BEIJING ? Prosecutors said Friday they indicted a former fugitive at the center of China's biggest corruption scandal and that he has confessed to bribery and smuggling.
The move brings authorities a step closer to a conclusion in one of China's most lurid, long-running corruption cases in which the chief suspect fled to Canada and fought extradition for more than a decade.
Prosecutors in the eastern city of Xiamen have indicted Lai Changxing for allegedly masterminding a network that smuggled everything from cigarettes to cars and oil and bribed dozens of government workers between 1996 and 1999, China's state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Lai and other key members of the syndicate have "confessed to the facts of the smuggling and bribery charges without concealing anything," the report said.
Lai became China's most-wanted man after he fled to Canada in 1999 and fought extradition for 12 years until he was deported in July.
Before fleeing to Canada he lived a life of luxury in China complete with a bulletproof Mercedes Benz. He is alleged to have run a mansion in which he plied officials with liquor and prostitutes.
At the time, state TV splashed pictures of the network's allegedly ill-gotten gains: A tiger skin rug laid out on a conference table, confiscated cars belonging to corrupt bureaucrats, a sack of gold rings, and a picture of a young woman, said to be a lover kept for one official by Lai.
Scores of officials and executives involved have been imprisoned and some executed over the scandal. Among those punished were a former deputy police minister, who was quietly removed from his posts as vice minister for public security and deputy chief of an anti-smuggling task force. The deputy mayor of Xiamen and the city's customs chief were also punished.
Chinese media have said Lai's alleged smuggling operation was valued at $10 billion.
China's Communist Party has struggled to control widespread practices of embezzlement, taking kickbacks, and influence peddling that have degraded public faith and sometimes led to violent protest.
The government's task of fighting corruption remains arduous, said senior Communist Party leaders Friday at a meeting presided over by Chinese President Hu Jintao, according to a statement on the central government's website.
Efforts should be made to fight graft in the construction sector and to address corruption linked to excessive official celebrations and seminars and government cars, the statement said.
In Canada, Lai had avoided deportation by arguing he could face the death penalty or be tortured and would not get a fair trial in his home country.
But that legal battle ended in July when a federal court in Vancouver ruled Lai should not be considered a refugee and upheld his deportation.
China promised Canada that Lai would not get the death penalty in 2001 when then-President Jiang Zemin sent the Canadian prime minister at the time, Jean Chretien, a diplomatic note with assurances Lai would not be executed if returned.
LOS ANGELES ? The Los Angeles coroner's office says Jamaican-born rapper Heavy D died of natural causes.
The self-proclaimed "overweight lover" of hip hop, who became one of rap's top hit makers with a combination of humor and positivity, collapsed outside his Beverly Hills home on Nov. 8. The 44 year-old rapper, whose real name was Dwight Errington, died later at a hospital.
Coroner's office spokesman Craig Harvey said Tuesday that weight and a transcontinental jet flight were contributing factors.
The cause of death was pulmonary embolism and deep leg vein thrombosis. He also had arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Heavy D became one of the genre's most integral stars in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His hit "The Overweight Lover's in the House" played up his hefty frame.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) ? Mexican authorities arrested five policemen on Monday on suspicion of torture after a video was made public showing police officers submerging a detainee's head in a bucket of water.
An official at the attorney general's office said five Mexico City police officers were taken into custody over the alleged torture, which took place in the capital's tough inner city neighborhood of Tepito last month.
Soon after the incident, a video was posted on the Internet showing a man with his shirt pulled over his head being dunked in a bucket of water while in the custody of a unit of well-armed policemen. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spQi5-e4ft4 )
President Felipe Calderon's term in office has been dominated by an army-led crackdown on drug trafficking cartels, which sparked a wave of criminal violence that has claimed more than 45,000 lives in the past five years.
Human rights groups have accused the police and army of abuses, including torture and killings, though very few officials have been convicted. Last month activists asked the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate Calderon and top officials over the allegations.
(Reporting by Patrick Rucker and Dave Graham; editing by Anthony Boadle)
MADALLA, Nigeria ? Women returned to clean the blood from St. Theresa Catholic Church on Monday and one man wept uncontrollably amid its debris as a Nigerian Christian association demanded protection for its churches.
At least 35 people died at St. Theresa and dozens more were wounded as radical Muslim militants launched coordinated attacks across Africa's most populous nation within hours of one another. Four more people were killed in other violence blamed on the group known as Boko Haram.
Crowds gathered among the burned-out cars in the church's dirt parking lot Monday, angry over the attack and fearful that the group will target more of their places of worship.
It was the second year in a row that the extremists seeking to install Islamic Shariah law across the country of 160 million staged such attacks. Last year, a series of bombings on Christmas Eve killed 32 people in Nigeria.
Rev. Father Christopher Jataudarde told The Associated Press that Sunday's blast happened as church officials gave parishioners white powder as part of a tradition celebrating the birth of Christ. Some already had left the church at the time of the bombing, causing the massive casualties.
In the ensuing chaos, a mortally wounded man had cradled his wounded stomach and begged a priest for religious atonement. "Father, pray for me. I will not survive," he said.
