GCI Forex News - USD/JPY: Yen trading higher in the Asian session
USDJPY Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, the USD strengthened 0.23% against the JPY and closed at 92.33.
In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 92.26, with the USD trading marginally lower from yesterday?s close.
In the morning news, Japan?s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe nominated Asian Development Bank President, Haruhiko Kuroda as the Bank of Japan Governor, thereby raising probability of further monetary stimulus this year. Separately, the Nomura/JMMA manufacturing Purchasing Managers? Index (PMI) in Japan advanced to a reading of 48.5 in February, compared to a reading of 47.7 recorded in January. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, industrial production rose 1.0% in January, compared to a 2.4% rise reported in the previous month. Separately, vehicle production fell 9.9% (YoY) in January, following a 17.2% decline recorded in the previous month.
The pair is expected to find support at 91.37, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 90.48. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 92.91, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 93.57.
The currency pair is trading just above its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
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So, what are you up to on March 14th? If your idea of a good time is seeing a new smartphone unveiled, Samsung's arranging just such a party at Times Square in New York for the upcoming Galaxy S IV, according to a recent tweet. We'd guess that revelers will get to watch a livestream of the recently announced Samsung Unpacked 2013 shindig for the new handset on the block's famous big screens, while the event itself happens at Radio City Music hall. There's no other details other than the @timessquare Twitter handle, but if you're not in the big apple, you'll be able to catch it right here instead, of course.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fashion house BCBG Max Azria Group Inc, whose clothing has been worn by celebrities such as Beyonce and Angelina Jolie, is exploring a potential sale that could fetch around $1 billion, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
The company, which owns the BCBGeneration, Max Azria and Herve Leger lines, is being advised by Blackstone Group on the sale process, said the people, who declined to be named because the talks are private.
A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles-based company, founded and run by fashion designer Max Azria, confirmed it had retained Blackstone to advise on strategy. She did not elaborate.
Blackstone declined to comment.
BCBG could attract interest from other fashion companies or private equity firms, the people said.
Azria is a French designer of Tunisian descent. He launched the brand in 1989, assigning it the acronym BCBG for the French phrase "bon chic, bon genre," which means "good style, good attitude".
This is not BCBG's first time on the block. UBS tried to sell it in 2010, media reports at the time said.
The company, which offers fashionable clothes at accessible prices, has been under financial pressure since the economic crisis. Max Rave, a teen chain it acquired in 2008, was shut down several years later and the company has struggled with a debt load since then.
As of last year, Standard & Poor's said the company was in danger of breaching its financial covenants for a $230 million loan held by affiliates of Guggenheim Partners.
In December, S&P predicted that BCBG will continue to face stiff competition from numerous other clothing brands, at department stores such as Saks Inc and Nordstrom , as well as at specialty apparel stores. It also said it viewed company management as weak, given its high reliance on Azria.
Lubov Azria, Max's wife, is the company's Creative Director.
(Reporting By Olivia Oran and Martinne Geller in New York, Editing by Soyoung Kim and Gunna Dickson)
Feb. 27, 2013 ? As a bird sings, some neurons in its brain prepare to make the next sounds while others are synchronized with the current notes?a coordination of physical actions and brain activity that is needed to produce complex movements, new research at the University of Chicago shows.
In an article in the current issue of Nature, neuroscientist Daniel Margoliash and colleagues show, for the first time, how the brain is organized to govern skilled performance?a finding that may lead to new ways of understanding human speech production.
The new study shows that birds? physical movements actually are made up of a multitude of smaller actions. ?It is amazing that such small units of movements are encoded, and so precisely, at the level of the forebrain,? said Margoliash, a professor of organismal biology and anatomy and psychology at UChicago.
?This work provides new insight into how the physics of producing vocal signals are represented in the brain to control vocalizations,? said Howard Nusbaum, a professor of psychology at UChicago and an expert on speech.
By decoding the neural representation of communication, Nusbaum explained, the research may shed light on speech problems such as stuttering or aphasia (a disorder following a stroke). And it offers an unusual window into how the brain and body carry out other kinds of complex movement, from throwing a ball to doing a backflip.
?A big question in muscle control is how the motor system organizes the dynamics of movement,? said Margoliash. Movements like reaching or grasping are difficult to study because they entail many variables, such as the angles of the shoulder, elbow, wrist and fingers; the forces of many muscles; and how these change over time," he said.
"With all this complexity, it has been difficult to determine which of the many variables that describe movements are the ones that are represented in the brain and used to control movements," he said.
It?s difficult to find a natural framework with which to analyze the activity of single neurons. The bird study provided us a perfect opportunity,? Margoliash said. Margoliash is a pioneer in the study of brain function in birds, with studies that include how learning occurs when a bird sleeps and recalls singing a song.
For the current study, he worked with Ana Amador, a post-doctoral researcher at UChicago, and University of Buenos Aires scholars Yonatan Sanz Perl and Gabriel Mindlin. The four are co-authors of the Nature paper ?Elementary Gesture Dynamics are Encoded by Song Premotor Cortical Neurons.?
For the study, the team studied zebra finches while the birds sang and while they slept (when songs were broadcast through a speaker). Researchers recorded the activity of single neurons through tiny wires connected to the birds? brains.
