Thursday, February 28, 2013

Film director killed by shark off New Zealand

By John Newland, Staff Writer, NBC News

A man was attacked and killed by a shark Wednesday off the coast of New Zealand, police said.

Local media identified the victim as 46-year-old Adam Strange, an award-winning director of short films.

The victim was swimming about 200 yards offshore from Muriwai Beach, just west of Auckland, when he was attacked, New Zealand Police Inspector Shawn Rutene said.

Witnesses called police and lifeguards quickly jumped into action when the attack occurred about 1:30 p.m. local time Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET Tuesday), but it was too late to save the man, the New Zealand Herald newspaper reported.

Police and lifeguards quickly took to the water in inflatable rescue boats, and officers opened fire on the shark, which "rolled over and disappeared," Rutene said in his statement, adding that the shark was estimated to be 12 to 14 feet long.

Authorities said they had closed Muriwai and nearby beaches as the investigation continued.

Shark attacks are uncommon in New Zealand, according to the University of Florida's Museum of Natural History.

According to the museum's International Shark Attack File, there had been just 48 confirmed attacks, eight of them fatal, since 1852. Those numbers did not include Wednesday's incident.

Neighboring Australia has had 510 confirmed attacks, 144 of them fatal, since 1700, according to the museum's figures, which it says were current as of Feb. 11.

In a biography on Strange's website, he described himself as an avid outdoorsman.?

"When I get a spare 5 minutes, I like to make a fruit smoothy, surf some big waves out on the West Coast," the site says.

The New Zealand Herald reported that Strange had a wife and a baby daughter. "The family are grieving the loss of a glorious and great father, husband and friend," the family said in a statement reported by the newspaper.

A short film by Strange, "Aphrodite's Farm," won a Crystal Bear award for Best Short Film for people over 14 at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival, according to the Internet Movie Database, or IMDb.com.

Strange said in his biography that he had made television commercials before turning to short film.

Related:

Kill sharks before they attack humans? Australian state will do just that

Fatal shark attacks in 2011 at 20-year high

Great white sharks swimming to extinction?

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/27/17115335-film-director-killed-by-shark-off-new-zealand?lite

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LHC wraps up antimatter 'flip' story

Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider have witnessed particles called D-mesons flipping from matter into antimatter and back.

Antimatter is identical to matter, but with opposite electric charge.

Such "oscillations" are well known among three other particle types, but this is the first time D-mesons have been seen doing it in a single study.

The team behind the collider's LHCb detector have put their results on the Arxiv repository.

The manuscript will be published in Physical Review Letters.

In the complicated zoo of subatomic physics, particles routinely decay into other particles, or spontaneously change from a matter type to their antimatter counterparts.

This "oscillation" forms an important part of the theory that attempts to tame the zoo - the Standard Model.

Mesons are part of a large family of particles made up of the fundamental particles known as quarks.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

This is a nice moment, it's a sort of completeness?

End Quote Chris Parkes University of Manchester

The protons and neutrons at the centres of the atoms of matter we know well are each made up of three such quarks.

Mesons, on the other hand, are made of just two - specifically one quark and one antimatter quark.

Theory holds that four members of the meson family can undergo the matter-antimatter oscillation - the matter and antimatter quarks both flip to their opposites.

Three particle types - K-mesons and two types of B-mesons had been caught in the act before.

LHCb has already been intimately involved in refining those prior measurements; in March 2012, the team confirmed earlier oscillation observations of a meson called Bs, and published the result in Physics Letters B.

On Tuesday, the team published results that set a new record of precision on the oscillations of the B0 meson, in the same journal.

Continue reading the main story

Statistics of a 'discovery'

  • Particle physics has an accepted definition for a "discovery": a five-sigma level of certainty
  • The number of standard deviations, or sigmas, is a measure of how unlikely it is that an experimental result is simply down to chance, in the absence of a real effect
  • Similarly, tossing a coin and getting a number of heads in a row may just be chance, rather than a sign of a "loaded" coin
  • The "three sigma" level represents about the same likelihood of tossing nine heads in a row
  • Five sigma, on the other hand, would correspond to tossing more than 21 in a row
  • Unlikely results are more probable when several experiments are carried out at once - equivalent to several people flipping coins at the same time
  • With independent confirmation by other experiments, five-sigma findings become accepted discoveries

The new paper represents the last of the four mesons that had never been seen flipping from matter to antimatter and back in a single measurement.

Other experiments had seen some evidence of the D-meson's flipping, but this is the first that crosses the "five sigma" level of statistical significance that particle physicists use to denote an official discovery.

"This is a nice moment, it's a sort of completeness," said Chris Parkes of the University of Manchester, spokesman for UK participation in the LHCb experiment.

"There are four systems in nature that oscillate, and this is the last one where a single-channel measurement has crossed the five-sigma threshold - we know now about mixing in all four of these systems," he told BBC News.

But what remains open is the question of why the Universe we see is made overwhelmingly of matter rather than antimatter - they should both have been created in equal measure during the Big Bang.

Mesons measured by LHCb have already hinted at an answer, and Prof Parkes says that is the next target.

"The LHC has had a tremendous first three years of operation, and now as we enter the first shutdown... we look forward to probing in great detail the [D meson] system using the data we've got so far and data to come."

The Standard Model and the Higgs boson

? The Standard Model is the simplest set of ingredients - elementary particles - needed to make up the world we see in the heavens and in the laboratory

? Quarks combine together to make, for example, the proton and neutron - which make up the nuclei of atoms today - though more exotic combinations were around in the Universe's early days

? Leptons come in charged and uncharged versions. Electrons - the most familiar charged lepton - together with quarks make up all the matter we can see; the uncharged leptons are neutrinos, which rarely interact with matter

? The "force carriers" are particles whose movements are observed as familiar forces such as those behind electricity and light (electromagnetism) and radioactive decay (the weak nuclear force)

? The Higgs boson came about because although the Standard Model holds together neatly, nothing requires the particles to have mass; for a fuller theory, the Higgs - or something else - must fill in that gap

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21594357#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Mutation location is the key to prognosis

Feb. 28, 2013 ? The three most important factors in real estate are location, location, location, and the same might be said for mutations in the gene MECP2, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital in a report in the journal Cell.

"Where a mutation occurs can affect the severity of the symptoms of the disease," said Dr. Huda Zoghbi, professor of molecular and human genetics at BCM and director of the NRI. Zoghbi, corresponding author of the report, found the MECP2 gene in 1999 and confirmed that deficiency in the protein causes Rett syndrome, a post natal genetic disease that mainly affects girls.

Symptoms influenced by gene location

In the study, she and her colleagues relied on data from rare male patients with disruptions in MECP2 that showed that severity of symptoms could be influenced by the location of the gene mutation. The few boys with this disorder fell into two broad categories: Those who suffered severe brain disease and death before age 4 and those who lived for decades with symptoms similar to that of Rett or developmental delay and other disorders similar to those seen in autism.

