Firefox 17

About a billion of us tend to visit one site pretty much whenever we're at a computer or smartphone: Facebook. This release of Firefox 17 adds the potential to make Facebook?and any other social network for that matter?an integrated part of the browser, with its new support for the Social API. The API lets social networks add toolbar buttons along the top of the browser and optional side panels to show news feeds, chat boxes, friend requests, and messages. It's just the latest of Firefox's stream of new features continually being added to this independent, truly open-source Web browser.

Partly because of its constant improvements and innovations and partly because it's not the product of a large corporation but rather an international open-source-contributed effort, I'm still a big Firefox fan. There's very little that other browsers can do that Firefox can't, and none of them is nearly as customizable. Firefox has lots of HTML5 support, the best extension capabilities, and a unique "Panorama" tab organizer. While you can get all this Mozilla goodness for Windows, Mac, or Linux, I evaluated the Windows version for this review. On the mobile side, you can read our review of review of Firefox for Android.

Firefox for the desktop's big interface changes all came along in version 4. That was when Mozilla started emulating Google's Chrome (free, 4.5 stars) Web browser in JavaScript speed and minimalist interface, as other Windows browser competitors Internet Explorer 9 (free,? 3.5 stars) and Opera 12 (free, 3.5 stars) have done, too.

Firefox 17 can nearly match Chrome on JavaScript speed, and holds its own when it comes to HTML5 support and a trimmed down interface that gives the Web page center stage. But when compared side-by-side with Chrome, Firefox falls just a bit short in terms of HTML5 support and whiz-bang features like Chrome Instant, which loads pages from your history before you even finish typing their addresses or search terms in the address bar. It also lacks Chrome's integrated support for Adobe Flash and PDFs.

When it comes to privacy, however, Firefox pioneered the Do Not Track system, though it doesn't offer quite the protection of Internet Explorer 9 and 10's Tracking Protection feature. Memory usage issues, long a bane of Firefox, have been addressed, both in the browser itself and in offending extensions. Another kvetching point has been startup times, but here, too, Firefox? has gotten within spitting distance of the fastest browsers.

Install
A simple 16MB download gets you the Firefox 17 Windows installer. When you run it you'll lose your old version of Firefox. The latest Firefox is available for Mac (30MB) and Linux (17MB) as well as for Windows 7, Vista, and XP?the last of which even Internet Explorer 9 (Free, 4 stars) can't claim. You can import bookmarks from any other installed browsers on first run, but setup is as uncomplicated as it is for Chrome. Firefox also now makes it easy to choose a search provider other than Google, but surprisingly, not as easy as Chrome does. Mozilla also offers a Firefox with Bing version, which uses Microsoft's Web search built in.

Mozilla has been working towards silent updates for Firefox since at least the summer of 2010. And starting with version 15 this effort finally came to fruition?you no longer need to explicitly update Firefox; it happens after a restart of the browser without an interrupting update procedure. The Firefox installation gets around Windows' User Access dialog in a more orthodox way than Google Chrome's automatic updates. Chrome installs in a non-standard, non program folder, which some consider a potential security risk. Firefox, however, uses a "service" rather than a standard program process for the update to avoid the UAC dialog.

Interface
Firefox's interface is in line with the trend of "less is more"?less space taken up by the browser frame and controls and more space for Web pages. The page tabs have moved above the address bar, and as with Opera 12, there's just a single menu option in the form of the orange Firefox button at top left. You can re-enable the standard menus by hitting the Alt key.

Firefox's new-tab page has tiles for most-accessed sites on the new-tab page, and includes lots of settings on its default home page. As in most other browsers, you can customize what's on these thumbnails, and they shrink and enlarge as you resize the browser window. You can also remove sites and pin and unpin them to the new-tab page. But you can't specify which sites to include: They're chosen by frequency of your visits.

It's not quite up to the level of Safari's beautiful 3D Top Sites page or Opera's Speed Dial, which even offers live information on its pinned tiles. Most other browsers let you re-open closed sessions?Firefox's default home page lets you do this, but I'd like to see the choice on the new-tab page, too. If you don't want the tile view, a button at top right turns it off, reverting to the plain white, blank tab page.

