SAN FRANCISCO ? Silicon Valley entrepreneur-turned-venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and his partners have raised another $1.5 billion to invest in technology startups as they prepare to profit from a previous bet on Internet social network Facebook.
The fundraising announced Tuesday serves as further validation of the success that Andreessen has enjoyed since he started his own venture capital firm in mid-2009. The Menlo Park, Calif., firm, Andreessen Horowitz, has invested in about 90 companies since then. The portfolio includes an unspecified stake in Facebook, which is expected to file its plans for a long-awaited initial public offering of stock as early as Wednesday.
Those IPO documents may divulge the holdings of Andreessen Horowitz, if it is among Facebook's biggest stockholders. Before co-founding his venture capital firm, Andreessen also personally invested in Facebook and joined the company's board of directors in 2008.
Andreessen, 40, got rich as one of the Internet industry's first big stars during the 1990s. He helped change the way people used the Internet as part of a team that developed a graphical Web browser called Mosaic in the early 1990s. He went on to co-found Netscape Communications before he had turned 25. After losing its early lead in the Web browser market to Microsoft Corp. in a bruising battle, Netscape was sold to AOL for $10 billion in 1999.
With the latest infusion, Andreessen Horowitz has raised $2.7 billion since the firm's inception. The firm's other partners include Andreessen's longtime business partner, Ben Horowitz, and Jeff Jordan, former CEO of online restaurant reservation service OpenTable Inc.
"We are single-mindedly focused on partnering with the best innovators pursuing the biggest markets," Andreessen said in a statement.
Facebook, which started eight years ago in CEO Mark Zuckerberg's Harvard University dorm room, is expected to seek an IPO price that would value the company at $75 billion to $100 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Andreessen Horowitz also was among the early investors in Zynga Inc., a maker of "FarmVille," "Words With Friends" and other games that are frequently played on Facebook's social network. Zynga's stock has received a lukewarm response since its Wall Street debut in December. Zynga's stock gained 10 cents to close at $10.49 on Tuesday, just slightly above its IPO price of $10.
Although it focuses on startups, Andreessen Horowitz has explored investing in older companies too. Last year, it was one of several firms discussing the possibility of buying a nearly 20 percent stake in long-slumping Internet company Yahoo Inc. There was even speculation that Andreessen might join Yahoo as an executive, an idea that he refuted in a posting on his personal blog in December.
Yahoo has since hired former PayPal executive Scott Thompson as its fourth CEO in less than five years.
BANGKOK ? Asian stock markets fell Monday, with slower-than-expected growth in the U.S. and uncertainty about a tentative deal to resolve Greece's debt crisis weighing on investor sentiment.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.6 percent to 8,785.22. South Korea's Kospi was 1.2 percent lower at 1,940.82 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.5 percent to 20,401.32. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.4 percent at 4,272.40.
Benchmarks in Singapore and the Philippines also fell. Shares in mainland China were mixed after being closed for a week for Chinese New Year holidays. Taiwan and New Zealand rose.
European leaders were to meet later Monday in Brussels to discuss austerity and belt-tightening measures as well as a tentative deal reached Saturday between Greece and its private investors that could avert a disastrous Greek default on its debt.
If the deal holds and works, it will help prevent a potential shock to the world banking system. But it doesn't resolve the weakening economic conditions in Greece and other European nations as they rein in spending to get their debts under control.
Stan Shamu of IG Markets in Melbourne said that "the Greece debt issues will remain a source of uncertainty and might dampen the risk mood ahead of the EU summit today."
Under the agreement, investors holding 206 billion euros ($272 billion) in Greek bonds would exchange them for bonds with half the face value. The replacement bonds would have a longer maturity and pay a lower interest rate.
The deal would reduce Greece's annual interest expense from about 10 billion euros to about 4 billion euros. When the bonds mature, Greece would have to pay its bondholders only 103 billion euro.
It is unclear how investors who buy and sell the bonds of other debt-burdened countries, such as Italy, Spain and Portugal, will react. If they drive up borrowing costs for those countries, the debt crisis could get worse.
Private investors hold two-thirds of Greece's debt, which is equal to an unsustainable 160 percent of its annual economic output. By restructuring the debt, Greece hopes to make it a more manageable 120 percent by decade's end.
On Wall Street, stocks mostly fell Friday after the government said the U.S. economy grew more slowly than expected in the last three months of 2011.
Economic growth for October through December came in at an annual rate of 2.8 percent. That was the fastest of 2011 but lower than the 3 percent that economists were looking for.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.6 percent to 12,660.46. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 0.2 percent to 1,316.33. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.4 percent to 2,816.55.
Benchmark oil for March delivery was down 36 cents to $99.20 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 14 cents to end at $99.56 per barrel on the Nymex on Friday.
In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3180 from $1.3208 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose slightly to 76.74 yen from 76.72 yen.
(This version CORRECTS Updates paragraph 2, corrects Hang Seng figure.)
Veteran Republican strategist Ed Gillespie?s latest plan to help GOP candidates win state-level elections involves making sure they aren?t stuck with crappy campaign websites.
Gillespie?s organization, the Republican State Leadership Committee, has made a six-figure investment in an initiative that promises to replace poorly designed candidate websites with sophisticated, yet inexpensive sites.
The average budget for a state senate campaign is only $190,000, said RSLC press secretary Adam Temple. But a complete website created by the group?s GOPro program only costs Republican candidates $550.
?They can?t afford to use a major DC firm, and a lot of times they end up using local yokels who end up charging them two or three times that,? said Michael Luethe, a political consultant in North Carolina who has run four campaigns using the program.
?Candidates really are stuck in a difficult position between having to choose a crappy website or something that looks professional,? he told The Daily Caller. ?And usually professional ones are cost-prohibitive.?
The Daily Caller got a sneak peak at how the program works: Republican state legislative candidates who want to design a campaign website pay the $550 fee, fill out some information and choose from among five website templates.