Looking at the placement of the mutations in the boys, they hypothesized there was a distinct difference in symptoms seen in boys who had mutations at amino acid 270 in the protein and those who had mutations only slightly farther along, at amino acid 273. The protein is truncated or shorter in those with amino acid 270 mutations than those with the mutation at amino acid 273.

After Steven Baker, a graduate student in the Program in Developmental Biology at BCM, generated and characterized mice that had mutations at the two sites of the protein, he found that mice who had mutations at amino acid 273 lived longer and developed symptoms later than those mice who had mutations at amino acid 270 or those who lacked the MeCP2 protein all together (knock-out mice).

Disruption of topological feature

One reason for the differences could be that the mutation at amino acid 270 disrupts a key topological feature of the DNA -- an AT-Hook domain that is a DNA binding motif. By disrupting this domain, the mutation could affect the way the protein bind the DNA and make the already truncated protein much less effective.

"The participation of patients and their families with Rett researchers really helped us to key in on regions of MeCP2 that are critical for its function," said Baker, who is also an M.D./Ph.D. student in BCM's Medical Student Training Program.

The researchers propose a model for this DNA binding in which MeCP2 binds to sites across the genome. In some spots where this occurs, the protein manipulates the structure of the nearby chromatin.

Chromatin architectural factor

"We think that one function of MeCP2 (the protein associated with the gene) is to alter the architecture of chromatin (the mass of proteins and DNA found in the nucleus of the cell)," said Zoghbi, who is also Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.

Baker said, "The picture of MeCP2 as a chromatin architectural factor is emerging from the combined efforts of many laboratories. Understanding how MeCP2 modifies chromatin structure will ultimately allow us to understand why it is so important for neuronal health."

Others who took part in this work include Lin Chen, Angela Dawn Wilkins, Peng Yu and Olivier Lichtarge, all of BCM.

Funding for this work came from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke (HD053862), and the Baylor College of Medicine Intellectual and Developmental Disability Research Center (F30NS066527).

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Baylor College of Medicine.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Steven?Andrew Baker, Lin Chen, Angela?Dawn Wilkins, Peng Yu, Olivier Lichtarge, Huda?Yahya Zoghbi. An AT-Hook Domain in MeCP2 Determines the Clinical Course of Rett Syndrome and Related Disorders. Cell, 2013; 152 (5): 984 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.01.038

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/top_news/top_health/~3/76uIPhgyDTg/130228124130.htm

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Architects of the 21st Century: Speak Up, Speak Out | ArchDaily

?Take Five: A Titan of Architectrual Criticism has Died, but Architects are Best Prepared to Carry on the Conversation? was originally published in?AIArchitect.

In a stirring call-to-action written for?AIArchitect,?Robert Ivy,?FAIA and?AIA EVP/Chief Executive Officer,?reflects on the state of architecture criticism today. He?recognizes that?the late, great Ada Louise Huxtable was unquestionably the best critic of our time. However, the time of the singular architectural voice has passed; in the 21st century, and with the rise of the Internet, we have all become architectural critics ? architects, informed citizens, and, often most vociferously, not so informed citizens. In this world of critical noise, Ivy proposes that the architect must step up to take on the role of architecture critic? and advocate.

Read Ivy?s stirring article in full, after the break?

Roberty Ivy, AIA EVP/Chief Executive Officer. Image via AIA.org

Until January, if you asked any architectural writer to name the greatest living critic, the answer would inevitably be Ada Louise Huxtable, Hon. AIA.? While there have been other renowned minds thinking and commenting on architecture and the built environment in the 20th century (Lewis Mumford springs to mind), no one came close to Huxtable.

Writing as the architecture critic for?The New York Times, and later for?The Wall Street Journal, she balanced careful reporting with strong opinions, providing readers with the social, economic, and political context, as well as the effect a given project exerted on a neighborhood, street, and city.? Her columns addressed the art of architecture, but rarely as a stand-alone topic.

Who can forget her realistic?appraisal?of the future for New York?s Ground Zero, warning us to temper optimism for that supercharged urban nexus, since, in Gotham, developers ultimately had the final say:??What Ground Zero tells us is that we have lost the faith and the nerve, the knowledge and the leadership, to make it happen now.? Many of us, filled with optimism for a fresh start, sometimes recoiled a notch at her pronouncements, or actively disagreed with her, but one fact was clear: Her opinion mattered.

We treasured her because she spoke the truth as she understood it, even when it hurt.? And legions of citizens, eager for an educated perspective on buildings or neighborhoods or the city, shared in their appreciation of this refined voice.? In a sense, she acted as a progenitor, arming subsequent generations of writers, such as Paul Goldberger, Hon. AIA, (who succeeded her at the?Times).? But even more importantly, her role helped to set a standard in which informed writers act as the moderator of public discourse, helping us to frame the debate, much as other gifted critics for major news outlets do on their own geographic turf?Blair Kamin in Chicago, Chris Hawthorne in Los Angeles, Robert Campbell, FAIA, in Boston, and now Michael Kimmelman at?The Times.? We are all in her debt.

While Huxtable honed and valued her professional craft, the Internet has unleashed the genie from the bottle. Today, we don?t have to wait for the authoritative article to see a project and form initial decisions. In a sense, all of us can carry on the conversation, because the times demand it.? And who better to evaluate architecture, and its effects on the world around us, than architects?

In a way, all architects become critics, for good or ill, practicing their faculties first in the design studio on their own projects, then on those of their classmates and colleagues.? The looming need for informed discussion transcends the superficial aesthetic aspects of a given building or community project. Think of Huxtable. Ada Louise would enjoin us to collect our facts, set the context, and look at the larger picture before taking aim.? Then, and only then, are we prepared to advocate effectively and forcefully for the built environment?taking a balanced, if powerful position that our clients, or fellow citizens, will listen to, recall, and act on.

Some of us have lamented that, ?The public doesn?t understand the value of design.? But it doesn?t require a singular generational talent like Ada Louise Huxtable to teach people how architects make the communities we live and work in better places. This is a job for architects as well. No one knows the total story better?neither the client nor the public. You know your project?s intentions.? If the building is a school, you know how it might?enrich a student?s learning experience;?if it?s a hospital, how it might help a patient heal.

We should use op-eds, letters, blogs, and all manner of social media outlets, adding the architect?s voice without waiting for someone else to frame the debate. In one sense, speaking out and speaking up about architecture in your own community becomes a form of advocacy, a positive action you can take to help advance the understanding and appreciation of your own work and of the profession. Then, when our motives and achievements are recognized by third parties, including?great critics like Ada Louise Huxtable, the message will resound clearly and powerfully.

Speak up, speak out about architecture. The AIA of the 21st century needs architects (and critics) like you.

