COMMENTARY | Rick Perry has two presidential 2012 Republicans debates under his belt and is the clear frontrunner in the race. Sure, Michele Bachmann and liberal pundits will try to dim his rising star with sound bites incorrect facts, but win the nomination he will. Fiscal conservatives are already looking past the top of the ticket and wondering who will join Perry on his quest to restore prosperity in America.
Vice Presidential Options
* Herman Cain. The fiscally responsible job creator is an excellent choice to run on the 2012 ticket with Perry. The man has a straight-shooter and no-nonsense personality like the governor and a solid job performance record. Cain understands how to run a business successfully and the omnipotent role the private sector must play to turn the economy around. The candidates share a similar view on the current unsustainable spending conducted on behalf of the Obama administration and the need to secure our borders.
* Mitt Romney. While the two candidates share similar views on many issues, Romney would probably not like playing second fiddle in Perry's band. The recent debates illustrated a willingness to highlight his forceful side, but the innate character differences between the two men might not mesh well during the campaign. Romney has many positive attributes but comes across as more of an establishment candidate than Perry and would do little to attract staunch fiscal conservatives and tea party members.
* Newt Gingrich. The experience and amazingly strong historical memory Gingrich possesses would make him a prime choice to work somewhere in the administration. Unfortunately, the candidate is viewed as a career Republican politician by too many voters to be an asset on the 2012 ticket. The guidance and intelligence Gingrich could bring to oval office conversations would be beneficial to Perry. Personally, I would love to see Newt become the next press secretary. He would bring off-the-cuff honesty to the podium like the country has never seen before.
* Chris Christie. Stop hoping, it's just not going to happen. Christie was prompted and prodded relentlessly to enter the race and refused to skip out on the commitment he made to New Jersey voters. Christie would likely be a frontrunner if he entered the race even at a very late date, but he does not have the type of personality which could exist in a second-tier position.
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CHARLOTTE, N.C.- The La Salle men?s cross country team won the 2011 Atlantic 10 Championship on Saturday, which was held at Frank Liske Park on the campus of Charlotte. Junior Alfredo Santana (Philadelphia, PA / Nueva Esperanza Academy) won the race to earn Most Outstanding Performer honors.
Santana crossed the finish line with a time of 24:18 and and is the third Explorer to receive this honor and the first since Sean Quigley, who the last Explorer honored in 2006. The junior is the third Explorer to win the individual title at the Atlantic 10 Championships. The other two Explorers to win the title were Quigley (twice, 2006 and 2005) and Todd Witzleben (twice, 2002 and 2001). The title is the eighth Atlantic 10 Conference Championship for the program, the most by any school in the conference. La Salle's women's cross country team also captured the Atlantic 10 Championship on Saturday. Head coach Dan Ireland also received honors from the Atlantic 10 Conference as he was voted Coach of the Year. This is the eighth time a coach from La Salle has been honored, following seven-time Coach of the Year Charles Torpey. Before the races began, the Atlantic 10 had a moment of silence for Torpey, who passed away suddenly this summer. The Explorers continued to honor Torpey as they wore a patch on their uniforms as they had done all season for the former coach. ?It was a huge win coming in from the summer and what happened with Coach Torpey and being picked to be the preseason favorites," Ireland said. "The girls and guys both rose to the occasion." "This win is something that Coach Torpey put together," Ireland continued. "He got them to this point. It was our job to finish the job." Four other Explorers finished in the top fifteen, earning all-conference honors. Sophomore Nick Ross (East Greenwich, RI / East Greenwich) (5th, 24:36) and senior Nick Crits (Ambler, PA / Wissahickon) (6th, 24:38) were the other top ten finishers for the Explorers. Senior David Hausherr (Townsend, MA / North Middlesex) (24:59) and sophomore Luke Arbuckle ?(Elkton, MD / Eklton) (24:59), finished 13th and 14th respectively, rounded out the top fifteen. All five Explorers that scored for the team earned All-Conference honors for the first time in their careers. La Salle finished with 39 points, whereas the runner-up Duquesne finished with 72 points. 2011 Atlantic 10 Conference Men's Cross Country Championship Awards Champion La Salle Runner-up Duquesne Coach of the Year Dan Ireland, La Salle Most Outstanding Performer Alfredo Santana, La Salle Rookie of the Year Paul Szulewski, Saint Joseph's All-Conference Team Alfredo Santana, La Salle Kevin McDonnell, Saint Joseph's Greg Roeth, Dayton Julian Saad, Fordham Nick Ross, La Salle Nick Crits, La Salle Jon Mazzio, Saint Joseph's Sean Duncan, Massachusetts Erik Anderson, Duquesne Tom Ohlman, Xavier Jim Spisak, Duquesne Patrick McGowan, Massachusetts David Hausherr, La Salle Luke Arbuckle, La Salle Keith Albrekston, Xavier
LA SALLE WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY CAPTURES A-10 CHAMPIONSHIP; IRELAND NAMED COACH OF THE YEAR
CHARLOTTE, N.C.- The La Salle women?s cross country team won the 2011 Atlantic 10 Conference Championships held at Frank Liske Park on the campus of Charlotte on Saturday morning. The title is the seventh Atlantic 10 Conference Championship for the program, the most by any school in the conference. La Salle's men's cross country team also captured the Atlantic 10 Championship on Saturday.