At least 52 people were wounded in the blast, said Slaku Luguard, a coordinator with Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency. Victims filled the cement floors of a nearby government hospital, some crying in pools of their own blood.
Pope Benedict XVI denounced the bombing at his post-Christmas blessing Monday, urging people to pray for the victims and Nigeria's Christian community.
"In this moment, I want to repeat once again with force: Violence is a path that leads only to pain, destruction and death. Respect, reconciliation and love are the only path to peace," he said.
The U.N. Security Council condemned the attacks "in the strongest terms" and called for the perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors "of these reprehensible acts" to be brought to justice.
The African Union also condemned the attacks and pledged to support Nigeria in its fight against terrorism.
"Boko Haram's continued acts of terror and cruelty and absolute disregard for human life cannot be justified by any religion or faith," said a statement attributed to AU commission chairman Jean Ping.
On Sunday, a bomb also exploded amid gunfire in the central Nigeria city of Jos and a suicide car bomber attacked the military in the nation's northeast. Three people died in those assaults.
After the bombings, a Boko Haram spokesman using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks in an interview with The Daily Trust, the newspaper of record across Nigeria's Muslim north. The sect has used the newspaper in the past to communicate with the public.
"There will never be peace until our demands are met," the newspaper quoted the spokesman as saying. "We want all our brothers who have been incarcerated to be released; we want full implementation of the Sharia system and we want democracy and the constitution to be suspended."
Boko Haram has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria. The group, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for at least 504 killings this year alone, according to an Associated Press count.
Last year, a series of Christmas Eve bombings in Jos claimed by the militants left at least 32 dead and 74 wounded. The group also claimed responsibility for the Aug. 26 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria's capital Abuja that killed 24 people and wounded 116 others.
While initially targeting enemies via hit-and-run assassinations from the back of motorbikes after the 2009 riot, violence by Boko Haram now has a new sophistication and apparent planning that includes high-profile attacks with greater casualties.
That has fueled speculation about the group's ties as it has splintered into at least three different factions, diplomats and security sources say. They say the more extreme wing of the sect maintains contact with terror groups in North Africa and Somalia.
Targeting Boko Haram has remained difficult, as sect members are scattered throughout northern Nigeria and the nearby countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Analysts say political considerations also likely have played a part in the country's thus-far muted response: President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the south, may be hesitant to use force in the nation's predominantly Muslim north.
Speaking late Sunday at a prayer service, Jonathan described the bombing as an "ugly incident."
"There is no reason for these kind of dastardly acts," the president said in a ceremony aired by the state-run Nigerian Television Authority. "It's one of the burdens as a nation we have to carry. We believe it will not last forever."
However, others don't remain as sure as the president. The northern state section of the powerful Christian Association of Nigeria issued a statement late Monday night demanding government protection for its churches, warning that "the situation may degenerate to a religious war."
"We shall henceforth in the midst of these provocations and wanton destruction of innocent lives and property be compelled to make our own efforts and arrangements to protect the lives of innocent Christians and peace loving citizens of this country," the statement read.
"We are therefore calling on all Christians to be law abiding but defend themselves whenever the need arises."
___
Jon Gambrell reported from Lagos, Nigeria and can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
___
Associated Press writers Ibrahim Garba in Kano, Nigeria and Bashir Adigun in Abuja, Nigeria contributed to this report.
Other Top Teams: Keystone, PA (38-12), Trinity, TX (34-13), Concordia-Chicago, IL (35-10), Bridgewater St., MA (26-17), Case Western Reserve, OH (33-15), St. John Fisher, NY (25-10), Aurora, IL (30-14), Shenandoah, VA (37-7), Brockport St., NY (30-14), Amherst, MA (25-10), Webster, MO (32-13), Randolph-Macon, VA (24-20), Wooster, OH (22-17), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY (24-15), California Lutheran (25-15), Saint Joseph?s, ME (32-15), George Fox, OR (23-13), Franklin, IN (30-14), North Park, IL (30-12), Misericordia, PA (30-16), Pomona-Pitzer, CA (27-12), Rose-Hulman, IN (27-16), La Verne, CA (25-14), Anna Maria, MA (26-19), Old Westbury, NY (24-20), Rutgers-Newark, NJ (24-19), William Paterson, NJ (20-17-1), Manchester, IN (28-15).
Fitness watches are one thing, but how about a fitness watch that lets you play a few levels of Angry Birds in between wind sprints? Motorola's MotoACTV debuted alongside the Droid RAZR not too long ago, and one developer has finally taken it upon itself to unleash its full potential.
Northeast Community files application to convert to a NY-chartered savings bank
NorthEast Community Bancorp announced that the bank has submitted an application to the New York State Department of Financial Services to convert its charter from a federally-chartered savings bank to a New York-chartered savings bank. Subject to receiving the necessary regulatory approvals, the charter conversion is expected to be completed in second or third quarter of FY12. As a result of the charter conversion, the New York State Department of Financial Services and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation will be the Bank's primary regulators. The Federal Reserve Board will continue to be the primary banking regulator for NorthEast Community Bancorp, MHC and NorthEast Bancorp, both of which will remain as savings and loan holding companies following the charter conversion. :theflyonthewall.com
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Harika defeated Marina Makropoulou while Koneru HumpyKoneru Humpy, Tania Sachdev and Padmini Rout all settled for draws. On the top board for India, Grand Master Humpy in fact stood slightly worse against top Greek Yelina Dembo and on the other boards the forms of the Indians was found wanting as both... FULL ARTICLE AT Zee News
MANILA, Philippines ? Arrested ex-Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has asked a court to allow her to welcome the new year in her upscale residence after spending Christmas in detention.