The Home button is to the right of the search bar, and a bookmark button appears to the right of that. That bookmark button only appears when you don't want the bookmark toolbar taking up browser window space. This gives you one-click access to frequently needed Web addresses. But I wish that, like IE's star button, the button also let you see recent page history. You can still call up the full bookmark manager, which lets you do things like importing bookmarks from other browsers, search, and organize. And the full History dialog does let you see all recent visits, but it's not as convenient as IE's star dropdown.

Firefox is one of the last remaining browsers to still use separate address and search boxes, which is good for those who like to keep those two activities separate. That doesn't mean, however, that a search won't work in the address bar, aka the "awesome bar." That tool, which drops down suggestions from your history and favorites whenever you start typing, was pioneered by Firefox and copied by all other browsers. Another tweak is that when one of its suggested sites is already open in a tab, you can click on a "Switch to tab" link, preventing you from opening more tabs unnecessarily?a useful tweak.

As part of its leading extensibility, Firefox has always been the browser most open to allowing different search providers, including specialized search like shopping, reference, or social. It was one of the first to support the OpenSearch format. The other popular browsers now do so, too, but Firefox can automatically detect search services on a page and let you add them from the search bar. And Firefox's built-in Twitter search option makes it easy to find Twitter personalities worth following as well as popular photos and videos on the social network.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/839o723yZF0/0,2817,2349494,00.asp

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For Apple, Repairability Rules Don't Apply

Apple is frequently taken to task for its design choices, many of which revolve around the battery. For years, the naysayers were irritated that Apple's iPods and iPhones, for example, didn't have user-replaceable batteries. Worse yet, you couldn't swap in a new battery while on the go if you ran out of juice. Then Apple took away the removable batteries in its MacBook line, favoring instead to glue them in.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/2654dac8/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C767830Bhtml/story01.htm

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Officials: NATO to decide on missiles for Turkey

BRUSSELS (AP) ? NATO foreign ministers are expected Tuesday to approve Turkey's request for Patriot anti-missile systems to bolster its defense against strikes from neighboring Syria, which Western governments fear is a growing possibility given the increased desperation of President Bashar Assad's regime.

Turkey has been highly supportive of the Syrian opposition and wants the Patriots to defend against possible retaliatory attacks by Syrian missiles, some of which are capable of carrying chemical warheads. Syria is reported to have an array of artillery rockets, as well as short- and medium-range missiles in its arsenal, and mortar rounds and shells from across the border already have killed five Turks.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned as he arrived for a two-day meeting of foreign ministers that "if anybody uses chemical weapons I would expect an immediate reaction from the international community." His comments echoed a Monday warning from U.S. President Barack Obama that there would be consequences if Assad made the "tragic mistake" of deploying chemical weapons.

Though Fogh Rasmussen offered no specifics, U.S. officials say the White House and its allies are weighing military options after U.S. intelligence reports showed the Syrian regime may be readying them and desperate enough to use them.

The Patriots, however, are strictly defensive weapons. Officials say they would be programmed so that they could only intercept Syrian weapons that have crossed into Turkish airspace, and not penetrate Syrian territory pre-emptively. That means they would have no effect on any government offensives ? chemical or conventional ? that remain strictly inside Syria's national borders.

Germany and the Netherlands are expected to provide to Turkey several batteries of the latest PAC-3 version of the U.S.-built Patriots air defense systems, which is optimized to intercept incoming missiles. The U.S. would likely fill any gaps, possibly by sending some from its stocks in Europe.

The exact details of the deployment and the number of batteries to be sent will be determined by NATO's military committee based on a report by a joint team that has been studying possible basing sites. Parliaments in both Germany and the Netherlands must then approve the move, which would also involve several hundred soldiers. It's unclear if any American soldiers would need to be deployed.

NATO doesn't want to be drawn into the Syrian conflict and Fogh Rasmussen stressed that any missile deployment would be defensive only.

