Thursday, March 14, 2013

Pope Francis: Argentine is Latin America's 1st pontiff

Dmitry Lovetsky / AP

Pope Francis I blesses the crowd from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.

By Alastair Jamieson and Ian Johnston, NBC News

VATICAN CITY - Argentine Cardinal?Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected the first non-European pope in more than 1,000 years on Wednesday,?signaling the beginning to a new era for a church combating scandal and internal strife.

Described as a conservative with "great compassion,"?the 76-year-old will be known as His Holiness Pope Francis. He will be installed at the Vatican on Tuesday.

The first Latin American pope was introduced from the balcony of St. Peter?s Basilica.

Smartphone user? Watch live scenes from Vatican here

There was an audible gasp from the rain-soaked crowd - an indication that he had not been a widely tipped choice - followed by a roar and wild applause.

In Italian, he seemed to address his outsider status by joking: "As you know the duty of the conclave is to give Rome a bishop. It seems that my brother cardinals went almost to the end of the world."

Newly-elected Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio speaks to St. Peter's Square and delivers a blessing after being elected as Pope Francis I.

?Pray for me and I will see you soon," he added, asking Catholics to also pray for his predecessor Benedict XVI, who abdicated on Feb. 28. "Have a good evening and rest well.?

The new leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics is also the first Jesuit pope.

About an hour before Francis emerged, white smoke rose above the Sistine Chapel and bells rang out across Rome to signal a decision had been made.

Known for his humility, Francis is the son of a railway worker and one of five siblings. He has a chemistry degree.

Francis?has only one lung, the other having been removed due to an infection when he was a teenager.

He prizes simplicity and is expected to encourage priests to do shoe-leather evangelization, according to his biographer.

The unveiling of the new pope was moment of pure joy for the tens of thousands of pilgrims, tourists and other onlookers in St Peter's Square. ?

"Who is this?" asked Deirdre Sweeney from Boston, Mass., when Francis first walked onto the balcony.

"Argentinian!" shouted a man nearby.

Americans were among the tens of thousands who gathered to witness the unveiling of Pope Francis.

??I think this is wonderful,? said Sweeney?s husband, Kevin. ?It's an incredible breakthrough - a pope from the Western hemisphere, and the southern half, too. =It's a wonderful change for the church and recognition for the area the church is growing in.?

There was also excitement in South America. "A Latino is more open to others, while a European is more closed," Ana Solis, 75, told Reuters outside Santiago's Metropolitan Cathedral in Chile. "A change like this, with a Latin American, will be very important for we Latin Americans ... (he will be) more open, more honest."

Vote: Was Pope Francis a good choice?

Smoke billowed from the chimney at 7:07 p.m. (2:07 p.m. ET) on the second day of behind-closed-doors voting.

The cardinals are thought to have taken five ballots to reach the two-thirds of the vote necessary for a decision.

The new pontiff's debut was heralded by a Latin announcement beginning with the phrase "Habemus Papam!" meaning, "We have a pope!"

George Weigel, NBC News' Vatican analyst, said Francis would be "a great defender of religion around the world.?

LIVE VIDEO ? Watch live pictures from St. Peter's Square following the announcement that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected as the next pope.

?The papacy has moved to the New World. The church has a new pope with a new name,? he added. ?I think it speaks to the church?s commitment to the poor of the world and compassion in a world that often needs a lot of healing.?

Edward Egan, the Archbishop Emeritus of New York, said this was ?the moment of Latin America.?

?I can assure you he?s not feeble in any way at 76,? he told NBC's Brian Williams.

'You're going to like him a lot'
Egan said Francis was ?a man who calmly stands for what?s right and just,? and someone with ?great compassion for the poor.?

?I cannot tell you, Brian, how delighted I am,? he said. ?This is a man who I know and who was very, very good to me.?

Egan said Francis was a ?very good friend of mine,? and he had ?immense admiration for him.?

?I think you?re going to like him a lot,? he added.

NBC News Special Report: The Vatican announces that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio has been elected as the new head of the Catholic Church.

President Barack Obama hailed Francis as a "champion of the poor" and said the choice of the first pope from the Americas spoke "to the strength and vitality" of a region "that is increasingly shaping our world."

"Alongside millions of Hispanic Americans, those of us in the United States share the joy of this historic day," the president said in a statement.

Now known as Pope Emeritus, Francis' predecessor Benedict watched Wednesday's events from a temporary lakeside residence at Castel Gandolfo while his permanent living quarters inside Vatican City are refurbished.