Judge Jesus Mupas earlier rejected Arroyo's plea to celebrate Christmas and New Year at home citing security reasons. Mupas allowed her family to join her in celebrating the holidays at her hospital suite in the capital.
Lawyer Laurence Arroyo asked Mupas on Monday to reconsider and allow her to be at home on New Year.
Court officer Felda Domingo says Mupas will be on holiday leave until Jan. 6 and may not be able to deal with her plea.
Mupas ordered Arroyo arrested last month for allegedly ordering the rigging of the 2007 senatorial elections. She denies the charge.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska ? A guide known for taking clients to the wildest reaches of Alaska has been charged with helping a man smuggle a 10,000-year-old mammoth fossil out of the state.
Karen Jettmar, director of Equinox Wilderness Expeditions and the author of "The Alaska River Guide," was indicted Dec. 16 on charges of conspiracy and removing paleontological resource from federal land.
The charges came after a Bureau of Land Management investigation showed a mammoth tusk estimated to be worth $4,000 was removed from public lands near the Kokolik River in Northwest Alaska during a June 2007 guided trip.
Jettmar's client, who is described in the indictment as a co-conspirator but not named, took the mammoth fossil to Pennsylvania, investigators say.
Jettmar did not immediately return messages left Friday by The Associated Press at her company.
Alaska is a desirable destination for paleontologists, archaeologists and other prehistoric artifact sleuths. The state has more than 15,000 archaeological sites.
During the past 50 years, more than 30 sites have been found statewide that date back more than 10,000 years, the BLM said.
It is illegal to collect or sell mammoth fossils found on federal or state land in Alaska without a permit.
The indictment says Jettmar posted a description of the Kokolik River trip on the company's website and included a link to a photo of the client holding the mammoth tusk.
After the 2007 trip, Jettmar sent an email to the client that said she knew about a river in Alaska that contained many "bones, ivory, teeth, etc." and "could be really amazing, as long as we have a pilot who is willing to haul some booty back," the indictment says, adding that she suggested a summer 2009 trip.
Early that year, the client emailed Jettmar asking about returning to Alaska and advising her to leave room on the return flight for mammoth tusks and other fossils, the indictment states.
In one email, it says, the client talked about constructing a room big enough to hold a mammoth skeleton, if he should find one.
Jettmar is accused of removing a fossil bone valued at less than $500 from public lands in June 2009 and placing it in a canoe that she and the client shared during a trip to the Utukok River in Northwest Alaska, according to the indictment.
BLM investigators said Jettmar had completed law enforcement training with the National Park Service in May of 1984. Her guide book outlines federal regulations for collecting archaeological, paleontological and cultural resources.
Her company website describes her as a former park ranger and assistant regional director for The Wilderness Society. The website says she has guided expeditions to remote areas of Alaska and Canada for more than 30 years. The site also offers 10-day trips to the Kokolik and Utukok rivers for $2,300 and $2,200, plus airfare.
Tim Woody, a spokesman for The Wilderness Society in Anchorage, confirmed Friday that she was assistant regional director for about three years, ending in 1991.
The National Park Service in Anchorage did not immediately return a call for comment.
___
Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com
Update:? One source just reached out to let us know that it may not happen today after all. Could have been pushed to January 4. Feel free to check in 10 minutes or so though.
As many of you know, the NFL Mobile app from Verizon does not currently support the Galaxy Nexus. That should change by December 22 (today) at 2PM Pacific according to a couple of our sources. And if it meets that date, it should have plenty of time to be optimized for that Super Bowl streaming that so many of you plan to take advantage of. Too much sarcasm there? ?
Announced on Friday night on a blog post by Time Warner spokesman Jeff Simmermon, Time Warner Cable has finally struck a deal with HBO in regards to bringing the HBO Go streaming application as well as the Max Go app to subscribers. The cable company will run a short trial to test out the streaming app on the Time Warner Cable network and roll out the app to all 12 million subscribers during January 2012. Just like?implementations?on other cable networks, Time Warner Cable customers will have to subscribe to HBO or Cinemax to gain access to content through the streaming?application. Customers can use the streaming app on laptops, desktop computers, Android and Apple smartphones, the iPad, gaming consoles as well as set-top boxes like the Roku.?
HBO Go offers access to approximately?1,400 titles, both?theatrical?movies and recent television programs such as Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones, Curb Your Enthusiasm and True Blood in addition to completed series such at The Sopranos, Deadwood and Sex in the City. The MAX Go application offers access to about 400 titles including original programming, blockbuster movies and the?MAX After Dark section. ?HBO has already signed agreements with other cable companies such as Comcast, Charter Communications, AT&T U-verse, DirecTV, Dish Network?and Verizon FIOS. The largest holdout at this point is Cablevision with approximately three million subscribers.