"It would in no way support a no-fly zone or any offensive operation," he said.

German ambassador Martin Erdmann said the Bundestag will probably take up the matter next week. The actual deployment would then occur "within weeks" once the political decision is made, Fogh Rasmussen said.

Due to the complexity and size of the Patriot batteries ? including their radars, command-and-control centers, communications and support facilities ? they cannot be flown quickly by air to Turkey and will probably have to travel by sea, alliance officials said.

NATO foreign ministers met Tuesday with their Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. Moscow has criticized the planned deployment of the Patriots saying that it would further inflame tensions in the region. The Kremlin has stymied more than a year of international efforts to apply global pressure on the Assad regime, its strongest ally in the Arab world, but officials say it has expressed equal concern about the threat of any chemical weapons use.

Addressing Lavrov and the other 27 NATO foreign ministers, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Washington and Moscow still have major differences on the political transition needed in Syria. She didn't address Turkey's request, but said the alliance's effort to advance missile defense in general "is not targeted at Russia, nor does it threaten Russia."

After the talks, Lavrov said Russia wasn't objecting to the Patriots.

"We are not trying to interfere with Turkey's right" to defense, he told reporters. "We are just saying the threat should not be overstated."

Lavrov stressed that Syrian artillery strikes into Turkey were accidental. And he warned that the conflict "is being increasingly militarized," and that more weaponry in the area would only add to that problem.

Syria, which is party to the 1925 Geneva Protocol banning chemical weapons in war, has repeatedly insisted it would not use them even if it did possess such weapons.

Turkey, which has been a NATO member since the 1950s, has been one of the harshest critics of the Assad regime. It shares a 566-mile (911-kilometer) frontier with Syria, and has allowed rebels leaders to take shelter and organize on Turkish soil along with tens of thousands of refugees living in camps across the border. The frontier is also a main transit point for weapons smuggling by rebels.

NATO installed long-range Patriot batteries on Turkish territory during the 1991 and 2003 Iraq wars. They were never used and were withdrawn a few months later.

The Patriot, which first entered service three decades ago, has been successively upgraded over the years. Although optimized for anti-aircraft defense, advanced versions can also be used against cruise missiles and against medium- and short-range ballistic missiles. They have a maximum range of about 160 kilometers (100 miles) and can reach altitudes of about 80,000 feet.

Syria is reported to have an array of artillery rockets, as well as short- and medium-range missiles ? including Soviet-built SS-21 Scarabs and Scud-B missiles ? in its arsenal. The latter are capable of carrying chemical warheads.

Syria's conflict started 20 months ago as an uprising against President Bashar Assad, whose family has ruled the country for four decades. It quickly morphed into a civil war, with rebels taking up arms to fight back against a bloody crackdown by the government. According to activists, at least 40,000 people have been killed in Syria since March 2011.

_______

Associated Press writer Elizabeth A. Kennedy contributed to this reported from Beirut.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/officials-nato-decide-missiles-turkey-082849767.html

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A Few Inexpensive Techniques To Make Your Mobile Mobile Phone

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Samsung mobile mobile phone equipment like Samsung Captivate circumstances occur in a selection of kinds and can go well with all types of end users. Leather covers are one particular of the preferred options when it arrives to shielding the cell cellphone. These covers have a tender physique which cushions the cell phone in opposition to damage when dropped or when it arrives in get in touch with with a challenging floor. For consumers who desire a more ornamental and colorful solution they can usually opt for the silicon mobile telephone covers which come in a assortment of colours to go well with all types of end users.

Another cellular mobile phone accessory that can present an person quite a few rewards with their investment decision is found with paying for a cell mobile phone case. As the instruments associated to phones continues to progress, the exposure to destruction also raises. Huge touch screens and viewing screens have greater the challenges related with scratching or long term hurt that will need your expenditure into yet another substantial-price good phone. By means of the use of a mobile phone circumstance, a person will be capable of preserving their telephone when not in use by possibly clipping a circumstance to a belt or purse.

