German court upholds ban on original Galaxy Tab 10.1

While Samsung was more than willing to redesign its flagship tablet in the face of the German court's ruling last year, the higher regional court in Dusseldorf maintains that the original still can't be sold within its borders. As Samsung and Apple continue their legal fisticuffs worldwide, the claim from Cupertino that the 10.1-inch Android tablet is too similar to its own iPad has seen more attention than most. Samsung returned the favor by counter-suing over mobile technology patents, although it's been just as unfortunate here, losing two out of the three infringement claims. The final case will be ruled on in early March. Today's decision will also encompass the Galaxy Tab 8.9, although given that this ruling is based on Germany's own unfair competition law, it's unlikely to be replicated elsewhere. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Tab 10.1N remains on shelves -- and very desperate tablet fans remain just a short drive away from neighboring countries still able to sell the original.

German court upholds ban on original Galaxy Tab 10.1 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/31/german-courts-upholds-ban-on-original-galaxy-tab-10-1/

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Indy battens down hatches for Super Bowl security (AP)

INDIANAPOLIS ? From pickpockets and prostitutes to dirty bombs and exploding manhole covers, authorities are bracing for whatever threat the first Super Bowl in downtown Indianapolis might bring.

Some ? nuclear terrorism, for instance ? are likely to remain just hypothetical. But others, like thieves and wayward manhole covers, are all too real.

Though Indianapolis has ample experience hosting large sporting events ? the Indianapolis 500 attracts more than 200,000 fans each year, and the NCAA's men's Final Four basketball tournament has been held here six times since 1980_ the city's first Super Bowl poses some unique challenges.

Unlike the Final Four, which is compressed into a weekend, the Super Bowl offers crowd, travel and other logistical challenges over 10 days leading up to the Feb. 5 game. And unlike the 500, where events are largely concentrated at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway about seven miles from Lucas Oil Stadium, the NFL's showcase event will consume 44 blocks ? about a mile square ? in the heart of the city, closing off streets and forcing an anticipated 150,000 or more NFL fans to jockey with downtown workers for space much of the week.

"This is clearly bigger in terms of the amount of people who will be downtown over an extended period of time," city Public Safety Director Frank Straub said.

Under a security risk rating system used by the federal government, the Super Bowl ranks just below national security events involving the president and the Secret Service, said Indianapolis Chief of Homeland Security Gary Coons. The ratings are based on factors including international attention, media coverage, number of people the event attracts and visits by celebrities and foreign dignitaries, he said. The Indianapolis 500 ranks two levels below the Super Bowl.

The city has invested millions of dollars and worked with local, state and federal agencies to try to keep all those people safe. Up to 1,000 city police officers will be in the stadium and on the street, carrying smartphones and other electronic hand-held devices that will enable them to feed photos and video to a new state-of-the-art operations center on the city's east side or to cruisers driven by officers providing backup, Straub said. Hundreds of officers from other agencies, including the state police and the FBI, will be scanning the crowd for signs of pickpocketing, prostitution or other trouble.

One concern has been a series of explosions in Indianapolis Power & Light's underground network of utility cables. A dozen underground explosions have occurred since 2005, sending manhole covers flying.

Eight explosions have occurred since 2010. The latest, on Nov. 19, turned a manhole cover into a projectile that heavily damaged a parked car and raised concerns about the safety of Super Bowl visitors walking on streets and soaring above the Super Bowl village on four zip lines installed for the festivities.

Since December, IPL has spent about $180,000 to install 150 new locking manhole covers, primarily in the Super Bowl village and other areas expected to see high pre-game traffic.

IPL officials say the new Swiveloc manhole covers can be locked for security reasons during the Super Bowl. In case of an explosion, the covers lift a couple of inches off the ground ? enough to vent gas out without feeding in oxygen to make an explosion bigger ? before falling back into place.

An Atlanta consultant hired by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission last summer to audit IPL's underground network of cables for a cause of the explosions says the new covers are merely a Band-Aid.

"We've argued it's better to prevent," said Dan O'Neill of O'Neill Management Consulting, which filed its report in December.

O'Neill's team couldn't pinpoint an exact cause for the explosions but said a flawed inspection process contributed, noting that IPL workers missed warning signs such as road salt corroding an old cable or leaks in nearby steam pipes. In a report filed Jan. 19 with Indiana utility regulators, the power company said it had overhauled its inspection process.

IPL will dispatch extra crews to the area around the stadium in case of power-related problems, such as a recent breaker fire that left 10,000 customers in homes south of downtown without power. Spokeswoman Crystal Livers-Powers said the company doesn't anticipate any power issues.

Straub, the public safety director, said he's confident the city is prepared and notes that Indianapolis hosts major events "pretty regularly."

Special teams from the Department of Energy will sweep Lucas Oil Stadium and the surrounding area for nuclear terror threats, and a new $18 million high-tech communications center that opened in time for the lead-up to the game will tie it all together.

"We're using more technology, and state of the art technology, than has been used in any Super Bowl before this one," Straub said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_super_bowl_security

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Quest for the golden cross (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? January has turned out to be strong for stocks with just two trading days to go. If you're afraid to miss the ride, there's still time to jump in. You just might want to wear a neck brace.

The new year lured buyers into growth-related sectors, the ones that were more beaten down last year. The economy is getting better, but not dramatically. Earnings are beating expectations, but at a lower rate than in recent quarters. Nothing too bad is coming out of Europe's debt crisis -- and nothing good, either -- at least not yet.

"No one item is a major positive, but collectively, it's been enough to tilt it towards net buying," said John Schlitz, chief market technician at Instinet in New York.

