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BEIJING ? Rights activists have criticized a Hollywood studio for filming a buddy comedy in an eastern Chinese city where a blind, self-taught activist lawyer is being held under house arrest and reportedly has been beaten.

Relativity Media is shooting part of the comedy, "21 and Over," in Linyi, a city in Shandong province where the activist Chen Guangcheng's village is located. Authorities have turned Chen's village of Dongshigu into a hostile, no-go zone, and activists, foreign diplomats and reporters have been turned back, threatened and had stones thrown at them by men patrolling the village.

The news that Relativity Media had chosen Linyi, a city of 10 million, as a location for its film and was touting its close government connections comes at a time when activists have renewed their attention on Chen.

A campaign to try get people to visit Chen, who documented forced late-term abortions, has caught on and intensified in recent weeks, though no one has succeeded in seeing him and many would-be visitors have been met with violence.

On China's popular Twitter-like microblog Sina Weibo, some bloggers circulated email addresses for Relativity staff, urging users to write to the company in protest. A few called for a boycott of the film.

Relativity Media said in a statement Monday that it has always been committed to supporting human rights and that "we would never knowingly do anything to undermine this commitment." It also said it believes engaging the Chinese in business and trade can bring positive outcomes.

In an earlier press release, Linyi's top Communist Party official, Zhang Shajun, is quoted as calling Relativity's chief executive, Ryan Kavanaugh, a "good friend," while Relativity's co-president, Tucker Tooley, describes Linyi as an "amazing" place.

"I hope Relativity Media will learn more about the real Linyi, about Chen Guangcheng, and see that what is currently happening in Dongshigu village is what is really 'amazing,'" Nanjing-based activist He Peirong said in an interview.

In the past several weeks, dozens of activists and Chen's supporters have risked being violently assaulted to attempt visits to his home in a bid to draw attention to his plight. The latest group was made up of 37 petitioners who traveled there by bus from Beijing on Sunday and fled after being attacked by about 50 unidentified thugs as they approached Chen's village, said one petitioner, Peng Zhonglin, from Jiangxi province. Linyi police refused to comment when reached by phone.

Human Rights Watch's senior Asia researcher, Nicholas Bequelin, said it was puzzling that Relativity appeared comfortable cozying up with the city's political leadership.

"They seem to be eager to assume this role of being a prop in Linyi's propaganda campaign to cast itself as a civilized municipality that promotes culture when the reality is that it is not only holding one of China's most prominent human rights defenders, but going to extraordinary lengths to persecute him," Bequelin said.

Relativity describes "21 and Over" as a comedy about two childhood friends who drag their buddy out to celebrate his 21st birthday the night before a medical school interview in an evening that turns into "a wild epic misadventure of debauchery and mayhem." It stars "Footloose" star Miles Teller and Justin Chon, who was in "The Twilight Saga."

Shooting in Linyi began Wednesday, and it was unclear how long filming was scheduled to take place there. Previous footage was shot in Seattle, the company said. Relativity has produced or co-financed more than 200 movies, including "Cowboys & Aliens," "Bridesmaids" and "Limitless."

___

Relativity Media's press release: http://bit.ly/vyQ9iH

___

Follow Gillian Wong on Twitter at http://twitter.com/gillianwong

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111031/ap_on_re_as/as_china_blind_lawyer

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neallawrence · ScienceDaily (Oct. 28, 2011)

ScienceDaily (Oct. 28, 2011) ? As the global media speculate on the number of people likely to inhabit the planet on October 31 an international team of population and development experts argue that it is not simply the number of people that matters but more so their distribution by age, education, health status and location that is most relevant to local and global sustainability.

Any realistic attempt to achieve sustainable development must focus primarily on the human wellbeing and be founded on an understanding of the inherent differences in people in terms of their differential impact on the environment and their vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities are often closely associated with age, gender, lack of education, and poverty.

These are some of the messages formulated by twenty of the world's leading experts in population, development and environment who met at IIASA in Austria in September 2011, with the objective of defining the critical elements of the interactions between the human population and sustainable development. The Laxenburg Declaration on Population and Development as prepared by the Expert Panel, describes the following five actions as necessary to address sustainable development, achieve a 'green economy' and adapt to environmental change:

Recognize that the numbers, characteristics, and behaviors of people are at the heart of sustainable development challenges and of their solutions.
Identify subpopulations that contribute most to environmental degradation and those that are most vulnerable to its consequences. In poor countries especially, these subpopulations are readily identifiable according to age, gender, level of education, place of residence, and standard of living.
Devise sustainable development policies to treat these subpopulations differently and appropriately, according to their demographic and behavioral characteristics.
Facilitate the inevitable trend of increasing urbanization in ways that ensure that environmental hazards and vulnerabilities are under control.
Invest in human capital -- people's education and health, including reproductive health -- to slow population growth, accelerate the transition to green technologies, and improve people's adaptive capacity to environmental change.

