Measure of future growth up 0.5 pct. in December

In this Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012 photo a new home is constructed in Pepper Pike, Ohio. A measure of the U.S. economy designed to signal future activity increased in December from November, suggesting growth may strengthen in 2013. "Housing, which has long been a drag, has turned into a positive for growth, and will help improve consumer balance sheets and strengthen consumption," Conference Board economist Kenneth Goldstein said. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

In this Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012 photo a new home is constructed in Pepper Pike, Ohio. A measure of the U.S. economy designed to signal future activity increased in December from November, suggesting growth may strengthen in 2013. "Housing, which has long been a drag, has turned into a positive for growth, and will help improve consumer balance sheets and strengthen consumption," Conference Board economist Kenneth Goldstein said. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A measure of the U.S. economy designed to signal future activity increased in December from November, suggesting growth may strengthen in early 2013.

The Conference Board said Thursday that its index of leading indicators rose 0.5 percent in December, the best showing since September. In November, the index was unchanged.

The gauge is designed to anticipate economic conditions three to six months out.

A decline in applications for unemployment benefits, gains on Wall Street and increases in applications for building permits drove the index higher in December.

Conference Board economist Kenneth Goldstein said the rebound in the leading index suggested an improving outlook in contrast to a few months ago when the expectations were not so optimistic.

"Housing, which has long been a drag, has turned into a positive for growth, and will help improve consumer balance sheets and strengthen consumption," Goldstein said. "However, for growth to gain more traction we also need to see better performance on new orders and an acceleration in capital spending."

Five of the 10 indicators that make up the index were positive factors in December. Consumers' dim outlook for business conditions and weaker expectations for manufacturing orders held back the index.

The index is derived from data that for the most part have already been reported individually.

On Thursday, the Labor Department said weekly applications for unemployment claims continued to trend lower. The fell last week to a seasonally adjusted 330,000, a five-year low.

Home builders started work in 2012 on the most new homes in four years, the Commerce Department said last week.

And stock prices are rising even faster in January than last month. The Standard & Poor's 500 index on Thursday briefly traded above 1,500 on Thursday, the first time that has happened since December 2007.

The Dow Jones industrial average increased 45 points to 13,824 in midday trading. The Dow closed Wednesday at a five-year high.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-01-24-US-Leading-Indicators/id-0babe70d885142b59c7ce0b0f5f2dc86

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Kate Upton Ad: Too Hot For TV?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/kate-upton-ad-too-hot-for-tv/

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Why chimps form 'friendships'

Scientists have provided insight into why unrelated chimpanzees co-operate with each other outside a sexual relationship.

The team of international researchers found that increased levels of the hormone oxytocin played an intrinsic role in non-kin co-operation.

Wild chimps that had taken part in a grooming session with a "bond partner" had higher levels of the hormone in their urine than after grooming with a "non-bond partner", irrespective of whether the individuals were related.

Results of the study are published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Scientists tested the urine of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in Uganda to measure the animals' oxytocin levels after grooming sessions.

Oxytocin is associated with forming mother-baby and pair bonds, "but it's not really been implicated in non-kin relationships before - in non-sexual contexts," said research team member Catherine Crockford from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

The non-kin relationships that exist in the animal kingdom are "almost like friendships", according to Dr Crockford.

Animals that maintain cooperative relationships have greater longevity and increased rates of offspring survival.

But relatively little is known about the processes behind non-kin chimpanzee relationships.

Comparing such social bonds to those found in humans, Dr Crockford explained: "Even though people are not related to each other and they're not in a sexual relationship where they could produce offspring, they still co-operate.

"And nobody really has a good explanation for how this can happen."

Findings of the study suggest a direct link between social bonds and co-operative behaviour.

Co-operative behaviour observed in chimps includes food sharing, collaborative hunting and grooming.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

Although chimps are perceived as being male-bonded, other bonds are clearly important too?

End Quote Dr Catherine Crockford, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Grooming events can occur between non-bond partners, but in these cases increased oxytocin levels were not recorded, which surprised Dr Crockford.

"Until now... it's pretty much been thought that tactile stimulation [for example] gentle stroking is enough to stimulate oxytocin.

"But this clearly shows that's not the case, that you need more than just that. There needs to be some sort of psychological component really, this added factor of the relationship itself and the quality of the relationship."

The study also found that social bonds between female-female pairs and male-male pairs are both important in chimpanzee society.

This finding contrasts with perceptions that the animals tend to be "male-bonded".