Source: http://www.archdaily.com/336840/architects-of-the-21st-century-speak-up-speak-out/

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Pope legacy: Teacher who returned to church roots

FILE - This Sept. 6, 2006 file photo shows Pope Benedict XVI wearing a "saturno hat", inspired by the ringed planet Saturn, to shield himself from the sun as he waves to the crowd of faithful prior to his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito, files)

FILE - This Sept. 6, 2006 file photo shows Pope Benedict XVI wearing a "saturno hat", inspired by the ringed planet Saturn, to shield himself from the sun as he waves to the crowd of faithful prior to his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito, files)

FILE - This Nov. 3, 2006 file photo shows Pope Benedict XVI's hand as he waves to faithful from his car at the end of his visit at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, files)

FILE - Pope Benedict XVI greets the crowd from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, in this April 19, 2005, file photo. Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, who chose the name of Pope Benedict XVI, became the 265th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis/file)

Pope Benedict XVI waves to faithful during his final general audience in St.Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. Pope Benedict XVI has recalled moments of "joy and light" during his papacy but also times of great difficulty in an emotional, final general audience in St. Peter's Square before retiring. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Faithful are reflected in the roof of Pope Benedict XVI's pope-mobile as he arrives to celebrate his last general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. Benedict XVI basked in an emotional sendoff Wednesday at his final general audience in St. Peter's Square, recalling moments of "joy and light" during his papacy but also times of great difficulty. He also thanked his flock for respecting his decision to retire. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

(AP) ? On Monday, April 4, 2005, a priest walked up to the Renaissance palazzo housing the Vatican's doctrine department and asked the doorman to call the official in charge: It was the first day of business after Pope John Paul II had died, and the cleric wanted to get back to work.

The office's No. 2, Archbishop Angelo Amato, answered the phone and was stunned. This was no ordinary priest. It was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, his boss, who under the Vatican's arcane rules had technically lost his job when John Paul died.

"It tells me of the great humility of the man, the great sense of duty, but also the great awareness that we are here to do a job," said Bishop Charles Scicluna, who worked with Ratzinger before he became Pope Benedict XVI, inside the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

In resigning, Scicluna said, Benedict is showing the same sense of humility, duty and service as he did after the Catholic Church lost its last pope.

"He has done his job."

___

When Benedict flies off into retirement by helicopter on Thursday, he will leave behind a church in crisis ? one beset by sex scandal, internal divisions and dwindling numbers.

But the 85-year-old pope can count on a solid legacy: While his very resignation was his most significant act, Benedict ? in a quieter way ? also set the church back on a conservative, tradition-minded path.

He was guided by the firm conviction that many of the ills afflicting the church could be traced to a misreading of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

He insisted that the 1962-65 meetings that brought the church into the modern era were not a radical break from the past, as portrayed by many liberals, but rather a continuation of the best traditions of the 2,000-year-old church.

Benedict was the teacher pope, a theology professor who turned his Wednesday general audiences into master classes about the Catholic faith and the history, saints and sinners that contributed to it.

In his teachings, he sought to boil Christianity down to its essential core. He didn't produce volumes of encyclicals like his predecessor, just three: on charity, hope and love. (He penned a fourth, on faith, but retired before finishing it.)

Considered by many to be the greatest living theologian, he authored more than 65 books, stretching from the classic "Introduction to Christianity" in 1968 to the final installment of his triptych on "Jesus of Nazareth" last year ? considered by some to be his most important contribution to the church. In between he produced the "Catechism of the Catholic Church" ? essentially a how-to guide to being a Catholic.

Benedict spent the bulk of his early career in the classroom, as a student and then professor of dogma and fundamental theology at universities in Bonn, Muenster, Tuebingen and Regensburg, Germany.

"His classrooms were crowded," recalled the Rev. Joseph Fessio, a theology student of Ratzinger's at the University of Regensburg from 1972-74, and now the English-language publisher of his books.

"I don't recall him having notes," Fessio said. "He would stand at the front of the class, and he wasn't looking at you, not with eye contact, but he was looking over you, almost meditating."

It's a style that he's kept for 40 years.

"If you hear him give a sermon, he's speaking not from notes, but you can write it down and print it," Fessio said. "Every comma is there. Every pause."

___

Benedict never wanted to be pope and he didn't take easily to the rigors of the job. Elected April 19, 2005, after one of the shortest conclaves in history, Benedict was, at 78, the oldest pope elected in 275 years and the first German in nearly a millennium.

At first he was stiff.

Giovanni Maria Vian, editor of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, recalled that in the early days Benedict used to greet crowds with an awkward victory gesture "as if he were an athlete."

"At some point someone told him that wasn't a very papal gesture," Vian said. Benedict changed course, opting for an open-armed embrace or an almost effeminate twinkling of his fingers on an outstretched hand as a way of connecting with the crowd.

"No one is born a pope," Vian said. "You have to learn to be a pope."

And slowly Benedict learned.

Crowds accustomed to a quarter-century of superstar John Paul II, grew to embrace the soft-spoken, scholarly Benedict, who had an uncanny knack for being able to absorb different points of view and pull them together in a coherent whole.

He traveled, though less extensively than John Paul, and presided over Masses that were heavy on Latin, Gregorian chant and the silk brocaded vestments of his pre-Vatican II predecessors.

Benedict seemed genuinely surprised by the warm reception he received ? as well as the harsh criticism when things went wrong, as they did when he lifted the excommunication of a bishop who turned out to be a Holocaust-denier.

For a theologian who for decades had worked toward reconciliation between Catholics and Jews, the outrage was fierce and painful.

Benedict was also burdened by what he called the "filth" of the church: the sins and crimes of its priests.

As prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Benedict saw first-hand the scope of sex abuse as early as the 1980s, when he tried unsuccessfully to persuade the Vatican legal department to let him remove abusive priests quickly.

But it was 2001 before he finally stepped in, ordering all abuse cases sent to his office for review.

"We used to discuss the cases on Fridays; he used to call it the Friday penance," recalled Scicluna, who was Ratzinger's sex crimes prosecutor from 2002-2012.

Still, to this day, Benedict hasn't sanctioned a single bishop for covering up abuse.

"Unfortunately, Pope Benedict's legacy in the abuse crisis is one of mistaken emphases, missed opportunities, and gestures at the margin, rather than changes at the center," said Terrence McKiernan of BishopAccountability.org, an online resource of abuse documentation.

He praised Benedict for meeting with victims, and acknowledged the strides the Vatican made under his leadership. But, he said Benedict ignored the problem for too long, "prioritizing concerns about dissent over the massive evidence of abuse that was pouring into his office."

"He acted as no other pope has done when pressed or forced, but his papacy has been reactive on this central issue," McKiernan said in an email.

