe showed a line of more than 20 investigators, all dressed in white overalls and yellow boots, picking over the garbage with shovels or rakes.

Investigators also have continued to interview people who were close to Tsarnaev, including two young men from Kazakhstan who were students with him at UMass Dartmouth.

Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev were jailed by immigration authorities the day after Tsarnaev's capture. Kadyrbayev's lawyer, former federal prosecutor Robert Stahl, said the pair, who had partied with Tsarnaev and other students at an off-campus apartment, had nothing to do with the attack and had no idea their friend harbored any violent thoughts.

"These kids are just as shocked and horrified about what happened as everyone else," Stahl said. He said they are being held for violating their student visas by not regularly attending classes and want to return to Kazakhstan as soon as possible.

U.S. officials, meanwhile, said that the bombing suspects' mother had been added to a federal terrorism database about 18 months before the deadly attack ? a disclosure that deepens the mystery around the Tsarnaev family and marks the first time American authorities have acknowledged that Zubeidat Tsarnaeva was under investigation before the tragedy.

The news is certain to fuel questions about whether President Barack Obama's administration missed opportunities to thwart the marathon bombing, which killed three people and wounded more than 260.

Tsarnaev is charged with joining with his older brother, now dead, in setting off the shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs. The brothers are ethnic Chechens from Russia who came to the United States about a decade ago with their parents. Investigators have said it appears that the brothers were angry about the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Two government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation, said the CIA had Zubeidat Tsarnaeva's name added to the terror database along with that of her son Tamerlan Tsarnaev after Russia contacted the agency in 2011 with concerns that the two were religious militants.

About six months earlier, the FBI investigated mother and son, also at Russia's request, one of the officials said. The FBI found no ties to terrorism. Previously U.S. officials had said only that the FBI investigated Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

In an interview from Russia, Tsarnaeva said Friday that she has never been linked to terrorism.

"It's all lies and hypocrisy," she said from Dagestan. "I'm sick and tired of all this nonsense that they make up about me and my children. People know me as a regular person, and I've never been mixed up in any criminal intentions, especially any linked to terrorism."

Tsarnaeva faces shoplifting charges in the U.S. over the theft of more than $1,624 worth of women's clothing from a Lord & Taylor department store in Natick in 2012.

Earlier this week, she said she has been assured by lawyers that she would not be arrested if she traveled to the U.S., but she said she was still deciding whether to go. The suspects' father, Anzor Tsarnaev, said that he would leave Russia soon for the United States to visit one son and lay the other to rest.

A team of investigators from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow has questioned both parents in Russia this week, spending many hours with the mother in particular over two days.

Meanwhile, New York's police commissioner said the FBI was too slow to inform the city that the Boston Marathon suspects had been planning to bomb Times Square days after the attack at the race.

Federal investigators learned about the short-lived scheme from a hospitalized Dzhokhar Tsarnaev during a bedside interrogation that began Sunday night and extended into Monday morning, officials said. The information didn't reach the New York Police Department until Wednesday night.

"We did express our concerns over the lag," said police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who with Mayor Michael Bloomberg had announced the findings on Thursday.

The FBI had no comment Friday.

___

Sullivan reported from Washington. Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Rodrique Ngowi in Boston, Colleen Long in New York and Pete Yost and Julie Pace in Washington.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boston-bomb-suspect-moved-fbi-probe-shifts-focus-021629955.html

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Uber's back in Gotham: NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission approves cab-hailing app

Car service Uber and New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) have had a rocky relationship, as the Commission banned Uber from Gotham's taxicabs last year. Susequently, the TLC greenlit a trial to test cab hailing apps and after a brief legal delay, the pilot program is back in action, and Valleywag reports that Uber is the first app approved to participate in it. Uber's co-founder Travis Kalanick is, quite naturally, excited to be back in NYC taxis with the commission's ~~tacit~~ explicit approval, and stated that the app will be ready for use across the city "monetarily." So, it's official, good people of Gotham, you can now legally go forth and get your Uber on.

Filed under: Transportation, Software, Mobile

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Via: The Verge

Source: Valleywag

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/26/uber-taxi-app-approved-nyc-tlc/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Friday, April 26, 2013

What place sports when a tragedy strikes? | Dorchester Reporter

There has always been a bit of disconnect between the games we play and times of distress. Sports equate with ?fun? and are classified as ?entertainment.? So when bad things happen, ought the games to be stopped? Are they appropriate when their relative unimportance is resoundingly underscored by the bitter sweep of harsh reality? Should we be happily at play when and where great sadness abounds?

