Feb 27 (Reuters) - Chili's Grill & Bar parent Brinker International Inc on Wednesday tempered its 2013 profit forecast, citing diners grappling with the U.S. payroll tax hike, more expensive gasoline and delayed federal tax refund checks. The news from Brinker comes just days after a similar warning from rival and Olive Garden parent Darden Restaurants Inc. Dallas-based Brinker said it now expects 2013 earnings per share, before special items, to be at the lower end of its range of $2.30 to $2.45. It also expects sales at established restaurants to grow about 1 percent for the year. Brinker said same-restaurant sales for its current fiscal third quarter were running down 2.2 percent at Chili's as of Feb. 25. Results at Maggiano's, its smaller chain, were flat. Brinker will report its third-quarter results on April 23.
LONDON (Reuters) - Gonorrhoea cases have soared by 25 percent in the past year in England as superbug or drug-resistant strains of the sexually transmitted infection (STI) take hold worldwide, British health officials said on Wednesday.
Nearly 21,000 new cases had been diagnosed in 2011, with more than a third of cases in gay men and more than a third in people who have had gonorrhoea before, the UK Health Protection Agency (HPA) said in a statement.
Effective treatment with antibiotics has been compromised by growing resistance, it said, noting "a drift towards decreased susceptibility" of gonorrhoea infections to drugs called cephalosporins which are normally recommended as treatment.
"We are seriously concerned about continuing high levels of gonorrhoea transmission and repeat infection," said Gwenda Hughes, the HPA's head of STI surveillance.
A strain of gonorrhoea that was resistant to all recommended antibiotics was found in Japan in 2008, scientists said in 2011. They warned then it could transform a once easily treatable infection into a global health threat.
Last year the World Health Organization said cases of drug-resistant gonorrhoea had spread across the world.
Gonorrhoea is a bacterial STI which, if left untreated, can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirths and infertility in both men and women.
It is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases in the world and is most prevalent in south and southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. In the United States alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of cases is estimated at about 700,000 a year.
The emergence of superbugs has been driven by the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, which help fuel genetic mutations within the bacteria.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Louise Ireland)
A man was attacked and killed by a shark Wednesday off the coast of New Zealand, police said.
Local media identified the victim as 46-year-old Adam Strange, an award-winning director of short films.
The victim was swimming about 200 yards offshore from Muriwai Beach, just west of Auckland, when he was attacked, New Zealand Police Inspector Shawn Rutene said.
Witnesses called police and lifeguards quickly jumped into action when the attack occurred about 1:30 p.m. local time Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET Tuesday), but it was too late to save the man, the New Zealand Herald newspaper reported.
Police and lifeguards quickly took to the water in inflatable rescue boats, and officers opened fire on the shark, which "rolled over and disappeared," Rutene said in his statement, adding that the shark was estimated to be 12 to 14 feet long.
Authorities said they had closed Muriwai and nearby beaches as the investigation continued.
Shark attacks are uncommon in New Zealand, according to the University of Florida's Museum of Natural History.
According to the museum's International Shark Attack File, there had been just 48 confirmed attacks, eight of them fatal, since 1852. Those numbers did not include Wednesday's incident.
Neighboring Australia has had 510 confirmed attacks, 144 of them fatal, since 1700, according to the museum's figures, which it says were current as of Feb. 11.
In a biography on Strange's website, he described himself as an avid outdoorsman.?
"When I get a spare 5 minutes, I like to make a fruit smoothy, surf some big waves out on the West Coast," the site says.
The New Zealand Herald reported that Strange had a wife and a baby daughter. "The family are grieving the loss of a glorious and great father, husband and friend," the family said in a statement reported by the newspaper.
A short film by Strange, "Aphrodite's Farm," won a Crystal Bear award for Best Short Film for people over 14 at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival, according to the Internet Movie Database, or IMDb.com.
Strange said in his biography that he had made television commercials before turning to short film.
Related:
Kill sharks before they attack humans? Australian state will do just that
Life is fluid, flexible and soft. Life is fluid and relative. Today you get zero point to know that zero point should not be obtained from integral, calculus, differential and etc. but from ethnomathematics you can get zero point. This proves that in the social sciences if you are not diligent to read, it will be difficult to get a good mark or score.
The element of ethnomathematics is innovative. Get zero point was fair because everything need process not instant. But everything need signs. If a person has no sign, there is no manners, there is no culture, there is no science. Signs in here is the guidelines to want to read. Then don?t ever rely on gambling or speculation. Because if you only memorized the science and not understand, it will be useless.
