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Source: http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20111226/FSU03/111226001/1103/RSS18

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New way to ensure effectiveness of TB treatment?

ScienceDaily (Dec. 28, 2011) ? A UT Southwestern Medical Center study using a sophisticated "glass mouse" research model has found that multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) is more likely caused in patients by speedy drug metabolism rather than inconsistent doses, as is widely believed.

If the study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases is borne out in future investigations, it may lead to better ways to treat one of the world's major infectious diseases. Health workers worldwide currently are required to witness each administration of the combination of drugs during months of therapy.

"Tuberculosis is a common ailment, accounting for up to 3 percent of all deaths in many countries. Although effective therapy exists, there are still cases of treatment failure and drug resistance remains a threat," said Dr. Tawanda Gumbo, associate professor of internal medicine and senior author of the study.

The results seem to challenge the current approach endorsed by the World Health Organization.

Under that method, directly observed therapy-short-course strategy (DOTS), TB that responds to medication is treated with a cocktail of drugs under the supervision of health care workers, who in many countries must travel to isolated villages -- a costly and time-consuming process.

"Every TB patient is supposed to be watched as they swallow their pills in order to increase adherence and decrease emergence of drug resistance. This is the most expensive part of the program, but has been felt to be cost-effective since it improves compliance," said Dr. Gumbo, administrative director of research programs for the Office of Global Health at UT Southwestern.

In this study, UT Southwestern researchers created a sophisticated system of high-tech test tubes, which they called a "glass mouse," that mimicked standard therapy being given daily for 28 to 56 days, with dosing adherence varying between 0 percent and 100 percent. The threshold for defined non-adherence (failure to take a required dose of medication) was reached at 60 percent of the time or more.

"The first main finding in our laboratory model was that in fact non-adherence did not lead to multidrug resistance or emergence of any drug resistance in repeated studies, even when therapy failed. In fact, even when we started with a bacterial population that had been spiked with drug-resistant bacteria, non-adherence still did not lead to drug resistance," he said.

In fact, using computer simulations based on 10,000 TB patients in Cape Town, South Africa, the researchers discovered that approximately 1 percent of all TB patients with perfect adherence still developed drug resistance because they cleared the drugs from their bodies more quickly.

The body sees drugs as foreign chemicals and tries to rid itself of them, Dr. Gumbo said. A population of individuals with a genetic trait that speeds the process has been found in one area of South Africa that has a high rate of multidrug-resistant TB. In that population, patients who receive standard doses of drugs end up with concentrations in their bodies that are too low to kill the TB bacillus and drug resistance develops, he said.

A Journal of Infectious Diseases editorial that accompanies the study suggests that monitoring the levels of TB drugs in a patient's blood could be as important as monitoring compliance with therapy -- in contrast to current WHO guidelines.

"These data, based on our preclinical model, show that non-adherence alone is insufficient for the emergence of multidrug-resistant TB," Dr. Gumbo said. "It might be more cost-effective to measure patients' drug concentrations during treatment and intervene with dosage increases in those who quickly clear the drugs from their systems."

The work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by UT Southwestern Medical Center.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. S. Srivastava, J. G. Pasipanodya, C. Meek, R. Leff, T. Gumbo. Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Not Due to Noncompliance but to Between-Patient Pharmacokinetic Variability. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2011; 204 (12): 1951 DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jir658

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.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111228111724.htm

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ASUS Eee PC 1225B proves netbooks will still be kicking around in 2012

The death of the netbook has been greatly exaggerated -- at least that's what ASUS is praying holds true for next year. Its latest addition, the Eee PC 1225B, refreshes the spec sheet seen on the 1215B. You'll find it's still based on AMD's Brazos chipset -- thus the B -- and will apparently arrive on two different gear speeds; one with an AMD C60 dual-core 1GHz processor and another toting AMD's dual-core 1.65GHz E450 APU. Up to 4GBs of DDR3 RAM and storage options starting at 320GB should ensure a respectable bang for your buck. On top of that, there's an 11.6-inch 1,366 x 768 display, integrated webcam, a smattering of USB ports (both 2.0 and 3.0) and the same VGA and HDMI outputs found on its predecessor. Notebook Italia reckons that these new netbooks will start at €349 ($455). If you're not ready just yet for the heady specs (and prices) of an Ultrabook, you can visit ASUS' official site at the source for the full spec breakdown.