These are hardly questions that drive philosophers daft, merely the stuff of common sense. Yet the answers have not always been clear while consensus remains elusive.

In a society that ascribes far more meaning to athletics than can ever be conveyed by final scores, few have much time even for the questions. Yet they?ve persisted over the last near century and a half that highly structured and organized sport ? professional and amateur ? has served as the bedrock of our popular culture.

Duringthe deeply disturbing Marathon tragedy there has been widespread insistence that sports helped get us through the ordeal?by providing forums where outrage could be vented and resilience demonstrated and spirits renewed and, in the end, resolution celebrated. Once again, the kingdom of sport is mighty happy to take a bow for all that. But isn?t it fair to wonder ? once again ? if such explanations are not too simplistic and such lofty claims more than a bit exaggerated.

At the least, it renews a time-honored debate. Looking back over the years it is one that has been consistently fascinating.

These questions were first raised during the Spanish-American War at the end of the 19th century when baseball was the only truly organized game in town and the suspension of the National League season was proposed to presumably allow a sharper focus on the vanquishing of our foes. But among our many wars, this one was relatively short, one-sided, and easy, so before the argument could fully develop, it was over.

However, the fact that the season hadn?t been suspended would become a factor in 1917 when America edged into World War I. This time the demand for baseball to shut down was more strenuous. The secretary of war had issued a ?work or fight? edict and Newton D. Baker did not consider playing baseball to be ?work.? He ordered ballplayers to either enlist in the Army or work in a defense plant. MLB resisted, claiming the Spanish-American War as a precedent.

In the end, a compromise was worked out and it was rather silly. Players were obliged (among other things) to do one hour of daily military drills conducted by Regular Army NCOs on the field before every game. They marched around with baseball?bats over their shoulders. It was hardly boot camp, but it satisfied Baker. Among those accused of shirking such meager duty was a young Red Sox lefty-hurler named Babe Ruth. For years after the war the illustrious Bambino and boxing-great Jack Dempsey ranked high among the jocks bearing the stigma of having been accused ?slackers.?

There was no such controversy in World War II. Only a month after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt declared: ?I honestly feel it would be best for the country to keep baseball going. There will be fewer people unemployed and everybody will work longer and harder hours than ever before. That means they ought to have a chance for recreation. Baseball provides a recreation that does not last?over two hours and can be got for very little cost.?

If it seems lame now, for baseball, which was, then far and away the nation?s?major sport, it was a fabulous endorsement. Moreover, all the games were thus reprieved, with all contributing mightily to the war-effort.

All of which hugely benefited the entire sport?s industry and set the stage for fabulous growth after the war. But it was also a?shrewd move on FDR?s part as an element of war policy. The country had accepted conflict as inescapable but the distaste for foreign entanglements remained strong. Recognizing the war would be long, nasty, and brutally taxing, FDR understood that diversions, distractions, and a sustained sense of the normal would be vital to national morale and believed sports could serve that purpose best. If the quality of the games wasn?t high during the war, it was nonetheless among baseball?s finest hours.

Interesting how different were those times. Pearl Harbor was attacked, you?ll recall, on a Sunday and the terrible news was exploding on radio air- waves across the nation just as the NFL?s weekly games were beginning. With martial law being immediately declared, and troops taking position around government buildings and major industrial sites all over the land, the NFL?s full slate of games merrily continued uninterrupted. Two Sundays later, with the nation mobilizing fiercely, the Bears met the Giants for the championship, with Chicago winning, 37-9.

It?s not just war that has raised the question over the years. Unforgettably, it was the Kennedy assassination in November 1963, that stirred the greatest of the controversies. With the nation totally traumatized, all the games, leagues, and sporting contractors ? big and small, professional and amateur ? scrambled furiously to adjust. But not the most lordly of the lot, the National Football League.

Equally unforgettable were the pious intonations of NFL Commissioner Palmer (Pete) Rozelle declaring that the dead young president would have dearly wanted the lads to play. So a full slate of games proceeded hideously two days after the president had been shot, even as he lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda, on the very day before his emotionally shattering funeral. It may have been the only dumb thing Rozelle ever did, but it was no less monumental.