According to the Panel, "Education increases people's life opportunities in general, greatly contributes to technological and social innovation, and creates the mental flexibility required for a rapid transition to a green economy. This applies to both low- and high-income countries. Hence, the enhancement of human capital from early childhood to old age through formal and informal education and life-long learning is now known to be a decisive policy priority."

Joint convener of the Expert Panel, Professor Wolfgang Lutz from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, IIASA, and the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, states that the Panel's findings reaffirm research from several key demographic research teams around the world. "Female education and reproductive health services are the two factors that will bring down unsustainable population growth. There is also increasing evidence that 'human capital', the education and health of people, is one of the most important factors in the capacity of people to contribute to sustainable development and economic growth, and adapt to environmental change. These issues are becoming ever more profound, as the population grows and we start to see the consequences of climate change."

Rather than seeing the increase in the number of people sharing the planet merely as a 'problem' Lutz and the other members of the global panel believe that with the right policies and targeted investments in people, particularly the most vulnerable sectors or subpopulations, people will be seen as a resource and not simply a 'problem'.

As stated in the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, "Human beings are at the centre of concern for sustainable development." Therefore, consideration of the changing numbers, characteristics, and distributions of human beings on the planet must be at the core of any serious analysis of the challenges and opportunities for sustainable development.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/heeR941acsI/111028121228.htm

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We’re big fans of Pad & Quill so when they offered to give the TiPb Nation the chance to get one of five (5) of their gorgeous Little Black Book cases for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 for FREE, we jumped on it! (Carefully, we didn’t want to risk...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/8M7IMLPLsJ0/

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HONG KONG (Reuters) ? Asian stocks are poised for their best week in nearly three years after a long-awaited plan to resolve the European debt crisis encouraged investors to put money back into riskier assets such as the euro and commodities.

Higher trading volumes on Thursday suggest the rally is likely to continue near term as credible measures to contain the euro zone crisis sparked short-covering across the board.

The dollar steadied after nursing heavy losses, having suffered its biggest decline in more than two years against a basket of major currencies.

The deal in Europe calls for private banks and insurers to take 50 percent losses on their Greek debt as well as agreements on recapitalisation of hard-hit European banks and a leveraging of the bloc's rescue fund.

Although these measures may not yet be seen as the final solution, they are clearly a step in the right direction and that should help restore some confidence in the market, said Cyril Beuzit, strategist at BNP Paribas.

Euro zone leaders are now under pressure to finalize details of their plan to slash Greece's debt and strengthen the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF). Focus also shifts to a Group of 20 meeting next week in Cannes, southern France.

"The next week will again be a busy one for investors," said Shane Oliver, Head of Investment Strategy and Chief Economist AMP Capital Investors, in a note.

"Globally the focus will be on the G20 leaders meeting in Cannes on Thursday and Friday for evidence that world leaders back Europe's latest public debt rescue plans," said Oliver.

RISK RALLY

For the moment, investors cheered progress, however little, and shrugged the lack of details on Greek debt relief.

European shares climbed to a 12-week high and those in Wall Street jumped 3 percent, pushing the S&P 500 (.SPX) benchmark over its 200-day moving average for the first time since early-August.

Risk appetite was further supported by data showing the U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in a year in the third quarter, a welcome respite for a financial system that seemed on the brink of a recession some weeks ago.

Corporate earnings in the U.S. have also bolstered hopes of a fourth-quarter rally.

According to Thomson Reuters Starmine, about half of the S&P 500 constituents have reported quarterly results with 79 percent beating or meeting analyst expectations.

The MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan index (.MIAPJ0000PUS) rose 1.2 percent and is up nearly 10 percent so far this week.

Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) surpassed Apple Inc (AAPL.O) as the world's top smartphone maker with than 40 percent shipment growth and forecast strong fourth-quarter sales, sending its shares up 1.4 percent.

Japan's Nikkei (.N225) was up 1.4 percent despite the yen hitting record highs against the dollar for three days in a row.