Source: http://delmasalas.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/a-few-inexpensive-techniques-to-make-your-mobile-mobile-phone-appearance-like-new.html

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Source: http://stakeholder-father.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-few-inexpensive-techniques-to-make.html

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Source: http://dustinvaughan.typepad.com/blog/2012/12/a-few-inexpensive-techniques-to-make-your-mobile-mobile-phone.html

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Source: http://philipcampbell32.posterous.com/a-few-inexpensive-techniques-to-make-your-mob

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Source: http://dispelling-sidelong.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-few-inexpensive-techniques-to-make.html

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Source: http://communication-technology-blog.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-few-inexpensive-techniques-to-make.html

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Why is the flu more common during the winter season?

ScienceDaily (Dec. 4, 2012) ? Influenza, commonly known as the flu, has distinct transmission patterns around the world. In temperate regions, influenza's occurrence peaks during the winter season, while in some tropical regions, the disease's occurrence tends to correspond with the rainy season.

Linsey Marr, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, and her colleagues, Wan Yang, of Blacksburg, Va., one of her doctoral students, and Elankumaran Subbiah, a virologist in the biomedical sciences and pathobiology department of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, measured the influenza A virus survival rate at various levels of humidity.

Their study presents for the first time the relationship between the influenza A virus viability in human mucus and humidity over a large range of relative humidities, from 17 percent to 100 percent. They found the viability of the flu A virus was highest when the relative humidity was either close to 100 percent or below 50 percent. The results in human mucus may help explain influenza's seasonality in different regions.

"We added flu viruses to droplets of simulated respiratory fluid and to actual human mucus and then measured what fraction survived after exposure to low, medium, and high relative humidities," said Marr.

At low humidity, respiratory droplets evaporate completely and the virus survives well under dry conditions. But at moderate humidity, the droplets evaporate some, but not completely, leaving the virus exposed to higher levels of chemicals in the fluid and compromising the virus' ability to infect cells.

In a past study also conducted by Marr, Yang, and Subbiah, published in United Kingdom's Journal of the Royal Society Interface, the researchers collected samples from a waiting room of a health care center, two toddlers' rooms and one babies' area of a daycare center, as well as three cross-country flights. Findings showed the average concentration was 16,000 viruses per cubic meter of air, and the majority of the viruses were associated with fine particles, less than 2.5 micrometers, which can remain suspended for hours.

Possible explanations for the seasonality of the flu have been investigated, such as the return of kids to school, people spending more time indoors in the winter, and lower light levels that affect the immune system, but there is no agreement on them, said the NSF CAREER award recipient.

The researchers found humidity could explain the seasonality of influenza by controlling the ability of viruses to remain infectious while they are in droplets or aerosols. The viruses survived best at low humidity, such as those found indoors in the winter, and at extremely high humidity. Humidity affects the composition of the fluid, namely the concentrations of salts and proteins in respiratory droplets, and this affects the survival rates of the flu virus.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Virginia Tech (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University), via Newswise.

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


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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/UDW9yFMQ-AM/121204162125.htm

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Green Blog: A Park, an Oyster Farm and Science: Epilogue

In the end, after all the money spent on the science ? on cameras whose images were not carefully examined, on reports that misrepresented scientific studies, and on repeated investigations of flawed scientific work ? the Interior Department?s decision not to renew an oyster company?s lease to operate within Point Reyes National Seashore largely sidestepped any scientific issues.

In the final memorandum supporting his action, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar relied mainly on real estate contracts signed 40 years ago. He said that studies on the oyster farm?s impact on the environmental (all riddled with controversy) were helpful but ?not material to the legal and policy factors which provide the central basis for my decision.?

His reasoning: commercial operations are incompatible with wilderness, and Congress wanted this to be a wilderness.

The legal and legislative arguments on which he relied had always been at his disposal, and Mr. Salazar apparently did not find the scientific conclusions robust enough to be the main argument for his decision to close the farm.

So what was all the science, good or bad, for?