Benedict also gets poor grades from liberal Catholics, who felt abandoned by a pope who seemed to roll back the clock on the modernizing reforms of Vatican II and launched a crackdown on American nuns, deemed to have strayed too far from his doctrinal orthodoxy.

Some priests are now living in open rebellion with church teaching, calling for a rethink on everything from homosexuality to women's ordination to priestly celibacy.

"As Roman Catholics worldwide prepare for the conclave, we are reminded that the current system remains an 'old boys club' and does not allow for women's voices to participate in the decision of the next leader of our church," said Erin Saiz Hanna, head of the Women's Ordination Conference, a group that ordains women in defiance of church teaching.

The group plans to raise pink smoke during the conclave "as a prayerful reminder of the voices of the church that go unheard."

___

But Benedict won't be around at the Vatican to see it. His work is done. "Mission Accomplished," Vian said.

And as the pope told 150,000 people in his final speech as pope: "To love the church is to have the courage to make difficult, painful choices, always keeping in mind the good of the church, not oneself."

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-28-Vatican-Pope's%20Legacy/id-547a873066384d7980445b2b5022414a

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Talking back: Coping with back pain ? Fit for fashion - Fitness and ...

The fact that a majority of Americans experience back pain at some point in their lives is small consolation when the statistic with back pain is you. Back pain typically begins with a movement in your torso that doesn?t go quite right: lifting a child into the car seat, bending over to pick something up, twisting to deliver a powerful forehand during tennis play. For some reason, your back protests, and there you are, lying on the ground in pain.

Should you see a doctor?
Consult a physician about your back pain if:

1) It is accompanied by high fever, which may indicate an infection;

2) You have numbness in your pelvis, extreme weakness in your leg, or problems controlling your bladder or bowel-signs of a severely pinched nerve;

3) You are experiencing rapid weight loss ? a sign of a tumor; and/or

4) Back pain persists for more than four weeks.

Treat yourself
For most cases of acute back pain that is probably due to muscle spasm, health professionals advise the following:

1) Ice the affected area five to 10 minutes several times a day for the first few days. After that, use either ice or heat, whatever seems to help.

2) Take over-the-counter pain medication. Try to avoid any muscle relaxants you may have hanging around the medicine cabinet, as these have unpleasant side effects and can lead to further injury by helping you ignore the pain.

3) Rest as little as possible, and resume daily activities as much as you can, allowing the pain to serve as a guideline for what you should ask your back to do. That means if it hurts, don?t do it. Especially hard on your back is sitting for extended periods, or moving heavy objects.

When to exercise
The most common cause of back pain is muscle strain. The most common cause of muscle strain is weak back muscles which lack the strength to support the torso, especially when extra force is required, such as during bending or twisting. When back muscles are not strong enough to do their job, they may stretch and then contract in painful spasm.

Since exercise is so good for so many ills, many people mistakenly believe that exercise is good for everything. Not so for muscle spasms. Trying to stretch a spasming muscle may only add insult to injury. Exercise is more important for preventing future recurrences of back pain, rather than fixing an acute back pain episode.

Once acute pain has subsided, exercise to stretch and strengthen postural muscles is recommended. Regular aerobic exercise such as walking, swimming (use a variety of strokes) and cycling improves general fitness, as well as back health. Education about correct body mechanics is essential. Learning to maintain good posture can greatly reduce back stress.

Coping with chronic pain
Some people find that back pain continues to return despite their best efforts to exercise regularly and practice good body mechanics. Most of these folks succeed in finding ways to eliminate or at least significantly reduce their back pain, but their paths to success require perseverance, self-observation, positive thinking and a willingness to try a variety of treatment options. Treatment options that have helped many back pain patients include stress management and relaxation techniques, chiropractic manipulation, physical therapy, acupuncture and acupressure, and yoga. Back care programs, videos and books can be beneficial.

Perseverance can be hard to come by. Persistent pain wears you down, but giving up is not an option; giving up only leads to more pain.

When to rest
Bed rest, once the most popular treatment for back pain, is now discouraged. While sometimes back pain is so incapacitating that you have no other option, you will be urged to get up as soon as you can. Bed rest further weakens those muscle, joints and bones whose weaknesses may be causing pain in the first place.

Source: http://fitforfashionblog.com/talking-back-coping-with-back-pain/

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Chris Christie dissed by CPAC. Is that good or bad for him?

CPAC organizers are apparently still annoyed that New Jersey's Republican governor Chris Christie praised President Obama's recovery efforts after superstorm Sandy.

By Peter Grier,?Staff writer / February 26, 2013

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie sits next to first lady Michelle Obama at the National Governors Association dinner at the White House Sunday.

Susan Walsh/AP

Enlarge

New Jersey?s Republican governor Chris Christie is not going to get an invite to speak at this year?s Conservative Political Action Conference, according to The Washington Post and lots of other media outlets. Looks like the CPAC organizers still consider Governor Christie an apostate for praising President Obama?s superstorm Sandy recovery efforts near the end of the 2012 campaign.

Skip to next paragraph Peter Grier

Washington Editor

Peter Grier is The Christian Science Monitor's Washington editor. In this capacity, he helps direct coverage for the paper on most news events in the nation's capital.

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And they?re not the only ones. Lots of conservatives look at Christie?s every action with suspicion. A couple of days ago, they noticed that he sat next to first lady Michelle Obama at a National Governors Association dinner at the White House. Never mind that Christie wasn?t the person in charge of place cards.

?The slobbering love affair between GOP Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Team Obama continues to blossom,? wrote the conservative news site Twitchy on Sunday. ?Smoochie, smoochie.?

Hmm. Is this a political problem for Christie? Looks like he?s now the Nelson Rockefeller of the 21st century ? the moderate Republican whom the right most loves to hate.

In the short run, it?s good for him. He?s running for reelection in New Jersey this fall, and given the state?s Democratic proclivity, every insult he gets from the right builds his Independent Republican brand. There are some 700,000 more Garden State Democrats than Republicans, after all. The math there is easy to do. If we were more cynical than we are, we might even say that Christie asked CPAC to stiff him, at least until next year.

Yes, he?s already wildly popular in-state. That doesn?t mean he isn?t still working on shoring up his vote. Are you writing this down, potential-GOP-Senate-candidate Geraldo Rivera?

The CPAC snub might benefit Christie in the longer run, as well. As commentator Allahpundit notes on the conservative Hot Air website, the conservative group might as well be tossing the plus-size New Jersey gov into the briar patch. (Close your eyes and envision that for a moment.)

?Christie was never going to run as the conservative choice in 2016 and lord knows he?s not going to run as a conservative to get reelected in New Jersey.... CPAC?s unwittingly helping him burnish his brand as the country?s most formidable centrist Republican. Expect him to get lots of mileage out of it in interviews over the next month,? Allahpundit writes.