Head coach Dan Ireland also received honors from the Atlantic 10 Conference as he was voted Coach of the Year. This is the eighth time a coach from La Salle has been honored, following seven-time Coach of the Year Charles Torpey.
Before the races began, the Atlantic 10 had a moment of silence for Torpey, who passed away suddenly this summer. The Explorers continued to honor Torpey as they wore a patch on their uniforms as they had done all season for the former coach.
?It was a huge win coming in from the summer and what happened with Coach Torpey and being picked to be the preseason favorites," Ireland said. "The girls and guys both rose to the occasion."
"This win is something that Coach Torpey put together," Ireland continued. "He got them to this point. It was our job to finish the job."
Senior Caitlin Storbeck (Eagleville, PA / Archbishop Carroll) led all Explorers to the finish line, with a sixth place and a time of 17:41. Junior Meghan McGlinchey (West Deptford, NJ / West Deptford) (7th, 17:47) and junior Stephanie Bearish (Coopersburg, PA / Southern Lehigh) (8th, 17:47) crossed the finish line only seconds after Storbeck.?
Junior Wendy Hutchinson (Dover, PA / Dover) was the next to cross the finish line with a time of 17:50 in 12th place. ?Rounding out the top five for the Explorers was a 36th place finish by junior Caroline Grant (Springfield, PA / Cardinal O'Hara), 18:38.
Storbeck, McGlinchey, Bearish and Hutchinson all earned All-Atlantic 10 honors. This the third consecutive all-conference honor for Storbeck. For Bearish, this is her second consecutive All-Conference honor while McGlinchey and Hutchinson both earned their first All-Conference honor.
"The women's team had a tremendous effort. Four girls ran amazing," Ireland said. "Caroline Grant had a tremendous run for us and sealed the victory for us."
La Salle finished with 69 points, whereas the runner-up Dayton finished with 84 points.
"It's good for the program for us to get back to the standards that we expect here at La Salle," Ireland said.
2011 Atlantic 10 Conference Women's Cross Country Championship Awards
Champion La Salle
Runner-up Dayton
Coach of the Year Dan Ireland, La Salle
Most Outstanding Performer Jill Prentice, Richmond
Rookie of the Year Danica Snyder, Duquesne
All-Conference Team Jill Prentice, Richmond Hilary Orf, Saint Louis Amanda Goetschius, Charlotte Elissa Mason, Dayton Karen Roa, Massachusetts Caitlin Storbeck, La Salle Meghan McGlinchey, La Salle Stephanie Bearish, La Salle Meg Ecker, Duquesne Margo Richardson, Saint Louis Lizzie Gelason, Dayton Wendy Hutchinson, La Salle Stephanie Paradis, Richmond Hana Sutchar, Charlotte Hannah Fuller, Saint Joseph's
Michelle Obama and her daughters Sasha, 10, and Malia, 13, might be keeping up with the Kardashians, but President Barack Obama is not. The commander in chief stopped by The Tonight Show Tuesday, and told host Jay Leno that he doesn't like the E! reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians -- despite the fact that he's never seen an episode!
DENVER (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama vowed on Wednesday to take steps to ease the burden of student loans, potentially helping cash-strapped college graduates in a tough U.S. economy.
"I want America to have the most highly skilled workers doing the most advanced work. I want us to win the future," Obama told an audience of about 4,000 students at the University of Colorado-Denver.
"So that means we should be doing everything we can to put a college education within reach for every American."
In line with an announcement on Tuesday, Obama said he planned to speed up a plan to cap student loan payments at 10 percent of income, bringing it forward to start in 2012 instead of 2014.
The White House estimates the loan changes could cut monthly payments for 1.6 million graduates.
Americans owe more on student loans than on outstanding credit card debt, and total loans outstanding are slated to exceed $1 trillion this year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The rise in private student lending and growing debt defaults have also been highlighted by Occupy Wall Street protesters.
Under the plan, student debt will also be forgiven after 20 years, compared with 25 years under current law.
More than 36 million Americans have federal student loan debt, but only 450,000 have taken advantage of the existing income-based repayment program.
Obama will also make changes to allow 6 million students to bundle together certain federal loans to allow a single monthly payment. The move would reduce the risk of default caused by juggling several debts.
The option will be open from January. Those that take it up will also get a 0.5 percentage point cut in the interest rate on some of their loans, lowering monthly payments and potentially saving them hundreds of dollars in interest.
The loans initiative was the third such move by Obama in as many days, following action to aid homeowners and boost hiring of military veterans. The White House wants to show Obama is an activist president battling a "do-nothing" Congress.
The loan changes do not require approval by Congress.
Republican lawmakers blocked a $447 billion jobs plan put forward by Obama last month, citing among other reasons its increases in some taxes.
Students helped push Obama into the White House in 2008. As he campaigns for re-election in 2012, Obama's public approval ratings have fallen near 40 percent, the low of his presidency, largely because of discontent with his economic stewardship.
Obama was wrapping up a swing through western states that will be vital to his re-election campaign in 2012.
