Curry leads Warriors past Denver 115-101 in Game 4

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) ? His star point guard slowed by a sore left ankle, Warriors coach Mark Jackson told Stephen Curry in the first half he might shut him down for the rest of the game.

Curry quieted his coach with a resounding answer.

Curry shook off the soreness in his ankle to score 22 of his 31 points in a spectacular third quarter, leading the Warriors past the Denver Nuggets 115-101 on Sunday night for a commanding 3-1 series lead.

"It was almost like a boxer that knew he was on the ropes, because it was just a matter of time" said Jackson. "I told him I don't need him to be a hero. Talk about smart coaching. And I guess he realized and sensed it. He captured and embraced the moment. The thing that stood out to me, it was almost as if he had been waiting for this his entire career and he wasn't going to allow his body to tell him it was too hurt to match the moment."

Curry finished 10 of 16 from the floor, including 6 of 11 from long range, and added seven assists in a dominant and dazzling display that rivaled his days in the NCAA tournament for tiny Davidson. Only this time, he stole the spotlight in the NBA playoffs, earning praise from Hall of Famers and past and present All-Stars all over social media.

Curry took a pain-killing injection before the game for the first time in his career, though he looked slow early and even covered his head in a towel on the bench late in the first quarter. Then, he hit five 3-pointers in the third quarter to lift Golden State to a 20-point lead and its third straight victory in this frenetic and flashy series.

"I don't know what happened. Something kicked in there," Curry said.

Jarrett Jack added 21 points and nine assists and Andrew Bogut broke out in the first half with 12 points and five rebounds for the sixth-seeded Warriors, who can close out the Nuggets in Game 5 on Tuesday night in Denver.

Ty Lawson scored 26 points and Andre Iguodala had 19 for the third-seeded Nuggets. Denver won the rebounding battle for the first time in this series ? 37 to 29 ? but Golden State didn't miss much.

The Warriors outshot the Nuggets 55.7 to 46.5 percent.

"The next 48 hours are going to be difficult, to say the least," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "They found some magic, and we have to find a way to take it away."

The Warriors lost All-Star forward David Lee to a season-ending hip injury in Game 1, and Curry sprained his left ankle late in Game 2. Seemingly down and out, Curry has carried the load anyway.

The quick-shooting point guard hit 5 of 8 from beyond the arc in a jaw-dropping third quarter, when nearly every gold-shirt wearing fan in the sellout crowd of 19,596 stood and cheered. Curry scored all 22 points in the final 6:22 of the quarter, showing the kind of range that helped him make 272 3-pointers in the regular season ? three more than Ray Allen's record set in 2005-06 with Seattle.

Curry capped his remarkable run with two of his most highlight-reel plays.

He stole the ball from Lawson, stopped in heavy traffic and dropped in a 27-footer before sprinting all the way to the bench high-fiving and chest-bumping teammates. Following a timeout, Curry sprung free near for a corner 3 ? looking back right in front of Denver's bench ? that gave Golden State a 91-72 lead entering the fourth.

Curry's five 3s in the quarter were a Warriors playoff record for a half.

"As soon as he gets the ball in the half court, he's in range," Bogut said.

Curry, wearing heavy tape around his nagging ankle, gave fans another scare when Corey Brewer poked Curry in the right eye going for a rebound early in the fourth. He returned about 4? minutes later, receiving another standing ovation from the home fans and later said his eye wouldn't be an issue.

While Curry scored only seven points in the first half, Bogut broke out in a big way to provide the one-two punch Golden State had long envisioned.

The 7-footer from Australia had three big dunks in the first half, including a thunderous right-handed slam over JaVale McGee. Bogut, who received a technical foul in Game 3 for daring Denver's big man to punch him on the chin during a face-to-face altercation, stared back at McGee while backpedalling down court.

"I just gathered myself and the ankle held up," Bogut said.

Bogut sat out the final 4:37 of the first half with three fouls, and Andre Miller ? whose last-second shot in Game 1 is the only thing keeping Denver alive ? almost single-handily brought the Nuggets within a bucket. Then Curry hit his first 3-pointer of the game ? officially a 27-footer that seemed closer to the scorer's table than the arc ? as Golden State scored the last 11 points before the break to go ahead 56-44.

Lawson, who scored a career-playoff high 35 points in the Game 3 loss, rallied from a slow start to highlight a 14-4 run that sliced Golden State's lead to 62-58 midway through the third quarter. Just when it seemed they might crawl back, Curry countered one devastating swish after another to put a major dent in Denver's playoff hopes.

That's not the only patchwork needed, either.

Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried kicked a hold in the wall just inside the visiting locker room afterward that symbolized his team's frustration. The scene was reminiscent of the hole Dirk Nowitzki put in the wall outside the locker room? which remains till this day ? when he threw a chair after his top-seeded Dallas Mavericks were upset in the first round by Golden State in 2007.

"There's no good news," said Faried, who had eight points and 12 rebounds. "The effort of coming back and trying to keep playing, it was there. But when they come down and just hit 3s when you've just crossed half-court, you can't scheme around that. You can't stop that. We just have to find a way to not let them do that.

NOTES: For the third straight game, Jackson listed Carl Landry at power forward in his starting lineup submitted before the game, even though Harrison Barnes started at power forward and Landry came off the bench. Jackson said beforehand that he'd do it again because "it worked." Karl said it's not what coaches typically do but joked that Jackson is "consistent" and maybe "superstitious." ... Jackson's wife, Desiree Coleman Jackson, sang the national anthem.

___

Antonio Gonzalez can be reached at: www.twitter.com/agonzalezAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/curry-leads-warriors-past-denver-115-101-game-042746068.html

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Miss. man charged in ricin letters case

BRANDON, Miss. (AP) ? An ex-martial arts instructor made ricin and put the poison in letters to President Barack Obama and others, the FBI charged Saturday, days after dropping similar charges against an Elvis impersonator who insisted he had been framed.

The arrest of 41-year-old James Everett Dutschke early Saturday capped a week in which investigators initially zeroed in on a rival of Dutschke's, then decided they had the wrong man. The hunt for a suspect revealed tie after small-town tie between the two men and the 80-year-old county judge who, along with Obama and U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, was among the targets of the letters.

Dutschke's house, business and vehicles in Tupelo were searched earlier in the week often by crews in hazardous materials suits and he had been under surveillance.

Dutschke (pronounced DUHS'-kee) was charged with "knowingly developing, producing, stockpiling, transferring, acquiring, retaining and possessing a biological agent, toxin and delivery system, for use as a weapon, to wit: ricin." U.S. attorney Felicia Adams and Daniel McMullen, the FBI agent in charge in Mississippi, made the announcement in a news release Saturday.

Dutschke's attorney, Lori Nail Basham, said she had no comment. Earlier this week she said that Dutschke was cooperating fully with investigators and Dutschke has insisted he had nothing to do with the letters. He was arrested about 12:50 a.m. at his house in Tupelo and is expected in court Monday. He faces up to life in prison, if convicted.

He already had legal problems. Earlier this month, he pleaded not guilty in state court to two child molestation charges involving three girls younger than 16. He also was appealing a conviction on a different charge of indecent exposure. He told AP earlier this week that his lawyer told him not to comment on those cases.

