Seatbelts for pets have a 100 percent failure rate in crash tests

(NaturalNews) It may sound like nonsense to some of you, but there are those who travel with their pets and in doing so would like to keep them safe when they are on the road.

Some innovative companies have honed in on this consumer "need" and have been working on products designed to lower risks to pets when traveling, particularly in automobiles. One such innovation is called a dog harness.

Only, so far anyway, none of the dog harnesses widely used by pet owners can withstand crash testing; all of them have failed miserably, according to recent reports. From CBSMiami:

A first-of-its-kind crash test for dog harnesses widely used by pet owners showed that none offer adequate protection, with not a single harness passing the test. The non-profit Center for Pet Safety (CPS) said during its harness tests, crash-test dog dummies turned into projectiles and were even decapitated.

Not a good start for a product designed to protect your pet.

"We tested them to the child safety restraint standard and we experienced a 100 percent failure rate to protect either the consumer or the dog," CPS founder and CEO Lindsey Wolko told My33, the local CBS affiliate. "That is a very real concern for consumers."

Indeed.

CPS did not disclose which harnesses it tested over fears that even fewer people would secure their pets while riding in automobiles.

But then again, if the harnesses it tested were ineffective, what would be the point of trying to secure them?

Well, Wolko says that, though some harness makers claim to do their own testing, there's no government standard. That, she says, leads to an unregulated industry that can be dangerous for drivers (personally I was shocked that any "industry" in the U.S. remained unregulated, but that's just me).

Some veterinarians are coming down on the side of "a little protection is better than no protection," or, at least, the "appearance" of protection. One of them is Dr. Kim Haddad, who has treated pets that have sustained injuries in motor vehicle accidents.

"Broken legs, broken jaws, soft tissue injury, it can be pretty traumatic," Haddad told My33.

Still, while injuries can be far worse for pets whose owners allow them to roam inside vehicles freely, just using a harness isn't good enough either. And, in some cases, harnesses can prove to be just as lethal as getting thrown around a vehicle during an accident.

"Something is better than nothing, but again, it is only going to be as good as the manufacturer, the fit and the user application of the product," Haddad said.

Not surprisingly, there is an organization - in this case the American Automobile Association (AAA) - that has researched the issue of pets riding free in vehicles. AAA says 20 percent of dog owners have admitted allowing their pets ride unrestrained. No word on whether these same owners had heard of the failure of dog harnesses to protect their pets.

A few states currently require drivers to secure their pets in their vehicles, and others are considering new laws preventing motor vehicle operators from driving distracted (a pet in your lap would qualify). But CPS is concerned that, in light of its tests, such laws might give pet owners a false sense of security; they might assume, for example, that because a law requires harnesses that they, in turn, meet some sort of safety standard.

Now, in light of that possibility, CPS says it wants to see standardized testing that is similar to that conducted for child safety seats. The group also says it would like for legislators to educate themselves on pet harness safety standards before actually passing laws that would require restraints.

Sources for this article include:

http://miami.cbslocal.com

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=274

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com

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Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/041010_pet_seatbelts_car_crash_safety_restraints.html

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Hospitals seek high-tech help for hand hygiene

In this Thursday, June 20, 2013 photo, Theresa Gratton, infection prevention coordinator at St. Mary's Health Center, wears a device to help remind health care workers to keep their hands clean at the hospital in Richmond Heights, Mo. In the past, hospitals have mostly relied on education, threats of discipline and reports from observers to try and make sure staff keep their hands clean but St. Mary's began testing the device about a year ago and officials say they've been stunned by how well the system works.(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

In this Thursday, June 20, 2013 photo, Theresa Gratton, infection prevention coordinator at St. Mary's Health Center, wears a device to help remind health care workers to keep their hands clean at the hospital in Richmond Heights, Mo. In the past, hospitals have mostly relied on education, threats of discipline and reports from observers to try and make sure staff keep their hands clean but St. Mary's began testing the device about a year ago and officials say they've been stunned by how well the system works.(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Mo. (AP) ? Hospitals have fretted for years over how to make sure doctors, nurses and staff keep their hands clean, but with only limited success. Now, some are turning to technology ? beepers, buzzers, lights and tracking systems that remind workers to sanitize, and chart those who don't.