Still, relatively weak volume and a six-month high hit last week make some doubt that the gains are sustainable.

But then there's the golden cross.

Many market skeptics take notice when this technical indicator, a holy grail of sorts for many technicians, shows up on the horizon.

As early as Monday, the rising 50-day moving average of the S&P 500 could tick above its rising 200-day moving average. This occurrence -- known as a golden cross -- means the medium-term momentum is increasingly bullish. You have a good chance of making money in the next six months if you put it to work in large-cap stocks.

In the last 50 years, according to data compiled by Birinyi Associates, a golden cross on the S&P 500 has augured further gains six months ahead in eight out of 10 times. The average gain has been 6.6 percent.

That means the benchmark is on solid footing to not only hold onto the 14 percent advance over the last nine weeks, but to flirt with 1,400, a level it has not hit since mid-2008.

The gains, as expected, would not be in a straight line. But any weakness could be used by long-term investors as buying opportunities.

"The cross is an intermediate bullish event," Schlitz said. "You have to interpret it as constructive, but I caution people to take a bullish stance, if they have a short-term horizon."

GREECE, U.S. PAYROLLS AND MOMENTUM

Less than halfway into the earnings season and with Greek debt talks over the weekend, payrolls data this week and the S&P 500 near its highest since July, there is plenty of room for something to go wrong. If that happens, the market could easily give back some of its recent advance.

But the benchmark's recent rally and momentum shift allow for a pullback before the technical picture deteriorates.

"We bounced off 1,325, which is resistance. We're testing 1,310, which should be support. We are stuck in that range," said Ken Polcari, managing director at ICAP Equities in New York.

"If over the weekend, Greece comes out with another big nothing, then you will see further weakness (this) week," he said. "A 1 (percent) or 2 percent pullback isn't out of the question or out of line."

On Friday, the S&P 500 (.INX) and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) closed their fourth consecutive week of gains, while the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) dipped and capped three weeks of gains. For the day, the Dow dropped 74.17 points, or 0.58 percent, to close at 12,660.46. The S&P 500 fell 2.10 points, or 0.16 percent, to 1,316.33. But the Nasdaq gained 11.27 points, or 0.40 percent, to end at 2,816.55.

For the week, the Dow slipped 0.47 percent, while the S&P 500 inched up 0.07 percent and the Nasdaq jumped 1.07 percent.

A DATA-PACKED EARNINGS WEEK

This week is filled with heavy-hitting data on the housing, manufacturing and employment sectors.

Personal income and consumption on Monday will be followed by the S&P/Case-Shiller home prices index, consumer confidence and the Chicago PMI -- all on Tuesday.

Wednesday will bring the Institute for Supply Management index on U.S. manufacturing and the first of three key readings on the labor market -- namely, the ADP private-sector employment report. Jobless claims on Thursday will give way on Friday to the U.S. government's non-farm payrolls report. The forecast calls for a net gain of 150,000 jobs in January, according to economists polled by Reuters.

On the earnings front, it will be another hectic week with almost a fifth of the S&P 500 components posting quarterly results. Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), Amazon (AMZN.O), UPS (UPS.N), Pfizer (PFE.N), Kellogg (K.N) and MasterCard (MA.N) are among the names most likely to grab the headlines.

With almost 200 companies' reports in so far, about 59 percent have beaten earnings expectations -- down from about 70 percent in recent quarters.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak and Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/bs_nm/us_usa_stocks_weekahead

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Video: Florida becomes pivotal primary state

A Second Take on Meeting the Press: From an up-close look at Rachel Maddow's sneakers to an in-depth look at Jon Krakauer's latest book ? it's all fair game in our "Meet the Press: Take Two" web extra. Log on Sundays to see David Gregory's post-show conversations with leading newsmakers, authors and roundtable guests. Videos are available on-demand by 12 p.m. ET on Sundays.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/46180737#46180737

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Pats' line has tough job against Giants' pass rush

New England Patriots guard Logan Mankins listens to a question during an interview after NFL practice in Foxborough, Mass., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. The Patriots face the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

New England Patriots guard Logan Mankins listens to a question during an interview after NFL practice in Foxborough, Mass., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. The Patriots face the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

New England Patriots guard Brian Waters speaks to reporters at his locker after NFL practice in Foxborough, Mass., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. The Patriots will face the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5 in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

New England Patriots running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis speaks to reporters at his locker after NFL football practice in Foxborough, Mass., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. The Patriots are scheduled to face the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5 in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

New England Patriots defensive back James Ihedigbo speaks to media at his locker after NFL practice in Foxborough, Mass., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. The Patriots face the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) ? Tom Brady felt the power of the New York Giants' pass rushers when he was sacked five times in their first Super Bowl confrontation.

Four years later, the New England Patriots' offensive linemen expect another fierce attack on their quarterback in the championship rematch on Feb. 5. The Giants will indeed have plenty of strong, speedy pass rushers zeroing in on Brady.

"This year, they're definitely the best defensive line in football," Patriots right guard Brian Waters said Friday. "The wave of good football players they throw at you definitely makes them a difficult task."

There's Jason Pierre-Paul with 16 1/2 sacks, Osi Umenyiora with nine and Justin Tuck with five. Chris Canty and Mathias Kiwanuka also can put pressure on the quarterback.

"They've got good pass rushers across the board," left guard Logan Mankins said, "and when their backups come in they're good, too, so you're going to always have four guys that are very good pass rushers in the game."

At least Brady has Super Bowl experience against an aggressive Giants pass rush.

The Patriots' quest for a perfect 19-0 season ended with a 17-14 loss in the 2008 Super Bowl. After the Giants scored the decisive touchdown with 35 seconds left, Brady was sacked for the fifth and final time.