Some sites have been launched in as little as 15 minutes, Temple said. The project, he said, is quick and easy to set up, is relatively inexpensive, and simplifies raising money online.
Temple said Democrat-leaning groups have done similar things, but not ?to the degree? of GOPro.
It?s available for Republican state-legislature candidates only, he said. The RSLC makes sure candidates are Republicans before approving their participation.
Fifteen candidates have used the program in Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina.
Rob Bryan, who is running for the state house in Charlotte, N.C., used the program to create FriendsofRob.com.
?I?ve seen a lot more expensive [websites] that I?ve liked less,? he told TheDC.
?I?ve gotten loads of compliments,? Bryan said. ?People love the site, think it looks great. ? It?s easy for people to give [money], it?s easy for us to track.?
Temple said the RSLC hopes several hundred candidates will use it in 2012. The group plans an nationwide rollout of the program in early February.
The RSLC?s mission is to elect more Republicans to the down-the-ballot offices of attorney general, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and legislator ? and to build ?the farm team? of future Republican candidates for higher office.
Follow Alex on Twitter Join the conversation on The Daily Caller
Read more stories from The Daily Caller
Ed Gillespie hatches plan to replace lousy campaign websites
Polls show Romney building sizable lead in Florida
Tea Party Patriots straw poll: Santorum nomination would generate most enthusiasm
A mix of fog and smoke from a brushfire is being blamed for a series of highway accidents near Orlando, Fla. NBC?s Lilia Luciano reports.
>>tonight a stretch of i-75 remains closed in
florida
. 15 hours after a deadly pileup this morning. cars, trucks and tractor-trailers collided in a mangled mess as a
brush fire
raged nearby. blinded by haze and smoke, rescuers rushed to help as crashes continued to happen all around them. tonight there are questions about why that stretch of highway was open in the first place. we get our record from nbc's lilja luciano.
>> reporter: it's hard to tell from the cluster of these blurnt-out shells how many vehicles came crashing together on
florida
's
interstate 75
north of
orlando early
this morning. witnesses describe the scene as looking like it was the
end of the world
. police say at least ten people are dead and some 20 others injured after a blinding mix of heavy fog and thick smoke from a nearby
brush fire
blew across the highway, reducing visibility and causing havoc on both north and southbound sides of the highway.
>>smoke and fog settled over the area quickly and dismated the visibility.
>> reporter: highway patrol
officials say they closed the road earlier but reopened it deciding visibility had improved enough and traffic was light at the time. not long after the deadly collisions began. thes started around 3:45 in the morning. when rescuers arrived police say visibility was so poor they could only find the victims by following their screams for help. officials say there were seven tractor-trailers and at least 12
passenger vehicles
involved in the pileup. rescue crews were still removing bodies from the site well into the afternoon. peeling off the tops of cars to extract trapped victims. nearly 15 miles of i-75, the interstate that runs north to south on the western side of
florida
, remained closed throughout the day as investigators worked the scene. authorities say the
brush fire
that started saturday afternoon was not natural and could have been intentionally set. lilja luciano, nbc news, miami.
What?s affecting me, my clients and other small-business owners this week.
The Big Story: The President Sings
In his annual State of the Union address, President Obama cranked up the populist pitch. The G.O.P. responded. Representative Sam Graves outlined what he thought small businesses wanted to hear but small-business owners were split. A small-business owner in West Virginia was excited. One study finds small-business owners are dissatisfied with all of the presidential candidates. Joel Kotkin says ?this is America?s moment ? if Washington doesn?t blow it.? Your cellphone can now sing like the president.
Davos Update: An Intern Is Bored
As the sun bombards Earth with radiation, billionaires occupy Davos and bemoan the inequality of incomes. Their outlook is gloomy. Haley Amber Feinberg, a fictional intern, checks in: ?Attended my first panel: ?Tolerating the Unemployed.? Was really boring, played Crackgammon on my phone?s Facebook app the whole time.?
The Economy: The Baltic Dry Index
Even though chief financial officers do not plan significant expansion (pdf) in 2012, Thomas Black at Bloomberg reports that companies from General Electric to Chobani, a yogurt producer, are adding workers and leading a rebound in hiring. M.B.A. employment figures are another reason for economic optimism. Tech hiring is strong. The Federal Reserve chairman promises to keep rates low. Paul Krugman is feeling better. Durable goods orders jump, but the Baltic Dry Index records a disturbingly large drop. Travel on all roads and streets declined in November 2011, but the trucking industry posts its biggest jump in tonnage in 13 years. President Obama delays his 2013 budget. Steven Rattner says it?s dangerous when economists claim that debt doesn?t matter.
Sales and Marketing 1: A Twitter Lesson
American Express succeeds at a Facebook campaign, while McDonald?s suffers the wrath of Twitter. Flowtown creates a cool small-business social media infographic. An educational institution spends more on Google advertising than Apple, eBay, State Farm and AT&T. Retailers were the second-largest source of Google ad revenue in 2011. A study finds that while lots of small-business owners believe social media are important only a few tap its power. John Donahoe, chief executive of eBay, believes we?re going to see more change in how consumers shop and pay in the next three years than we saw in the last 20.
Sales and Marketing 2: The Power of Bieber
Lori Richardson names five attributes of top sales influencers. Devin Cole and Ellen Keiley explain how to network. Google takes its daily deals to five new cities. Trendcentral discusses three new crowdfunding services. Our patience for Web ads lasts, oh, about 15 seconds. A location-based shopping app, Shopkick, has three million users. Christopher Penn shows that vintage ads can teach a lot about e-mail marketing design. Derek Johnson explains how to measure success with text-message advertising. Justin Kownacki explains how Justin Bieber ruined his life: ?Evidently, Mr. Bieber (or his handlers) saw my tweet and ? decided that I was a bloke worth following. And that one single button click momentarily ruined my life.?
Ideas: A Professional Laugher?