Ethnomathematics is mathematical contextual in ethnicity. Like street math of Theresia Nunes from San Paulo, Brazil.
Question :
1.????? Hildegradis
How teacher do implement innovative learning methods without having collided with a system- oriented education with a national exam?
Answer :
That should be innovative is yourself, which traditionally is yourself, which is your own authoritarian, democratic is yourself. And so mathematics is yourself, my students. So I will not give ethnomathematics because ethnomathematics is myself. Then each instance or use the online reference for reference. Problems got fortune that one or more of each if it endeavor.
Mathemathics should not be enforced, so please read the references or the articles on my blog. If I associate with the ideology before, mathematics is your activities, students.
So here teacher facilitate students to implement mathematics activities, here I also do ethnomathematics activities and also apllies to all sciences.
This means, whether in teaching to be seen by the minister, there should be CCTV or by the school principal. So if given two hours lesson, then use it to show who you are and based on may articles, you are the student recognition.
Education system that is not conductive to innovative, it is a test for teachers or people who have a strong vision and mission. How liberating education as an investment or education as needed. Just ask elementary school students, junior high school if they think the investment? Of course not. People who think about it are the parents, the owners of capital and etc.
2.????? Nawangwulan
What should be used to evaluate student learning outcomes, if only the national exam cause failure in these areas or in the city? In fact one can not at school graduating students. It's called complications. Our society is experiencing complications. Experiencing an anomalous situation since our society mismanagement. Why are mismanagement? ?Because the leader not think about how Indonesia next 100 years. The first president was temted to become president for his entire life, the second was temted by his children and grandchildren and etc.
President Obama when his inauguration and speech ? Hei my brother, there is still a lots of stars that you will find and they waiting you to get name?. With this speech, he directly invites people to continue to move forward. That is the difference with Indonesia. Now the condition of Indonesia is complicated. The teacher Teachers can not be trusted. Instead of teachers, officials or ministers could not be trusted. We become confused. So now we need a revolution. Required buzz from national figures who know about education, psychology and dare to continue to move forward.?
The destruction of this nation because they do not have a vision as to what Indonesia 100 years. As a result, we are struck by the progress of other nations, capitalism. Usually people who suffer are the people who live on the border or in the suburbs. We are in the estuary between Australia and Asia. This resulted in us confused or do not have a concept for building country.? Especially with the inconsistent leadership and legislative.
So the ideal school graduation should be submitted to the mechanism. Now this impressed all corruption because corrupt otherwise deemed fair.
3.????? Dyah Purboningsih
????????? What is the basic concept of ethnomathematics?
????????? What is the purpose of ethomathematics?
Answer:
????????? The basic concept of ethnomathematics is contextual based on ethnicity.
????????? The purpose of the study is you can use mathematics contextually for innovative learning. Ethnomathematics self just for innovative teacher.
4.????? Venti Indiani
What is street math ?
Answer:
Street math, theresia Nunes performed by observing researching ang publishing. On the street of San Paulo, Brazil apparently there are traders who use mathematics in their own way with fast and accurate result in the calculation. This is be expressed by using a case study.
We know what you think this hands-on is about. That laptop you see up there has a Tobii eye-tracking sensor affixed to it, and you're probably wondering why we're still dwelling on it after gettinghands-on twice at CES 2012 and once more at CES 2013. But that's not what we're here to show you today. While wandering the halls of Mobile World Congress, we came across NUIA (Natural User Inter Action), a German company whose software is designed to make it easier for developers to code apps that make use of eye tracking sensors, such as Tobii's. In particular, devs will only have to write one extension, even if they're making use of multiple sensing devices (e.g., eye control and gesture recognition).
That comes in handy for a game like Fruit Ninja, as the required gestures extend beyond the bounds of what Tobii can do by itself. (Tobii lets you do things like zoom in, select objects and scroll, but not swipe flying fruit.) If you venture past the break, you'll see yours truly trying (and occasionally succeeding) at Fruit Ninja, though obviously this game is just one use case (albeit, a very fun one). There's nothing stopping developers from applying this to creative, productivity or even enterprise apps, too. As for availability, well, it's pretty clear the hardware will have to come before the software -- a NUIA spokesperson told us she doesn't expect its kit will be commercially available until sensing devices like Tobii become integrated into Windows 8 PCs. And if Tobii is any indication, that might not happen until next year at the earliest.