Mankins didn't care to discuss his memories of the Giants' pass rush on that day.

"That was four years ago," he said Friday. "Next question."

But Umenyiora thinks the Patriots view the upcoming game as a chance to get even.

"Of course," he said. "I mean, if I were them, that's what I would be doing. Great players ? Mankins, (Matt) Light, the (Sebastian) Vollmer kid. They have some very good football players. They were embarrassed about that last game and they are going to do everything in their power not to allow that to happen."

The Patriots have had some memorable, if regrettable, games when Brady's gotten hit.

In the opener of the 2008 season, he suffered a season-ending knee injury when he was hit by Kansas City safety Bernard Pollard. In a 33-14 wild-card playoff loss to Baltimore on Jan. 10, 2010, Brady was sacked three times. The next year, he was sacked five times as the New York Jets won a divisional playoff game 28-21.

But Brady has received decent protection recently. He was sacked a respectable 32 times in the regular season. In the playoffs, he wasn't sacked in a 45-10 win over Denver and was sacked just once in a 23-20 win over Baltimore in the AFC championship game.

The Giants sacked him just twice in their 24-20 win on Nov. 6. But one of those sacks, by Michael Boley, forced a fumble and the Giants took a 10-0 lead on the next play on Brandon Jacobs 10-yard run.

"Tom has been in this position before," said running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis, who may do more blocking than usual. "We have to come out and just be assignment sound."

At times, the Giants use four defensive ends, trying to generate speed against the power of the offensive linemen.

"That's the biggest difference," Waters said, "knowing who you're going against from play to play. You have to know that every one of those guys have different elements of their game from JPP (Pierre-Paul) and his long arms and his super athletic ability to a guy like Tuck, who is a veteran, a guy who is always going to give you one look and do something different to the bigger guys in the middle, the guys who are real physical."

So what's an offense to do?

It can keep an extra blocker in, a running back or wide receiver. It can have a wide receiver or tight end throw a chip block before starting his route. It can throw quick passes before the pressure reaches Brady.

Draw plays and screen passes can slow down pass rushers by making them hesitate before charging the quarterback, but the Patriots have used those infrequently this season.

Deion Branch came up with an original tactic for him and his fellow wide receivers.

"Well, if we can switch positions with the linemen, hopefully (defensive) linemen move out and then we block the corners," he said with a laugh. "But, overall, there's a lot of things we can do. We'll make those adjustments on the sideline."

They can also fight.

Umenyiora said he and Patriots left tackle Light did that in their first meeting this season.

"I've actually fought him twice, a for-real fight on the football field twice. Me and him have history and we are going to rekindle that," Umenyiora said. "He wasn't as bad in the Super Bowl, but this past game we fought again. I don't know what it is he does, but there is something he is doing that really gets under my skin. I am not that type of guy. He is the only guy I have ever fought on the football field.

"I think he is more important to his team than I am right now. So if we both fight and get kicked out (Pierre-Paul) and Tuck will have a field day."

___

AP Sports Writer Tom Canavan in East Rutherford, N.J. contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-27-FBN-Patriots-Protecting-Brady/id-2a950a6730984fd2a596a9757aba0d87

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Video: The Road Ahead for the GOP

Did a strong performance in Thursday night's GOP debate lock up the nomination for Romney? Robert Costa, National Review; Ed Rogers, BGR Group; and Phil Musser, fmr. Romney 2008 campaign advisor, discuss.

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46170435/

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Arab League halts observer mission in Syria (AP)

BEIRUT ? The deputy chief of the Arab League says the pan-Arab body has halted its observer mission in Syria because of the increasing violence there.

Deputy Secretary-General Ahmed Ben Heli says the around 100 observers still in Syria have stopped their work after a decision by member states because of the sharp spike of bloodshed in recent days. He says the observers are staying in their Damascus hotel until further notice.

At least 80 people have been killed in the past three days in Syria. Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby and the prime minister of Qatar are heading to New York on Saturday to seek U.N. support for an arab plan to end Syria's crisis.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_syria

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Finnish conductor Paavo Berglund dead at 82 (AP)

HELSINKI ? Paavo Berglund, one of Finland's most prominent conductors, has died at age 82.

Elina Siltanen, the general manager of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra said Berglund died at home in Helsinki on Wednesday after a long illness. She could not give the cause of death.

Berglund, internationally known for numerous recordings of works of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, was principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 1972-1979 and principal guest conductor with the Scottish National Orchestra in 1981-1985.

He was chief conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic and his engagements included major orchestras in Europe, including the Berlin Philharmonic.

He debuted in New York in 1978 and since the 1990s had been a regular visitor at the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_en_mu/eu_finland_obit_berglund

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Barcelona's Iniesta out for 2-3 weeks with injury

Associated Press Sports

updated 9:39 a.m. ET Jan. 26, 2012

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) -Barcelona says midfielder Andres Iniesta will be sidelined for three weeks with a muscle tear in his left thigh.

Iniesta was injured in the first half of Barcelona's 2-2 draw with Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals on Wednesday. Barcelona advanced 4-3 on aggregate score.

Barcelona also lost forward Alexis Sanchez during the game with a shoulder injury that will keep him out for one-to-two weeks.

Both players will miss Saturday's Spanish league match at Villarreal and the first leg of the Cope del Rey semifinals next week against either Valencia or Levante.

Barcelona is already without striker David Villa, midfielder Ibrahim Afellay and defender Andreu Fontas because of long-term injuries.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Barca holds off Madrid rally

Pedro Rodriguez and Daniel Alves scored first-half goals, and Barcelona held off a spirited Real Madrid comeback attempt to eliminate the defending Copa del Rey champion with a 2-2 tie Wednesday night.

