PALM HARBOR, Fla., June 29 (UPI) -- Investigators in Florida said they had not determined what caused the death this week of 35-year-old former Major League pitcher Justin Miller.
Miller died Wednesday in his home city of Palm Harbor, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said.
Police did not say specifically where Miller died.
Miller spent seven years in the majors, playing for the Blue Jays, Marlins and Giants before wrapping up his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2010.
Miller compiled a 24-14 record and 4.82 ERA in his career, but he may be best known for his role in the 2004 rule requiring pitchers with tattoos on the forearms to wear long sleeves.
The so-called Justin Miller Rule was drafted after opposing hitters complained his colorful tats were a distraction, the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times said.
After retiring, Miller opened a baseball training center for young ballplayers in Clearwater. His wife, Jessica, told the Times coaching had become her husband's passion.
SAN FRANCISCO ? Child rights advocates tried to convince a U.S. judge on Friday that a Facebook legal settlement did not go far enough to keep content created by minors out of the hands of advertisers.
Five plaintiffs filed a proposed class action against Facebook in 2011, saying the social networking giant's "Sponsored Stories" program shared user's "likes" of certain advertisers without paying them or allowing them to opt out.
The case has highlighted tension between privacy concerns and Facebook's drive to monetize user content.
Under the terms of a proposed settlement, Facebook will pay $20 million to compensate class members, and promised to give users more control over how their content is shared ? changes which plaintiff lawyers estimate to be worth up to $145 million. Facebook charged advertisers nearly $234 million for Sponsored Stories between January 2011 and August 2012, court filings show.
U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco preliminarily approved the settlement last year, but he still must give it a final sign-off."
At a hearing on Friday, Children's Advocacy Institute attorney Robert Fellmeth told Seeborg that no minors should have their content shared with advertisers. Seeborg did not say how he would rule, but said his role is only to say if the settlement is fair.
"My function here is not to craft the perfect policy for minors," Seeborg said.
Related story: Facebook to pull ads from pages with sex, violence
Earlier this month, Facebook announced a retooling of its advertising product offerings and eliminated the term "Sponsored Stories," though the company can still share its members likes of different products. Facebook attorney Michael Rhodes said in court on Friday that the legal settlement would still cover those types of advertising practices.
Under the deal, impacted Facebook users can claim a cash payment of around $10 each to be paid from the settlement fund, and plaintiff lawyers are seeking $7.5 million in fees. Any money remaining would then go to charity.
Seeborg called the $145 million valuation of changes to Facebook's site "highly speculative." However, plaintiff lawyer Robert Arns said the changes were very significant. "We think it sets a new standard for all social media sites in the U.S.," Arns said.
The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is Angel Fraley et al., individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated vs. Facebook Inc, 11-cv-1726.
No cuts, no butts, no coconuts. It's something we were taught as we lined up for dismissal in grade school. It's a lesson we live with when in line at the grocery store or the ATM. It's an idea heavily enforced as we board planes by specific groups.
With that in mind, you can see why T.J. Grant was miffed when he heard Anthony Pettis trying to take his title shot with Benson Henderson at UFC 164. After an injury to Pettis forced him out of his featherweight title bout with Jose Aldo at UFC 163, Pettis said he wanted to fight later that month.
?I can be 100-percent ready to fight Benson Henderson in [at UFC 164] Milwaukee. With all due respect to TJ Grant, Milwaukee is my town and the fight with Ben is the fight everyone has wanted for years,? read a statement that Pettis released to Fuel TV. ?If it works out, great; if not, I will get my shot very soon. But I think we all know which fight the fans want to see and the entire city of Milwaukee!?
?I wish it was handled a little differently. Him of all people, I think it was disrespectful, to do that against someone who has earned the right to fight is not right,? Grant said to ESPN. ?Unfortunately he got hurt but it was low class, I thought. I didn?t want to get into the whole talking thing. I got here legitimately and earned it. Ultimately, what he was saying was that he wanted my title-shot which was incredibly disrespectful. It was pretty dirty.?
On two different occasions, Pettis had and then lost title shots. First, the draw between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard put Pettis back in line, and then the injury. You can see why Grant was upset when Pettis tried to do to him what has happened to Pettis before.
If you?re in search of a very easy and reliable solution to accelerate your retirement, you then really should consider becoming a landlord. Right now, greater than 30% folks homes are currently rented and insist for quality rental properties is solely predicted to grow within the coming months.? Because the market remains to be saturated with foreclosures, there?s never been a greater time for brand new investors so as to add this kind of steady and constant sources of income to their portfolio.
Although it sounds complicated, converting a foreclosure right into a rental property is way simpler than it kind of feels. Anyone, even novice investors, can go from ?looking? to ?leasing? in three months or less. You simply want to get accustomed to the method. Take a look at our new infographic to peer exactly how it?s done.
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This entry was posted on Friday, June 28th, 2013 at 8:56 pm and is filed under Blog & News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
The year is half over and investors don?t have much to show for it: A TSX loss of nearly 4%, the Canadian market is underperforming the U.S. and just about everything else, and there?s a market backdrop where all the rules for Canadian investors seemed to have changed overnight.
What?s new? Plenty and it?s not good.
Golds, which every Canadian has loved for 12 years, are dying. Every day, it seems, the sector is taken down another notch, even as they seem ?cheap.? The problem: massive fund redemptions and no buyers in sight.