A new service helps people save money and resources by sharing stuff with community and friends. This is the place to go if you?re in the market for a professional laugher. Virtual internships are experiencing a rise in demand. Patrick Smith finds a few unexpected pleasures at our airports. David Bakke explains how he started his side business with Scotch tape and offers this simple advice: ?For the most part, I bought and sold products with which I was familiar.? Here are 10 reasons some companies succeed and others fail. Debbie McDonnell offers ideas for choosing a business name, including: ?Count the characters. Google AdWords permits 25 characters so a business name longer than this means having to abbreviate the name if you advertise there. Even if you don?t plan to advertise here initially, allow for it as it tends to be one of the most cost-effective ways of advertising.? Walmart offers a chance to sell ?in the big box.? This mountaintop ride seems like a bad idea.
Around the Country: Cashing In
Female business owners wave a magic wand in Portland, Ore. Houston?s businesses are hiring. A bunch of Indiana businesses plan to cash in on the Super Bowl. Maine is open for business, according to its governor. The start-ups in Brevard County, Fla., are finding that investors are still cautious. Illinois teenagers face bleak job prospects, but a marketing company gives teenagers with ideas the chance to win cash and fame. Manufacturing activity in the Chicago and central Atlantic regions advances. Steven Tyler gives an embarrassing rendition of the national anthem and a New York City school sign is embarrassingly misspelled. A coming Small Business Summit extends its ?strategy award? nomination deadline to Feb. 10. An accountant offers a small-business survival guide webinar on Tuesday. A Staples contest offers a free TV commercial as its prize.
Around the World: Press Freedom
A 375-year-old French bank forgives the debts of Paris?s poor. The United States drops 27 places on an index of press freedom. As Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament sink and the country slips into recession, Britain?s prime minister has an idea: let businesses occupy empty Government offices! Iran?s trade with China soars, and Chinese solar companies are found to be selling below cost. Wenguang Huang explains why Chinese entrepreneurs want to invest in the United States. The International Monetary Fund says Europe poses a global recession threat. Eleven years of Dubai?s growth can now be seen from space. A new satellite takes spectacular pictures of Earth.
Finances: Employee Expense Reports
As lending accelerates, Jamie Dimon discusses the state of banking. Catherine Clifford explains how community development financial institutions can help start-ups. Barry Moltz suggests where companies can find short-term cash. Accounting Today has a slide show on the most unusual items found in employee expense reports. A company offers a Weight Watchers-type service to help us ?set financial goals (and actually meet them).?
Boss of the Week
Christian Wentz?s Cambridge, Mass., start-up is developing a ?wireless router for the brain? that will make it possible to collect data from the brain: ?The data could then be wirelessly transmitted to a computer.? (On the other hand, this guy is not performing like a boss.)
Technology: Apple Is Flush
After a blow-out quarter, Apple has $97.6 billion in the bank and now we know why! Google starts tracking small businesses more closely ? here?s how to find out what the company knows about you. Twitter is going to censor posts. With new ad rollouts to come, Twitter acquires an antimalware start-up. Bill George explains how I.B.M.?s Sam Palmisano redefined the global corporation. Meanwhile, I.B.M. selects its global start-up entrepreneur finalists and is gearing up to challenge Google Docs and Microsoft Office 365. A Microsoft executive says a gay marriage law in Washington State is essential to the company?s competitive edge. Craftsmen creates a garage door opener with very remote control. Almost a third of all Americans now own a tablet or digital reading device. Information Week shares nine password security policy suggestions.
The Week?s Bests
Reason my kids should go to China. Wendy Kaufman tells how a trip to China changed how she ran her business: ?A C.E.O. that I met in China explained that he so passionately believes in the importance of honoring elders that he would only marry his wife if she treated his parents as her own. In the Chinese culture, family is so valued there is always someone caring for the family member. This type of work/life balance helps improve quality of care in both business and family interactions.?
Lessons from the big guys. Phil Simon shares six things he?s learned from big companies, including, ?Be sticky?: ?Attracting customers with your great products and services is step one. But getting them to stay with you ? and only you ? is the ultimate goal. With the launch of its Kindle Fire, Amazon just got stickier by making it easier for users to shop at Amazon and consume media and entertainment at Amazon than anywhere else. How can your business lure in customers and keep them there? With amazing customer service, follow-up, regular e-mail specials or contests? With interactive features at your Web site, birthday coupons or preferred customer perks? Make it hard for your customers to want to go anywhere else.?
Ways to manage time. Michael Costigan offers great advice on time management, including, ?Find someone else to crack the whip?: ?I find that it helps to have someone hold you accountable. Whether it?s a team member or an assistant, ask them to keep on you about getting things done. Sometimes the best way to make sure you do the things you need to do is by positioning the involvement of other people. That way, you aren?t just letting yourself down if something doesn?t get completed, you?re letting them and maybe the entire team down. And depending on how critical the tasks are, that could mean meeting payroll.?
This Week?s Question: What should McDonald?s have done differently on Twitter ? or was disaster inevitable?
Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. You can follow him on Twitter.
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? When your dinner party guests include Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Kate Winslet and Glenn Close, and the whole affair is televised live, it can take months to plan the menu. That's why the team behind the Screen Actors Guild Awards began putting together the plate for Sunday's ceremony months ago.
It was still summer when show producer Kathy Connell and executive producer and director Jeff Margolis first sat down with chef Suzanne Goins of Los Angeles eatery Lucques with a tall order: Create a meal that is delicious at room temperature, looks beautiful on TV, is easy to eat and appeals to Hollywood tastes. Oh, and no poppy seeds, soups, spicy dishes, or piles of onions or garlic.
"It can't drip, stick in their teeth or be too heavy," Connell said. "We have to appease all palates."
The chef put together a plate of possibilities: slow-roasted salmon with yellow beets, lamb with couscous and spiced cauliflower and roasted root vegetables with quinoa. There was also a chopped chicken salad and another chicken dish with black beans.