The letters, which tests showed were tainted with ricin, were sent April 8 to Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Mississippi judge, Sadie Holland.

Wicker spokesman Ryan Taylor said since the investigation was ongoing, the senator couldn't comment.

The first suspect fingered by the FBI was Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, an Elvis impersonator. He was arrested on April 17 at his Corinth, Miss., home, but the charges were dropped six days later and Curtis, who says he was framed, was released from jail.

The focus then turned to Dutschke, who has ties to the former suspect, the judge and the senator. Earlier in the week, as investigators searched his primary residence in Tupelo, Dutschke told The Associated Press, "I don't know how much more of this I can take."

"I'm a patriotic American. I don't have any grudges against anybody. ... I did not send the letters," Dutschke said.

Curtis' attorney, Christi McCoy, said Saturday: "We are relieved but also saddened. This crime is nothing short of diabolical. I have seen a lot of meanness in the past two decades, but this stops me in my tracks."

Some of the language in the letters was similar to posts on Curtis' Facebook page and they were signed, "I am KC and I approve this message." Curtis' signoff online was often similar.

And Dutschke and Curtis were acquainted. Curtis said they had talked about possibly publishing a book on a conspiracy that Curtis insists he has uncovered to sell body parts on a black market. But he said they later had a feud.

Curtis' attorneys have said they believe their client was set up. An FBI agent testified that no evidence of ricin was found in searches of Curtis' home. Curtis attorney Hal Neilson said the defense gave authorities a list of people who may have had a reason to hurt Curtis and Dutschke came up.

Judge Holland also is a common link between the two men, and both know Wicker.

Holland was the presiding judge in a 2004 case in which Curtis was accused of assaulting a Tupelo attorney a year earlier. Holland sentenced him to six months in the county jail. He served only part of the sentence, according to his brother.

And Holland's family has had political skirmishes with Dutschke. Her son, Steve Holland, a Democratic state representative, said he thinks his mother's only other encounter with Dutschke was at a rally in the town of Verona in 2007, when Dutschke ran as a Republican against Steve Holland.

Holland said his mother confronted Dutschke after he made a derogatory speech about the Holland family. She demanded that he apologize, which Holland says he did.

On Saturday, Steve Holland said he can't say for certain that Dutschke is the person who sent the letter to his mother but added, "I feel confident the FBI knows what they are doing."

"We're ready for this long nightmare to be over," Holland told The Associated Press.

He said he's not sure why someone would target his mother. Holland said he believes Dutschke would have more reason to target him than his mother.

"Maybe he thinks the best way to get to me is to get to the love of my life, which is my mother," Holland said.

___

Associated Press writer Jack Elliott Jr. in Jackson contributed to this report.

___

Follow Mohr at http://twitter.com/holbrookmohr.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/miss-man-charged-suspicious-letters-case-195839113.html

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Tensions high after Iraq forces raid Sunni camp, 23 dead

By Suadad al-Salhy

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 23 people were killed when Iraqi security forces stormed a Sunni Muslim protest camp near Kirkuk on Tuesday, triggering a gun battle between troops and protesters and provoking insurgent attacks in other areas.

It was the worst fighting Iraq has seen since thousands of Sunni Muslims started staging protests in December to demand an end to perceived marginalization of their sect by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government.

Iraq's education minister and its science and technology minister, both Sunni Muslims, offered to resign on Tuesday in protest against the raid, according to the deputy prime minister's office and their Iraqiya party.

Hours after violence in Hawija, Sunni Islamist militants fought gun battles with police and army outside Kirkuk and west of the capital Baghdad in Ramadi.

In the first clash, Iraq's defense ministry said troops opened fire early on Tuesday after coming under attack from gunmen in the makeshift protest camp in a public square in Hawija, near Kirkuk, 170 km (100 miles) north of Baghdad.

"When the armed forces started... to enforce the law using units of riot control forces, they were confronted with heavy fire," the defense ministry said in a statement.

The defense ministry and military sources said troops found rocket-propelled grenades, sniper rifles, AK-47 guns and other weapons at the camp.

But protest leaders said they were unarmed when security forces stormed in and started shooting in the morning.

"When special forces raided the square, we were not prepared and we had no weapons. They crushed some of us in their vehicles," said Ahmed Hawija, a student.

The defense ministry said 20 gunmen were killed at the camp along with three of its officers. Three military sources said twenty people at the camp and six soldiers died.

Sectarian tensions still simmer close to the surface in Iraq where intercommunal fighting between Shi'ite militias and Sunni insurgents killed tens of thousands of people at the height of the war that followed the 2003 invasion.

The Hawija clashes will likely widen divisions in Maliki's cross-sectarian government which has been deadlocked by fighting among Shi'ite, Sunni and ethnic Kurdish parties over how to share power since the last American troops left in 2011.

MORE VIOLENCE

After the Hawija raid, security forces imposed a curfew in the surrounding province of Salahuddin, burned protesters' tents and cleared the square.

Later in the day, Sunni tribal members attacked and briefly seized control of three checkpoints in villages around Hawija before armed forces backed by helicopter gunships took them back, military sources and tribal leaders said.

Gunmen also attacked Iraqi army posts to the south of Kirkuk, wounding four soldiers, and insurgents burned two army humvees on the highway outside Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad. Military officials said three soldiers were killed.

Violence in Iraq has eased since the intercommunal slaughter that erupted after al Qaeda militants bombed an important Shi'ite shrine in 2006 and triggered a wave of retaliation by Shi'ite militias on Sunni communities.

But Sunni Islamist militants are still capable of major attacks. Al Qaeda's local wing has stepped up its campaign of bombings and suicide blasts since the start of the year in an attempt to provoke more widespread sectarian confrontation.

Since the last U.S. troops left in 2011, Iraq's government has been mired in crisis over a power-sharing agreement that splits post among the Shi'ite, Sunni and ethnic Kurdish parties. Maliki's critics accuse him of amassing power at their expense.

Many Iraqi Sunnis say they have been sidelined after the U.S.-led 2003 invasion that ousted Sunni strongman Saddam Hussein and allowed the country's Shi'ite majority to gain power through elections.

(Additional reporting by Kareem Raheem in Baghdad and Gazwan Hassan in Samarra; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iraqi-troops-clash-sunni-protesters-raid-officials-074228142.html

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China sends largest fleet yet to disputed islands

China sent a fleet of patrol ships today to the sea area it disputes with Japan, following a controversial visit by Japanese officials to a war shrine. The latest moves are seen as a setback for a diplomatic resolution.

By Ralph Jennings,?Correspondent / April 23, 2013

Chinese surveillance ships sail in formation in waters claimed by Japan near disputed islands called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China in the East China Sea Tuesday.

Kyodo News/AP

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Spats between Asia?s two most powerful nations, China and Japan, have grown uncomfortably routine since Tokyo nationalized a group of disputed islands in September. On Tuesday tensions reached a new and potentially worrisome high.

Skip to next paragraph Ralph Jennings

Taiwan Correspondent

Ralph Jennings has covered news in China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia for the past 14 years. He lives in Taipei and holds a degree in mass communication from the University of California in Berkeley.?

