No sleep, no problem, but keep the grub coming

Fruit flies thrive without slumber, until food gets low

Web edition : Monday, January 30th, 2012

Some people can forgo sleep and still stay sharp. But a new experiment with fruit flies suggests even those gifted people may be making an evolutionary trade-off that ensures sleep is here to stay.

A variation in a single gene enables a strain of fruit flies to miss 12 hours of sleep without building up a sleep debt. The flies, nicknamed ?rovers? for their active behavior, can also learn and remember things after a sleepless night, scientists report online January 30 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. But, scientists say, the flies that cope well with sleep deprivation appear more vulnerable to vagaries in food supply.

The findings may eventually help scientists answer one of the most ?fundamental questions in the sleep field, that is ?what is the core function of sleep?? ? says David Raizen, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania who was not involved in the study.

In the study, Marla Sokolowski, a behavioral geneticist at the University of Toronto Mississauga, and her colleagues describe how fruit flies with naturally differing versions of the foraging gene behave differently. Flies with the rover version of the gene make more of a protein called protein kinase G or PKG. Rovers also move around more in search of food than flies with the ?sitter? version of the gene, which produces lower levels of PKG.

With the advantage of being able to learn and remember in the face of sleep disruption, rovers ought to have completely taken over the fruit fly population. Instead, sitters make up about 30 percent of the fruit fly population in the orchards where Sokolowski first discovered the two types of flies. Now the researchers think they know why the rovers don?t have an evolutionary monopoly: Flies that can defy sleep deprivation are more sensitive to starvation.

Sitter flies, like most people, had trouble learning after being kept up all night, but the flies? short-term memories improved when food was withheld for 12 hours. The rovers, which seemed like ??ber-duper super flies? when sleep deprived, had impaired memories when starved, says neuroscientist and study coauthor Paul Shaw of Washington University in St. Louis.

The rover flies also dropped, well, like flies, if starved for days. While sitters could survive several days without food, most rovers died within 41 hours of starvation. Such poor performance when food is scarce, as it often is in the wild, may explain what keeps the rovers from dominating the orchard populations.

Humans who need a full night of sleep to feel sharp can take heart from the results, Shaw suggests.

?All of us ?weak? people who need eight hours a night might take comfort in the fact that those who claim not to need as much won?t be as resilient to everything,? Shaw says.

Found in: Genes & Cells

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/338041/title/No_sleep,_no_problem,_but_keep_the_grub_coming

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Cause sought for deadly Fla. highway pileup (AP)

GAINESVILLE, Fla. ? Authorities in Florida were trying to determine Monday what caused the horrific pileup on Interstate 75 south of Gainesville, where a long line of cars and trucks collided one after another on a dark highway so shrouded in haze and smoke that drivers were blinded.

At least 10 were killed in the early Sunday pileup and another 18 were hospitalized.

All lanes of I-75 reopened late Sunday, but authorities closed the highway again early Monday due to poor visibility caused by fog and smoke.

Steven R. Camps and some friends were driving home hours before dawn Sunday when they were suddenly drawn into the massive wreck.

"You could hear cars hitting each other. People were crying. People were screaming. It was crazy," the Gainesville man said hours later. "If I could give you an idea of what it looked like, I would say it looked like the end of the world."

The interstate had been closed for a time before the accidents because of a mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire that may have been intentionally set. The decision to reopen it early Sunday will certainly be a focus of investigators, as will the question of how the fire may have started.

The pileups happened around 3:45 a.m. Sunday on both sides of I-75. When rescuers first arrived, they could only listen for screams and moans because the poor visibility made it difficult to find victims in wreckage that was strewn for nearly a mile.

At least a dozen cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flames.

Hours later, twisted, burned-out vehicles were scattered across the pavement, with smoke still rising from the wreckage. Cars appeared to have smashed into the big rigs and, in one case, a motor home. Some cars were crushed beneath the heavier trucks.

Reporters who were allowed to view the site saw bodies still inside a burned-out Grand Prix. One tractor-trailer was burned down to its skeleton, charred pages of books and magazines in its cargo area. And the tires of every vehicle had burned away, leaving only steel belts.

Before Camps hit the fog bank, a friend who was driving ahead of him in a separate vehicle called to warn of the road conditions. The friend said he had just seen an accident and urged Camps to be careful as he approached the Paynes Prairie area, just south of Gainesville.

A short time later, Camps said, traffic stopped along the northbound lanes.

"You couldn't see anything. People were pulling off the road," he said.

Camps said he began talking about the road conditions to a man in the car stopped next to him when another vehicle hit that man's car.

The man's vehicle was crushed under a semi-truck stopped in front of them. Camps said his car was hit twice, but he and another friend were able to jump out. They took cover in the grass on the shoulder of the road.

All around them, cars and trucks were on fire, and they could hear explosions as the vehicles burned.

"It was happening on both sides of the road, so there was nowhere to go. It blew my mind," he said, explaining that the scene "looked like someone was picking up cars and throwing them."

Authorities had not released the names of victims Sunday evening, but said one passenger car had four fatalities. A "tour bus-like" vehicle also was involved in the pileup, police said.

All six lanes of the interstate were closed most of Sunday as investigators surveyed the site and firefighters put out the last of the flames. Some traffic was being diverted onto U.S. 301 and State Road 27, Lt. Patrick Riordan, a Florida Highway Patrol spokesman, said. The northbound lanes were reopened at about 5:30 p.m.

At some point before the pileup, police briefly closed the highway because of fog and smoke. The road was reopened when visibility improved, police said. Riordan said he was not sure how much time passed between the reopening of the highway and the first crash.

A spokeswoman for the Florida Forest Service, Ludie Bond, said the fire began Saturday, and investigators were trying to determine whether the blaze had been intentionally set. She said there were no controlled burns in the area and no lightning.

Bond also said the fire had burned 62 acres and was contained but still burning Sunday. A similar fire nearby has been burning since mid-November because the dried vegetation is so thick and deep. No homes are threatened.

Four years ago, heavy fog and smoke were blamed for another serious crash.

In January 2008, four people were killed and 38 injured in a series of similar crashes on Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa, about 125 miles south of Sunday's crash. More than 70 vehicles were involved in those crashes, including one pileup that involved 40 vehicles.

___

Associated Press writer Freida Frisaro in Miami contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_re_us/us_deadly_interstate_crash

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Marshall's monster day leads AFC

Dolphins receiver catches 6 passes for 176 yards and 4 TDs in 59-41 win

By JAYMES SONG

updated 1:00 a.m. ET Jan. 30, 2012

HONOLULU - While everyone was playing at half-speed and ready to extend their Hawaiian vacation, Brandon Marshall played as if it was his last game.

The Miami Dolphins wide receiver caught six passes for 176 yards and a Pro Bowl-record four touchdowns, and the AFC used a second-half surge to beat the NFC 59-41 on Sunday.