Mindlin, professor of physics at the University of Buenos Aires, and his students have created a mathematical model of the mechanics of the movement of the syrinx, the avian vocal organ. The team used that information to track the connections between brain responses and the physical actions needed to produce a song.
They reduced the description of a song to only two variables?the pressure pushing air through the syrinx and the tension of the vibrating membranes of the syrinx that are needed to produce the song. They also compared the timing predicted by the model with the timing of responses of the neurons in the bird?s ?song system.?
The study revealed how activity at higher levels of the brain tracks basic motor functions. The team also avoided a problem scholars previously encountered. In the past, investigators did not know how to relate song with the variables of pressure and tension, and so they had an incomplete understanding of how neurons controlled song, Margoliash said. For example, a previous theory of song control contended that these complex movements are governed by a clock in the brain that runs independent of the song.
By looking at the physiological variables that the bird uses to control singing, the team was able to find something others had not noticed before: the precise timing between the firing of the neuron and the action connected with it.
?One fascinating observation we made really surprised us: that the forebrain neurons fire precisely at the time a sound transition is being produced,? Margoliash explained. ?But it takes far too much time for the activity in the forebrain to influence the bird?s sound box in the periphery,? Margoliash continued. The neurons that the team investigated are tracking and encoding particular moments in song but are not directly controlling them. ?Lower levels of the brain are controlling the sound output, but the timing of these neurons suggest that they are helping to evaluate feedback from the produced sound.?
Similar feedback plays an essential role in coordinating human speech, and in the skilled performance of athletes and musicians. Now, for the first time, there is a mathematical description that matches brain activity for highly skilled behavior, in the beautiful songs of birds.
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Chicago. The original article was written by William Harms.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Ana Amador, Yonatan Sanz Perl, Gabriel B. Mindlin, Daniel Margoliash. Elemental gesture dynamics are encoded by song premotor cortical neurons. Nature, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nature11967
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.
Samsung (005930) stared down an army of critics when it launched the Galaxy Note in 2011. The 5.3-inch screen was viewed with deep suspicion by many industry experts. By August 2012, Samsung had sold 10 million units. Now the handset industry is set to face the onslaught of an armada of copycats. Huawei?s Ascend P2. ZTE?s Grand Memo. UMI?s X2. HTC?s (2498)?One. Sony?s (SNE)?Xperia ZL. And on and on. These smartphones all have display sizes ranging from 4.7 inches to 5.7 inches, and most of them are fairly close copies of the Note concept.
[More from BGR: Report outlines ?5 biggest problems facing Apple?]
The handset market often gets flooded with a glut of models when a new technology or a design approach starts to get trendy. It happened with the first generation of 256-color displays more than a decade ago; and with the massive waves of first 1.3-megapixel camera phones and then 5-megapixel camera phones; and with touchscreen phones in 2008, a year after the first iPhone became a sensation.
[More from BGR: Apple eyes intuitive iPhone features with new ?situational awareness? tech]
But what may be different this time around is that there is considerable doubt about the grace period of premium pricing. A decade or even five years ago, handset vendors tried to hold the line on pricing when it came to new product niches. Relatively high-end vendors like Nokia (NOK), Motorola and Sony Ericsson had enough clout with operators to keep the overall pricing environment relatively benign.
In 2013, the handset market looks radically different. Low-end vendors from Asia have far more clout and their power is growing rapidly. Huawei?s global smartphone market share has already hit 5%. A trio of low-end Asian vendors tripled their smartphone market share in urban India between June and December, reaching 12%. ZTE is making major inroads in Western Europe. Latin America is getting flooded by budget brands from Spice to Micromax.
This time around, there may not be much time for high-end vendors to capitalize on the growing popularity of smartphones equipped with 5- to 6-inch displays. Micromax is already selling a 5-inch phone in India for under $220. UMI is now launching its X2 model with an ambitious 13-megapixel camera?at $260. The quality of phones from budget vendors has improved radically over the past three years, partly because phones can now be designed so easily from off-the-shelf component suites. Nobody needs advanced in-house antenna design anymore.
This sheer number of jumbo smartphones is intimidating also because nobody really knows how great the demand is. Samsung?s?Galaxy Note models did great business in 2012 partly because there was very little competition. The fact that Samsung managed to sell more than 15 million phablets in a year does not mean that the global market can absorb a dozen new models in the same category ? particularly if Apple debuts an iPhone with 4.8-inch screen in early summer.
The industry clearly underestimated the demand for phablets in 2011 and 2012. If the past is any indication, it will now cheerfully swing to overestimating phablet demand in 2013. Once all these models ramp up over the spring, we are likely to witness truly eye-popping prices over the summer ? unless the overall consumer demand really shifts decisively towards the phablet. As cool as a 5-inch display looks, it is hard to envision it as the dominant form factor.
Hurricane force winds blew into Texas creating a 'historic' blizzard and whiteout conditions in the Texas-Oklahoma panhandle. Kansas also saw its share of snow as the storm blew north, and blizzard warnings are in effect. The Weather Channel's Mike Seidel reports.
By Ian Johnston and Matthew DeLuca, NBC News
A powerful winter storm continued to hit much of the country Tuesday, with heavy snow spreading from the Plains to the Great Lakes and severe thunderstorms possible in the South, forecasters warned.
