Treating his wife Paula Patton and son Julian to a lovely afternoon outing, Robin Thicke showed up in Paris, France on Wednesday (October 16).
The “Magic” crooner was in good spirits as he took his crew to the catacombs and Hediard and Fauchon, stopping to pose for fan photos along the way.
In a new interview, Paula confirms that the “Robin Thicke Has a Big D—k” sign from his “Blurred Lines” video is true.
Patton declared, “I think that the statement is fairly accurate! Robin's like 'Listen, if I'm, you know, in the Miami Heat's locker room, I don't know where I stand, but …'"
Nina Dobrev has split from Derek Hough after just six weeks of dating!
The “Vampire Diaries” actress has ended her short-lived romance with the “Dancing with the Stars” hunk. What happened?
Insiders reveal the new couple weren’t able to spend time together with the 24-year-old actress filming in Atlanta, while Derek shoots the dancing competition in Los Angeles.
A source stated, “The distance was too much to handle.”
The couple, who began dating in early September, reportedly felt their relationship had already “played itself out”.
Nina Dobrev is a good friend of Derek’s sister Julianne Hough. They met through Julianne, who has no “hard feelings” towards her friend and understands the distance makes a relationship difficult.
Derek and Nina were first photographed together on Oct. 5 outside of the Roosevelt Hotel in LA, after hanging out at the Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios.
Derek Hough was said to be “smitten” by the gorgeous actress and told friends “he hasn’t felt this way for a girl in a long time”.
Nina and Derek’s short romance began just four months after her split from her “Vampire Diaries” co-star Ian Somerhalder, whom she dated for three years.
Derek was previously romantically linked to British singer Cheryl Cole after appearing in the music video for her song “Parachute”.
A religious icon remains encased amid the rubble in Bohol province in central Philippines Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, a day after a 7.2-magnitude quake hit Bohol and Cebu provinces. The quake that struck the central Philippines and killed more than a hundred people also dealt a serious blow to the region's historical and religious legacy by heavily damaging a dozen or more churches, some of them hundreds of years old. (AP Photo/ Kiko Rosario)
A religious icon remains encased amid the rubble in Bohol province in central Philippines Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, a day after a 7.2-magnitude quake hit Bohol and Cebu provinces. The quake that struck the central Philippines and killed more than a hundred people also dealt a serious blow to the region's historical and religious legacy by heavily damaging a dozen or more churches, some of them hundreds of years old. (AP Photo/ Kiko Rosario)
Residents look at the Basilica De Sto. Nino, or Basilica of the Holy Child, following a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit Cebu city in central Philippines Tuesday Oct. 15, 2013. The tremor collapsed buildings, cracked roads and toppled the bell tower of the Philippines' oldest church Tuesday morning, causing multiple deaths across the central region and sending terrified residents into deadly stampedes. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
In this photo released by the Malacanang Photo Bureau, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, right, stands beside the damaged Basilica Del Santo Nino in quake-hit Cebu, central Philippines on Wednesday Oct. 16, 2013. The 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck the central Philippines and killed more than a hundred people also dealt a serious blow to the region's historical and religious legacy by heavily damaging a dozen or more churches, some of them hundreds of years old. (AP Photo/ Ryan Lim, Malacanang Photo Bureau)
FILE- This is a January 2011 file photo of the facade of Basilica de Sto. Nino (Basilica of the Holy Child) with its towering bell tower in Cebu city in central Philippines. On Tuesday Oct. 15, 2013 a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Cebu city toppling the bell tower of the Philippines' oldest church and sending terrified residents into deadly stampedes. (AP Photo/Chester Baldicantos, File)
A crane shifts through the rubble of the damaged Our Lady of Assumption Parish church following a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, at Dauis in Bohol, central Philippines, Tuesday Oct. 15, 2013. The tremor collapsed buildings, cracked roads and toppled the bell tower of the Philippines' oldest church Tuesday morning, causing multiple deaths across the central region and sending terrified residents into deadly stampedes. (AP Photo)
LOON, Philippines (AP) — The earthquake that struck the central Philippines and killed at least 144 people also dealt a serious blow to the region's historical and religious legacy by heavily damaging a dozen or more churches, some of them hundreds of years old.
As rescuers reached some of the hardest-hit areas on Wednesday and the death toll from the quake a day earlier continued to rise, images of the wrecked religious buildings resonated across a nation where 80 percent of the population is Roman Catholic.
The bell tower toppled from Cebu city's 16th-century Basilica of the Holy Child — a remnant of the Spanish colonial era and the country's oldest church building — becoming a pile of rubble in the courtyard.
Other churches on the neighboring island of Bohol, epicenter of the quake and a popular tourist destination known for its beaches, were also damaged, some beyond repair.
"The heritage old churches are also very close to the hearts of the Boholanos," said Bohol Gov. Edgardo Chatto, using the term for residents of the island.
He said authorities would attempt to restore the historic churches, but some may never return to their former state.
"Every piece of the church should be left untouched so that restoration efforts can be easier," he said. "It may not be a total restoration, but closest to what it used to be before."
Emilia Dalagan was sweeping grass outside her home near the 300-year-old church called Our Lady of the Assumption Shrine in Dauis on the resort island of Panglao, near Bohol, when the ground shook.
"The funeral car was crushed by falling debris from the front of the church. The driver was able to get out," she said.