To ensure the dishes are both tasty and TV-ready, Connell and Margolis, along with the SAG Awards Committee and the show's florist and art director, dined together at this summertime lunch on tables set to replicate those that will be in the Shrine Exposition Center during the ceremony. The pewter, crushed-silk tablecloths and white lilies you'll see on TV Sunday were also chosen months ago.
The diners discussed the look of the plate, the size of the portions and the vegetarian possibilities.
"We'd like the portions a little larger," Connell told the chef.
"And a little more sauce on the salmon," Margolis added.
Come Sunday, it's up to Goins to prepare 1,200 of the long-planned meals for the A-list audience.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. ? A long line of cars and trucks collided one after another early Sunday on a dark Florida highway so shrouded in haze and smoke that drivers were virtually blinded. At least nine people were killed.
Visibility was so poor that when rescuers first arrived, they could only listen for screams and moans to locate victims, police said.
Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup south of Gainsville on Interstate 75, which had been closed for a time because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire. At least five cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flame.
Photographs of the scene revealed a gruesome aftermath, with twisted, burned-out vehicles scattered across the pavement and smoke still rising above the wreckage. Cars appeared to have smashed into the big rigs and, in one case, a motor home. Some cars were crushed beneath the heavier trucks.
Reporters who were allowed to view the site saw one tractor-trailer that was burned down to its skeleton, charred pages of books and magazines in its cargo area. Bodies were still visible inside a burned-out Grand Prix. The rubber on the tires of every vehicle had burned away, leaving only steel belts.
State police estimated that wreckage was strewn for nearly a mile in both directions.
Donna Henry was driving south at 3:45 a.m. when she encountered the dense smoke.
"We just hit it, and you couldn't see anything," Henry told The Gainesville Sun. She was driving with friends back home to Palm Bay.
Her car struck a guardrail and ended up sideways in the outside lane. She pulled off the highway and called 911 while listening to the sound of the other crashes on both sides of the busy road.
"You heard like 15 times somebody hit, from this side and that, north and south. It was bad."
All six lanes of the interstate ? which runs virtually the entire length of Florida ? remained closed at midday as investigators surveyed the site and firefighters sprayed foam on the wreckage to put out the last of the fires.
At least 18 people were hurt.
At some point before the pileup, police briefly closed the highway because of the fog and smoke, which came from a fire in the Paynes Prairie area south of Gainesville. The road was reopened when visibility improved.
Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Patrick Riordan said he was not sure how much time passed between the reopening of the highway and the first crash.
Traffic was being diverted onto U.S. 301 and State Road 27, Riordan said.
Four years ago, heavy fog and smoke were blamed for another serious crash.
In January 2008, four people were killed and 38 injured in a series of similar crashes on Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa, about 125 miles south of Sunday's crash. More than 70 vehicles were involved in those crashes, including one pileup that involved 40 vehicles.
___
Associated Press Writer Freida Frisaro in Miami contributed to this report.
Most North American wolves are exceedingly shy. But given starvation, territorial incursions and habituation with humans, attacks can ? and do ? happen. Wolf attack scenes in 'The Grey' nevertheless have?drawn criticisms from animal rights groups.
Any casual reader of Jack London will get a stab of recognition from the portrayal in the movie ?The Grey? of battered survivors defending with flaming torches against snarling, snapping wolves.
Skip to next paragraph
After all, the opening stanza of Mr. London's classic ?White Fang? details the struggle of two frontiersmen against a hungry pack of wolves, using some of the same savage imagery that confronts ?The Grey? star Liam Neeson in the movie, which opens today.
But is it a fair portrayal?
RECOMMENDED:?Delisting of wolves raises hackles
To be sure, the perception of wolves as man-killers goes back millennia, representing perhaps humankind's most primal fear: becoming prey.
But animal rights activists, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), have called for a boycott of the movie, saying the portrayal is misguided and couldn't come at a worst time: when packs of wolves, reintroduced by federal wildlife biologists, are desperately trying to regain footholds across some of America's northern reaches. The movie's premiere comes as a radio-collared wild wolf known as OR-7 has drawn the attention of many fans as wildlife officials track it from Idaho through Oregon and into northern California.
?The Grey portrays these intelligent, family-oriented animals the same way in which Jaws portrays sharks,? PETA writes in a statement. ?The writers paint a pack of wolves living in the Alaskan wilderness as bloodthirsty monsters, intent on killing every survivor of a plane crash by tearing each person limb from limb. Yet wolves aren't aggressive animals, and as Maggie Howell, the managing director of America's Wolf Conservation Center, says, 'Wolves don't hunt humans?they actually shy away from them.'?
PETA also took offense that the filmmakers, talent and crew ate wolf meat as part of a bonding ritual as they tackled the filming.
For their part, the filmmakers say they meant to build drama, not animosity towards wild canines that once roamed nearly all corners of the globe, but have dwindled dramatically in numbers as they've been hunted and squeezed into restricted territories
"I don't think the film will make people fear wolves, but I'd like to make them respect wolves and by extension, nature itself more,? writer/director Joe Carnahan tells the Greenspace blog at the Los Angeles Times. ?I'd like the movie to remind people that we're just visitors here."
While thousands of Europeans were killed by wolves between the 1500s and 1800s, the number dwindled to 21 reported fatal wolf attacks since 2000. Most have been in rural Russia, but recent attacks also include one wolf-related death in Saskatchewan, Canada, and one in Alaska -- the 2010 mauling death of teacher Candice Berner, who was out jogging near Chignik Lake, Alaska.
Historically, North American wolves are more reluctant to approach humans than in Europe. The likely reason is that American settlers were usually armed, so wolves, as a group, learned to avoid them. In Europe, usually only the elites had guns, meaning wolves had less to fear.
Today, territorial threats and starvation are likely the two chief reasons for wolf attacks, but some researchers posit that wild wolves can, in fact, begin to explore humans as prey under certain other conditions.
?Wolves will explore humans as alternative prey, even if there's no food shortage, if they continually come in close contact with humans and habituate,? writes Valerius Geist, an environmental science professor at the University of Calgary, in a recent research paper.