Health experts say poor hand cleanliness is a factor in hospital-borne infections that kill tens of thousands of Americans each year. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta estimates that one of every 20 patients in U.S. hospitals gets a hospital-acquired infection each year.

"We've known for over 150 years that good hand hygiene prevents patients from getting infections," said Dr. John Jernigan, an epidemiologist for the CDC. "However, it's been a very chronic and difficult problem to get adherence levels up as high as we'd like them to be."

Hospitals have tried varying ways to promote better hygiene. Signs are posted in restrooms. Some even employ monitors who keep tabs and single out offenders.

Still, experts believe hospital workers wash up, at best, about 50 percent of the time. One St. Louis-area hospital believes it can approach 100 percent adherence.

Since last year, SSM St. Mary's Health Center in the St. Louis suburb of Richmond Heights, Mo., has been the test site for a system developed by Biovigil Inc., of Ann Arbor, Mich. A flashing light on a badge turns green when hands are clean, red if they're not. It also tracks each hand-cleaning opportunity ? the successes and the failures.

The failures have been few at the two units of St. Mary's where the system is being tested, the hospital said. One unit had 97 percent hand hygiene success, said Dr. Morey Gardner, the hospital's director of infection disease and prevention. The other had 99 percent success.

"The holy grail of infection prevention is in our grasp," Gardner said.

The Biovigil system is among many being tried at hospitals. A method developed by Arrowsight, based in Mt. Kisco, N.Y., uses video monitoring. It is being used in intensive care units at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y., and the University of California San Francisco Medical Center.

Akron, Ohio-based GOJO Industries, maker of Purell hand sanitizer, has developed an electronic compliance monitoring system using wireless technology to track when soap and hand sanitizer dispensers are used. The SmartLink system gives the hospital data on high- and low-compliance areas. The company said it has installed the system at several hospitals around the country, but didn't say how many.

HyGreen Inc.'s Hand Hygiene Reminder System was developed by two University of Florida doctors. The Gainesville, Fla., company now features two systems used in seven hospitals, including Veterans Administration hospitals in Chicago, Wilmington, Del., and Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

One is similar to Biovigil's green badge method. In HyGreen's, a wall-mounted hand wash sensor detects alcohol on the hands. The badge includes an active reminding system. Unclean hands create a warning buzz. If the buzz sounds three times, the worker is noted for noncompliance.

HyGreen spokeswoman Elena Fraser said that because some hospitals are moving away from alcohol-based sanitizers, HyGreen offers a second system. A touch of the sanitizer dispenser clears the worker to interact with a patient. If the worker shows up at the patient bed without hand-cleaning, the series of warning buzzes begins.

Fraser said hospital infections have dropped 66 percent at units of Miami Children's Hospital where the badge system has been implemented.

Nurses using the Biovigil system at St. Mary's near St. Louis wear a badge with changeable colored lights. A doorway sensor identifies when the nurse enters a patient's room, and the badge color changes to yellow.

The nurse washes his or her hands and places them close to the badge. A sensor in the badge detects chemical vapors from the alcohol-based solution. If hands are clean, the badge illuminates a bright green hand symbol.

If the nurse fails to sanitize, the badge stays yellow and chirps every 10 seconds for 40 seconds, then flashes red. Once the flashing red starts, the nurse has another 30 seconds to wash up, otherwise the badge turns solid red, denoting non-compliance. Either way, each instance is tracked by a computer. The hospital can track each individual's compliance.

Registered Nurse Theresa Gratton has helped lead the effort toward hand cleanliness at St. Mary's. She heard about the Biovigil system in early 2012 and convinced the hospital to give it a try.

Gratton said patients are aware of the risk of infection and frequently inquire about whether caregivers have washed their hands. She said the badge relieves their anxiety.

Bill Rogers, a 65-year-old retiree recuperating at St. Mary's from back surgery and a heart scare, agreed.