Do-or-die

The U.S. women's soccer team was still on the field, having dispatched rival Mexico, when Abby Wambach gathered her teammates for a little speech.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/44488723/ns/sports-soccer/

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Senate Democrats promise to push Obama tax agenda (AP)

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama's Democratic allies in the Senate promised Wednesday to press ahead this year with legislation drawn from his plans to require millionaires to pay at least 30 percent in taxes and curb tax preferences for companies that ship jobs overseas.

Senate Democratic leaders promise votes soon on such tax "fairness" initiatives, which were a key theme of Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night. They include the so-called Buffett rule, named after a recommendation by billionaire financier Warren Buffett ? who benefits from a low 15 percent tax rate on investments ? that he be required to pay a higher rate than his secretary.

The Democratic drive would follow the ongoing push to renew the payroll tax cut, a debate that has broken in Democrats' favor as House-Senate talks began this week. The initiative is laced with politics, coming immediately after GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney revealed that he pays an effective tax rate of less than 15 percent despite income exceeding $20 million a year.

"The president's blueprint for restoring economic fairness for the middle-class will be the basis of our agenda for this year," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. Schumer said the decision by Republicans to embrace the payroll tax cut last year despite widespread reservations within the party bodes well for the upcoming debate.

"Don't underestimate our chances of success," Schumer said.

Both Democrats and Republicans embrace the idea of reforming the tax code but they differ over whether it should be done in a way that generates greater overall tax receipts as Democrats demand or whether it should be "revenue neutral" as most Republicans would like.

Among the ideas endorsed by the Democratic leaders Wednesday was Obama's proposal to require millionaires to pay a higher minimum tax rate, deny corporations such as General Electric the ability to evade taxes and reward companies that create jobs in America instead of shipping them overseas.

"Nothing is more important to Congress than reducing income inequality," said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

On a campaign swing in Florida, Newt Gingrich said Obama's proposal for a 30 percent tax rate for millionaires "would be a disaster of the first order."

Added Gingrich: "It would double the capital gains tax. Doubling the capital gains tax would lead to a dramatic decline in the stock market, which would affect every pension fund in the United States."

___

Associated Press writer Brian Bakst in Doral, Fla., contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_el_pr/us_democrats_taxes

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Alaska Airlines ends decades-old prayer card tradition (Reuters)

SEATTLE (Reuters) ? Alaska Airlines, America's seventh-largest carrier in terms of passenger traffic, said on Wednesday that it would end a decades-old tradition of handing out prayer cards with its in-flight meals.

The prayer cards, which the Seattle-based airline began offering in the 1970s after an executive spotted them on another airline, were intended to serve as a marketing strategy and to put passengers at ease, a spokeswoman said.

The airline sent an e-mail to its frequent flyers on Wednesday explaining the change, which takes effect February 1.

"This difficult decision was not made lightly. We believe it's the right thing to do in order to respect the diverse religious beliefs and cultural attitudes of all our customers and employees," Alaska Air Group Chairman and CEO Bill Ayer and Alaska Airlines President Brad Tilden wrote to customers.

"Religious beliefs are deeply personal and sharing them with others is an individual choice."

The quotes came from the Book of Psalms, part of both Jewish and Christian tradition, such as Psalm 118, "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever."

The airline has offered meals only on flights longer than four hours and, since 2006, only to first-class passengers - up to 16 people per flight. The airline carries 16.5 million passengers per year.

The decision prompted dozens of comments on the airline's Facebook page, mostly from people expressing disappointment with the change.

Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said the company's leaders made the decision last fall, after several years of reviewing the rise in customer complaints.

"The idea of removing the card had come up several times over the past few years and prompted thoughtful discussion," she said. "When the issue came up again last fall, after carefully considering all sides, it was agreed that eliminating the card was simply the right thing to do."

Egan could not say whether the rise in complaints was related to limiting the distribution of the cards to first-class passengers.

"Over the years, we've received comments from customers who were comforted by the card, but many others felt as though religion was not appropriate on an airplane and preferred not to receive one," she said.

"We've seen an uptick in the number of passengers who just simply don't appreciate getting a prayer card on the meal tray."

(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/us_nm/us_alaska_airlines_prayercards

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Active Ingredient in Viagra Shrunk Disfiguring Growths in Kids (HealthDay)

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 25 (HealthDay News) -- A new preliminary report suggests that the active ingredient in Viagra, sildenafil, could reduce the size of large growths that can disfigure the bodies of children.

The findings could point to yet another use for the medicine, which was first developed as a heart medication until researchers noticed that it helped impotent men have erections. This time, researchers stumbled upon an alternate use while using a Viagra-like drug to treat a rare condition that causes high blood pressure in the arteries that lead to the lungs.

There are caveats: The treatment is very expensive, the research is only in its early stages, and the medication may not be a cure. Still, the research raises the prospect that "we could treat some of these little kids who have little or no hope," said report co-author Dr. Alfred Lane, a professor of dermatology and pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine.

The growths in question are known as severe lymphatic malformations. They appear in children, including babies, and create disfiguring growths of fluid and vessels.

The growths can be as big as a volleyball or a basketball, Lane said. They seem to appear when the lymphatic system, a component of the body's immune system, becomes clogged, although the exact cause isn't clear, he said.

In some cases, the growths can be dangerous, such as when they pose a risk of blocking an airway pressuring a nearby organ.

Surgery to remove the growth is one option, although it may not be possible, he said. For some children, "there's not a whole lot you can do about it."

That's where sildenafil may help.