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China sent eight surveillance vessels into Japanese territorial waters, apparently to track a flotilla of Japanese activists who had gone to look at the contested area. China?s presence ? an effort to exercise authority in the region ? is its largest since Japan nationalized the uninhabited islets, Kyodo News reported.

China?s use of ships in disputed waters isn?t expected to cause a war, but it raises the specter of a miscalculation at sea that could in turn create a new diplomatic row, set off more protests in Chinese cities, and strike another blow at Japanese business caught in the crossfire. Hopes of polite negotiations are also off the map for now.

"Only when Japan faces up to its aggressive past can it embrace the future and develop friendly relations with its Asian neighbors," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a news conference on Monday.

As if the 80 pro-Tokyo activists weren?t enough to upset Beijing, that same day 168 Japanese lawmakers visited a Shinto shrine that?s reviled elsewhere in Asia for memorializing World War II heroes. Japan occupied parts of China from 1931 to 1945. Three cabinet ministers had already visited Yasukuni Shrine over the weekend, causing calculated reaction.

In protest, a high-level Chinese military official bailed on a trip this week to Japan as the foreign ministry lashed out.?

And China?s surveillance vessels probably weren?t loaded with olive branches. The Communist country has increasingly jousted?with Japan since around 2005 as it rose to become the world?s second largest economy.

?Such an intrusion [in the East China Sea] was certainly not undertaken spontaneously, but would have been planned and coordinated some time in advance for execution as soon as an opportunity presented itself,? says Scott Harold, associate political scientist with US-based think tank the RAND Corporation.

Japan controls the disputed islets, which it calls the Senkakus, despite 40 years of competing claims from China and a wave of destructive anti-Japanese street protests in Chinese cities last year. China criticizes the Shinto shrine visits because a memorial at the venue also honors 14 major war criminals.

The two sides are also disputing rights to an undersea natural gas field, while China periodically accuses Japan of not apologizing for the war of the 1940s. Japan says it has apologized.?

China and Japan, as the world?s No. 2 and No. 3 economies, also mean a lot to each other trade wise. The number of Japanese subsidiaries in China has grown eight times since the 1990s, and they sold $147 billion worth of goods to the country in the 2011 fiscal year.

Will the two keep meeting, along with South Korea, to discuss a three-way trade agreement? After momentum last month, the latest raises concern that this puts progress on ice.

?Both sides need to be more flexible,? suggests Ralph Cossa, president with US think tank Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies. ?Japan needs to acknowledge that the territory is in dispute, at least from a Chinese perspective, and the Chinese need to acknowledge that they are under Japan?s administrative control and that a military solution is unacceptable.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/JNlHK-p_sik/China-sends-largest-fleet-yet-to-disputed-islands

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iPhone 5 vs. Samsung Galaxy S4: Which should you buy?

Apple's iPhone 5 has been around going on 6 months now, but Samsung's Galaxy S4 has only just now hit the streets, and already we're being asked the question -- which one should you buy?

Never mind the iPhone 5 is last year's model, until Apple announces a new one this is the phone that's sitting on the shelves next to the Galaxy S4 and that makes the question a real one for real people. And luckily, it's a fairly easy one to answer, because both phones are different enough -- philosophical opposites in many cases -- they'll likely appeal to different audiences.

I attended the Samsung Galaxy S4 event in NYC with Phil Nickinson, and had a chance to try out the phone then. I've also had a chance to use it this week while Alex Dobie was working on his comprehensive Samsung Galaxy S4 review. So while I haven't gone as in-depth as those guys, I've had the chance to form some opinions.

The Galaxy S4 has a 5-inch SAMOLED screen compared to the iPhone 5's 4-inch LED IPS in-cell display. On size and size alone, the Galaxy S4 wins. If all you want is as much screen real estate possible this side of a phablet, the Galaxy S4 takes it hands down. If you want a smaller display that's easier to fit on tight hipster pockets or use one-handed, the iPhone 5 will be more to your liking. Samsung also cleans Apple's Retina clock with a 1920x1080 (1080p) display, compared to Apple's 1136x640.

When it comes to display technology, however, the iPhone 5 cremes the Galaxy S4. Not only does Apple use in-cell display to make the pixels look like they're part of the glass. It's also LED. Samung sticks with SAMOLED, which, like OLED in general, just isn't great for displays. It does save on power and produce nice blacks, but it remains overly saturated, subject to an annoying blue-shift, and just doesn't hold up as well under direct sunlight. Also, Samsung has stuck with an odd sub-pixel arrangement and while it's very difficult to see at that resolution, it's still not as good as the traditional RGB layout.

Samsung has also stuck with plastic for their casing, which not only doesn't feel as good as the plastics used by HTC and Nokia, it feels downright cheap compared to the aluminum and glass casing of the iPhone 5, and the aluminum used in the new HTC One. Samsung's plastic does make it easier for them to include a door for a removable battery and SD card, but I'm happy enough to recharge my phone when I need to, and I'd rather not have a cheap-feeling experience all day, every day, when I'm using it.

The software is a mixed bag as well. I love that Samsung is trying so many things and experimenting with so many things. Sure, some of them are beyond wacky, but some of them might just be wonderful as well. Companies that throw things against the wall do sometimes find what sticks, and that's how we get the future faster.

I just wish they'd hire some really good designers to give the icons and interface a once-over because it still comes off as an afterthought, inconsistent and utilitarian.

Overall, it's a good improvement over last year's Galaxy S3. Some are calling it a Galaxy S3S, similar to Apple's S-class iPhone updates, but the screen size increase and some of the other hardware features make it more than that. Just not a lot more.

However, it remains a largely uninspired and un-opinionated phone. The beige box of mobile. It'll be a best seller, no doubt about it. Maybe even the best seller this year. But If you don't want an iPhone 5 -- and there are some valid reasons for not wanting an iPhone 5 -- I wouldn't recommend a Galaxy S4. If you love phones and you love Android, I'd recommend an HTC One far, far more.

But don't take my word for it, read Alex's review, and then come back and let me know what you think.

• Samsung Galaxy S 4 review

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/0pb9VvkKCfg/story01.htm

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4 Tips For Developing Your Personal Brand | Bella Naija

Your personal brand (i.e. what you are?recognized?as being about) is your biggest asset, whether you?re an entrepreneur or a determined woman trying to scale the career ladder. It is not enough for young Nigerian career women to just be good at what they do or to be a great personality, effective reputation management is essential to make it in the big time and avoid any damaging slurs and assumptions about how you got there.

So how do we do this?

Understand & Live the Brand
International makeup megastar Eryca Freemantle stresses the importance of developing your personal brand early and as soon as you can afford to, bringing in professionals to help you develop and project it. Ultimately the responsibility lies with the individual. However, ?Eryca Freemantle is a global brand, makeup artist to celebrities and consultant to major mainstream makeup brands. A teacher and trainer to students from across the world. I had to learn very early on what a personal brand is and what it means. I would say ultimately that at all times you should reflect your brand. Seek 3 to 4 personal brand developers to advice you accordingly. Your reputation follows you. he best will only want the best. Be the champion to your brand and your purpose.?