The federal government spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on studies aimed at making a clear scientific case against the farm?s continued operation and on various critiques of the self-same science.

Beyond that, flaws identified in the science may also have cost the National Park Service, particularly the Point Reyes scientists and their defenders, a substantial loss of professional credibility. One might ask if the studies would have been deemed more relevant if they had conclusively found that the oyster farm caused serious environmental harm.

So, what has been gained? About 1,300 acres of marine wilderness in a lovely coastal spot. Drake?s Estero could not be designated a wilderness area until the last non-wilderness activity, the oyster farm, was removed.

What practical difference does this designation mean to visitors? They won?t have to listen to oyster boats or the noise of an oyster cannery. And they won?t get to eat fresh-caught oysters.

What has been lost? About 40 percent of California?s oyster production, plus the jobs of oyster workers and the homes of some of them..according to Kevin Lunny, a local rancher who is the owner of Drake?s Bay Oyster Company. And any semblance of harmony in the bitterly riven communities around the park and the farm.

The hyperbole accompanying the debate over the site?s future was bewilderingly grandiose.

Local environmental groups supporting the end of the oyster farm?s lease argued that if Drake?s Estero was not converted to wilderness at the first opportunity, all park service wilderness everywhere would be threatened. This position ignores the fact (to give one example) that Congress actually rescinded a wilderness designation from small sections of a national park on Cumberland Island in Georgia, which did not cause the cascading loss of wilderness elsewhere.

On the linguistic front, two adjectives were repeatedly wielded by wilderness advocates in pressing their case. The estuary was deemed ?pristine,? with all those connotations of purity, even though people have been working there in one way or another for 100 years. It was also called ?iconic,? as if a small Northern California inlet were sacred to a vast number of people. (One wilderness advocate has repeatedly called it ?a church.?)

The oyster farm was predictably described as ?industrial? and ?commercial,? as if it were a giant factory, not a modest mariculture business.

And when the science of National Park Service employees was found to be lacking, some wilderness advocates cheered the news that highly critical reviews of the science did not find actual scientific misconduct.

It felt like hearing a parent rejoice over a D on a report card ? he passed! A year ago, a Marine Mammal Commission review of the park?s scientific research on the oyster farm?s effect on harbor seal populations flatly stated that ?the data supporting the above analyses are scant and have been stretched to their limit.?

On the other hand, critics of the National Park Service?s science were so vehement that they edged toward outright personal attacks on both the scientists and their supervisors.

A legal challenge to Interior?s decision was filed late Monday, which may delay an end to the rhetorical fireworks. But there are signs that a sense of perspective may be making a comeback.

Amy Trainer, the executive director of the West Marin Environmental Action Committee, whose organization was one of the most ardent supporters of a wilderness designation, said she has pledges of $5,000 toward a fund to help the oyster workers make a transition to new livelihoods, if need be.

?Right now, part of the healing process locally is making sure the workers are taken care of,? she said.

That?s a new approach.

Source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/a-park-an-oyster-farm-and-science-epilogue/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Calhoun reveals he had cancer surgery in May

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) ? Former Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun revealed on Monday that he had surgery in May to remove an apparent cancerous growth from his lungs.

Calhoun mentioned the surgery Monday while taping an episode of YES Network's Center Stage with Michael Kay in New York.

Calhoun told YES that doctors removed the growth, concerned it might be related to a previous skin cancer.

Reached later by telephone, Calhoun was asked to clarify whether the growth was cancer.

"It was cancer-related, yes," he told The Associated Press. "I'm not going to talk about it. I was out for a day and a half. I'm completely healthy now."

Calhoun, who also had spinal surgery in February, retired in September weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a fractured hip suffered in an August bicycling accident.

The three surgeries "took a toll on my body," Calhoun told YES, "and I was tired. Now, the energy level I feel is much different."

The 70-year-old Calhoun, who is still using a cane while recovering from that surgery, also told YES that he has not completely ruled out a return to coaching.

"I would never say never," Calhoun told YES.

Calhoun was 873-380 in 40 seasons as a head coach, 26 of them at Connecticut, the other 14 at Northeastern.