"You never know when you're going to be back," Marshall said, "and I wanted to go all out today because it could be my last Pro Bowl."

Marshall had a touchdown catch in each quarter, including an early 74-yarder and a 3-yarder in the fourth, in a game filled with highlight-reel grabs.

He was selected the game's MVP, and his name now will join the likes of Walter Payton and Jerry Rice on the MVP banners at Aloha Stadium.

"You know what? I wanted it," he said. "It's a Pro Bowl. Some guys are playing 100 (percent), some guys are playing 90, some guys aren't playing at all, but it means a lot to be up in the rafters with some of these guys."

The 59 points by the AFC set a Pro Bowl mark, and the 100 points scored by the teams combined was the second highest, a touchdown shy of the 107 scored in 2004.

But it was clear from the start it was Marshall's day. He hauled in a deflected, go-ahead 47-yard TD pass from Andy Dalton, while on his back, to give the AFC a 38-35 lead late in the third quarter. It was Marshall's third TD catch of the game, tying Jimmy Smith's Pro Bowl record set in 2004.

"It was the most unathletic highlight I ever had," he said. "Andy put it up there for me to make a play. I saw the ball, got nervous, fell, saw the ball, kicked it up and it just fell in my hands."

Marshall, making his third Pro Bowl appearance, then nabbed a 3-yard TD pass from Dalton that gave the AFC a 52-35 lead with 8:25 left and put the game away.

"People were saying throw to him. I saw the matchup I had and he's a great receiver, so I knew he could make the play," Dalton said.

Hawaii has been kind to Marshall, who also won MVP honors at Aloha Stadium in his final game at Central Florida in the 2005 Hawaii Bowl, where he caught 11 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns.

Marshall noted he had six TDs this season, but four this game.

"It says a lot when you're playing with these type of quarterbacks," Marshall said. "They just put it in the right place and I just made the play. Hats off to those guys throwing me the ball."

The game featured 36 first-timers, including rookie quarterbacks Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers and Dalton of the Cincinnati Bengals, who replaced Super Bowl quarterbacks Eli Manning and Tom Brady. Their selection made this Pro Bowl the first to feature two rookie signal callers.

Dalton and Newton played the entire second half.

While Dalton looked composed, Newton played horribly ? struggling to move the ball, stay in the pocket and find his targets, which drew some boos from the sun-splashed, sellout crowd of 48,423.

"No excuses," Newton said. "When you hang the ball up there, against these kind of players, that's what you get," Newton said. "It's the good and the bad of playing in a Pro Bowl. I learned a lot."

Newton finished 9 of 27 for 186 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Dalton, meanwhile, was 7 of 9 for 99 yards and two TDs.

On his first series, Newton overthrew a wide-open Tony Gonzalez over the middle, with the ball sailing into Eric Weddle's hands. The San Diego Chargers safety popped up to his feet and returned it 63 yards to the NFC 23, leading to a 37-yard FG by Sebastian Janikowski, which gave the AFC its first lead of the game at 31-28.

Newton recovered on the next series, airing out a 55-yard go-ahead touchdown pass to Panthers teammate Steve Smith, making it 34-31. But he was intercepted again on the next series.

Weddle also intercepted another pass by Newton late in the game. After picking off the deep pass, he pitched it to teammate Derrick Johnson, who rumbled 60 yards for the AFC's final score.

"None of us want to go out and lose, so we picked it up and went out and made some plays," Weddle said. "Got the 'W,' that's the main thing."

With the Pro Bowlers unable to get out of third gear ? particularly on the offensive and defensive lines ? and hitting each other as though they were having a pillow fight, the Pro Bowl featured some good, bad and real ugly ? sometimes on the same play. For example, Aaron Rodgers caught a pass from himself. His throw was deflected at the line and he leaped to catch the ball and backpedaled for a 15-yard loss.

Rodgers was 13 of 17 for 141 yards and two TDs, giving him a quarterback rating of 139.6, higher than his NFL record 122.5 rating during the season. But he was watching late in the game as Newton struggled.

Rodgers said it's easier to play in the first quarter when the game isn't as intense.

"It's tough to be the last guy in, when it's the fourth quarter and money becomes an issue," he said. "Guys are playing a little bit harder. They come at you."

The NFC had three players with 100-yard yard receiving: Gonzalez (seven for 114), Larry Fitzgerald (6 for 111) and Smith (5 for 118).

The AFC and NFC traded score after score, and turnover after turnover in the first half.

Rodgers and Fitzgerald connected for a pair of scores on back-to-back plays to put the NFC up 14-0 early in the game.

After stopping the AFC on fourth down at midfield, Rodgers drove the NFC down the field and threw a 10-yard TD toss to Fitzgerald. Six seconds later, Rodgers aired a 44-yard rainbow in the end zone to Fitzgerald for another score after the NFC got the ball back with a surprise onside kick.

The reception was Fitzgerald's sixth career TD catch in the Pro Bowl, tying Gonzalez's record. He would break the record with the game's last touchdown, on a 36-yard pass from Newton.

The AFC came right back and tied it up on two deep TD passes on the right side by Ben Roethlisberger. He threw a 34-yarder to rookie A.J. Green, and then connected with Marshall on a 74-yarder.

But Drew Brees and the NFC kept the scoring going. Just like in the regular season, Brees and Saints teammate Jimmy Graham hooked up to give the NFC a 21-14 lead in the second quarter. On fourth-and-goal, Brees zipped a pass to Graham for a 6-yard score and would later find Greg Jennings for an 11-yard TD. Brees finished 10 of 14 for 146 yards and two touchdowns.

Antonio Gates pulled in a 27-yard TD from Chargers teammate Rivers as time expired in the half to tie it at 28.

Each AFC player earned a record $50,000 for the win, while the NFC players received $25,000.

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

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Kent Nishimura / Getty Images

Marshall's monster day leads AFC

??Brandon Marshall caught six passes for 176 yards and a Pro Bowl-record four touchdowns and the AFC used a second-half surge to beat the NFC 59-41 on Sunday.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46185221/ns/sports-nfl/

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Tony Hawk Interviews Odd Future Crew At Big Day Out Festival (VIDEO)

Tony Hawk should probably never be in the interviewer seat, but here he is, tempting fate, with probably one of the most unruly groups out there. At the Big Day Out music festival in Australia, the salt-and-peppery-haired skater stayed standing (technically not in the interviewer seat, but equally if not more awkward) to ask questions of a half-seated Tyler the Creator and the rest of his Odd Future crew on a stairwell. The hip hop collective is into skating, so there's your tenuous link -- aside from that, we're just as lost as you are as to why this is happening. The Odd Future boys put up a shop for the week of the festival to sell merchandise, and Hawk begins his line of questioning where they can find common ground -- t-shirts. The camera zooms in on a t-shirt of two gay cats, and Hawk vaguely asks where they get their inspiration from.

