LONDON (Reuters) - A brain chemical that lifts people out of depression can transform solitary grasshoppers into swarming desert locusts, a finding that could one day help prevent the devastating plagues, researchers said on Thursday.
Increases of serotonin, the nerve-signaling chemical targeted by many antidepressants, appears to spark the behavior changes needed to turn the normally harmless insects into bugs that gang up to munch crops, they said.
"Our paper shows how this change in behavior changes what are essentially large grasshoppers living in the desert into swarming, destructive pests," said University of Cambridge researcher Stephen Rogers, who worked on the study.
"For a swarm to develop the locusts must transform from a solitary phase into a gregarious phase."
Vast swarms containing billions of locusts stretching over dozens of square kilometers periodically devastated parts of the United States when the West was settled and they continue to inflict economic hardship on parts of Africa and China.
The last big African swarm in 2004 cost $400 million simply to eradicate the pests, a tab that did not included money lost to destroyed crops, Rogers added.
"The gregarious phase is a strategy born of desperation and driven by hunger, and swarming is a response to find pastures new," he said.
Rogers and colleagues, who published their findings in the journal Science, wanted to find out what triggered the behavior change, which occurs when the insects gather in close quarters.
more information log onto:http://uk.reuters.com/article/scienceNewsMolt/idUKTRE50T04620090130
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Help for British Nationals
FCO consular staff in Bahrain offers practical advice, assistance and support to an ever-increasing number of British nationals who travel or live in Bahrain.
Typical consular duties performed by the consular staff include issuing passports and registering births and deaths; handling cases of child abduction and forced marriages; and assisting Britons detained or imprisoned, who have fallen ill or been the victim of a crime. In addition, Consular staff use their local knowledge to assess objectively the risks to British nationals, which range from terrorism to natural disasters.
This information is distilled by the London travel advice unit into the FCO country advice notices, which is relied on by thousands of travellers, tour operators and travel agents.
Typical consular duties performed by the consular staff include issuing passports and registering births and deaths; handling cases of child abduction and forced marriages; and assisting Britons detained or imprisoned, who have fallen ill or been the victim of a crime. In addition, Consular staff use their local knowledge to assess objectively the risks to British nationals, which range from terrorism to natural disasters.
This information is distilled by the London travel advice unit into the FCO country advice notices, which is relied on by thousands of travellers, tour operators and travel agents.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Steve Jobs May Have Pancreas Removed After Cancer, Doctors Say
jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs could be facing surgery to remove his pancreas, doctors say.
Jobs said yesterday he’s taking a five-month leave of absence after discovering that his health problems are “more complex” than he thought last week.
Jobs had a procedure similar to a Whipple operation, which involves removing parts of the pancreas, bile duct and small intestine, after he was diagnosed with a rare type of pancreatic cancer in 2004. A potential side effect of this procedure is that the organ has to be removed to prevent pancreatic leak, and the patient has to be kept alive with insulin to regulate blood sugar, said Robert Thomas, head of surgery at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.
“You might have to take the rest of the pancreas out,” said Thomas, 66, who first performed the Whipple’s procedure more than 20 years ago. “You’re on significant doses of insulin, and it’s not easy to manage. The person has the risk of severe diabetes.”
Jobs, who handed day-to-day operations to Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, said he will remain involved in “major strategic decisions.”
Apple’s unwillingness to provide details on Jobs’s health has frustrated investors, who have watched the shares plummet with each new rumor about his condition. Apple didn’t give any details about Jobs’s health even as he appeared increasingly thin in 2008, saying only it was a private matter. Jobs said last week that he is suffering from a “hormone imbalance” that caused him to lose weight.
Shares Plunge
Apple, based in Cupertino, California, fell as much as 11 percent in extended trading yesterday after Jobs, 53, said he would remain CEO while taking a medical leave of absence until the end of June. Just last week, Jobs said his treatment should be “simple and straightforward.”