The back, front and the right wing of the church were destroyed. The structure is said to be made from corals cemented together with egg white.
Tuesday was a national holiday in the Philippines celebrating the Muslim feast of Eid ul Adha, which meant some of the most damaged structures, like schools and office buildings, were empty when the quake struck, which saved many lives.
"That is our only consolation," said Bohol provincial health officer Reymoses Cabagnot.
Gay Flores had just woken up in her two-story house in the town of Carmen when the 7.2-magnitude quake struck at 8:15 a.m., sending shock waves across the picturesque island —and knocking her off her feet.
"I crawled down to our kitchen because my mother and nephews were there," she said. "Then we crawled out of the house."
The roof of their house had caved in and the cement walls had collapsed, but she was alive, and so were her parents.
"We left everything behind," Flores said by phone from the Bohol town of Carmen. "Belongings don't matter as long as we can save our lives."
A day after the quake, Gov. Chatto said that all towns in need had been reached, although landslides and damaged bridges were slowing down road travel. Only two of the island's 20 bridges were passable.
"The towns that needed help have been reached. The most heavily hit in terms of casualties was the town of Loon, and there are still ongoing processes there, of recovery," he said.
President Benigno Aquino III and senior Cabinet members came to offer their support Wednesday and distribute relief aid and inspect the damage firsthand. Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said that the bridges would be repaired within weeks.
Amazingly, the town of Carmen, the quake epicenter, did not record any deaths. The hardest-hit areas were along Bohol's western coast.
Senior Inspector Jacinto Mandal, the police chief in Loon, was sitting in his office drawing up a plan for the upcoming village election when the quake hit.
"It was really strong. It was as if something was really moving underground," Mandal said. "We fell to the ground from the force of the shaking. If you attempt to stand, you would topple."
Running outside, he saw cracks open in the street and people screaming and crying. He told them to gather outside the municipal hall.
He found the mayor, who was shaken but alive, and they proceeded to the church, only to find it reduced to rubble. Two bodies were pulled out Wednesday.
After reaching the collapsed church, he and the priest escorted the people to a more open area.
"We still have no electricity," he said. "As of this time, the people use firewood to cook."
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - The Texas State Archives will display the bullet-riddled clothes worn by former Texas Governor John Connally on the day he was wounded and President John F. Kennedy was assassinated 50 years ago in Dallas.
The white cotton shirt, with faded bloodstains clearly visible, and a black business suit are the centerpiece of a display in Austin, Texas that starts October 22 to mark the Kennedy assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963. The exhibit will run through February 14.
"I think it makes it real," Sarah Norris, the conservator for the Texas State Library and Archives Commission said of Connally's clothing. "You can read about it and you can think about it, but to actually be in the room with it certainly gives you pause."
Connally, then-governor of Texas, was riding with his wife, Nellie, in the jumpseat of the open-topped limousine while Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, were in the back seat driving through Dallas when Lee Harvey Oswald opened fire.
The Warren Commission set up to investigate the assassination concluded that Connally was hit by the same bullet that first hit Kennedy.
"There are bullet holes both in the back and the front of the suit jacket," she said. "There is one bullet hole in the wearer's right cuff, and there is another in the left leg, on the front."
John Anderson, who as preservation Officer for the Commission is responsible for taking care of the items of clothing, said it was only by accident that the clothing survived that day.
"The governor was in extreme pain as they were trying to remove his trousers at the hospital, and he said something to the effect of 'just cut the damn things off,' but then he lost consciousness," he said.
Connally donated the shirt, suit, and the striped tie he was wearing to the state archives while he was still hospitalized.
Connally served two terms as governor, became the secretary of the Treasury under President Richard Nixon and, like many Texas Democrats of his generation, switched to the Republican Party.
He ran for the Republican nomination for president in 1980, and died in 1993.
"This is the first time in 50 years that the public will have seen these clothing items," Texas State Archivist Jelain Chubb said. "We want people to be able to see evidence of history and let them draw their own conclusions."
(Reporting by Jim Forsyth in San Antonio; Editing by Karen Brooks, Greg McCune and L Gevirtz)
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing Co said a body panel fell off of a 787 Dreamliner operated by Air India while the plane was in flight on Saturday, a new problem for the high-tech jet that has suffered a string of mishaps since its introduction two years ago.
Boeing said the loss of the fuselage panel posed no safety risk to passengers. It was not immediately known where the panel landed.
The jet was carrying 148 people, including crew, on a flight from Delhi to Bangalore, The Times of India newspaper reported. The pilots did not realize the eight-by-four-foot panel was missing until after the flight landed, the newspaper said, adding that India's aviation authorities are investigating.
Boeing said the missing panel fell from the underside of the plane on the right side. A photo on The Times of India website showed a large opening with components and aircraft structure visible inside.
"It was the mid-underwing-to-body fairing located on the belly of the airplane on the right side," Boeing spokesman Doug Alder said. The part "provides a more aerodynamic surface in flight."
He said Boeing is working to understand what caused the panel to fall and declined to say whether the plane was made at Boeing's South Carolina factory. A number of Air India jets have come from that assembly line.
The Times of India said the panel was replaced with one taken from a just-delivered 787 Dreamliner that was not yet ready for service. That plane is now awaiting a spare part, the paper said.