Yes, but that only helps him if he can win the GOP nomination, right? To do that, he has to run well in Republican primaries, many of them closed to independents and other swing voters. That?s one reason that Mitt Romney swung right, away from his policies as governor of Massachusetts, in his own run. Remember when Mitt called himself ?severely conservative?? That was at CPAC. They?ve invited him to speak, by the way. That should be, uh, interesting.

So look for Christie to start sounding more conservative and declining the seat next to the first lady beginning in, oh, late 2014. That?s if he wants to run for the Oval Office of course ? and he may not.

Unlike Mr. Romney, Christie may not have to become ?severe? in his adherence to conservative doctrine. A little bow in the direction of the right might do. Given that the GOP has lost four of the past six presidential elections, including a 2012 race that many Republicans thought they would win, electability might rank higher on the list of qualities esteemed by conservatives the closer 2016 approaches.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/CcEh6wOgEoQ/Chris-Christie-dissed-by-CPAC.-Is-that-good-or-bad-for-him

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Standard Digital News - Kenya : New facility to boost agriculture

Updated 6 hrs 8 mins ago

By Nicholas Waitathu

Efforts to commercialise agriculture have received a major boost, after the Government and private sector launched a Sh112 million training centre in Thika ? Kiambu County.

The facility, which sits on a 200-hectare piece of land, aims to become a one-stop-shop for horticulture information, cutting across the value chain- production, value addition, logistics and marketing.

Add value

?The project seeks to add value by giving practical skills necessary to work in modern horticulture production,? Ministry of Agriculture permanent secretary Dr Romano Kiome said. ?At the moment, it takes two years for a fresh graduate to learn all the skills required to manage modern horticultural enterprises such as greenhouse farming, irrigation technologies, pest, and disease management.?

Focal point

Kiome said such a facility would provide a focal point for the industry to foster co-ordinated and expedite commercialisation of the sector.?

?The issues include how to enhance compliance to national and international production standards for all horticultural farmers and also how to promote her products in internal and external markets,? Dr Kiome said.

Source: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000078265&story_title=Business:%20New%20facility%20to%20boost%20agriculture

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Donkey, buffalo found in South African meat products

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Donkey, water buffalo and other unconventional ingredients have been found in almost two thirds of hamburgers and sausages tested in South Africa, a study released on Tuesday showed.

The tests by the University of Stellenbosch were planned before a scandal broke out in Europe over horsemeat labelled as beef that raised concerns worldwide over the risks to human health from a complex and nebulous meat supply chain.

"Our study confirms that the mislabelling of processed meats is commonplace in South Africa and not only violates food labelling regulations, but also poses economic, religious, ethical and health impacts," co-author Louw Hoffman of the university's Department of Animal Sciences, said in a statement.

Soya, donkey, goat, water buffalo and plant material were found in up to 68 percent of the 139 minced meats, burger patties, delicatessen meats, sausages and dried meats tested by the university. The items were not listed as ingredients.

Pork and chicken were the most common fillers found in products that were not supposed to contain them, according to the study that used DNA testing techniques and was published in the journal Food Control.

No similar discoveries had been made over the past two years, when DNA testing became more widely used in South Africa.

Stricter food labelling laws came into effect in the continent's largest economy in March last year, with mandatory information required on content, country of origin and allergens.

But there is no mandatory government testing of food sold in South Africa.

"It is a wake-up call for the industry to abide with the new labelling regulations," Hoffman, a noted game meat researcher, told Reuters.

He said extensive tests over two weeks of more than 100 samples had found no trace of horse meat.

(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Jon Herskovitz and Tom Pfeiffer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/donkey-buffalo-found-south-african-meat-products-140125978.html

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Source: http://crew.valkry.com/blog/94975/fantastic-self-help-air-jordan-strategies-for-an-improved-lifestyle/

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Crick's letter about DNA discovery to be sold at auction

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A letter by Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of DNA, outlining the Nobel Prize-winning achievement to his young son is expected to fetch as much as $2 million when it is sold at auction in April, Christie's said on Tuesday.

Crick and James Watson unraveled the double-helix structure and function of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) while working together in Cambridge, England, in 1953. They received the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1962 for their ground-breaking work.

In the seven-page, handwritten letter, Crick, who was 33 years old at the time, described the discovery to his 12-year-old son Michael, who was away at a British boarding school.

"When you come home we will show you the model," he wrote in the letter.

Crick went on to say he believed DNA is a code and that the order of the bases (the letters) makes one gene different from another gene.

"In other words we think we have found the basic copying mechanism by which life comes from life. You can understand that we are very excited," Crick added, before signing the letter, "Lots of love, Daddy."

In his later years Crick was a professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. He died in 2004.

The letter, which is being sold by Crick's son, will be part of the books and manuscripts sale on April 10.

A letter dated August 2, 1939, by physicist Albert Einstein to President Franklin Delano Roosevelet warning him of the potential danger of "the construction of extremely powerful bombs" through nuclear fission sold for more than $2 million at auction in 2002.

(Reporting by Patricia Reaney; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cricks-letter-dna-discovery-sold-auction-224504607.html

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Pope greets pilgrims in St. Peter's for final time

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? Pope Benedict XVI is greeting pilgrims in St. Peter's Square for the final time before retiring, waving to tens of thousands of people who have gathered to bid him farewell.

Benedict was driven around the square in an open-sided vehicle, surrounded by bodyguards. At one point he stopped to kiss a baby handed up to him by his secretary.

St. Peter's was overflowing and pilgrims and curiosity-seekers were picking spots along the main boulevard nearby to watch Wednesday's event on giant TV screens. Some 50,000 tickets were requested for Benedict's final master class on the Catholic faith, but Italian media estimated the number of people actually attending could be double that.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-greets-pilgrims-st-peters-final-time-094716701.html

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Barbara Walters To Return To 'The View' On Monday, March 4

  • Today

    TODAY -- Pictured: Co-Anchor Barbara Walters -- Photo by: NBC NewsWire

  • Today

    TODAY -- GOLDA MEIR -- Pictured: (l-r) Prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir during an interview with Barbara Walters on NBC News' 'Today' on September 30, 1969 -- Photo by: NBC/NBC NewsWire

  • Today

    TODAY -- Pictured: Co-Anchor Barbara Walters -- Photo by: NBC NewsWire

  • Today

    TODAY -- 1969 -- Pictured: (l-r) Panelist Joe Garagiola, co-anchor Barbara Walters, co-anchor Hugh Downs (Photo by NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

  • Today

    TODAY -- Pictured: (l-r) Co-Anchor Barbara Walters, co-anchor Hugh Downs, co-anchor Frank Blair (Photo by NBC NewsWire/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