Be Consistent
Ronke Ige, Founder of Emi & Ben skincare says the best piece of business advice she?s ever received is ?To strive for consistency in everything from your brand?s ?tone of voice? and personality to how your company goes about its daily business.? Consistency reinforces the core values that you stand for and creates an authentic message that reinforces people?s perceptions of your personal and professional integrity.

Turn Beauty into a Business Asset
Nigeria?s leading female entrepreneurs are often glamorous and stylish women as well is being incredibly intelligent, and business savvy; unfortunately there will always be poisonous people who?ll try and use this combination against them to damage their personal brand. The key is to challenge these assumptions and make your femininity an asset, not something to be circumnavigated or hidden.

Nike Oshinowo is no stranger to controversial slurs about how her looks may have superseded her talents in achieving her incontrovertible successes as a female entrepreneur. The former beauty queen hit back at her critics with a frank interview in the April issue of TW Magazine and now leads a workshop on ?Challenging perceptions to create profit ? Translating your femininity, beauty and lifestyle into credible business ventures?.

Always Deliver on Your Brand Promise
Super successful business leader Chichi Nwoko, who brought Nigerian Idol to our shores, says ?With regards to personal branding, it is the single most important thing one has to do as an entrepreneur. One should determine the specific thing(s) that one wants to be know for as one?s brand deliverable promise at any time. While there may be circumstances beyond one?s control to deliver promptly on one?s brand promise especially, given the structural hindrances which are often prevalent in such developing countries as Nigeria, it is nevertheless crucial that one should strive not to lower one?s standards and integrity.?

Whatever you decide your personal brand is, it should be easily identifiable with the real you that your friends and family recognise. It?s a lot easier to create a consistent, authentic story when you?re projecting your best side as opposed to trying to be someone totally different.

You can meet Nike Oshinowo, Chichi Nwoko, Eryca Freemantle, Ronke Ige and many more women like them who?ve successfully created powerful personal brands at the Women in West Africa Entrepreneurship conference taking place 20-22nd June, 2013 in the Eko Hotel and Wheatbaker Hotel in Lagos. For more information visit www.wowenigeria.com.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

BellaNaija.com is partners with the Women in West Africa Entrepreneurship Conference

Tags: Chichi Nwoko, Eryca Freemantle, Nike Oshinowo, Ronke Ige, Women in West Africa Entrepreneurship, WOWe

Filed under: News & Features

Source: http://www.bellanaija.com/2013/04/22/4-tips-for-developing-your-personal-brand-all-this-more-at-the-women-in-west-africa-entrepreneurship-conference/

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Screening detects ovarian cancer using neighboring cells

Public release date: 22-Apr-2013
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Contact: Megan Fellman
fellman@northwestern.edu
847-491-3115
Northwestern University

Study results could translate into a minimally invasive early detection method

Pioneering biophotonics technology developed at Northwestern University is the first screening method to detect the early presence of ovarian cancer in humans by examining cells easily brushed from the neighboring cervix or uterus, not the ovaries themselves.

A research team from Northwestern and NorthShore University HealthSystem (NorthShore) conducted an ovarian cancer clinical study at NorthShore. Using partial wave spectroscopic (PWS) microscopy, they saw diagnostic changes in cells taken from the cervix or uterus of patients with ovarian cancer even though the cells looked normal under a microscope.

The results have the potential to translate into a minimally invasive early detection method using cells collected by a swab, exactly like a Pap smear. No reliable early detection method for ovarian cancer currently exists.

In previous Northwestern-NorthShore studies, the PWS technique has shown promising results in the early detection of colon, pancreatic and lung cancers using cells from neighboring organs. If commercialized, PWS could be in clinical use for one or more cancers in approximately five years.

The ovarian cancer study was published this month by the International Journal of Cancer.

PWS uses light scattering to examine the architecture of cells at the nanoscale and can detect profound changes that are the earliest known signs of carcinogenesis. These changes can be seen in cells far from the tumor site or even before a tumor forms.

"We were surprised to discover we could see diagnostic changes in cells taken from the endocervix in patients who had ovarian cancer," said Vadim Backman, who developed PWS at Northwestern. "The advantage of nanocytology -- and why we are so excited about it -- is we don't need to wait for a tumor to develop to detect cancer."

Backman is a professor of biomedical engineering at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. He and his longtime collaborator, Hemant K. Roy, M.D., formerly of NorthShore, have been working together for more than a decade and conducting clinical trials of PWS at NorthShore for four years. Backman and Roy both are authors of the paper.

"The changes we have seen in cells have been identical, no matter which organ we are studying," Backman said. "We have stumbled upon a universal cell physiology that can help us detect difficult cancers early. If the changes are so universal, they must be very important."

Ovarian cancer, which ranks fifth in cancer fatalities among American women, usually goes undetected until it has spread elsewhere. The cancer is difficult to treat at this late stage and often is fatal.

"This intriguing finding may represent a breakthrough that would allow personalization of screening strategies for ovarian cancer via a minimally intrusive test that could be coupled to the Pap smear," Roy said.

At the time of the ovarian cancer study, Roy was director of gastroenterology research at NorthShore and worked with Jean A. Hurteau, M.D., a gynecological oncologist at NorthShore. (Hurteau is an author of the paper.) Roy is now chief of the section of gastroenterology at Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center.

The study included a total of 26 individuals. For cells taken from the endometrium (part of the uterus), there were 26 patients (11 with ovarian cancer and 15 controls); for cells taken from the endocervix, there were 23 patients (10 with ovarian cancer and 13 controls). The small size of the study reflects the difficulty in recruiting ovarian cancer patients.

Cells were placed on slides and then examined using PWS. The results showed a significant increase in the disorder of the nanoarchitecture of epithelial cells obtained from cancer patients compared to controls for both the endometrium and endocervix studies.

The cells for the ovarian cancer study were taken from the cervix and uterus. For the earlier lung cancer study, cells were brushed from the cheek. For the colon, cells came from the rectum, and for the pancreas, cells came from the duodenum. Cells from these neighboring organs showed changes at the nanoscale when cancer was present.

PWS can detect cell features as small as 20 nanometers, uncovering differences in cells that appear normal using standard microscopy techniques. PWS measures the disorder strength of the nanoscale organization of the cell, which is a strong marker for the presence of cancer in the organ or in a nearby organ.

The PWS-based test makes use of the "field effect," a biological phenomenon in which cells located some distance from the malignant or pre-malignant tumor undergo molecular and other changes.

###

The paper is titled "Insights into the field carcinogenesis of ovarian cancer based on the nanocytology of endocervical and endometrial epithelial cells." The paper is available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijc.28122/abstract.

In addition to Backman, Roy and Hurteau, other authors of the paper include Dhwanil Damania, Hariharan Subramanian, Lusik Cherkezyan, all from Northwestern, and Dhananjay Kunte, Nela Krosnjar and Maitri Shah, all from NorthShore University HealthSystem.

Editor's note: Backman, Roy and Subramanian are co-founders and/or shareholders in Nanocytomics LLC.