"The first thing I noticed up here was the badges," Rogers said. "It is comforting for me to know their hands are clean as soon as the badge beeps and it goes from yellow to green."

St. Mary's is expanding the Biovigil system later this year to other units of the hospital and to employees other than nurses, though details are still being worked out, Gardner said. Eventually, the system may be expanded to SSM's seven other St. Louis-area hospitals, he said.

Biovigil's chief client officer, Brent Nibarger, said customers won't buy the system but will pay a subscription fee of about $12 a month per badge.

The CDC's Jernigan said the high-tech systems can only help.

"For a health care worker, keeping their hands clean is the single most important thing they can do to protect their patients," Jernigan said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-06-28-Hospitals-Hand%20Hygiene/id-84bb8340037a44d3837c8750112891eb

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Complex activity patterns emerge from simple underlying laws, ant experiments show

June 28, 2013 ? A new study from researchers at Uppsala University and University of Havana uses mathematic modeling and experiments on ants to show that a group is capable of developing flexible resource management strategies and characteristic responses of its own.

The results are now published in Physical Review Letters.

Group-living animals are led to regulate their activity and to make decisions on how to manage resources, under the action of a variety of environmental stimuli and of their intrinsic interactions. The latter are typically cooperative, in the sense that the activity of a single animal increases nonlinearly with the number of already active ones.

The researchers monitored experimentally and using mathematical modeling the activity profile of food-searching ants in a natural environment. The number of ants entering in or exiting the nest was recorded as well as the local temperature over several days.

The study shows that the group is capable of developing flexible resource management strategies and characteristic responses of its own. This is achieved by operating in an aperiodic fashion close to a regime of chaos, where nonlinearity is especially pronounced and offers the group more options than just following passively the day/night temperature cycle.

Furthermore, the group bursts into its foraging activity rapidly and subsequently relaxes to the inactive mode more slowly. This flexible behavior is reminiscent of "free will" in the sense that groups' activities are not totally constrained by the environment but on the contrary constitute new, emerging modes of behavior not encoded in the external stimuli or in the activity rhythms of the individuals within the group.

"Our results are likely to account for a wide range of temporal rhythms observed across the animal kingdom as well as in human societies," says Stamatios Nicolis, researcher at the Department of Mathematics, who lead the study.

"For instance, signal processing in the brain typically leads to complex patterns of electrical activity as witnessed by the electroencephalogram whose aperiodic, chaotic-looking structure is not a simple replica of the signal but reflects instead the ability of the brain to store vast amounts information and to process them selectively depending on the circumstances," says Stamatios Nicolis.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/s8EfwWh0yUw/130628091951.htm

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Source: Retired Gen. Target in Leak Probe (ABC News)

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Digg Reader web, iOS apps are open for the public

As we stand on the precipice of the shutdown of Google Reader the search for replacement RSS clients is more frantic than ever, and now Digg has opened access to its app for any users interested. Currently available on the web and as an iOS app (Android coming soon), importing ones Google account is just a few mouse clicks away. The experience as it exists now is pretty barebones, and Digg says it plans to add a "View unread items only" option, "Mark as unread" button and the always crucial "accurate" unread counts for feeds and folders in the near future. Hit the source link below to give it a shot, and then let us know if it's a contender for the throne.

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Source: Digg Blog

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/vOt_5hzfB40/

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The New York Times has a wonderful feature about Wikipedia-founder Jimmy Wales which you should go r

The New York Times has a wonderful feature about Wikipedia-founder Jimmy Wales which you should go read. Spoiler: he's not a billionaire.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-new-york-times-has-a-wonderful-feature-about-wikipe-606459581

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Illegal marijuana grows threaten fishers in the southern Sierra Nevada

June 27, 2013 ? Rat poison used on illegal marijuana grows is killing fishers in the southern Sierra Nevada, according to a recent study conducted by a team of scientists from the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station (PSW), University of California, Davis, University of California, Berkeley, and the Integral Ecology Research Center.