The dollar index (.DXY) was up 0.2 percent after falling some 1.6 percent, the biggest one-day fall since May 2009.

The People's Bank of China set the yuan's central parity rate against the U.S. dollar at a record high of 6.3290 on Friday, the highest level since the revaluation in 2005.

In commodities markets, crude oil futures were off 0.7 percent after an over 4 percent rally on Thursday.

Shanghai copper futures opened up 6 percent to its daily limit to 61,010 yuan a tonne but pared some gains to trade around 59260 yuan a tonne late morning.

Spot gold was little changed at $1,742.19 an ounce by 0120 GMT and was poised for its biggest weekly gain since January 2009.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111028/bs_nm/us_markets_global

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The Republican-led House of Representatives on Thursday passed a minor element of President Barack Obama's jobs bill as consensus remained elusive on other efforts to boost the struggling economy.

With the unemployment rate stuck at 9 percent, Republicans and Democrats have lined up behind sharply different job-creation agendas.

Obama has put forward a $447 billion package of government spending and tax cuts for workers, while Republicans want to roll back pollution controls and other regulations that they say are preventing businesses from expanding.

With power divided in Washington, neither agenda is likely to become law. But both will have a long afterlife in the 2012 presidential and congressional elections, as both parties seek to convince voters that they have a better plan to create jobs.

Obama has touted his jobs plan in campaign-style rallies across the country, even though Republicans have already blocked it. Republicans, meanwhile, point out that the Democratic-led Senate has refused to take up more than a dozen bills that have passed the House.

Thursday's vote was a rare example of common ground as the House voted 406 to 16 to eliminate a yet-to-be enacted law that would withhold 3 percent of payments to government contractors.

Passed in 2006, the measure is meant to ensure that firms that do business with the government pay their fair share of taxes.

Business groups say the law, due to take effect in January 2013, unfairly punishes honest contractors and would force them to charge more to make up for the loss of cash flow and would cost more than it would save.

The Democratic-controlled Senate blocked the measure last week, but is expected to take it up again and pass it next week. The White House has said it supports the measure.

However, the two sides disagree over how to cover the bill's $11 billion cost.

By a largely party-line vote of 262 to 157, the House passed a separate bill that would save $13 billion by tightening eligibility for Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor and reduce subsidies in Obama's landmark health-care overhaul.

That element was included in a debt-reduction plan Obama submitted last month, and the White House said it supports passage.

Senate Democrats might try to find another way to cover the cost. "We are still working out a path forward," said Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid.

(Editing by Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111027/pl_nm/us_usa_congress_jobs

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Thursday, October 27, 2011

Using yeast cells, a team of Whitehead scientists in the lab of Whitehead Member Susan Lindquist investigated the harmful effects of amyloid beta (A?), a peptide whose accumulation in amyloid plaques is a hallmark of AD. Work by the lab indicates that A? disrupts normal cellular trafficking, with clathrin-mediated endocytosis being specifically vulnerable. Under normal conditions, the membrane bound receptor Ste3 (green) is subject to clathrin-mediated endocytosis and is trafficked to the cell?s vacuole (left). In A? expressing yeast cells, Ste3 is not localized to the vacuole, but is dispersed in foci throughout the cell, indicating that endocytic trafficking is perturbed (center). Expression of the yeast homolog of PICALM, one of the most highly validated human AD risk factors, restores normal trafficking in A?-expressing yeast, and Ste3 is again localized in the vacuole (right). Credit: Courtesy of Science/AAAS

In a development that sheds new light on the pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a team of Whitehead Institute scientists has identified connections between genetic risk factors for the disease and the effects of a peptide toxic to nerve cells in the brains of AD patients.

The scientists, working in and in collaboration with the lab of Whitehead Member Susan Lindquist, established these previously unknown links in an unexpected way. They used a very simple cell type?yeast cells?to investigate the harmful effects of amyloid beta (A?), a peptide whose accumulation in amyloid plaques is a hallmark of AD. This new yeast model of A? toxicity, which they further validated in the worm C. elegans and in rat neurons, enables researchers to identify and test potential genetic modifiers of this toxicity.

"As we tackle other diseases and extend our lifetimes, Alzheimer's and related diseases will be the most devastating personal challenge for our families and one the most crushing burdens on our economy," says Lindquist, who is also a professor of biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "We have to try new approaches and find out-of the-box solutions."