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Public release date: 22-Apr-2013
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Contact: Megan Fellman
fellman@northwestern.edu
847-491-3115
Northwestern University

Study results could translate into a minimally invasive early detection method

Pioneering biophotonics technology developed at Northwestern University is the first screening method to detect the early presence of ovarian cancer in humans by examining cells easily brushed from the neighboring cervix or uterus, not the ovaries themselves.

A research team from Northwestern and NorthShore University HealthSystem (NorthShore) conducted an ovarian cancer clinical study at NorthShore. Using partial wave spectroscopic (PWS) microscopy, they saw diagnostic changes in cells taken from the cervix or uterus of patients with ovarian cancer even though the cells looked normal under a microscope.

The results have the potential to translate into a minimally invasive early detection method using cells collected by a swab, exactly like a Pap smear. No reliable early detection method for ovarian cancer currently exists.

In previous Northwestern-NorthShore studies, the PWS technique has shown promising results in the early detection of colon, pancreatic and lung cancers using cells from neighboring organs. If commercialized, PWS could be in clinical use for one or more cancers in approximately five years.

The ovarian cancer study was published this month by the International Journal of Cancer.

PWS uses light scattering to examine the architecture of cells at the nanoscale and can detect profound changes that are the earliest known signs of carcinogenesis. These changes can be seen in cells far from the tumor site or even before a tumor forms.

"We were surprised to discover we could see diagnostic changes in cells taken from the endocervix in patients who had ovarian cancer," said Vadim Backman, who developed PWS at Northwestern. "The advantage of nanocytology -- and why we are so excited about it -- is we don't need to wait for a tumor to develop to detect cancer."

Backman is a professor of biomedical engineering at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. He and his longtime collaborator, Hemant K. Roy, M.D., formerly of NorthShore, have been working together for more than a decade and conducting clinical trials of PWS at NorthShore for four years. Backman and Roy both are authors of the paper.

"The changes we have seen in cells have been identical, no matter which organ we are studying," Backman said. "We have stumbled upon a universal cell physiology that can help us detect difficult cancers early. If the changes are so universal, they must be very important."

Ovarian cancer, which ranks fifth in cancer fatalities among American women, usually goes undetected until it has spread elsewhere. The cancer is difficult to treat at this late stage and often is fatal.

"This intriguing finding may represent a breakthrough that would allow personalization of screening strategies for ovarian cancer via a minimally intrusive test that could be coupled to the Pap smear," Roy said.

At the time of the ovarian cancer study, Roy was director of gastroenterology research at NorthShore and worked with Jean A. Hurteau, M.D., a gynecological oncologist at NorthShore. (Hurteau is an author of the paper.) Roy is now chief of the section of gastroenterology at Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center.

The study included a total of 26 individuals. For cells taken from the endometrium (part of the uterus), there were 26 patients (11 with ovarian cancer and 15 controls); for cells taken from the endocervix, there were 23 patients (10 with ovarian cancer and 13 controls). The small size of the study reflects the difficulty in recruiting ovarian cancer patients.

Cells were placed on slides and then examined using PWS. The results showed a significant increase in the disorder of the nanoarchitecture of epithelial cells obtained from cancer patients compared to controls for both the endometrium and endocervix studies.

The cells for the ovarian cancer study were taken from the cervix and uterus. For the earlier lung cancer study, cells were brushed from the cheek. For the colon, cells came from the rectum, and for the pancreas, cells came from the duodenum. Cells from these neighboring organs showed changes at the nanoscale when cancer was present.

PWS can detect cell features as small as 20 nanometers, uncovering differences in cells that appear normal using standard microscopy techniques. PWS measures the disorder strength of the nanoscale organization of the cell, which is a strong marker for the presence of cancer in the organ or in a nearby organ.

The PWS-based test makes use of the "field effect," a biological phenomenon in which cells located some distance from the malignant or pre-malignant tumor undergo molecular and other changes.

###

The paper is titled "Insights into the field carcinogenesis of ovarian cancer based on the nanocytology of endocervical and endometrial epithelial cells." The paper is available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijc.28122/abstract.

In addition to Backman, Roy and Hurteau, other authors of the paper include Dhwanil Damania, Hariharan Subramanian, Lusik Cherkezyan, all from Northwestern, and Dhananjay Kunte, Nela Krosnjar and Maitri Shah, all from NorthShore University HealthSystem.

Editor's note: Backman, Roy and Subramanian are co-founders and/or shareholders in Nanocytomics LLC.

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/nu-sdo042213.php

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Analysis: BP's legal gamble may trim spill bill by billions

By Kathy Finn and Braden Reddall

NEW ORLEANS/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - BP Plc's attempt to get a U.S. federal court to pin at least a sizeable amount of the blame for the Deepwater Horizon disaster on other companies may have saved it billions of dollars.

After failing to settle claims from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill through negotiations, the British oil company opted in February to go to trial with plaintiffs ranging from small businesses to the U.S. government over the damages it will face.

The decision rests with U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier, who could issue findings on blame and the level of negligence as early as July.

Legal experts say BP appeared to succeed in shifting some of the blame for the disaster to rig owner Transocean Ltd and cement provider Halliburton Co. In doing so, it may have shaved a slice off a liability that could stretch into the tens of billions of dollars.

BP "put their faith in the hands of the court," said Blaine LeCesne, a tort law professor at Loyola University in New Orleans who has followed the trial closely. "It looks like that might have paid off."

Of course, if Barbier determines that BP was grossly negligent then it could more than offset anything it has saved by getting the rap for the disaster shared more broadly.

LeCesne, and two other legal experts who followed the trial but spoke privately on the matter, believed BP had some success in offloading blame for the worst U.S. offshore spill, which was caused by a blowout on the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 people exactly three years ago on Saturday.

During the trial last Wednesday, Transocean may have taken a hit from BP's final witness, Andrew Mitchell, a 40-year veteran of the offshore oil industry and now an International Safety Management Code consultant.

Mitchell described the rig captain's response to the crisis as "completely inadequate." That came on top of Transocean's previous admission that its employees misinterpreted a crucial pressure test on the well and evidence that a dead battery in the blow-out preventer kept the device from closing the well hole.

Transocean declined to comment on specifics of the trial, but said it remained confident in the case it presented.

Halliburton also took some blows. Last month the company belatedly introduced cement samples into evidence. Then this month, Halliburton produced documents, including test results BP lawyer Mike Brock said he would have liked to have had while Halliburton witnesses were still on the stand.

Another document included an email in which a Halliburton executive said their company was one of the "contributing parties" responsible for ensuring a sound cement job.

"It's very troubling the way Halliburton has handled this entire matter," Judge Barbier said of the documents, adding that he was considering whether to impose sanctions in response.

Halliburton did not respond to a request for comment.

Testimony in the first phase of the trial ended April 17. With an estimated 70 million pages of evidence to weigh, the parties have 80 days to file legal briefs as Barbier considers blame and negligence in the non-jury trial.

Phase two would determine exactly how much oil spilled so damages can be assessed, a process due to start in September. Legal sources say it is possible Barbier could delay announcing his phase-one trial conclusions until after the next phase, so total fines and penalties may not be known until 2014.

LeCesne expects BP could shoulder about 70 percent of the blame and that Halliburton might bear a heavier share of the rest due to testimony regarding the failure of its cement mixture in attempts to plug the well.