A previous study published last summer by the research team documented that rodenticides were being found in the tissues of the cat-sized, weasel-like critters which live in rugged portions of the southern Sierra Nevada. The authors speculated that the most likely source of the poisons was the illegal marijuana grows found throughout the Sierra Nevada. This new study solidifies that link, documenting that female fishers who live in areas with a higher number of marijuana sites had more exposure to rodenticides, and subsequently had lower survival rates. The findings concern scientists because the fisher is a candidate for listing under federal, Oregon, and California endangered species acts, and is considered a sensitive species in the western United States by the U.S. Forest Service.

The researchers deduced that illegal marijuana grows are a likely source of the poison, because the fishers in this study were radio-tracked and many were not observed venturing into rural, urban or agricultural areas where rodenticides are often used legally. Illegal marijuana cultivation on public lands is widespread, and some growers apply large quantities of numerous pesticides to deter a wide range of animals and insects from encroaching on their crops. While the exposure of wildlife to rodenticides and insecticides near agricultural fields is not uncommon, the amount and variety of poisons found at the illegal marijuana plots is a new threat.

According to co-author PSW wildlife biologist Dr. Kathryn Purcell, "exposure of wildlife to pesticides has been widely documented, but this is a fundamentally different scenario.

"In marijuana cultivation sites, regulations regarding proper use of pesticides are completely ignored and multiple compounds are used to target any and all threats to the crop, including compounds illegal in the U.S.," she says.

While some fishers have died from either directly consuming flavored rodenticides or by consuming prey that had recently ingested the poisons, exposure may also predispose animals to dying from other causes. Exposure to lower doses -- or to combinations -- of the poisons, results in slower reflexes, reduced ability to heal from injuries, and neurological impairment. Consequently, this leads to death from other sources, such as predation or road kill.

Fishers in the southern Sierra Nevada are highly susceptible to pesticide exposure because, unlike their larger bodied relatives in other parts of the country that eat larger prey, their diet consists of small mammals, birds, carrion, insects, fungi, and other plant material. In the vicinity of illegal marijuana sites, numerous dead or dying insects and small mammals are often found. In this study, scientists reported on the amount of poisons found at over 300 illegal plots and compared the locations of these sites with the home ranges and survival of 46 adult female fishers.

The conservation implications of this study are far-reaching.

"By increasing the number of animals that die from supposedly natural causes, these pesticides may be tipping the balance of recovery for fishers" says Dr. Craig Thompson, a PSW wildlife ecologist and the study's lead author.

This new threat may also impact other species already facing declining populations, including the wolverine, marten, great gray owl, California spotted owl, and Sierra Nevada red fox, which may also be exposed to the poisons, say the scientists.

The full report can be found at http://treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/43761

Headquartered in Albany, Calif., the Pacific Southwest Research Station develops and communicates science needed to sustain forest ecosystems and other benefits to society. It has research facilities in California, Hawai'i and the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/OFrRCOCoAvQ/130627102833.htm

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GOHMERT! Gay Marriage Means the End of Civilization (Little green footballs)

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Buddies Help Monkeys to Survive Tough Times

Barbary macaques with lots of friends are more likely to live through natural disasters than those who are less gregarious

By Traci Watson and Nature magazine

Snuggling together in the cold may help Barbary macaques get through harsh winters. Image: Bodo Schackow/dpa/Corbis

• 

  Why do testicles hang the way they do? Is there an adaptive function to the female orgasm? What does it feel like to want to kill yourself? Does ?free will?...

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When it comes to friendship it may be quantity, not quality, that matters ? at least for Barbary macaques in a crisis. Scientists have long known that sociable humans live longer than their solitary peers, but is the same true for animals?

A harsh natural experiment may offer some answers. It also raises intriguing questions about the type of social ties that matter.

Endangered Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) in the mountains of Morocco are accustomed to cold, but the 2008?09 winter was devastatingly hard for them. Snow covered the ground for almost four months instead of the usual one, and the monkeys, which eat seeds and grasses on the ground, began to starve.

Richard McFarland, a behavioral ecologist at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and his colleagues were studying the animals as part of a wider project on the monkeys' social lives launched in January 2008. When they went looking for the macaques in January 2009, they found corpses, says McFarland.