In a multi-step process, the researchers were able to introduce the form of A? most closely associated with AD into yeast in a manner that mimics its presence in human cells. The resulting toxicity in yeast reflects aspects of the mechanism by which this protein damages neurons. This became clear when a screen of the yeast genome for genes that affect A? toxicity identified a dozen genes that have clear human homologs, including several that have previously been linked to AD risk by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) but with no known mechanistic connection.

With these genetic candidates in hand, the team set out to answer two key questions: Would the genes identified in yeast actually affect A? toxicity in neurons? And if so, how?

To address the first issue, in a collaboration with Guy Caldwell's lab at the University of Alabama, researchers created lines of C. elegans worms expressing the toxic form of A? specifically in a subset of neurons particularly vulnerable in AD. This resulted in an age-dependent loss of these neurons. Introducing the genes identified in the yeast that suppressed A? toxicity into the worms counteracted this toxicity. One of these modifiers is the homolog of PICALM, one of the most highly validated human AD risk factors. To address whether PICALM could also suppress A? toxicity in mammalian neurons, the group exposed cultured rat neurons to toxic A? species. Expressing PICALM in these neurons increased their survival.

The question of how these AD risk genes were actually impacting A? toxicity in neurons remained. The researchers had noted that many of the genes were associated with a key cellular protein-trafficking process known as endocytosis. This is the pathway that nerve cells use to move around the vital signaling molecules with which they connect circuits in the brain. They theorized that perhaps A? was doing its damage by disrupting this process. Returning to yeast, they discovered that, in fact, the trafficking of signaling molecules in yeast was adversely affected by A?. Here again, introducing genes identified as suppressors of A? toxicity helped restore proper functioning.

Much remains to be learned, but the work provides a new and promising avenue to explore the mechanisms of genes identified in studies of disease susceptibility.

"We now have the sequencing power to detect all these important disease risk alleles, but that doesn't tell us what they're actually doing, how they lead to disease," says Sebastian Treusch, a former graduate student in the Lindquist lab and now a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University.

Jessica Goodman, a postdoctoral fellow in the Lindquist lab, says the yeast model provides a link between genetic data and efforts to understand AD from the biochemical and neurological perspectives.

"Our yeast model bridges the gap between these two fields," Goodman adds. "It enables us to figure out the mechanisms of these risk factors which were previously unknown."

Members of the Lindquist lab intend to fully exploit the yeast model, using it to identify novel AD risk genes, perhaps in a first step to determining if identified genes have mutations in AD patient samples. The work will undoubtedly take the lab into uncharted territory.

###

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research: http://www.wi.mit.edu/index.html

Thanks to Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/114701/Yeast_model_connects_Alzheimer_s_disease_risk_and_amyloid_beta_toxicity

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In this Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011 photo, Marie Eberhardt helps her husband George Eberhardt, 107, of Chester, NJ. after they both got their annual flu shot in Mendham, N.J. George Eberhardt turned 107 in September 2011, and scientists would love to know how he and other older folks like him make it that far. So he's going to hand over some of his DNA. He is taking part in one of two projects announced in October 2011 that will examine some of the oldest citizens with one of the newest scientific tools: whole-genome sequencing, the deciphering of a person's complete collection of DNA. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

This Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011 photo shows George Eberhardt, 107, of Chester, NJ. after being given his annual flu shot in Mendham, N.J. Eberhardt turned 107 in September 2011, and scientists would love to know how he and other older folks like him make it that far. So he's going to hand over some of his DNA. He is taking part in one of two projects announced in October 2011 that will examine some of the oldest citizens with one of the newest scientific tools: whole-genome sequencing, the deciphering of a person's complete collection of DNA. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

NEW YORK (AP) ? George Eberhardt turned 107 last month, and scientists would love to know how he and other older folks like him made it that far. So he's going to hand over some of his DNA.

He's one of 100 centenarians taking part in a project announced Wednesday that will examine some of the oldest citizens with one of the newest scientific tools: whole-genome sequencing, the deciphering of a person's complete collection of DNA.

Scientists think DNA from very old healthy people could offer clues to how they lived so long. And that could one day lead to medicines to help the rest of us stay disease-free longer.

By the time you reach, say, 105, "it's very hard to get there without some genetic advantages," says Dr. Thomas Perls, a geriatrics expert at Boston University.