Feb 25 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 2. Matt Kuchar $1,987,000 3. Hunter Mahan $1,412,965 4. John Merrick $1,296,014 5. Phil Mickelson $1,232,760 6. Dustin Johnson $1,200,125 7. Tiger Woods $1,144,000 8. Russell Henley $1,129,080 9. Brian Gay $1,089,181 10. Charles Howell III $1,087,944 11. Jason Day $1,009,164 12. Chris Kirk $990,013 13. Steve Stricker $940,000 14. Josh Teater $870,934 15. Bill Haas $816,300 16. Jimmy Walker $812,620 17. Scott Piercy $789,592 18. Charlie Beljan $785,800 19. ...
This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "A Life Unknown"
A-okay.
So, it's that time of year again when I have finally put a boot up my ass and decided to recreate an old roleplay that was successful in the past, but eventually died due to the players getting busy in real-life. Now, after remaking it several different ways, changing the plot a little, changing it back again, and changing it some more, I've decided to try and remake the world that I have in my head and give people a fucking awesome story to be a part of.
How does that sound?
Well, if you're still reading, obviously it sounds good, or even great. Now. Like the title suggests, this is a medieval/light fantasy RP. I imagine it to be along the same genre as the Game of Thrones books (which I am currently reading the first and enjoying immensely. Dunno why I didn't find these books sooner!). Anyhow, I've been creating and developing this world for a few years now, and sometime this week, I hope to draw a detailed map for it too, and outline all the lores, politics, storylines, etc etc.
Here Is the link to the old OOC thread which was to the first time I RP'd it when it was successful.
The basic story is that there are two main lands; Illena of the North and Ayia of the South. Illena has a great king in control of his country. He looks after his people, is well loved, but there is a sad story behind him. Sixteen years ago, he had the most beautiful queen. Her skin as as pale as a peach, freckles dotting her face, and eyes as green as emeralds. That year she finally birthed a beautiful daughter called Tianna. She was their world, until that tragic night, 53 days until Summer.
It was a night where the heaviest of rains fell. The princess would not sleep and the king was with his counsel. The queen, alone in the baby's nursery, safe sat nursing her baby when the door opened and instead of her husband like she expected, in came an intruder all in black. She tried desperately to scream for help and save her child, but the intruder was no match. Before she knew it, her child was in the man's arms and a knife was embedded in her stomach. Then he was gone.
By the time the guards and king arrived, the baby was nowhere in sight. Three days later, his queen passed away from an infection and heartbreak. From the night his daughter was taken, he had his best knights out there searching for her. As the years passed by, she was still not found, dead nor alive. No word had been heard about her and no one had seen her. The search was scaled back, but still, sixteen years on, he hasn't lost hope that his daughter is alive, though most people suspect that she was killed the night she was taken.
Now, every year, as it gets to the time of 53 days until summer, the king sends out four of his best nights to hunt again for his long lost daughter.
And then there is Ayia; a kingdom that is led by a tyrant of a king that makes his people suffer because of his greed. He triples their taxes, starves their families, takes their values and has them living in fear of him. Criminals are prosecuted by watching their loved ones dies - innocent people killed because of a crime someone in their family committed. Men, women, even children. It doesn't matter. He is a greedy king.
19 years ago, he had a queen. She was just as beautiful as Illena's queen and they had a beautful son but she was in a kingdom where holding her tongue was best for her. She did not have input into how he ran his kingdom and she was disgusted. But she knew that for her own safety, she had to hold her tongue. It was him that drove her into having an affair. She got pregnant and led the king to believe it was his. With the man she had an affair with, she planned to leave the king and take their son to safety. She even had a child out of the kingdom, two years later and had trusted maids let the king know that the baby was stillborn. The baby was with it's father.
Someone betrayed the queen and let the king in on her illicit affair and later it was said that she had died in childbirth but the baby had survived. The maids involved had also been killed for treason, though this treason they committed wasn't released to anyone. And not long later, the king was bringing up his daughter and his son...
So, that's the basis of the story.
I want 4 knights of Illena that are looking for the princess. I have the prince sorted, but there are other people, like the daughter that the Ayian queen had that she sent to her father before the king found her alive and not to be his. Maybe a maid of the Illenian princess who is now living as the Ayian princess unknown to her of her true heritage. And even the best friend of the Ayian prince. And much more are welcome. Multiple characters and even NPC's too. I plan to get this up and going towards the end of this week.
The new cast of ABC’s dancing competition show, “Dancing with the Stars” season 16, was announced this morning on “Good Morning America”. Celebrities paired with professional dance partners include a country singer, former “American Idol” finalist, football star, a comedian, and a reality star. Country singer Wynonna Judd is set to compete along with former ...