“There’s been too little information, and the information that’s come out has been vague -- creating more concern rather than conveying a sense of certainty,” said Nell Minow, founder of the Corporate Library, a research firm specializing in corporate governance based in Portland, Maine. “They have achieved confusion, and a sense of being unsettled.”
Apple is not providing information beyond the statement, said spokesman Steve Dowling. The company’s directors, including former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt, either couldn’t be reached or declined to comment.
“What they have done is the extraordinary accomplishment of coming out with a press release that is more opaque than the last one,” said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, associate dean of the Yale University School of Management. “They have now surrendered their credibility.”
‘Not Healthy’
Jobs, who co-founded Apple in 1976, returned as CEO in 1997 and has revived the Macintosh computer brand while pushing the company into new markets with the iPod media player and iPhone. He rarely gives interviews and once had a biography of him pulled from Apple’s corporate store. Andy Hertzfeld, one of the main architects of the Mac operating software, wrote in his book that those who worked with Jobs said he was surrounded by a “reality distortion field.”
Jobs hasn’t been seen in public since October.
“This should not have gone on this long -- it’s not healthy for the business,” said Charles Elson, director of the University of Delaware’s John Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance. “The fact the issue has played around for months makes you wonder at the responsiveness of the board.”
Jobs disclosed in August 2004 that he had surgery to remove a tumor related to a rare form of pancreatic cancer that wouldn’t require chemotherapy or radiation. Cook ran Apple while Jobs took a monthlong leave.
Cancer Surgery
Jobs told Apple’s board about his cancer and directors decided to say nothing, Fortune reported in March 2008. Larry Sonsini, the company’s attorney, told directors that Jobs’s right to privacy topped disclosure rules, the magazine said. Sonsini declined to comment yesterday.
Jobs appeared thinner while introducing the iPhone 3G at Apple’s developers’ conference in June last year, prompting investors to raise questions about his health. The company said at the time he was suffering from a “common bug.”
Jobs continued to appear frail at company events later in the year. Rumors escalated last month when Apple said Jobs wouldn’t deliver the keynote address at the Macworld conference in San Francisco -- ending an 11-year run.
Last week, Jobs said he was suffering a hormone imbalance that had caused him to lose weight and that the remedy is “relatively simple.”
‘Incomplete’
That disclosure “will strike many as incomplete,” in light of yesterday’s announcement, said John Coffee, a securities law professor at Columbia Law School in New York.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may examine whether Jobs or Apple purposely misled investors about his condition, Coffee said. If the stock drops dramatically, shareholders may sue, Coffee said.
Some may give Jobs the benefit of the doubt. In December 1986, after MCI Communications Corp. founder Bill McGowan had a heart attack, two weeks passed before the company made an announcement. Four months later, when McGowan had a heart transplant, the company again was silent for several weeks. McGowan died in 1992.
Apple and Jobs may have made the disclosure last week in good faith, said Joe Grundfest, a professor of capital markets, corporate governance and securities litigation at Stanford University.
‘Unusual and Complicated’
“Mr. Jobs has an unusual and complicated medical condition,” Grundfest said. “When conditions are complicated, physicians have difficulty making clear decisions.”
Still, the pressure now is on Apple’s board to provide more information on the events leading up to Jobs’s decision to take leave, said James Post, a professor of management at Boston University.
“Has Steve Jobs and Apple’s board played fair with investors? There are a lot of unhappy and dissatisfied investors who are going to say the answer is no,” Post said. “The board members may not really answer the question of what did they know and when did they know it until there’s a discovery process in a lawsuit.”
sources:http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a6EZTtgfZyRg&refer=news
Jobs said yesterday he’s taking a five-month leave of absence after discovering that his health problems are “more complex” than he thought last week.