"Although chimps are perceived as being male-bonded, other bonds are clearly important too," commented Dr Crockford.

The study supports the theory that enduring co-operative relationships are not purely cognitive.

Join BBC Nature on Facebook and Twitter @BBCNature.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/21131703

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New research may aid treatment of multiple myeloma patients

Jan. 23, 2013 ? A study led by Robert G. Hawley, Ph.D., professor and chair of the department of anatomy and regenerative biology at the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS), may help predict which patients with multiple myeloma will respond better to certain treatments. The study, titled "Identification of an ABCB1 (P-glycoprotein)-positive carfilzomib-resistant myeloma subpopulation by the pluripotent stem cell fluorescent dye CDy1," was published in the American Journal of Hematology.

Multiple myeloma, the second most common blood cancer in the United States, is an incurable malignancy involving the white blood cells that normally produce antibodies. As the disease progresses, the multiple myeloma cells accumulate in the bone marrow, causing painful bone lesions and preventing normal blood cell production.

"Our hope is that the fluorescent assay we have developed will help physicians monitor the newest treatment option for multiple myeloma patients and determine how well it is working," said Hawley.

Hawley and his team of researchers reported a test that could be used to detect the multiple myeloma cells that survive chemotherapy and are responsible for disease relapse (referred to as tumor-propagating cells).

The researchers tested the hypothesis that the tumor-propagating cells in multiple myeloma exhibit stem cell-like properties that confer resistance to the chemotherapeutic agents used to treat the patients. The team's long-term goal is to characterize these so-called 'cancer stem cells' in order to develop new targeted therapies that will eradicate the cells and cure the disease. As a first step toward this goal, the research team used a new stem cell imaging dye CDy1, and they isolated pure populations of CDy1-bright and CDy1-dim cells from multiple myeloma cell lines by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (a specialized application of flow cytometry). These multiple myeloma populations were then characterized using RNA-seq 'deep-sequencing' gene expression analysis. Through this next-generation genomics approach, the researchers demonstrated that the CDy1-bright cells did indeed exhibit increased expression of many genes associated with stem cell activity. However, they also noted that the ABCB1 gene, which encodes the P-glycoprotein efflux transporter responsible for multi-drug resistance, was highly expressed in the CDy1-dim population. In functional studies, the investigators determined that dim CDy1 staining was due to the fact that the dye was being efficiently pumped out of the cells by the ABCB1 transporter.

Before the implementation of novel treatment regimens for multiple myeloma over the past decade, ABCB1-associated multi-drug resistance was routinely observed in patients who received conventional chemotherapy containing drugs that are ABCB1 substrates. With this in mind, Dr. Hawley and his colleagues examined new anticancer agents and discovered that high levels of ABCB1 conferred resistance to the second-in-class drug carfilzomib which is currently undergoing evaluation in multiple myeloma clinical trials. Moreover, increased resistance to carfilzomib in sensitive multiple myeloma cells following drug selection was associated with upregulation of ABCB1 cell-surface expression which correlated with increased transporter activity as measured by CDy1 efflux.

Of special note, carfilzomib (marketed under the brand name Kyprolis) recently received accelerated approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of multiple myeloma patients who have received at least 2 prior therapies and whose disease continues to worsen. Therefore, the next phase of the project, which is supported by a pilot research grant awarded in 2012 by The Dr. Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen Cancer Research Center at GW, will be to translate the laboratory findings to the clinic. This work, which will be carried out in collaboration with Imad Tabbara, M.D., professor of medicine at GW SMHS, will involve screening multiple myeloma patients to determine whether the CDy1 assay can help guide treatment decisions or predict which patients will respond better to carfilzomib.

"I first became interested in this subject as a graduate student at the Ontario Cancer Institute in the early 1980's," said Hawley. "However, I became disheartened as a principal investigator in the late 1990's when we were unable to cure the disease in a mouse model using cutting-edge cancer gene therapy, and I stopped working in this area. Despite recent therapeutic advances, multiple myeloma remains incurable. About a year and a half ago, I had a conversation with Robert Siegel, M.D., professor of medicine at GW SMHS and director of the Katzen Cancer Research Center, who encouraged me to enter the field again, and I am really happy that I did."