The NFL survived Rozelle?s blunder because football?s sky-rocketing popularity allowed it. But it did whip up a whole new round of fierce debate about whether games remain relevant when grave hardship and/or civic turmoil rears. Five years later, during the tormented spring of 1968 as uproar was flaring in American urban enclaves, the discussion was again bestirred with professional teams again having to adjust.
In subsequent years, as the sports industry boomed on the way to its present humongous dimensions, the discussion would gradually fade. We would have a full-fledged constitutional crisis called Watergate in the early 1970?s and it would have no effect on so much as a period or an inning of any team?s play. And then came ??9-11.?

The terrorist attack on New York City in September of 2011?rattled many conventional attitudes, the least important doubtless having to do with how we view?the games we play. But in fairness, the role?of sport back in that black September was memorable. Moreover, on that terrible occasion, everyone got it right.

Games were postponed wholesale and schedules turned upside down by all leagues and when they finally resumed, it was with proper deference to the very painful mood of the moment. Ceremonies were touching and dignified as a whole new generation of smart young sports executives demonstrated?they fully understood how far beyond the fields of play the games now extend.

The atrocity last week in Boston does not compare in scale or scope to the atrocity back then in New York, although you can tell that to the victims along Boylston Street and their families, if you wish. If ?9-11? changed our world, the Marathon mayhem dramatized how much it had changed, and how random and capricious the carnage can be, and, above all, how mindless is its inspiration.

It is not the first such madness to beset sport. The Munich Olympics some four decades ago has that awful distinction. But has it changed the games irreparably? Soon enough, we?ll find out. Alas! ???

Source: http://www.dotnews.com/columns/2013/what-place-sports-when-tragedy-strikes

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Matt Mitrione?s suspension is already over

UFC heavyweight Matt Mitrione was suspended on April 8 for his transphobic comments about trans fighter Fallon Fox. At the time, the UFC said they were "appalled" by his comments and said his words were "wholly unacceptable."

Yet now, on April 25, Mitrione is off suspension and has a fight scheduled. Mitrione will fight fellow "The Ultimate Fighter" castmember Brendan Schaub on the July 27 UFC on Fox 8 show.

122 days passed between Mitrione's last two fights. By the time he gets in the cage with Brendan Schaub at UFC on Fox 8, 112 days will have passed since his knockout of Philip de Fries. How is that a suspension?

Here we have the problem with MMA and suspensions. This isn't like football or basketball, where every athlete has the same amount of events, and a suspension of five games means the same thing for everyone. In MMA, some fighters fight once a year. Some fight four times a year. For a suspension to mean anything, it has to be for several months, and a fighter's ability to get in the cage must be affected.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/matt-mitrione-suspension-already-over-191620820--mma.html

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VIDEO: The Future Of Wearable Technology

Google Glass ? the glasses with a computer, Internet and camera built in ? is only the latest version of wearable technology. The wristwatch was one of the first.

Off Book, a Web video series from PBS, explorers the future of wearable technology ? from devices that help you figure out why you can't sleep to "smart" fabrics.

"For example, think about a garment you don't have to wash," says Sabine Seymour of Parsons, the New School for Design. "They can change their shape, their color ... fabrics that have a metallic coating, or yarns that are conductive. We want to make the actual fiber smart, so that through nanotechnology we can create a textile that can sense."

h/t NPR's Jeremy Pennycook

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/04/25/179077634/video-the-future-of-wearable-technology?ft=1&f=1007

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Thursday, April 25, 2013

Mississippi men's feud looms over ricin probe

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) ? The investigation into poisoned letters mailed to President Barack Obama and others has shifted from an Elvis impersonator to his longtime foe, and authorities must now figure out if an online feud between the two men might have escalated into something more sinister.

Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, was released from a north Mississippi jail on Tuesday and charges against him were dropped, nearly a week after authorities charged him with sending ricin-laced letters to the president, Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and an 80-year-old Lee County, Miss., Justice Court judge, Sadie Holland.

Before Curtis left jail, authorities had already descended on the home of 41-year-old Everett Dutschke in Tupelo, a northeast Mississippi town best known as the birthplace of the King himself. On Wednesday, they searched the site of a Tupelo martial arts studio once operated by Dutschke, who hasn't been arrested or charged.

Wednesday evening, hazmat teams packed up and left Dutschke's business. He was at the scene at times during the day. A woman drove off in a green Dodge Caravan parked on the street that had been searched. Daniel McMullen, FBI special agent in charge in Mississippi, declined to speak with reporters afterward.