NEW YORK ? A new trial has been ordered for an Ivy League-educated scientist convicted of violating the Iran trade embargo.
Mahmoud Reza Banki (MAH'-mood RAY'-zuh BAHN'-kee) was sent to a federal prison camp in California after his June 2010 conviction in New York.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ordered the new trial Monday.
The Tehran-born Banki was convicted of violating a trade embargo. It prohibits U.S. citizens from supplying goods, services or technology to Iran or its government.
The appeals court tossed out the trade embargo charge. It ordered a new trial on charges that he participated in an unlicensed money transfer business. False statement charges were upheld.
FORT DODGE, Iowa ? An Iowa mother who told police she shot a 20-year-old neighbor to death while trying to protect her family from intruders goes on trial for murder Tuesday in a case that authorities say boils down to the woman's attempt to frame her first husband for a crime.
Tracey Richter fatally shot Dustin Wehde on Dec. 13, 2001, at the home where she lived with her second husband and three children in Early, a town of about 500 people 100 miles northwest of Des Moines. Prosecutors say Richter, who was initially hailed as a hero who acted in self-defense, killed Wehde and planted a notebook in his car suggesting he was a hit man hired by an ex-husband she had feuded with for years.
Richter says two men broke into her home and assaulted her before she was able to get guns from a safe and shoot Wehde nine times with two weapons, leaving him dead on her bedroom floor as the second man fled. She said she acted to protect her children, ages 11, 3 and 1 and was applauded when she shared her story on the "Montel Williams Show" in 2002.
But prosecutors, who say she has repeatedly changed the details of her account, charged her this year with first-degree murder after the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation re-examined the case. Among the evidence cited in court records is the conclusion of a forensic expert hired by an investigator who said the final three shots came when Wehde was face down on the floor.
Richter and her second husband divorced, and she was arrested in July in Omaha, Neb., where she was living with a fiance. She pleaded not guilty to the charges, and would face a mandatory life prison sentence if convicted.
Her trial begins Tuesday with jury selection in a courtroom in Fort Dodge, where the case was moved after defense attorneys argued that Richter couldn't get a fair trial near Early because she and her second husband, Michael Roberts, were viewed as outsiders after moving to the area in the early 1990s. She grew up in Chicago and he grew up in Australia.
Many Early residents noted after the shooting that Wehde had been friendly with Richter's family and said they did not believe he had broken into her home. Wehde's parents divorced after his death and his father, Brett Wehde, committed suicide on Thanksgiving Day 2002 at his son's gravesite.
Michael Roberts wrote in an email to The Associated Press that he thinks Wehde was "simply a prop" used by Richter.
"Thankfully for her victims past, present and future, her make believe house of cards is about to fall," Roberts wrote from California, where he has been living with their children since Richter's arrest. "I don't rejoice in her downfall, but I cannot deny the relief."
Richter's attorney, Scott Bandstra, has said he will argue that investigators failed to follow leads that could have identified the alleged second intruder. He also has argued that the forensic expert's findings bolster his client's case because they show the shots could have come from the angles she described.
The notebook found in the front seat of Wehde's car after his death also will be a point of contention. In it, Wehde wrote he was hired by a "mysterious fellow" named John Pitman, a plastic surgeon who divorced Richter in 1996, to kill Richter and her 11-year-old son, Bert. At the time of the shooting, Richter and Pitman were in a custody dispute over the boy.
Investigators have said while the entry was in Wehde's handwriting, they never believed it was credible or that Wehde was actually a hit man, and they kept the existence of the notebook and its contents a secret.
An old acquaintance of Richter's later came forward and said the woman had told her about the notebook days after the shooting, and said that her ex-husband would soon be arrested in connection with the home invasion.
One of many great details in the Michael Lewis book about the financial crisis,?The Big Short, is a passage on the observations of former FrontPoint head trader Danny Moses.
Moses, described as the small-picture guy on Steve Eisman's team, claimed he could tell a lot about a guy just by looking at him.
The best place to study Wall Street people was on the morning commute from Connecticut. Moses estimated that 95% of the people on his morning Metro North train worked on Wall Street.
Just by looking at them, he said, he could tell at a glance what their jobs were and where they worked.
[The following text is excerpted from The Big Short.]
WASHINGTON ? By declaring the Iraq war over, President Barack Obama scored what his allies see as a fourth big foreign policy success in six months, starting with Osama bin Laden's killing.
But in his re-election bid, these events might play a discouragingly small role even if they burnish his eventual place in history.
Voters tend to focus heavily on domestic issues, especially in times of high unemployment. That will limit Obama's campaign options.
His supporters are seeking ways to make the most of his foreign policy accomplishments. One approach is to contrast them with Congress' partisan-driven gridlock on taxes, the deficit and other domestic issues.
"Look at the progress the president can make when he doesn't have Republicans obstructing him," said Karen Finney, a former Democratic spokeswoman who often defends the party on TV and radio.
Democratic strategist Rebecca Kirszner Katz distributed a similar remark on Twitter this past week: "Terrorists and dictators, lacking the filibuster, have no effective defense against Barack Obama." It referred to the stalling tactic that Senate Republicans frequently use to kill Democratic bills even though they hold only 47 of the chamber's 100 seats.