Problems that have afflicted the 787 include battery overheating that prompted regulators to ground the entire fleet in January. Flights resumed in April. Despite the problems, Boeing's stock has stayed near record levels. It closed Tuesday at $118.18, down $1.28.
(Reporting by Alwyn Scott; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the House of Representatives will try to pass a revised fiscal plan late on Tuesday to lift the federal debt limit and reopen shuttered government agencies, Representative Devin Nunes said.
Nunes told reporters after leaving a meeting in House Speaker John Boehner's office that the Republican plan would not require the formation of a negotiating panel to work on a longer-term budget solution. A proposal being negotiated by Senate leaders would require such a panel to report recommendations by December 15.
Nunes said he believes the revised Republican plan would win enough votes for passage.
(Reporting By David Lawder; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Graham Nash has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice — once in 1997 as a member of Crosby, Stills and Nash, and once in 2010 as a member of the Hollies.
Eleanor Stills/Courtesy of Crown Archetype
Graham Nash has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice — once in 1997 as a member of Crosby, Stills and Nash, and once in 2010 as a member of the Hollies.
Eleanor Stills/Courtesy of Crown Archetype
Graham Nash first came to the United States as part of the British Invasion with his band The Hollies, which got its start at the same time as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and shared bills with both bands in England. But Nash later helped to define a kind of West Coast sound, singing harmonies as part of Crosby, Stills & Nash. Nash wrote some of the most famous songs by the powerhouse group (who would add Neil Young to its roster in 1969), including "Our House," "Teach Your Children" and "Marrakesh Express."
In a new memoir called Wild Tales: A Rock n Roll Life, Nash touches on those memories and many others. He recently spoke with Fresh Air's Terry Gross, just a few hours before Crosby, Stills & Nash performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
"I was about 15 years old; Allan [Clarke, founding member of The Hollies] and I were attending a catholic schoolgirls' dance on a Saturday evening. I remember going down the stairs and giving the young lady our tickets. 'You Send Me' by Sam Cooke had just stopped playing, and of course that was a slow dance where every boy and girl were feeling each other up and getting close and the teachers were trying to separate them. So, the song finished and the ballroom floor cleared, and Allan and I saw a friend across the way that we both wanted. And we got halfway across the floor and 'Bye Bye Love' by The Everly Brothers came on — and it stopped us in our tracks. We sang together, so we knew what two-part harmony was, but this sounded so unbelievably beautiful. They're brothers, of course, and they're from Kentucky and have these beautiful accents. They could harmonize unbelievably, very much like The Louvin Brothers, who they probably learned from. And ever since that day, I decided that whatever music I was going to make in the future, I wanted it to affect people the same way The Everly Brothers' music affected me on that Saturday night."
"Buddy Holly was one of us. He was an ordinary-looking kid, wore big thick glasses. He wasn't shakin' his hips and being sexy — he was actually one of us. We could be Buddy Holly. It was very hard to be Elvis; only Elvis was Elvis. But with Buddy Holly, he was one of us and he touched our hearts in a very simple way. What a lot of people don't realize is that the kid only recorded for less than two years before he was tragically killed with the Big Bopper and Richie Valens ... He was very dear to us. His music was very simple: Everybody could play it if you knew three chords. It had great energy, great simplicity. I often wonder what Buddy Holly would be doing with today's technology."
On his early infatuation with America
"Coming to America was amazing to me. The phone rang exactly as it did in John Wayne movies. You could get a real hamburger — because in England at the time there were only these things called 'wimpy burgers,' and they were like shoe leather. You could get food brought in! Unheard of in England. I loved America from the moment I set foot on it, I really did. When we actually got a chance to go and fly to Los Angeles I climbed the nearest palm tree and I told Allan Clarke that there was no way I was going back."
On how marijuana use changed his song-writing style
"I think alcohol is a depressive drug, whereas marijuana is not. I never got depressed when I smoked dope at all; it was a joyful experience. I'm not condoning my drug use. ... I go into great detail in the book about Crosby's spiraling down into cocaine madness, but at that time, smoking dope wasn't that big of a deal. Quite frankly, I loved it. It expanded my mind, it made me think about more profound issues. The Hollies were great at creating a two-and-a-half-minute pop song, to be played right before the news. ... In hanging out with David [Crosby] and Stephen [Stills] and Neil [Young] and Joni [Mitchell], I began to realize that you could write catchy melodies that would attract people but you could talk about real things. I began to change the way I wrote songs. I was trained to write good pop songs, and I took that sensibility and talked about what I considered to be deeper, more profound subjects."
On how adding Neil Young changed Crosby, Stills & Nash
"It's more difficult to sing four-part [harmonies]; you've got to start shifting parts around and stuff. Neil brings a darker edge to our music, and I don't mean that in a negative way. ... It's more intense. That first album of Crosby, Stills & Nash is kind of summery: lots of palm trees in it feeling, a cool-breeze-through-the-canyons kind of music. Actually, Jimi Hendrix, when asked what he thought of Crosby, Stills & Nash, looked at the interviewer and said, 'That's Western sky music.' And I thought, 'Wow. That's brilliant.' The point is that Neil brings a different kind of musical intensity to the band, and the music of Crosby, Stills & Nash and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young is very, very different."