REITs, which provided stable income and gains to investors for a decade, are now treated like lepers.
And telcos, one of the best places historically for both income and growth, are now dropping like a junior miner?s shares thanks to seemingly random CRTC rules on competition.
Everything is changing, so what sort of themes should you look for in the balance of the year? We?ve outlined five to consider, but keep in mind we are in a rapidly changing landscape. Flexibility might be an investor?s key to surviving what lies ahead.
Interest rates will keep rising, but not as much as you think
The devastation in the REIT and utility sector this past month was brought about by higher interest rates, and, more importantly, the fear of more rate increases to come. Suddenly, fixed-income payouts don?t seem so attractive.
But, seriously, is the economy really fixed? Are we surging so much that interest rates need to move way higher to slow things down? Hardly.
Yes, there is economic improvement, but we are not out of the woods yet. Rates are unlikely to head to 6% from their 2% levels now. Yields of 7% on REITs such as Artis (AX.UN/TSX) will start to look attractive again at some point.
Bonds are? dead
Despite the first theme, it might indeed be over now for the bond market. After years of bubble talk, the bond market may not have popped, but it surely has sprung a leak.
A bond coupon of 2% that is taxed at the highest rate, and then subtract 2% for inflation, means you lose money on your so-called safe investment. Compare that with the 14% market return in the U.S. and you can see why investors are reconsidering ? and selling ? their bonds.
Dividend growth is back
If the economy is going to grow again, investors will want to participate in that growth. Being the nervous nellies that investors are, however, they are still going to want dividends. Any company paying dividends that also has the ability to grow its dividend is going to attract interest.
For example, Alaris Royalty Corp. (AD/TSX) has increased its dividend not once, but twice this year alone. Its stock is up 30% on the year and investors ponied up $92-million for new Alaris shares this week.
Gold shares will bounce
Seriously. We don?t know when it will happen, but many gold companies are trading near their cash values or far below the replacement value of their still-profitable mines.
We?ve talked to many investors this month who are physically sick over the sector?s plunge. Generally, this means the bottom might be close. (Warning: It could still get very ugly before it gets better.)
We think the best buying opportunity will be in the late fall, when year-end tax-loss selling and portfolio position causes even more sector selling.
Takeovers will surge
CML Healthcare Inc. (CLC/TSX) this week received a cash takeover at a 49% premium. It?s likely the first of many deals to come over the balance of the year.
An improving economy, still-cheap money and very low valuations are an ideal combination for takeovers. The prime sectors to look at for deals are industrial, technology and REITs.
Peter Hodson, CFA, is CEO of 5i Research Inc., an independent research network providing conflict-free advice to individual investors (www.5iresearch.ca).
Deb Siegle, principal of Strategic Marketing Solutions, is an insightful marketing leader with a talent for aligning a company?s products, solutions and messages with the customer?s needs. Deb listens to the voice of the customer, analyzes what she hears, and creates a vision, strategy, and direction for her clients. She delivers actionable marketing results that increase customer loyalty and revenues.
Deb is a recognized consumer and business marketing leader, problem solver and communicator who is an authority in market research, strategy, and customer loyalty and experience.
Deb assists clients with strategic research, branding, positioning and messaging, market and product development and launch, technology and competitive analysis, and customer loyalty and experience projects. She helps clients ?get it right - the first time?. Deb helps clients improve their bottom line with each ?right step? ? to deliver the right products and services - using the right message - to the right people - in the right market - with the right experience. She quickly identifies and addresses core issues, developing actionable strategies and tactics that make a measurable difference to her clients.
Deb has more than 25 years of marketing, customer service, and sales experience in public and privately-held companies in high tech, healthcare/biotech/wellness, sustainability, and professional services. She brings a unique combination of strategic and tactical skills developed through hands-on line management experience at fast-growing companies.
Prior to founding Strategic Marketing Solutions, Deb held senior level positions in customer satisfaction and service, marketing, product management, and market development. She has also held leadership positions in various industry associations, and is currently president of WiT and a board member of WIC.
Deb is a popular speaker and has been featured in executive pod- and web-casts on "Customer Voice?, ?Building Customer Loyalty,? "The Power of Retention Marketing,? and ?How Research Can Reveal New Insights into Your Customers, Your Product, & Your Brand.?
Hancock Regional Hospital is hiring Physical Therapist - Home Health Care on Thu, 27 Jun 2013 09:40:35 GMT. Overview: May provide direct patient care for neonatal, pediatric, adolescent, adult/or geriatric hospice patients/clients by traveling to patient's place of residence within the agency's geographic service area. Responsibilities: Evaluation, provision/direction of treatment in patient's/client's home, assessment of home environment, provision of environmental modification recommendations and...
Location:Greenfield, Indiana
Description:Hancock Regional Hospital is hiring Physical Therapist - Home Health Care right now, this position will be dwelled in Indiana. More complete informations about this position opportunity kindly read the description below. Overview: May provide direct patient care for neonatal, pediatric, adolescent, adult/or geriatric hospice patients/clients by traveling to patient's ! place of residence within the agency's geographic service area.
Responsibilities: Evaluation, provision/direction of treatment in patient's/client's home, assessment of home environment, provision of environmental modification recommendations and documentation is required. Therapists are expected to communicate with patients, family, physicians and the interdisciplinary care team as well as interdisciplinary care planning, including goals and rehabilitation potential. Discharge planning is expected to be coordinated with the case manager.