Contact: Layne Cameron layne.cameron@cabs.msu.edu 517-353-8819 Michigan State University
EAST LANSING, Mich. Fat worms confirm that researchers from Michigan State University have successfully engineered a plant with oily leaves -- a feat that could enhance biofuel production as well as lead to improved animal feeds.
The results, published in the current issue of The Plant Cell, the journal of the American Society of Plant Biologists, show that researchers could use an algae gene involved in oil production to engineer a plant that stores lipids or vegetable oil in its leaves an uncommon occurrence for most plants.
Traditional biofuel research has focused on improving the oil content of seeds. One reason for this focus is because oil production in seeds occurs naturally. Little research, however, has been done to examine the oil production of leaves and stems, as plants don't typically store lipids in these tissues.
Christoph Benning, MSU professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, led a collaborative effort with colleagues from the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. The team's efforts resulted in a significant early step toward producing better plants for biofuels.
"Many researchers are trying to enhance plants' energy density, and this is another way of approaching it," Benning said. "It's a proof-of-concept that could be used to boost plants' oil production for biofuel use as well as improve the nutrition levels of animal feed."
Benning and his colleagues began by identifying five genes from one-celled green algae. From the five, they identified one that, when inserted into Arabidopsis thaliana, successfully boosted oil levels in the plant's leaf tissue.
To confirm that the improved plants were more nutritious and contained more energy, the research team fed them to caterpillar larvae. The larvae that were fed oily leaves from the enhanced plants gained more weight than worms that ate regular leaves.
For the next phase of the research, Benning and his colleagues will work to enhance oil production in grasses and algae that have economic value. The benefits of this research are worth pursuing, Benning said.
"If oil can be extracted from leaves, stems and seeds, the potential energy capacity of plants may double," he said. "Further, if algae can be engineered to continuously produce high levels of oil, rather than only when they are under stress, they can become a viable alternative to traditional agricultural crops."
Moreover, algae can be grown on poor agricultural land a big plus in the food vs. fuel debate, he added.
"These basic research findings are significant in advancing the engineering of oil-producing plants," said Kenneth Keegstra, GLBRC scientific director and MSU University Distinguished Professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. "They will help write a new chapter on the development of production schemes that will enhance the quantity, quality and profitability of both traditional and nontraditional crops."
###
Additional MSU researchers and GLBRC members contributing to the study include Gregg Howe, biochemistry and molecular biology professor; John Olhrogge, University Distinguished Professor of plant biology; and Gavin Reid, biochemistry and molecular biology associate professor.
Michigan State University has been working to advance the common good in uncommon ways for more than 150 years. One of the top research universities in the world, MSU focuses its vast resources on creating solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges, while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.
For MSU news on the Web, go to MSUToday. Follow MSU News on Twitter at twitter.com/MSUnews.
[ | 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.
Contact: Layne Cameron layne.cameron@cabs.msu.edu 517-353-8819 Michigan State University
EAST LANSING, Mich. Fat worms confirm that researchers from Michigan State University have successfully engineered a plant with oily leaves -- a feat that could enhance biofuel production as well as lead to improved animal feeds.
The results, published in the current issue of The Plant Cell, the journal of the American Society of Plant Biologists, show that researchers could use an algae gene involved in oil production to engineer a plant that stores lipids or vegetable oil in its leaves an uncommon occurrence for most plants.
Traditional biofuel research has focused on improving the oil content of seeds. One reason for this focus is because oil production in seeds occurs naturally. Little research, however, has been done to examine the oil production of leaves and stems, as plants don't typically store lipids in these tissues.
Christoph Benning, MSU professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, led a collaborative effort with colleagues from the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. The team's efforts resulted in a significant early step toward producing better plants for biofuels.
"Many researchers are trying to enhance plants' energy density, and this is another way of approaching it," Benning said. "It's a proof-of-concept that could be used to boost plants' oil production for biofuel use as well as improve the nutrition levels of animal feed."
Benning and his colleagues began by identifying five genes from one-celled green algae. From the five, they identified one that, when inserted into Arabidopsis thaliana, successfully boosted oil levels in the plant's leaf tissue.
To confirm that the improved plants were more nutritious and contained more energy, the research team fed them to caterpillar larvae. The larvae that were fed oily leaves from the enhanced plants gained more weight than worms that ate regular leaves.
For the next phase of the research, Benning and his colleagues will work to enhance oil production in grasses and algae that have economic value. The benefits of this research are worth pursuing, Benning said.