The behind-the-scenes ballot process that took place in the Sistine Chapel should still remain a secret. Both the cardinals and staff working alongside them swore an oath of secrecy as the conclave got under way, with the threat of ex-communication for anyone breaking the church's ancient code.

NBC News' Yuka Tachibana contributed to this report.

/

Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina was elected to lead the Catholic Church following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.?

Related:?

Pope Francis: Humble leader who takes the bus to work

'He?s not feeble in any way': World reacts to a new pontiff

Full coverage of the papal abdication from NBC News

?

This story was originally published on

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/13/17290508-pope-francis-argentinas-cardinal-jorge-mario-bergoglio-is-new-catholic-leader

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Long-suspected cause of blindness from eye disease disproved

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Vision scientists long have thought that lack of very long chain fatty acids in photoreceptor cells caused blindness in children with Stargardt type 3 retinal degeneration, an incurable eye disease. But researchers at the University of Utah's John A. Moran Eye Center have shown in a new study that lack of these fatty acids does not cause blindness, meaning that the search for the mechanism that robs sight from children with the disease must start anew.

Researchers led by David Krizaj, Ph.D., associate professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the Moran Eye Center, bred mice that lacked fatty acids in their photoreceptor cells and to their surprise found that the mice's eyesight was normal. "There was no defect in their daytime or nighttime vision," Krizaj says. "The lack of very long chain fatty acids does not appear to compromise vision in itself."

The research was published March 11, 2013, in PNAS online. Peter Barabas, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at the Moran Eye Center, is first author on the study.

Stargardt disease is a form of macular degeneration that strikes about one in 10,000 children between the ages of 6 and 20. There is no treatment for the disease, although there is evidence that nutrition supplements and protecting eyes from UV rays might be beneficial in slowing the progression of blindness.

There are three types of Stargardt disease caused by three different gene mutations. (Paul Bernstein, M.D., Ph.D., professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences and a co-author in the PNAS study, discovered one of the mutations in a Utah family.) Type 3, a rare dominant form of Stargardt disease, is caused by a mutation in ELOVL4, a gene that encodes an enzyme that helps to make fatty acids obtained through our diet into forms that can be incorporated into cell membranes. The mutation displaces the enzyme from its location in an intracellular organelle called endoplasmic reticulum into the cell cytosol, which blocks the synthesizing of very long chain fatty acids in photoreceptor cells. But proving that the lack of these fatty acids actually causes blindness has been difficult to show in experiments, because mice in which the ELOVL4 was knocked out did not survive.

Krizaj and his colleagues overcame that problem by engineering mouse models that lacked ELOVL4 only in their photoreceptor cells, allowing the mice to survive but with the fatty acids in those cells reduced up to 90 percent. This allowed them to test directly whether loss of very long chain fatty acids replicates vision loss observed in children with Stargardt's disease. As they report in the journal, electrophysiological and behavioral testing of daytime and night vision in genetically engineered mice showed that sight was not affected despite the dramatic reduction in very long chain fatty acids in photoreceptor cells.

Researchers now must look for a different cause of Stargardt type 3. "If it's not the loss of fatty acids causing the disease, then we'll have to find other strategies to help these kids," Krizaj says.

One possibility, according to Krizaj, is that mutated proteins, escaping from the endoplasmic reticulum are aggregating in the cytoplasm causing large deposits consisting of mutated and normal proteins, which is "almost like causing photoreceptor cell death by blocking intracellular traffic and clogging the cells' drains."

###

University of Utah Health Sciences: http://www.healthcare.utah.edu/publicaffairs/

Thanks to University of Utah Health Sciences for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127253/Long_suspected_cause_of_blindness_from_eye_disease_disproved

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Monday, March 11, 2013

'Star Trek' Trailer And Poster Dive Deep 'Into Darkness'

The latest teaser trailer for "Star Trek Into Darkness" should strike you as familiar since there are many, many references from popular culture, including "Tron" and what many people are calling "Star Wars" influences. (Side note: Wouldn't it be cool if J.J. Abrams directed a "Star Wars" movie? It could never happen though.) Anyway, the [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/03/11/star-trek-into-darkness-trailer-and-poster/

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Friday, March 8, 2013

Einstein receives $12 million grant to develop device for preventing HIV infection

Einstein receives $12 million grant to develop device for preventing HIV infection [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 7-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Kim Newman
sciencenews@einstein.yu.edu
718-430-3101
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

March 7, 2013 (Bronx, NY) Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have been awarded a $12 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a drug-impregnated intravaginal ring to prevent HIV infection in women.