  • Today

    TODAY -- Pictured: The Kingsford Company Sponsorship Ceremony (l-r) Fessel, Siegfriedt & Moeller Inc. President Ed Fessel, FS&M Copy Chief Dave Evans, NBC News' Frank Blair, NBC News' Barbara Walters, NBC News' Hugh Downs, Kingsford President Owen Pyls, FS&M Executive Art Director Victor Verderstrasse (Photo by NBC NewsWire/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

  • Today

    TODAY -- PRINCE PHILIP -- Pictured: (l-r) Barbara Walters interviewing Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on NBC News' 'Today' (Photo by NBC NewsWire/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

  • THE TODAY SHOW

    THE TODAY SHOW -- Pictured: (l-r) Co-anchor Barbara Walters, co-anchor Hugh Downs, (Photo by NBC NewsWire/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

  • The TODAY Show

    THE TODAY SHOW -- Pictured: (l-r) Co-anchor Barbara Walters, co-anchor Hugh Downs (Photo by NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

  • Tricia Nixon speaks with Barbara Walters

    380450 59: Tricia Nixon speaks with Barbara Walters before an interview April 28, 1972 at the White House. (Photo by National Archive/Newsmakers)

  • TV Personality Barbara Walters

    UNDATED FILE PHOTO: TV Personality Barbara Walters. (Photo by Diane Freed)

  • Barbara Walters and Oscar de la Renta Arrive at White House

    N364974 05: Barbara Walters, left, and Oscar de la Renta arrive at the White House for a state dinner honoring King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain in Washington, D.C., February 23, 2000. (Photo by Michael Smith)

  • 2000 GQ Men of the Year Awards

    Barbara Walters at the 2000 GQ 'Men of the Year' Awards at the Beacon Theater in New York City, 10/26/00. The show airs on the FOX Network on December 9, 2000. (Photo by Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)

  • NBC 75th Anniversary

    Barbara Walters arrives for the NBC 75th Anniversary celebration taking place live in Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center in New York City, May 5, 2002. Photo by Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect.

  • Daytime Emmy Party Hosted By Mayor Michael Bloomberg

    NEW YORK - MAY 15: (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER & U.S. TABS OUT) Barbara Walters arrives at a party hosted by mayor Michael Bloomberg to celebrate the 30th Annual Daytime Emmy Awrds May 15, 2003 at Gracie Mansion in New York City. (Photo by Scott Gries/Getty Images)

  • The Museum of Television & Radio Gala - Arrivals

    HOLLYWOOD - NOVEMBER 15: Journalist Barbara Walters arrives at the Museum of Television and Radio's gala tribute to Barbara Walters, held on November 15, 2004 at the Beverly Hills Hotel, in Beverly Hills, CA, California. (Photo by Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)

  • Oprah Winfrey Host The Legends Ball

    SANTA BARBARA, CA - MAY 14: Television reporter Barbara Walters attends Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball at the Bacara Resort and Spa on May 14, 2005 in Santa Barbara, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

  • Alt 365+ Book Party

    NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 12: TV personality Barbara Walters attends the Alt 365+ book party during Olympus Fashion Week at Barney's September 12, 2005 in New York City. (Photo by Donald Bowers/Getty Images)

  • Hollywood Reporter Women In Entertainment Breakfast - Arrivals

    BEVERLY HILLS, CA - DECEMBER 6: Television journalist Barbara Walters attends the 14th annual Hollywood Reporter Women In Entertainment Power 100 breakfast December 6, 2005 at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Vince Bucci/Getty Images)

  • NY: Columbia Pictures & St. Regis Screening Of ''Marie Antoinette''

    SOUTHAMPTON, NY - AUGUST 28: Barbara Walters arrives at the Columbia Pictures & St. Regis screening of ''Marie Antoinette'' August 28, 2006 in Southampton, New York. (Photo by Steven Henry/Getty Images)

  • The New York Public Library Hosts Annual Library Lions Gala

    NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 13: Television journalist Barabra Walters poses with honoree Oprah Winfrey at The New York Public Library's Annual Library Lions Gala at The New York Public Library, November 13, 2006 in New York City. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Getty Images)

  • Barbara Walters Honored With A Star On The Walk Of Fame

    HOLLYWOOD - JUNE 14: Television Personality Barbara Walters poses as she is honored with the 2,340th Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame June 14, 2007 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

  • Broadcasters Foundation Of America "Golden Mike" Fundraiser

    NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 25: Co-Chair of Disney Media Networks and President of the Disney Television Group Anne Sweeney (L) and television host Barbara Walters attend the Broadcasters Foundation Of America 'Golden Mike' Fundraiser at the Waldorf Astoria February 25, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images)

  • 125th Metropolitan Opera Opening Night

    NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 22: Barbara Walters attends the 125th Metropolitan Opera opening night at Lincoln Center on September 22, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)

  • Opening Night Of "Billy Elliot The Musical" - Arrivals & Curtain Call

    NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 13: Television personality Barbara Walters attends 'Billy Elliot The Musical' on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre on November 13, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Scott Wintrow/Getty Images)

  • Time's 100 Most Influential People In The World

    NEW YORK - MAY 05: American journalist Barbara Walters attends Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World Gala at the Frederick P. Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center on May 5, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

  • InStyle Magazine Hosts Super Saturday 12 To Benefit Ovarian Cancer Research

    WATERMILL, NY - AUGUST 01: Barbara Walters, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Judith Giuliani attend Super Saturday 12 to benefit Ovarian Cancer Research Fund hosted by InStyle Magazine at Nova's Ark Project on August 1, 2009 in Watermill, New York. (Photo by Rick Odell/Getty Images)

  • TIME's 2009 Person of the Year

    NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 12: (L-R) Editor of O Magazine Gayle King, managing editor for Time Richard Stengel, TV personality Barbara Walters and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl attend the TIME's 2009 Person of the Year at the Time & Life Building on November 12, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Time Inc)

  • "Boardwalk Empire" New York Premiere - Arrivals

    NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 15: Journalist Barbara Walters attends the premiere of 'Boardwalk Empire' at the Ziegfeld Theatre on September 15, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

  • "Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark" Broadway Opening Night

    NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 14: Barbara Walters attends 'Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark' Broadway opening night at Foxwoods Theatre on June 14, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

  • Sir Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell - Wedding Reception

    LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 09: Barbara Walters attends Sir Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevells' wedding reception at Paul's house in St John's Wood on October 9, 2011 in London, England. (Photo by Danny Martindale/Getty Images)

  • Glamour's 2011 Women Of The Year Awards - Inside

    NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 07: Barbara Walters attends Glamour's 2011 Women of the Year Awards on November 7, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Glamour Magazine)

  • "Evita" Opening Night New Star Cast

    NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 05: Barbara Walters attends the 'Evita' opening night new star cast at the Marquis Theatre on April 5, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

  • Barbara Walters attends the Time 100 Gal

    Barbara Walters attends the Time 100 Gala celebrating the Time 100 issue of the Most Influential People In The World at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 24, 2012 in New York. AFP PHOTO / TIMOTHY A.CLARY (Photo credit should read TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)