Dutschke's attorney, Lori Nail Basham, said he is "cooperating fully" with investigators and that no arrest warrant had been issued.

After being released from jail Tuesday, Curtis, who performs as Elvis and other celebrities, described a bizarre, yearslong feud between the two, but Dutschke insisted he had nothing to do with the letters. They contained language identical to that found on Curtis' Facebook page and other websites, making him an early suspect.

Federal authorities have not said what led them to drop the charges against Curtis, and his lawyers say they're not sure what new evidence the FBI has found.

Curtis said he's not sure exactly what led to the bad blood. It involves the men's time working together, a broken promise to help with a book by Curtis and an acrimonious exchange of emails, according to Curtis.

The two worked together at Curtis' brother's insurance office years ago, Curtis said. He said Dutschke told him he owned a newspaper and showed interest in publishing his book called "Missing Pieces," about what Curtis considers an underground market to sell body parts.

But Dutschke decided not to publish the material, Curtis alleged, and later began stalking Curtis on the Internet.

For his part, Dutschke said he didn't even know Curtis that well.

"He almost had my sympathy until I found out that he was trying to blame somebody else," Dutschke said Monday. "I've known he was disturbed for a long time. Last time we had any contact with each other was at some point in 2010 when I threatened to sue him for fraud for posting a Mensa certificate that is a lie. He is not a Mensa member. That certificate is a lie."

Curtis acknowledges posting a fake Mensa certificate on Facebook, but says it was an online trap set up for Dutschke because he believed Dutschke was stalking him online. He knew Dutschke also claimed to be a member of the organization for people with high IQs. Dutschke had a Mensa email address during a legislative campaign he mounted in 2007.

Dutschke started a campaign to prove him a liar, Curtis said, and allegedly harassed him through emails and social networking.

Curtis said the two agreed to meet at one point to face off in person, but Dutschke didn't show up.

"The last email I got from him, was, 'Come back tomorrow at 7 and the results of you being splattered all over the pavement will be public for the world to see what a blank, blank, blank you are.' And then at that point, I knew I was dealing with a coward," Curtis said.

Hal Neilson, one of the attorneys for Curtis, has said the defense gave authorities a list of people who may have had a reason to hurt Curtis, and that Dutschke's name came up. Efforts to reach Curtis, his lawyers and his brother were unsuccessful on Wednesday.

Both men say they have met Wicker, and they each have a connection to Holland.

Authorities say the letters were mailed April 8, but the one sent to Holland was the only one to make it into the hands of an intended target. Her son, Democratic state Rep. Steve Holland of Plantersville, said his mother did a "smell test" of the envelope and a substance in it irritated her nose. The judge was not sickened by what authorities say was a crude form of the poison, which is derived from castor beans.

Judge Holland has declined to comment on the case.

She was presiding judge in a case in which Curtis was accused of assaulting a Tupelo attorney in 2003. Holland sentenced Curtis to six months in the county jail. He served only part of the sentence, according to his brother.

Running as a Republican, Dutschke lost a lopsided election to Steve Holland in 2007, and observers say the judge publicly chastised Dutschke at a political rally that year.

Brandon Presley, Mississippi's northern district public service commissioner and a distant cousin of Elvis Presley, attended the 2007 political rally in Verona. He told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he remembers Dutschke giving a "militant" speech with personal and professional attacks on Steve Holland.

Presley, also a Democrat, said he doesn't recall details of the speech ? just the tone of it, and the crowd's reaction.

"I just remember everybody's jaw dropping," Presley said.

Dutschke said his speech included sharp criticism of Steve Holland's record in public office.

Steve Holland said earlier this week that his mother made Dutschke get down on his knees at the 2007 rally and apologize. On Wednesday, he said he was mistaken about her telling Dutschke to kneel.

"She just got up and said 'Sir, you will apologize," Steve Holland said.

Dutschke said Steve Holland exaggerated the incident. Presley said he remembers Judge Holland chastising Dutschke.

Presley said of the judge: "I don't believe the woman has an enemy in the world.... I don't know anybody who doesn't love Ms. Sadie Holland, except whoever this fool is who sent the letter. Whoever it is, they ought to be ashamed of themselves, picking on Ms. Sadie."

Dutschke ? who unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat for Lee County election commissioner in 2008 ? told AP on Tuesday that he has no problem with Sadie Holland. "Everybody loves Sadie, including me," he said.