While many subscribers have grown somewhat impatient with Time Warner Cable and the slow adoption of the HBO Go platform, the?reasoning?behind the lengthy delays are likely due to Time Warner?s internal discussion about structuring a direct subscription price to the service rather than positioning it as an added bonus for subscribers of other cable networks. Once access is enabled for subscribers, they will simply download the application on their device or access the content through the HBO Go site.?
This article was originally posted on Digital Trends
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Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney shakes hands with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich after a Republican presidential debate in Sioux City, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney shakes hands with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich after a Republican presidential debate in Sioux City, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during a town hall meeting at Memminger Auditorium, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011, in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)
.Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn, waves to supporters during a campaign stop at the Hy-Vee grocery store, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011, in Spencer, Iowa. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, speaks during a campaign stop at the Chrome Country Inn in Algona, Iowa, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Republican presidential candidate former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman speaks during a Republican presidential debate in Sioux City, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, Pool)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? Newt Gingrich tried to quiet unrelenting campaign criticism that he acknowledged had taken a toll as Mitt Romney stepped up insider attacks Saturday in hopes of regaining front-runner status with the first presidential vote little more than two weeks away.
Gingrich, the former House speaker enjoying a late surge in the polls, pledged to correct what he said were his rivals' inaccurate claims about him. Romney, the ex-Massachusetts governor looking for a rebound, portrayed Gingrich as a well-heeled lobbyist since his service in Congress and predicted that conservative voters will reject Gingrich as they learn more about his lengthy Washington record.
"I'm going to let the lawyers decide what is and what is not lobbying, but when it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, typically it's a duck," Romney said.
With the Iowa caucuses Jan. 3 up for grabs, most candidates are redoubling their efforts heading into the holidays, when voters generally tune out the race.
Gingrich is their prime target. Last week alone, anti-Gingrich ads from a Romney ally outspent Gingrich by an 8-to-1 margin on television.
Gingrich cited "the extraordinary negativity of the campaign" during a call from Washington with Iowa supporters. He said he was inclined to hold teleconferences every few days so people can discuss ideas and his campaign can "encourage them to raise any of these things that you get in the mail that are junk and dishonest."
"I'll be glad to personally answer, so you're hearing it from my very own lips," he said in the forum. "We don't have our advertising versus their advertising, but you get to ask me directly."
Romney campaigned in early-voting South Carolina, where tea party activists have given Gingrich a strong lead in polls. Romney told reporters that many voters now are just beginning to pay attention to the race and will turn on Gingrich after they learn about his time in Washington and his role with mortgage company Freddie Mac, a quasi-government agency.
Gingrich's consulting firm collected $1.6 million from the company. Gingrich insists he did not lobby for them and only provided advice.
"I think as tea partyers concentrate on that, for instance, they'll say, 'Wow, this really isn't the guy that would represent our views,'" Romney said after a town hall meeting with South Carolina Rep. Tim Scott. "Many tea party folks, I believe, are going to find me to be the ideal candidate."
Gingrich said the attacks on his record have been brutal, but he insisted they are exaggerated.
"I just want to set the record straight," Gingrich told his Iowa backers. "We were paid annually for six years, so the numbers you see are six years of work. Most of that money went to pay overhead ? for staff, for other things. It didn't go directly to me. It went to the company that provided consulting advice."
It's a distinction without a difference, his rivals have said. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann continued to criticize his tenure as a consultant and Texas Rep. Ron Paul continued an ad accusing him of "serial hypocrisy" for taking Freddie Mac's checks.
During a Friday appearance on Jay Leno's late-night television show, Paul also turned on Bachmann.
"She doesn't like Muslim. She hates them," said Paul, who routinely clashes with his rivals over foreign policy. "She wants to go get them."
Bachmann told reporters in Estherville that was not true.
"I don't hate Muslims. I love the American people," she said. "As president of the United States, my goal will be to keep America safe, free and sovereign."
Texas Gov. Rick Perry rumbled through rural Iowa on a bus tour. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum stuck to a plan that has won him the honor of spending the most time in the state, yet has not yet translated into support in polls.
Iowa's largest newspaper, The Des Moines Register, announced it would publish its presidential endorsement in Sunday editions. In 2008, the paper backed Sen. John McCain, the eventual GOP nominee who came up short in Iowa's caucuses.
Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who early on decided against competing in Iowa, was campaigning in New Hampshire. Huntsman, who also served as President Barack Obama's ambassador to China, has kept his focus on New Hampshire, where independent voters are the largest bloc and can vote in either party's primary.
As the Iowa vote neared, Gingrich's decision to take the weekend off from campaigning raised eyebrows given his rivals' busy schedules. Gingrich called the decision "pacing."
Gingrich has prided himself on a nontraditional campaign, but his advantages in the polls could shift if the only exposure to Gingrich comes through rivals' negative ads.
Gingrich's campaign manager noted the onslaught in a fundraising pitch to donors.
"With Newt's opponents spending $9 million on attack ads in Iowa, we need to quickly ramp up our messaging," Michael Krull said Saturday.