"Really I get inspiration from meth, and I like cats a lot, and I'm not playin'," Tyler said.

We're glad this interview happened.

WATCH:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/28/tony-hawk-odd-future-interview_n_1239176.html

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Suu Kyi galvanizes once-repressed Myanmar politics (AP)

DAWEI, Myanmar ? Euphoric seas of supporters waved opposition party flags and offered yellow garlands. They lined crumbling roads for miles and climbed atop trees, cars and roofs as Aung San Suu Kyi spoke at impromptu rallies. Some cried as her convoy passed.

Cheered by tens of thousands, the 66-year-old opposition leader electrified Myanmar's repressive political landscape everywhere she traveled Sunday on her first political tour of the countryside since her party registered to run in a historic ballot that could see her elected to parliament for the first time.

"We will bring democracy to the country," Suu Kyi said to roaring applause as her voice boomed through loudspeakers from the balcony of a National League for Democracy office in the southern coastal district of Dawei. "We will bring rule of law ... and we will see to it that repressive laws are repealed."

As huge crowds screamed "Long Live Daw Aung San Suu Kyi!" and others held banners saying "You Are Our Heart," she said: "We can overcome any obstacle with unity and perseverance, however difficult it may be."

Suu Kyi's campaign and by-elections due April 1 are being watched closely by the international community, which sees the vote as a crucial test of whether the military-backed government is really committed to reform.

The mere fact that Suu Kyi was able to speak openly in public in Dawei ? and her supporters were able to greet her en masse without fear of reprisal ? was proof of dramatic progress itself. Such scenes would have been unthinkable just a year ago, when the long-ruling junta was still in power and demonstrations were all but banned.

Suu Kyi's visit was equivalent to waking a sleeping dragon, said environmental activist Aung Zaw Hein.

"People had been afraid to discuss politics for so long," he said. "Now that she's visiting, the political spirit of people has been awakened."

Looking into the giant crowds, Hein added: "I've never seen people's faces look like this before. For the first time, they have hope in their eyes."

Businesman Ko Ye said he was ecstatic that Suu Kyi came, and like most people here, he welcomed the recent dramatic changes that made her trip possible. "We are all hoping for democracy," the 49-year-old said, "but we're afraid these reforms can be reversed at anytime."

After nearly half a century of iron-fisted military rule, a nominally civilian government took office last March. The new government has surprised even some of its toughest critics by releasing hundreds of political prisoners, signing cease-fire deals with ethnic rebels, increasing media freedoms and easing censorship laws.

Suu Kyi's party boycotted the 2010 election as neither free nor fair. It sought to have its legal status restored after the government amended electoral laws. Her party has been cleared to offer candidates in the April vote, and an Election Commission ruling on Suu Kyi's candidacy is expected in February.

Some critics are concerned the government is using its opening with Suu Kyi to show it's committed to reform. The government needs her support to get years of harsh Western sanctions lifted.

On Sunday, Suu Kyi said the opposition had struggled for democracy for decades, but the best way to do that now was to fight "from within parliament." But she also expressed caution over the challenges ahead. "It's easy to make problems, but it's not easy to implement them," she said. "We have a lot to do."

An NLD victory would be highly symbolic, but her party would have limited power since the legislature is overwhelmingly dominated by the military and the ruling pro-military party. Up for grabs are 48 seats vacated by lawmakers who were appointed to the Cabinet and other posts.

Suu Kyi has spent 15 of the past 23 years under house arrest, and as a result, has rarely traveled outside Yangon. Although she conducted one successful day of rallies north of Yangon last year, a previous political tour to greet supporters in 2003 sparked a bloody ambush of her convoy that saw her forcibly confined at her lakeside home.

She was finally released from house arrest in late 2010, just days after the elections that installed the current government and led to the junta's official disbandment.

Suu Kyi met with party members in Dawei, including one running for a parliament seat. She will make similar political trips to other areas, including the country's second-largest city, Mandalay, in early February before officially campaigning for her own seat, party spokesman Nyan Win said.

Suu Kyi is hoping to represent the constituency of Kawhmu, a poor district just south of Yangon where some villagers' homes were destroyed by Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

Lay Lay Myint, a 35-year-old grocery store manager, said Suu Kyi's platform in parliament would allow her to "let the world know what is happening" in Myanmar.

"People have been living in fear here," Myint said. "Just seeing her hear makes us braver, more courageous."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_as/as_myanmar_suu_kyi

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Candidates pay homage to Hispanic leaders, Rubio (AP)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ? The GOP presidential candidates say they'd involve a number of top Hispanic GOP office holders in their Cabinet ? and three say they're particularly impressed with Florida's Sen. Marco Rubio.

Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney all name-checked Rubio, the Florida senator elected in 2010. He is a tea party favorite and widely viewed as a potential vice presidential nominee.

Gingrich is implying he would look hard at Rubio as his vice presidential nominee. Santorum and Romney both mentioned Rubio as a top Hispanic leader.

The candidates also mentioned New Mexico Gov. Barbara Martinez and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval among other prominent Hispanic leaders.

Their responses came after a question on what Hispanic leaders they would involve in their Cabinet.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_debate_hispanic_leaders

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Skyfire Raises $8 Million In A Round Funded By Verizon And Others

After raising just shy of $23 million over the past 5 years, Skyfire today announced that they've raised their second biggest round of funding to date. Coming in at $8 million dollars, this Series C round is being funded by Verizon Investments (as in Verizon Communications' venture arm) along with new investments from previous investors Matrix Partners, Trinity Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/2GXGmRkunhI/

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Citizen Scientists Study Whale Songs: Years of Work Done in Months

Pilot Whale wearing sound-recording tag. Credit: Daniel Ottmann; photo was taken taken as part of research conducted under permit 14241 issued by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service.

In November 2011, Scientific American, Zooniverse and a team of research partners launched the Web site Whale.FM, a citizen-science project devoted to cataloging the calls made by Pilot whales and Killer whales (Orcas), both of which are actually dolphin species. Different whale families have their own dialects and closely related families share calls. Underwater microphones, called hydrophones, typically attached by suction cups to the whales, record the haunting and lovely sounds. Cataloging calls is a step in learning more about the communication of these magnificent marine mammals.

So far, more than 5,000 Whale.FM visitors (including yours truly) have matched a total of more than 100,000 calls. The task is simple and fun?my daughters (ages 11 and 15) like to match calls with me. (The 11-year-old is pretty good at imitating the calls herself.) How it works: You listen to a call and see a spectrogram, a visualization of the sounds. Then you listen to several others that are displayed on the screen and see if you can select a match.