On Wednesday, dozens of investigators were searching at a small retail space where neighboring business owners said Dutschke used to operate a martial arts studio. Officers at the scene wouldn't comment on what they were doing.

Investigators in gas masks, gloves and plastic suits emerged from the business carrying five-gallon buckets full of items covered in large plastic bags. Once outside, others started spraying their protective suits with some sort of mist.

Dutschke told the AP on Wednesday morning that he and his wife had gone to a friend's house because they didn't feel safe at their home. He didn't immediately respond to messages Wednesday afternoon.

"They ripped everything out of the house," he said, adding: "I haven't slept at all."

____

Wagster Pettus contributed from Jackson, Miss., and Associated Press writers Jeff Amy and Jay Reeves contributed from Tupelo, Miss.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mississippi-mens-feud-looms-over-ricin-probe-001600320.html

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CISPA Protest Carried Out by Annonymous

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/cispa-protest-carried-out-by-annonymous/

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Colbert Busch leads Sanford in South Carolina congressional race: poll (reuters)

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Rebecca Black Resurfaces, Covers Rihanna

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/rebecca-black-resurfaces-covers-rihanna/

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More rain expected for already swollen Midwest rivers

CLARKSVILLE, Mo. (AP) ? Communities along the Mississippi River and other Midwestern waterways are vigilantly eyeing ? and in some cases hastily fortifying ? makeshift levees to hold back floodwaters that meteorologists say could worsen or be prolonged by looming storms.

An inch of rain was expected to fall from Oklahoma to Michigan through Tuesday, a new drenching that led the National Weather Service to heighten the forecast crest of some stretches of rivers while blunting the progress of other waterways' slow retreat.

Mark Fuchs, a National Weather Service hydrologist, said the latest dousing could be especially troubling for communities along the Illinois River, which he said is headed for record crests.

"Along the Illinois, any increase is going to be cause for alarm, adding to their uncertainty and, in some cases, misery," he said late Monday afternoon.

Last week's downpours brought on sudden flooding throughout the Midwest, and high water is blamed for at least three deaths. Authorities in LaSalle, Ill., spent Monday searching for a woman whose van was spotted days earlier near a bridge, and a 12-year-old boy was in critical condition after being pulled from a river near Leadwood, Mo., about 65 miles south of St. Louis.

The additional rain isn't welcome news in Clarksville, Mo., about 70 miles north of St. Louis.

Days after bused-in prison inmates worked shoulder to shoulder with the National Guard and local volunteers to build a makeshift floodwall of sand and gravel, the barrier showed signs of strain Monday. Crews scrambled to patch trouble spots and build a second sandbag wall to catch any water weaseling through.

In Grafton, Ill., some 40 miles northeast of St. Louis, Mayor Tom Thompson said small community was holding its own against the Mississippi that by early Monday afternoon was 10 feet above flood stage. Waters lapped against some downtown buildings, forcing shops such as Hawg Pit BBQ to clear out and detours to be put up around town ? one key intersection was under 8 inches of water.

"If it gets another foot (higher), it's going to become another issue," Thompson said. Many businesses "are kinda watching and holding their breath. ... Some things are going to really be close to the wire."

Elsewhere, smaller rivers caused big problems. In Grand Rapids, Mich., the Grand River hit a record 21.85 feet, driving hundreds of people from their homes and flooding parts of downtown.

Spots south of St. Louis aren't expected to crest until late this week, and significant flooding is possible in places like Ste. Genevieve, Mo., Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Cairo, Ill. Further downriver, flood warnings have been issued for Kentucky and Tennessee.

___

Salter reported from St. Louis.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/more-rain-expected-already-swollen-rivers-070400840.html

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AppShopper Social uses your friends to find apps for you

App discovery service AppShopper has reappeared on the App Store after being removed last year, and their new app, AppShopper Social, relies heavily on social features to help users find apps. After creating your AppShopper account, you can populate the Friends list either by manually adding friends or adding your Twitter account. When you've added some friends, the Stream will be populated with the apps that they have as well as those in their wish list.

Just like the old app, you can add apps you already own to a list, so they won't be suggested to you, as well as add apps you want to your wish list. With the new social features, you can rate the apps you have, and when people who have added you as a friend view the app, they will see your rating. When viewing the stream, the ratings of your friends will appear as blue stars, as opposed to the black stars that indicate App Store ratings.