Anti-Gingrich ads, courtesy of Romney allies, dominate in Iowa. The Restore Our Future political action committee on Friday spent an additional $1 million on airtime, and broadcast almost $790,000 in commercials against Gingrich last week alone. Gingrich, by comparison, spent roughly 100,000 on broadcast and cable ads.
That looked to continue into the final week before the Christmas holiday.
Romney, who has kept Iowa at arm's length after investing heavily here four years ago only to come up short. His advisers note they have kept in touch with supporters of his 2008 campaign that came in second place in Iowa.
ATLANTA (AP) ? Atlanta police are continuing to try to piece together what led to the slaying of rapper Slim Dunkin, who was gunned down Friday evening in a city music studio as he was preparing to record a video.
Police Sgt. Curtis Davenport said in an email late Saturday that no arrests had been made in the killing, but he declined to say whether investigators had identified any suspects.
Police Maj. Keith Meadows said Friday that the rapper, whose real name is Mario Hamilton, was fatally shot in the chest after getting into an argument with another individual that evening. He was transported to a city hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Meadows said then that police had not identified the shooter and witnesses had given varying accounts.
First comprehensive DNA study of mast cell leukemia uncovers clues that could improve therapyPublic release date: 16-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Hema Bashyam bashyam@cshl.edu 516-367-6822 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Sequencing a cancer patient's 'exome' reveals mutations critical for improving diagnostic power and targeted therapy
Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. Cancer researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have carried out the first comprehensive study of the changes seen in the DNA of a patient with mast cell leukemia (MCL), an extremely aggressive subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a very poor prognosis.
Their genomic survey has helped identify two previously unknown mutations that could directly influence patient response to currently available therapeutic drugs.
The details uncovered by the study not only suggest a diagnostic improvement and an alternative treatment strategy for MCL, but could also serve as a springboard for novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for other cancers such as lymphoma.
"This is incredibly exciting because we've gone from knowing very little about the genetics of MCL to uncovering information that could directly benefit patients diagnosed with MCL," says Research Investigator Mona Spector, Ph.D., who led the team's efforts.
The study, which appears online in the journal Leukemia on December 16, is a collaboration between cancer researchers at CSHL and clinicians led by Steven L. Allen, MD, FACP, associate chief of hematology at North Shore-LIJ's Monter Cancer Center and associate investigator at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. "This collaboration between the North Shore-LIJ Health System and CSHL allows us to increase medical knowledge and make innovative discoveries that may lead to new treatments for patients who are living with MCL," says Allen.
Made possible in large part by funding from the Don Monti Memorial Research Foundation, "the goal of this collaboration was to sequence patient DNA to find information about individual cancers that could be used to improve or design patient-specific treatment strategies," explains CSHL Adjunct Professor and HHMI Investigator Scott Lowe, Ph.D.
In this study, the CSHL scientists used two approaches to identify genetic changes seen in an MCL patient who succumbed to the disease about three months after diagnosis. MCL is characterized by out-of-control proliferation of transformed mast cells the same immune system cells that are notorious for their release of histamine during an allergic response.
In one approach, the CSHL team used a method called array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) to identify copy number variationsgenomic alterations that result in an abnormal number of copies of one or more sections of DNAin the leukemic mast cells. In a second approach, the team sequenced the majority of the "exome," the "exons" which are the DNA sequences that encode for protein (only about 2% of the genome).
This enabled them to identify mutations that result in the difference of a single nucleotide, or chemical "rung" in the DNA "ladder," between the patient's normal and tumor cells. These mutations often result in the production of aberrant proteins and can cause a cell to grow uncontrollably.
Bioinformatic analysis of the gigabytes of sequencing data by CSHL Fellow Ivan Iossifov, Ph.D., revealed the differences between the two genomes. Although several of the mutations occur within genes that have been previously linked to cancer, Spector immediately zeroed in on the mutations in two genes, KIT and MS4A2.
"MCL patients are screened for a mutation in the KIT gene that occurs at a specific amino acid referred to as D816V. This mutation not only spurs uncontrolled mast cell proliferation but also causes resistance to imatinib, a drug that works against some forms of leukemia; so patients with this mutation would normally not be treated with this drug," explains Spector.
"Our analysis showed that this patient, who lacked D816V and therefore received the drug, actually had a different KIT mutation called V654A, which may also cause resistance to the drug. Had this information been known before, the patient might have been treated differently and been spared the drug's side-effects." Spector hopes that this information might now encourage physicians to screen MCL patients for both KIT mutations.
The second mutation of interest occurs within the MS4A2 gene, which encodes for a protein that is part of a receptor that sits on a mast cell's surface and is required for its survival. The mutation identified by Spector occurs within the region of the protein that is essential both for its presence on the cell's surface, and more importantly, for triggering intracellular signaling by the enzyme Syk kinase. So Spector suspects that the MS4A2 mutation might be an "activating" mutation that may constantly keep the Syk signal in an "on" state, thereby prolonging the mast cell's life and eventually leading to cancer.
"If we prove this to be the case, then our finding could be therapeutically exploited because there already is a drug that blocks Syk signaling that has shown efficacy in a clinical trial for lymphoma," says Spector. She also observes that their findings might have implications beyond MCL. "For example, Syk signaling is also important in another type of immune cell called B cells, so researchers studying B cell cancers might also want to now look for mutations in genes within this pathway to identify patients who might respond to the Syk inhibitor drug," she says.