Michelle Obama is set to appear on the NBC weight-loss competition in November. Her appearance will be in support of a campaign launched by Partnership for a Healthier America that encourages people to drink more water. BiggestLoser sponsor Brita has backed the campaign.
This will mark Obama's second appearance on Biggest Loser. She first appeared on the show in April 2012, when she took part in a workout at the White House as part of her Let's Move anti-obesity campaign. (Watch the video below.)
The 15th season of Biggest Loser debuts at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Among the contestants will be AmericanIdol winner Ruben Studdard, with trainers BobHarper, JillianMichaels and DolvettQuince all returning.
Broadcasting & Cable was the first to report the news of Obama's return to the show.
Database of disease genes shows potential drug therapies
Public release date: 13-Oct-2013 [
| E-mail
| Share
]
Contact: Caroline Arbanas arbanasc@wustl.edu 314-286-0109 Washington University School of Medicine
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have created a massive online database that matches thousands of genes linked to cancer and other diseases with drugs that target those genes. Some of the drugs are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, while others are in clinical trials or just entering the drug development pipeline.
The database was developed by identical twin brothers, Obi Griffith, PhD, and Malachi Griffith, PhD, whose interest in pairing drugs with genes is as much personal as it is scientific. Their mother died of breast cancer 17 years ago, just weeks before their high school graduation.
"We wanted to create a comprehensive database that is user-friendly, something along the lines of a Google search engine for disease genes," explained Malachi Griffith, a research instructor in genetics. "As we move toward personalized medicine, there's a lot of interest in knowing whether drugs can target mutated genes in particular patients or in certain diseases, like breast or lung cancer. But there hasn't been an easy way to find that information."
Details of the Drug Gene Interaction database are reported online Oct. 13 in Nature Methods. The database is weighted heavily toward cancer genes but also includes genes involved in Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, diabetes and many other illnesses. The Griffiths created the database with a team of scientists at The Genome Institute at Washington University in St. Louis.
The database is easy to search and geared toward researchers and physician-scientists who want to know whether errors in disease genes identified through genome sequencing or other methods potentially could be targeted with existing drug therapies. Additional genes included in the database could be the focus of future drug development efforts because they belong to classes of genes that are thought to make promising drug targets.
"Developing the database was a labor of love for the Griffiths," said senior author Richard K. Wilson, PhD, director of The Genome Institute. "There's an amazing depth to this resource, which will be invaluable to researchers working to design better treatment options for patients."
Wilson and his colleagues caution that the database is intended for research purposes and that it does not recommend treatments. The primary purpose of the database is to further clinical research aimed at treating diseases more effectively.
"This database gets us one step closer to that goal," Malachi Griffith said. "It's a really rich resource, and we're excited to make it available to the scientific community."
The database, which took several years to develop, is publicly available and free to use. It includes more than 14,000 drug-gene interactions involving 2,600 genes and 6,300 drugs that target those genes. Another 6,700 genes are in the database because they potentially could be targeted with future drugs.
Before now, researchers wanting to find out whether disease genes could be targeted with drugs had to search piecemeal through scientific literature, clinical trials databases or other sources of information, some of which were not publicly available or easily searchable. Further, many of the existing databases have different ways of identifying genes and drugs, a "language" barrier that can turn a definitive search into an exhaustive exercise.
The Griffith brothers are experts in bioinformatics, a field of science that integrates biology and computing and involves analyzing large amounts of data. The brothers got the idea for the drug-gene interaction database after they repeatedly were asked whether lists of genes identified through cancer genome sequencing could be targeted with existing drugs.
"It shouldn't take a computer wizard to answer that question," said Obi Griffith, research assistant professor of medicine. "But in reality, we often had to write special software to find out. Now, researchers can quickly and easily search for themselves."
The new database brings together information from 15 publicly available databases in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. Users can enter the name of a single gene or lists of many genes to retrieve drugs targeting those genes. The search provides the names of drugs targeted to each gene and details whether the drug is an inhibitor, antibody, vaccine or another type. The search results also indicate the source of the information so users can dig deeper, if they choose.
###
The research is supported by a grant (U54 HG003079) from the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Griffith M, Griffith OL, Coffman AC, Weible JV, McMichael JF, Spies NC, Koval J, Das I, Callaway MB, Eldred JM, Miller CA, Subramanian J, Govindan R, Kumar RD, Bose R, Ding L, Walker JR, Larson DE, Dooling DJ, Smith SM, Ley TJ, Mardis ER and Wilson RK. DGIdb - Mining the druggable genome. Nature Methods. Oct. 13, 2013.
Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
[
| 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.
Database of disease genes shows potential drug therapies
Public release date: 13-Oct-2013 [
| E-mail
| Share
]
Contact: Caroline Arbanas arbanasc@wustl.edu 314-286-0109 Washington University School of Medicine
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have created a massive online database that matches thousands of genes linked to cancer and other diseases with drugs that target those genes. Some of the drugs are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, while others are in clinical trials or just entering the drug development pipeline.
The database was developed by identical twin brothers, Obi Griffith, PhD, and Malachi Griffith, PhD, whose interest in pairing drugs with genes is as much personal as it is scientific. Their mother died of breast cancer 17 years ago, just weeks before their high school graduation.