These Democrats hope people will see a bold and capable president who keeps his promises when Republicans don't create roadblocks. They note that he approved the raid to kill bin Laden in Pakistan on May 1 and policies that led to last month's drone-missile killing of American-born al-Qaida figure Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen; backed allied actions that led to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's ouster and death; and ended U.S. involvement in Iraq on schedule.
"It is very important for any incumbent to be able to talk about promises made and promises kept," Finney said. The list of achievements, contrasted with President George W. Bush's erroneous claims about Iraq's weaponry in the first place, should help Democrats shake their image of being the weaker party on national security, she said.
"That baggage is finally lifted," Finney said.
Translating that claim into votes for Obama 13 months from now may be difficult, however. The latest Associated Press-GfK poll confirmed that Americans place far greater emphasis on domestic issues, especially the economy, than on foreign matters, including the fight against terrorism.
The poll found Obama's overall approval rating at a new low, 46 percent, for the second straight month, even though 64 percent of adults approved of his handling of terrorism. Only 40 percent approved of his handling of the economy.
Ninety-three percent of those questioned said the economy was an extremely or very important issue. By comparison, 73 percent put the same emphasis on terrorism.
Democratic officials believe Obama's foreign policy record will look even better when the Republican presidential candidates hold a debate on that topic Nov. 15. Leading contenders Mitt Romney and Rick Perry are current or former governors, and businessman Herman Cain has never held public office. None has extensive foreign policy experience.
But voters routinely accept that. In recent presidential elections they have chosen governors from Georgia, California, Arkansas and Texas, plus a first-term senator, Obama.
On Friday, Romney and Perry criticized Obama's handling of Iraq. Some Democrats found Romney's remarks exceptionally harsh.
"President Obama's astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in Iraq has unnecessarily put at risk the victories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of American men and women," Romney said. "The unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government."
Obama's defenders fired back. "Is there anything more hollow than Mitt Romney decrying `political considerations' in decision-making?" said former White House spokesman Bill Burton.
Perry said in a statement: "I'm deeply concerned that President Obama is putting political expediency ahead of sound military and security judgment by announcing an end to troop level negotiations and a withdrawal from Iraq by year's end." He said Obama "was slow to engage the Iraqis and there's little evidence today's decision is based on advice from military commanders."
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, was more generous. "American forces not only freed Iraq from a vicious tyrant, but ? under the strategy developed and implemented by our generals, and the leadership of both President Bush and President Obama ? ended a violent terrorist insurgency," he said.
Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said Obama "kept his pledge to the nation to end the war in Iraq in a responsible way, he has promoted our security in Afghanistan, and eliminated key al-Qaida leaders." He said Romney "didn't lay out a plan to end the war in Iraq."
Republican strategist Rich Galen said the economy clearly will dominate the 2012 election, and it might undo Obama. As for Obama's foreign record, however, Galen said, "they're doing exactly the right thing" by highlighting every success they can.
Galen said Obama clearly deserves credit for the raid on bin Laden's compound.
COMMENTARY | The GOP nomination in 2012 is just a few months away so we're in the World Series of the Republican Tax Reform Games. Herman Cain struck out with his first at-bat, the original 9-9-9 plan, which could increase taxes on households below the poverty line by 950 percent. It was shown to benefit the rich while harming the poor. Cain was at the plate for a second time Friday with reforms to his plan and he's behind in the count with two strikes.
Cain's proposed changes to his plan would eliminate income tax on those living under the poverty line. It would also create "opportunity zones" that would receive different tax treatment.
If you're living at or below the poverty line it's nice to think you'll pay no income tax. Unfortunately for poverty-stricken Americans, the 9-9-9 plan has a combined tax rate that could effectively equate to 25.38 percent. When you read those numbers you can almost hear the Public Approval Ball whoosh over home plate untouched as the umpire calls the first strike.
Nobody and no institution would be safe from this sales tax -- not even nonprofit entities like hospitals, shelters for battered women and humane societies. They would all have smaller effective budgets because they'd pay taxes that did not apply to them before. That means higher health care costs, battered women unable to escape their abusers, and homeless pets wandering the streets.
It could also include churches, which receive nonprofit status in the same way any other entity does -- by filing as a 501-C-3 nonprofit organizations. Get ready for collection plates the size of garbage cans at your local house of worship if Cain's plan applies to them, too. That's strike two.
Cain has also modified his plan to extract more money from the rich as a way to close the gap in government revenue. OK, that last bit is not true. It probably felt good to hear it for a moment, though, right? Let's get back to reality. Nothing in Cain's plan that assists the rich has been changed at all.
The net result is that the rich will pay enormously less in taxes under Cain's 9-9-9 plan and the most of the nation, as much as 84 percent of taxpayers, will pay more. Luckily for Cain the game continues. Let's see what he does with his next pitch.
Twitter / ABC News 4: #chsspts #chsnews Tonight ... Tonight check out our interview with hometown football hero AJ Green about life in the NFL? (cont) Il y a 9 minutesvia TweetDeck
Failing to bridge the gap between test tubes, animals, and human biologyPublic release date: 20-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Vincent Detours vdetours@ulb.ac.be 32-255-54220 Public Library of Science
Press release from PLoS Computational Biology
Reasoning used in many highly cited cancer publications to support the relevance of animal and test tube experiments to human cancer is questionable, according to a study by researchers from Universit Libre de Bruxelles published in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology on October 20th 2011.