###
The study was supported by funding from the Don Monti Memorial Research Foundation and The Ryan Gibson Foundation.
"Mast-cell leukemia exome sequencing reveals a mutation in the IgE mast-cell receptor b chain and KIT V654A," appears online ahead of print in Leukemia on December 16. The full citation is: MS Spector, I Iossifov, A Kritharis, C He, JE Kolitz, SW Lowe and SL Allen. The paper can be downloaded at: http://www.nature.com/leu/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/leu2011354a.html
About Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Founded in 1890, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has shaped contemporary biomedical research and education with programs in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology and quantitative biology. CSHL is ranked number one in the world by Thomson Reuters for impact of its research in molecular biology and genetics. The Laboratory has been home to eight Nobel Prize winners. Today, CSHL's multidisciplinary scientific community is more than 350 scientists strong and its Meetings & Courses program hosts more than 11,000 scientists from around the world each year. Tens of thousands more benefit from the research, reviews, and ideas published in journals and books distributed internationally by CSHL Press. The Laboratory's education arm also includes a graduate school and programs for undergraduates as well as middle and high school students and teachers. CSHL is a private, not-for-profit institution on the north shore of Long Island. For more information, visit http://www.cshl.edu.
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First comprehensive DNA study of mast cell leukemia uncovers clues that could improve therapyPublic release date: 16-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Hema Bashyam bashyam@cshl.edu 516-367-6822 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Sequencing a cancer patient's 'exome' reveals mutations critical for improving diagnostic power and targeted therapy
Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. Cancer researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have carried out the first comprehensive study of the changes seen in the DNA of a patient with mast cell leukemia (MCL), an extremely aggressive subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a very poor prognosis.
Their genomic survey has helped identify two previously unknown mutations that could directly influence patient response to currently available therapeutic drugs.
The details uncovered by the study not only suggest a diagnostic improvement and an alternative treatment strategy for MCL, but could also serve as a springboard for novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for other cancers such as lymphoma.
"This is incredibly exciting because we've gone from knowing very little about the genetics of MCL to uncovering information that could directly benefit patients diagnosed with MCL," says Research Investigator Mona Spector, Ph.D., who led the team's efforts.
The study, which appears online in the journal Leukemia on December 16, is a collaboration between cancer researchers at CSHL and clinicians led by Steven L. Allen, MD, FACP, associate chief of hematology at North Shore-LIJ's Monter Cancer Center and associate investigator at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. "This collaboration between the North Shore-LIJ Health System and CSHL allows us to increase medical knowledge and make innovative discoveries that may lead to new treatments for patients who are living with MCL," says Allen.
Made possible in large part by funding from the Don Monti Memorial Research Foundation, "the goal of this collaboration was to sequence patient DNA to find information about individual cancers that could be used to improve or design patient-specific treatment strategies," explains CSHL Adjunct Professor and HHMI Investigator Scott Lowe, Ph.D.
In this study, the CSHL scientists used two approaches to identify genetic changes seen in an MCL patient who succumbed to the disease about three months after diagnosis. MCL is characterized by out-of-control proliferation of transformed mast cells the same immune system cells that are notorious for their release of histamine during an allergic response.
In one approach, the CSHL team used a method called array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) to identify copy number variationsgenomic alterations that result in an abnormal number of copies of one or more sections of DNAin the leukemic mast cells. In a second approach, the team sequenced the majority of the "exome," the "exons" which are the DNA sequences that encode for protein (only about 2% of the genome).
This enabled them to identify mutations that result in the difference of a single nucleotide, or chemical "rung" in the DNA "ladder," between the patient's normal and tumor cells. These mutations often result in the production of aberrant proteins and can cause a cell to grow uncontrollably.
Bioinformatic analysis of the gigabytes of sequencing data by CSHL Fellow Ivan Iossifov, Ph.D., revealed the differences between the two genomes. Although several of the mutations occur within genes that have been previously linked to cancer, Spector immediately zeroed in on the mutations in two genes, KIT and MS4A2.
"MCL patients are screened for a mutation in the KIT gene that occurs at a specific amino acid referred to as D816V. This mutation not only spurs uncontrolled mast cell proliferation but also causes resistance to imatinib, a drug that works against some forms of leukemia; so patients with this mutation would normally not be treated with this drug," explains Spector.
"Our analysis showed that this patient, who lacked D816V and therefore received the drug, actually had a different KIT mutation called V654A, which may also cause resistance to the drug. Had this information been known before, the patient might have been treated differently and been spared the drug's side-effects." Spector hopes that this information might now encourage physicians to screen MCL patients for both KIT mutations.
The second mutation of interest occurs within the MS4A2 gene, which encodes for a protein that is part of a receptor that sits on a mast cell's surface and is required for its survival. The mutation identified by Spector occurs within the region of the protein that is essential both for its presence on the cell's surface, and more importantly, for triggering intracellular signaling by the enzyme Syk kinase. So Spector suspects that the MS4A2 mutation might be an "activating" mutation that may constantly keep the Syk signal in an "on" state, thereby prolonging the mast cell's life and eventually leading to cancer.