Qualifications: Graduate of an accredited school of physical therapy and holder of a current permanent or temporary license from the Indiana Medical Licensing Board; knowledge of the healthcare system work environment and the role of the physical therapist in the “healthcare team”; ability to teach/instruct patients, families, caregivers and colleagues; demonstrates knowledge and technical skill ! necessary for providing competent, comprehensive patient care.! CPR certified. Possess an Indiana Driver's license and automobile liability coverage as required by the State of Indiana. *CB* - . If you were eligible to this position, please send us your resume, with salary requirements and a resume to Hancock Regional Hospital.
Interested on this position, just click on the Apply button, you will be redirected to the official website
This position will be opened on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 09:40:35 GMT
Policy issues plague hydropower as wind power backupPublic release date: 25-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: A'ndrea Elyse Messer aem1@psu.edu 814-865-9481 Penn State
Theoretically, hydropower can step in when wind turbines go still, but barriers to this non-polluting resource serving as a backup are largely policy- and regulation-based, according to Penn State researchers.
"We have a very clear realization that we need to make energy systems more sustainable," said Seth A. Blumsack, assistant professor of energy policy. "We want to reduce the environmental footprint -- carbon dioxide and conventional pollutants."
Americans also expect to have the system continue to work exactly as it is without blackouts and with low cost electricity. While wind and solar power are emission-free once installed, they are also subject to the whims of nature. The wind can suddenly cease to blow and an area can have minimal sunlight for days.
"Wind is the fastest growing renewable energy source in the U.S.," said Alisha R. Fernandez, graduate student in energy and mineral engineering.
The U.S. Department of Energy recently examined the feasibility of producing 20 percent of U.S. electricity from wind by 2030.
"Texas is either there or close," said Blumsack. "During certain periods, as much as 30 percent of their energy is generated by wind."
Reliance on wind requires that there be some backup technology to fill in when the wind does not blow. The technology has to be capable of coming on line quickly. Two types of electrical generation that fit this bill are natural gas and hydropower, but natural gas is not carbon neutral.
The researchers looked at the Kerr Dam in North Carolina as a case study. They report their results in a recent issue of Environmental Research Letters. The power produced by the Kerr Dam goes into the PJM segment of the electric grid -- Pennsylvania through Virginia on the East Coast, west to Indiana and also includes the Chicago area -- but agreements made before establishment of the PJM market mean that the Kerr Dam also supplies other local outlets.
Hydroelectric dams cannot simply release water to meet some electricity demand or hold back water when electricity is in low demand. Plants operate using guide curves that consider not only electric production, but also drinking water needs, irrigation, fish and wildlife requirements, recreation and minimum levels for droughts. These guide curves are created by the government agencies regulating the particular dam -- in the case of Kerr, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- but in other places it could be the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Colorado River Authority or other entities. In practice, the guide curves are currently based on one-week weather forecasts and their parameters take into account the requirements of a large variety of interested parties.
The researchers determined that the Kerr Dam could accommodate the unexpected variations in wind energy, but only if those operating the dam were allowed to meet the guide curve requirements over a two-week rather than one-week period of time.
"Changing guide curves is complex, time-consuming and may even require an act of Congress," said Blumsack. "Another problem is that two weeks is at the outer margin of weather prediction."
If hydro plants do not pledge to sell their electricity to make up for the variability of wind energy, they sell their excess on the spot market. The researchers found that changing the pricing of electricity so that backing up wind is more lucrative than the spot market would not make these multipurpose hydro facilities more prone to supply backup to wind power.
"Operational conflicts may be significantly reduced if the time length of the guide curve schedule was altered, yet such regulatory changes prove quite challenging given the institutional barriers surrounding water rights in the U.S.," said the researchers, who also include Patrick M. Reed, professor of civil engineering, Cornell University.
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The National Science Foundation supported this research.
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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.
Policy issues plague hydropower as wind power backupPublic release date: 25-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: A'ndrea Elyse Messer aem1@psu.edu 814-865-9481 Penn State
Theoretically, hydropower can step in when wind turbines go still, but barriers to this non-polluting resource serving as a backup are largely policy- and regulation-based, according to Penn State researchers.
"We have a very clear realization that we need to make energy systems more sustainable," said Seth A. Blumsack, assistant professor of energy policy. "We want to reduce the environmental footprint -- carbon dioxide and conventional pollutants."
Americans also expect to have the system continue to work exactly as it is without blackouts and with low cost electricity. While wind and solar power are emission-free once installed, they are also subject to the whims of nature. The wind can suddenly cease to blow and an area can have minimal sunlight for days.
"Wind is the fastest growing renewable energy source in the U.S.," said Alisha R. Fernandez, graduate student in energy and mineral engineering.
The U.S. Department of Energy recently examined the feasibility of producing 20 percent of U.S. electricity from wind by 2030.
"Texas is either there or close," said Blumsack. "During certain periods, as much as 30 percent of their energy is generated by wind."
Reliance on wind requires that there be some backup technology to fill in when the wind does not blow. The technology has to be capable of coming on line quickly. Two types of electrical generation that fit this bill are natural gas and hydropower, but natural gas is not carbon neutral.