"As we move into the fourth decade of the HIV pandemic, the disease is having its greatest impact on women, particularly in sub-Sahara Africa," said principal investigator Betsy Herold, M.D., professor of pediatrics, of microbiology & immunology, and of obstetrics & gynecology and women's health at Einstein and attending physician of pediatrics, The Children's Hospital at Montefiore.

According to UNAIDS, approximately 34 million people are living with HIV worldwide. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region most affected and accounts for 69 percent of all people living with HIV.

"To protect these women and slow the epidemic, we urgently need safe and effective prevention strategies," said Dr. Herold.

Dr. Herold and co-investigator Patrick Kiser, Ph.D., a bioengineer at the University of Utah, previously developed an intravaginal ring that delivers a potent antitretroviral drug for more than four weeks and proved highly active against HIV in laboratory studies. But learning whether the device's preclinical performance will translate into real-world effectiveness has proven difficult.

The ideal intravaginal ring must release sufficient concentrations of drug to protect women at increased risk of HIV infection. And it will contain drugs that are:

  • active in the vagina, cervix and rectum;
  • capable of both rapid and sustained drug delivery for at least one month;
  • effective against many different HIV subtypes;
  • safe;
  • inexpensive;
  • stable without needing refrigeration.

The five-year project will determine if the drug released from the ring retains anti-HIV activity in the presence of vaginal secretions. In addition, studies involving non-human primates aimed at optimizing the vaginal ring's design will be conducted at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In tests to see if two drugs work better than one, the ring will be impregnated with a second drug that inhibits HIV through a mechanism different from the first drug. A clinical study to assess the ring's safety will also be carried out; this part of the project will include U.S. women taking oral contraceptives.

The grant will also fund a clinical study to assess safety and pharmacokinetics in women on Depo Provera in Kenya (led by Jeanne Marrazzo, M.D., M.P.H., from the University of Washington, and Nelly Mugo, M.P.H., from Kenyatta National Hospital) and in U.S. women on oral contraceptive pills (led by Marla Keller, M.D., associate professor of medicine and of obstetrics & gynecology and women's health at Einstein and attending physician of medicine at Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital for Einstein).

"We're optimistic that the intravaginal approach to preventing HIV infection will overcome the problem of having to remember to use oral or gel products daily and will empower women to protect themselves against HIV," says Dr. Herold.

Dr. Herold has worked extensively to translate laboratory research into effective real-world preventive measures for HIV. She previously developed a laboratory test that predicts whether microbicides against HIV are safe for human use.

###

This 5-year grant, "Drug at the Right Place & Concentration: Optimizing Combination Vaginal Ring PrEP" (U19AI103461), was awarded by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the NIH.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University is one of the nation's premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. In 2012, Einstein received over $160 million in awards from the NIH for major research centers at Einstein in diabetes, cancer, liver disease, and AIDS, as well as other areas. Through its affiliation with Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital for Einstein, and six other hospital systems, the College of Medicine runs one of the largest residency and fellowship training programs in the medical and dental professions in the United States. For more information, please visit http://www.einstein.yu.edu and follow us on Twitter @EinsteinMed.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Einstein receives $12 million grant to develop device for preventing HIV infection [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 7-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Kim Newman
sciencenews@einstein.yu.edu
718-430-3101
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

March 7, 2013 (Bronx, NY) Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have been awarded a $12 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a drug-impregnated intravaginal ring to prevent HIV infection in women.

"As we move into the fourth decade of the HIV pandemic, the disease is having its greatest impact on women, particularly in sub-Sahara Africa," said principal investigator Betsy Herold, M.D., professor of pediatrics, of microbiology & immunology, and of obstetrics & gynecology and women's health at Einstein and attending physician of pediatrics, The Children's Hospital at Montefiore.

According to UNAIDS, approximately 34 million people are living with HIV worldwide. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region most affected and accounts for 69 percent of all people living with HIV.

"To protect these women and slow the epidemic, we urgently need safe and effective prevention strategies," said Dr. Herold.

Dr. Herold and co-investigator Patrick Kiser, Ph.D., a bioengineer at the University of Utah, previously developed an intravaginal ring that delivers a potent antitretroviral drug for more than four weeks and proved highly active against HIV in laboratory studies. But learning whether the device's preclinical performance will translate into real-world effectiveness has proven difficult.