"If we prove this to be the case, then our finding could be therapeutically exploited because there already is a drug that blocks Syk signaling that has shown efficacy in a clinical trial for lymphoma," says Spector. She also observes that their findings might have implications beyond MCL. "For example, Syk signaling is also important in another type of immune cell called B cells, so researchers studying B cell cancers might also want to now look for mutations in genes within this pathway to identify patients who might respond to the Syk inhibitor drug," she says.
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The study was supported by funding from the Don Monti Memorial Research Foundation and The Ryan Gibson Foundation.
"Mast-cell leukemia exome sequencing reveals a mutation in the IgE mast-cell receptor b chain and KIT V654A," appears online ahead of print in Leukemia on December 16. The full citation is: MS Spector, I Iossifov, A Kritharis, C He, JE Kolitz, SW Lowe and SL Allen. The paper can be downloaded at: http://www.nature.com/leu/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/leu2011354a.html
About Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Founded in 1890, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has shaped contemporary biomedical research and education with programs in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology and quantitative biology. CSHL is ranked number one in the world by Thomson Reuters for impact of its research in molecular biology and genetics. The Laboratory has been home to eight Nobel Prize winners. Today, CSHL's multidisciplinary scientific community is more than 350 scientists strong and its Meetings & Courses program hosts more than 11,000 scientists from around the world each year. Tens of thousands more benefit from the research, reviews, and ideas published in journals and books distributed internationally by CSHL Press. The Laboratory's education arm also includes a graduate school and programs for undergraduates as well as middle and high school students and teachers. CSHL is a private, not-for-profit institution on the north shore of Long Island. For more information, visit http://www.cshl.edu.
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iOS: If you've taken a bunch of photos that you'd like to share with the world but the only tool you have to edit and upload them with is your iPad, Snapseed is a feature-rich photo editor that makes it easy to crop, rotate, adjust, filter, and then share your photos on Twitter, Facebook, or Flickr.
Apple recently awarded Snapseed the honor of being iPad App of the Year, and it's fairly obvious why?there are desktop photo editors with fewer features than Snapseed, and even though its packed with options, they don't get lost in Snapseed's touch-interface. Cropping and rotating photos is simple and easy, and the app supports full-resolution JPG, TIFF, and RAW photos up to 16-megapixels (anything larger will be down-sampled, so beware DSLR-users.)
If you're in a hurry, you can use the app's Auto Adjust feature to correct colors and levels and prep the photo for others to see in a single click, but if you're the type who needs more control, you can manually adjust the white balance, saturation, and contrast. If you want to apply effects, you can use Snapseed to make your image a tilt-shift photo, apply a vintage sepia tone, or focus on the center while blurring the background to make the subject of your photo pop. Snapseed is $4.99 in the iTunes App Store, and worth the price if you love using your iPad but don't want to put it down just to tweak your photos before you post them to Facebook or Flickr.
FILE - In this Dec. 12, 2011 file photo, specialist John O'Hara, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Signs of a global economic slowdown and stresses in Europe's financial system kept investors cautious on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011, causing losses in Asian markets, limiting gains in Europe and keeping the euro near 11-month lows.(AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 12, 2011 file photo, specialist John O'Hara, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Signs of a global economic slowdown and stresses in Europe's financial system kept investors cautious on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011, causing losses in Asian markets, limiting gains in Europe and keeping the euro near 11-month lows.(AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Strong earnings from FedEx and a sharp drop in claims for unemployment benefits sent stocks higher in early trading Thursday.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 88 points, or 0.7 percent, to 11,911 in the first half hour of trading. The Dow lost 360 points over the past three days as on worries that Europe's latest plan to keep its currency union intact would fail.
FedEx reported that its quarterly income nearly doubled on strong growth in online shopping during the holiday season. FedEx is seen as a bellwether for the economy. Its stock jumped 4.9 percent.
The number of people applying for unemployment benefits dropped last week to 366,000, the lowest level since May 2008. That's a sign that layoffs are easing, a first step toward bringing down the unemployment rate, which currently stands at 8.6 percent.
The gains were broad. All 10 industry groups in the S&P rose, led by health care and banks. Every stock in the Dow Jones industrial average rose except for AT&T Inc., which slipped 0.3 percent. Pfizer Inc. rose the most, 1.7 percent.
The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 8 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,220. The Nasdaq rose 10, or 0.4 percent, 2,549.
In corporate news, Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. jumped 23 percent to $24.84 on its first day of trading. The initial public offering valued the fashion design company at $3.8 billion.
Novellus Systems Inc. jumped 21 percent. The semiconductor equipment maker said late Wednesday that it was being acquired by rival Lam Research Corp.
Rite Aid Corp. rose 7 percent. The drugstore chain announced that losses had narrowed in its third quarter.
European markets rose, a day after big declines, as an auction of Spanish government bonds drew strong demand from investors. Germany's DAX rose 1.7 percent; France's main stock index rose 1.2 percent.
The euro rose against the dollar, moving back above $1.30, a day after hitting an 11-month low. The yields on Spanish and Italian government fell, a sign that investors were less worried about the ability of those countries to pay back their debts.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Reuters - Fox's block of animated series received a major boost Sunday night, with "Allen Gregory" surging 60 percent, while ABC's "Pan Am" fell to a series low, according to preliminary numbers. NBC won the night overall.