Calhoun led UConn to national titles in 1999, 2004 and 2011, an NIT championship in 1988, 10 Big East regular-season championships and seven Big East Tournament titles. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005.

But along the way, he suffered from a string of health problems.

He is a three-time cancer survivor, overcoming prostate cancer in 2003 and skin cancer twice, most recently in 2008. He missed 29 games over his 40-year career because of various medical conditions and had to leave another 11 games for medical reasons.

Calhoun missed eight games last season because of the effects of spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spine, normally associated with aging and sometimes with arthritis, which led to surgery to have a disk fragment removed from his spine.

He returned to the sideline just five days after that operation.

In 1999, Calhoun coached the Huskies to a 34-2 record and their first NCAA championship, a 77-74 upset over Duke.

In 2004, the Huskies started and ended the season at No. 1, beating Georgia Tech in the NCAA championship game 82-73. The Huskies, led by Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon, won their six tournament games by an average of over 17 points.

In 2011, the Huskies, led by Kemba Walker, finished the regular season in ninth place in the Big East before reeling off a remarkable 11 consecutive wins during the postseason, including a 53-41 victory over Butler in the national championship game.

Calhoun is currently serving as a special assistant to the athletic director at UConn, and among other things is helping raise money for the school to build a $40-million training facility, with construction slated to begin in the spring.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/calhoun-reveals-had-cancer-surgery-may-234458768--spt.html

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India's sports bureaucracy booted from the Olympics

In a rare move, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided Tuesday to suspend India's national Olympic body, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), citing bad governance and meddling by the Indian government.

The decision stunned the nation, but athletes and analysts say it could turn out to be beneficial by providing India an opportunity to clean up its messy and corrupt sports administration.

?Bye Bye IOA, hope to see u again soon, hopefully cleaner!? tweeted Abhinav Bindra, the only Indian to have won an individual gold medal at the Olympics.

QUIZ How well do you know Asia? Take this quiz.

Mr. Bindra had earlier written in the Hindustan Times newspaper, ?If our Olympic association is banned, it could be a blessing in disguise. With no multi-sport event in 2013, Indian athletes could afford a moratorium of three to six months, and unite to change the present system." Snooker player Aditya Mehta tweeted, "Not surprised to see IOC's suspension of IOA.. Corruption cannot be tolerated.. Clean up the system India.."

India is not a sporting powerhouse at the Olympics, but the country has aspired to showcase its rising profile on the international stage by eventually hosting the Games. While those dreams look further off with this decision to punish the Indian sports bureaucracy, Indian athletes are unlikely to be barred from competing in international tournaments.

?One option before the IOC is to set-up an ad hoc committee to oversee the participation of Indian sports-persons under the IOC flag rather than the Indian flag,? says veteran Indian sports journalist Pradeep Magazine.

Are you ready for a gold medal? Test yourself with our Olympics quiz.

The IOC had warned it could take this extreme step as the Indian Olympic Association was holding elections under guidelines set by the Indian government, and not according to its own constitution. The IOC did not want the national government to undermine the autonomy of the IOA.

"The Executive Board decided to suspend the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) due to its failure to comply to the Olympic charter and its statute, fail to inform the IOC in a timely manner, and as a protective measure to government interference in the election process," says IOC Director of Communications Mark Adams.

"To preserve the autonomy is 50 percent of the decision, while the other 50 percent is the bad governance of the IOA itself," he adds. "When we will have both things that will be reversed, the IOC will reanalyze the situation and lift the suspension.

The Indian sports minister Jitendra Singh has blamed the IOA for the embarrassment. "The Indian Olympic Association is to blame for the current crisis. We told the IOA many times to amend its constitution and be compliant with the international rules," he told the Press Trust of India.

Beyond the technicalities, the issue is corruption and in-fighting among two factions within the Indian Olympic Association. IOC member Randhir Singh withdrew his candidature for the post of secretary-general of the Indian Olympic Association a month ago, leaving only one candidate in the race, Lalit Bhanot. Mr. Bhanot is out on bail after having served 11 months in jail for corruption charges in the XIX Commonwealth Games the IOA organized in Delhi in 2010.