Perls is helping find centenarians for the Archon Genomics X Prize competition. The X Prize Foundation, best known for a spaceflight competition, is offering $10 million in prize money to researchers who decipher the complete DNA code from 100 people older than 100. The contest will be judged on accuracy, completeness and the speed and cost of sequencing.

The contest is a relaunch of an older competition with a new focus on centenarians, and it's the second sequencing project involving the elderly to be announced this month.

Genome pioneer J. Craig Venter says the centenarian project is just a first step in revealing the genetic secrets of a long and healthy life.

"We need 10,000 genomes, not 100, to start to understand the link between genetics, disease and wellness," said Venter, who is co-chairing the X Prize contest.

The 107-year-old Eberhardt of Chester, N.J., played and taught tennis until he was 94. He said he's participating in the X Prize project because he's interested in science and technology. It's not clear his genes will reveal much. Nobody else in his extended family reached 100, and he thinks only a couple reached 90, he said in a telephone interview.

So why does he think he lived so long? He credits 70 years of marriage to his wife, Marie. She in turn cites his "intense interest in so many things" over a lifetime, from building radios as a child to pursuing a career in electronics research.

But scientists believe there's more to it, and they want to use genome sequencing to investigate. Dr. Richard Cawthon of the University of Utah, who is seeking longevity genes by other means, says it may turn up genetic features that protect against multiple diseases or that slow the process of aging in general.

Protective features of a centenarian's DNA can even overcome less-than-ideal lifestyles, says Dr. Nir Barzilai of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. His own study of how centenarians live found that "as a group, they haven't done the right things."

Many in the group he studied were obese or overweight. Many were smokers, and few exercised or followed a vegetarian diet. His oldest participant, who died this month just short of her 110th birthday, smoked for 95 years.

"She had genes that protected her against the environment," Barzilai said. One of her sisters died at 102, and one of her brothers is 105 and still manages a hedge fund.

Earlier this month, Scripps Health of San Diego announced a different genome project involving the elderly. The Scripps Wellderly Study will receive the complete genomes of 1,000 people age 80 and older from a sequencing company.

A complete genome reveals not only genes but also other DNA that's responsible for regulating genes. It's "the full monty," showing DNA elements that are key for illness and health, says Dr. Eric Topol, who heads the Wellderly Study.

Participants in that study have an average age of 87 and range up to 108, and they've never had diabetes, heart disease or cancer, or any neurological disease.

"Why are these people Teflon-coated?" Topol asked. "Why don't they get disease?"

The ability to turn out lots of complete genomes is "the new-new thing" in trying to find out, he said.

"There's been too much emphasis on disorders per se and not enough on the people who are exceptionally healthy," to learn from their genomes, Topol said. "Now we have the powerful tools to do that."

___

Online:

X Prize competition: http://genomics.xprize.org/

Wellderly Study: http://bit.ly/pHFHDj

___

Malcolm Ritter can be followed at http://twitter.com/MalcolmRitter

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-10-26-Elderly%20DNA/id-94aeb1831d1a46fe8dd31395a43b1f4c

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Using carbon nanotubes, Stanford researchers have been able to create touch-sensitive, gooey skin for AI sensing, prosthetics, and touch-sensitive sex androids. The skin could give robots touch-sensitivity and allow patients to regain feeling in their artificial limbs.

The tubes, when embedded into the plastic skin, act as tiny, compressible springs. These tubes can bend and squeeze as necessary, allowing you to measure the forces applied to almost any material, from "taffy"-like plastic to something like a rubber sponge.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Ak3_z7s178w/

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Weather Underground Forecast for Tuesday, October 25, 2011.

Precipitation will return to the Great Lakes on Tuesday as a storm pushes east from the northern Plains into the region. Rain will be heaviest throughout northern Michigan and portions of Wisconsin where rainfall amounts could reach one quarter of an inch or more. Clouds from this storm will spread from thee Great Lakes region south and west through the Plains, but the Northeast will remain mostly clear throughout the day. Some cloud cover will move into New England late in the day, mostly close to the Canadian Border from New York to Maine.

Despite the abundant sunshine in the Northeast, temperatures will be on the cool side, with highs expected to be in the upper upper 40s to mid-50s for most locations. Towards the Mid-Atlantic region, temperatures will be higher, rising into the upper 50s and 60s.

The Southwest will see precipitation on Tuesday as well with thunderstorms expected to develop throughout the elevated terrain across Arizona and New Mexico. Some of these thunderstorms could bring sustained precipitation to small areas and as always localized flash floods could occur.