  • 2012 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner - Arrivals

    WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 28: Journalist Barbara Walters attends the 98th Annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton on April 28, 2012 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

  • 2012 MoMA Party In The Garden Benefit - Arrivals

    NEW YORK, NY - MAY 22: Barbara Walters attends the 2012 Party in the Garden benefit at the Museum of Modern Art on May 22, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

  • Barbara Walters

    COMMERIAL IMAGE In this photograph taken by AP Images for The Hollywood Reporter Barbara Walters arrives at The Hollywood Reporter 35 Most Powerful People in Media event on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 in New York. (Evan Agostini/AP Images for The Hollywood Reporter)

  • Barbara Walters poses for a photo on the red carpet for The Colleagues 23rd Annual Spring Luncheon on Tuesday April 17, 2012 in Los Angeles (AP Photo/Earl Gibson III)

  • Barbara Walters

    Barbara Walters arrives at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner on Saturday, April 28, 2012 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

  • New York City Ballet Celebrates Legendary Fashion Designer Valentino Garavani

    This Sept. 20, 2012 photo released by Starpix shows Barbara Walters at the New York City Ballet Fall Gala honoring Valentino Garavani at Lincoln Center in New York. Valentino, who created most of the vibrant costumes and dramatically upped the glamour quotient of the evening, attracting movie stars, supermodels and socialites galore. (AP Photo/Starpix, Amanda Schwab)

  • Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd, Elisabeth Hasselbeck

    President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama appear on the ABC Television show ?The View? in New York, Monday, Sept. 24, 2012, From left are, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, the president, the first lady, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

  • BARBARA WALTERS

    This image released by American Broadcasting Companies shows Barbara Walters answering a phone to take donations for victims of Superstorm Sandy during "Good Morning America," Monday, Nov. 5, 2012 in New York. Walters made a contribution of $250,000 to the American Red Cross and GMA co-host George Stephanopoulos followed suit with a donation for $50,000. (AP Photo/American Broadcasting Companies, Lou Rocco)

  • Barbara Walters

    FILE - This June 23, 2012 file photo shows Barbara Walters presenting an award onstage at the 39th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Walters, who has been battling the Chicken Pox, will not return to her daytime talk show "The View," for three more weeks. She was hospitalized on Jan. 19 after fainting and cutting her head at a pre-inaugural party in Washington. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, file)

  • Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/26/barbara-walters-returns-to-view_n_2765655.html

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    Wednesday, February 27, 2013

    Acid attack victim gets face transplant

    BOSTON (AP) ? Loved ones knew it was her at the hospital when they saw her teeth.

    Carmen Blandin Tarleton's face was unrecognizable after the lye attack, burned away in the frenzy of an estranged husband's rage.

    Nearly six years later, the Vermont nurse is celebrating a gift that has given her a new image following a full facial transplant this month.

    Doctors at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston said at a Wednesday news conference that the 44-year-old's surgery included transplanting a female donor's facial skin to Tarleton's neck, nose and lips, along with facial muscles, arteries and nerves.

    "I know how truly blessed I am, and will have such a nice reflection in the mirror to remind myself what selfless really is," Tarleton wrote on her blog Wednesday.

    She did not attend the news conference but watched it during a live web broadcast. The hospital said it was not releasing a current picture of her.

    Tarleton's sister, Kesstan Blandin, shared a statement from Tarleton that said she felt "really good and happy."

    "I want to convey to the donor's family what a great gift they have given to me," the statement said. "...I feel strong and I am confident that I have the strength to deal with whatever comes my way."

    The Thetford, Vt., woman suffered burns on more than 80 percent of her body and was left blind after her attacker beat her with a baseball bat and doused her with the industrial strength chemical in June 2007.

    Tarleton, who once worked as a transplant nurse, has undergone more than 50 surgeries since then. The operations included skin grafts and work that has restored vision to one eye.

    The latest surgery took 15 hours and included a team of more than 30 medical professionals. The lead surgeon, Bohdan Pomahac, called her injuries among the worst he's seen in his career.

    "Carmen is a fighter," the doctor said. "And fight she did."

    Pomahac's team has performed five facial transplants at the hospital. He said his team's latest patient is recovering well and is in great spirits as she works to get stronger.

    Before the transplant, Tarleton drooled constantly because of scar tissue in her mouth. She also couldn't turn her head from side to side or lift her chin.

    Pomahac said Tarleton was pleased when she saw her new face for the first time. Her appearance will not match that of the late donor's face, he said.

    "I think she looks amazing, but I'm biased," the surgeon said with a smile.

    The donor's family wants to remain anonymous now, but released a statement through a regional donor bank saying that her spirit would live on through Tarleton and three other organ recipients.

    In 2009, Tarleton's now ex-husband Herbert Rodgers pleaded guilty to maiming her in exchange for a prison sentence of at least 30 years.

    Police previously said Rodgers believed his wife was seeing another man and went to her house to attack him. Tarleton mistook the intruder for a burglar at first and told him he could have whatever he wanted. Then Rodgers launched into a fury, fracturing one of Tarleton's eye sockets and breaking her arm with the bat.

    He had brought lye with him in a squeeze bottle and he poured it on Tarleton.

    When police arrived, the brunette's heart-shaped face already was distorted, her skin turning brown. She was trying to crawl into a shower to wash away the chemical.

    But now, the mother of two daughters talks about forgiveness and has a newly-published book called "Overcome: Burned, Blinded and Blessed."

    "Forgiveness is about helping ourselves, not the people who hurt us," read an image on a website Wednesday that promotes her book.

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vt-lye-victim-gets-face-boston-hospital-142851289.html

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    DARPA trying again to develop a high-speed VTOL aircraft

    DARPA trying again to develop a highspeed VTOL aircraft

    If at first your unmanned aerial vehicles don't succeed... try, try again? After a series of unsuccessful tests with the Boeing X-50 Dragonfly and Groen Heliplane, the US government is once again trying to develop a high-speed, vertical takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) aircraft. DARPA just announced the VTOL X-Plane program, a 52-month, $130 million project with one mission: to build an aircraft that can exceed 300 knots, achieve a hover efficiency of 75 percent or better, and hit a cruise lift-to-drag ratio of 10 or more.

    In layman's terms, such an aircraft would be faster than a traditional helicopter, but still have better hover efficiency than a modern high-speed 'copter. Sounds like a sensible idea, right? The thing is, DARPA doesn't know yet how such a thing would look: for now, the agency is merely soliciting proposals, with a particular emphasis on smaller, non-traditional companies nimble enough to develop products quickly. So if you've got any good ideas, may as well head on over to the source link, we guess, and try your luck.