One feature that is missing in the initial release of AppShopper Social is the ability to look at your friends individually to see the apps that they have added to their lists, though AppShopper has said that this feature is on its way.

AppShopper Social is a completely new app for iPhone, and is available for free on the App Store. If you pick this one up, let us know what you think!

Free - Download Now

Source: AppShopper blog

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/d46IKSGII5o/story01.htm

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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Olivia Newton-John's sister Rona has cancer, Las Vegas shows ...

"Grease" actress and pop singer Olivia Newton-John has postponed a Las Vegas concert residency in order to spend time with her sister, who was recently diagnosed with brain cancer.

The 64-year-old star was supposed to perform shows at the Flamingo Hotel & Casino later this year during nights regular headliners Donny and Marie Osmond were away, the Las Vegas Sun had reported earlier this month.

The hotel has never confirmed the news officially and reps had no immediate comment. Newton-John issued the following statement on Monday on her website:

"I recently received the very sad news that my beautiful sister, Rona Newton-John, has been diagnosed with brain cancer. In light of this news, I have decided to postpone my forthcoming Las Vegas residency to spend time with her and our family."

"As a cancer 'thriver' myself, as many people are, I am very aware of the importance of love, support and family during this journey she is about to begin. "I want to thank everyone in advance for respecting our privacy during this difficult time."

Olivia, a UK-born Australian star, founded the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in Melbourne. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, around the same time her father died of liver cancer, according to the website, which adds that following a partial mastectomy and breast reconstruction surgery, the actress and singer has been cancer-free for more than 10 years.

Olivia is also involved in Rona's son Emerson Newton-John's breast cancer and prostate cancer awareness organization, Pink and Blue for Two (PB42).

Olivia played Sandy, love interest of John Travolta's character Danny, in the 1978 musical "Grease." Rona, 72, was married to their co-star Jeff Conaway for five years in the 1980s. They had no children together. In addition to Emerson, Rona also has another son and two daughters from a previous marriage. Conaway, who played Danny's friend and fellow T-Bird member Kenickie, died on May 27, 2011 after battling pneumonia and sepsis.

Olivia and Rona also have a brother, Hugh Newton-John, who is a doctor.

(Pictured above: Olivia Newton-John performs at the American Music Theatre on Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Credit: Owen Sweeney / Invision / AP)

Source: http://www.ontheredcarpet.com/Olivia-Newton-Johns-sister-Rona-has-cancer--Las-Vegas-shows-postponed/9076087

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China says new North Korea nuclear test possible

BEIJING (AP) ? China's top general says Beijing considers a fourth North Korean nuclear test to be a possibility.

Chief of the General Staff Gen. Fang Fenghui said Monday that Beijing firmly opposes the North's nuclear weapons program and wants to work with others on negotiations to end it.

Fang offered no indication as to when Beijing thought a test might take place and gave no other details. His comments followed a meeting with Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is making his first visit to China in that position.

Fang sought to reassure Dempsey over recent reports of Chinese military-sponsored hacking attacks on U.S. targets, saying China opposed all such activity. Dempsey called his visit part of an effort to strengthen relations between the two militaries.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-says-north-korea-nuclear-test-possible-132839458.html

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High court weighs dispute over AIDS funding

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Supreme Court is wrestling with the First Amendment implications of a policy that forces private health organizations to denounce prostitution as a condition to get AIDS funding.

The court appeared divided, and not along ideological lines, Monday in an argument over whether the anti-prostitution pledge violates the health groups' constitutional rights.

Four organizations that work in Africa, Asia and South America are challenging the 2003 law. They say their work has nothing to do with prostitution.

The Obama administration says it is reasonable for the government to give money only to groups that oppose prostitution and sex trafficking because they contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS.

A federal appeals court struck down the pledge as an unacceptable intrusion on the groups' right to speak freely.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/high-court-weighs-dispute-over-aids-funding-164248037--politics.html

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Monday, April 22, 2013

Genetic circuit allows both individual freedom, collective good

Apr. 22, 2013 ? Individual freedom and social responsibility may sound like humanistic concepts, but an investigation of the genetic circuitry of bacteria suggests that even the simplest creatures can make difficult choices that strike a balance between selflessness and selfishness.