Mr. Geist and others have posited that so-called ?inefficient hunting,? essentially pestering, of wolf packs is the most surefire protection against wolves becoming interested in attacking humans. But drawing on his own experience in the field, Geist's advice seems to mirror the aggressive stance taken by Mr. Neeson's character as he marshals a group of plane crash victims in ?The Grey.?
?It is not the act of hunting or shooting that makes wolves ... wary, but the confident, self-assured manners of armed persons,? he writes, adding, ?What must be avoided in the presence of wolves is running away, stumbling, limping, as well as any sign of weakness. Making and keeping up eye contact is essential.?
It's not clear from the previews if all the crash survivors in "The Grey" got that memo.
THURSDAY, Jan. 26 (HealthDay News) -- A new industry-funded study suggests that a molecular test can provide insight into whether patients are at high risk of a relapse after surgical treatment for a form of lung cancer.
The test, which is currently available, could help doctors decide whether the patients should undergo chemotherapy to prevent the cancer from returning.
There are caveats: The test is expensive, and researchers don't yet know whether patients determined to be at high risk will live longer if they undergo chemotherapy.
Still, "this may be one of the very first examples of where we understood enough about the molecular biology of a cancer to truly personalize the treatment of patients and actually improve the cure rate for that cancer," said study co-author Dr. Michael Mann, an associate professor of surgery at the University of California, San Francisco.
At issue is non-small-cell lung cancer, by far the most common kind of lung cancer. Even if tumors are diagnosed early and removed, the cancer will spread and kill 35 percent to 50 percent of patients.
In these cases, "even when the tumor is small and they got it all, microscopic disease has spread around the body," said Dr. John Minna, co-author of a commentary accompanying the study. He is a cancer researcher and professor of medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
Scientists are trying to find a way to predict what will happen to patients after surgery so they can figure out if chemotherapy treatment is a good idea.
In the new study, researchers gave the molecular test to 433 lung cancer patients in California and 1,006 patients in China. The researchers found that the test helped them to predict the likelihood that patients would survive for five years.
Conceivably, physicians could adjust the treatment of patients after surgery to coincide with the risk of a recurrence of their cancer. For now, though, that's not proven. The research "doesn't tell you that if you had a bad prognosis and you were treated with chemotherapy, then you'd do better," Minna said.
Still, information about the risks faced by a patient could help doctors make choices about treatments, said Minna, who called the test "promising."
Study co-author Mann agreed: "There may be an important conversation that you can have with your oncologist about potential benefit from additional therapy to reduce the likelihood of the cancer coming back."
Mann said the test -- which is currently available -- could cost several thousand dollars. Minna, the commentary co-author, said any cost over a few hundred dollars could be an issue for insurors.
The research was funded by the firm that developed the molecular test, and several of the study authors serve as consultants to the firm.
The study appears in the Jan. 27 online issue of The Lancet.
More information
For more about lung cancer, try the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
ScienceDaily (Jan. 27, 2012) ? Bedwetting isn't always due to problems with the bladder, according to new research by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Constipation is often the culprit; and if it isn't diagnosed, children and their parents must endure an unnecessarily long, costly and difficult quest to cure nighttime wetting.
Reporting online in the journal Urology, researchers found that 30 children and adolescents who sought treatment for bedwetting all had large amounts of stool in their rectums, despite the majority having normal bowel habits. After treatment with laxative therapy, 25 of the children (83 percent) were cured of bedwetting within three months.
"Having too much stool in the rectum reduces bladder capacity," said lead author Steve J. Hodges, M.D., assistant professor of urology at Wake Forest Baptist. "Our study showed that a large percentage of these children were cured of nighttime wetting after laxative therapy. Parents try all sorts of things to treat bedwetting -- from alarms to restricting liquids. In many children, the reason they don't work is that constipation is the problem."
Hodges said the link between bedwetting and excess stool in the rectum, which is the lower five to six inches of the intestine, was first reported in 1986. However, he said the finding did not lead to a dramatic change in clinical practice, perhaps because the definition of constipation is not standardized or uniformly understood by all physicians and lay people.
"The definition for constipation is confusing and children and their parents often aren't aware the child is constipated," said Hodges. "In our study, X-rays revealed that all the children had excess stool in their rectums that could interfere with normal bladder function. However, only three of the children described bowel habits consistent with constipation."
Hodges explained that guidelines of the International Children's Continence Society recommend asking children and their parents if the child's bowel movements occur irregularly (less often than every other day) and if the stool consistency is hard.
"These questions focus on functional constipation and cannot help identify children with rectums that are enlarged and interfering with bladder capacity," said Hodges. "The kind of constipation associated with bedwetting occurs when children put off going to the bathroom. This causes stool to back up and their bowels to never be fully emptied. We believe that treating this condition can cure bedwetting."
Children in the study ranged from 5 to 15 years old. The constipated children were treated with an initial bowel cleanout using polyethylene glycol (Miralax?), which softens the stools by causing them to retain water. In children whose rectums remained enlarged after this therapy, enemas or stimulant laxatives were used.
Hodges cautioned that any medical therapy for bedwetting should be overseen by a physician.
The study used abdominal X-rays to identify the children with excess stool in their rectums. Hodges and radiologists at Wake Forest Baptist developed a special diagnostic method that involves measuring rectal size on the X-ray. He said rectal ultrasound could also be used for diagnosis.
"The importance of diagnosing this condition cannot be overstated," Hodges said. "When it is missed, children may be subjected to unnecessary surgery and the side effects of medications. We challenge physicians considering medications or surgery as a treatment for bedwetting to obtain an X-ray or ultrasound first."
The study involved reviewing the charts of 30 consecutive patients treated for bedwetting. The authors cautioned that some cases may have improved on their own over time. They said a more accurate measure of the treatment's success would be to randomly assign constipated children to laxative therapy or an inactive therapy, an approach that would identify true response from cases that would resolve over time.