Of the 47 adults in two troops that the team studied, only 17 survived, making for a 64% mortality rate, McFarland and his colleague Bonaventura Majolo of the University of Lincoln, UK, report today in Biology Letters. Analysis showed that the more friends a monkey had, the more likely it was to have survived. Individuals with whom a monkey had exchanged grooming or had had bodily contact with at least once during observation sessions were deemed as social contacts.

Perhaps the animals with more buddies had more partners with whom to huddle against the cold, the researchers suggest. Monkeys with large social networks may also have been able to look for food with fewer interruptions from hostile group members.

However, what did not predict survival was the quality of the macaques? friendships, as measured by factors such as how much time two macaques spent close together. Previous studies in baboons have shown that longevity and reproductive success are linked to quality of social contacts, rather than quantity. But McFarland argues that it makes sense that sheer quantity matters for surviving a catastrophe.

Cold comfort
In a disaster, an individual who loses his few close friends is ?left with nothing?, he says. ?Compare that to someone who has ten relationships. If one of their friends perishes during the winter, they still have nine more friends to go to.?

Other researchers praise the work, but have mixed opinions on the nature of the social ties that count.

The study ?is a really nice piece of natural history? that adds to the evidence that sociality is important, says Joan Silk, a primate behavioral ecologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has worked on sociality in baboons. But she is ?less convinced? by the study?s finding on relationship quantity.

Guy Cowlishaw, a behavioral ecologist at the Institute of Zoology in London, agrees with the finding that monkeys with lots of superficial ties might do better in this situation than those with a few deep friendships.

He adds that McFarland's paper is valuable for shedding light on how extreme events brought on by climate change will affect primates, nearly half of which, he points out, are already at risk of extinction.

This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on June 26, 2013.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/~r/ScientificAmerican-News/~3/F42L5DjMYgk/article.cfm

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Kemp returns, saves Dodgers in 6-5 win over Giants

Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp makes a catch on a ball hit by San Francisco Giants' Marco Scutaro to end their baseball game, Tuesday, June 25, 2013, in Los Angeles. The Dodgers beat the Giants 6-5. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp makes a catch on a ball hit by San Francisco Giants' Marco Scutaro to end their baseball game, Tuesday, June 25, 2013, in Los Angeles. The Dodgers beat the Giants 6-5. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp, right, celebrates with right fielder Andre Ethierafter making a catch on a ball hit by San Francisco Giants' Marco Scutaro to end their baseball game, Tuesday, June 25, 2013, in Los Angeles. The Dodgers beat the Giants 6-5. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp, center, celebrates with right fielder Yasiel Puig, left, as right fielder Andre Ethier looks on after making a catch on a ball hit by San Francisco Giants' Marco Scutaro to end their baseball game, Tuesday, June 25, 2013, in Los Angeles. The Dodgers beat the Giants 6-5. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Matt Kemp reacts after scoring on a single by Tim Federowicz during the sixth inning of their baseball game against the San Francisco Giants, Tuesday, June 25, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Hanley Ramirez, right, hits a two-run home run as San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey, lower left, and home plate umpire D.J. Rayburn look during the sixth inning of their baseball game, Tuesday, June 25, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Matt Kemp was insistent about getting back into the Los Angeles Dodgers' lineup Tuesday night after three frustrating weeks on the disabled list, and the last thing on his mind was whether his troublesome right hamstring would hold up.

So when it came time to test his leg, it passed with flying colors.

Kemp ran a long way and made a marvelous catch for the final out of a 6-5 victory over the slumping San Francisco Giants, extending Los Angeles' winning streak to a season-best four games.

"You can't really think like that," Kemp said when asked if he was relieved he didn't hurt his hamstring again. "I mean, I've thought like that after I came back from it last year, and it happened again. So I can't play timid. I have to let it go. And if it goes, it goes. Hamstrings are tricky, and you never know when they're good. But right now it feels good and I'm glad we got the win."

With runners at first and second, Marco Scutaro hit a long drive to center. Kemp, playing shallow with the potential tying run at second base, raced back and reached over his shoulder to make a sliding catch on the warning track. He popped up and smacked the wall hard, then shouted in excitement.