Jobs had a procedure similar to a Whipple operation, which involves removing parts of the pancreas, bile duct and small intestine, after he was diagnosed with a rare type of pancreatic cancer in 2004. A potential side effect of this procedure is that the organ has to be removed to prevent pancreatic leak, and the patient has to be kept alive with insulin to regulate blood sugar, said Robert Thomas, head of surgery at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.
“You might have to take the rest of the pancreas out,” said Thomas, 66, who first performed the Whipple’s procedure more than 20 years ago. “You’re on significant doses of insulin, and it’s not easy to manage. The person has the risk of severe diabetes.”
Jobs, who handed day-to-day operations to Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, said he will remain involved in “major strategic decisions.”
Apple’s unwillingness to provide details on Jobs’s health has frustrated investors, who have watched the shares plummet with each new rumor about his condition. Apple didn’t give any details about Jobs’s health even as he appeared increasingly thin in 2008, saying only it was a private matter. Jobs said last week that he is suffering from a “hormone imbalance” that caused him to lose weight.
Shares Plunge
Apple, based in Cupertino, California, fell as much as 11 percent in extended trading yesterday after Jobs, 53, said he would remain CEO while taking a medical leave of absence until the end of June. Just last week, Jobs said his treatment should be “simple and straightforward.”
“There’s been too little information, and the information that’s come out has been vague -- creating more concern rather than conveying a sense of certainty,” said Nell Minow, founder of the Corporate Library, a research firm specializing in corporate governance based in Portland, Maine. “They have achieved confusion, and a sense of being unsettled.”
Apple is not providing information beyond the statement, said spokesman Steve Dowling. The company’s directors, including former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt, either couldn’t be reached or declined to comment.
“What they have done is the extraordinary accomplishment of coming out with a press release that is more opaque than the last one,” said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, associate dean of the Yale University School of Management. “They have now surrendered their credibility.”
‘Not Healthy’
Jobs, who co-founded Apple in 1976, returned as CEO in 1997 and has revived the Macintosh computer brand while pushing the company into new markets with the iPod media player and iPhone. He rarely gives interviews and once had a biography of him pulled from Apple’s corporate store. Andy Hertzfeld, one of the main architects of the Mac operating software, wrote in his book that those who worked with Jobs said he was surrounded by a “reality distortion field.”
Jobs hasn’t been seen in public since October.
“This should not have gone on this long -- it’s not healthy for the business,” said Charles Elson, director of the University of Delaware’s John Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance. “The fact the issue has played around for months makes you wonder at the responsiveness of the board.”
Jobs disclosed in August 2004 that he had surgery to remove a tumor related to a rare form of pancreatic cancer that wouldn’t require chemotherapy or radiation. Cook ran Apple while Jobs took a monthlong leave.
Cancer Surgery
Jobs told Apple’s board about his cancer and directors decided to say nothing, Fortune reported in March 2008. Larry Sonsini, the company’s attorney, told directors that Jobs’s right to privacy topped disclosure rules, the magazine said. Sonsini declined to comment yesterday.
Jobs appeared thinner while introducing the iPhone 3G at Apple’s developers’ conference in June last year, prompting investors to raise questions about his health. The company said at the time he was suffering from a “common bug.”
Jobs continued to appear frail at company events later in the year. Rumors escalated last month when Apple said Jobs wouldn’t deliver the keynote address at the Macworld conference in San Francisco -- ending an 11-year run.
Last week, Jobs said he was suffering a hormone imbalance that had caused him to lose weight and that the remedy is “relatively simple.”
‘Incomplete’
That disclosure “will strike many as incomplete,” in light of yesterday’s announcement, said John Coffee, a securities law professor at Columbia Law School in New York.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may examine whether Jobs or Apple purposely misled investors about his condition, Coffee said. If the stock drops dramatically, shareholders may sue, Coffee said.
Some may give Jobs the benefit of the doubt. In December 1986, after MCI Communications Corp. founder Bill McGowan had a heart attack, two weeks passed before the company made an announcement. Four months later, when McGowan had a heart transplant, the company again was silent for several weeks. McGowan died in 1992.