"We wanted to create a comprehensive database that is user-friendly, something along the lines of a Google search engine for disease genes," explained Malachi Griffith, a research instructor in genetics. "As we move toward personalized medicine, there's a lot of interest in knowing whether drugs can target mutated genes in particular patients or in certain diseases, like breast or lung cancer. But there hasn't been an easy way to find that information."
Details of the Drug Gene Interaction database are reported online Oct. 13 in Nature Methods. The database is weighted heavily toward cancer genes but also includes genes involved in Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, diabetes and many other illnesses. The Griffiths created the database with a team of scientists at The Genome Institute at Washington University in St. Louis.
The database is easy to search and geared toward researchers and physician-scientists who want to know whether errors in disease genes identified through genome sequencing or other methods potentially could be targeted with existing drug therapies. Additional genes included in the database could be the focus of future drug development efforts because they belong to classes of genes that are thought to make promising drug targets.
"Developing the database was a labor of love for the Griffiths," said senior author Richard K. Wilson, PhD, director of The Genome Institute. "There's an amazing depth to this resource, which will be invaluable to researchers working to design better treatment options for patients."
Wilson and his colleagues caution that the database is intended for research purposes and that it does not recommend treatments. The primary purpose of the database is to further clinical research aimed at treating diseases more effectively.
"This database gets us one step closer to that goal," Malachi Griffith said. "It's a really rich resource, and we're excited to make it available to the scientific community."
The database, which took several years to develop, is publicly available and free to use. It includes more than 14,000 drug-gene interactions involving 2,600 genes and 6,300 drugs that target those genes. Another 6,700 genes are in the database because they potentially could be targeted with future drugs.
Before now, researchers wanting to find out whether disease genes could be targeted with drugs had to search piecemeal through scientific literature, clinical trials databases or other sources of information, some of which were not publicly available or easily searchable. Further, many of the existing databases have different ways of identifying genes and drugs, a "language" barrier that can turn a definitive search into an exhaustive exercise.
The Griffith brothers are experts in bioinformatics, a field of science that integrates biology and computing and involves analyzing large amounts of data. The brothers got the idea for the drug-gene interaction database after they repeatedly were asked whether lists of genes identified through cancer genome sequencing could be targeted with existing drugs.
"It shouldn't take a computer wizard to answer that question," said Obi Griffith, research assistant professor of medicine. "But in reality, we often had to write special software to find out. Now, researchers can quickly and easily search for themselves."
The new database brings together information from 15 publicly available databases in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. Users can enter the name of a single gene or lists of many genes to retrieve drugs targeting those genes. The search provides the names of drugs targeted to each gene and details whether the drug is an inhibitor, antibody, vaccine or another type. The search results also indicate the source of the information so users can dig deeper, if they choose.
###
The research is supported by a grant (U54 HG003079) from the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Griffith M, Griffith OL, Coffman AC, Weible JV, McMichael JF, Spies NC, Koval J, Das I, Callaway MB, Eldred JM, Miller CA, Subramanian J, Govindan R, Kumar RD, Bose R, Ding L, Walker JR, Larson DE, Dooling DJ, Smith SM, Ley TJ, Mardis ER and Wilson RK. DGIdb - Mining the druggable genome. Nature Methods. Oct. 13, 2013.
Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
[
| 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.
PARIS (AP) — The New York Times Co. is rebranding its Paris-based daily, the International Herald Tribune, as the International New York Times — a bid to lure readers abroad amid the upheaval of the digital era facing traditional newspapers.
Executives say the rechristening Tuesday aims to get the most out of its brand, and complete a gradual fusion of the newspapers' editorial staffs in recent years. The Times took control of the IHT a decade ago by buying the stake of its co-owner, The Washington Post.
Worldwide subscribers to the Herald Tribune — with a print circulation of 224,000 and distribution in about 135 countries — were waking up Tuesday to a similar-looking newspaper. Novelties include a new masthead, enhanced Page 2, and opinion pieces by dozens of new international columnists.
Europe editor Richard W. Stevenson said the rebranding is really about going digital and reaching out to readers abroad.
"The real driver of what we're doing is a belief that there is a global, digital audience for the journalism that we do," Stevenson said in a recent interview at the newspaper's offices in the La Defense business district west of Paris. He pointed to the goal of converting visitors who get limited free access into paying customers.
"Right now, about 10 percent of our digital subscribers are outside of the United States — but about 25 or 30 percent of our digital audience comes from the outside the United States," he said. "Right there, in the gap between people who are subscribers, and regular visitors to our site, there's an opportunity."
For the launch week, access to the international edition's website, global.nytimes.com, will be free, Stevenson said.
With many print publications facing competition from social media, bloggers, 24-7 international television newscasts and other outlets, the Times Co. has been shucking assets — notably The Boston Globe — to focus on a core business of becoming an online provider of news, comment, video and multimedia.
While the IHT's circulation has held up relatively well in recent years compared to some print publications, Stevenson said, "the reality is that print — across our industry, around the world — is a really tough business now."
The International Herald Tribune was the latest incarnation of a newspaper founded in Paris 126 years ago as the European edition of the New York Herald, which was a rival of the Times in the bruising mid-19th century New York newspaper industry. James Gordon Bennett, Jr., son of the founder of the sensationalist and popular Herald, put to use new trans-Atlantic cable just as readers were spreading out by rail and steamship.