"If oil can be extracted from leaves, stems and seeds, the potential energy capacity of plants may double," he said. "Further, if algae can be engineered to continuously produce high levels of oil, rather than only when they are under stress, they can become a viable alternative to traditional agricultural crops."
Moreover, algae can be grown on poor agricultural land a big plus in the food vs. fuel debate, he added.
"These basic research findings are significant in advancing the engineering of oil-producing plants," said Kenneth Keegstra, GLBRC scientific director and MSU University Distinguished Professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. "They will help write a new chapter on the development of production schemes that will enhance the quantity, quality and profitability of both traditional and nontraditional crops."
###
Additional MSU researchers and GLBRC members contributing to the study include Gregg Howe, biochemistry and molecular biology professor; John Olhrogge, University Distinguished Professor of plant biology; and Gavin Reid, biochemistry and molecular biology associate professor.
Michigan State University has been working to advance the common good in uncommon ways for more than 150 years. One of the top research universities in the world, MSU focuses its vast resources on creating solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges, while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.
For MSU news on the Web, go to MSUToday. Follow MSU News on Twitter at twitter.com/MSUnews.
[ | 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.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With five days left before $85 billion is slashed from U.S. government budgets, governors and lawmakers from both parties said the White House and Congress should pull out the stops to avert indiscriminate cuts.
Republicans, who are seeking spending cuts, urged President Barack Obama to apply what's known as the "sequester" in a more careful way, rather than slashing budgets across the board.
The White House has issued dire warnings about the impact the cuts will have, including mass temporary layoffs or "furloughs" in the military, a slowdown in air traffic, and shutdowns for daycare programs and meat-processing plants.
"They've rolled out this great political theater about how cutting less than 3 percent of the federal budget is going to cause all these awful consequences," said Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican, on NBC's "Meet the Press."
"Here's his chance to say, 'Here's how we can do it better,'" Jindal said, suggesting Congress and the White House give departments the ability to cut spending on less essential services.
Congress returns on Monday after a week-long recess and unless lawmakers reach a deal with the White House to postpone the sequester cuts, they will take effect on March 1.
Obama has urged Congress to buy more time for a broad budget deal with a short-term measure that boosts revenues by ending some tax breaks for the wealthy.
Senate Democrats have put forward a plan that focuses on those tax loopholes. This week, Republicans are expected to propose alternatives.
"I think this notion of giving the President the discretion to make the spending cuts - I think that's a cop-out. So I will be urging my colleagues to have an alternative and for us to present one," said Senator Kelly Ayotte, a Republican from New Hampshire, on CBS's "Face the Nation."
WASHINGTON, SOUTH TO BE HARDEST HIT
Governors, in Washington this week for an annual meeting, are concerned about the impact of the cuts on jobs and the economy at the state level.
On average, government programs subject to the cuts provide 6.6 percent of states' revenues, according to Pew Center on the States.
Obama is slated to speak to the group at 7:10 p.m. EST (0010 GMT Monday) at a White House dinner on Sunday night.
An analysis by Wells Fargo Securities Economics Group last week found that under sequestration, states close to the nation's capital and in the South will be hardest hit.
White House officials have said the sequester law does not allow the administration to be flexible in applying the cuts.
"We don't have any ability with dumb cuts like this to figure out what the right thing to do is," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said on "Face the Nation."
"There are literally teachers now who are given pink slips, who are given notices that they can't come back this fall," Duncan said.
BLAME GAME
In recent weeks, the White House has staged a series of events to illustrate how the cuts will affect American jobs, and has focused on pinning the blame for the looming cuts on Congressional Republicans.
Republicans have fought back by saying the sequester mechanism - part of a 2011 law designed to force Congress to reach a deficit reduction deal - was Obama's idea.
On Sunday, the Washington Post's Bob Woodward waded into that fight, saying White House officials including Jack Lew - Obama's nominee for Treasury Secretary - proposed the sequester.
In an opinion piece, Woodward said Obama was "moving the goal posts" by insisting on new tax revenue as part of an alternative to the sequester cuts.
"His call for a balanced approach is reasonable, and he makes a strong case that those in the top income brackets could and should pay more. But that was not the deal he made" in 2011, said Woodward, who wrote a book about the deal called "The Price of Politics."
But an administration official said Obama had always said that he would push to replace the sequester cuts with a mix of spending cuts and tax revenue.
"The sequester was understood by all parties to be an enforcement mechanism that would be mutually odious enough to bring both parties back to the table to negotiate a 'Grand Bargain' with both entitlement savings and revenues to replace it," said the official, on condition of anonymity.