Most experimental biomedical research is performed on animals or on cells living in test tubes due to the limits ethics guidelines place on experimental investigation on humans. Bridging the gap between these experiments and human biology is a major hurdle. A connection is often made using the prognostic value of molecular markerssets of genes whose activation is related to particular biological processes. Researchers first determine a cancer marker and then assess the ability of the marker to predict survival. The fact that the marker is prognostic is considered to be evidence that the particular biological process is an important driver of cancer.
The authors question this reasoning by highlighting that most whimsical molecular markers, for example genes associated with mice social behavior, are prognostic in human breast cancer. Moreover, they studied 47 markers published in leading scientific journals, representing various biological processes supposedly relevant to breast cancer. They confirmed their prognostic value, but found that 60% of them are not better than random markers devoid of any biological rationale. Thus, the prognostic ability of molecular markers in human breast cancer seems to convey little meaningful information relevant to the biological processes of breast cancer progression.
The study recognizes that some molecular markers are truly prognostic and act as a useful guide to breast cancer treatment, even though they may fail to support the causal role of specific biological mechanisms in human breast cancer progression.
###
FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: DV was funded by the IRSIB Brussels Region-Capitale ICT-Impulse 2006 program 'InSilico wet lab'. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
COMPETING INTERESTS: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
CITATION: Venet D, Dumont JE, Detours V (2011) Most Random Gene Expression Signatures Are Significantly Associated with Breast Cancer Outcome. PLoSComput Biol 7(10): e1002240. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002240
CONTACT:
Vincent Detours
Universit Libre de Bruxelles
Phone: 32-25554220
Email: vdetours@ulb.ac.be
This press release refers to an upcoming article in PLoS Computational Biology. The release is provided by journal staff, or by the article authors and/or their institutions. Any opinions expressed in this release or article are the personal views of the journal staff and/or article contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of PLoS. PLoS expressly disclaims any and all warranties and liability in connection with the information found in the releases and articles and your use of such information.
Media Permissions
PLoS Journals publish under a Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/), which permits free reuse of all materials published with the article, so long as the work is cited (e.g., Brinkworth RSA, O'Carroll DC (2009) Robust Models for Optic Flow Coding in Natural Scenes Inspired by Insect Biology. PLoS Comput Biol 5(11): e1000555. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000555). No prior permission is required from the authors or publisher. For queries about the license, please contact the relative journal contact indicated here: http://www.plos.org/journals/embargopolicy.php
About PLoS Computational Biology
PLoS Computational Biology (http://www.ploscompbiol.org) features works of exceptional significance that further our understanding of living systems at all scales through the application of computational methods. All works published in PLoS Computational Biology are open access. Everything is immediately available subject only to the condition that the original authorship and source are properly attributed. Copyright is retained.
About the Public Library of Science
The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. For more information, visit http://www.plos.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Failing to bridge the gap between test tubes, animals, and human biologyPublic release date: 20-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Vincent Detours vdetours@ulb.ac.be 32-255-54220 Public Library of Science
Press release from PLoS Computational Biology
Reasoning used in many highly cited cancer publications to support the relevance of animal and test tube experiments to human cancer is questionable, according to a study by researchers from Universit Libre de Bruxelles published in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology on October 20th 2011.
Most experimental biomedical research is performed on animals or on cells living in test tubes due to the limits ethics guidelines place on experimental investigation on humans. Bridging the gap between these experiments and human biology is a major hurdle. A connection is often made using the prognostic value of molecular markerssets of genes whose activation is related to particular biological processes. Researchers first determine a cancer marker and then assess the ability of the marker to predict survival. The fact that the marker is prognostic is considered to be evidence that the particular biological process is an important driver of cancer.
The authors question this reasoning by highlighting that most whimsical molecular markers, for example genes associated with mice social behavior, are prognostic in human breast cancer. Moreover, they studied 47 markers published in leading scientific journals, representing various biological processes supposedly relevant to breast cancer. They confirmed their prognostic value, but found that 60% of them are not better than random markers devoid of any biological rationale. Thus, the prognostic ability of molecular markers in human breast cancer seems to convey little meaningful information relevant to the biological processes of breast cancer progression.
The study recognizes that some molecular markers are truly prognostic and act as a useful guide to breast cancer treatment, even though they may fail to support the causal role of specific biological mechanisms in human breast cancer progression.
###
FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: DV was funded by the IRSIB Brussels Region-Capitale ICT-Impulse 2006 program 'InSilico wet lab'. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
COMPETING INTERESTS: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
CITATION: Venet D, Dumont JE, Detours V (2011) Most Random Gene Expression Signatures Are Significantly Associated with Breast Cancer Outcome. PLoSComput Biol 7(10): e1002240. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002240
CONTACT:
Vincent Detours
Universit Libre de Bruxelles
Phone: 32-25554220
Email: vdetours@ulb.ac.be
This press release refers to an upcoming article in PLoS Computational Biology. The release is provided by journal staff, or by the article authors and/or their institutions. Any opinions expressed in this release or article are the personal views of the journal staff and/or article contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of PLoS. PLoS expressly disclaims any and all warranties and liability in connection with the information found in the releases and articles and your use of such information.