In a study published online this week in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers from Rice University's Center for Theoretical Biological Physics (CTBP) and colleagues from Tel Aviv University and Harvard Medical School show how sophisticated genetic circuits allow an individual bacterium within a colony to act on its own while also ensuring that the colony pulls together in hard times.

"Our findings suggest new principles for collective decisions that allow both random behavior by individuals and nonrandom outcomes for the population as a whole," said study co-author Eshel Ben-Jacob, a senior investigator at CTBP and adjunct professor of biochemistry and cell biology at Rice. "These new principles could be broadly applicable, from the study of cancer metastasis to the study of collective decisions by humans during times of stress."

Some species of bacteria live in complex colonies that can contain millions of individual cells. An increasing body of research on bacterial colonies has found that members often cooperate -- even to the point of sacrificing their lives -- for the survival of their colony. For example, in response to extreme stress, such as starvation, most of the individual cells in a colony of the bacteria Bacillus subtilis will form spores. Spore formation is a drastic choice because it requires the cell to kill itself to encase a copy of its genetic code in a tough, impervious shell. Though the living cell dies, the spore acts as a kind of time capsule that allows the organism to re-emerge into the world of the living when conditions improve.

"This time-travel strategy of waiting and safeguarding a copy of the DNA in the spore ensures the survival of the colony," Ben-Jacob said. "But there are other, less desperate options that B. subtilis can take to respond to stress. Some of these cells turn into highly mobile food seekers. Others turn cannibalistic, and about 10 percent enter a state called 'competence' in which they bide their time and bet on present conditions to improve."

Scientists have long been curious about how bacteria decide which of these paths to pursue. Years of studies have determined that each individual constantly senses its environment and continuously sends out chemical signals to communicate with its neighbors about the choices it is making. Experimental studies have revealed dozens of regulatory genes, signaling proteins and other genetic tools that cells use to gather information and communicate with one another.

"Bacteria don't hide their intentions from their peers in the colony," said study co-author Jos? Onuchic, co-director of CTBP, Rice's Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor of Physics and Astronomy and professor of chemistry and biochemistry and cell biology. "They don't evade or lie, but rather communicate their intentions by sending chemical messages among themselves."

Individual bacteria weigh their decisions carefully, taking into account the stress they are facing, the situation of their peers, the statistics of how many cells are sporulating and how many are choosing competence, Onuchic said. Each bacterium in the colony communicates via chemical "tweets" and performs a sophisticated decision-making process using a specialized complex gene network composed of many genes connected via complex circuitry. Taking a physics approach, Onuchic, Ben-Jacob and study co-authors Mingyang Lu, Daniel Schultz and Trevor Stavropoulos investigated the interplay between two components of the circuitry -- a timer that determines when sporulation occurs and a two-way switch that causes the cell to choose competence over sporulation.

"We found that the sporulation timer and the competence switch work in a coordinated fashion, but the interplay is complex because the two circuits are affected very differently by noise," said Schultz, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School and a former graduate student at CTBP.

Noise results from random fluctuations in a signal; every circuit -- whether genetic or electronic -- responds to noise in its own way. In the case of B. subtilis, noise is undesirable in the sporulation timer but is a necessity for the proper function of the competence switch, the researchers said.

"Our study explains how the two opposite noise requirements can be satisfied in the decision circuitry in B. subtilis," Onuchic said. "The circuits have a special capacity for noise management that allows each individual bacterium to determine its fate by 'playing dice with controlled odds.'"

Ben-Jacob said the timer has an internal clock that is controlled by cell stress. The noise-intolerant timer typically keeps the competence switch closed, but when the cell is exposed to stress over a long period of time, the timer activates a decision gate that opens brief "windows of opportunity" in which the competence switch can be flipped.

Thanks to its architecture, the gate oscillates during the window of opportunity, he said. At each oscillation, the switch opens for a short time and grants the cell a short window in which it can use noise as a "roll of the dice" to decide whether to escape into competence.

"The ingenuity is that at each oscillation the cell also sends 'chemical tweets' to inform the other cells about its stress and attempt to escape," said Ben-Jacob, the Maguy-Glass Professor in Physics of Complex Systems and professor of physics and astronomy at Tel Aviv University. "The tweets sent by others help regulate the circuits of their neighbors and guarantee that no more than a specific fraction of cells within the colony will enter into competence."

Onuchic said the decision-making principles revealed in the study could have implications for synthetic biologists who wish to incorporate sophisticated decision systems as well as for cancer researchers who are interested in exploring the decision-making processes that cancer cells use in choosing to become dormant or to metastasize.