The researchers looked at the Kerr Dam in North Carolina as a case study. They report their results in a recent issue of Environmental Research Letters. The power produced by the Kerr Dam goes into the PJM segment of the electric grid -- Pennsylvania through Virginia on the East Coast, west to Indiana and also includes the Chicago area -- but agreements made before establishment of the PJM market mean that the Kerr Dam also supplies other local outlets.
Hydroelectric dams cannot simply release water to meet some electricity demand or hold back water when electricity is in low demand. Plants operate using guide curves that consider not only electric production, but also drinking water needs, irrigation, fish and wildlife requirements, recreation and minimum levels for droughts. These guide curves are created by the government agencies regulating the particular dam -- in the case of Kerr, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- but in other places it could be the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Colorado River Authority or other entities. In practice, the guide curves are currently based on one-week weather forecasts and their parameters take into account the requirements of a large variety of interested parties.
The researchers determined that the Kerr Dam could accommodate the unexpected variations in wind energy, but only if those operating the dam were allowed to meet the guide curve requirements over a two-week rather than one-week period of time.
"Changing guide curves is complex, time-consuming and may even require an act of Congress," said Blumsack. "Another problem is that two weeks is at the outer margin of weather prediction."
If hydro plants do not pledge to sell their electricity to make up for the variability of wind energy, they sell their excess on the spot market. The researchers found that changing the pricing of electricity so that backing up wind is more lucrative than the spot market would not make these multipurpose hydro facilities more prone to supply backup to wind power.
"Operational conflicts may be significantly reduced if the time length of the guide curve schedule was altered, yet such regulatory changes prove quite challenging given the institutional barriers surrounding water rights in the U.S.," said the researchers, who also include Patrick M. Reed, professor of civil engineering, Cornell University.
###
The National Science Foundation supported this research.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The Ouya has hit store shelves, and after a small delay, Nvidia?s Shield will release as well. As the two pioneers of the Android gaming console market, the Ouya and Shield have taught us all one thing: Android gaming consoles are about the potential of the Android platform, not the quality of Android gaming as it exists today.
Along with the Kickstarted GameStick, the Ouya and the Shield compose the initial triumvirate of Android gaming consoles. Each are going about it their own way. Nvidia?s Shield is a portable gaming device ? in the sense that it?s like a 3DS or PS Vita ? that is focused on top-of-the-line hardware using Tegra 4, a very pretty screen, and other high-end specs all at the high-end price of $299. The Ouya, on the other hand, is going for cheap and easy. For only $99, you get a tiny Tegra 3 console complete with wireless gaming controller, 1GB of RAM, and 1080p HDMI output. The GameStick lands somewhere between the Ouya and Shield. It is a standard MHL stick which can plug into a displa, but also be carried everywhere more easily than something with a bunch of wires sticking out of it.
The devices all have their pros: the Shield has fancy hardware, the Ouya is cheap and has exclusives, and the GameStick is even cheaper ($79) and more portable. They also all have their cons: the Shield is only $100 less than a brand-new PS4, the Ouya is buggy and has a limited games library, the GameStick doesn?t yet exist in any tangibly marketable way. They all share one unique con: they?re Android gaming consoles. However, what makes that disadvantage interesting is that it could morph into a major advantage.
Giving the Shield?s PC streaming capabilities a go.
Now, this isn?t to say that Android games aren?t good, or that Android game developers haven?t put their heart and soul into creating the best game they could. The real issue is that Android in its current state just isn?t the platform for top-tier video game experiences. For better or worse, iOS is the mobile platform where prominent mobile games reside and the 3DS and PS Vita are where even richer portable gaming experiences lie.
The PC is as open ? if not more open ? a gaming platform as Android, yet provides more in-depth experiences. Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and PC consoles are where the big budget, triple-A titles live. Android, in its current state, is just not where people go to play ? or to publish ? today?s best games.
When listening to the Shield, Ouya, and GameStick PR spiels, the one running theme is that Android gaming could be set to explode thanks to the open platform. That?s completely correct. However, ?could be? doesn?t mean ?will.? In the Ouya?s case, $99 seems like a fair price for a speculative purchase. However, if Android gaming doesn?t fulfill its potential, that $99 could have bought you Naughty Dog?s?The Last of Us?or an entire year of an MMO subscription. Both of those purchases would do more for you than a Android console that might sit around and occupy an HDMI port ever would.
So, if there aren?t enough (or any, perhaps) top-tier video game experiences on the Android platform, surely filling the market with consoles would attract developers, which in turn would lead to the development of some top-tier games, right? While that is potentially true ? as it is with Steam for Linux?? that still means Android gaming consoles are focused on what may happen down the line, not what is happening now.
As the Wii U is currently proving, if there aren?t any games people want they simply won?t buy the console. As the Wii?s massive hardware success but third-place software sales taught us, potential only gets you so far, especially if it?s never fulfilled. The record-breaking success of the PlayStation 2 showed us that, despite subpar hardware specs, the hardware doesn?t make the console, the games do. At the moment, the Android gaming platform simply doesn?t have the titles to compete with every other gaming platform that?s out there. You?re buying into the hope that it one day will.