"I'd say Halliburton is likely to have an equal or higher percentage attributed to it than Transocean," LeCesne said.

BP spokesman Geoff Morrell said the evidence presented at the trial showed BP was not grossly negligent and the accident was the result of "multiple causes, involving multiple parties."

HISTORY LESSON

BP has been determined from the start of the oil spill to avoid the decades of litigation that Exxon Mobil Corp endured after the 1989 Valdez accident in Alaska. But the complexity of BP's case meant a last-minute deal in February was elusive, so it landed in court.

BP has already allocated $42 billion to cover clean-up, fines and other costs. A gross negligence finding by Barbier could add billions to the civil penalties and expose BP to punitive damages claims. BP's liability under the U.S. Clean Water Act alone could reach $17.5 billion if BP is found grossly negligent. Billions more could be piled on in economic damage claims from Gulf Coast states, while a third set of claims, for natural resource damage, have not yet been filed.

Just in the past few days, the states of Mississippi and Florida have filed suit against BP over the spill. Louisiana and Alabama have been parties to the civil litigation for two years.

While some observers think the results of the trial's first phase will prompt a settlement of many remaining claims, LeCesne believes the parties will continue to duke it out in court. He also thinks even if BP did reduce its share of the blame during the trial, a very costly ruling against BP is in the cards.

"It's by no means a certainty, but I think it's more likely than not there will be a finding of gross negligence," he said.

John Levy, a maritime and complex litigation expert at Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, said all the money at stake is what made the Deepwater Horizon case special among maritime cases.

"On smaller cases, people will just work it out," he said. "Here, you're talking about numbers that end with the word billion. It's worth fighting over."

The case is In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig "Deepwater Horizon" in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, No. 10-md-02179.

(Reporting by Kathy Finn in New Orleans and Braden Reddall in San Francisco; Editing by Patricia Kranz and Matt Driskill)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-bps-legal-gamble-may-trim-spill-bill-052009507--finance.html

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Gunfire erupts at Colo. pot event, 2 wounded

Members of a crowd numbering tens of thousands smoke marijuana and listen to live music, at the Denver 420 pro-marijuana rally at Civic Center Park in Denver on Saturday, April 20, 2013. Even before the passage in November 2012 of Colorado Amendment 64 promised the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, April 20th has for years been a celebration of marijuana counterculture, and the 2013 Denver rally draw larger crowds than previous years. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Members of a crowd numbering tens of thousands smoke marijuana and listen to live music, at the Denver 420 pro-marijuana rally at Civic Center Park in Denver on Saturday, April 20, 2013. Even before the passage in November 2012 of Colorado Amendment 64 promised the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, April 20th has for years been a celebration of marijuana counterculture, and the 2013 Denver rally draw larger crowds than previous years. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

FILE - This April 20, 2012 file photo shows a cloud of smoke covering the crowd at the Denver 420 rally in Civic Center Park. Denver Police are bracing for this year's event on Saturday, April 20, 2013 which is expected to draw a record crowd of 80,000 people. (AP Photo/The Denver Post, Daniel Petty, File)

Members of a crowd numbering tens of thousands smoke marijuana and listen to live music, at the Denver 420 pro-marijuana rally at Civic Center Park in Denver on Saturday, April 20, 2013. Even before the passage in November 2012 of Colorado Amendment 64 promised the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, April 20th has for years been a celebration of marijuana counterculture, and the 2013 Denver rally draw larger crowds than previous years. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Members of a crowd numbering tens of thousands smoke marijuana simultaneously at 4:20 PM, at the Denver 420 pro-marijuana rally at Civic Center Park in Denver on Saturday, April 20, 2013. Even before the passage in November 2012 of Colorado Amendment 64 promised the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, April 20th has for years been a celebration of marijuana counterculture, and the 2013 rally draw larger crowds than previous years. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Members of a crowd numbering tens of thousands smoke marijuana and listen to live music, at the Denver 420 pro-marijuana rally at Civic Center Park in Denver on Saturday, April 20, 2013. Even before the passage in November 2012 of Colorado Amendment 64 promised the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, April 20th has for years been a celebration of marijuana counterculture, and the 2013 Denver rally draw larger crowds than previous years. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

DENVER (AP) ? Authorities are hunting for suspects after shooting broke out during a massive marijuana celebration in Denver, leaving two people with gunshot wounds.

The gunfire scattered thousands attending Saturday's 4/20 counterculture holiday, the first since Colorado legalized marijuana.

A man and a woman each suffered non-life threatening gunshot wounds, officials said. Local media reports said a third person was grazed.

Denver Police spokesman Sonny Jackson said investigators are looking for one or two suspects, asking festival attendees for possible photo or video of the shootings.

He said police had no motive for the gunfire.

Witnesses described a scene in which a jovial atmosphere quickly turned to one of panic at the downtown Civic Center Park just before 5 p.m. Several thought firecrackers were being set off, then a man fell bleeding, his dog also shot.

"I saw him fall, grabbing his leg," said Travis Craig, 28, who was at the celebration, saw the shooting and said he used a belt to apply a tourniquet to the man's leg.

"He was just screaming that he was in pain, and wanted to know where his girlfriend was. She was OK. And then the cops showed up real quick, like, less than a minute. They put him on ambulance and left."

The annual pot celebration this year was expected to draw as many as 80,000 people after recent laws in Colorado and Washington made marijuana legal for recreational use.

A sizable police force on motorcycles and horses had been watching the celebration since its start earlier Saturday. But authorities, who generally look the other way at public pot smoking here on April 20, didn't arrest people for smoking in public, which is still illegal.

Police said earlier in the week that they were focused on crowd security in light of attacks that killed three at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

"We're aware of the events in Boston," said Denver police spokesman Aaron Kafer, who declined to give specifics about security measures being taken. "Our message to the public is that, if you see something, say something."

Stephanie Riedel, who traveled to the pot celebration from Pittsburgh, said she was dancing with a hula hoop when she heard pops. A man ran past her, then she said the crowd started screaming and running away. She was about 20 feet from the shooting and heard four or five shots.

"I couldn't make sense of what it was at first," she said. "We were all having a good time and I was in the mindframe of, we're here at a peace gathering. I thought it some guys playing."

Rapper Lil' Flip was performing when the shootings occurred.

Aerial footage showed the massive crowd frantically running from the park.

Ian Bay, who was skateboarding through Civic Center Park when shots erupted, said he was listening to music on his headphones when he looked to his right and saw a swarm of hundreds of people running at him.

"I sort of panicked. I thought I was going through an anxiety thing because so many people were coming after me," he said.

Before the shooting, reggae music filled the air, and so did the smell of marijuana, as celebrants gathered by mid-morning in the park just beside the state Capitol.

Group smoke-outs were planned Saturday from New York to San Francisco. The origins of the number "420" as a code for pot are murky, but the drug's users have for decades marked the date 4/20 as a day to use pot together.

Colorado and Washington are still waiting for a federal response to the votes and are working on setting up commercial pot sales, which are still limited to people with certain medical conditions. In the meantime, pot users are free to share and use the drug in small amounts.