LOTS OF TALK, LITTLE NEGOTIATION
Rhetoric aside, there has been almost no negotiation between the White House and Congress on the March 1 cuts, although Obama phoned Republican leaders last week to discuss the issue.
"The president should be calling us over somewhere, Camp David, the White House, somewhere, and sitting down and trying to avert these cuts," said Republican Senator John McCain on CNN's "State of the Union."
Democratic Congressman Eliot Engel agreed that Congress should seek "smart" cuts, rather than across-the-board reductions.
"I think Congress should sit down and avoid the sequester," Engel said on ABC's "This Week."
"And if the sequester kicks in, for a week or so, we should then fix it so it doesn't become a permanent thing," Engel said.
(Additional reporting by Aruna Viswanatha, Tabassum Zakaria, Lisa Lambert and David Brunnstrom; Editing by David Brunnstrom and Eric Walsh)
RWJF awards $1.9 million grant to PatientsLikeMe to create open research platformPublic release date: 25-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lori Scanlon lscanlon@patientslikeme.com 617-229-6643 PatientsLikeMe
Real-time health learning system will generate health outcome measures that are meaningful to patients and align medical research with patient needs
February 25, 2013Long Beach, CAPatientsLikeMe has been awarded a $1.9 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to create the world's first open-participation research platform for the development of patient-centered health outcome measures. The platform is part of a new open-science initiative that puts patients at the center of clinical research process and will allow researchers to pilot, deploy, share, and validate new ways to measure diseases. An "idea worth spreading," the initiative will be spotlighted today in a presentation at TED2013 by Paul Wicks, Ph.D., PatientsLikeMe's Research Director and a new TED Fellow.
Health outcome measures are typically developed by clinicians and researchers, and collect information that meet their needs. Linked with the PatientsLikeMe patient network, the new platform will help researchers develop health outcome measures that better reflect patients' experiences with a disease, and assess health and quality of life in ways that matter to patients.
"This project is really exciting for us because it focuses on data that is developed by patients in the real world, where they spend most of their time, as opposed to controlled clinical settings," says Brian Quinn, team director of RWJF's Pioneer Portfolio, the team funding this project. "We believe it has the potential to help researchers better understand the course of disease and open up important paths for the development of new therapies. We're eager to see what medical revelations will emerge when researchers focus first on patients' needs and concerns, and openly collaborate with patients and each other."
PatientsLikeMe is an established network for patients who want to monitor their health, improve their outcomes, and contribute to medical research and discovery. Nearly 200,000 patients, representing more than 1,500 diseases, have created longitudinal records centered around their health outcomes.
Using the platform, researchers will quickly attract PatientsLikeMe members to their studies, track the progress of newly developed measurements, and export data for analysis. Patients will be able to offer their rapid feedback to ensure that measures are relevant to their experience of disease.
In this open-participation research initiative, access to the new platform will be free, and all instruments and items developed on the platform will be made openly available for free, unlimited use and further development with no commercial restrictions. PatientsLikeMe is also contributing the dozens of existing instruments they have developed. Charitable users will receive discounted access to data compiled by PatientsLikeMe for the initiative.
"Measurement is the basis of knowledge. For too long, there have been restrictions placed by copyright and weak and out-of-date tools to measure a patient's experience with disease," says Jamie Heywood, co-founder and chairman of PatientsLikeMe. "Patients, researchers, and clinicians working together to iterate and learn about the holistic journey of each condition and health itself is a critical step toward transforming care and discovery so that they truly serve the patient."
A beta version of the platform will be unveiled in the coming months.
###
For more information about the initiative, visit: http://rwjf.org/en/grants/grantees/PatientsLikeMe.html.
Professional organizations, patient-reported outcome specialists, funders, academic researchers, and others interested in participating in the initiative are welcome to email openscience@patientslikeme.com.
To join PatientsLikeMe, visit: http://plmjoin.com/openscience.
About Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, measurable, and timely change. For 40 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter or Facebook.
About PatientsLikeMe
PatientsLikeMe is a patient network that improves lives and a real-time research platform that advances medicine. Through the network, patients connect with others who have the same disease or condition and track and share their own experiences. In the process, they generate data about the real-world nature of disease that help researchers, pharmaceutical companies, regulators, providers and nonprofits develop more effective products, services and care. PatientsLikeMe has become a trusted source for real-world disease information and a clinically robust resource that has published more than 25 peer-reviewed research studies. Visit us at www.patientslikeme.com or follow us via our blog, Twitter or Facebook.