Hodges' co-author on the research is Evelyn Y. Anthony, MD, a radiologist at Wake Forest Baptist.
Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google +1:
Other bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, via Newswise.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Steve J. Hodges, Evelyn Y. Anthony. Occult Megarectum?A Commonly Unrecognized Cause of Enuresis. Urology, 2011; DOI: 10.1016/j.urology.2011.10.015
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Twitter / nbcsandiego: Have you ever been whale w ...Have you ever been whale watching here in Southern California? If so, what is the coolest thing you?ve ever seen? Il y a environ 5 heuresvia web
Competition in WWE is grueling. The rigors of the ring can frustrate Superstars ? often to the point where they want to put their fist through something. That rush of emotion may have been the inspiration for one of WWE?s most iconic television sets.
The classic giant fist smashing through a mirror ? SmackDown?s set from August 2001 to January 2008 ? has long been a favorite of the WWE Universe. That?s why WWE.com is calling for the return of the legendary appendage to Friday nights. (PHOTOS)
How did the fist set come about? Arguably, it was out of necessity. As SmackDown?s second anniversary approached, Rhino Gored Chris Jericho through the show?s original entrance setup at the end of the Aug. 9, 2001 episode, leaving WWE with the daunting task of coming up with something new in a hurry. One week later, the huge fist debuted, and quickly made its way into arenas across the country ? and into the hearts of the WWE Universe.
Unfortunately, when WWE went high-definition in January 2008, the organization opted to wave buh-bye to its five-fingered friend. Granted, today?s set is visually stunning, and helps make Raw and SmackDown must-see each and every week. Yet few can deny that the fist-and-broken-glass truly gave the show an attitude that equaled the explosive nature of SmackDown and its matches. Just imagine how it would look in high-def.
Think of all the Superstars that have made their way to the ring from that iconic set. Who can forget Rey Mysterio leaping out from under the stage to make his WWE debut? Hall of Famers like Hulk Hogan, Edge and ?Rowdy? Roddy Piper, legendary icons like The Undertaker and the Superstars of today ? including? John Cena and Chris Jericho ? have all emerged from under the clenched fist to the roar of the WWE Universe. It would have a tremendous impact on today's up-and-coming ring warriors, helping them project an even more powerful, larger-than-life image of themselves.
In addition to adding to SmackDown?s intense atmosphere, the fist set could also be practical, helping out any Superstars that choose to take the high ground. In September 2004, Heidenreich shocked the WWE Universe by climbing atop the massive set. As his manager, Paul Heyman, and WWE officials begged him not to jump, the unusual Superstar pulled out a microphone, using the moment to read a poem. Just imagine what some of today?s high-flyers could do with the added height. Justin Gabriel or Kofi Kingston would look like Superman, flying through the air from the top of the enormous appeandage, and crashing onto a helpless opponent.
SmackDown is exciting, unpredictable and action-packed. It deserves a set reflecting that absolute adrenaline rush. Bringing back the classic fist would surely be an instant knockout from the moment a Superstar emerged from underneath it.
Best known for his role in ?Welcome Back, Kotter,? Heyges died Thursday at age 60. NBC?s Brian Williams reports.
>>>robert hchb egyes has died. he was best known playing the jewish
puerto rican
student juan epstein alongside
john travolta
in the '70s in "welcome back cotter." he was later a regular in "cagney and lacy." he passed away thursday morning after suffering cardiac arrest. he was 60 years old.
A hydrogen fuel mini cell and a kinetic energy harvester are two new smart phone chargers debuting in 2012. Larry Greenemeier reports
January 26, 2012?|
More 60-Second Tech
Subscribe via iTunes
Carmakers learned years ago it's not easy to make a practical hydrogen fuel cell. Yet hydrogen fuel cells do work, and they're greener than batteries. So how about using a mini hydrogen fuel cell to recharge something small?like your mobile phone battery?
That's the idea behind SiGNa Chemistry's PowerTrekk, demo'd at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The device is filled with a powdery substance known as sodium silicide that produces hydrogen gas in the presence of water. It has the same recharge power as six AA batteries, minus the heavy metals and toxic chemicals.
The downside? PowerTrekk will cost about $200 when it debuts in the U.S. in May.
A cheaper option, also on display at CES, might be the nVolt by startup company nVolutions. Due out by the end of the year and expected to cost about $50, nVolt has a circular plate that attaches to the back of any mobile phone. Once attached, put your phone on a flat surface and spin it. nVolt uses kinetic energy generated by the rotations to do the re-charging. There's nothing greener than a little elbow grease.
?Larry Greenemeier
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]??
?
LED lights point shoppers in the right directionPublic release date: 26-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: A'ndrea Elyse Messer aem1@psu.edu 814-865-9481 Penn State
Looking for an item in a large department store or mall can be like searching for a needle in a haystack, but that could change thanks to a hybrid location-identification system that uses radio frequency transmitters and overhead LED lights, suggested by a team of researchers from Penn State and Hallym University in South Korea.
"LED lights are becoming the norm," said Mohsen Kavehrad, W. L. Weiss Chair Professor of Electrical Engineering and director of the Center for Information and Communications Technology Research at Penn State. "The same lights that brighten a room can also provide locational information."
To locate an item in a mall, the system would not need to transfer large amounts of data. Kavehrad and his team envision large stores or malls with overhead LED light fixtures, each assigned with a location code. At the entrance, a computer that is accessible via keyboard or even telephone would contain a database of all the items available. Shortly after a query, the location or locations of the desired item would appear.
"The human eye can't see beyond 15 on and offs of a light per second," said Kavehrad. "We can get kilobytes and megabytes of information in very rapid blinking of the LEDs," he told attendees at the SPIE Photonics West 2012 conference today in San Francisco.
But LED-transmitted locational information alone will not work because light does not transmit through walls. Kavehrad, working with Zhou Zhou, graduate student in electrical engineering, Penn State, designed a hybrid LiFi system using a Zigbee multihop wireless network with the LEDs.