"Scutaro doesn't really drive the ball to center field like that, so he surprised me a little bit," the two-time Gold Glove winner said. "He's a good contact hitter that likes to drive the ball the other way in the hole and back up the middle, so I was just anticipating him trying to hit a ground ball up the middle, and he hit it pretty good. So I had to drop my head and run back."

Scutaro is homerless in 142 career at-bats against the Dodgers.

"I thought it had a good shot to go out," Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford said. "It looked like he hit it well, but I knew Kemp was out there and he's a good center fielder. So he was going to do all he could to not let it drop. It was bad luck for us. That's kind of what's been happening a lot to us lately."

Kemp returned to the lineup after missing 24 games with a right hamstring strain. He was injured May 29 while running down a double in right-center by Mike Trout at Angel Stadium. It was the fourth time in his career that Kemp landed on the DL, including two stints last season because of a left hamstring strain that cost him a combined 51 games.

"I had to beg him to let me play today," Kemp said, referring to manager Don Mattingly. "I was telling him I was just sick of watching my team play without me. It kind of feels like you're not part of the team when you're on the DL, so I just wanted to get back out there with the guys."

Mark Ellis and Hanley Ramirez each hit a two-run homer for the Dodgers, and rookie Stephen Fife pitched effectively into the seventh inning. Los Angeles handed the defending World Series champions their third loss in a row and eighth in 11 games, dropping them under .500 for the first time since losing to the Dodgers on opening day.

It's the latest the Giants have been below the break-even mark in any season since 2008, when they finished 72-90 in Bruce Bochy's second year as manager.

"Honestly, I didn't even know we were under .500. I just knew we haven't been playing well. That's a wake-up call in itself," Crawford said.

Fife (2-2) allowed three runs and four hits, including solo homers by Brandon Belt and NL MVP Buster Posey, in 6 2-3 innings. The 26-year-old right-hander struck out three and walked two in his 11th major league start, only the second in which he gave up more than two runs.

With closer Kenley Jansen unavailable after pitching three consecutive days, demoted closer Brandon League came on in the ninth to protect a 6-3 lead and did not retire any of the three batters he faced.

Belt hit an RBI double and Andres Torres added an RBI single off League before Paco Gonzalez got three outs for his first major league save ? barely.

Mike Kickham (0-2) was charged with six runs, five earned, and eight hits over 5 1-3 innings in his second big league start.

The Dodgers broke a 2-all tie with four runs in the sixth. Adrian Gonzalez doubled and Ramirez followed with a drive off the left-field foul pole for his fifth homer. Kickham gave up singles to his next two batters before rookie Jake Dunning came in and gave up an RBI single by Tim Federowicz.

Nick Punto kept the inning alive when he beat the relay throw to first base with a headfirst slide on a potential double-play grounder. Andre Ethier then scored on Dunning's wild pitch to Fife.

Belt, who was 3 for 4 after coming in 4 for 43 lifetime at Dodger Stadium, got one of the runs back for the Giants in the seventh with his eighth homer.

Fife retired his first 11 batters before Posey drove an 0-1 pitch barely over the left-field fence for his ninth homer. The Giants tied it in the fifth on a run-scoring groundout by Torres.

Ellis opened the scoring with his fourth homer, a two-run shot with two outs in the third after Federowicz led off with a double.

NOTES: Punto, starting at 3B while Juan Uribe got the night off, jumped to pull down Pablo Sandoval's line drive in the second inning. Hunter Pence, the next batter, lifted a popup toward the stands and Punto stretched over the barrier before landing in the first row with the ball in his glove. ... Kemp was 1 for 4 with a single. He is homerless in 106 at-bats at Dodger Stadium since his two-run shot off Colorado's Jorge De La Rosa last Sept. 20. ... The Giants have been outhomered 19-5 over their last 15 games. ... The Dodgers, who were 11-13 in Kemp's absence, opened a roster spot for him by optioning INF-OF Elian Herrera to Triple-A Albuquerque. ... Giants CF Angel Pagan had surgery in Los Angeles to repair a tendon in his left hamstring, an injury that has sidelined him since May 26.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-06-26-BBN-Giants-Dodgers/id-5f49d7249d9b4ed6b4e2143967281b7e

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iTunes Store currently down for 20% of users, are you one of them?