Now read:?This is why Nvidia?s Shield will fail.?Alternatively read:?Why Nvidia?s Shield will succeed
How cholera-causing bacteria respond to pressurePublic release date: 24-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rita Sullivan King news@rupress.org 212-327-8603 Rockefeller University Press
Cholera remains common in non-industrialized parts of the world today. It persists in part because V. cholera, the bacteria that causes the disease, is able to survive in diverse environments ranging from the intestinal lumen, to fresh water, to estuaries, to the sea. A study in The Journal of General Physiology provides new insights about the membrane components of V. cholera that enable it to withstand otherwise deadly increases in osmotic pressure resulting from changes in its surrounding environment.
Like other bacteria, V. cholera utilizes mechanosensitive channels to respond to rapid shifts in the external osmolarity. But the specific details of how it does so are unclear. Now, researchers from the University of Maryland utilize techniques previously used on E. coli to analyze the functional properties of V. cholera. Sergei Sukharev and colleagues performed the first patch-clamp analysis of channels in the plasma membrane of V. cholera and compared them with those in E. coli. They found that the gating and conductive properties of V. cholerae channels were comparable to those of their E. coli counterparts. A further comparison of the responses of channels in the two species indicated that, whereas small-conductance MscS-like channels were less dense in V. cholerae than in E. coli, large conductance MscL-type channels were present at higher density. Surprisingly, however, V. cholerae was more sensitive than E. coli to abrupt decreases in osmolarity. The findings suggest that the increased number of MscL channels might help compensate for other traits rendering V. cholerae vulnerable to osmotic shock.
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About The Journal of General Physiology
Founded in 1918, The Journal of General Physiology (JGP) is published by The Rockefeller University Press. All editorial decisions on manuscripts submitted are made by active scientists in conjunction with our in-house scientific editor. JGP content is posted to PubMed Central, where it is available to the public for free six months after publication. Authors retain copyright of their published works and third parties may reuse the content for non-commercial purposes under a creative commons license. For more information, please visit http://www.jgp.org.
Rowe, I., et al. 2013. J. Gen. Physiol. doi:10.1083/jgp.201310985
Adler, E.M. 2013 J. Gen. Physiol. doi:10.1083/jgp.201311041
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?
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.
How cholera-causing bacteria respond to pressurePublic release date: 24-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rita Sullivan King news@rupress.org 212-327-8603 Rockefeller University Press
Cholera remains common in non-industrialized parts of the world today. It persists in part because V. cholera, the bacteria that causes the disease, is able to survive in diverse environments ranging from the intestinal lumen, to fresh water, to estuaries, to the sea. A study in The Journal of General Physiology provides new insights about the membrane components of V. cholera that enable it to withstand otherwise deadly increases in osmotic pressure resulting from changes in its surrounding environment.
Like other bacteria, V. cholera utilizes mechanosensitive channels to respond to rapid shifts in the external osmolarity. But the specific details of how it does so are unclear. Now, researchers from the University of Maryland utilize techniques previously used on E. coli to analyze the functional properties of V. cholera. Sergei Sukharev and colleagues performed the first patch-clamp analysis of channels in the plasma membrane of V. cholera and compared them with those in E. coli. They found that the gating and conductive properties of V. cholerae channels were comparable to those of their E. coli counterparts. A further comparison of the responses of channels in the two species indicated that, whereas small-conductance MscS-like channels were less dense in V. cholerae than in E. coli, large conductance MscL-type channels were present at higher density. Surprisingly, however, V. cholerae was more sensitive than E. coli to abrupt decreases in osmolarity. The findings suggest that the increased number of MscL channels might help compensate for other traits rendering V. cholerae vulnerable to osmotic shock.
###
About The Journal of General Physiology
Founded in 1918, The Journal of General Physiology (JGP) is published by The Rockefeller University Press. All editorial decisions on manuscripts submitted are made by active scientists in conjunction with our in-house scientific editor. JGP content is posted to PubMed Central, where it is available to the public for free six months after publication. Authors retain copyright of their published works and third parties may reuse the content for non-commercial purposes under a creative commons license. For more information, please visit http://www.jgp.org.
Rowe, I., et al. 2013. J. Gen. Physiol. doi:10.1083/jgp.201310985
Adler, E.M. 2013 J. Gen. Physiol. doi:10.1083/jgp.201311041
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The budget tablet realm was once strictly reserved for no-name devices that were shoddy at best. That's all changed with companies like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Google itself offering up budget-friendly, high-quality tablets that put those fringe devices of yesteryear to shame. The Idolian Studio 10 falls somewhere in between, with a low $258 (direct) asking price, but some frustrating compromises. The sturdy aluminum frame and generous port selection are nice, but it suffers from Wi-Fi issues, bugs, and short battery life. If money is your greatest concern, I'd pony up the extra cash for a tablet like the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9"?or save $50 with the Coby MID1065.
Design and Features Judging by outward appearances, the Studio 10 doesn't look or feel cheap. It's got a substantial, if somewhat hefty, aluminum body that feels sturdy in the hand and yields almost no flex. At 10.1 by 6.9 by 0.4 inches (HWD) and 1.29 pounds, it's in line with the MID1065 in terms of size and weight. A plastic panel along the left edge houses a microSD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, micro USB and mini HDMI ports, and a DC power input. Like the MID1065, the Studio 10 syncs via micro USB, but requires the included power brick to charge. The micro USB port also supports USB OTG, and Idolian includes an adapter for plugging in peripherals like USB mice and keyboards?both of which worked fine in my tests. ?