ZigBee is an engineering specification designed for small, low-power digital radio frequency applications requiring short-range wireless transfer of data at relatively low rates. ZigBee applications usually require a low data rate, long battery life, and secure networking.
While a ceiling light can have communications with anything placed beneath its area, light cannot travel through walls, so a hybrid system using light and RF became the practical solution.
The system consists of the location-tagged LEDs and combination photodiode and Zigbee receiver merchandise tags. The request for an item goes from the computer through the many jumps of short radio frequency receivers and transmitters placed throughout the mall. The RF/photodiode tag on the merchandise sought, reads its location from the overhead LED and sends the information back through the wireless network to the computer.
Even when merchandise is moved from room to room, the accurate location remains available because a different LED overhead light with a different location code signals the tag.
While ideal for shopping applications, this hybrid model is also useful in other situations. LED-transmitted information is useful in places like hospitals, where radio frequency signals can interfere with equipment.
Modern Geographic Positioning Systems, such as those in cell phones, can easily locate people outside, but they do not work within buildings. A hybrid system in a high-rise office building, for example, could not only tell the system someone was in the building, but could identify the floor where the person was at that time. In museums or hospitals, navigation systems could guide people through large buildings by reading the final destination signal from a hand-carried photodiode device and initializing lights or other indicators to show the proper path.
Kavehrad notes that Zigbee devices are designed to be inexpensive, as are the photodiodes also required for the system. Not every identical item would need a tag and the tags are reusable.
Also working on this project were Yong Up Lee, professor of electronics, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea, currently at Penn State on sabbatical, and Sungkeun Baang and Joohyeon Park, masters degree students at Hallym University.
###
The National Research Foundation of Korea and the National Science Foundation funded this work.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
LED lights point shoppers in the right directionPublic release date: 26-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: A'ndrea Elyse Messer aem1@psu.edu 814-865-9481 Penn State
Looking for an item in a large department store or mall can be like searching for a needle in a haystack, but that could change thanks to a hybrid location-identification system that uses radio frequency transmitters and overhead LED lights, suggested by a team of researchers from Penn State and Hallym University in South Korea.
"LED lights are becoming the norm," said Mohsen Kavehrad, W. L. Weiss Chair Professor of Electrical Engineering and director of the Center for Information and Communications Technology Research at Penn State. "The same lights that brighten a room can also provide locational information."
To locate an item in a mall, the system would not need to transfer large amounts of data. Kavehrad and his team envision large stores or malls with overhead LED light fixtures, each assigned with a location code. At the entrance, a computer that is accessible via keyboard or even telephone would contain a database of all the items available. Shortly after a query, the location or locations of the desired item would appear.
"The human eye can't see beyond 15 on and offs of a light per second," said Kavehrad. "We can get kilobytes and megabytes of information in very rapid blinking of the LEDs," he told attendees at the SPIE Photonics West 2012 conference today in San Francisco.
But LED-transmitted locational information alone will not work because light does not transmit through walls. Kavehrad, working with Zhou Zhou, graduate student in electrical engineering, Penn State, designed a hybrid LiFi system using a Zigbee multihop wireless network with the LEDs.
ZigBee is an engineering specification designed for small, low-power digital radio frequency applications requiring short-range wireless transfer of data at relatively low rates. ZigBee applications usually require a low data rate, long battery life, and secure networking.
While a ceiling light can have communications with anything placed beneath its area, light cannot travel through walls, so a hybrid system using light and RF became the practical solution.
The system consists of the location-tagged LEDs and combination photodiode and Zigbee receiver merchandise tags. The request for an item goes from the computer through the many jumps of short radio frequency receivers and transmitters placed throughout the mall. The RF/photodiode tag on the merchandise sought, reads its location from the overhead LED and sends the information back through the wireless network to the computer.
Even when merchandise is moved from room to room, the accurate location remains available because a different LED overhead light with a different location code signals the tag.
While ideal for shopping applications, this hybrid model is also useful in other situations. LED-transmitted information is useful in places like hospitals, where radio frequency signals can interfere with equipment.
Modern Geographic Positioning Systems, such as those in cell phones, can easily locate people outside, but they do not work within buildings. A hybrid system in a high-rise office building, for example, could not only tell the system someone was in the building, but could identify the floor where the person was at that time. In museums or hospitals, navigation systems could guide people through large buildings by reading the final destination signal from a hand-carried photodiode device and initializing lights or other indicators to show the proper path.
Kavehrad notes that Zigbee devices are designed to be inexpensive, as are the photodiodes also required for the system. Not every identical item would need a tag and the tags are reusable.
Also working on this project were Yong Up Lee, professor of electronics, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea, currently at Penn State on sabbatical, and Sungkeun Baang and Joohyeon Park, masters degree students at Hallym University.
###
The National Research Foundation of Korea and the National Science Foundation funded this work.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
Former Bachelorette star Ali Fedotowsky has a type.
That type is apparently a Jewish guy with a sense of humor. Basically, the 27-year-old Massachusetts native's taste could be summarized as "good."
Newly single at the Bachelorette / Bachelor reunion held at The Mirage in Las Vegas, last weekend, she confessed her weakness for certain guys.
"I tend to like nice, funny Jewish boys," she said, adding that while she's not looking to date right now, she reveals she's open to it. Calling J-daters!
So who's her dream celebrity date? An SNL funnyman who had a Jewish upbringing. "Andy Samberg," she told Life & Style. "He's so funny."
She's a cutie, Andy. Might want to pick up the phone.
Ali Fedotowsky and Roberto Martinez, who proposed to her on The Bachelorette season finale of in 2010, split in November after an 18 month engagement.
"We were trying to establish ourselves individually," A-Fed recently said of the breakup. "But a relationship should be solid regardless of circumstances."
Tens of thousands of Egyptians packed shoulder to shoulder into Cairo's Tahrir Square on Wednesday to mark the one-year anniversary of the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Some, particularly Islamist supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the ultra-Islamist Salafis' Nour party, came out to celebrate their victories after a year of political discovery.