India had hoped a successful Commonwealth Games would set the stage for a serious bid to host the Olympics, but instead the event was tarnished by shoddy construction, corruption allegations, and ticketing problems.

The IOC Ethics Commission had in October warned the Indian body against fielding either Bhanot or former IOA chief Suresh Kalmadi ? who is also on bail over corruption charges. Many, including shooter Bindra, were opposed to Bhanot?s candidature pending corruption investigations.

The IOA president-elect Abhay Singh Chautala, known to be close to Kalmadi, has accused Randhir Singh of causing India?s suspension. "When he realized he did not have the majority to win the elections, Randhir used his contacts in the IOC to get at us," Mr. Chautala told AFP.

However, Mr. Singh tells the Monitor, ?This impasses will need to be resolved by the IOC, the IOA, and the Indian government together. It is definitely an opportunity for India to clean up its sports administration.?

Pradeep Magazine, the sports commentator, says that the Indian Olympics Association seemed to think the IOC would not take such a harsh step. They thought India was a powerful country the IOC wouldn?t want to embarrass, as the IOC also lets countries like China interfere in the functioning of their Olympic associations. The IOC however, has treated India like, say, Iraq or Iran.?

Are you ready for a gold medal? Test yourself with our Olympics quiz.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/indias-sports-bureaucracy-booted-olympics-205040528.html

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Glowing fish shed light on metabolism

Monday, December 3, 2012

A tiny, translucent zebrafish that glows green when its liver makes glucose has helped an international team of researchers identify a compound that regulates whole-body metabolism and appears to protect obese mice from signs of metabolic disorders.

Led by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the work demonstrates how a fish smaller than a grain of rice can help screen for drugs to help control obesity, type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders, which affect a rising 34 percent of American adults and are major risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Described this week in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, the new compound emerged from a panel of 2,400 medications and drug-like compounds tested in the zebrafish. The test was designed to identify key regulators of "fasting metabolism"? a state most people face every day after the lingering remnants of their long-digested meals pass slowly down their digestive tract.

Fasting metabolism is the body's way of fulfilling its energy needs between meals by turning to fat and other stored sources. It involves a carefully balanced and coordinated cascade of reactions that see numerous genes in various tissues kick into action and do things like burn fat.

In type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases, this careful balance is lost.

"The body cannot keep up with the breakdown of energy, and lipids [molecules of fat] can accumulate to toxic levels in the liver," said UCSF postdoctoral fellow Philipp Gut, MD, who led the research with Didier Y.R. Stainier, PhD, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics.

How the Screen Works

Some screens can be conducted in cell culture by taking living cells grown in the laboratory and exposing them to various drugs. The ability to rapidly test large libraries of compounds in the last few decades through such screens has revolutionized biomedical science.

But looking for drugs that regulate biological processes like metabolism, which involves multiple interacting organs in the body, and even more types of cells, cannot be done in cell screens because they lack the same complexity. Mice are often used to test pharmacological compounds, but screens of this magnitude would require thousands of mice, which would be ethically impossible to justify and prohibitively expensive.

Gut and his colleagues set out to develop the zebrafish screen as an ethical and inexpensive solution, and the new paper demonstrates the validity of this approach, he said. Furthermore, this study illustrates the fact that model organisms should be an integral part of the new roadmap defined by the NIH and other medical research organizations around the world to translate the most advanced laboratory science into benefits for patients, Stainier said.

Of the thousands of compounds the team screened, two appeared to turn on a handful of genes that caused the animals to burn fat as a way of producing energy ? an end that would be desirable for many people with metabolic disorders.

Further experiments with one of these compounds in mice showed that it could protect obese mice from metabolic problems.

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University of California - San Francisco: http://www.ucsf.edu

Thanks to University of California - San Francisco for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125651/Glowing_fish_shed_light_on_metabolism

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