I have owned my advertising and PR agency here in Salt Lake City, The Summit Group Communications, for 31 years. Now, that certainly does not make me John D. Rockefeller or Steve Jobs, but I have learned some very important things, like the correlation between the culture of a workplace and its bottom-line success.
When I talk about a company?s culture, I am not talking about its brand ? which is what a company is and provides for its consumers. I am talking about who and what a company is for its most important assets ? its employees.
I have found (and, as it turns out, there is fascinating research to support) that the happier employees are, the better they perform for the company, directly affecting its profits. And, as research conducted by the American Sociological Association shows, diversity in the workplace also has a direct and positive correlation with profit. In fact, it showed that "workplace diversity is among the most important predictors of a business? sales revenue, customer numbers and profitability."
So, how to create a happy and diverse workforce?
First, recruit well. There is incredible talent out there looking for rewarding work. For example, I want my compensation packages to be competitive, opening the company up to as broad a talent pool as possible. And especially as the job market continues to recover, potential employees are scrutinizing potential employers as much as we are evaluating them.
Second, we have to take care of our employees so they want to stay. This means having inclusive policies and procedures ? whether mandated by law or not ? so that everyone is treated fairly and can work in environments free from discrimination and harassment. We have to spell this out and we have to enforce it. No exceptions. Some of history?s most successful individuals were women, people of color, gays and lesbians, people with disabilities and so on. Successful businesses invite and protect everyone.
Creating a happy and diverse workforce also includes investing in programs that make work fun and positive. This is not to say that all companies have to provide a game room the size of Google?s, but a rolling nacho cart every now and again can be quite nice. At TSG, we liken our work to running intervals. We expect our folks to sprint for us, so we make sure to provide them with rest and proverbial Gatorade.
Without progressive benefits, inclusive nondiscrimination policies, institutionalized programs for fun and good health, we all suffer. And although it creates a competitive advantage for me when other companies do not provide the basic protections and benefits to their employees, I very much believe that all workers deserve open and safe workplaces.
Now, I certainly want my company to see continued success, but for me, taking care of my employees is more about doing what I think is right than it is about profit. And while we may not all agree on that, can we all agree to invest in a safe and productive workplace for the people who make sacrifices for us every day?
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Bill Paulos founded The Summit Group Communications in 1982. Today, its 80 employees do business in 32 states and TSG is the longest running, independently owned advertising and public relations firm in Utah.
Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Razer has been known for years for their gaming peripherals. However, at CES 2013, Razer debuted something completely different: the Razer Edge gaming system. Designed specifically for PC gamers, the Razer Edge is a tablet that is capable of playing the latest PC games. It runs Windows 8, which means you get a fully-functioning 10-inch [...]
JERUSALEM (AP) ? Catholics and Protestants through the Holy Land and broader Middle East flocked to churches to celebrate Easter Sunday, praying, singing and rejoicing.
It was the first Easter since the election of Pope Francis in Rome, and many Catholics said they hoped their new spiritual leader would help strengthen communities that often feel themselves cut off from their countries' Muslim-majority societies.
At the St. Joseph Chaldean Church in Baghdad, some 200 worshipers attended an Easter mass led by the Rev. Saad Sirop, held behind concrete blast walls and a tight security cordon. Militants have in the past attacked Baghdad churches.
"We pray for love and peace to spread through the world," said worshiper Fatin Yousef, 49, who arrived immaculately, dressed for the occasion: her hair tumbling in salon-created curls, wearing a tidy black skirt, low-heeled pumps and a striped shirt. "We hope Pope Francis will help make it better for Christians in Iraq."
In the holy city of Jerusalem, Catholics worshiped in the church of the Holy Sepulcher, built on the hill where tradition holds Jesus was crucified, briefly entombed and then resurrected. The cavernous, maze-like structure is a series of different churches belong to often-rival sects crammed into different nooks and even on its roof.