Researchers used a form of the medication called Revatio to treat a baby girl who suffered from pulmonary hypertension, the condition that causes high blood pressure in certain arteries. The investigators found that the medication had another effect: it reduced the size of a lymphatic growth.

The child, who was severely ill, died. But researchers were curious about the effects of the drug, and they tried it on two other children. Their growths shrunk and became softer after 12 weeks.

The parents of the children decided to continue giving the drug to their kids; it's not clear how they're doing now, but Lane will see one of the patients soon.

The drug may not eliminate a growth, "but if it can reduce it to the size that they can remove it, that would be good," Lane said.

Revatio costs $800 to $1,000 a month, Lane said, although the Pfizer drug company is donating the drug for research purposes. While the dose is low, potential side effects include dizziness, eye problems, nosebleeds and nausea, Lane said.

Researchers don't know how the drug works to reduce the size of the growths, Lane noted, although one possibility is that it makes it easier for the lymph system to drain fluid.

A new study of the treatment is underway.

Dr. Richard Smith, a pediatric otolaryngologist who's familiar with the report, said it offers an "exciting and serendipitous finding." But it must still be validated to prove that it truly holds promise, said Smith, vice chair of the University of Iowa's department of otolaryngology -- head and neck surgery.

The report appears in the Jan. 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

More information

Children's Hospital Boston has details about lymphatic malformations.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120126/hl_hsn/activeingredientinviagrashrunkdisfiguringgrowthsinkids

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'Nonstick' pollutants may cut efficiency of vaccines in kids

Effects in children with the highest exposures suggest immunizations may fail to protect some from disease

Web edition : 4:16 pm

Tiny concentrations of two common pollutants ? chemicals known as PFOA and PFOS ? in the blood may be linked to impaired immunity in children, a new study finds. In kids with the highest exposure to the chemicals, vaccinations can fail to trigger sufficient quantities of protective antibodies.

?We were shocked, to be frank, in the magnitude of the effect,? says study leader Philippe Grandjean, a physician at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. He and his European colleagues describe their findings in the Jan. 25 Journal of the American Medical Association.

The long-lived pollutants ? part of a class of chemicals called perfluorinated compounds, or PFCs ? have been generated over the years by the production of chemicals that impart nonstick and water- and stain-repellency to fabrics, cookware and more, including older formulations of treatments marketed under such trade names as Teflon and Scotchgard. Pervasive environmental contaminants, PFCs taint air, water and food.

For the new study, Grandjean?s group followed 587 children in Denmark?s Faroe Islands (about midway between Norway and Iceland) from before birth through age 7. The researchers measured PFCs in the blood of the kids? moms during pregnancy and in the children at ages 5 and 7. Blood concentrations of the chemicals, Grandjean points out, were in the same ballpark, if a bit lower, than those typically seen in Americans.

The Faroese youngsters received standard childhood immunizations, and their antibody responses to tetanus and diphtheria were measured as babies and before and after booster vaccinations at age 5.

Children with the highest perfluorinated pollutant exposures tended to exhibit a less robust response to the vaccines, both before and after their booster shots.

Among children in the top third of exposure to the chemicals PFOA, PFOS and a third related compound that goes by the nickname PFHxS, ?inadequate response to the vaccinations was particularly common,? Grandjean observes. When subpar responses occur ? antibody levels below 0.1 international units per milliliter ? ?we can?t rely on a vaccine as being effective,? he explains.

The findings mean the immune system is somehow deficient, Grandjean says, and they and raise questions about whether such deficiencies might also point to a heightened vulnerability to allergy, asthma and even, potentially, autoimmune disease.

Toxicologist Margie Peden-Adams of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas finds the new study impressive. "Those of us in the field will be excited to see it.?

The immune system is one of the most sensitive systems for toxicity, Peden-Adams says. In rodent tests, her team showed fetal and adult exposure to PFOA and PFOS diminish antibody production to foreign substances.

In cell-based studies, Emanuela Corsini of the University of Milan in Italy and her colleagues saw related problems and identified two different mechanisms for the apparent immunotoxicity of PFOA versus PFOS. Although primary PFC manufacturers have stopped using or are voluntarily phasing out both compounds, Corsini notes, she says these chemicals remain ?of toxicological concern due to their environmental persistence and potential to bioaccumulate through the food chain.?

Found in: Chemistry and Environment

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/337869/title/Nonstick_pollutants_may_cut_efficiency_of_vaccines_in_kids

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Google Maps Now Also Shows Where You Don't Want to Be [Google]

Nothing ruins a road trip like having to ford flooded rivers and dodge oncoming tornadoes. Thankfully, Google Map's new Public Alerts system should help keep you out of the path of Mother Nature's rage. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/us2IvQano5k/google-maps-now-also-show-where-you-dont-want-to-be

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The solar system on paper

Kat Austen, CultureLab editor

(Image: Mishka Henner)

Ever wanted to hold the universe in the palm of your hand? Well, you can't. But thanks to artist Mishka Henner, you can hold the solar system in your outstretched arms - or at least a scale version of it, with a bit of artistic license thrown in.

Henner's newest project, Astronomical, is a book series that contains the whole solar system, in miniature. Each page of the 12-volume epic represents one million kilometres of the six billion between the Sun and Pluto. Starting with our double-page spanning star, Henner's first volume ranges through page after page of blackest black until you happen upon the tiny speck that is Mercury...or is that just a blip in the printing? It's hard to be sure.

Earth, being larger, is easier to identify, but eerily ghostly in black and white miniature, dwarfed by the expanse of darkness surrounding it.