The 1,280-by-800 pixel IPS display isn't bad, but it's unremarkable. It gets bright and viewing angles are good. Colors skew a little cool, as whites have a bit of a blue hue, and I noticed some backlight bleeding at the edges. It's neck and neck with the Coby MID1065 on the display front, while coming a bit short of tablets like the Toshiba Excite 10 SE.
This is a Wi-Fi-only tablet that connects to 802.11b/g/n networks on the 2.4GHz frequency. During testing, the Studio 10 had some trouble reconnecting to Wi-Fi when woken from sleep?there were noticeable delays even though saved networks were within range. The tablet also supports Bluetooth 2.1 and connected easily with a pair of wireless headphones
Performance and Android The Studio 10 is powered by a dual-core 1.6GHz Cortex-A9 processor with 1GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage. Performance is generally swift, and the Studio 10 did well on most of our benchmarks?besting the MID1065 in many categories. And while the MID1065 was plagued by choppy real-world performance, the Studio 10 feels much smoother in operation. Gaming performance is decent, with games like Temple Run 2 running without a hitch, but don't expect high framerates on more graphically intensive games like Real Racing 3.
The software loaded onto the Studio 10 is a mixed bag. It's running Android 4.1.1 "Jelly Bean," which is a step up from the MID1065's 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich," but buggy Google apps hold this tablet back. Google apps like the Play Store, Gmail, and Chrome are disabled by default?you have to dig into the settings, find Developer options, then uncheck "Hide Google Application." Idolian says it is still working out the kinks with its Google certification, but promised future firmware updates to resolve any bugs. As it stands, the Studio 10 can access the Play Store and its hundreds of thousands of apps, but I found frustrating deficiencies, like the fact that Chrome did not work during testing.
For media support, the Studio 10 handles Xvid, DivX, MPEG4, H.264, and AVI videos at up to 1080p resolution. For audio, you get MP3, AAC, FLAC, OGG, WAV, and WMA support. Screen mirroring worked fine using a mini HDMI cable, and the tablet was able to output video at 720p or 1080p resolution. If you absolutely need a camera on your tablet, there are front- and rear-facing 2-megapixel cameras, but they are not worth using?details are smudged, image noise is overwhelming, and dynamic range is non-existent.
In our battery rundown test, which loops a video with screen brightness set to max and Wi-Fi on, the Studio 10 lasted 3 hours, 56 minutes, which is disappointing. Compare that with the MID1065's 4 hours, 37 minutes or the Excite 10 SE's 7 hours, 37 minutes.
Conclusions The Idolian Studio 10 may look and feel like a more expensive tablet, but it makes a number of compromises to ring in at a budget-friendly price. Chief among them is haphazard Google apps implementation that can leave novices in the dark. And even if you know your way around Android, the Studio 10 can still give you problems. Performance-wise, it's right in line with budget options like the MID1065, which is even less expensive than the Studio 10. So if you have more room in your budget, I'd recommend a tablet like the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9", which gets you a far sharper display, better performance, and a much smoother software experience.?
So I got an email from a publicist asking me if I was interested in what has become a tremendously popular story on BuzzFeed titled "8 Foods We Eat In The US That Are Banned In Other Countries."
Curious, I clicked, as have more than 4 million other readers.
So, what's my beef? Well, one of the eight bad boys of the U.S. food supply, according to the author, is arsenic.
And I get it: No one would choose to eat a toxic chemical. But the claims made by the author ? based on a book by Dr. Jayson Calton and Mira Calton called Rich Food, Poor Food ? are out-of-date and misleading.
The article concludes that arsenic is used in chicken feed to "make meat appear pinker and fresher." And for more information, Buzzfeed linked to an article that I wrote (the site has since pulled the link; see below).
But if anyone at Buzzfeed had actually read my story, they would have learned that, while the poultry industry once used an arsenic-based drug called Roxarsone to stave off infections in chickens, it was pulled from the market by its manufacturer in 2011. And the National Chicken Council says that broiler chicken producers are no longer using arsenic-based drugs.
Now, the claim that arsenic "will kill you if you ingest enough," as the article concludes, is true. But as scientists like to point out, the dose makes the poison. So let's look at the dose here.
Chicken meat (tested in a study done before Roxarsone was pulled from the market) contained about 2.3 ppb ? that's parts per billion ? of inorganic arsenic, which is far below the 500 ppb tolerance levels set by the FDA.
Over the weekend, BuzzFeed pulled the link to my post and put up a correction notice stating: "Some studies linked in the original version of this article were concerning unrelated issues. They have been replaced with information directly from the book Rich Food, Poor Food (6/22/12)."
But here's the thing: My post was not unrelated to the topic. It just didn't support the notion that there was a danger here.
Derek Lowe, a chemist and science blogger, has taken on many of the other claims in the "8 Foods" piece ? for instance, the statement that brominated vegetable oil found in many sports drinks and citrus-flavored sodas is ? as the article says ? "linked to major organ system damage, birth defects, growth problems, schizophrenia, and hearing loss."
As Lowe explains, bromine is a "hideously toxic substance" ? used as a flame-retardant and as a battlefield gas. But, he gives a little chemistry lesson to explain that what ends up our food supply ? brominated vegetable oil ? is chemically quite different. And he, too, points to the issue of dose.
"In very high amounts drunk over a long period of time, BVO can build up in the body and cause toxic effects," concludes a WebMD article which the BuzzFeed article linked to.