A question that has come up often about citizen-science projects is, How accurate are the data? Our friends at Zooniverse just did a spot check, using a subset of 300 of the calls. As Robert Simpson of Zooniverse put it in a note, ?We?ve compared their call categories to the (very!) preliminary results from Whale FM and it seems that the users are picking out good matches that tally with those of professionals.??? They located 28 subset-to-subset call pairings. A total of 25 of these were matched with calls from the same call category, as defined by professional scientists. Even more exciting, there were more than 350 pairings with calls outside of the 300-call subset?which is an important reason to do Whale.FM.

Whale families share dialects. Credit: Leigh Hickman, Open Ocean Consulting; photo was taken taken as part of research conducted under permit 14241 issued by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service.

One thing is also certain: Whale.FM already has produced the equivalent of years of cataloguing work by scientists in just a couple of months. Although there?s still more work to do, that?s an achievement worth singing about. For more information about other projects in which you can help scientists conduct research, please check out Scientific American?s Citizen Science page.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=7c641213830c497056a83c3455f0f198

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Japan posts first annual trade deficit since 1980 (AP)

TOKYO ? The devastating March tsunami and shift of manufacturing overseas plunged Japan's trade account into the red for the first time since 1980. Experts said the years of Japan running massive trade surpluses are likely over.

The 2.49 trillion yen ($32 billion) deficit for 2011 reflected a surge in energy imports to cover shortfalls caused by the disaster and a 2.7 percent decline in the value of Japan's exports to 65.55 trillion yen ($843 billion), according to the Ministry of Finance figures released Wednesday.

Manufacturers have moved some production overseas to avoid the damage inflicted by the strong yen, a trend that has accelerated in recent years. Some economists say the trade balance will be in the black again within two years, but the era of very large surpluses that allowed Japan to build a huge pile of foreign reserves has ended.

"It reflects fundamental changes in Japan's economy, particularly among manufacturers," said Hideki Matsumura, senior economist at Japan Research Institute. "Japan is losing its competitiveness to produce domestically."

"It's gotten difficult for manufacturers to export, so they're they've moved production abroad so that products sold outside the country are made outside the country," he said.

The yen's surge to record levels against the dollar and euro has made Japanese exports more expensive and also erodes the value of foreign earned income when brought home. Recently, manufacturers such as Nissan Motor Co. and Panasonic Corp. have shifted some of their output to factories abroad. At the same time, Japan is facing intense competition from South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, where labor and production costs are cheaper.

Japanese manufacturers have been battered by a host of negatives in the past year. The tsunami temporarily disrupted the production of automobile makers and other manufacturers. Weakness in the U.S. economy and Europe's debt problems and recent flooding in Thailand, where many Japanese automakers have assembly lines, also contributed to export declines.

"The impact of the supply chain problem and the temporary effect of the earthquake will fade. We may see Japan's trade balance recover to a small trade surplus, but it won't return to the pre-crisis level," said Masayuki Kichikawa, chief Japan economist at B of A Merrill Lynch in Tokyo.

"The big surpluses are gone. Japan's trade balance should be almost balanced or at best a small surplus."

Another major factor behind the deficit was the impact of the expensive energy imports Japan turned to after the March disaster touched off a nuclear crisis and led the country to shut down, or not restart, a large portion of its reactors, said Martin Schulz, senior economist with the Fujitsu Research Institute.

He said pressure to import energy will continue to weigh heavily on Japan for the next year, but will subside as the country pursues greater efficiency measures.

Much of Japan's oil and natural gas is imported from the Middle East, with which Japan had a 10.88 trillion yen trade deficit last year, up 33 percent, figures showed.

Japan still has a trade surplus with the U.S., although that is shrinking. For 2011, exports exceeded imports by 4.10 trillion yen ($52.6 billion), down 8.2 percent from a year earlier. Exports to the U.S. declined 2.8 percent to 10.02 trillion yen during the year, while imports inched up 0.2 percent to 5.9 trillion.

Japan had a 1.57 trillion yen trade surplus with China for the year. A breakdown of figures showed a trade deficit with mainland China, but a big surplus with Hong Kong.

Trade with Germany was fairly balanced last year as imports grew nearly 10 percent to 1.86 trillion yen. Exports came to 1.87 trillion yen, giving Japan a relatively small trade surplus of 16 billion yen.

The turmoil in Europe and the U.S. has driven up the yen as global investors flock to the currency as a relative safe haven. The yen hit multiple historic highs against the dollar, and touched a record against the euro earlier this month as well.

The yen is trading at around 78 to the dollar recently, a level that is extremely painful for exporters. Five years ago, the dollar was trading above 120 yen.

Matsumura believes that Japan will likely log another trade deficit this year amid prospects for high energy prices and a persistently strong yen, but that renewed strength in the global and Asian regional economies could put Japan back into the black in 2013.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_trade

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Mitt Romney Results Show Weakness With Working Class Voters

WASHINGTON -- As Newt Gingrich surged to a surprise victory in the South Carolina GOP primary, one particularly crucial voter category showed itself once again to be a major problem for erstwhile frontrunner Mitt Romney: the working class.

According to exit polling data from CBS News, voters who took in less than $50,000 in total family income last year broke overwhelmingly for Gingrich, 38 percent to Romney's 25 percent. Voters from families earning more than $100,000 annually still went for Gingrich, but at a much slimmer margin, 37 percent to 35. And among voters with no more than a high school education, the former House speaker trounced the former Massachusetts governor, 46 percent to 22.

Overall, the numbers suggest that Romney still hasn?t managed to shake his image as a wealthy Northeasterner who's out of touch with the struggles of ordinary people on ordinary incomes.

What's harder to tell is whether many of those voters in the Palmetto State were swayed by attacks from Gingrich and others on Romney's business past. Romney's tenure at venture capital firm Bain Capital became a major campaign issue in the past two weeks; in a strange twist, Republican candidates were bashing Romney for his business success, with Texas Gov. Rick Perry going so far as to call him a "vulture capitalist" before dropping out of the race.

Romney didn't exactly earn working class bona fides by waffling on whether or not to release his tax returns. Although he's disclosed that his income tax rate is probably around 15 percent since he makes most of his money off investments, Romney still has not committed to disclosing his tax returns even if he's elected president, most likely because the discrepancy between his tax rate and that of many ordinary Americans could be quite large. At the debate on Thursday night, Romney was asked once again about the tax issue by moderator John King; he dodged the question awkwardly, prompting boos from the audience.

South Carolina isn't the first state where Romney has struggled with voters of moderate means. As BuzzFeed has pointed out, Romney was largely carried by wealthier voters in New Hampshire, winning all of the income categories above $30,000, including more than half the voters who earn more than $200,000 a year, according CNN exit polling.

Correction: This post originally referred to the New Hampshire exit polling data as data from the Iowa caucuses.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/21/mitt-romney-results-south-carolina-primary_n_1221347.html

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[OOC] Animas: The Red Dawn

P L O T:

-by Kerli, Hatter, and Autius.