"This represents a real fusion of ideas from statistical physics and biology," he said.

Lu is a postdoctoral research fellow at CTBP and Stavropoulos is a former graduate student and CTBP fellow at the University of California, San Diego. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and the Tauber Family Foundation.

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Journal Reference:

Daniel Schultz, Mingyang Lu, Trevor Stavropoulos, Jose' Onuchic, Eshel Ben-Jacob. Turning Oscillations Into Opportunities: Lessons from a Bacterial Decision Gate. Scientific Reports, 2013; 3 DOI: 10.1038/srep01668

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/gz6J2r-SJZQ/130422123042.htm

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Experimental therapy saves child born 'without bones'

Apr. 22, 2013 ? Four years ago, Janelly Martinez-Amador was confined to a bed, unable to move even an arm or lift her head. At age 3, the fragile toddler had the gross motor skills of a newborn and a ventilator kept her alive.

She was born with thin, fragile bones, and by 3, she had no visible bones on X-rays. Initially, doctors weren't sure she would survive her first birthday. In May, Janelly will turn 7, and is developing bone with the help of an experimental drug therapy and her care team at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt.

Janelly has a rare genetic disorder called hypophosphatasia (HPP), a metabolic disease that affects the development of bone and teeth. An enzyme deficiency causes the bones to become soft because they can't absorb important minerals such as calcium and phosphorus, increasing the risks for pain, broken bones and bone deterioration.

"Imagine your child laying all the time in bed, not being able to lift herself, not being able to move herself, making sure she is not falling or tripping on things," her father, Salvadore Martinez, said through a Spanish interpreter.

"The treatment has worked very well but it has been a compilation of doctors, nurses, assistants ? everyone that has been a part of her care that has helped her make a meaningful recovery."

HPP affects about one in 100,000 babies born in the United States. While there are varying degrees of severity, the most severe forms of HPP occur before birth and early infancy. More than half of babies born with the disease don't survive beyond their first birthday. Janelly has the more severe form of the disease, which was diagnosed when she was 3 months old after failing to grow and gain weight. Doctors initially thought she might have cancer. With a thorough blood analysis at Children's Hospital, they diagnosed her with HPP.

"If you saw her in 2009 and see her now, it's not the same Janelly," said her mother, Janet Amador. "She used a ventilator, an oxygen mask -- many machines to help her breathe."

Janelly is one of 11 children, age 3 years and younger, to participate in a clinical trial to receive an enzyme-replacement drug therapy, asfotase alfa, for the life-threatening form of HPP. She had the worst case of the group.

Michael Whyte, M.D., the lead investigator of the study, which published results in March, 2012, in the New England Journal of Medicine, visited Janelly and her family at Children's Hospital last week. It was the first time he had met the family and her physician, Jill Simmons, M.D., a pediatric endocrinologist at Vanderbilt.

"It's wonderful that you had the faith that a treatment might come along. For many years, it seemed there was nothing that was very helpful for this disorder," said Whyte, medical-science director of the Center for Metabolic Bone Disease and Molecular Research at Shriner Hospitals for Children in St. Louis.

"We were fearful that her bone disease was so terribly severe that it might not work. But by looking at the X-rays and hearing about her visits, we were thrilled to hear about her progress."

About eight months into the treatment, Janelly's parents felt her fingers -- which had been completely soft and boneless -- and they could feel traces of developing bone. Her head also began to develop bone. At 18 months into therapy, X-rays showed, for the first time, the visible development of her rib cage.

Janelly now sits in a wheelchair. Recently, dressed in her Easter best and bright pink bows, she was able to turn her head to gaze at a room of onlookers.

She smiled and waved her hand excitedly, a feat she never would have accomplished before the drug therapy. She is also able to attend school at Harris-Hillman Special Education School, not far from Children's Hospital.

This spring, doctors hope to be able to remove her tracheostomy tube, which has prevented her from speaking. Her developmental and cognitive abilities will be tested in July. Improvement continues each day, each week for Janelly.

"This is why we get into medicine in the first place: to truly make a difference in the life of a child," said Simmons, her physician. "My goodness, to go from no bones to bones. That's the most impressive thing I have seen as a physician. It's incredible."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Vanderbilt University Medical Center, via Newswise.

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/iOUoTh1m38E/130422111107.htm

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