The National Weather Service said the storm would ?continue to bring a variety of hazards? to the affected areas. Winds have been gusting up to hurricane strength, with 84 mph recorded at El Paso, Texas.
The storm was blamed for at least two deaths on Monday: Heavy snow caused a roof of a house in Woodward, Okla., to collapse, killing one person inside, and in northwest Kansas, a 21-year-old man was killed when his SUV overturned on an icy patch of Interstate 70. A third death was reported on Tuesday, after a female passenger died in a pickup truck accident on an icy strip of road overnight. Three others were injured in the accident.
Full coverage from weather.com
?We have roofs collapsing all over town,? Woodward Mayor Roscoe Hill, Jr., told Reuters. ?We really have a mess on our hands.?
The storm brought the February total in Wichita, Kansas, to 21 inches, breaking a 100-year-old record for the month, NBC station KSN reported. A KSN reporter was covering the storm when a building collapsed under the weight of snow.?
Authorities pleaded with people to stay off the roads because of what Weather Channel meteorologist Greg Postel described as a ?really nasty blizzard.?
Keith Myers / The Kansas City Star via AP
A fallen tree limb blocks his drive as John Cushing shoves snow Tuesday in Kansas City, Mo.
The NWS said that heavy snow would spread from the Plains to the Great Lakes, with ?blizzard conditions possible through early Tuesday.?
?On the south side of the storm system, severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall are possible across portions of the Gulf Coast and Southeast,? it added.
Severe thunderstorms and the threat of heavy rainfall remained possible over sections of the southeastern states and the Gulf Coast on Tuesday, the NWS said, as the south side of the storm system moved through the area.
A waterspout came ashore in Tampa, Fla., damaging a Westin hotel, WTSP reported. Winds of 90 mph were reported in Cedar Key, and trees and power lines were down.?
Charleston, S.C., broke its record for rain for the month with 10.46 inches -- and more was falling.?
In a storm summary message posted at 4 a.m. ET, the weather service said blizzard warnings were in effect for parts of central northern Oklahoma with storm watches and warnings in effect for some places from central Oklahoma into the southern Great Lakes.
In Chicago, the wintry mix could affect voter turnout in the special primary to replace former Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., in the Illinois 2nd District. As much as five inches of slushy snow was expectedin the city?s southern suburbs, and a storm watch has been issued for the northern part of the state.
Michael Schumacher / AP
Drivers attempt to deal with tricky conditions on the I-40 service road Monday after a blizzard blasted Amarillo and the Texas Panhandle.
Storm watches and warnings were also in effect for portions of the Appalachians, mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states, while ice storm warnings and freezing rain advisories were in effect for parts of West Virginia.
The NWS warned of high winds in the Appalachians in Tennessee, North Carolina and southern Virginia.
In Texas, residents discovered that even their snowdrifts are bigger as they began to dig out from a whopping 19 inches of snow in Amarillo that stranded as many as 100 motorists in the Panhandle and caused Gov. Rick Perry called out military forces.
Farther south, there were flood and flash-flood warnings and watches for ?much of the Gulf Coast and southeast U.S. from Louisiana to Georgia.?
Flood watches were also in effect for parts of the mid-Atlantic Region, the NWS notice added, as rain was expected throughout the greater Washington, D.C., area on Tuesday. The mix of rain and wind was expected to begin by noon, picking up through?the later part of the day. Meteorologists warned people should expect more rain than sleet as temperatures were likely to remain above freezing. The rain should move out of the area by Wednesday morning, and might yield to sunny skies later in the afternoon.
Commuters in New York City and the tri-state area should also expect to see a late-afternoon cocktail of rain, sleet, and snow. The worst of the storm was likely to hit overnight, though morning commuters might also catch the tail of the storm on Wednesday, forecasters said. As much as six inches of snow could accumulate at higher elevations inland.
Related:
2 dead as wind-whipped winter storm pounds Great Plains
This story was originally published on Tue Feb 26, 2013 5:16 AM EST
Four in ten small business owners say the National Broadband Network (NBN) will not help their business according to the latest State of the Nation Report (No. 14), launched today by Michele Levine, CEO of Roy Morgan Research.
Around three in ten owners do expect a benefit, with the rest still unsure about what the business benefits will be of the Federal Government?s $37.4 billion infrastructure project.
NBN attitudes may connect to general small business opinion of the Federal Government. Small businesses in NSW and Queensland are the harshest critics of the Federal Government?s performance at fostering a climate of business growth: 61% of small businesses in these States rate the government?s performance as ?very poor?. These States also report the most scepticism of the NBN, with 43% not expecting any benefit.
Victorian and Tasmanian small businesses are the most likely to expect to benefit from the NBN (33%), with South and Western Australians least likely (24%).
Capital city small businesses are more positive about the future impact of the NBN than those in regional areas. Agriculture, Mining and Transport industry businesses are the least likely to expect a benefit to high-speed internet. However while almost half of small Mining businesses can?t see a benefit, 34% can?the highest positive reaction behind Professional Services, of whom 36% see some benefit.
As of December, 339,700 home, business or public premises have access to either fibre-to-the-premises, fixed wireless or satellite broadband.
However only 72,400 of these are the fibre connections which will ultimately reach 93% of Australian premises.