Media Permissions
PLoS Journals publish under a Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/), which permits free reuse of all materials published with the article, so long as the work is cited (e.g., Brinkworth RSA, O'Carroll DC (2009) Robust Models for Optic Flow Coding in Natural Scenes Inspired by Insect Biology. PLoS Comput Biol 5(11): e1000555. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000555). No prior permission is required from the authors or publisher. For queries about the license, please contact the relative journal contact indicated here: http://www.plos.org/journals/embargopolicy.php
About PLoS Computational Biology
PLoS Computational Biology (http://www.ploscompbiol.org) features works of exceptional significance that further our understanding of living systems at all scales through the application of computational methods. All works published in PLoS Computational Biology are open access. Everything is immediately available subject only to the condition that the original authorship and source are properly attributed. Copyright is retained.
About the Public Library of Science
The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. For more information, visit http://www.plos.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NOTE: Jessica Simpson's pregnancy is not actually confirmed by the star herself in this article, but you gotta love OK! trying to piggyback on recent rumors.
In classic celebrity gossip tabloid fashion, all this cover does is recycle other rumors, mixed with some actual news, to convince you something big is afoot.
And it may be. Eric Johnson totally got Jessica Simpson pregnant if you ask us. But there is nothing new or confirmed by the "singer" in this story. Nothing.
Hey, after In Touch scooped the first pregnancy report, OK! had to try something!
Instead, we got to hear all about the recent celebration at the Ivy at the Shore restaurant in Santa Monica, Calif., with her mom, sister Ashlee and friends.
“Jessica is so excited,” says a conveniently anonymous close friend, who confesses that Jessica has been slowly telling all her pals she's been knocked up.
“She joked, ‘Well, now I can eat anything I want and no one will care. It’s just sort of a rule.’ But it was typical Jessica that she was making a joke of it.”
One thing's for sure. At 31, Jessica has learned to take life’s twists and turns in stride ... like getting pregnant by mistake and having to postpone her wedding.
When life hands you lemons, what can you to but make lemonade ... and a $h!t ton of money by holding out for an "exclusive" pregnancy reveal in Us.
GENEVA ? Palestinian diplomats are trying to muster support for a U.N. Security Council vote in New York on Nov. 11 on their bid for membership in the global body, a senior Palestinian diplomat said Thursday.
U.N. diplomats said earlier this week that a Security Council committee considering the membership bid would deliver a report on that day, and that ambassadors would then decide on the next steps.
Any member of the Security Council can request a vote on the Palestinian request, but a resolution recommending membership requires a minimum of nine "yes" votes and no veto by one of the council's five permanent members ? Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S.
Once the 15-member Security Council recommends a country's membership its application must be approved by a two-thirds vote in the 193-member General Assembly.
Washington, Israel's closest ally, has already pledged to use its veto if Palestinian membership gets the support of nine or more council members.
"We still have time until Nov. 11, so there is a lot of efforts pushing certain countries to voting in favor," Palestinian envoy to the U.N. in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi, told The Associated Press.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki told reporters in late September that Palestinian membership has support so far from eight Security Council members ? Russia, China, India, South Africa, Brazil, Lebanon, Nigeria and Gabon. He said the Palestinians are lobbying for more support, including from Bosnia and Colombia.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visited Colombia on Oct. 11 and was told by President Juan Manuel Santos that Colombia will only recognize a Palestinian state that has been established through negotiations with Israel, which leaves Bosnia as the likely key to a ninth "yes" vote.
Khraishi said "several parties are working" to secure the votes, but declined to elaborate. "I think that we will succeed to get the nine," he added.
Abbas delivered the Palestinian application to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sept. 23. Hours later, the Quartet of Mideast mediators ? the U.S., U.N., EU and Russia ? called for a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in a month, with the goal of a peace agreement by the end of 2012.
The Israelis and Palestinians are scheduled to meet separately with the Quartet on Tuesday.
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Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report from the United Nations.
You probably weren't clamoring for a sequel to the 2003 British spy parody "Johnny English," which was far more successful overseas than it was in the United States.
Still, here's "Johnny English Reborn," again starring Rowan Atkinson. As the secret agent of the title, Johnny thinks he's as suave and resourceful as James Bond. Mostly, though, he bumbles his way from one situation to the next with the help of all the obligatory weapons and gadgets, none of which is terribly clever or creative.
Johnny is back at the agency, MI7 (hardy har har), after a few years away with a bit of a stigma attached to him. Seems he massively messed up an assignment in Mozambique, and his new boss, Pegasus (Gillian Anderson, trotting out her flat British accent again), lets him know she won't tolerate those kinds of mistakes.
For his next job, Johnny must find out who is behind a plot to assassinate the Chinese premier. And even though he's been training in the remote mountains of Tibet all this time (in an admittedly amusing montage), Johnny still isn't quite up for the challenge.