Peace; is such a fragile thing, such a gentle and fragile contract. And when power becomes the devil's sweet smell, people will struggle to fight for it. And now, peace seemed to be underneath the Devil's wings as his spy, as his deceit.

World War 3 is on it's way. And the world has only moment to prepare for it.

Russia and America have always had their differences, a now Russia's Anima has decided it is time to take what is rightfully their's. How could someone defeat them, they are so strong and so large. And now, with peace as their cover, they have the perfect time to attack. Raiding countries in Europe is it's first goal, taking over countries like Germany and China, getting allies on his side. And meanwhile, America and it's allies are struggling to keep themselves safe.

It is now a war, countries against countries. Russia has equipped China, Germany, Japan, and other countries across Europe and Asia. America has allied with England, Mexico, Canada, and Brazil. More and more countries are forced to ally with one side or another, each gaining more power by the second.

Now, all the Animas of their country must show their flag and their countries animal, and take control to fight back and keep their country safe. Betrayal, Friendship, and Romance all play a part in their lives, for they are up against something they were never prepared for.

Who will win World War 3?

This is Animas: The Red Dawn.

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P L O T | S U M M A R Y/I N F O R M A T I O N:

So; this could be thought of as similar to the anime Hetalia, but really, it's quite different. It's about countries going against eachother for power, and each country has a protector/guide, called an Anima. Each Anima wears it's country's colors and it's country's animal, having resemblance to the most popular or well known animal to the area.

Anwyway, so, Russia's Anima has decided he wants to take over and gain power, so he is going all around Europe recruiting countries... by force and by treaty. He has recruited China, Germany, Japan, North Korea, Cuba, Poland, Austria, and other countries on the borderline of Russia and throughout Europe. It's main enemy, America, has also teamed up with England, Mexico, India, Brazil, Ireland, France, and Spain. Their Animas don't intend on being dominated by a bunch of dictator ships and power hungry countries.

So, the personal events of the story will be discussed when we have country Anima positions filled. Please read on if interested!

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A N I M A S:

So, Animas are the protector/spirit of their country, passed down from descendant to descendant of true country blood. As of now, the Animas of the countries world wide are younger then the last, in their twenties, late teens. They are to protect their country; and have much influence over the government. Russia, for instance, their Anima is their government, almost similar with China and Germany. Each Anima has a special animal they can turn into and often wears symbols or things to show off their country/animal. The animal must be popular and native to their country.

Animas are the only characters going to be used in this roleplay. So no need for other descriptions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

C H A R A C T E R S / C O U N T R I E S:

Russia's Team:

R U S S I A: -Reserved-

C HI N A: -Reserved-

G E R M A N Y: -Open-

J A P A N: -Open-

N. K O R E A: -Open-

I R A N: -Open-

America's Team:

A M E R I C A: -Open-

E N G L A N D: -Reserved-

M E X I C O: -Open-

C A N A D A: -Open-

F R A N C E: -Open-

I N D I A: -Open-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Character sheets must be detailed and informative; otherwise, I won't accept. Include good descriptions of Appearance, Personality, And History please.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/_XNT8Gn92nc/viewtopic.php

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Congress to speed up on transit bills (Politico)

The House returns Tuesday to a mountain of unresolved transportation issues with little room for error and little time to get up to speed.

There will be immediate urgency for both chambers (the Senate reconvenes Jan. 23) to address the Federal Aviation Administration, as its funding expires Jan. 31. That?s just the beginning ? transit riders are clamoring for an expired tax provision to be renewed and the trucking industry is in a frenzy over new hours-of-service rules. Just around the corner: Surface transportation law runs out March 31.

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Partisan bickering on extending a 2 percent payroll tax cut past Feb. 29 could easily suck up the oxygen in Congress and lead to further stopgap extensions on FAA and highway funding ? an unpalatable scenario for leaders after 30 extensions over more than 2,400 days for the two laws.

?If we want to ensure we have high unemployment, have stopgaps. If we want to have high employment,? we need new bills, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) said in an interview.

Here?s a look at how Congress left transportation when it bolted in December and what it now has to do about it.

Stop the shutdown

Avoiding a possible second partial FAA shutdown in six months is a must. A two-week stalemate last summer over Essential Air Service subsidies for rural flights put 4,000 FAA employees out of work, cost the Airport Improvement Program more than $300 million and reflected poorly on Capitol Hill as a whole.

Funding expires in exactly two weeks, and Congress had 4? months since the last stopgap to work on a new long-term bill, the most breathing room since 2009. Optimism on getting a new four-year bill persisted until winter set in, when it was revealed controversial National Mediation Board language over how union election votes are interpreted forced negotiations between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Mica said leadership staff made ?minor progress? during negotiations over the winter recess and that discussions on the labor issue, general funding levels, the Essential Air Service program and flight slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport are fluid but within reach. Still, the clock is ticking.

?There?s going to be an emergency assessment [this] week when we get back,? Mica said. ?If I don?t have an agreement or time to finish the language, ? we have to kind of convene a quick conference.?

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories0112_71497_html/44201136/SIG=11mfeokis/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71497.html

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Samsung says to merge bada mobile OS with Intel-backed Tizen (Reuters)

SEOUL (Reuters) ? Samsung Electronics Co said on Tuesday it planned to merge its 'bada' mobile software with a platform backed by chipmaker Intel Corp in its latest push to diversify away from Google's Android.

Samsung, which emerged as the world's biggest smartphone manufacturer on the back of booming Android models in the third quarter, joined forces with Intel last year to strengthen its mobile software push.

In September two Linux software groups, one backed by Samsung, and another by Intel, agreed to jointly develop Tizen, a new operating system for cellphones and other devices, by merging their LiMo and Meego platforms in a bid to gain wider industry and consumer support.

"We have an effort that will merge bada and Tizen," a Samsung spokesman confirmed senior vice president Kang Tae-jin as telling Forbes magazine in an interview last week.

The open-source Tizen platform supports multiple devices including smartphones, tablets, Internet-enabled TVs, netbooks and in-vehicle infotainment systems.

It would have to attract wide support from developers and manufacturers to compete with the dozen or so other mobile operating systems available in a smartphone market dominated by Google's Linux-based Android and Apple's in-house software.

Google's Android accounted for 53 percent of the global smartphone market in the third quarter and Samsung's bada platform just 2.2 percent.

(Reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120117/tc_nm/us_samsung_tizen

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Salesforce.com hires Vivek Kundra (Politico)

SAN FRANCISCO ? Vivek Kundra, who led the Obama administration?s effort to make the federal government act more like a nimble startup than a sluggish bureaucracy, has been hired as an executive for the cloud computing firm Salesforce.com.