[Thanks Marco]

ASUS Eee PC 1225B proves netbooks will still be kicking around in 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Dec 2011 08:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink NoteBook Italia (translated)  |  sourceASUS  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/27/asus-eee-pc-1225b-proves-netbooks-will-still-be-kicking-around-i/

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Go Cincinnati Bengals! Watch the NFL Play of the Year!

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Source: http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2011/12/go-cincinnati.html

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Seiko Epson marks Boxing Day by announcing Nokia lawsuit settlement, 'extraordinary loss'

With Christmas behind us, it's time to get back to the real world. For Seiko Epson, that means some serious downer news. The company announced today that it has finally opted to settle with Nokia over antitrust lawsuits filed in the US and UK. The company will pay the Finnish handset maker a cool $80 million over the lawsuit, which stems from issues with LCD supply. That sum that will result in an "extraordinary loss" for Q3, according to Epson, though the company has opted not to adjust full-year earnings forecasts. Check Epson's press release after the break.

Continue reading Seiko Epson marks Boxing Day by announcing Nokia lawsuit settlement, 'extraordinary loss'

Seiko Epson marks Boxing Day by announcing Nokia lawsuit settlement, 'extraordinary loss' originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Dec 2011 09:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Electronista  |   | Email this | Comments


Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/J426mb9cc4w/

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TechGrinch Was Not Impressed By Google?s ?Jingle Bells? Doodle

Warning, I?m about to get real critical of something pretty minor. It?s midnight on Christmas and the world is largely at a standstill, so pardon my rant.

When I visited Google.com this morning, I was as excited as the kids sprinting from bed to tree. But all I found was a lump of sonic coal. Oh joy, after months of Christmas music, I get to hear a crummy elevator music version of ?Jingle Bells? one more time? *sigh*

But wait, is it a game where I guess how to play the song on the colored keys? No. Can I remix it and make my own song using the tones? Nope. Can I at least share something to the legion of strangers who?ve added me to their Circles on Google+? Well there was no readily available permalink, and the metadata wasn?t changed so sharing Google.com into G+ didn?t produce a doodle preview.

Why the high expectations? I was impressed with the Thanksgiving doodle, mostly because a special button encouraged people to share their custom turkey to Google+. Considering the fledgling social network needs users and content, I thought that was a wise move.

The Polish doodle the day before offered a sci-fi comic puzzle game. The Father?s Day doodle was a useful PSA to call your Dad. And the 65th birthday tribute to Queen?s Freddie Mercury was the pinacle of awesome, featuring mustachioed bears riding bicycles. Today we got a crummy elevator music ?Jingle Bells?. I would have settled

I would have settled for some 8-bit tones, a more expansive light show, or something actually interactive and not just triggered. In previous years, the Christmas doodles have been basic but classy. This one built me up with its shiny buttons but didn?t follow through. Maybe children were more elated.

Oh sorry, am I being an overly entitled TechGrinch? Normally I?m a rather loving person, this is just some?constructive criticism. I know the doodle is a delightful little service Google does out of the goodness of its 30,000 hearts. I?m sure it has plenty else to worry about and should be permitted an occasional flop.

Still, Google needs loyalty and good will right now. It should be looking to make fanboys and fangirls out of all of us, because it?s launched some ambitious products in verticals with powerful?incumbents. If services like Google+ and Google Currents are going to challenge the Facebooks and Flipboards, Google needs people to love it.

Ask any parent ? on Christmas Day the stakes are high. Google just got the 6 year old a big shiny box with a pair of socks in it. When it comes to holiday doodles, Google should either keep it simple, or really make it shine. TechGrinch signing off.

Image Credit: Shipment Of Fail


Google provides search and advertising services, which together aim to organize and monetize the world?s information. In addition to its dominant search engine, it offers a plethora of online tools and platforms including: Gmail, Maps and YouTube. Most of its Web-based products are free, funded by Google?s highly integrated online advertising platforms AdWords and AdSense. Google promotes the idea that advertising should be highly targeted and relevant to users thus providing them with a rich source of information....