NBN Co expects fibre to be available to almost another 270,000 premises by mid-2013. The rollout plans to reach over another 3 million premises in the next two years, with completion by 2021 and recovery of costs by 2033.
?Do you expect the NBN to benefit or be useful to your business??
Base: Small Businesses. Source: Roy Morgan Research Business Survey; 12 months to December 2012.
Roy Morgan?s State of the Nation Report for Australia includes an extensive spotlight on Small Business attitudes and behaviours.
Businesses with fewer than 20 employees constitute 95.6% of Australian businesses and employ 47% of the workforce.
The spotlight covers demographic profiling of owners and operators, their attitudes to national and personal issues, business performance and outlook factors, finances and B2B relationships.
Michele Levine, Roy Morgan Research, says:
?
?Apart from providing almost half of all paid employment, small businesses generate competition, entrepreneurialism and creativity that can offset economic imbalances created by big business, government or international economic conditions.
?This State of the Nation report shows that small business is currently experiencing a modest recovery from a period of relatively low Business Confidence and overall performance from mid-2011 through to late 2012.
?Most Australian small businesses currently rate the Federal Government?s performance in fostering growth as very poor. The proportion in favour of the government?s performance has been quite low since the 2010 Federal Election.?
Currently, outstanding national student loan debt is over $1 trillion, $864 billion of which is backed by ye olde federal government. According to the Center for American Progress, the majority of those loans have an interest rate higher than six percent -- generally speaking, twice the average mortgage rate and is thrice the rate at which the government borrows. In the American education system, student debt is the 8,000-pound elephant in the room.
Priya Rudolph is the newest member of Georgia Cancer Specialists (GCS) offices located at 125 King Ave. in Athens and 1000 Cowles Clinic Way in Lake Oconee. Rudolph is board certified in medical oncology. She received her medical degree from Coimbatore Medical College in Coimbatore, India, and completed her residency and fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn. Oncology and hematology are among her special interests and specialties. Rudolph also is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Society of Hematology.
Georgia Cancer Specialists is a Top 10 private cancer practice in the U.S. and a leader in advanced cancer treatment and research. GCS offers community-based medical oncology and hematology services and is the first private oncology practice to also provide a full range of support services for patients in Georgia.
Jealous about your mates' ability to edit photos and whatnot via their mid-sized slates? Well, Adobe has just announced a solution that's ready to equip your handset of choice. That's right, the pro design software outfit added Photoshop Touch for phones that wields "core" Photoshop capabilities, Scribble Selection and supports those high-res snapshots. The app also sports Camera Fill and other special effects alongside the option to share creations via Facebook, Twitter, email and other applications. Creative Cloud access is here as well, with auto syncing across a device arsenal and a free 2GB storage account to boot. For iOS, you'll need an iPhone 4S, 5th-gen iPod touch or later to get in on the action while the Android version requires Ice Cream Sandwich. Ready to take the leap? A $5 purchase from iTunes or Google Play stands between you and slice of Adobe on that GS III or iPhone 5.
Feb. 25, 2013 ? In a study published February 24 in Nature Climate Change researchers used the latest emissions scenarios and climate models to show how varying levels of carbon emissions are likely to result in more frequent and severe coral bleaching events.
Large-scale 'mass' bleaching events on coral reefs are caused by higher-than-normal sea temperatures. High temperatures make light toxic to the algae that reside within the corals. The algae, called 'zooxanthellae', provide food and give corals their bright colors. When the algae are expelled or retained but in low densities, the corals can starve and eventually die. Bleaching events caused a reported 16 percent loss of the world's coral reefs in 1998 according to the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network.
If carbon emissions stay on the current path most of the world's coral reefs (74 percent) are projected to experience coral bleaching conditions annually by 2045, results of the study show. The study used climate model ensembles from the upcoming Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Around a quarter of coral reefs are likely to experience bleaching events annually five or more years earlier than the median year, and these reefs in northwestern Australia, Papau New Guinea, and some equatorial Pacific islands like Tokelau, may require urgent attention, researchers warn.
"Coral reefs in parts of the western Indian Ocean, French Polynesia and the southern Great Barrier Reef, have been identified as temporary refugia from rising sea surface temperatures," said Ruben van Hooidonk, Ph.D., from the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) at the University of Miami and NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory. "These locations are not projected to experience bleaching events annually until five or more years later than the median year of 2040, with one reef location in the Austral Islands of French Polynesia protected from the onset of annual coral bleaching conditions until 2056."
The findings emphasize that without significant reductions in emissions most coral reefs are at risk, according to the study. A reduction of carbon emissions would delay annual bleaching events more than two decades in nearly a quarter (23 percent) of the world's reef areas, the research shows.
"Our projections indicate that nearly all coral reef locations would experience annual bleaching later than 2040 under scenarios with lower greenhouse gas emissions." said Jeffrey Maynard, Ph.D., from the Centre de Recherches Insulaires et Observatoire de l'Environnement (CRIOBE) in Moorea, French Polynesia. "For 394 reef locations (of 1707 used in the study) this amounts to at least two more decades in which some reefs might conceivably be able to improve their capacity to adapt to the projected changes."
"More so than any result to date, this highlights and quantifies the potential benefits for reefs of reducing emissions in terms of reduced exposure to stressful reef temperatures."