Apple and Jobs may have made the disclosure last week in good faith, said Joe Grundfest, a professor of capital markets, corporate governance and securities litigation at Stanford University.
‘Unusual and Complicated’
“Mr. Jobs has an unusual and complicated medical condition,” Grundfest said. “When conditions are complicated, physicians have difficulty making clear decisions.”
Still, the pressure now is on Apple’s board to provide more information on the events leading up to Jobs’s decision to take leave, said James Post, a professor of management at Boston University.
“Has Steve Jobs and Apple’s board played fair with investors? There are a lot of unhappy and dissatisfied investors who are going to say the answer is no,” Post said. “The board members may not really answer the question of what did they know and when did they know it until there’s a discovery process in a lawsuit.”
sources:http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a6EZTtgfZyRg&refer=news
Monday, January 12, 2009
Obama team to review Afghanistan conflict: paper
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama intends to sign off on Pentagon plans to send up to 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan to help buy time for the new administration to reappraise the war effort, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
The incoming administration does not anticipate that the new deployment would significantly change the direction of the conflict, the newspaper said.
Obama campaigned on a promised to "finish the job" in Afghanistan and said he would increase the U.S. military presence there. However, since the November election, he has been flooded with dire assessments of the war, the Post said.
"We have no strategic plan. We never had one," the newspaper quoted a senior U.S. military commander as saying about the Bush years.
Obama's first order of business will be to "explain to the American people what the mission is" in Afghanistan, the official told the newspaper.
Senior Obama team members and Bush administration officials interviewed for the article spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the presidential transition, the Post said.
A retired senior officer with long Afghan experience and ties to the Obama team was quoted as saying that they were going to have to agree on a set of options and a decision on a single strategy. "It's going to require a much more complex assessment by Obama," the source said.
The new administration says it will not be rushed into a decision on Afghanistan.
"We are taking a long, hard look at these issues now," a transition adviser told the newspaperfor more information: http://uk.reuters.com/article/usPoliticsNews/idUKTRE50C1B620090113
Obama team to review Afghanistan conflict: paper
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama intends to sign off on Pentagon plans to send up to 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan to help buy time for the new administration to reappraise the war effort, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
The incoming administration does not anticipate that the new deployment would significantly change the direction of the conflict, the newspaper said.
Obama campaigned on a promised to "finish the job" in Afghanistan and said he would increase the U.S. military presence there. However, since the November election, he has been flooded with dire assessments of the war, the Post said.
"We have no strategic plan. We never had one," the newspaper quoted a senior U.S. military commander as saying about the Bush years.
Obama's first order of business will be to "explain to the American people what the mission is" in Afghanistan, the official told the newspaper.
Senior Obama team members and Bush administration officials interviewed for the article spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the presidential transition, the Post said.
A retired senior officer with long Afghan experience and ties to the Obama team was quoted as saying that they were going to have to agree on a set of options and a decision on a single strategy. "It's going to require a much more complex assessment by Obama," the source said.
The new administration says it will not be rushed into a decision on Afghanistan.
"We are taking a long, hard look at these issues now," a transition adviser told the newspaperfor more information: http://uk.reuters.com/article/usPoliticsNews/idUKTRE50C1B620090113
Friday, January 09, 2009
Patrick Swayze hospitalized for pneumonia
Patrick Swayze has developed pneumonia and has checked himself into a hospital for observation.
The news was revealed Friday at a press event for the Television Critics Association in Los Angeles.
"As we arrived here this morning we have some news," A&E President Abbe Raven told People. "Patrick Swayze has checked himself into the hospital. However, he asked us specifically to go forward with today's panel. We wish him the very best with his recovery."
The actor, who is battling pancreatic cancer, was going to appear at the TCA to talk about his new show, "The Beast," scheduled to air Jan. 15.