Learn more

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/25/jingle-bells-doodle/

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How to Read 2D Arrays on the XML in an Android App

'); dmjs.revenueTags.push('ca-ehow_160x600;cpu_computer_programming,text,suggested7'); googleAds.addAdUnit({ priority : 3, adUnitId : 'GoogleAdsense160x600', google_ad_channel : 'cpu_computer_programming,text,suggested7', google_ad_client : 'ca-ehow_160x600', google_max_num_ads : '5', google_hints : '', google_image_size : '160x600', google_ad_type: 'text_image_flash', templates : { text : '' } }); }

Jim Campbell

Jim Campbell has been a computer engineer for over five years. He excels in hardware repair, computer programming and troubleshooting, and software design. He is currently attending Florida Atlantic University, pursuing a master's degree in computer and electrical engineering and fine-tuning his technical writing abilities.

updated December 24, 2011

Android developers use Java to create the layout XML and the functionality of an Android app. You use Java to read a 2D array in an XML file, which contains the settings and stored values you use in an Android app. Java includes functions and features that let you read the Android's XML variables in order to import them into users' screens.

Difficulty:
Moderate
    • 1

      Open the Eclipse Android editor and the project you want to edit. Double-click the Java source code file you want to use to read the XML file.

    • 2

      Create a content list array variable. This is the variable you use to contain the array values. The following code creates the variable:

      List<String> xml = new ArrayList<String>();

    • 3

      Open the XML file that you want to read. The following code opens a file named "myfile.xml":

      BufferedReader array = new BufferedReader(new FileReader ("myfile.xml"));

    • 4

      Loop through each array element from the XML file and store the results into the new XML array created earlier. The following code reads the array into your Java Android app variable:

      while (( string newvalue = array.readLine()) != null){
      xml.add(newvalue);
      }

    • 5

      Click the "Save" button, then the "Run" button in the editor to execute and test the new Android code.

Read Next:

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5662488954

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World economy to trudge on in 2012 despite Europe: Reuters poll (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? Europe faces another year of dismal economic performance in 2012 that will weigh on global growth, but emerging markets and the United States should at least keep the world economy moving in the right direction.

There are several reasons why next year may be nothing to look forward to, according to Reuters polls from the last few months.

Many of the world's biggest developed economies are heading into recession, global stock markets look set to recoup only a fraction of their heavy losses in 2011, oil prices will head lower, and asset managers are unsure where best to invest.

And these could be the best-case scenarios.

Most economists base their assumptions on the hope that the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis will not boil over into a new global economic crisis, having already dented growth in major exporters to Europe.

Still, most of the major emerging market economies like Brazil and China should pick up speed later next year. All of them have suffered from slowing economies in recent months, caused mainly by tightening monetary policy in the face of high inflation.

"It's important to stress the world economy is still growing. But it's a tale of two worlds," said Gerard Lyons, chief economist at Standard Chartered Bank.

"The storyline for 2012 is that Europe drags the world down in the first half of the year, and China drags it up in the second half of the year."

Enormous political risks cloud the outlook further, with elections and leadership changes in the most powerful countries and the prospect of continuing turmoil in the Middle East.

Still, there are glimmers of hope. The United States' economy has performed better than most had hoped over the last quarter, and Reuters' polls of economists show it growing around 2.2 percent in 2012, compared with zero growth in the euro zone.

"The big unknown in Europe and the U.S. is that big companies, with balance sheets in good shape, have the ability to invest at home if they want. It's more likely that will take place in the U.S. rather than Europe," said Lyons.

THE EURO ZONE QUESTION

European Union leaders took a historic step towards greater fiscal integration earlier in December, but economists have been clear that this would not ease a debt crisis entering its third year and still hogging the headlines in 2012.

Reuters polls show real concern that leaders are doing far too little to stimulate growth, with the likes of Spain and Italy destined for long and painful recessions.

The euro zone as a whole, meanwhile, is probably in a moderate recession right now that will last midway into 2012.

"The euro area continues to be a source of economic and financial instability for the rest of the world," said Juan Perez-Campanero, economist at Santander, in a research note.

"We could be facing a more permanent and lasting decline in growth capacity in developed economies and, particularly, the euro area."

Whether Spain and Italy will need to seek funding from the euro zone's bailout facility next year is open to question, with a very slim majority of economists polled this month - 27 out of 56 - saying not.