Director Oliver Parker's film relies on much of the same tired, repetitive spy spoofs as the "Austin Powers" movies, and much of the same false confidence in the face of absurd danger. That any of this works, ever, is a testament to Atkinson's skills as a comedian. You can sense him slumming and straining but he's so gifted physically, he makes pretty idiotic material more enjoyable than it should be. Slapstick requires a delicacy and finesse that Atkinson most certainly possesses, but the writing just isn't there.
Rosamund Pike brings her usual combination of beauty and smarts to the role of the agency's psychologist, and manages to provide a bit more substance than was available to her on the page. But even given her formidable presence, it's hard to believe that her character would ever give Johnny the time of day, much less fall for him. Dominic West, meanwhile, co-stars as a fellow agent who is so obviously sleazy and menacing from the start, there's nowhere else for his character to go.
Johnny English isn't reborn so much as reheated, and his aim hasn't improved after all these years.
"Johnny English Reborn," a Universal Pictures release, is rated PG for mild action violence, rude humor, some language and brief sensuality. Running time: 101 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.
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Motion Picture Association of America rating definitions:
G ? General audiences. All ages admitted.
PG ? Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.
PG-13 ? Special parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13. Some material may be inappropriate for young children.
R ? Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
NEW YORK ? Capital One Financial Corp. on Thursday said its third-quarter profit edged up 1 percent, as it wrote more auto and commercial loans and defaults eased.
A spike in marketing and operating expenses and an increase in a reserve set aside to handle claims against the bank related to soured mortgages tempered the gains.
The McLean, Va.-based bank had net income for the quarter ended Sept. 30 of $813 million, or $1.77 per share, compared with $803 million, or $1.76 per share, in the year-ago period.
Total revenue rose 3 percent to $4.15 billion, from $4.02 billion last year.
Analysts, on average, were expecting profit of $1.68 per share on revenue of $4.04 billion, according to data provided by FactSet.
Net interest income, or money earned from deposits and loans, rose 6 percent to $3.28 billion, from $3.11 billion a year ago. Total deposits jumped nearly 8 percent to $128.32 billion. Total loans gained 3 percent to $129.95 billion.
"Overall, I think the results were pretty good," said Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Sanjay Sakhrani.
The bank, best known for its ubiquitous "What's in your wallet?" advertising campaign, said U.S. credit card use rose 17 percent from the prior-year quarter. Sakhrani said the increased usage was "very strong."
Its auto finance unit wrote 40 percent more loans than last year, bringing total loans in this segment to $20.42 billion. Commercial loans also increased, rising 9 percent to $32.11 billion. CEO Richard Fairbank said during a conference call to discuss results that the growth in commercial loan commitments, which indicates future loan growth, was "even stronger."
"We believe the period of shrinking loans through the Great Recession has come to an end," Fairbank said.
Capital One wrote off $812 million in uncollectible loans, a drop of 47 percent from last year. That enabled the bank to reduce the amount it set aside to cover soured loans by 28 percent, to $622 million.
Fairbank said improvements in the performance of the bank's credit card and auto loans "have outpaced the modest and fragile economic recovery." The bank has been monitoring its outstanding credit in search of signs that recent economic difficulties will lead to another round of worsening payment performance, but said so far "we have yet to see any evidence of this."
The gains in lending were partially offset by higher marketing and operating expenses, which rose 15 percent.
Capital One also said it increased its reserve for mortgage-related claims by 3 percent to $892 million. The bank said it now believes the upper end of potential losses from such claims, which stem from mortgages that were used to back investment vehicles that have since soured, could be $1.5 billion.
The company said the pending acquisition of HSBC's U.S. credit card portfolio should close by the end of the year, pending regulatory approval. It is also still waiting for regulators to OK its purchase of ING Direct.
Capital One shares added 74 cents, or 2 percent, to close Thursday trading at $40.49. Shares rose 11 cents to $40.60 in aftermarket trading.
NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Moody's warned on Monday it may slap a negative outlook on France's Aaa credit rating in the next three months if the costs for helping to bail out banks and other euro zone members stretch its budget too much.
The warning comes as European Union leaders are discussing measures to protect the region's financial system from an expected Greek debt default. Those measures should include injection of capital into banks with exposure to Greek debt.
France and Germany are the two strongest economies among the 17 euro zone members, and they are spearheading a plan to be presented at an EU summit on Sunday to help resolve the region's debt crisis.
France's progress on crucial fiscal and economic reforms as well as potential adverse developments in financial markets or the economy will also be taken into account under the review, Moody's said.
A negative outlook would be a sign that Moody's could downgrade its rating on France in the next couple of years. Moody's had placed the United States's Aaa rating on negative outlook in August.
"The deterioration in debt metrics and the potential for further contingent liabilities to emerge are exerting pressure on the stable outlook of the government's Aaa debt rating," Moody's said in a statement.
France, it said, has less room now to stretch its finances than it did during the financial crisis of 2008.
France may face a number of challenges in the coming months, such as the need to provide additional support to other European countries or to its own banking system, Moody's said.
For the country to maintain a stable outlook on its rating, it will need to prove its "continued commitment to implementing the necessary economic and fiscal reform measures," the ratings agency said.