Over the years, the Herald Tribune became an ink-and-newsprint staple for U.S. expatriates and foreigners looking for a dose of Americana. For more than a century, it was one of the few distributors of English-language news — plus baseball scores, daily crosswords, and comic strips — to readers in far-flung corners of the globe. Recently, it has gained a strong niche in fashion coverage: Fashion editor Suzy Menkes is a doyenne of the Paris catwalks.
The newspaper's Parisian roots were epitomized in Jean-Luc Godard's immortal 1960 film "Breathless," with Jean Seberg as an American gamine "Golden Girl" who peddled it on the Champs-Elysées while wearing a sweater bearing the Herald Tribune logo. Stevenson said Paris "is part of the DNA" of the newspaper, but "it's no secret that Paris is a very expensive place to do business."
The IHT's last edition Monday included a special insert section — with snapshots of its front pages announcing the death of Britain's Queen Victoria and founder Bennett; a headline on Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939; and photos of Martin Luther King, Jr., Andy Warhol and George Clooney reading it.
"We all have a touch of nostalgia for the days gone by," Stevenson said. "The best way, though, to preserve those journalistic traditions — the best way for us to ensure that our readers continue to get what they expect from us — is for us to integrate (print and online) operations more fully."
By John P. Mello Jr. TechNewsWorld 10/14/13 2:45 PM PT
While Paunch will be out of circulation for awhile, the arms bazaar where he sold his wares will continue to operate. "Americans must be cognizant that there is a organized community of cyberweapons merchants who have developed and sold capabilities which bypass traditional cyberdefenses," said Tom Kellermann, vice president of cyber security for Trend Micro.
When Russian authorities nabbed the alleged master hacker behind the Blackhole malware kit last week, they sent a shockwave through the digital underground.
As soon as news spread that Blackhole's author, known as "Paunch," and his partners had been arrested, the malware apparently began to suffer. Blackhole, typically updated once or twice a day, wasn't updated for four days.
What's more, the service used to encrypt the Blackhole kit went offline almost as soon as the first tweet about the pinch of Paunch hit Twitter.
"Paunch is a big deal," Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure, told TechNewsWorld.
"According to our statistics, Paunch has been the biggest provider of exploit packs for the past two years," he said.
"Blackhole and Cool Exploit Kit -- both from Paunch -- have fueled the underground economy," added Hypponen. "Now that Paunch is off the market, we're probably going to see a fight on who will take his place."
Tarnished Brand
Paunch's departure likely will hurt the Blackhole brand.
"Some of the attraction of Blackhole is the stream of updates that the author provided," Kurt Baumgartner, a senior security researcher with Kaspersky Lab, told TechNewsWorld.
"Now that this flow has stopped, it is quite possible that other developers will not pick up the task. The kit may get stale on the shelf," he said.
Without Paunch's diligent attention, Blackhole's uncanny ability to avoid scrutiny may wither.
"Blackhole is a very controlled and directly licensed kit," observed Jim Walter, a managing director with the McAfee Threats Intelligence Service.
"Without the author's support, ongoing updates and support will be unavailable, quickly making detection evasion ineffective and new exploits unavailable," he told TechNewsWorld.
Weapons Bazaar
Paunch's dedication to Blackhole is famous throughout the dark Web.
"Blackhole is the most popular exploit kit we see used by criminals by a wide margin, primarily because it is exceptionally well managed, and the owner-operator of the Blackhole service is very adept at staying up-to-date with the most recent vulnerabilities," Alex Watson, director of security research for Websense, told TechNewsWorld.
How nimble was Paunch? New vulnerabilities -- which often take software companies months to fix -- typically made it into Blackhole within a week.
"If someone else takes over the infrastructure, they would need to maintain Paunch's near-daily updates and maintain his proactive update schedule, or Blackhole will quickly lose its edge and cybercriminals will move away from it in favor of more recently updated kits," Watson suggested.
Though news of Paunch's arrest sparked jubilation in the security community, it was also a clarion call.
"These arrests are definitely good news," Fraser Howard, a principal researcher at Sophos Labs, told TechNewsWorld. "Today's malware is largely dependent upon crimeware kits and their associated infrastructure, so any law enforcement activity against the perpetrators is very welcome."
While Paunch will be out of circulation for awhile, the arms bazaar where he sold his wares will continue to operate.
"Americans must be cognizant that there is a organized community of cyberweapons merchants who have developed and sold capabilities which bypass traditional cyberdefenses," Tom Kellermann, vice president of cyber security for Trend Micro, told TechNewsWorld.
"In today's cyberspace, one can buy a cybergun like the Blackhole Exploit Kit on a whim," he pointed out. "Even with this arrest, this malware will continue to exist as other developers step into the void."
Nicking Sensitive Data From Chrome
Google's Chrome browser may be storing sensitive data in a way that makes it easy to steal, according to Identity Finder.
Chrome was storing hot items like Social Security and bank account numbers from secure websites in several of its buffers, the firm reported.
"Chrome browser data is unprotected, and can be read by anyone with physical access to the hard drive, access to the file system, or simple malware," said Aaron Titus, general counsel and chief privacy officer, in a blog post.
Google has defended Chrome's security, however.
"Chrome is the most secure browser and offers you control over how it uses and stores data," spokesperson Jessica Kositz told TechNewsWorld.