"This study represents the most up-to-date understanding of spatial variability in the effects of rising temperatures on coral reefs on a global scale," said researcher Serge Planes, Ph.D., also from the French research institute CRIOBE in French Polynesia.
The researchers involved in the study all concur that projections that combine the threats posed to reefs by increases in sea temperature and ocean acidification will further resolve where temporary refugia may exist.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
R. van Hooidonk, J. A. Maynard, S. Planes. Temporary refugia for coral reefs in a warming world. Nature Climate Change, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1829
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Paul A. Eisenstein , The Detroit Bureau? ? ?12 hrs.
Chrysler is turning to an old name for a brand new Jeep. Say farewell to Liberty. The replacement model that will added to the line-up for 2014 will be rechristened the Jeep Cherokee, reviving a nameplate that helped kick off one of the most dramatic transformations in modern automotive history.
Jeepisn?t saying much beyond describing the 2014 Cherokee as an ?all-new, ?no-compromise?? vehicle that will set ?a new standard with even more best-in-class capability, exemplary on-road driving dynamics, and fuel economy improvements of more than 45% versus the outgoing mid-size SUV model.?
The new mid-size sport-utility vehicle will make its formal debut at the upcoming New York Auto Show. The 2014 Jeep Cherokee will be assembled at Chrysler?s big Toledo Assembly Plant a half-hour south of Detroit, the same factory that produced the old Jeep Liberty.
A quick look at the styling suggests the automaker wanted a more modern and distinctive look, with design cues clearly borrowing from the Jeep brand?s flagship sport-utility model. But this is more than just a ?baby? Grand Cherokee.
(For a look at some spy shots of the 2014 Jeep Cherokee, Click Here.)
Observers and company insiders alike say Jeep is taking a risky approach with the front end, in particular, which features a folded take on the brand?s familiar, 7-slot grille, as well as distinctive split headlight and foglamps.
Company officials have hinted that the new model will focus less on the traditional, go-anywhere capabilities associated with Jeep products, putting more emphasis on the on-road ride and comfort that today?s ute buyers prefer.
The old Liberty model was a ?niche part? of an SUV market that has ?moved on? from its original focus on off-roading, said Mike Manley, CEO of the Jeep brand.
The Jeep marque was a major factor in the explosive growth of the sport-utility segment during the 1970s, ?80s and ?90s, the launch of the original Cherokee in 1974 creating a surge in demand as U.S. buyers looked for more enticing alternatives to their traditional sedans and wagons.
The early version ? which remained in production through 2001 ? also helped introduce the concept of four-wheel-drive to a more mainstream audience. Today?s newest all-wheel-drive systems are becoming increasingly common on conventional sedans and even sports cars, as well as SUVs.
The Detroit Bureau: Despite Recent Price Spike, DoE Expects Gas to Level Off, Even Decline
And on the car-based crossover-utility vehicles that have largely supplanted more traditional, truck-based sport-utes. CUVs often sacrifice the off-road capabilities in favor of better on-road manners and improved fuel economy. But the unibody design of the big Jeep Grand Cherokee shows that it is possible to meld off- and on-road capabilities in one vehicle.
The new 2014 Jeep Cherokee is being seen as a critical part of the brand?s global growth plans. Long focused on the North American market, Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has declared the Jeep brand one of a handful of marques that will be sold worldwide.
The reborn Cherokee will likely play a critical part of that, along with the latest updated of the Jeep Patriot and Compass models and an even smaller crossover that the maker plans to produce in Italy. The Grand Cherokee is also getting an early mid-cycle update for 2014, along with the addition of a new, high-mileage diesel engine.
The Detroit Bureau: Ford Looking to Novel Way to Get Back into Compact Pickup Market
But Jeep isn?t focusing only on downsized models. The marque also is rumored to be developing a larger ute that could bring back another once-popular nameplate, that of the old Grand Wagoneer.
With the addition of the Liberty and the Compass and Patriot updates, CEO Marchionne is hoping to boost Jeep sales to around 800,000 by 2014, up from 701,626 in 2012 ? which was the brand?s best year ever.
A Palestinian man throws a stone towards Israeli soldiers after the funeral of Arafat Jaradat in the West Bank of Hebron, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. Thousands have attended the funeral procession of a 30-year-old Palestinian man who died under disputed circumstances in Israeli custody. Palestinian officials say autopsy results show Jaradat was tortured by Israeli interrogators, while Israeli officials say there's no conclusive cause of death yet and that more tests are needed.(AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)
A Palestinian man throws a stone towards Israeli soldiers after the funeral of Arafat Jaradat in the West Bank of Hebron, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. Thousands have attended the funeral procession of a 30-year-old Palestinian man who died under disputed circumstances in Israeli custody. Palestinian officials say autopsy results show Jaradat was tortured by Israeli interrogators, while Israeli officials say there's no conclusive cause of death yet and that more tests are needed.(AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)
Israeli security forces take positions during clashes after the funeral of Arafat Jaradat in the West Bank of Hebron, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. Thousands have attended the funeral procession of a 30-year-old Palestinian man who died under disputed circumstances in Israeli custody. Palestinian officials say autopsy results show Jaradat was tortured by Israeli interrogators, while Israeli officials say there's no conclusive cause of death yet and that more tests are needed.(AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)
Israeli border policemen fire tear gas during clashes after the funeral of Arafat Jaradat in the West Bank of Hebron, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. Thousands have attended the funeral procession of a 30-year-old Palestinian man who died under disputed circumstances in Israeli custody. Palestinian officials say autopsy results show Jaradat was tortured by Israeli interrogators, while Israeli officials say there's no conclusive cause of death yet and that more tests are needed.(AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)
JERUSALEM (AP) ? A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck Israel on Tuesday as tensions are mounting in the region weeks ahead of President Barack Obama's visit.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said remains of the rocket were found south of the city of Ashkelon, in southern Israel. The attack caused damage to a road but no injuries, he said. It was the first such projectile from the Palestinian territory to hit Israel since Israel-Gaza hostilities last November.