That's just the impression Henner is going for. He wants the 6,000 pages to demonstrate just how lonely and surrounded by nothingness we are. To this end, Henner made the book as cold and unsentimental as possible, "because the universe is cold, isn't it? And isolated, lost, lonely," he says.

And it really works. The physicality of turning over thousands of pages of uninterrupted black brings home the scale of how far we are from the other planets orbiting the sun. How many books it would take to get to the next nearest star? Henner has already worked it out - 79,000, he tells me.

Henner?s interest in nothingness was piqued when he heard about the cosmonauts'?experiences on space station Mir . "What the cosmonauts taught us was that being up there and staring out into the void just makes you want to go home," he tells me.

Prior to Astronomical, Henner put together an as yet unpublished 400 page book of the Ultra Deep Field image, which was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004. The telescope was focussed for 12 days on an "empty" part of the universe, revealing 10,000 previously undiscovered galaxies. Henner likens the impact of that image to that of the first pictures of Earth - a shift in consciousness to highlight the real scale of the universe. Given its size, "it's impossible that we're alone in the universe," he says.

For Astronomical, Henner teamed up with his maths whizz friend to work out the average orbital distance of the planets from the sun, before figuring out how to scale them down to fit into his 6,000-page series. Each planet is illuminated from the left by the sun on the first page of volume one, and is positioned on the right-hand page of its spread, squarely half-way down - which Henner tells me is a case of artistic license rather than fortuitous average orbital radius values.

It's a neat idea. Henner seemed quietly amused that the realisation of it also meant he could trundle unassumingly around London with the entire solar system in his otherwise unremarkable suitcase. He assures me he has read the entire 12 volumes. And how was it? He replies with only one word. "Meditative."

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Forums: Streaming video apps, Jailbroken iPhone 4S screens

We've kicked off another week here at iMore and thus far, it's been busy as always. If you missed anything from the weekend, be sure to get yourself caught up either here on the blogs or in the iMore forums.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/Xwai1bndQ6Q/story01.htm

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The case for egg-sharing

In most developed countries women are deferring pregnancy until well into their 30s. In doing so, though, they are raising their risk of infertility.

This trend is reflected in fertility clinics like mine. Almost one in five women having IVF in the UK in 2010 was over 40, according to the UK's fertility watchdog, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). This proportion has almost doubled over the past 13 years. Global figures are similar, with 19.9 per cent of all women having IVF in 2007 40 or over.

Many of these women have little chance of success. Tests of ovarian function provide clear evidence that as women age their store of eggs declines, and so does their chance of pregnancy. Once it is gone ? sometimes by 35 ? it can never be replaced.

A woman whose ovarian reserve has declined past the point of no return has no chance of a natural pregnancy; her only chance lies with a donated egg fertilised in the laboratory with her partner's sperm, and only then if she is willing to accept a baby who carries none of her own genes.

Many women are willing: demand for donor eggs outstrips supply and the latest HFEA figures suggest that the shortfall will only get worse. Where are those eggs to come from?

Pay or share?

One option is to pay women to donate eggs. Countries have widely varying policies about this: in the US compensation is unregulated, and egg donors are offered as much as $50,000; in Spain egg donors are offered a flat rate of ?900. Most compensation schemes solicit eggs from healthy young women who would otherwise not be patients undergoing fertility treatment.

In the past year, the HFEA has addressed the UK's shortage of donor eggs and, after much agonising, announced in October that egg donors would receive ?750 per cycle of donation. Until then payments had been capped at ?250 per cycle. The HFEA clearly believes that money will resolve the crisis.

There is another option that I believe will work better. Tucked away in the small print of the HFEA's announcement was a brief section on "benefits in kind", another name for "egg-sharing". This is something we and other clinics have been offering for more than 20 years. In an egg-sharing scheme, a woman who is already undergoing IVF donates some of her eggs to another who needs them, in return for subsidised or even free IVF. This has the advantage of not making new "patients" out of donors.

Yet despite two decades of problem-free experience ? not to mention several official reviews, the support of the British Medical Association and the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, and the formal backing of the HFEA itself in 2000 ? in its build-up to the latest consultation the HFEA described egg-sharing as "controversial".

In the end, the HFEA decided that the practice "should be allowed to continue", but appeared to ignore its potential as a solution to the donor shortage.

Altruism works

According to HFEA data, 40 per cent of eggs donated in the UK now come from egg-sharing schemes, a proportion that could increase substantially.

Since 1998, more than 30,000 sharers and recipients have taken part in egg-sharing schemes in the UK. There is good evidence that egg sharers and egg recipients are equally likely to have a successful pregnancy (Reproductive BioMedicine Online, vol?22, p?88).

Research also shows that subsidised treatment is not the sole motivation for sharing, and that couples and single women will share their eggs even if they could have received payment for a donation. Only rarely do donors express regret, even when their own treatment did not succeed. Egg-sharing is generous, and the will to cooperate for the common good is inherent in all of us.

Herein is the basis of the belief that egg-sharing will prove a more durable source of donor eggs than any compensation scheme. If it were taken up and promoted by the HFEA and other fertility bodies as a preferred policy, egg-sharing has the potential to go further than any payment scheme in meeting the rising demand for donor eggs.

Kamal Ahuja is a fertility specialist and scientific & managing director of The London Women's Clinic

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Michigan Mom Might Have Offered Daughter for Sex at Pawn Shop (ContributorNetwork)

A Monroe, Mich., mother is being investigated for offering a pawn shop employee sexual favors from her daughter in exchange for dropping a $25 extension fee on her $120 laptop payment, says My Fox Detroit. Here are details about this case.

* Al Hassan, an employee at DaSilva's Pawn Shop in Southgate, Mich., contacted police after a customer offered to perform a sex act on him when she couldn't pay the $25 extension on the laptop.