A citizen advocacy group that opposes marijuana proliferation, Smart Colorado, warned in a statement that public 4/20 celebrations "send a clear message to the rest of the nation and the world about what Colorado looks like."

"Does the behavior of the participants in these events reflect well on our state?" asked the head of Smart Colorado, Henny Lasley.

A smaller Sunday event scheduled at the park was canceled.

Saturday's attack recalled a similar shooting that left a police officer dead at a crowded jazz concert in Denver's City Park last summer.

The 22-year-old suspect in that case pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and faces at least 16 years in prison when he is sentenced at a hearing scheduled for June 21.

His attorneys said he was being pursued by gang members when he drew his weapon and fired.

___

Associated Press writer Catherine Tsai contributed to this report.

___

Kristen Wyatt can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-21-Colorado-Pot%20Holiday/id-79bb45a6175d45f783ef85855fe7256e

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Taliban attacks kill 9 people in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Insurgents killed six police officers at a checkpoint and a suicide bomber killed three civilians at a shopping bazaar in separate attacks Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, while an independent security group warned 2013 is on track to be one of the most violent years of the war.

April already has been the deadliest month this year for security forces and Afghan and foreign civilians as the U.S. and other countries prepare to end their combat mission by the end of next year. According to an Associated Press tally, 222 people have been killed in violence around the nation this month, including Sunday's nine fatalities.

The Taliban ambushed the checkpoint in the Dayak district of Ghazni province, killing six police officers, wounding one and leaving one missing, said Col. Mohammad Hussain, deputy provincial police chief. The checkpoint was manned by Afghan local police, forces recruited at the village level that are nominally under the control of the Afghan Interior Ministry.

On Friday, Taliban insurgents attacked a local police checkpoint in Andar, a district of Ghazni province neighboring Dayak. They killed 13 officers, according to Sidiq Sidiqi, the Interior Ministry spokesman.

The second attack on Sunday hit Paktika province, which borders Ghazni. A suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a shopping bazaar around midday, killing three people and wounding five civilians and two police officers, said Mokhlis Afghan, the spokesman for the provincial governor. Among the dead was Asanullah Sadat, who stepped down as the district's governor two years ago.

Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for Taliban, claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing. In an email to reporters, he said the Taliban used the bomber to target Sadat because of his close relations with the Afghan government and the U.S.

Hostilities have surged in Afghanistan as the spring fighting season begins. This year's is being closely watched because Afghan forces must operate with less support from the international military coalition. With foreign forces due to hand over combat responsibilities to the local forces next year, the current fighting is a test of their ability to take on the country's insurgency.

Reflecting the rise in bloodshed, the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office said Sunday there were 2,331 insurgent-initiated attacks in the first quarter of this year, a 47 percent increase over the same January-March period last year. "We assess that the current re-escalation trend will be preserved throughout the entire season and that 2013 is set to become the second most violent year after 2011," which suffered 2,755 such attacks in the first three months of the year, the report said.

The U.S.-led NATO coalition has stopped releasing statistics on insurgent attacks in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan's Defense Ministry said the Afghan army carried out 2,209 military operations during a month-long period ending Sunday. During that time, 467 insurgents and 107 soldiers were killed, and 362 militants were arrested, the ministry said in a report issued Sunday.

The rise of violence that his organization reported in early 2013 should raise serious concern, especially since a negotiated solution with Taliban "is far from the horizon" and questions remain about whether Afghan forces can fill the gap being left by the reduction in U.S.-led international forces, said Tomas Muzik, the director of the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office.

The Taliban broke off formal talks with the Americans last year and have steadfastly rejected negotiations with the Afghan government, which they view as a puppet of foreign powers.

Afghanistan has about 100,000 international troops, including 66,000 from the United States. The U.S. force is to drop to about 32,000 by February 2014, making the No. 1 priority for the American military to do all it can to boost the strength and confidence of Afghan forces.

__

Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez contributed to this report.

___

Online: The ANSO report: www.ngosafety.org

___

Follow Thomas Wagner on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/tjpwagner .

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/taliban-attacks-kill-9-people-afghanistan-120103968.html

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Lost your keys? Your cat? The brain can rapidly mobilize a search party

Public release date: 21-Apr-2013
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Contact: Yasmin Anwar
yanwar@berkeley.edu
510-643-7944
University of California - Berkeley

UC Berkeley study shows how we refocus to track down a human, animal or thing

A contact lens on the bathroom floor, an escaped hamster in the backyard, a car key in a bed of gravel: How are we able to focus so sharply to find that proverbial needle in a haystack? Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have discovered that when we embark on a targeted search, various visual and non-visual regions of the brain mobilize to track down a person, animal or thing.

That means that if we're looking for a youngster lost in a crowd, the brain areas usually dedicated to recognizing other objects, or even the areas attuned to abstract thought, shift their focus and join the search party. Thus, the brain rapidly switches into a highly focused child-finder, and redirects resources it uses for other mental tasks.

"Our results show that our brains are much more dynamic than previously thought, rapidly reallocating resources based on behavioral demands, and optimizing our performance by increasing the precision with which we can perform relevant tasks," said Tolga Cukur, a postdoctoral researcher in neuroscience at UC Berkeley and lead author of the study to be published Sunday, April 21, in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

"As you plan your day at work, for example, more of the brain is devoted to processing time, tasks, goals and rewards, and as you search for your cat, more of the brain becomes involved in recognition of animals," he added.

The findings help explain why we find it difficult to concentrate on more than one task at a time. The results also shed light on how people are able to shift their attention to challenging tasks, and may provide greater insight into neurobehavioral and attention deficit disorders such as ADHD.

These results were obtained in studies that used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to record the brain activity of study participants as they searched for people or vehicles in movie clips. In one experiment, participants held down a button whenever a person appeared in the movie. In another, they did the same with vehicles.

The brain scans simultaneously measured neural activity via blood flow in thousands of locations across the brain. Researchers used regularized linear regression analysis, which finds correlations in data, to build models showing how each of the roughly 50,000 locations near the cortex responded to each of the 935 categories of objects and actions seen in the movie clips. Next, they compared how much of the cortex was devoted to detecting humans or vehicles depending on whether or not each of those categories was the search target.

They found that when participants searched for humans, relatively more of the cortex was devoted to humans, and when they searched for vehicles, more of the cortex was devoted to vehicles. For example, areas that were normally involved in recognizing specific visual categories such as plants or buildings switched to become tuned to humans or vehicles, vastly expanding the area of the brain engaged in the search.

"These changes occur across many brain regions, not only those devoted to vision. In fact, the largest changes are seen in the prefrontal cortex, which is usually thought to be involved in abstract thought, long-term planning and other complex mental tasks," Cukur said.

The findings build on an earlier UC Berkeley brain imaging study that showed how the brain organizes thousands of animate and inanimate objects into what researchers call a "continuous semantic space." Those findings challenged previous assumptions that every visual category is represented in a separate region of visual cortex. Instead, researchers found that categories are actually represented in highly organized, continuous maps.

The latest study goes further to show how the brain's semantic space is warped during visual search, depending on the search target. Researchers have posted their results in an interactive, online brain viewer. Other co-authors of the study are UC Berkeley neuroscientists Jack Gallant, Alexander Huth and Shinji Nishimoto.