But don't count him out yet.
"Patrick is undergoing treatment and he's still fighting," a source tells People. "He felt so bad that he couldn't be at the TCAs. He's fighting and doing well, and that's all anybody can hope for at this stage. He is not at death's door. Nobody ever knows with cancer, but he's doing alright."
Good luck, Patrick. We're rooting — and praying — for you.
for more information:http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2009/01/patrick-swayze.html
The news was revealed Friday at a press event for the Television Critics Association in Los Angeles.
"As we arrived here this morning we have some news," A&E President Abbe Raven told People. "Patrick Swayze has checked himself into the hospital. However, he asked us specifically to go forward with today's panel. We wish him the very best with his recovery."
The actor, who is battling pancreatic cancer, was going to appear at the TCA to talk about his new show, "The Beast," scheduled to air Jan. 15.
But don't count him out yet.
"Patrick is undergoing treatment and he's still fighting," a source tells People. "He felt so bad that he couldn't be at the TCAs. He's fighting and doing well, and that's all anybody can hope for at this stage. He is not at death's door. Nobody ever knows with cancer, but he's doing alright."
Good luck, Patrick. We're rooting — and praying — for you.
for more information:http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2009/01/patrick-swayze.html
Patrick Swayze hospitalized for pneumonia
Patrick Swayze has developed pneumonia and has checked himself into a hospital for observation.
The news was revealed Friday at a press event for the Television Critics Association in Los Angeles.
"As we arrived here this morning we have some news," A&E President Abbe Raven told People. "Patrick Swayze has checked himself into the hospital. However, he asked us specifically to go forward with today's panel. We wish him the very best with his recovery."
The actor, who is battling pancreatic cancer, was going to appear at the TCA to talk about his new show, "The Beast," scheduled to air Jan. 15.
But don't count him out yet.
"Patrick is undergoing treatment and he's still fighting," a source tells People. "He felt so bad that he couldn't be at the TCAs. He's fighting and doing well, and that's all anybody can hope for at this stage. He is not at death's door. Nobody ever knows with cancer, but he's doing alright."
Good luck, Patrick. We're rooting — and praying — for you.
for more information:http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2009/01/patrick-swayze.html
The news was revealed Friday at a press event for the Television Critics Association in Los Angeles.
"As we arrived here this morning we have some news," A&E President Abbe Raven told People. "Patrick Swayze has checked himself into the hospital. However, he asked us specifically to go forward with today's panel. We wish him the very best with his recovery."
The actor, who is battling pancreatic cancer, was going to appear at the TCA to talk about his new show, "The Beast," scheduled to air Jan. 15.
But don't count him out yet.
"Patrick is undergoing treatment and he's still fighting," a source tells People. "He felt so bad that he couldn't be at the TCAs. He's fighting and doing well, and that's all anybody can hope for at this stage. He is not at death's door. Nobody ever knows with cancer, but he's doing alright."
Good luck, Patrick. We're rooting — and praying — for you.
for more information:http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2009/01/patrick-swayze.html
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
BlackBerry Curve, Bold, and Storm Fuse Into Curve 8900
LAS VEGAS – AT&T has the Bold. Verizon has the Storm. Now T-Mobile has their very own next-generation BlackBerry: the BlackBerry Curve 8900, which combines some of the top features from previous BlackBerry lines.
The hybrid Curve takes the Curve's much-loved separated keyboard, and combines it with the Bold's high-res 2.4-inch 360x480 screen, plus the Storm's 3.2-megapixel camera. The device was announced at the CES 2008 show here.
The 8900 is made from hard plastic, much like the Curve, though the black color is Bold-like and the sleek back cover takes a cue from the Storm. Measuring 4.29 inches x 2.36 inches x 0.53 inches and 3.87 ounces, it's ever so slightly slimmer and lighter than T-Mobile's existing popular Curve 8320. Like the 8320, it runs on T-Mobile's EDGE network, for decent but not great Internet speeds nationwide, and supplements that with Wi-Fi, including voice calls over T-Mobile's Wi-Fi "HotSpot Calling" system, formerly known as HotSpot@Home. That Wi-Fi calling feature offers unlimited voice calls for $10/month over any Wi-Fi network.