In the West, Tuesday will be a transitional day. Cool temperatures are expected throughout the region as a trough that moved in on Monday pushes out to the east. Temperatures will begin to warm a bit in the afternoon as that trough leaves the area, and wind gusts are expected to die down substantially. The real change will come on Wednesday when high pressure rebuilds into the West and offshore winds develop across California, posing a risk for wildfires. Temperatures in the Lower 48 states Monday have ranged from a morning low of 17 degrees at Gunnison, Colo. to a high of 93 degrees at Houston, Texas

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111025/ap_on_re_us/us_weatherpage_weather

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Powered by the cute and insane WordPress.com VIP. Entries (RSS).

By using this site, you are agreeing by the site's terms of use and privacy policy. I Can Has Cheezburger?, FAIL Blog, Memebase, Cheezburger, The Daily What, Know Your Meme, and Lolmart are trademarks of Cheezburger, Inc. Legal Information.
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MANAMA, Bahrain, Oct. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bahrain is honored and proud to join in the shared progressive goals of the United Nations and urges its fellow nations to contribute positively to supporting and strengthening the United Nations and its specialized agencies, enabling the international organization to undertake the noble missions for which it was established: enhancing world security and stability, entrenching justice and equality and shaping a more shining future for humans around the world.

"The United Nations is an important and vital forum that needs to be perpetually developed so as to meet ambitions of humanity everywhere in the world," Khalifa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa, Bahrain's prime minister, said in a statement honoring United Nations Day. "This is especially key for promoting relations of friendliness and cooperation among nations and peoples, minimizing international social and economic tensions, disputes and problems that now threaten all countries of the world."

The prime minister paid tribute to the active efforts exerted by the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, and all staff of the international organization and its specialized agencies towards entrenching underpinnings of cooperation and solidarity among nations and peoples.

"Bahrain strongly supports enhancing bonds of cooperation with the United Nations and its specialized agencies, out of a firm belief that the international organization represents the conscience of humanity and appreciation for its commendable efforts in achieving rapprochement and understanding among peoples of all races and religions," the prime minister said.

"His Majesty's vision was quite clear-cut in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly that reflects the Kingdom of Bahrain's openness to the outside world and living its concerns, particularly under the accelerating developments experienced by the world," the prime minister said.

When Bahrain was elected to head the United Nations General Assembly in 2006 it appointed lawyer and women's rights activist Haya bint Rashid Al Khalifa, President of the United Nations General Assembly, only the third woman in history to head the world body that let Bahrain contribute to the U.N. goals of equality and opportunity for all, the prime minister said.

Bahrain strongly embraces the United Nations Charter as a regulator for international legitimacy rules that govern relations among all states and contribute to firmly establishing rules for common international action that would promote humanity and avert acute conflict. The universality of principles and goals envisaged by the United Nations Charter makes it the hub to which all nations and peoples turn to for support in times of distress and crises and "the international organization has proved efficient and successful and we look forward to further successes leading to the prevalence of tranquility and stability all over the world," the prime minister said.

Among the key focus areas that Bahrain supports are U.N. efforts in pursuing sustainable development and addressing problems of disease, poverty and social indigence, in addition to its role in maintaining human rights, countering terrorism, responding to natural disasters and ?environmental protection, among others. In order to enhance these efforts and define landmarks for its path towards saving human kind, innovative initiative are needed.

Those concerns are joined with the determination of U.S. members for the enhancement of economic growth and improvement of living conditions of the poor, through and international umbrella framework that can adopt a development model based on international partnership, the prime minister said.

The prime minister noted that current and new developments in several parts of the world will require new strategies and enhanced cooperation and coordination on the part of all countries. This will help to achieve sustainable development, reach common visions to balance the aspired benefits of development and modernization efforts, as well as combat the negative implications of growth for the lower-income brackets. He urged the international community to enhance international partnership, pursue sustained efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 towards a stable and safe world, where its population enjoy descent life and living.

"The Kingdom of Bahrain maintains good relations with the United Nations and its specialized agencies and hosts a number of its offices," the prime minister said. "We also have joint action programs in several developmental and social sectors aimed to improve living conditions of citizens. This has helped create and vigorously reinforce cooperation with the object of realizing development and growth for our people."

The prime minister said Bahrain is giving increased attention to sustainable development and has already made substantial strides on this road. To this end, Bahrain has adopted a package of development programs, including continuing increases in budget allocations earmarked for spending on education, health and housing services.