For instance, there was a case of a man who'd been complaining of headaches and fatigue who was found to have high levels of bromide in his blood.
But how much was he drinking? Two to four liters of soda every day, according to the report. Writes Lowe:
"This piece really is an education. Not about food, or about chemistry - on the contrary, reading it for those purposes will make you noticeably less intelligent than you were before, and consider that a fair warning. The educational part is in the "What a fool believes" category."
Ouch.
There are other items on the list that seem to be yesterday's concerns. For instance, the fat substitute Olestra. Proctor & Gamble gave up on marketing the fat-substitute years ago, and it seems now there are just a few fat-free potato chips left on the market that still contain it.
And earlier this year, PepsiCo announced that it would pull BVO (brominated vegetable oil) from Gatorade sports drinks.
Lowering costs for higher-cost medicare patients through better outpatient care may be limitedPublic release date: 24-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Marge Dwyer mhdwyer@hsph.harvard.edu 617-432-8416 The JAMA Network Journals
In an analysis that included a sample of patients in the top portion of Medicare spending, only a small percentage of their costs appeared to be related to preventable emergency department visits and hospitalizations, limiting the ability to lower costs for these patients through better outpatient care, according to a study in the June 26 issue of JAMA. The study is being released early to coincide with its presentation at the AcademyHealth annual research meeting.
"High and increasing health care costs are arguably the single biggest threat to the long-term fiscal solvency of federal and state governments in the United States. One compelling strategy for cost containment is focusing on the small proportion of patients in the Medicare programs who account for the vast majority of health care spending. We know from prior work that Medicare spending is highly concentrated: 10 percent of the Medicare population accounts for more than half of the costs to the program," according to background information in the article.
The biggest sources of spending among high-cost beneficiaries are those related to acute care: emergency department (ED) visits and inpatient hospitalizations. "As a result, many interventions targeting high-cost patients have focused on case management and care coordination, aiming to prevent ED visits and hospitalizations for conditions thought amenable to improvement through high-quality outpatient management programs. The premise behind these and related interventions is that high-quality outpatient care should reduce unnecessary hospitalizations for high-cost patients. However, there are few data on the proportion of inpatient hospitalizations among high-cost patients that are potentially preventable," the authors write.
Karen E. Joynt, M.D., M.P.H., of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and colleagues conducted a study to quantify the preventability of high-cost Medicare patients' acute care spending. The researchers summed standardized costs for each inpatient and outpatient service contained in standard 5 percent Medicare files from 2009 and 2010 across the year for each patient in their sample, and defined those in the top decile (one of ten groups) of spending in 2010 as high-cost patients and those in the top decile in both 2009 and 2010 as persistently high-cost patients. Standard algorithms were used to identify potentially preventable emergency department visits and acute care inpatient hospitalizations. A total of 1,114,469 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries 65 years of age or older were included.
The high-cost patient group, which included 10 percent of the patients in this sample, were older, more often male and more often black. This group was responsible for 32.9 percent of ED costs and 79.0 percent of inpatient costs. Within the high-cost group, 42.6 percent of ED visits were deemed to be preventable. These visits were associated with 41 percent of the ED costs within this group. The most common reasons for preventable hospitalization in high-cost patients were congestive heart failure, bacterial pneumonia, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Within the high-cost group, 9.6 percent of hospital costs were attributable to preventable hospitalization. Within the non-high-cost group, though overall spending was significantly lower, a higher proportion of inpatient costs were potentially preventable (16.8 percent).
"Comparable proportions of ED spending (43.3 percent) and inpatient spending (13.5 percent) were preventable among persistently high-cost patients. Regions with high primary care physician supply had higher preventable spending for high-cost patients," the authors write.
"The biggest drivers of inpatient spending for high-cost patients were catastrophic events such as sepsis, stroke, and myocardial infarction, as well as cancer and expensive orthopedic procedures such as spine surgery and hip replacement. These findings suggest that strategies focused on enhanced outpatient management of chronic disease, while critically important, may not be focused on the biggest and most expensive problems plaguing Medicare's high-cost patients."
The researchers add that their "findings suggest that a complementary approach to saving money on acute care services for high-cost patients may be to additionally focus on reducing per-episode costs for high-cost disease entities through clinical innovation and care delivery redesign."
(JAMA. 2013;309(24):2572-2578; Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com)
Editor's Note: This study was funded by the Rx Foundation and the West Wireless Foundation. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, etc.
Editorial: New Evidence Supports, Challenges, and Informs the Ambitions of Health Reform
Aaron E. Carroll, M.D., M.S., of the Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, and Austin B. Frakt, Ph.D., of the VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health, Boston, comment on the findings of this study in an accompanying editorial.
"These findings certainly do not suggest abandoning efforts to reduce preventable emergency department use and hospitalizations. Joynt et al do not consider the social cost of this utilization. Even though avoiding some emergency department use and hospital admissions might not save much moneyand certainly not enough to declare victory in controlling health spendingpreventing such use when possible would be of substantial benefit to patients, both those who would otherwise use these services and those who have their care delayed because of overburdened emergency department and hospital resources. Even with no cost savings, reducing preventable use of high-intensity and capacity-constrained care would enhance efficiency. Improvements to quality are not always substantial cost savers but still may be worthwhile."
(JAMA. 2013;309(24):2600-2601; Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com)
Editor's Note: The authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and none were reported.
###
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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.