"Chrome asks for permission before storing sensitive information like credit card details, and you don't have to save anything if you don't want to," she pointed out. "Furthermore, data stored locally by Chrome will be encrypted, if supported by the underlying operating system."
Chrome users can protect themselves from data exposure by modifying a few of the browser's settings, noted Identity Finder's Titus.
"Anytime you enter a credit card number or other [personal identifying information] into a form, be sure to Clear saved Autofill form data," he recommended. "Empty the cache and Clear browsing history from the past hour and the information you typed will be erased."
"Alternatively," Titus added, "disabling Autofill or using Incognito mode will protect form data."
Breach Diary
Oct. 7. Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, speaking at a Gartner symposium in Florida, says a significant data breach of Google would be "devastating" to the company.
Oct. 7. California judge rules that Hartford Casualty Insurance Co. cannot avoid coverage of two class action lawsuits seeking US$20 million in damages from data breach at Stanford Hospital and Clinics hospital.
Oct. 7. Health officials in the Peel region of Canada begin informing some 18,000 people that their personal information was lost by the municipal government when an unencrypted SD card was stolen from an employee's car.
Oct. 7. St. Louis University in Missouri begins notifying some 3,000 people their healthcare information may have been compromised in a sophisticated phishing scam. There is no evidence that the perpetrators of the scam accessed any sensitive information, the university says, but it is still offering one year of free credit monitoring to those affected by the attack.
Oct. 8. Christopher Sykes Jr., 38, a former employee at South Carolina's Department of Health and Human Services, pleads guilty to illegally accessing personal information of 228,000 Medicaid patients. The maximum penalty for Sykes' crimes is 25 years in prison.
Oct. 8. Hope Family Health in Tennessee reports that personal information of up to 8,000 people may be compromised due to theft of laptop from the home of an employee in the finance department of the organization. The information was password- and fingerprint-protected but not encrypted.
Oct. 10. Barnes & Noble asks Illinois judge to throw out rekindled class action against the company for a security breach affecting PIN pad devices in 63 of its stores. B&N argues new lawsuit is almost identical to litigation tossed by the judge last month because those filing it lacked legal standing.
Oct. 11. Skype is being investigated by Luxembourg's data protection commissioner for passing user information without their knowledge to the NSA, The Guardian reports. Microsoft, which owns Skype, could face criminal and administrative sanctions if its involvment with the NSA proves to be true.
Upcoming Security Events
Oct. 17-18. 2013 Cryptologic History Symposium. Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory's Kossiakoff Conference Center, Laurel, Md. Registration information to be announced.
Oct. 29-31. RSA Conference Europe. Amsterdam RAI. Registration: Early Bird to July 26, 895 euros + VAT delegate/495 euros + VAT one-day pass; Discount from July 27-Sept. 27, 995 euros + VAT delgate/595 euros + VAT one-day pass; Standard from Sept. 27-Oct.27, 1,095 euros + VAT delegate/695 euros + VAT one-day pass; On site from Oct. 28-31, 1,295 euros + VAT.
Oct. 29. The Economics of Cyber Crime. 11 a.m. ET. Webinar sponsored by Dark Reading. Free with registration.
Nov. 18-20. Gartner Identity & Access Management Summit. JW Marriott at L.A. Live, 900 West Olympic Boulevard, Los Angeles, Calif. Registration: Early Bird to Sept. 27, $2,075; Standard, $2,375; Public Sector, $1,975.
Dec. 4-5. MENA Business Infrastructure Protection 2013 Summit (Risk Management and Security Intelligence for companies in the Middle East and North Africa). Dubai.
Dec. 9-12. Black Hat Training Sessions. Washington State Convention Center, Seattle, Wash. "The Art of Exploiting Injection Flaws," $1,800, by Oct. 24; $2,000, by Dec. 6; $2,300 thereafter. "The Black Art of Malware Analysis," $3,800, by Oct. 24; $4,000, by Dec. 5; $4,300 thereafter. "CNSS-4016-I Risk Analysis Course," $3,800, by Oct. 24; $4,000, by Dec. 5; $4,300 thereafter.
Dec. 9-13. Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC). Hyatt French Quarter, New Orleans.
Jan. 20-21, 2014. Suits and Spooks. Waterview Conference Center, Washington, D.C. Registration: Sept. 20-Oct. 20, $415; Oct. 21-Dec. 1, $575; After Dec. 1, $725.
John Mello is a freelance technology writer and former special correspondent for Government Security News.
The online magazine Ozy covers people, places and trends on the horizon. Co-founder Carlos Watson joins All Things Considered regularly to share the site's latest discoveries.
This week, he tells NPR's Arun Rath about a YouTube sensation in Urugauy, a six-second comedian and the young woman who gained a following with her explicit declaration of love for science.
The New And The Next
Uruguay's News Sensation
"Agustin Ferrando kind of got depressed with a lot of the news he saw and thought that little moments in life were just as interesting. So he created an incredibly popular YouTube channel — north of a million hits in a country that only has 3 million people. ...
"He's saying, 'If I tell the little individual stories of what you had for dinner, what happened at this schoolhouse — even though that's not classic big news — that's the stuff of real life.' "
"Will Sasso, who's been a comedian who's bounced around for years, has finally found his platform in Vine. Vine only gives you six seconds to make some magical video.
"And what Will Sasso figured out is that he could either try and tell you stories, or he could do funny impersonations."