[ | 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.
RWJF awards $1.9 million grant to PatientsLikeMe to create open research platformPublic release date: 25-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lori Scanlon lscanlon@patientslikeme.com 617-229-6643 PatientsLikeMe
Real-time health learning system will generate health outcome measures that are meaningful to patients and align medical research with patient needs
February 25, 2013Long Beach, CAPatientsLikeMe has been awarded a $1.9 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to create the world's first open-participation research platform for the development of patient-centered health outcome measures. The platform is part of a new open-science initiative that puts patients at the center of clinical research process and will allow researchers to pilot, deploy, share, and validate new ways to measure diseases. An "idea worth spreading," the initiative will be spotlighted today in a presentation at TED2013 by Paul Wicks, Ph.D., PatientsLikeMe's Research Director and a new TED Fellow.
Health outcome measures are typically developed by clinicians and researchers, and collect information that meet their needs. Linked with the PatientsLikeMe patient network, the new platform will help researchers develop health outcome measures that better reflect patients' experiences with a disease, and assess health and quality of life in ways that matter to patients.
"This project is really exciting for us because it focuses on data that is developed by patients in the real world, where they spend most of their time, as opposed to controlled clinical settings," says Brian Quinn, team director of RWJF's Pioneer Portfolio, the team funding this project. "We believe it has the potential to help researchers better understand the course of disease and open up important paths for the development of new therapies. We're eager to see what medical revelations will emerge when researchers focus first on patients' needs and concerns, and openly collaborate with patients and each other."
PatientsLikeMe is an established network for patients who want to monitor their health, improve their outcomes, and contribute to medical research and discovery. Nearly 200,000 patients, representing more than 1,500 diseases, have created longitudinal records centered around their health outcomes.
Using the platform, researchers will quickly attract PatientsLikeMe members to their studies, track the progress of newly developed measurements, and export data for analysis. Patients will be able to offer their rapid feedback to ensure that measures are relevant to their experience of disease.
In this open-participation research initiative, access to the new platform will be free, and all instruments and items developed on the platform will be made openly available for free, unlimited use and further development with no commercial restrictions. PatientsLikeMe is also contributing the dozens of existing instruments they have developed. Charitable users will receive discounted access to data compiled by PatientsLikeMe for the initiative.
"Measurement is the basis of knowledge. For too long, there have been restrictions placed by copyright and weak and out-of-date tools to measure a patient's experience with disease," says Jamie Heywood, co-founder and chairman of PatientsLikeMe. "Patients, researchers, and clinicians working together to iterate and learn about the holistic journey of each condition and health itself is a critical step toward transforming care and discovery so that they truly serve the patient."
A beta version of the platform will be unveiled in the coming months.
###
For more information about the initiative, visit: http://rwjf.org/en/grants/grantees/PatientsLikeMe.html.
Professional organizations, patient-reported outcome specialists, funders, academic researchers, and others interested in participating in the initiative are welcome to email openscience@patientslikeme.com.
To join PatientsLikeMe, visit: http://plmjoin.com/openscience.
About Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, measurable, and timely change. For 40 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter or Facebook.
About PatientsLikeMe
PatientsLikeMe is a patient network that improves lives and a real-time research platform that advances medicine. Through the network, patients connect with others who have the same disease or condition and track and share their own experiences. In the process, they generate data about the real-world nature of disease that help researchers, pharmaceutical companies, regulators, providers and nonprofits develop more effective products, services and care. PatientsLikeMe has become a trusted source for real-world disease information and a clinically robust resource that has published more than 25 peer-reviewed research studies. Visit us at www.patientslikeme.com or follow us via our blog, Twitter or Facebook.
[ | 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.
Nothing's changed since last we saw ZTE'sGrand Memo in Hong Kong last January. But the Chinese OEM's trotting it out once again at MWC 2013 here in Barcelona, reintroducing the palm-stretching device for the global press. From the name alone, it's clear that ZTE's angling this tabletphone (sorry, no stylus included) at Samsung's successful Note line; a competition that's already been won by the recently unveiled and incredibly massive Note 8. The Grand Memo's specs have remained the same -- 5.7-inch 720p TFT display, quad-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro, 1GB RAM, Android 4.1.2 and 13-megapixel rear camera module -- but now we have an English-language demo to walk you through it. So check out the video tour after the break and stay tuned for our live coverage of ZTE's press event.
By David Ferguson Saturday, February 23, 2013 12:15 EST
?