Hawley's team of researchers includes lead coauthors Teresa Hawley, B.S., director of the GW Flow Cytometry Core Facility, and Irene Riz, Ph.D., assistant research professor of anatomy and regenerative biology, along with Louis DePalma, M.D., professor of pathology and of anatomy and regenerative biology, and Weiqun Peng, Ph.D., associate professor of physics and of anatomy and regenerative biology, together with collaborators Jun Zhu, Ph.D., director of the DNA Sequencing and Computational Biology Core at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, and Young-Tae Chang, Ph.D., head of the Laboratory of Bioimaging Probe Development at the National University of Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by George Washington University.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Teresa S. Hawley, Irene Riz, Wenjing Yang, Yoshiyuki Wakabayashi, Louis DePalma, Young-Tae Chang, Weiqun Peng, Jun Zhu, Robert G. Hawley. Identification of an ABCB1 (P-glycoprotein)-positive carfilzomib-resistant myeloma subpopulation by the pluripotent stem cell fluorescent dye CDy1. American Journal of Hematology, 2013; DOI: 10.1002/ajh.23387

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/rtJCxVuNovQ/130123133327.htm

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Bank of England's King says time to review inflation targeting

BELFAST (Reuters) - The Bank of England's inflation-targeting remit needs to be fine-tuned but should not undergo fundamental change, central bank governor Mervyn King said in a wide-ranging speech on Tuesday.

King also said the central bank was ready to restart bond purchases or cut interest rates if needed to boost the economy, but that Britain needed more fundamental reforms if it was to exceed the "gentle recovery" which he expects for 2013.

King steps down in June, and his successor Mark Carney, who currently heads the Bank of Canada, has promoted long-term commitments to low rates - which are also in favour at the U.S. Federal Reserve - as well as discussing the merits of targeting the size of the economy in cash terms instead of inflation.

To date the Bank has been unenthusiastic about explicit interest rate commitments - arguing its existing policy framework is clearer than other central banks'.

And Chancellor George Osborne, who ultimately decides the bank's goals, said last month that while he welcomed debate, there would need to be a strong case for change.

However, in what is likely to be his last speech outside London, King told members of Belfast's business community that it was time for the Bank and the government to think again.

"Recent actions by central banks and governments in a number of industrialised countries have raised questions about the frameworks within which monetary policy is being conducted," he said.

"In the UK, the inflation target was introduced almost 21 years ago, and it has now come of age. It would be sensible to review the arrangements for setting monetary policy," he continued at the Confederation of British Industry event.

The changes King appears to have in mind are relatively small. In the speech, a text of which was provided by his office, King said Osborne may want to be more explicit about how fast the central bank is expected to return inflation to target.

Inflation has been above its 2 percent goal since December 2009, and King said he expected it to remain so for most of 2013. The central bank's forecasts do not see it firmly back at 2 percent until the second half of 2014.

This is in line with the bank's current interpretation of its mandate, under which it sets monetary policy to get inflation to 2 percent within 2-3 years.

King also referred to the Fed's decision to state levels which unemployment would probably need to fall to before it started to raise interest rates.

"Is there a gain from trying to quantify how the (bank's) Monetary Policy Committee should manage the trade-off between growth and inflation in the short run?," King asked.

"How much discretion to give to the MPC and how much should remain with the Chancellor is an interesting question that was raised, but not fully resolved, in 1997," he added, referring to the date when the Bank gained operational independence.

Earlier on Tuesday, former MPC member Adam Posen argued against both long-term policy commitments - saying markets did not take them very seriously - and targeting nominal GDP, saying it would lead to higher inflation than inflation-targeting.

NO POLICY PANACEA

In his comments about the more immediate outlook for British monetary policy, King left his options open, though his remarks are unlikely to change economists' expectations that the central bank will not add to its 375 billion pounds mervyn king

of asset purchases any time soon.

"We are ready to provide more stimulus if it is needed," King said, adding the bank would continue to assess whether to cut interest rates again - something it has resisted since March 2009 lest it hurt fragile banks or building societies.

Although inflation was likely to remain above target for most of 2013, the MPC could look past this while it was driven by semi-regulated prices like university tuition fees rather than market-generated price rises, King said.

Nonetheless, more asset purchases or rate cuts would not be enough to get Britain's economy back on track.

"Relying on generalised monetary stimulus alone ... is not a panacea," King said.

Britain's economy shrank around 6 percent in the 2008-09 financial crisis, and has recovered much more slowly than its peers. Growth in the last three months of 2012 was likely to have been "considerably weaker" than in the previous quarter, continuing a trend of zig-zagging growth rates, King said.

A more solid recovery required three things, King said, citing supply-side reforms, stronger euro zone growth and restructuring Britain's banks.

Some banks needed more capital and others - like state-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group - would benefit from selling non-core assets and a prompt return to private ownership, King said.