"[Elise Andrew], who was originally from Britain, was living in Canada at university ... and just suddenly posted science articles that she liked. ... She put a very colorful headline: 'I F - - - ing Love Science.' ...
"But people didn't know that a 24-year-old young woman was the person behind this incredibly popular site. When she revealed herself, she got a bunch of negative comments. But Rather than shrink from it, she leaned into it in the best sense and started essentially posting the worst quote of the day."
Health Insurance » Health Insurance Co-Ops Under Obamacare
Consumers shopping for health insurance in the Obamacare online marketplaces, or exchanges, are likely to spot insurance companies they've never heard of before, including some startups known as "co-ops." The exchanges will introduce at least two dozen or so Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans -- co-ops, for short -- which are new nonprofit, private insurers that will operate in a manner similar to credit unions.
"Essentially co-ops, (which are) owned by the members, are groups of people who contract with insurers for better rates on coverage than individuals or small business could negotiate separately," explains E. Denise Smith, assistant professor of health care management with the Godbold School of Business at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, N.C.
Co-ops are part of health care law
The Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's historic health care redo, included $6 billion in funding to create co-ops, though congressional budget deals slashed that pool of low-interest loan money to $1.9 billion.
For now, your state may have a co-op, or maybe not. "Some states may have fewer insurance companies (in their) exchanges," Smith says. "In those cases, it may be more advantageous for groups to form co-ops."
Some two dozen co-ops were expected to be ready for the opening of the exchanges in two dozen states, according to the trade group the National Alliance of State Health Cooperatives, or NASHCO. John Morrison, the NASHCO president and former state insurance commissioner for Montana, says he expects many more co-ops to form in subsequent years.
Will a co-op really save you money?
"Health care co-ops are truly nonprofit and consumer-driven," says Morrison, noting that the companies have a mandate to reinvest any profit in either broader benefits or reduced premiums.
But whether co-ops will actually make health insurance more efficient and less expensive is not an easy question to answer.
"There are critics who argue that co-ops will have a hard time saving money because of high startup costs, even with initial government funding," says Gerry Wedig, a professor and health care economist with the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester. "But the co-ops argue that they'll be able to cut costs because they can be more efficient and won't have to pay profits to shareholders."
Co-ops can indeed be cost-effective, asserts Julia Hutchins, CEO of Colorado Health Op, a Denver-based co-op. Because the Obamacare health insurance co-ops are starting fresh, she says they don't face the potentially costly transition to paperless systems that many older health insurers are facing. Also, Hutchins insists co-ops will be able to emphasize the sorts of things that can help bring down costs, such as wellness programs and preventive care.
Oregon offers a snapshot
The data out of Oregon suggest health insurance co-ops will be competitive with other carriers. The state planned to open its Cover Oregon exchange with two co-ops in the mix: Oregon's Health CO-OP and Health Republic Insurance Co.
In the Portland area, both planned to charge close to the local average for an Obamacare plan that might be considered typical: a "silver"-level plan for a 40-year-old nonsmoker. Health Republic's monthly rate for 2014 will be $256, and Oregon's Health CO-OP's premium will be $271.
They'll be vying in that market with 10 other plans. The average monthly premium for all 12 is $260, before federal subsidies. The lowest premium approved by the state's insurance division was $215, and the highest was $329.
How does a co-op operate?
"For the typical member, a co-op will most likely work a lot like their private insurer currently does, but with some key differences," Hutchins says.
While professional administrators will carry out day-to-day functions, members (that is, the consumers) will help shape policy by electing boards and giving input through regular surveys.
"The members are my bosses," Hutchins says. "Not the shareholders."
Though co-ops will be available in only about half the states in 2014, co-op members will be able to use their coverage in their home state and elsewhere, she says.
"Just like a private insurance company, we have the ability to contract with providers and establish rates for out-of-network service," Hutchins says.
And what about the network -- and your selection of doctors? It may depend on where you live.
"In rural areas, they may not have a lot of choice because there aren't a lot of providers," Hutchins says. "But we expect members living in urban areas to have several choices."
Is a co-op right for you?
Consumers curious about the new co-ops may wonder about the safety of a new and unfamiliar health insurance company. Morrison says Obamacare exchange shoppers can choose co-ops with confidence.
"The chances of a consumer not getting their claims paid because their co-op failed are practically nil," he says. "It's important to realize that all of the Affordable Care Act co-ops are very well-funded, so the chances of a failure are also very remote."
When sizing up a health insurance co-op, Hutchins advises consumers to consider more than just price.
"One of the most important things is benefit design," she says. "Thankfully, the exchanges will help consumers do an apples-to-apples comparison so they understand what all the different plans will and won't cover."
She says customer service is important, too. The hope is that a more transparent marketplace will eventually allow consumers to shop for health insurance by looking not only at price and benefits, but also at how quickly claims and disputes are dealt with, and how easily a customer service rep can be reached on the phone.
"We won't have ratings on service just yet because exchanges are new," she says. "But eventually, we expect consumers to be able to use service ratings as they shop for coverage."
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vLCBmfQAG8QiecBJ1iCQpG-om5vqHdfsifemFQNtNMnf6rmnb7ppHk8rLrZgxN5jK9xUDiH_OHR2d3fsJ8zVMapLNvA20XesiEwcqxTDU=s0-d){kind=small}
Share