The rocket fire came one day after Israeli troops injured two Palestinian teenagers near a holy site close to Bethlehem, during one of the many demonstrations Palestinians in the West Bank have staged in recent days.
Initially, West Bank street protests broke out in support of Palestinians held in Israeli jails, particularly in support of four inmates on lengthy hunger strikes. Then, over the weekend, a Palestinian prisoner who was not on hunger strike died under disputed circumstances, prompting more demonstrations.
Israeli and Palestinian officials have traded barbs, each side saying the other is trying to exploit the latest unrest for political gains.
A statement from the Palestinian president's office said President Mahmoud Abbas instructed Palestinian security officials Monday night to preserve security and order in the West Bank, but placed the blame on Israel for "dragging the area into violence and chaos."
Adnan Damiri, the spokesman of the Palestinian security apparatus, said Palestinian officials were committed to prevent fighting, saying that his forces had recently detained members of the militant Hamas group who were planning "violent confrontations."
"The only one(s) seeking violence in West Bank is Netanyahu and Hamas, but we will not be dragged to that," said Damiri. "Our struggle will always be peaceful."
The clashes come weeks before Obama is scheduled to arrive in Israel and the West Bank, his first presidential visit to the region. U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the U.S. has asked Israeli and Palestinian officials to exercise "maximum restraint" at this time of high tension in the West Bank.
"All parties should seriously consider the consequences of their actions, particularly at this very difficult moment," Ventrell said Monday.
An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military policy, said protestors gathered Monday and hurled "improvised hand grenades" towards a holy site in the Bethlehem area, endangering Israeli worshippers inside.
Soldiers responded by firing at the legs of a Palestinian throwing grenades, lightly wounding him. Later, soldiers fired rubber bullets at demonstrators, seriously injuring one Palestinian who was then rushed to an Israeli hospital, the official said.
Palestinian medical officials said two Palestinian youths, one 13 years old and one 16, were seriously wounded by live fire. Palestinian medic Abdelhaleem Jaarah said the 16-year-old, Odai Sarhan, was hit in the head and rushed to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem.
Etti Dvir, spokeswoman for Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, said doctors operated overnight on the boy and that he was in critical condition.
A mysterious illness in which people experience painful muscle cramps or paralysis with no apparent physical explanation may be rooted in the brain. New research suggests the brains of such people do in fact function differently from normal brains.
Psychogenic diseases ? once referred to as "hysterical" illnesses ? have severe symptoms that strongly resemble nervous system illnesses caused by nerve or muscle damage or genetics, but show none of these characteristics. As a result, such diseases are very difficult to diagnose and treat. But sufferers of these diseases show unique patterns of brain activity, researchers report today (Feb. 25) in the journal Brain.
Many of the traditional brain-scanning tests show normal results in psychogenic diseases. "It has been extremely difficult to show these patients are abnormal," study author and neuroscientist James Rowe of the University of Cambridge told LiveScience. Understanding the brain mechanism behind these diseases will enable them to be diagnosed and treated sooner, Rowe said.
Rowe and his colleagues studied people with two different forms of dystonia, a movement disorder that causes muscles to contract painfully and involuntarily. One group had normal dystonia resulting from a gene mutation, whereas the other group had psychogenic dystonia with no obvious cause. [Top 10 Mysterious Diseases]
The two groups, plus a third healthy group, were given PET brain scans, which use a radioactive chemical to measure brain activity based on changes in blood flow. The participants underwent the scans with their feet in a resting position, moving or in a muscle contraction related to the dystonia (healthy participants just contracted their foot muscles voluntarily). The scientists also measured the electrical activity of the leg muscles so they could tell when each muscle was active.
The psychogenic group had markedly different brain activity compared with those with normal dystonia or no dystonia, the results showed. Patients with the psychogenic form of the illness showed activity in regions of the brain called the cerebellum and basal ganglia (areas important for movement control) and had decreased activity in the motor cortex (the region that generates muscle commands). Patients with the genetic form of the illness, by contrast, had an opposite pattern of brain activity in those areas. Both groups of dystonia patients had different brain activity from the normal group. Together, the findings help uncover the origins of psychogenic diseases in the brain.
Despite many differences, patients with the psychiatric and genetic forms of the disease had similar brain activity in a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex, a region responsible for paying attention to the body's movements. Some previous studies have suggested that abnormal function in this region was a marker of psychogenic disease, but the new findings show this pattern of activity is not a unique indicator.
Psychogenic diseases are common. About one in five patients that see a neurologist have them, Row said. Psychogenic dystonias are a good study model, because scientists can compare them with forms of the illness with a clear-cut genetic cause. Understanding how psychogenic dystonias differ could enable earlier diagnosis and treatment, Rowe said.