* According to Fox Detroit, the woman, whose name is being withheld, said: "What about me and my daughter can do something for you in the back room?"

* Store surveillance cameras showed the woman in the store and her daughter playing and jumping around. When the mother mentioned the proposition, the clerk reported the daughter said, "Not me this time, Mom. You mean you."

* Police investigated the 36-year-old woman's townhouse and found the 10-year-old child in no immediate danger. As of Wednesday, the News Herald reports the child has not been removed from the home.

* The mother admitted to police she had promised the clerk a sexual favor if he would overlook the deposit owed on the laptop but adds she was joking and she had not included her daughter in the offer.

* The mother stated the clerk probably misunderstood her because of the way she phrased the offer but she didn't say she was offering sex from her daughter.

* In an interview with News 4, the mother denies doing anything wrong. She calls the offer "flirting" but that she wasn't serious. "I don't want to be seen as a bad mom because I needed the $25 for gas and groceries."

* Child Protective Services is following up with the mother and child, but a supervisor told USA Today that confidentiality laws prevent case workers from discussing details of the investigation.

* Police are still trying to determine if the mother's comment was a misunderstanding or a blatant proposition. The video camera only places the woman and child in the store; it does not give them access to the verbal exchange or any corroborating witnesses.

* Det. Lt. Edward Sukel told the News Herald that, "we're cautiously moving forward because, of course, we want to make sure we know what we have and not make any rash decisions."

Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben writes about people, places, events and issues in her native state of "Pure Michigan."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120122/us_ac/10865753_michigan_mom_might_have_offered_daughter_for_sex_at_pawn_shop

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Colo. girl escapes apparent kidnapper, calls 911 (AP)

DENVER ? A missing 9-year-old girl escaped from an apparent kidnapper and called 911 herself from a convenience store in Colorado Springs on Friday.

The Pueblo girl was reported missing Thursday night after she didn't return home from school.

The suspect, Jose Garcia, 29, is also a suspect in an alleged molestation involving a different girl, Pueblo police Capt. Eric Bravo said.

The car of the man accused of kidnapping the girl broke down Friday morning in Colorado Springs, and a passerby gave them a ride to a Circle K, police said.

The girl ran into the convenience store and asked to use the phone to call her uncle but instead called 911, which prompted the man to take off, authorities said.

"Once she realized she had that window of opportunity, she became a hero and rescued herself by calling 911," Colorado Springs police spokeswoman Barbara Miller said in a statement.

Efren Vialpando told The Gazette he saw the girl come in the Circle K with two black eyes and a bruise on her lip and face. She had refused to leave the store with the man, saying, "I ain't going nowhere. I'm waiting for my momma." He said the suspect fled after that.

A Circle K employee declined to comment, citing store policy.

Police immediately began a search for Garcia when they arrived at the store and notified transportation hubs. An employee at a bus terminal recognized Garcia and notified police, who quickly arrested the man without incident.

The girl was taken to a hospital Friday morning. Miller said details of the girl's condition won't be released because of her age.

Garcia was in custody Friday. Pueblo police haven't said how they connected him to the kidnapping and where Garcia was with the girl for more than 15 hours overnight. Pueblo police Sgt. Darren Velarde said Garcia is being held on suspicion of kidnapping and could face a charge of sexual assault on a child.

The FBI helped with the investigation.

Pueblo County court records said Garcia was wanted for suspicion of kidnapping and sex assault on a child, and Bravo said allegations in that case involved Garcia's 9-year-old former stepdaughter. Both the former stepdaughter and the girl who escaped Friday attended Columbian Elementary School in Pueblo.

In the case involving the ex-stepdaughter, Bravo said Garcia was listed as an emergency contact at the school and told officials there he was picking the girl up for a dentist's appointment. Bravo said Garcia is suspected of kidnapping and sexually assaulting the girl in about a half hour before he took the girl back to school.

"We don't know if there's a connection to that girl and (the girl who escaped Friday)," Bravo said.

A family member told The Associated Press by phone that Garcia worked construction in Colorado Springs and he had known his ex-stepdaughter since she was about 3 years old.

___

Follow P. Solomon Banda at http://twitter.com/psbanda.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_re_us/us_girl_escapes

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'Extinct' monkey rediscovered in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia?? Scientists working in the dense jungles of Indonesia have "rediscovered" a large, gray monkey so rare it was believed by many to be extinct.

They were all the more baffled to find the Miller's Grizzled Langur ? its black face framed by a fluffy, Dracula-esque white collar ? in an area well outside its previously recorded home range.

The team set up camera traps in the Wehea Forest on the eastern tip of Borneo island in June, hoping to capture images of clouded leopards, orangutans and other wildlife known to congregate at several mineral salt licks.

The pictures that came back caught them all by surprise: groups of monkeys none had ever seen.

With virtually no photographs of the grizzled langurs in existence, it at first was a challenge to confirm their suspicions, said Brent Loken, a Ph.D. student at Simon Fraser University in Canada, and one of the lead researchers.

The only images out there were museum sketches.

"We were all pretty ecstatic, the fact that, wow, this monkey still lives, and also that it's in Wehea," said Loken.

The monkey, which has hooded eyes and a pinkish nose and lips, once roamed the northeastern part of Borneo, as well as the islands of Sumatra and Java and the Thai-Malay peninsula. But concerns were voiced several years ago that they may be extinct.

Forests where the monkeys once lived had been destroyed by fires, human encroachment and conversion of land for agriculture and mining and an extensive field survey in 2005 turned up empty.

"For me the discovery of this monkey is representative of so many species in Indonesia," Loken told The Associated Press by telephone.