He also said that Bahrain has managed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals through policies and strategies that meet citizens' ambitions and aspirations.

SOURCE Bahrain News Agency

Source: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=xprnw.20111022.DC91622&show_article=1

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A new long-term study from Denmark?s Institute of Cancer Epidemiology examined the medical histories of more than 350,000 mobile phone users over a period of eighteen years. The study?s conclusion? Mobile phone users are at no greater risk for developing cancer in the brain or central nervous system than people who don?t use mobile phones. The study has been published in the British Medical Journal.

The finding is no doubt reassuring to the billions of people who increasingly rely on their mobile devices in their everyday lives, and is one of many studies that have found no discernable link between mobile phones and cancer. However, it also seems to fly in the face of other high-profile warnings, including the World Health Organization, which recently listed mobile phones as a possible carcinogen. Concern about cell phone radiation remains very high in some locales ? in fact, San Francisco has repeatedly looked at requiring mobile phone retailers disclose how much radiation their devices emit along with potential risks.

Should mobile users be concerned about radiation? And what does the new Danish study establish?

The potential risk

The argument that mobile phones could pose a cancer risk comes from the technology itself: Mobile phones emit non-ionizing radio frequency radiation when they?re in communication with nearby cellular equipment. It?s literally how the devices communicate with the cellular network. The amount of radiation emitted varies depending on the mobile technology involved, distance from cell towers, phone design, and a variety of other factors, but the levels have been consistently quite low throughout the entire history of mobile phones, and improvements in the technology have generally lowered emissions over time.

Unlike ionizing radiation ? think X-rays and gamma rays ? that are known to cause an increased risk of cancer by damaging DNA, the only known biological effect of exposure to radio frequency radiation is heating. One example of how radio frequency radiation can heat things is microwave ovens: They work by exciting water molecules in food. However, microwave ovens work at different frequencies and at far greater power levels than mobile phones. It?s not as if you could hold a mobile phone next to a glass of water to heat some tea. No one has ever been able to detect any change in body temperature as a result of cell phone use. Radio frequency radiation has never been known to damage DNA, cause cancer, or impact the cancer-causing effects of other known carcinogens.

The perceived risk comes not so much from the amount of radiation phones emit, but how people use their phones. Much of the time, they?re holding the devices right next to body tissue ? including the brain ? that can potentially absorb the radiation. And, as we all know, mobile technology has become extremely popular: Plenty of people spent hours a day with a cell phone seemingly glued to the side of their head. The concern is that, over time, there may be a cumulative effect from exposure to radiation from phones, particularly amongst users who spend a lot of time on the phone. The concern is particularly acute for children and and teens, whose brains are still undergoing significant growth and development.

Latest findings

The Danish study is actually an update on previous research that had already been published, and examines the health records of more than 358,000 Danes from 1990 to 2007. Overall, researchers found there were 10,729 cases of central nervous system tumors in the group, with almost no distinction in incidence between men and women. When researchers narrowed the pool to Danes who had used mobile phones for different periods for either 10+ years or 13+ years, they were left with 356 cases of gliomas (brain cancers) and 846 cancers of the central nervous system. They found no significant indication of relationship between an individual?s first subscription for a mobile phone or the likelihood or anatomical location of a tumor ? that is, whether a tumor showed up in areas of the brain closest to where handsets are held.

The data for people who have been using cell phones for 13 or more years is the newest: The previous update to the study had followed 420,000 cell phone subscribers who had been using the devices for 10 or more years.

Although the Danish study includes a considerable number of people, that doesn?t mean its pool of mobile phone users is perfectly representative of Danish society as a whole, let alone the entire human race. All participants in the Danish study are over 30 years old, and another notable omission from the subject pool are corporate mobile subscribers who use their phones for business. Potentially, corporate users could be amongst the heaviest users of mobile devices.

Despite finding no correlation between cell phone use and cancer, the researchers do indicate continued follow-up studies are warranted to continue looking at the effects of long-term mobile phone use, as well as to determine what effect, if any, cell phone use may have in children.