As the first U.S. chief information officer ? serving from March 2009 until Aug. 2011, when he left for a Harvard fellowship ? Kundra symbolized the promise and frustrations of the president?s vision to update the government?s use of technology. He oversaw an initiative to cut federal IT costs and bring more information and services to citizens through user-friendly government sites.

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Kundra spearheaded the administration?s adoption of a ?cloud first? strategy that sought to cut costs by moving services such as nearly 1 million federal email accounts to shared computer servers. But the plans encountered resistance in some quarters over security concerns.

Kundra also saw his budget curtailed as he tried to roll out revamped federal dot-gov websites to explain agency data, efforts to cut waste and spending to average citizens.

He expressed frustration about the job after he departed in August. ?My neighbor?s ten-year-old could look up the latest stats on his favorite baseball player on his phone on the school bus, but I couldn?t get an update on how we were spending billions of dollars of taxpayer dollars while at my desk at the White House,? he wrote on a Harvard website.

Kundra attacked federal government technology projects as being controlled by ?the IT cartel,? big vendors that consistently win federal IT contracts. He called on the administration to apply ?Darwinian pressure? on the sector.

Over the past five months, Kundra has held a joint appointment at Harvard?s Kennedy School of Government and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. The White House tapped Steven VanRoekel, an executive director for citizen engagement at USAID who had spent many years as an executive at Microsoft, to replace Kundra.

Kundra has a long career in technology leadership roles in Virginia state and county government, as well as chief technology officer for the District of Columbia. He will be Salesforce.com?s executive vice president of emerging markets and based at the company?s San Francisco headquarters.

"Vivek Kundra is an amazing technology visionary who opened the eyes of millions to the transformational power of cloud computing," Marc Benioff, Salesforce.com?s chairman and chief executive, said in a press release. "His disruptive leadership is just what the industry needs to accelerate the social enterprise."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories0112_71474_html/44197021/SIG=11m7k46cp/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71474.html

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Santorum mixes academia into campaign trail pitch

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum speaks in the Faith & Freedom Coalition Prayer Breakfast at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry also spoke at the event. (AP Photo/The Sun News, Janet Blackmon Morgan)

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum speaks in the Faith & Freedom Coalition Prayer Breakfast at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry also spoke at the event. (AP Photo/The Sun News, Janet Blackmon Morgan)

Republican presidential candidate, former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., speaks as he campaigns at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Prayer Breakfast in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate, former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., shares words with his wife Karen, right, as he campaigns at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Prayer Breakfast in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) ? Rick Santorum is running for president but his campaign speeches sometimes sound like he's working toward tenure.

The Republican quotes Irish statesmen and French historians, traces word origins and explains Islam to the Christian conservatives who have great sway in South Carolina's Saturday GOP primary. He recommends books, cites academic studies and doesn't shy from footnoting his own unscripted remarks.

At times, Santorum's events more closely resemble a somber college lecture than a raucous political rally ? informative, if not always inspirational.

"After I left the United States Senate, I wrote and lectured around the country about Iran," the former Pennsylvania senator said to one audience here last week. So, he argues, vote for him "if you're looking for someone who has some understanding and knowledge and has had success in trying to shape Iran policy, someone who has that experience to be commander in chief and has the ability to go out and look at and lecture on that country."

At another point, Santorum explained how the American and French constitutions differ.

"There were no God-given rights (in France) because there was no God," he said. "What happened? Tyranny and the guillotine."

Comments like those are standard Santorum fare. In the stump speech he gives several times a day, Santorum includes red-meat conservative rhetoric but also sprinkles in academic discourse and Senate-speak. And there's another frequent public-speaking device: He throws queries back at his questioners ? and then provides his own answers.

"How many 62-year-olds do you know who can't work?" he asks when talking about early benefits some Americans draw for Social Security. "Do you know how many people take benefits early?" And when voters venture a guess ? he jumps in to correct them, exclaiming: "Seventy percent."

A long-time footnote in the race, Santorum is relishing his new relevance ahead of Saturday's first-in-the-South primary. His surprise finish in Iowa elevated him for the moment as the chief conservative rival to front-runner Mitt Romney but he was shellacked just a week later in the New Hampshire primary.

Now he's looking to rebound in South Carolina, more friendly territory for the social-conservative crusader.

Campaigning in South Carolina over the past week, Santorum has faced audiences eager to pepper him with questions about cultural issues, like what he would do to make it easier for parents to homeschool their children and how he would work to end abortion rights. An attorney who has an MBA, Santorum exudes confidence in his knowledge but seldom appears arrogant. His lectures seem designed to persuade his audiences, not convince them of his brilliance.

Some like what they hear.

"Rick Santorum's grasp of the issues is deep," said Alan Lord, a 45-year-old engineer from Lexington who supported former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee four years ago and visited with Santorum in West Columbia last week at an overflowing town hall-style meeting. "I watch him and he clearly knows what he's talking about."

At event after event, Santorum quotes journal studies and his faith in equal measure.

"If it wasn't for immigration, America would be declining in population," he said in Charleston. Then he directed his packed auditorium toward a study of population changes in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Often, Santorum commends one of his recent reads, David Hackett Fischer's "Washington Crossing," to his audiences. He mentions Edmund Burke, the 18th Century historian. He quotes Alexis de Tocqueville's study of American democracy.

And he's been known to mention the origins of basic words.

"We cannot have a strong economy unless the family is a strong foundational unit of our society," he says frequently, as he did this week in Columbia. "The term economy comes from the Greek word, 'home.'"

He also challenges the contemporary interpretation of the Declaration of Independence's call for "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

"Happiness at the time of our founding was not defined the way it is today," he told an audience in Beaufort. "The dictionary definition of 'happiness' at the time of our founders was 'to do the morally right thing.'"

And when a voter in Charleston urged Republicans to impeach President Barack Obama, Santorum said: "I don't think you can impeach a president because you disagree with his public policy ... I hesitate to get involved in political impeachments. That happened once under Andrew Johnson and that didn't work out so well."

Thus began an impromptu mini-lecture on the 1868 trial.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-16-Santorum-The%20Professor/id-3da085a44bba4b3e9ac37a446d9a865a

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Obama takes on big government: `It has to change' (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Seeking more power to shrink the government, President Barack Obama on Friday suggested smashing six economic agencies into one, an election-year idea intended to halt bureaucratic nightmares and force Republicans to back him on one of their own favorite issues.

"The government we have is not the government we need," Obama told business owners he'd gathered at the White House. Lawmakers seemed willing to at least consider his ideas.

Sounding like a manager of a disorganized company, and looking like one by pointing to slides as he spoke, Obama asked Congress to give him a kind of reorganization power no president has had since Ronald Reagan. It would guarantee Obama a vote, within 90 days, on any idea he offers to consolidate agencies, provided it saves money and cuts the government.