The ideal intravaginal ring must release sufficient concentrations of drug to protect women at increased risk of HIV infection. And it will contain drugs that are:

  • active in the vagina, cervix and rectum;
  • capable of both rapid and sustained drug delivery for at least one month;
  • effective against many different HIV subtypes;
  • safe;
  • inexpensive;
  • stable without needing refrigeration.

The five-year project will determine if the drug released from the ring retains anti-HIV activity in the presence of vaginal secretions. In addition, studies involving non-human primates aimed at optimizing the vaginal ring's design will be conducted at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In tests to see if two drugs work better than one, the ring will be impregnated with a second drug that inhibits HIV through a mechanism different from the first drug. A clinical study to assess the ring's safety will also be carried out; this part of the project will include U.S. women taking oral contraceptives.

The grant will also fund a clinical study to assess safety and pharmacokinetics in women on Depo Provera in Kenya (led by Jeanne Marrazzo, M.D., M.P.H., from the University of Washington, and Nelly Mugo, M.P.H., from Kenyatta National Hospital) and in U.S. women on oral contraceptive pills (led by Marla Keller, M.D., associate professor of medicine and of obstetrics & gynecology and women's health at Einstein and attending physician of medicine at Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital for Einstein).

"We're optimistic that the intravaginal approach to preventing HIV infection will overcome the problem of having to remember to use oral or gel products daily and will empower women to protect themselves against HIV," says Dr. Herold.

Dr. Herold has worked extensively to translate laboratory research into effective real-world preventive measures for HIV. She previously developed a laboratory test that predicts whether microbicides against HIV are safe for human use.

###

This 5-year grant, "Drug at the Right Place & Concentration: Optimizing Combination Vaginal Ring PrEP" (U19AI103461), was awarded by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the NIH.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University is one of the nation's premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. In 2012, Einstein received over $160 million in awards from the NIH for major research centers at Einstein in diabetes, cancer, liver disease, and AIDS, as well as other areas. Through its affiliation with Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital for Einstein, and six other hospital systems, the College of Medicine runs one of the largest residency and fellowship training programs in the medical and dental professions in the United States. For more information, please visit http://www.einstein.yu.edu and follow us on Twitter @EinsteinMed.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/aeco-er030713.php

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This Is How the Navy Cuts a Birthday Cake

If you've been using a knife to cut birthday cake this whole time, you've been doing it all wrong. When the Navy cuts a cake, it does it properly—using a digger. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/sFcZYCHKRHc/this-is-how-the-navy-cuts-a-birthday-cake

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Book review: What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense ...

This book review of a great recent book on marriage is worth reading in full.

Excerpt:

Why should the state have an interest in intimate personal relationships? Nowhere do the authors suggest that consenting adults should be prevented from forming whatever intense emotional bonds they please. But it is a fallacy to conflate the issue of freedom of sexual expression with the institution of marriage. The state has an interest in children, first of all because it has a responsibility to promote their welfare, and secondly because the common institutions of society have an interest in our common future. Marriage, the authors write,

is a bond of a special kind. It unites spouses in body as well as mind and heart, and it is especially apt for, and enriched by, procreation and family life. In light of both these facts, it alone objectively calls for commitments of permanence and exclusivity. Spouses vow their whole selves for their whole lives. This comprehensiveness puts the value of marriage in a class apart from the value of other relationships.

That is the conjugal view of marriage, in the authors? definition. It is permanent and comprehensive, as opposed to an intense emotional bond, which may dissolve as quickly as it was formed. That may be convenient for lovers but catastrophic for their children.

Only the union of a man and woman can be comprehensive, the authors argue. The issue isn?t dignity, which all human beings deserve. Instead, the issue is what a married man and woman can do that no other human arrangement can do: ?Marriage is ordered to family life because the act by which spouses make love also makes new life; one and the same act both seals a marriage and brings forth children. That is why marriage alone is the loving union of mind and body fulfilled by the procreation ? and rearing ? of whole new human beings.?

Across the ideological spectrum, researchers agree that ?the family structure that helps children the most is a family headed by two biological parents in a low-conflict marriage. Children in single-parent families, children born to unmarried mothers, and children in stepfamilies or cohabiting relationships face higher risks of poorer outcomes,? as the research institution Child Trends concluded. And as Professor Bradford Wilcox of the University of Virginia?s National Marriage Project concluded, ?The core message?is that the wealth of nations depends in no small part on the health of the family.?