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First lady Michelle Obama joined late-night TV host Jimmy Fallon in a dance skit to promote her 'Let's Move' anti-childhood obesity program. 'Evolution of Mom Dancing' went viral on YouTube.
By Brad Knickerbocker,?Staff writer / February 23, 2013
Jimmy Fallon dances with first lady Michelle Obama during an appearance on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," Friday. Mrs. Obama was promoting her "Let's Move" anti-obesity campaign and to perform in a sketch called "Evolution of Mom Dancing."
Lloyd Bishop/NBC/AP
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First lady Michelle Obama is rocking YouTube with a viral video of her dancing with the host of "Late Night With Jimmy?Fallon.?
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First lady Michelle Obama and Jimmy Fallon in a dance skit called 'Evolution of Mom Dancing.'
On Friday night, Mrs. Obama joined Mr. Fallon ? both were dressed as suburban moms ? for a dance routine called the ?Evolution of Mom Dancing? ? a take-off on Judson Laipply?s wildly popular video ?Evolution of Dance? (more than 200 million views so far).
Steps included "Go Shopping, Get Groceries", "Driving the Station Wagon?, "Oh My God, I Love This Song", and ?Where?s Your Father (Get Him Back Here).?
Michelle Obama: 10 quotes on her birthday
Social media and the blogosphere went nuts. ?The first lady demonstrated an uncanny ability to make the lamest dance moves look cool,? wrote Daniel Politi on Slate.
One tries to imagine Mamie Eisenhower or Pat Nixon doing "The Sprinkler." Bette Ford or Hillary Clinton (before she became a US Senator and Secretary of State) maybe, but probably not either of the Bush first ladies.
Fallon suggested a Michelle-Hillary ticket for president in 2016. But the first lady said she had her eye on another post-White House job. ?I hear that when Jay Leno retires that 'The Tonight Show' position is going to open and I'm thinking about putting my hat in the ring,"?she joked.
The President?s dancing skills inevitably came up.
"How about Barack, is he a good dancer?" Fallon asked.
"You know, I give him a B," Mrs. Obama said, tactfully. "His dancing is right here in the pocket. He's got like three good moves. But they're all right here," she said while dancing with her hands by her hips.?
Dancing with Fallon is part of an effort to promote Mrs. Obama?s "Let's Move" anti-childhood obesity campaign, which marked its third anniversary this month.
Besides the appearance on "Late Night," Mrs. Obama discussed the initiative while in New York City during segments taped for broadcast Tuesday on ABC's "Good Morning America" and Thursday on "The Dr. Oz Show," the Associated Press reports. Next Wednesday, Mrs. Obama embarks on a two-day promotional tour, with stops in Clinton, Miss.; Chicago; and Springfield, Mo.
For the second anniversary of "Let's Move," she and?Fallon?turned the East Room of the White House into a playground. They did pushups, twirled hula hoops, and competed at dodge ball and tug-of-war before the first lady triumphed over the comedian in a climactic potato sack race.
Forget the Walking Dead (or whatever they call the Oscars these days...) because the iMore show is coming your way LIVE tonight. David Chartier is joining us, and we'll be talking about Google's new hardware and what, if anything, it means for iOS and Apple users. We'll also be talking about default apps on iPhone and iPad, and a whole lot more. You don't want to miss it.
OHSU scientists first to grow liver stem cells in culture, demonstrate therapeutic benefitPublic release date: 25-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Tamara Hargens-Bradley hargenst@ohsu.edu 503-494-8231 Oregon Health & Science University
New mouse research published in Nature raises hope that human liver stem cells can be grown, transplanted in a similar way
PORTLAND, Ore. For decades scientists around the world have attempted to regenerate primary liver cells known as hepatocytes because of their numerous biomedical applications, including hepatitis research, drug metabolism and toxicity studies, as well as transplantation for cirrhosis and other chronic liver conditions. But no lab in the world has been successful in identifying and growing liver stem cells in culture -- using any available technique until now.
In the journal Nature, physician-scientists in the Pap Family Pediatric Research Institute at Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Children's Hospital, Portland, Ore., along with investigators at the Hubrecht Institute for Developmental Biology and Stem Cell Research, Utrecht, Netherlands, describe a new method through which they were able to infinitely expand liver stem cells from a mouse in a dish.
"This study raises the hope that the human equivalent of these mouse liver stem cells can be grown in a similar way and efficiently converted into functional liver cells," said Markus Grompe, M.D., study co-author, director of the Pap Family Pediatric Research Institute at OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital; and professor of pediatrics, and molecular and medical genetics in the OHSU School of Medicine.
In a previous Nature study, investigators at the Hubrecht Institute, led by Hans Clever, M.D, Ph.D., were the first to identify stem cells in the small intestine and colon by observing the expression of the adult stem cell marker Lgr5 and growth in response to a growth factor called Wnt. They also hypothesized that the unique expression pattern of Lgr5 could mark stem cells in other adult tissues, including the liver, an organ for which stem cell identification remained elusive.
In the current Nature study, Grompe and colleagues in the Pap Family Pediatric Research Institute at OHSU Doernbecher used a modified version of the Clever method and discovered that Wnt-induced Lgr5 expression not only marks stem cell production in the liver, but it also defines a class of stem cells that become active when the liver is damaged.