"With proper implementation, there is no reason why the two banks with significant state shareholdings could not largely be back in the private sector within a relatively short period," King said.

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin, writing by David Milliken; editing by Ron Askew)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bank-englands-king-says-time-review-inflation-targeting-195013654--business.html

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Basic Necessities When Constructing A House

There are several reasons why a house must be efficiently designed. There are certain physical, cultural and social requirements of homeowners that have to be satisfied. Furthermore, residents should be given shelter to protect them from environmental hazards. Architects designing the house should keep in mind all the needs of the family who will be living there and make sure that the residents are kept safe. When designing a house, there are a few aspects that you have to take into consideration.

Primary attention should be given to the foundation of the house. If the foundation is not strong enough, the house will not be safe enough. Improperly designed foundations often lead to unequal settlement, cracked walls and flooring and structural weakness. A firm and simple structure is needed in order to resist external forces. The foundation and the structure of the house is similar to being a skeleton to a body. A strong skeleton will keep the body strong. Likewise, a strong structure will keep the whole house under protection. Furthermore, the walls of the house should be connected with the roof. If this link between the wall and the roof is done properly, the two can support each other. Walls of the house should be supported using and connected to strong columns or pillars. Trusses of the roof should also be strong enough to make sure the house is safe. They also should be flexible so that the walls and the roof can be braced in order to resist lateral movement.

During the foundation and structure stage, designers should keep in mind the damp problem that occurs in many homes. For this reason, appropriate damp proofing techniques should be introduced. If proper damp proofing is done, the problem of dampness and damp walls that normally arise a few years down the line will not be there.

Lastly, organized drainage plans are important for a good house design. The architect should also take into consideration the area where the house is being built. If flooding is common in the area then he should make sure the house is elevated in order to safeguard it and its residents from the floods.

About the Author:
Andria Scott has more than 4 years of professional copywriting experience and she spends more time on her writing projects. Currently she is writing articles related to damp, damp proofing and damp walls.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Basic-Necessities-When-Constructing-A-House/4391660

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Obama?s Political Speech

Barack Obama waves after taking the oath of office during the ceremonial swearing-in at the Capitol on Monday.

JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

In 2009, Barack Obama?s inauguration was a civil rights turning point. In his 2013 inaugural address, he sang the song of America's civil rights progress. He talked about how the growing support for the rights of women, African-Americans, and gays affirmed the essential promise in the Declaration of?Independence. At a time when Washington seems so tiny you could fit it into your pocket, he asked everyone to look up from their Twitter feed to see how much had changed around them.

The president was nodding to the coalition that elected him and that he represented, sewing it more fully into the American story. (He's not the only sign of change.?The new Congress has 20 women senators, a record.)?In his first inaugural address, the president cited familiar turning points in American history: "Concord, Gettysburg, Normandy and Khe Sahn." This time, the historical heroes were straight from his electoral coalition. He named the crucible moments in women?s rights, gay rights, and African-American rights: "We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths?that all of us are created equal?is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth."

The president framed these advancements as a natural extension of the American experiment. Then he pivoted?grafting his agenda on to that progress.?He committed himself to climate change, immigration, gun control, and a budget where the middle class was protected.?He framed each policy challenge though, not as some abstract issue, but in the framework of advancing rights for those who do not yet have a full chance at the American dream:

It is now our generation?s task to carry on what those pioneers began. ?For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote.?Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for and cherished and always safe from harm.

Before the speech, an Obama adviser said to me,??He won't say, ?I won, but ?,?his voice trailing off. In other words, the president would all but say that.

If you were listening during the campaign, the themes in the president?s second inaugural address sounded familiar. What Republicans heard was a tone poem from the president to growing government. If a Republican president had been speaking, there would have been paragraph after paragraph about tackling the deficit, the sapping evil of the federal government, and the danger the country?s mounting debt poses to personal liberty. Obama barely mentioned the deficit. When he did, it was to warn against excessive spending reductions.? The president passed by the deficit on his way to making a larger point about government spending.?Obama said, "We reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future." This is familiar language he uses when dealing with Republicans?and they rightly hear it that way.

Obama took a swipe at the usual GOP suspects. Conjuring House Republicans?perhaps his most obvious target?he said, "We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate." On the issue of climate change, first-term President Obama might have called on lawmakers to reason together. Not this time. He framed the issue?which faltered in his first term in part because of Democratic opposition?by essentially calling his opponents flat-earthers: ?Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms,? he said.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=a79a80fb8c40395f73c36063eccf9501

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