Between them, the Islamist parties won a combined 72% of available seats in the lower house of parliament in the country's first democratic election in more than a half century. "We are here to celebrate what we've achieved, and reiterate what we haven't achieved," said Mohamed Abdel Ghafar, a 40-year-old teacher sporting a Freedom and Justice Party hat. "We achieved the elections and the ousting of Mubarak, putting the symbols of corruption on trial, setting a date for the transition of authority, and lifting the emergency law," he added. Nearby, a speaker on the Brotherhood's stage trumpeted congratulations to Egypt's heroes -- that would be everyone who came out to help overthrow the president.
But thousands of those on Tahrir Square, Wednesday, also came out to protest. While many express satisfactin with the election result, frustration over economic woes, endemic corruption, and the slow pace of reform has deepened in the year since Mubarak's fall. The focus of much of that anger has been the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the junta that took over from Mubarak last February and has shown little interest in ceding complete executive authority to a civilian government. (MORE: Egyptians Mark Their Revolution's Anniversary with Mixed Feelings)
Men, women, and families thronged beneath banners demanding an end to military rule and justice for those killed and injured by security forces during the uprising and protests since. Liberal youth activists even chanted for the execution of SCAF chief Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi, hoisting posters depicting faces of Mubarak officials, as well as Tantawi and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.
"We believe that SCAF lost its legitimacy in August and now it's ruling the country with force," said Mohamed al-Essawy, 24, who held a large stencil depicting the faces of Tantawi and the Brotherhood's speaker of parliament hovering over bodies of slain activists. "They're playing chess with the revolution," he explained. "Anything supervised by SCAF is illegitimate, ranging from the parliament to the constitution."
Liberals, youth activists, and political analysts have increasingly alleged that a conspiracy exists between the Brotherhood and the junta, pointing to the former's seeming compliance with military-drafted rules and declarations. However, the majority of Egyptians seem to disagree. (PHOTOS: Revolution in Egypt: 18 Days That Shook the World)
On January 24th, Tantawi announced the termination of the country's emergency law on national television, in a move aimed at currying favor with the protesters ahead of the one year anniversary of the uprising. For Brotherhood supporters, and many others in Tahrir on Wednesday, the concession seemed like an additional victory. But an exemption decreed by Tantawi, which allows the emergency law's provisions to be applied in cases of "thuggery", had human rights groups crying foul -- the imprecise term has been widely used by the military to prosecute activists over the past year. Human Rights Watch warned that the exception would "invite abuse."
Demonstrators poured into the downtown square throughout the day, many marching the same routes they had taken a year ago to start the historic rebellion. That day was fraught with tension and violence, as protesters broke through police lines and braved volleys of tear gas, astounded and emboldened by the power of their collective action. There were no police lines to cross to get to Tahrir for the anniversary event, and the crowd was far larger this time than it had been a year ago. But nostalgia ran high. Tahrir pulsed with the national pride that had characterized the 18-days that brought down Mubarak. And the crowd's diversity stirred the familiar debate and exchange of ideas that many Egyptians had reveled in a year ago, as men and women from across the country and its social classes first camped in the square, united by the common goal of ousting Mubarak. (PHOTOS: Police and Protesters Clash in Cairo)
"We were not divided back then," remembered Mohamed Farghaly, a university student. "On January 25th 2011, we were unified. We came down to call for the fall of the regime, and at the time, we thought that Mubarak was the regime," he said. "Then we found out that he wasn't." Farghaly admits that his realization hasn't been shared by everyone. "The majority is staying at home," he added, claiming they had been swayed by the "liars" on state TV. "That's the division, and it's one of the biggest challenges."
Indeed, how the numbers fall on either side of that division will impact Tahrir's dynamic in the days ahead. Already, many say they will camp in the square as long as it takes to force the military from power. Some have predicted a repeat of the violent clashes between protesters and security forces that characterized a series of demonstrations in November and December, particularly if large numbers remain in Tahrir and the military moves to clear it. "Some of the people think that we need to stay until SCAF leaves," said one Brotherhood supporter, Mohamed Said. "As Muslim Brotherhood, we don't believe that. We are here to deliver a message." That doesn't mean the revolution is over, he added, but Egyptians can make their voices heard in other ways.
Nokia has announced a major mobile milestone: over 1.5 billion (with a b) Series 40 handsets sold since the first device -- the 7110 -- was introduced in 1999. "We are incredibly proud to reach this milestone," wrote Nokia's Executive VP of Mobile Phones, Mary McDowell. "It is gratifying to consider how Series 40 devices have made mobile technology accessible." Breeze on past the break for the official PR with more information about the Asha 303 handset knighted number 1,500,000,000, then feel free to weigh in on how long will take the Lumia line to reach the same milestone.
The classic giant fist smashing through a mirror ? SmackDown?s set from August 2001 to January 2008 ? has long been a favorite of the WWE Universe. That?s why WWE.com is calling for the return of the legendary appendage to Friday nights. (PHOTOS)
Unfortunately, when WWE went high-definition in January 2008, the organization opted to wave buh-bye to its five-fingered friend. Granted, today?s set is visually stunning, and helps make Raw and SmackDown must-see each and every week. Yet few can deny that the fist-and-broken-glass truly gave the show an attitude that equaled the explosive nature of SmackDown and its matches. Just imagine how it would look in high-def.
In addition to adding to SmackDown?s intense atmosphere, the fist set could also be practical, helping out any Superstars that choose to take the high ground. In September 2004, Heidenreich shocked the WWE Universe by climbing atop the massive set. As his manager, Paul Heyman, and WWE officials begged him not to jump, the unusual Superstar pulled out a microphone, using the moment to read a poem. Just imagine what some of today?s high-flyers could do with the added height. Justin Gabriel or Kofi Kingston would look like Superman, flying through the air from the top of the enormous appeandage, and crashing onto a helpless opponent.
60-Second Tech |
Technology
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 26-Jan-2012
Share ] 