The scientists were able to grow these liver stem cells exponentially in a dish an accomplishment never before achieved and then transplant them in a specially designed mouse model of liver disease, where they continued to grow and show a modest therapeutic effect.
"We were able to massively expand the liver cells and subsequently convert them to hepatocytes at a modest percentage. Going forward, we will enlist other growth factors and conditions to improve that percentage. Liver stem cell therapy for chronic liver disease in humans is coming," said Grompe.
###
The study, "In vitro expansion of single Lgr5+ liver stem cells induced by Wnt-driven regeneration," was funded by National Institutes of Health Grant R0I DK05192.
Investigators who contributed to this research include: Grompe, Craig Dorrell, Annelise Haft, Pap Family Pediatric Research Institute, OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital; Clever, Meritxell Huch, Sylvia Boj, Johan van Es, Vivian Li, Mare van de Wetering, Toshiro Sato, Karien Hamer, Nobuo Sasaki, Robert Vries, Hubrecht Institute for Developmental Biology and Stem Cell Research; and Milton Finegold, Texas Children's Hospital Houston.
ABOUT OHSU DOERNBECHER CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital ranks among the top 50 children's hospitals in the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report 2012-13 Best Children's Hospitals, and is one of only 22 National Institutes of Health-designated Child Health Research Centers in the country. OHSU Doernbecher cares for tens of thousands of children each year from Oregon, Southwest Washington and around the nation, resulting in more than 175,000 discharges, surgeries, transports and outpatient visits annually.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
OHSU scientists first to grow liver stem cells in culture, demonstrate therapeutic benefitPublic release date: 25-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Tamara Hargens-Bradley hargenst@ohsu.edu 503-494-8231 Oregon Health & Science University
New mouse research published in Nature raises hope that human liver stem cells can be grown, transplanted in a similar way
PORTLAND, Ore. For decades scientists around the world have attempted to regenerate primary liver cells known as hepatocytes because of their numerous biomedical applications, including hepatitis research, drug metabolism and toxicity studies, as well as transplantation for cirrhosis and other chronic liver conditions. But no lab in the world has been successful in identifying and growing liver stem cells in culture -- using any available technique until now.
In the journal Nature, physician-scientists in the Pap Family Pediatric Research Institute at Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Children's Hospital, Portland, Ore., along with investigators at the Hubrecht Institute for Developmental Biology and Stem Cell Research, Utrecht, Netherlands, describe a new method through which they were able to infinitely expand liver stem cells from a mouse in a dish.
"This study raises the hope that the human equivalent of these mouse liver stem cells can be grown in a similar way and efficiently converted into functional liver cells," said Markus Grompe, M.D., study co-author, director of the Pap Family Pediatric Research Institute at OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital; and professor of pediatrics, and molecular and medical genetics in the OHSU School of Medicine.
In a previous Nature study, investigators at the Hubrecht Institute, led by Hans Clever, M.D, Ph.D., were the first to identify stem cells in the small intestine and colon by observing the expression of the adult stem cell marker Lgr5 and growth in response to a growth factor called Wnt. They also hypothesized that the unique expression pattern of Lgr5 could mark stem cells in other adult tissues, including the liver, an organ for which stem cell identification remained elusive.
In the current Nature study, Grompe and colleagues in the Pap Family Pediatric Research Institute at OHSU Doernbecher used a modified version of the Clever method and discovered that Wnt-induced Lgr5 expression not only marks stem cell production in the liver, but it also defines a class of stem cells that become active when the liver is damaged.
The scientists were able to grow these liver stem cells exponentially in a dish an accomplishment never before achieved and then transplant them in a specially designed mouse model of liver disease, where they continued to grow and show a modest therapeutic effect.
"We were able to massively expand the liver cells and subsequently convert them to hepatocytes at a modest percentage. Going forward, we will enlist other growth factors and conditions to improve that percentage. Liver stem cell therapy for chronic liver disease in humans is coming," said Grompe.
###
The study, "In vitro expansion of single Lgr5+ liver stem cells induced by Wnt-driven regeneration," was funded by National Institutes of Health Grant R0I DK05192.
Investigators who contributed to this research include: Grompe, Craig Dorrell, Annelise Haft, Pap Family Pediatric Research Institute, OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital; Clever, Meritxell Huch, Sylvia Boj, Johan van Es, Vivian Li, Mare van de Wetering, Toshiro Sato, Karien Hamer, Nobuo Sasaki, Robert Vries, Hubrecht Institute for Developmental Biology and Stem Cell Research; and Milton Finegold, Texas Children's Hospital Houston.
ABOUT OHSU DOERNBECHER CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital ranks among the top 50 children's hospitals in the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report 2012-13 Best Children's Hospitals, and is one of only 22 National Institutes of Health-designated Child Health Research Centers in the country. OHSU Doernbecher cares for tens of thousands of children each year from Oregon, Southwest Washington and around the nation, resulting in more than 175,000 discharges, surgeries, transports and outpatient visits annually.
[ | 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.
Currently, outstanding national student loan debt is over $1 trillion, $864 billion of which is backed by ye olde federal government. 
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Public release date: 25-Feb-2013
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