The ShopAndroid.com Deal of the Day returns! And for Dec. 5, we've got the iGrip PerfektFit Charging Dock for the HTC EVO 3D. It's custom designed for the EVO 3D and can be used with or without a case and has pass-through charging (so you can use your current car charger). It's got a dual-support suction mount so it can attach to the windshield or dash, and the swivel arm ensures you get a perfect viewing angle. And, best of all, it's available today only for $24.95 -- that's 38 percent off! Get yours while supplies last.
NEW YORK ? As they peruse the Internet, voters in New Hampshire and Iowa are probably seeing ads for Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama alongside those for shoes and holiday gifts. The ads will then follow those voters around the Web, popping up on news sites, Google searches and on social networking sites like Facebook.
Online advertising, once used primarily as a way to reach young and heavily wired consumers, has emerged as an essential communications tool in the 2012 presidential contest. While few expect Web ads to supplant television commercials anytime soon, strategists say online ads may be the most nimble, efficient and cost-effective way to reach voters.
"Online advertising cuts through because of its ability to target. It's unparalleled in any other medium," said Romney's digital director, Zac Moffatt. "TV may be more effective for driving a big message, but per usage, the Internet is more powerful. We are probably one presidential cycle from everyone believing that."
Web ads can take many forms, from small display boxes to clickable videos to 15- or 30-second commercials known as "pre-rolls" a viewer sees before the start of a news clip or YouTube video.
Targeting is key. While campaigns invest heavily in television ads to reach a mass audience, Web ads are geared specifically to people based on their ZIP code, demographics and, most importantly, their Internet browsing history.
That means someone who has visited the Obama campaign website will likely start seeing his ads on a number of different Web pages. And those who use Google to search for information on the Republican candidates might notice a Romney campaign pre-roll the next time they watch a TV show online.
Campaigns also buy ads on websites that cater to the different demographic groups the campaigns are hoping to reach.
"When someone expresses interest in politics online, it's an incredibly good time for the campaigns to talk to them," said Andrew Roos, a Google account leader who works with Democratic campaigns on Web ad strategy. "You want to grab people when they are paying attention and ask them to take another action, like send money or attend an offline event. It's an old-school organization principle that has been working its way online."
Campaigns were slow to adapt to online advertising even as the corporate world flocked to the Web with product ads years ago. Internet ad revenue climbed to nearly $7.9 billion in the third quarter of 2011, up 22 percent from the same time last year, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau, which tracks online ad spending.
Corporations now spend from 18 to 28 percent of their advertising budget online, while campaigns historically have spent no more than 5 percent.
Chris Talbot, a freelance campaign digital strategist, noted that big companies can devote considerable time, money and research to figuring out what works online and what doesn't. Campaigns don't have that luxury.
"There is no `next quarter' in politics, so campaigns usually revert to a template of what's worked in the past," he said.
In 2008, Obama and Republican presidential rival John McCain both did limited online campaign advertising. Web ads grew more prevalent in the 2010 midterm elections, when 85 of the top-spending House races and 600 interest groups bought display ads on Google.
To be sure, plenty of Internet users say they aren't thrilled with the proliferation of online ads, particularly those that follow them from site to site.
A USA Today/Gallup poll taken in late 2010 found 9 out of 10 respondents said they pay little attention to online ads. Two-thirds said they don't believe advertisers should be able to target them based on their past Web searches.
"The only way it works is on a mass scale. Most people ignore ads on the Web," said Aaron Shapiro, head of the digital marking firm HUGE.
Web ads' biggest advantage, many strategists say, is accountability.
"Online ads are very metric driven ? you can figure out how many impressions you got, how many people clicked, how many people signed up for an email address. All of that is calculated in real time," Google's Roos said. "It's much more efficient than direct mail and TV."
The Romney campaign's Moffatt said Web ads became part of the media strategy when officials there realized how much their own viewing habits had changed.
"Strategists here acknowledge they really don't watch live TV," Moffatt said.
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Associated Press researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed to this report.
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Follow Beth Fouhy on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/bfouhy
Fitness watches are one thing, but how about a fitness watch that lets you play a few levels of Angry Birds in between wind sprints? Motorola's
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HBO Go offers access to approximately?1,400 titles, both?theatrical?movies and recent television programs such as Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones, Curb Your Enthusiasm and True Blood in addition to completed series such at The Sopranos, Deadwood and Sex in the City. The MAX Go application offers access to about 400 titles including original programming, blockbuster movies and the?MAX After Dark section. ?HBO has already signed agreements with other cable companies such as Comcast, Charter Communications, AT&T U-verse, DirecTV, Dish Network?and Verizon FIOS. The largest holdout at this point is Cablevision with approximately three million subscribers.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 16-Dec-2011
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iOS: If you've taken a bunch of photos that you'd like to share with the world but the only tool you have to edit and upload them with is your iPad, Snapseed is a feature-rich photo editor that makes it easy to crop, rotate, adjust, filter, and then share your photos on Twitter, Facebook, or Flickr. 
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