And a November survey of 20 top economists and former policymakers in academia and respected research institutes showed 14 of them do not expect the euro zone to survive in its current form.

Even in Japan, where economists have downgraded growth forecasts relentlessly, the economy is expected to pick up in the fiscal year from April and expand 1.8 percent. Japan should narrowly avoid a recession, but polls show little hope it will emerge from deflation any time soon.

ASSESSING THE ASSETS

The severe uncertainty surrounding 2012 is perhaps best reflected by Reuters' asset allocation poll of more than 50 leading investment houses in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Investors raised their cash balance to the highest in a year in December as they prepared for a jittery 2012, although they also moved back into cheap equities, Reuters polls showed on Monday.

The euro zone crisis was the key concern of asset managers polled, hence the increased preference for cash as well as moves into British and Asian shares rather than European ones.

Similarly, the last quarterly stock markets poll suggested emerging markets will easily outperform European share indexes in 2012, which will struggle to bounce back to end-2010 levels, never mind end-2011.

With Europe heading into a recession, oil prices look set to fall from here. Brent crude will average $105 a barrel next year, not far below this year's record high average near $111.

"We expect a mild recession across the OECD next year to put a damper on demand and consequently prices," David Wech from Vienna-based consultants JBC Energy said. "Nevertheless, the risk to oil prices is definitely on the upside given a still troubled geopolitical environment."

Economic growth is likely to slow among the Gulf's wealthy oil exporters next year, but governments will remain able to spend to counter the impact of any global slump, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday.

Respondents cited the euro zone debt crisis and signs of slowing growth in China as reasons for the darkened economic outlook in the Gulf.

DELAYED CHINESE CHEERS

Whatever the euro zone's future, the effects of the debt crisis have already been felt across the world. The European Union is China's biggest export market, and manufacturing data there show dwindling levels of foreign new orders.

Indeed, the Chinese economy is now growing at its weakest pace since 2009. In an effort to support it the central bank cut reserve requirements at the end of last month for the first time in three years.

Economists polled by Reuters after this move, however, said the People's Bank of China will refrain from more aggressive stimulative policies unless growth falls sharply to below 8 percent.

Similarly, India has been suffering from a pronounced slowdown in growth and Reuters polls suggest its central bank will also slacken monetary policy by mid-2012 to counter this, despite stubbornly high inflation. It could be in for a difficult year.

"Looking ahead, the economy faces the lagged effects of monetary tightening," said Leif Eskesen, economist HSBC in Singapore.

"Moreover, administrative hurdles and domestic policy paralysis are holding back investments and hurting sentiment."

Brazil's central bank on Thursday cut its 2011 growth estimate to 3.0 percent, versus its previous estimate of 3.5 percent, and said 2012 would see growth of 3.5 percent.

Compared with previous years where growth averaged near double-digit rates, that would be a disappointment, although still a fair improvement on the anaemic rates of most developed peers.

Overall, even the slightly depressed growth rates from these developing economic powers will power world growth next year.

"It is positive growth, but the picture does vary considerably - not just in terms of the first and second half of the year, but also depending on which part of the world you look at," concluded Lyons from Standard Chartered.

(Analysis by Sumanta Dey in Bangalore, Additional reporting by Anooja Debnath in Singapore, Zaida Espana and Peter Apps in London; Polling by Reuters Polls Bangalore, Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111225/bs_nm/us_wrapup2012_polls

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Would you donate to pay down national debt? Some do

Date: Saturday Dec. 24, 2011 10:00 PM ET

If you had an extra few thousand dollars lying around the house, what would you do with it? Buy a big-screen TV? Head south for a winter vacation?

How about donating it to the federal government to help pay down that half-trillion-dollar national debt?

No?

Well, you may be surprised to learn that some Canadians do make donations like that. In fact, such gifts in the last year have set a record and that surprises even the receiver general of Canada.

"It shocked me to find out in the last year it was a little over $11 million dollars," says Rona Ambrose, who is also minister of public works and government services. "That's a lot of money."

Has she ever donated some of her own money? "No, I have not," she replies with a smile. "But I actually write letters to people who do send in cheques."

The $11.2 million donated over the last year is twice the amount from the previous year.

"The majority of it is in wills," Ambrose says. "People will leave money to the government to help pay off the debt."