His first potential target: Merging six major trade and commerce agencies into a one-stop-shopping department for American businesses. The Commerce Department would be among those that would cease to exist.

Attacking senseless duplication across the executive branch he runs, Obama said: "Why is it OK for our government? It's not. It has to change."

Politically, Obama is seeking advantage on the turf often owned by Republicans: Smaller government.

He is attempting to directly counter Republican arguments that he has presided over the kind of regulation, spending and debt that can undermine the economy ? a dominant theme of this year's debate and one often cited by his potential re-election rival, Republican Mitt Romney.

Obama said he would use his expanded authority to recommend the collapsing of other agencies across the government, not just in the business field, without getting specific. Congress would keep the final say over any proposal. But fast-track power would give Obama a stronger hand to skip much of the outside lobbying and turf battles and get right to a vote.

Congressional reaction was mixed, but generally followed a pattern from both parties ? support for making government more efficient, and wariness about how Obama's plan could upend the trade American trade agenda or undermine the prerogatives of Congress.

Republicans skeptically pointed to Obama's past promises as the size of the nation's debt keeps growing.

"It's not often that we see real proposals from this administration to make government smaller," said Rep. Fred Upton, the Michigan Republican who is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "I look forward to reviewing the proposal and hope that it will be the first of many to unravel the red tape."

Indeed, Obama promised more plans to shrink things if given more power, citing inefficiencies all across the government.

In an unusual united front that underscored some bipartisan skepticism, the chairmen of two of Congress' most powerful committees joined in a statement that questioned the president's desire to wrap the U.S. Trade Representative office into a new agency. The House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont, said government cannot be reduced "at the expense of programs that are helping businesses, ranchers and farmers create jobs."

For Obama, it was all about common sense.

He spoke of business people who deal with the government as part of their daily life and are exasperated by a maze of agencies, permits and websites.

"We can do this better," he told them. "So much of the argument out there all the time is up in 40,000 feet, these abstract arguments about who's conservative or who's liberal. ...You guys are just trying to figure out, how do we make things work? How do we apply common sense? And that's what this is about."

Obama had an imperative to deliver. He made the promise to come up with a smart reorganization of the government in his State of the Union speech last January.

Not in decades has the government undergone a sustained reorganization of itself. Presidents have tried from time to time, but each part of the bureaucracy has its own defenders inside and outside the government, which can make merger ideas politically impossible. That's particularly true because "efficiency" is often another way of saying people will lose their jobs.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she hoped Congress would quickly approve Obama's proposal, which she said tracked with worries Democrats have been hearing from small business owners.

Beyond the politics, the merger Obama offered would have big implications for trade and commerce in America.

Presidents held a fast-track reorganizational authority for about 50 years until it ran out during Reagan's presidency in 1984, the White House argued.

Obama wants to merge: the Commerce Department's core business and trade functions; the Small Business Administration; the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; the Export-Import Bank; the Overseas Private Investment Corporation; and the Trade and Development Agency.

The White House says 1,000 to 2,000 jobs would be cut, but the administration would do so through attrition. The administration says the consolidation would save $3 billion over 10 years by getting rid of duplicative overhead and programs, although it has yet to spell out any plan in detail.

Obama's announcement treads on ground that Romney, the Republican front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, frequently stakes out on the campaign trail. Romney often says he would try to shrink government by eliminating offices that duplicate functions performed somewhere else, citing as examples more than 80 different workforce training programs.

Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said streamlining government was always a potentially good idea but expressed suspicion about whether the plan by Obama would really help business. Don Stewart, spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, pledged Obama's plan would get a careful review.

But he added: "It's interesting to see the president finally acknowledge that Washington is out of control."

__

Associated Press writers Kasie Hunt, Alan Fram, Erica Werner and Ken Thomas contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120114/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_trimming_government

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Hello Kitty pays a visit to CES 2012: If you want it, we got it in pink

An electronics show wouldn't be an electronics show without celebrity endorsements. But there was one icon who had more product tie-ins than anyone else. Yep, Kitty-chan was in attendance and she had plenty of pink paraphernalia to hawk to unsuspecting fans of all things kawaii. We've collated together all the gear spotted at CES and fortunately, there was more than just a few phone cases and laptop bags. Merchandise spotted includes Kitty-themed karaoke machines, alarm clocks with mounted laser cannons projectors, cordless phones and more. A brief video tour of some of our favorite surprises is coming soon, but until then, enjoy all that the super-deformed cat had to offer in our gallery below.

Gallery: Hello Kitty at CES 2012

Hello Kitty pays a visit to CES 2012: If you want it, we got it in pink originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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32 million Americans have autoantibodies that target their own tissues

ScienceDaily (Jan. 13, 2012) ? More than 32 million people in the United States have autoantibodies, which are proteins made by the immune system that target the body's tissues and define a condition known as autoimmunity, a study shows. The first nationally representative sample looking at the prevalence of the most common type of autoantibody, known as antinuclear antibodies (ANA), found that the frequency of ANA is highest among women, older individuals, and African-Americans.

The study was conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health. Researchers in Gainesville at the University of Florida also participated.

Earlier studies have shown that ANA can actually develop many years before the clinical appearance of autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis. ANA are frequently measured biomarkers for detecting autoimmune diseases, but the presence of autoantibodies does not necessarily mean a person will get an autoimmune disease. Other factors, including drugs, cancer, and infections, are also known to cause autoantibodies in some people.

"Previous estimates of ANA prevalence have varied widely and were conducted in small studies not representative of the general population," said Frederick Miller, M.D., Ph.D., an author of the study and acting clinical director at NIEHS. "Having this large data set that is representative of the general U.S. population and includes nearly 5,000 individuals provides us with an accurate estimate of ANA and may allow new insights into the etiology of autoimmune diseases." The findings appear online in the Jan. 11 issue of the Journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.

Miller, who studies the causes of autoimmune diseases, explains that the body's immune system makes large numbers of proteins called antibodies to help the body fight off infections. In some cases, however, antibodies are produced that are directed against one's own tissues. These are referred to as autoantibodies.

A multi-disciplinary team of researchers evaluated blood serum samples using a technique called immunofluorescence to detect ANA in 4,754 individuals from the 1994-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The overall prevalence of ANA in the population was 13.8 percent, and was found to be modestly higher in African-Americans compared to whites. ANA generally increased with age and was higher in women than in men, with the female to male ratio peaking at 40-49 years of age and then declining in older age groups.

"The peak of autoimmunity in females compared to males during the 40-49 age bracket is suggestive of the effects that the hormones estrogen and progesterone might be playing on the immune system," said Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D., director of NIEHS and an author on the paper.

The paper also found that the prevalence of ANA was lower in overweight and obese individuals than persons of normal weight. "This finding is interesting and somewhat unexpected," said Edward Chan, Ph.D., an author on the study and professor of the Department of Oral Biology at the University of Florida.