Adoption by gay parents does not do as well: The authors present a wide range of research showing that ?compared to children of parents at least one of whom had a gay or lesbian relationship, those reared by their married biological parents were found to have fared better on dozens of indicators?. Part of the reason that married biological parents do better may have to do with sexual exclusivity, which is virtually nonexistent in male homosexual relationships according to the standard research on the subject.

The state cannot help but take an interest, for it gets the bill for the damages when marriage breaks down. As George?et al?write, ?Since a strong marriage culture is good for children, spouses, indeed our whole economy, and especially the poor, it also serves the cause of limited government. Most obviously, where marriages never form or easily break down, the state expands to fill the domestic vacuum by lawsuits to determine paternity, visitation rights, child support, and alimony.?

That is the fallacy of the libertarian argument in favor of absenting the state from all questions involving personal intimacy. Society can get along with a small government if it has strong private institutions: families, churches, charities, schools and volunteer associations. Among these the family has more weight than all the rest put together. The state, and above all a state that seeks self-limitation, needs the family to flourish.

This book review is a great summary of the history of marriage, the essential issue in the redefinition of marriage (the selfishness of adults), and why marriage matters to society. Really recommend this one! Everyone who defends marriage these days seems to get called every kind of name possible. We face all kinds of persecution from being put on trial to being harmed in the academy and the workplace. Largely because we cannot put our intuitions about the goodness of marriage into arguments, and then support them with evidence.

Related posts

Filed under: News, Definition of Marriage, Family, Father, Female, Gay, Gay Marriage, GLBT, Lecture, Lesbian, LGBT, Male, Marriage, Marriage Definition, Men, Mother, Natural Marriage, Parenting, Research, Robert P. George, Ryan T. Anderson, Same-Sex Marriage, Sherif Girgis, Traditional Marriage, What Is Marriage?, Women

Source: http://winteryknight.wordpress.com/2013/03/06/book-review-what-is-marriage-man-and-woman-a-defense/

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Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Economy growing throughout nation, Fed says

Strong auto sales, hiring gains and a continued housing recovery helped the U.S. economy grow throughout the country in January and February, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve.

The Fed says 10 of its 12 banking districts reported moderate or modest growth, while Boston and Chicago districts reported slow growth.

Consumer spending increased in most regions, although growth slowed in many districts and much of the increases were driven by auto sales. Many districts said that consumers pulled back slightly on spending outside of autos after seeing taxes rise and gas prices increase. Some also expressed concerns about federal spending cuts that started on March 1.

Housing markets showed more strength in nearly all parts of the country, while manufacturing showed modest improvements in most regions. And most districts reported some improvement in individual jobs markets.

The report, called the Beige Book, provides anecdotal information on economic conditions through February 22. The information will be used as the basis for the Fed's policy discussion at the March 19-20 meeting. Many economists believe Fed officials will take no new steps when they meet.

In January, the Fed stood behind aggressive steps it launched in December to try to reduce unemployment. It repeated that it would keep its key short-term interest rate at a record low at least until unemployment falls below 6.5 percent. And the Fed said it would keep buying Treasurys and mortgage bonds to help lower borrowing costs and encourage spending.

The unemployment rate was 7.9 percent in January when the Fed last met.

The economy has shown improvement since then, even as Americans paid higher taxes and automatic government spending cuts loomed. On Jan. 1, nearly all Americans who draw a paycheck began paying higher Social Security taxes and income taxes rose for the highest earning workers.

The tax increases and broader budget debate in Washington haven't slowed financial markets.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed Tuesday at a record high and kept rising Wednesday. The index of 30 big corporations has more than doubled since hitting a low during the financial crisis in March 2009.

Consumer confidence rose in February from January, according to surveys by both the Conference Board and the University of Michigan. Factories and service companies both grew at the fastest pace in at least a year, according to surveys issued Friday and Tuesday by the Institute for Supply Management.

And payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that U.S. businesses added 198,000 jobs in February. The private survey also revised January's hiring figures to show companies added 215,000 jobs that month, 23,000 more than what had initially been reported.

The figure suggests that the government's February jobs report, to be issued Friday, may come in above economists' forecasts. Analysts expect it will show the economy added 152,000 jobs and the unemployment rate dipped to 7.8 percent from 7.9 percent in January.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/economy-growing-throughout-nation-fed-says-1C8727714

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