But Toronto estate lawyer Ian Hull suspects not all of those donations were willing.

"It would fall into the hands of the government if you had no family and no will," he points out.

Still, it might be easier to give money to the government after you're gone. For the living who are willing to donate, there are strict rules about gifts to the federal government.

"It has to go to a specific department," says Cleo Hamel, a senior tax analyst with H&R Block in Calgary. "It also has to have a letter accompanied with it saying you specifically want to have this money go to the national debt."

If you're thinking of donating and you're not put off by jumping through bureaucratic hoops, maybe some cold, hard facts will stop you in your tracks.

Since Canada's debt costs about $3.7 million an hour to maintain (according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation), the $22 million in cash and property that Canadians have donated over the past decade was enough to keep the national debt in check for almost six hours.

So, how about that trip south?

With files from CTV's Richard Madan

Source: http://atlantic.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111224/donations-national-debnt-111224/20111224?hub=AtlanticHome

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Bitcoins: A Decentralized Digital Currency?

By: Katherine Thorsteinson, Staff Writer

The new currency?

via TraderTim, Flickr

In the wake of a global double dip recession the world is screaming ?Show me the money!? However, the response to this demand is widely varied. There are those involved with Operation Occupy Wall Street, those like libertarian Ron Paul advocating a zero percent income tax policy and reversion to the gold standard, and finally there is the more traditionally moderate position of slow recovery and little systematic change.

With all this opposition and disagreement the really interesting question becomes, what will this money begin to look like? Currently, things are not likely to change in this regard, but one very novel invention seems to be indicating where money may take us in the future. Can you imagine a totally decentralised digital currency? Welcome to the world of Bitcoins. In the spirit of anonymity upheld by this new currency, its 2009 invention has been attributed to the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. But to whom this might be or to how many people this may include is entirely unknown.

To some, this may sound like the perfect answer to many of our current economic difficulties?

Bitcoins are an online currency which may be exchanged in a virtual value system with other users around the world. Bitcoin.org tells us that, ?Compared to other alternatives, Bitcoins have a number of advantages. Bitcoins are transferred directly from person to person via the net without going through a bank or a clearing house. This means that the fees are much lower, you can use them in every country, your account cannot be frozen, and there are no prerequisites or arbitrary limits.?

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To some, this may sound like the perfect answer to many of our current economic difficulties in which the world?s greatest superpower relies on a Federal Reserve Bank that remains suspiciously not federal. But how exactly do these new Bitcoins work? Somewhat allusively, Bitcoin.org explains that ?Bitcoins are generated all over the internet by anybody running a free application called Bitcoin miner.? To ?mine? your Bitcoin a certain amount of ?work? is required.

The network automatically adjusts the amount of Bitcoins earned per amount of work completed so that they are always being produced at a predictable and limited rate. To transfer your Bitcoins, the program adds an electronic signature, and within minutes this transaction will be certified by another member miner. This entire transaction is then stored in the network permanently and anonymously. Because this software is open-sourced, anybody has rights to access the code.

In spite of this explanation, for many this system will remain troubling and elusive. Indeed, difficulties have already surfaced. Due to a number of factors, including the currency?s short life-span and user uncertainty, Bitcoin continues to display a highly volatile rate of exchange into USD, and this problem is only amplified by the inability to make use of futures or options. There are a number of online businesses and exchange markets that are already accepting Bitcoin.

However, different users are quoting widely different exchange rates for any given time, suggesting that value in the Bitcoin market is not so evenly distributed. More technical concerns have been raised about the security of such online currencies in the face of a growingly competent hacking community. Others have wondered to what extent Bitcoin is a viable alternative to our current financial crises. After all, critics ask, isn?t it troubling that our value system has strayed so far from the real, physical modes of production and service? It is unclear whether this new financial option could assess these more psychological considerations.

For all its novel interest and seemly good intentions, this currency remains somewhat of a play thing for those involved with or curious about computer programming and economics. Considering how drastically different Bitcoins are from our current system, it is unlikely for the moment that this ?change? is going to come.

ARB Team
Arbitrage Magazine
Business News with BITE.

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Source: http://www.arbitragemagazine.com/topics/finance/bitcoins-decentralized-digital-currency/

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