"It raises the likelihood that fat tissues can secrete proteins that inhibit parts of the immune system and prevent the development of autoantibodies, but we will need to do more research to understand the role that obesity might play in the development of autoimmune diseases," said Minoru Satoh, M.D., Ph.D., another author on the study and associate professor of rheumatology and clinical immunology at the University of Florida.

The researchers say the paper should serve as a useful baseline for future studies looking at changes in ANA prevalence over time and the factors associated with ANA development. The paper is the first in a series analyzing this data from the NHANES dataset, and exploring possible environmental associations with ANA.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Minoru Satoh, Edward K. L. Chan, Lindsey A. Ho, Kathryn M. Rose, Christine G. Parks, Richard D. Cohn, Todd A. Jusko, Nigel J. Walker, Dori R. Germolec, Irene Z. Whitt, Patrick W. Crockett, Brad A. Pauley, Jason Y.F. Chan, Steven J. Ross, Linda S. Birnbaum, Darryl C. Zeldin, Frederick W. Miller. Prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of antinuclear antibodies in the United States. Arthritis & Rheumatism, 2012; DOI: 10.1002/art.34380

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/~3/d1ElHkmLakA/120113093823.htm

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France plans Legion of Honor for Suu Kyi (AP)

PARIS ? French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office says he has decided to give France's highest award ? the Legion of Honor ? to Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Sarkozy's office said he spoke with Suu Kyi by phone. He praised the Myanmar government's release of hundreds of detainees on Friday, including some of the country's famous political prisoners.

Sarkozy hailed Suu Kyi's "political courage" and expressed support for the Myanmar junta's recent reforms. He also said France expects that legislative elections planned April 1 in Myanmar will be free and transparent.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe will be charged with giving Suu Kyi the Legion of Honor award during his trip to Myanmar on Sunday and Monday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120113/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_myanmar

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SPIN METER: Obama's pose: Above the political fray (AP)

WASHINGTON ? To hear the White House tell it, President Barack Obama has scant interest in politics as Republicans battle each other for the right to challenge him. But in reality, Obama is increasingly involved in his re-election, staying in regular contact with his campaign staff, raising money and evaluating Republican debate performances.

Throughout the White House, Obama's aides are knee-deep in the re-election business. There are daily conference calls between top aides in the White House and campaign staff at the Chicago re-election headquarters and close consultation on message and travel.

His pose of indifference allows Obama to try to position himself above the sometimes-ugly fray of the campaign, leaving the political back-and-forth to others as he focuses instead on the loftier work of governing. But as with any incumbent president seeking re-election, political concerns weigh heavily as the election approaches. It's just smarter politics, for now, to pretend otherwise.

"Presidents like to act like they're not paying attention to every little detail of every little thing, when I suspect they all do," said Ari Fleischer, press secretary under President George W. Bush. "The job requires you to act like you're above all the less important stuff of the world ? especially if the less important stuff is the guy who wants to take your job."

White House press secretary Jay Carney said the president spends only about 5 percent of his time on the campaign, and there will be plenty of opportunity to get more involved once the election is closer. "Because he does not need to now, he is not engaging particularly aggressively in his re-election campaign. It's only January," Carney said this week.

But the president's schedule and sometimes even his own words paint another picture: of a White House increasingly driven by politics.

On Wednesday, a day after GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney solidified his front-runner status with a win in the New Hampshire primary, Obama hosted a White House event on job creation ? a way of countering Republicans' attacks on the president's economic stewardship. Similar White House counter-programming was on display last week, a day after the Iowa caucuses, when Obama announced he was going around congressional Republicans to appoint a new consumer protection chief.

And take travel, a good barometer of priorities because it requires that most precious commodity: the president's time. Of a half-dozen domestic day trips Obama made in November, December and so far in January, five were to politically important states both parties will be contesting this fall ? North Carolina, Ohio, New Hampshire and, twice, Pennsylvania.

Obama also visited his hometown of Chicago Wednesday, but in reliably Democratic Illinois he didn't bother with any official presidential events; he just dropped by his campaign headquarters and hit a few fundraisers before coming back to Washington.

Carney downplays politics as the motivation behind Obama's travel. "Every president ought to be able to travel everywhere in the country. It's part of his responsibility," the presidential spokesman said ahead of one Pennsylvania trip.

But Chris Lehane, an aide in Bill Clinton's White House, said the president's travel schedule reflects campaign imperatives.

"The White House scheduling office is going to know that there are certain targeted states, and in those states targeted markets, and in those markets targeted districts you're going to want to spend time in," Lehane said.

The president is also turning to his wife, the popular first lady, to make his case. Michelle Obama touted her husband's accomplishments at events in Virginia on Wednesday, telling a crowd in Richmond, "We are blessed to have him."

The message Obama delivers while at home or on the road is discussed among campaign staff and White House officials on daily conference calls involving White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer, senior adviser David Plouffe and campaign officials in Chicago, according to a senior administration official. Campaign manager Jim Messina and senior adviser David Axelrod also travel from Chicago to meet with Obama at the White House fairly regularly, the official said, speaking anonymously to discuss private deliberations.

Federal law broadly bars federal officials from using government resources on campaign work, aiming to separate campaign functions such as fundraising from the official government apparatus. But the president and his senior staff are largely exempt and permitted to conduct political functions from within the White House and use government phones and computers to do so as long as the cost to taxpayers is minimal. So there's nothing stopping Pfeiffer and Plouffe from consulting regularly with their counterparts in Chicago.

Former Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs, who still speaks with the White House and the campaign, said Obama spends little time paying attention to the Republicans vying for his job, partly because there's no need for him to. "The message that you're hearing in Iowa or New Hampshire is a carbon copy of what you're hearing on Capitol Hill," Gibbs said, so Obama can get his fill of GOP rhetoric listening to House Republicans.

It's a linkage Obama's begun making himself, telling supporters at a Chicago fundraiser Wednesday that the Republicans running against him are no different from the unpopular GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill. That comes after Obama's spent months honing attacks against the congressional GOP while campaigning for his economic agenda ? attacks he's now starting to turn against his potential presidential opponents as well, in an example of how the business of governing can be hard to distinguish from the business of politics.

Obama's also made clear that he is paying attention to the Republicans, at least sometimes, taking swipes at the rhetoric coming from the GOP candidates at their debates. At a fundraiser Monday, he told his audience that the consequences of the coming election are profound, adding, "Don't take my word for it, watch some of these debates that have been going on up in New Hampshire." As usual, Obama avoided mentioning his opponents by name.

"You never want your opponent to think you're paying attention to them, right?" said Karen Finney, who worked in the Clinton White House. "It's a little bit like when you like somebody, but you don't want them to know that you like them. So you ignore them."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120113/ap_on_el_pr/us_obama_ignoring_politics

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