Apple's system status page is currently reporting a fairly big iTunes Store outage, with 20% of their customer base shown to be affected. Typically this means the iTunes Store itself, along with the App Store and iBookstore, are inaccessible for many, many people.

Every service goes down every once and a while, and iTunes, while fairly reliable, is no exception. If you're having trouble, know that you're not alone. Let us know if you're having problems, what type, and if it starts working again, let us know when.

Source: system status page via 9to5Mac

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/3Lin7U9Ersg/story01.htm

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'Titanfall' developer explains why the game won't be on PS4, and the ...

The next-gen mech shooter Titanfall would not be possible without Microsoft?s Xbox One cloud services, according to Respawn Entertainment engineer Jon Shiring. The cloud is tied into Microsoft?s controversial online policies for the new console, and it?s been the subject of confusion and ire from gamers. Shiring took to?Respawn?s blog?to explain the benefits from a developer?s perspective.

According to Shiring, Microsoft?s dedicated servers are the perfect solution to a long-standing problem. Console games with online multiplayer aspects typically use player-hosted servers because dedicated servers are expensive and tough to implement, but dedicated servers offer a superior experience. Microsoft?s dedicated cloud servers allow Respawn to implement more and better AI, physics, and environments, eliminate the ?host advantage? that plagues many online games, thwart some forms of cheating, boost matchmaking speeds, eliminate the need to pause the game when the host player quits, and improve visuals and audio by taking full advantage of the console hardware and leaving other tasks to the cloud processors.

The cloud services aren?t limited to Xbox One games either, and Respawn uses them for the Windows PC and Xbox 360 versions of?Titanfall as well. Respawn approached both Sony and Microsoft about this problem, and Microsoft was the one to implement a solution, Shiring writes.

?Microsoft realized that player-hosted servers are actually holding back online gaming and that this is something that they could help solve, and ran full-speed with this idea,? he writes. ?So they built this powerful system to let us create all sorts of tasks that they will run for us, and it can scale up and down automatically as players come and go.?

?We?want to focus on making awesome games, not on becoming giant worldwide server hosting providers,? he continues. ?The more time I can spend on making our actual game better, the more our players benefit.?

?

?

Source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/titanfall-developers-spell-out-benefits-of-xbox-one-cloud/

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Justin Bieber: Topless in Concert!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/justin-bieber-topless-in-concert/

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RolePlayGateway?

Hello, RPG! I'm (obviously) new and would like to introduce myself to the community for the scarce few who actually take time out of their lives to welcome the newbies.

First off, my name is Daniel, but any variation of the name would suffice. I'm male, nineteen years of age, and have been roleplaying since I was about twelve or thirteen. My sister, actually, was the one who introduced me to the game (she's majoring in creative writing, no surprise there). I'm going to school as well, focusing on a BA in Computer Science and graphical arts. Only three more years of debt to go, woo!

I absolutely love dystopian-type scenarios, whether it be movies or video games or a plot. Speaking of video games, I am an avid gamer and have been since I was a wee lad. Chrono Trigger, Shadow of the Colossus and Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask are a few of my favorites. I love socializing and anything to do with people in general. Parties, get togethers, whatever. I'm a goddamn social butterfly.

Roleplaying-wise, I don't do 'VAMPIRE/HUMAN' pairings or 'DEMON/ANGEL' shit. That's stupid and unoriginal, don't even bother me with such petty ideas. My primary focus is fandoms, ranging anywhere from books to movies with their own individual unique plots. Again, I love dystopian-type plots, so if you have no idea what to suggest, let's come up with our own something. Creativity is key, eh?

My posts are fucking huge, at least from what I understand. They include top-notch grammar that form fluid and meaty paragraphs. I usually match my partners post, but please, multiple paragraphs at least, with something to work with. I won't just hand you a post that involves description of your previous post in my character's eyes, for example. Dat shet ain't koo w/ me, dawg.