Lowering costs for higher-cost medicare patients through better outpatient care may be limitedPublic release date: 24-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Marge Dwyer mhdwyer@hsph.harvard.edu 617-432-8416 The JAMA Network Journals
In an analysis that included a sample of patients in the top portion of Medicare spending, only a small percentage of their costs appeared to be related to preventable emergency department visits and hospitalizations, limiting the ability to lower costs for these patients through better outpatient care, according to a study in the June 26 issue of JAMA. The study is being released early to coincide with its presentation at the AcademyHealth annual research meeting.
"High and increasing health care costs are arguably the single biggest threat to the long-term fiscal solvency of federal and state governments in the United States. One compelling strategy for cost containment is focusing on the small proportion of patients in the Medicare programs who account for the vast majority of health care spending. We know from prior work that Medicare spending is highly concentrated: 10 percent of the Medicare population accounts for more than half of the costs to the program," according to background information in the article.
The biggest sources of spending among high-cost beneficiaries are those related to acute care: emergency department (ED) visits and inpatient hospitalizations. "As a result, many interventions targeting high-cost patients have focused on case management and care coordination, aiming to prevent ED visits and hospitalizations for conditions thought amenable to improvement through high-quality outpatient management programs. The premise behind these and related interventions is that high-quality outpatient care should reduce unnecessary hospitalizations for high-cost patients. However, there are few data on the proportion of inpatient hospitalizations among high-cost patients that are potentially preventable," the authors write.
Karen E. Joynt, M.D., M.P.H., of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and colleagues conducted a study to quantify the preventability of high-cost Medicare patients' acute care spending. The researchers summed standardized costs for each inpatient and outpatient service contained in standard 5 percent Medicare files from 2009 and 2010 across the year for each patient in their sample, and defined those in the top decile (one of ten groups) of spending in 2010 as high-cost patients and those in the top decile in both 2009 and 2010 as persistently high-cost patients. Standard algorithms were used to identify potentially preventable emergency department visits and acute care inpatient hospitalizations. A total of 1,114,469 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries 65 years of age or older were included.
The high-cost patient group, which included 10 percent of the patients in this sample, were older, more often male and more often black. This group was responsible for 32.9 percent of ED costs and 79.0 percent of inpatient costs. Within the high-cost group, 42.6 percent of ED visits were deemed to be preventable. These visits were associated with 41 percent of the ED costs within this group. The most common reasons for preventable hospitalization in high-cost patients were congestive heart failure, bacterial pneumonia, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Within the high-cost group, 9.6 percent of hospital costs were attributable to preventable hospitalization. Within the non-high-cost group, though overall spending was significantly lower, a higher proportion of inpatient costs were potentially preventable (16.8 percent).
"Comparable proportions of ED spending (43.3 percent) and inpatient spending (13.5 percent) were preventable among persistently high-cost patients. Regions with high primary care physician supply had higher preventable spending for high-cost patients," the authors write.
"The biggest drivers of inpatient spending for high-cost patients were catastrophic events such as sepsis, stroke, and myocardial infarction, as well as cancer and expensive orthopedic procedures such as spine surgery and hip replacement. These findings suggest that strategies focused on enhanced outpatient management of chronic disease, while critically important, may not be focused on the biggest and most expensive problems plaguing Medicare's high-cost patients."
The researchers add that their "findings suggest that a complementary approach to saving money on acute care services for high-cost patients may be to additionally focus on reducing per-episode costs for high-cost disease entities through clinical innovation and care delivery redesign."
(JAMA. 2013;309(24):2572-2578; Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com)
Editor's Note: This study was funded by the Rx Foundation and the West Wireless Foundation. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, etc.
Editorial: New Evidence Supports, Challenges, and Informs the Ambitions of Health Reform
Aaron E. Carroll, M.D., M.S., of the Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, and Austin B. Frakt, Ph.D., of the VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health, Boston, comment on the findings of this study in an accompanying editorial.
"These findings certainly do not suggest abandoning efforts to reduce preventable emergency department use and hospitalizations. Joynt et al do not consider the social cost of this utilization. Even though avoiding some emergency department use and hospital admissions might not save much moneyand certainly not enough to declare victory in controlling health spendingpreventing such use when possible would be of substantial benefit to patients, both those who would otherwise use these services and those who have their care delayed because of overburdened emergency department and hospital resources. Even with no cost savings, reducing preventable use of high-intensity and capacity-constrained care would enhance efficiency. Improvements to quality are not always substantial cost savers but still may be worthwhile."
(JAMA. 2013;309(24):2600-2601; Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com)
Editor's Note: The authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and none were reported.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
No cuts, no butts, no coconuts. It's something we were taught as we lined up for dismissal in grade school. It's a lesson we live with when in line at the grocery store or the ATM. It's an idea heavily enforced as we board planes by specific groups.
About Deborah Siegle
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Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
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When listening to the Shield, Ouya, and GameStick PR spiels, the one running theme is that Android gaming could be set to explode thanks to the open platform. That?s completely correct. However, ?could be? doesn?t mean ?will.? In the Ouya?s case, $99 seems like a fair price for a speculative purchase. However, if Android gaming doesn?t fulfill its potential, that $99 could have bought you Naughty Dog?s?The Last of Us?or an entire year of an MMO subscription. Both of those purchases would do more for you than a Android console that might sit around and occupy an HDMI port ever would.