###

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 21-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Yasmin Anwar
yanwar@berkeley.edu
510-643-7944
University of California - Berkeley

UC Berkeley study shows how we refocus to track down a human, animal or thing

A contact lens on the bathroom floor, an escaped hamster in the backyard, a car key in a bed of gravel: How are we able to focus so sharply to find that proverbial needle in a haystack? Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have discovered that when we embark on a targeted search, various visual and non-visual regions of the brain mobilize to track down a person, animal or thing.

That means that if we're looking for a youngster lost in a crowd, the brain areas usually dedicated to recognizing other objects, or even the areas attuned to abstract thought, shift their focus and join the search party. Thus, the brain rapidly switches into a highly focused child-finder, and redirects resources it uses for other mental tasks.

"Our results show that our brains are much more dynamic than previously thought, rapidly reallocating resources based on behavioral demands, and optimizing our performance by increasing the precision with which we can perform relevant tasks," said Tolga Cukur, a postdoctoral researcher in neuroscience at UC Berkeley and lead author of the study to be published Sunday, April 21, in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

"As you plan your day at work, for example, more of the brain is devoted to processing time, tasks, goals and rewards, and as you search for your cat, more of the brain becomes involved in recognition of animals," he added.

The findings help explain why we find it difficult to concentrate on more than one task at a time. The results also shed light on how people are able to shift their attention to challenging tasks, and may provide greater insight into neurobehavioral and attention deficit disorders such as ADHD.

These results were obtained in studies that used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to record the brain activity of study participants as they searched for people or vehicles in movie clips. In one experiment, participants held down a button whenever a person appeared in the movie. In another, they did the same with vehicles.

The brain scans simultaneously measured neural activity via blood flow in thousands of locations across the brain. Researchers used regularized linear regression analysis, which finds correlations in data, to build models showing how each of the roughly 50,000 locations near the cortex responded to each of the 935 categories of objects and actions seen in the movie clips. Next, they compared how much of the cortex was devoted to detecting humans or vehicles depending on whether or not each of those categories was the search target.

They found that when participants searched for humans, relatively more of the cortex was devoted to humans, and when they searched for vehicles, more of the cortex was devoted to vehicles. For example, areas that were normally involved in recognizing specific visual categories such as plants or buildings switched to become tuned to humans or vehicles, vastly expanding the area of the brain engaged in the search.

"These changes occur across many brain regions, not only those devoted to vision. In fact, the largest changes are seen in the prefrontal cortex, which is usually thought to be involved in abstract thought, long-term planning and other complex mental tasks," Cukur said.

The findings build on an earlier UC Berkeley brain imaging study that showed how the brain organizes thousands of animate and inanimate objects into what researchers call a "continuous semantic space." Those findings challenged previous assumptions that every visual category is represented in a separate region of visual cortex. Instead, researchers found that categories are actually represented in highly organized, continuous maps.

The latest study goes further to show how the brain's semantic space is warped during visual search, depending on the search target. Researchers have posted their results in an interactive, online brain viewer. Other co-authors of the study are UC Berkeley neuroscientists Jack Gallant, Alexander Huth and Shinji Nishimoto.

###

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/uoc--lyk041813.php

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Earthquake kills 157, injures 5,700 in China's Sichuan

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - A strong 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit a remote, mostly rural and mountainous area of southwestern China's Sichuan province on Saturday, killing at least 156 people and injuring about 5,500 close to where a big quake killed almost 70,000 people in 2008.

The earthquake, China's worst in three years, occurred at 8.02 a.m. (0002 GMT) in Lushan county near Ya'an city and the epicenter had a depth of 12 km (7.5 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake was felt by residents in neighboring provinces and in the provincial capital of Chengdu, causing many people to rush out of buildings, according to accounts on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblogging service.

State media said 156 people had been confirmed dead with more than 5,500 injured.

President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang said all efforts must be put into rescuing victims to limit the death toll.

After arriving at the disaster zone by helicopter, Li directed earthquake relief efforts from a plaza in Longmen township in Lushan, Xinhua said.

Li asked that a road be opened to Baoxing county, one of the most affected by the earthquake, and that rescuers "act quickly" in their efforts, Xinhua quoted Li as saying.

"The current most urgent issue is grasping the first 24 hours since the quake's occurrence, the golden time for saving lives," Xinhua news agency quoted Li as saying earlier.

Xinhua said 6,000 troops were heading to the area to help with rescue efforts. State television CCTV said only emergency vehicles were being allowed into Ya'an, though Chengdu airport had reopened.

Most of the deaths were concentrated in Lushan, where water and electricity were cut off. Pictures on Chinese news sites showed toppled buildings and people in bloodied bandages being treated in tents outside the hospital, which appeared only lightly damaged.

Rescuers in Lushan had pulled 32 survivors out of rubble, Xinhua said. In villages closest to the epicenter, almost all low rise houses and buildings had collapsed, according to footage broadcast on state television.

This aerial photo released by China's Xinhua news agency shows destroyed houses after a powerful earthquake hit Taiping town of Lushan County in Ya'an City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, ... more? This aerial photo released by China's Xinhua news agency shows destroyed houses after a powerful earthquake hit Taiping town of Lushan County in Ya'an City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Saturday, April 20, 2013. The powerful earthquake jolted Sichuan province Saturday near where a devastating quake struck five years ago. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Liu Yinghua) NO SALES less? ?

"We are very busy right now, there are about eight or nine injured people, the doctors are handling the cases," said a doctor at a Ya'an hospital who gave her family name as Liu.

The hospital was seeing head and leg injuries, she added.

"SHAKES AND TREMORS"

The China Meteorological Association warned of a possibility of landslides occurring in Lushan county on Saturday and Sunday, the agency said in a statement on its website.

A resident in Chengdu, 140 km (85 miles) from Ya'an city, told Xinhua he was on the 13th floor of a building when he felt the quake. The building shook for about 20 seconds and he saw tiles fall from nearby buildings.

Ya'an is a city of 1.5 million people and is considered one of the birthplaces of Chinese tea culture. It is also the home to one of China's main centers for protecting the giant panda.

"There are still shakes and tremors and our area is safe. The pandas are safe," said a spokesman with Ya'an's Bifengxia nature park, a tourism park that houses more than 100 pandas.

Shouts and screams were heard in the background while Reuters was on the telephone with the spokesman.

"There was just an aftershock, an aftershock, our office is safe," he said.

Numerous aftershocks jolted the area, the largest of which was magnitude 5.1.

Sichuan is one of the four major natural-gas-producing provinces in China, and its output accounts for about 14 percent of the nation's total.

Sinopec Group, Asia's largest oil refiner, said its huge Puguang gas field was unaffected.

The U.S. Geological Survey initially put the magnitude at 7, but later revised it down.

The devastating May 2008 quake was 7.9 magnitude.

(Additional reporting by Melanie Lee and Lu Jianxin in SHANGHAI and Sui-Lee Wee in BEIJING; Editing by Jonathan Standing and Sanjeev Miglani)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/magnitude-6-9-quake-strikes-sichuan-region-china-002702079.html

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