How the findings stack up

The Danish study is just the latest that fails to find a correlation between cell phones and cancer, but it is not the largest. That?s actually the Interphone Study, conducted by a group of researchers from 13 countries. It also found no statistically significant increases in brain or central nervous system cancers associated with high levels of cell phone use. However, the Interphone Study is largely funded by the telecommunications industry, and has been criticized for excluding a number of groups from its results, including children and young adults, invalids, users of cordless phones, and even users with particular types of brain tumors. The Interphone Study did find a modest association between the risk of gliomas and extremely high levels of cell phone use, but the researchers felt those levels of cell phone use were unlikely to be accurate. And since the Interphone Study is a meta-study of other research projects, there?s no real way for the researchers to validate the data.

In 2006, a case-controlled study in Sweden claimed to have found a link between risk of brain cancer and heavy cell phone use, particularly in subjects who began using cell phones before age 20. However, a larger Swedish study did not find any increased risk of brain cancer amongst cell phone users between the ages of 20 and 69. And earlier this year, the CEFALO study looked at children in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland who had been diagnosed with brain tumors, and found children who had started using mobile phones at least five years ago were at no increased risk for brain cancer compared to children who had never regularly used mobile phones, and also found no increased risk of rumors in areas of the brain receiving the highest amount of exposure.

Why do study results vary so much?

Different studies can produce different results for any number of reasons, but leaving aside the possibility of errors in data collection and analysis, the most common reasons are probably participation bias and recall bias.

Participation bias is all about who is included in a study. To be statistically valid, researchers need a sufficiently large pool of participants randomly selected from a particular population?in this case, mobile phone users. That?s (much) easier said than done. Participation in medical research studies is almost always voluntary, which means that anybody who doesn?t want to participate for any reason ? too busy, uncomfortable, or just doesn?t like the interviewer?s shoes ? isn?t included. In studies of cancer and cell phone use, people who are diagnosed with brain tumors are more likely than healthy people to participate; similarly, folks who rarely use cell phones are less likely to participate than heavy cell phone users. If you want to debunk a study that?s drawing a conclusion about a large group or a population as a whole, one of the first things to consider is whether the study?s participants are truly representative of that group.

Recall bias is all about data collection. Researchers in mobile phone usage studies sometimes have access to usage data from mobile phone operators, but a surprising amount of data collection about usage habits comes by way of questionnaires and interviews, and there?s no way to verify whether information participants provide about their cell phone use is accurate. Magnifying the possibility of inaccurate data collection is the amount of time involved. Sure, you might remember how much time you spent on your cell phone this week, but how about how much time you spend on your cell phone in the middle of October 2004? People with brain tumors may also remember their cell phone use differently than people without brain tumors, and may tend to think they used their phones mostly on the same side of their head where their tumor was found, regardless of actual use.

The bottom line here is that while sophisticated statistical analyses and examination of the data might yield some complex numbers and reassuring significant digits after decimal points, nearly all the figures that appear in these studies are fuzzy in one way or another. To be sure, the researchers involved are highly skilled and are no doubt using sound methods to remove and account for various kinds of bias. But the studies don?t represent a straightforward tally, or offer a black-or-white yes-no answer. This fuzziness is essentially why the International Agency for Research on Cancer has listed mobile phones as a possible carcinogen (PDF)?alongside things like DDT, gasoline, coffee, and some types of pickled vegetables.

What about children?

Children?s brains and nervous systems are undergoing rapid development, which potentially puts them at greater risk than adults for developing brain cancer from cell phones, assuming there is any risk at all. For one thing, there?s just sheer physical size to consider: children?s heads are smaller than adults, which means their proportional exposure to a phone?s radiation is greater. Also, since today?s kids are being born into an already mobile world, their lifetime use of mobile technology is likely to far exceed that of today?s adults. In other words, if there are long-term risks of brain cancer from cell phone use, today?s children are most likely to show the results.

What can you do?

There is no evidence that using mobile phones?even very heavily?has any correlation to developing brain or nervous system cancer. So, in all probability, you can use your phone(s) any way you like and be just fine.

If you?d like to reduce potential heretofore undiscovered risks of brain and central nervous cancer from cell phone use, get a hands-free device. Keeping the cell phone away from your head massively reduces the amount of radio frequency radiation to the brain. (Although you might want to think twice about keeping an active phone in your pants pocket for hours on end.) Another option is to reduce call times: If you need to talk a bunch, use a landline. Cordless phones and Wi-Fi calling are also options, but those also emit radio frequency radiation, albeit almost always at levels far lower than cell phones.

Image courtesy of SVLuva/Shutterstock

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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The potential risk

Latest findings

How the findings stack up

Why do study results vary so much?

What about children?

What can you do?

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