That's pretty much it. I'm looking for friends, as well, so don't be afraid to shoot me a PM or whatever they're called. I'm great with conversation. :'D

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RolePlayGateway

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Research IDs potential treatment for deadly, HIV-related blood cancer

June 25, 2013 ? Researchers at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered a promising new way to treat a rare and aggressive blood cancer most commonly found in people infected with HIV.

The USC team shows that a class of drugs called BET bromodomain inhibitors effectively targets primary effusion lymphoma (PEL), a type of cancer for which those drugs were not expected to be effective.

"It's a reversal of the paradigm," said Preet Chaudhary, chief of the Nohl Division of Hematology and Blood Diseases at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and principal investigator of the study. "Our results suggest that this new class of drug may be an effective treatment for a wider range of cancers than previously thought."

PEL is caused by infection with Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes virus, the most common cause of cancer among patients with AIDS. The prognosis for PEL is poor, with a median survival of three to six months. Thus, there is a critical need for new therapies for the disease.

Chaudhary and his colleagues show that inhibitors targeting the BRD4 protein blocked growth of PEL cells in a test tube and in a mouse model. The results were surprising because BET inhibitors were thought to be only effective against cancers linked to an overexpression of the Myc gene.

"We actually found that cancers that overexpress Myc are not as responsive to BRD4 inhibitors. PEL is more responsive," Chaudhary said.

Cancers like multiple myeloma and Burkitt's lymphoma overexpress the Myc gene and have been shown to respond to BRD4 inhibitors. In PEL, the Myc gene is moderately expressed and there is no chromosomal translocation as is seen in multiple myeloma or Burkitt's.

More research is needed to create compounds ready for testing in people. Once those drugs are ready for clinical trial, data from this study suggest that they may treat a wide range of cancers. Chaudhary anticipates testing them alone and in combination with other drugs.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/3jXo8a2E3lU/130625150942.htm

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Online Book Publishing Platform 7write Raises $250,000 Seed Round From Early PayPal Investor, Others

It's not too often that a startup from 'down under' up roots to join an accelerator in Europe and then gets funded before graduating. Enter online book publishing platform 7write, which originally hails from Australia but has since relocated to the Netherlands after being accepted into accelerator Startupbootcamp's Amsterdam program. Graduating teams don't present until Demo day this Friday, but that isn't stopping 7write from making an early grab for the limelight by announcing that it's raised $250,000.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/I2LDsqxWLyc/

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Aly & AJ Form 78Violet With Their 'Feminine Alter Ego'

Michalka sisters explain to MTV News why they changed their name and what you can expect from them next.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Chris Kim

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709497/aly-aj-78violet-name-change.jhtml

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Police search again near home of Pats' Hernandez

NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) ? Police again searched the area near the home of New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, a week after his friend's body was found about a mile away.

Some police officers wore wetsuits Monday while searching woods near Hernandez's home, not far from the industrial park where Odin Lloyd's body was found.

Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player for the Boston Bandits, was found slain June 17. His relatives said he was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee, that the two men were friends and that both men were out together on the last night of Lloyd's life.

An Attleboro District Court official said no new documents were available in connection with the case Monday morning. The Bristol County district attorney's office also didn't release any new information about the case, which their spokeswoman called "an active, ongoing investigation."

A court official said last week that three search warrants had been issued, but none of them had been returned, meaning they weren't yet public.

Hernandez hasn't commented on the homicide investigation, but has been seen with his lawyer.

The Patriots drafted Hernandez, who is originally from Bristol, Conn., out of the University of Florida in 2010. Last summer, the team gave him a five-year contract worth $40 million.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-search-again-near-home-pats-hernandez-153112972.html

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Egypt's Army to 'Intervene' if Anti-Morsi Protest Turns Violent (Voice Of America)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/314672312?client_source=feed&format=rss

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NBC's Gregory: Why shouldn't Greenwald be charged? (The Arizona Republic)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/314681061?client_source=feed&format=rss

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