The innards of the 8900 seem more like the Bold's than the Curve's. It has a 528-MHz processor running the latest BlackBerry OS 4.6, including a pumped-up media player with native support for DivX, Xvid, MP4 and WMV video files, and pretty much all unprotected audio files. There's GPS, stereo Bluetooth, a speakerphone, and 480x352 video recording on the lovely 3.2-megapixel camera.
The beefy 1400 mAh battery is rated for 5.5 hours of talk time, but I think it'll get much longer than that on power-sipping EDGE networks; this device could last several days on a charge.
Like the Bold and Storm, the 8900 uses the latest version of the BlackBerry desktop software, which syncs with Outlook, Windows Media Player and iTunes on PCs. The BlackBerry desktop software is clunky – nowhere near as smooth as the iPhone's – but it definitely beats the T-Mobile G1, which has no direct PC syncing options at all.
In my experience, the Curve's keyboard layout has been extremely popular – much more popular than the Bold's close-together keys, though people like the Bold for other reasons. At this price, and on value-focused T-Mobile, I think the 8900 is going to be very successful. I'll have a full review in February.
The BlackBerry 8900 has been out in Canada, on Rogers Wireless, and in Germany on T-Mobile for a while, but this is its U.S. debut. It will be available in February; T-Mobile did not announce a price as yet.
Source : http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2337961,00.asp
The hybrid Curve takes the Curve's much-loved separated keyboard, and combines it with the Bold's high-res 2.4-inch 360x480 screen, plus the Storm's 3.2-megapixel camera. The device was announced at the CES 2008 show here.
The 8900 is made from hard plastic, much like the Curve, though the black color is Bold-like and the sleek back cover takes a cue from the Storm. Measuring 4.29 inches x 2.36 inches x 0.53 inches and 3.87 ounces, it's ever so slightly slimmer and lighter than T-Mobile's existing popular Curve 8320. Like the 8320, it runs on T-Mobile's EDGE network, for decent but not great Internet speeds nationwide, and supplements that with Wi-Fi, including voice calls over T-Mobile's Wi-Fi "HotSpot Calling" system, formerly known as HotSpot@Home. That Wi-Fi calling feature offers unlimited voice calls for $10/month over any Wi-Fi network.
The innards of the 8900 seem more like the Bold's than the Curve's. It has a 528-MHz processor running the latest BlackBerry OS 4.6, including a pumped-up media player with native support for DivX, Xvid, MP4 and WMV video files, and pretty much all unprotected audio files. There's GPS, stereo Bluetooth, a speakerphone, and 480x352 video recording on the lovely 3.2-megapixel camera.
The beefy 1400 mAh battery is rated for 5.5 hours of talk time, but I think it'll get much longer than that on power-sipping EDGE networks; this device could last several days on a charge.
Like the Bold and Storm, the 8900 uses the latest version of the BlackBerry desktop software, which syncs with Outlook, Windows Media Player and iTunes on PCs. The BlackBerry desktop software is clunky – nowhere near as smooth as the iPhone's – but it definitely beats the T-Mobile G1, which has no direct PC syncing options at all.
In my experience, the Curve's keyboard layout has been extremely popular – much more popular than the Bold's close-together keys, though people like the Bold for other reasons. At this price, and on value-focused T-Mobile, I think the 8900 is going to be very successful. I'll have a full review in February.
The BlackBerry 8900 has been out in Canada, on Rogers Wireless, and in Germany on T-Mobile for a while, but this is its U.S. debut. It will be available in February; T-Mobile did not announce a price as yet.
Source : http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2337961,00.asp
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