An unnamed cancer patient is suing the Salisbury District Hospital in the U.K. after an operation resulted in the amputation of his healthy testicle. According to the Salisbury Journal, the 48-year-old man is taking action against the hospital and the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust on the grounds that the medical error has left him infertile.
According to Metro U.K., doctors realized their mistake about 40 minutes into the procedure. They immediately froze the healthy testicle while a plastic surgeon was rushed in to attempt to reattach the organ. The attempt was unsuccessful and when the patient was awakened, he was informed of the mistake.
Phil Matthews, a spokesperson for the Wiltshire Involvement Network, a local patient advocacy network, said, ?This is a tragic thing to have happened. With this type of operation men need confidence they can put their trust fully in the hospital.?
Huffington Post said that, while tragic, these types of medical errors are not unheard of. In 2007, a 47-year-old Air Force veteran sued the West Los Angeles Veterans? Administration hospital for removing his right testicle rather than his atrophied, possibly cancerous left one.
Surgeons at the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St. Edmunds, England made a similar mistake in 2010 with a patient who was receiving treatment for chronic infection of the epididymis, a tube that transports sperm from the testicles. Doctors took the wrong tube, which, once the infected tube was removed, left him infertile.
February 22, 2013 |
SAN FRANCISCO -- Via Licensing Corporation today announced the addition of two significant licensors to its LTE (Long Term Evolution) patent pool. China Mobile Communication Co., Ltd, and Deutsche Telekom join AT&T, Clearwire Corporation, DTVG Licensing, HP, KDDI Corporation, NTT DOCOMO, SK Telecom, Telecom Italia, Telef?nica, and ZTE Corporation among the industry leading companies offering their essential LTE patents through Via Licensing?s patent pool.
By making essential patents available through a patent pool, Via Licensing?s LTE program significantly reduces the risk of litigation for organizations that are building products or services based on the LTE standard. In addition to reducing risk, the LTE patent pool reduces the time and expense incurred by patent holders and licensees by providing access to a broad portfolio of essential LTE Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) through a single, cost-effective transaction. The addition of China Mobile and Deutsche Telekom, two of the world?s largest telecommunications service providers, dramatically enhances the portfolio of LTE standard-essential patents licensed through Via?s LTE patent pool.
?The addition of these key patent holders increases the benefit that the Via LTE patent pool brings to the 4G ecosystem. The inclusion of standard-essential patents from China Mobile and Deutsche Telekom to the LTE patent pool further strengthens the program and ensures licensees worldwide access to critical LTE IPR,? said Roger Ross II, President of Via Licensing.
China Mobile Communications Corp.
Currently we allow the following HTML tags in comments:
Single tags
These tags can be used alone and don't need an ending tag.
<br> Defines a single line break
<hr> Defines a horizontal line
Matching tags
These require an ending tag - e.g. <i>italic text</i>
<a> Defines an anchor
<b> Defines bold text
<big> Defines big text
<blockquote> Defines a long quotation
<caption> Defines a table caption
<cite> Defines a citation
<code> Defines computer code text
<em> Defines emphasized text
<fieldset> Defines a border around elements in a form
<h1> This is heading 1
<h2> This is heading 2
<h3> This is heading 3
<h4> This is heading 4
<h5> This is heading 5
<h6> This is heading 6
<i> Defines italic text
<p> Defines a paragraph
<pre> Defines preformatted text
<q> Defines a short quotation
<samp> Defines sample computer code text
<small> Defines small text
<span> Defines a section in a document
<s> Defines strikethrough text
<strike> Defines strikethrough text
<strong> Defines strong text
<sub> Defines subscripted text
<sup> Defines superscripted text
<u> Defines underlined text
Mobile World Congress 2013 Preview
SPONSORED BY
See All of Our Coverage on These Topics:
4G World India Thursday, & Friday, April 25-26, 2013 Epicentre, Gurgaon Ethernet Europe Tuesday & Wednesday, April 16 & 17, 2013 Frankfurt Marriott Hotel, Frankfurt
White Papers SPONSORED CONTENT
Resource Library SPONSORED CONTENT
Docsis Provisioning of EPON (DPoE)
CableLabs spec that blends Docsis-style provisioning with EPON
The new cast of ABC’s dancing competition show, “Dancing with the Stars” season 16, was announced this morning on “Good Morning America”. Celebrities paired with professional dance partners include a country singer, former “American Idol” finalist, football star, a comedian, and a reality star. Country singer Wynonna Judd is set to compete along with former ...![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 26-Feb-2013
Share ] 