"There are so many animals we know so little about and their home ranges are disappearing so quickly," he said. "It feels like a lot of these animals are going to quickly enter extinction."

The next step will be returning to the 90,000 acre-forest to try to find out how many grizzly langurs there are, according to the team of local and international scientists, who published their findings in the American Journal of Primatology on Friday.

They appear in more than 4,000 images captured over a two-month period, said Loken, but it's possible one or two families kept returning.

"We are trying to find out all we can," he said. "But it really feels like a race against time."

1. More science news from msnbc.com

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      Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: The cosmic curios of the world's best-known physicist go on display at a science museum, chronicling the amazing 70 years of Stephen Hawking's life.

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Experts not involved in the study were hugely encouraged.

"It's indeed a highly enigmatic species," said Erik Meijaard, a conservation scientist who spent more than eight years doing field research in the area.

In the past they were hunted to near extinction for their meat and bezoar "stones," he said, which can, on occasion, be found in their guts.

Bezoars, as Harry Potter fans know from lectures given by Prof. Snape to first year students, are believed by some to neutralize poison.

Meijaard said the animal has long been considered a subspecies of the Hose's Leaf Monkey, which also occurs on the Malaysian side of Borneo, but it now looks like that may not be the case.

"We think it might actually be a distinct species," he said, "which would make the Wehea discovery even more important."

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46072837/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Bonus season not as festive for bank CEOs (AP)

NEW YORK ? JPMorgan Chase, the nation's largest bank, posted record profit for 2011. Morgan Stanley's latest quarter topped expectations as the bank trimmed costs and cleaned up mortgage-related problems. But CEOs Jamie Dimon and James Gorman aren't taking home bigger bonuses.

Banks are curbing bonus pay for last year, as stock prices slumped, mortgage-related costs still mounted and the Occupy Wall Street movement went national.

On Friday, regulatory filings showed Gorman received 2011 stock awards valued at $5.1 million ? half of what he got in 2010. JPMorgan's Dimon received restricted stock worth $12.6 million and stock appreciation rights reportedly valued at about $5 million. That's about even with the year before.

None of the banks have yet filed annual proxy statements, which include complete details on CEOs' pay.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personalfinance/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_bi_ge/bank_bonuses

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Gina Carano compares sex and MMA on ?Conan?

We've had a lot of Gina Carano coverage lately, as the onetime Strikeforce title contender has been making the rounds to promote her movie "Haywire." This might be considered piling on, but during her appearance on Conan O'Brien's show, she talked about why she got into MMA and how fighting is like sex. It's not quite NSFW, but definitely PG.

[Yahoo! speaks with Gina Carano about Haywire]

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/gina-carano-compares-sex-mma-conan-180940511.html

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YouTube plots 'Your Film Festival' for users

FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2009 file photo, executive producer Ridley Scott participates in a press conference for the film "Cracks" during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto. Scott?s production company, Scott Free Productions, will play an integral role in judging the submissions to YouTube's new film festival, known as Your Film Festival. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2009 file photo, executive producer Ridley Scott participates in a press conference for the film "Cracks" during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto. Scott?s production company, Scott Free Productions, will play an integral role in judging the submissions to YouTube's new film festival, known as Your Film Festival. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? YouTube is launching a film festival that will play out online and ultimately send 10 finalists to the Venice Film Festival.

The Google Inc.-owned video site announced Thursday that Your Film Festival will take submissions of short films up to 15 minutes in length between Feb. 2 and March 31. Fifty semi-finalists will be selected by Scott Free Productions, Ridley and Tony Scott's production company.

Those 50 films will form a channel on YouTube: www.YouTube.com/yourfilmfestival. There, users will be able to view the films and vote for their favorites.

The 10 finalists will be flown to the 69th annual Venice Film Festival, where their films will be screened in August. Ridley Scott will lead a jury in selecting a winner, who will receive a $500,000 grant from YouTube to produce a work with Scott Free.

"Through this program, YouTube will give filmmakers the opportunity to reach a vast audience, screen their work during the Venice Film Festival and potentially be rewarded in a career-changing way," Robert Kyncl, global head of content at YouTube, said in a statement.

Last year, YouTube released the film "Life in a Day," which was co-produced by Scott. The feature-length documentary stitched together videos submitted by YouTube users.

Though anyone can submit a film, Your Film Festival is particularly hoping to reward young filmmakers and producers. YouTube said that it will be doing outreach at both the Sundance Film Festival and South By Southwest to spur filmmakers to participate in Your Film Festival and urge them to consider YouTube a pathway to industry attention.

"Short filmmaking is exactly where I started my career 50 years ago, so to be helping new filmmakers find an entry point like this into the industry is fantastic," said Scott.

YouTube has held film contests in the past, but the global Your Film Festival is on a much larger scale. International films will have subtitles added. Basically the only restrictions beside length are that entrants must be at least 18 years old and that the work can't have been distributed prior to Jan. 1, 2010.

"We've always wanted to do something like this, but there were limitations in the past that prevented us from doing it," says Nate Weinstein, YouTube entertainment marketing manager. "The time also seemed right given the work that the organization is doing within original channels."

YouTube hopes the Your Film Festival channel will be a one-stop-shop for high-quality programming, and YouTube is increasing focus on the channels. YouTube is pushing to make its platform more conducive to longer viewing visits and to advertisers that want their brands aligned with quality programming.

YouTube's most dramatic push into original programming was announced last fall with the launch of more than 100 video channels from partners including an array of Hollywood production companies, celebrities and new media groups.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-01-19-YouTube%20Film%20Festival/id-8ac4a7b1be184957b75d8e6c4aa1f5ed

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