The government will also have to show "visible progress in achieving the targeted sustainability improvements" in its debt ratios, Moody's said.
France's debt metrics are now among the weakest of its Aaa peers, the agency said, but they are still supported by a favorable debt affordability, or a relatively low interest burden in relation to government revenues.
But the ability to finance very high levels of debt "rests on investors' confidence in the government's ability and in its willingness to tackle unforeseen challenges," Moody's said in the report.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel looks on during the weekly cabinet meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel looks on during the weekly cabinet meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
French president Nicolas Sarkozy speaks after meeting young workers during a tour in Nice, southern France, devoted to training and professional integration of young people, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011.(AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)
PARIS (AP) ? French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will speak by phone later Wednesday to discuss an upcoming EU summit that markets hope will produce a comprehensive solution to fight the debt crisis and save the 17-nation euro currency.
Sarkozy emphasized at a weekly cabinet meting on Wednesday that the Oct. 23 summit in Brussels "is a crucial moment, for Europe and for France," according to government spokeswoman Valerie Pecresse.
Financial markets have become volatile, swinging on reports and comments about the success and scope of the plan.
Earlier this week, German finance chief Wolfgang Schaeuble dampened expectations by saying that a plan announced at Sunday's summit would not mark the end of the eurozone debt crisis and that some parts may need more time to be ironed out.
The expectation has been that eurozone governments are preparing a three-pronged solution to the debt crisis ? measures to boost the firepower of the bailout fund, a recapitalization of a large part of the banking sector and a plan to get the banks to take a bigger hit on their Greek debt holdings.
France and Germany disagree on the last point. Germany is pushing for banks to accept cuts of 50 percent to 60 percent on their Greek bondholdings, while France is insisting that only technical revisions should be made to a preliminary agreement reached with private investors in July. That deal called for a 21 percent loss on the bonds.
But the two countries, the eurozone's biggest, reportedly did find agreement on how to boost the impact of the eurozone bailout fund.
A report in The Guardian newspaper in London suggested France and Germany were putting the finishing touches on a massive expansion of the bailout fund, possibly to euro3 trillion ($4.1 trillion) from the current euro440 billion. The report caused markets to rise globally late Tuesday.
ScienceDaily (Oct. 16, 2011) ? A groundbreaking study in the journal Nature Medicinesuggests what could become the first effective treatment for a debilitating and fatal disease of the central nervous system called SCA1.
The study, based on an animal model, found that the disease is linked to low levels of a multipurpose protein called VEGF. Researchers found that in mice that had SCA1, replenishing this protein lead to significant improvements in muscle coordination and balance.
Ameet R. Kini, MD, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Pathology and Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, is a co-author of the study.
SCA1 (spinocerebellar ataxia type 1) is an inherited disease caused by a mutation of a single gene. The disease affects 1 to 2 people per 100,000 of population. The first symptoms are usually lack of muscular control of the hands and trouble with balance while walking. Later symptoms can include difficulty swallowing, indistinct speech, neuropathy, spasticity, weakness and memory problems. The disease generally proves fatal within 10 to 30 years, and there currently is no effective treatment, according to the National Ataxia Foundation.
In the first part of their study, researchers conducted several tests that demonstrated that mice with SCA1 had low levels of VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor). In the brain, VEGF stimulates the growth of blood vessels and works in other ways to keep brain cells healthy.
Researchers then tested whether boosting VEGF levels would benefit mice that had SCA1. They boosted VEGF two ways: By genetically engineering mice to produce more of the protein and by delivering VEGF directly to the brain.
Mice that had SCA1 were given a performance test called Rotarod, which measures balance and coordination. The test, which is somewhat like a log-rolling competition, measures how long a mouse can stay atop a rolling cylinder.
Researchers compared diseased mice that had been treated with VEGF to diseased mice that received no treatment. The VEGF group performed significantly better than the untreated mice -- and in some cases nearly as well as healthy mice that did not have SCA1. In addition, microscopic examinations found significant improvements in the brains of diseased mice that had been treated with VEGF.
The findings suggest that reversing low VEGF levels "may be a potentially useful treatment in patients with SCA1," researchers wrote.
The results also could prove relevant to other ataxia disorders "and possibly even other neurodegenerative syndromes," researchers wrote.
However, Kini cautioned that while the study findings are promising, they do not necessarily apply to humans. It would require clinical trials in patients to prove that replenishing VEGF levels is a safe and effective treatment, Kini said.
The study was jointly conceived and designed by Kini and his colleagues Marija Cvetanovic, PhD, (first author) and Puneet Opal, MD, PhD, (corresponding author) of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Other co-authors are Jay M. Patel, BS, of Northwestern and Hugo H. Marti, MD, of the University of Heidelberg.
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Organization for Rare Disorders, Brain Research Foundation and National Ataxia Foundation.
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The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Loyola University Health System, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Journal Reference:
Marija Cvetanovic, Jay M Patel, Hugo H Marti, Ameet R Kini, Puneet Opal. Vascular endothelial growth factor ameliorates the ataxic phenotype in a mouse model of spinocerebellar ataxia type 1. Nature Medicine, 2011; DOI: 10.1038/nm.2494
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.
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Public release date: 20-Oct-2011
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