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    Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/27/darpa-trying-again-to-develop-a-high-speed-vtol-aircraft/

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    Green Day's Armstrong comes clean on drink, prescription drugs

    LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said alcohol and prescription drug abuse forced him into rehab last year after sessions when he would black out and have no memory of what he had done.

    "I couldn't predict where I was going to end up at the end of the night," Armstrong, 41, the lead vocalist and songwriter for the California punk rock band told Rolling Stone magazine in an interview.

    "I'd wake up in a strange house on a couch. I wouldn't remember how. It was a complete blackout," he said, opening up about years of addiction to drink and prescription drugs.

    Green Day canceled their fall tour last year and postponed other dates after Armstrong entered treatment for what was described at the time only as "substance abuse."

    Armstrong said he decided finally to seek help after an onstage rant at the IHeartRadio music festival in Las Vegas in September 2012, where he angrily smashed his guitar after being told the band needed to wrap up their time on stage.

    Referring to the Las Vegas incident, Armstrong said "I remember tiny things."

    "The next morning, I woke up. I asked (my wife) Adrienne, "How bad was it?" She said, "It's bad." I called my manager. He said, "You're getting on a plane, going back to Oakland and going into rehab immediately," the singer told the magazine in an advance excerpt released on Tuesday.

    The band said in December that it would return to the road in March and Armstrong thanked fans for their support.

    Green Day, formed in the late 1980s, has sold more than 65 million records worldwide, won five Grammys and produced hit albums such as 1994's "Dookie," and 2004's "American Idiot."

    They are due to kick off their tour in Chicago on March 28.

    Armstrong's full interview with Rolling Stone will be available on U.S. newsstands on Friday.

    (Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Eric Walsh)

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/green-days-armstrong-comes-clean-drink-prescription-drugs-014338456.html

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    First Gaza rocket in 3 months rattles cease-fire

    Israeli explosives experts stand by an rocket fired from the northern Gaza Strip that landed near the costal city of Ashkelon, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. It was the first such projectile from the Palestinian territory to hit Israel since Israel-Gaza hostilities last November. The rocket fire came one day after Israeli troops injured two Palestinian teenagers near a holy site close to Bethlehem, during one of the many demonstrations Palestinians in the West Bank have staged in recent days. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

    Israeli explosives experts stand by an rocket fired from the northern Gaza Strip that landed near the costal city of Ashkelon, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. It was the first such projectile from the Palestinian territory to hit Israel since Israel-Gaza hostilities last November. The rocket fire came one day after Israeli troops injured two Palestinian teenagers near a holy site close to Bethlehem, during one of the many demonstrations Palestinians in the West Bank have staged in recent days. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

    A Palestinian man throws a stone towards Israeli soldiers after the funeral of Arafat Jaradat in the West Bank of Hebron, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. Thousands have attended the funeral procession of a 30-year-old Palestinian man who died under disputed circumstances in Israeli custody. Palestinian officials say autopsy results show Jaradat was tortured by Israeli interrogators, while Israeli officials say there's no conclusive cause of death yet and that more tests are needed.(AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

    Israeli security forces take positions during clashes after the funeral of Arafat Jaradat in the West Bank of Hebron, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. Thousands have attended the funeral procession of a 30-year-old Palestinian man who died under disputed circumstances in Israeli custody. Palestinian officials say autopsy results show Jaradat was tortured by Israeli interrogators, while Israeli officials say there's no conclusive cause of death yet and that more tests are needed.(AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

    Israeli border policemen fire tear gas during clashes after the funeral of Arafat Jaradat in the West Bank of Hebron, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. Thousands have attended the funeral procession of a 30-year-old Palestinian man who died under disputed circumstances in Israeli custody. Palestinian officials say autopsy results show Jaradat was tortured by Israeli interrogators, while Israeli officials say there's no conclusive cause of death yet and that more tests are needed.(AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

    (AP) ? Gaza militants on Tuesday fired a rocket into Israel for the first time in three months, rattling a cross-border truce that has held since Israel's last major military offensive against the Hamas-run territory.

    Militants claiming affiliation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement took responsibility for the attack, saying they fired the rocket to avenge the death of a Palestinian in Israeli custody.

    The detainee, Arafat Jaradat, 30, died over the weekend after interrogation by Israel's Shin Bet security services. Palestinian officials, citing an autopsy, said the detainee was tortured, while Israel says more tests are needed to determine the cause of death.

    Jaradat's death sparked protests in the West Bank, including near the town of Bethlehem on Monday.

    Two Palestinian teens, ages 13 and 16, were wounded in a confrontation with Israeli soldiers. The older boy was transferred to Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital after being shot in the head and was in critical condition Tuesday, breathing through a respirator, officials said.

    In the West Bank, Abbas on Tuesday accused the Israeli military of using increasingly harsh methods to clamp down on Palestinian rock-throwing protests.

    "We don't want tensions. We don't want escalation," Abbas said, rejecting recent allegations by Israeli officials that he was stoking tensions for political gains.

    The rocket from Gaza landed south of the Israeli city of Ashkelon early Tuesday, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. The rocket caused damage to a road, but no injuries, he said.

    It was the first rocket fired from Gaza since Israel's last major military offensive against rocket squads in the coastal strip last November. The Hamas militant group has ruled Gaza since ousting forces loyal to Abbas in 2007.

    Over the past decade, Gaza militants have fired thousands of short-range rockets and mortar shells at Israel, and Israel has responded with military strikes. In between periods of cross-border violence, informal cease-fires have taken hold.

    In an email sent to reporters, militants claiming affiliation with Fatah's violent offshoot, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, said they fired the rocket to avenge Jaradat, the detainee who died in Israeli custody. It was impossible to verify the claim. The Fatah-allied militant group has kept a low profile since the Hamas takeover.

    Hamas government spokesman Ehab Ghussein denied a rocket was fired, indicating the Islamic militant group was trying to distance itself from the incident. In the past, militant splinter groups have fired rockets at times when Hamas tried to discourage such attacks.

    Hamas has carefully enforced an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire that ended eight days of heavy fighting with Israel in November. Israel's army had no immediate comment.

    In the West Bank, there has been an increase in clashes between Palestinian stone throwers and Israeli troops in recent weeks.

    In Monday evening's confrontation near Bethlehem, the Israeli military said protesters threw "improvised hand grenades" at a Jewish shrine in the area, endangering worshippers inside.

    Soldiers fired at the legs of a Palestinian throwing grenades, lightly wounding him, the military said. Later, soldiers fired rubber-coated steel pellets at demonstrators, seriously wounding one who was taken to an Israeli hospital, the official said.

    Palestinian medical officials said two Palestinians, ages 13 and 16, were seriously wounded by live fire. The 13-year-old was wounded in the abdomen and the older boy in the head, the officials said.

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-26-Israel-Palestinians/id-0a1810c05a3f4a3d8b0ea9787c6c718f

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