Clergy in white and gold robes led the service held around the Edicule, the small chamber at the core of the church marking the site of Jesus' tomb. Many foreign visitors were among the worshippers.
"It's very special," said Arthur Stanton, a visitor from Australia. "It represents the reason why we were put on this planet, and the salvation that has come to us through Jesus."
Israel's Tourism Ministry said it expects some 150,000 visitors during holy week and the Jewish festival of Passover, which coincide this year. A similar number arrived for the holidays last year, the ministry said. It is one of the busiest times of the year for the local tourism industry.
Protestants held Easter ceremonies outside Jerusalem's walled Old City at the Garden Tomb, a small, enclosed green area that some identify as the site of Jesus' burial. Another service was held at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Jesus' traditional birthplace.
Catholics and Protestants, who follow the new, Gregorian calendar, celebrate Easter on Sunday. Orthodox Christians, who follow the old, Julian calendar, will mark it in May.
There are no precise numbers on how many Christians there are in the Middle East. Census figures that show the size of religious and ethnic groups are often hard to obtain.
Christian populations are thought to be shrinking or at least growing more slowly than their Muslim compatriots in much of the Middle East, largely due to emigration as they leave for better opportunities and to join families abroad. Some feel more uncomfortable amid growing Muslim majorities that they see as becoming more outwardly pious and politically Islamist over the decades.
In Iraq, since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, Christians have suffered repeated attacks by Islamic militants and hundreds of thousands have left the country, with church officials estimating their communities have at least halved. The worst attack was at Baghdad's soaring Our Lady of Salvation church in October 2010 that killed more than 50 worshipers and wounded scores more.
There are an estimated 400,000 to 600,000 Christians in Iraq, with most belonging to ancient eastern churches. There has been no census in Iraq for 16 years, making precise numbers difficult to get.
Some two-thirds of Iraq's Christians are Catholics of the Chaldean church and the smaller Assyrian Catholic church. Worshipers of both churches chant in dialects of ancient Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke.
Yousef, the worshipper in Baghdad, said lingering fear pushed her to send her son to live with relatives in Arizona last year. Yousef said she was arranging for her other daughter and son to immigrate.
"There's still fear here, and there's no stability in this country," she said.
Iraqi officials have made efforts to secure churches since the violence of 2010.
High blast walls topped with wire netting and barbed wire surrounded the St. Joseph Church in Baghdad in the middle-class district of Karradeh. Blue-khaki clad Iraqi police guarded roads surrounding the church and checked papers of passersby as worshipers filtered inside.
Four Iraqi Christian volunteers, two men and two women, stood at the church entrance, double-checking people entering.
White-robed church volunteers marched down the church aisle behind Father Sirop, who waved incense and chanted in the white-painted church adorned with three ornate chandeliers and a series of simple paintings illustrating the life of Christ.
Worshipers stood for lengthy passages of Sirop's mass, at one point bursting into applause when he told them, "Celebrate! You are Christians!"
____
Diaa Hadid reported from Baghdad. Follow Hadid on twitter.com/diaahadid and Goldenberg on twitter.com/tgoldenberg
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) ? Trey Burke kept alive Michigan's deepest NCAA tournament run since the Fab Five era nearly 20 years ago with a shot the Wolverines won't soon forget.
Call it the Fab 3.
The sophomore standout scored all 23 of his points in the second half and overtime, including a long, tying 3-pointer in the final moments of regulation as Michigan rallied to beat Kansas 87-85 in the South Regional semifinals Friday night.
"Great shot," said Glenn Robinson III, who made it possible with a key bucket during a 14-4 run over the final 2:52 of regulation. "It was deep, too. He always makes that in practice."
Ben McLemore had 20 points to lead the Jayhawks (31-6), who looked to be on their way to a third straight regional final before Michigan's improbable rally. Instead, they became the third No. 1 seed to fall in this tournament, joining Gonzaga and Indiana.
"Well, this will certainly go down as one of the toughest games that obviously we've been a part of and I've been a part of," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "But props to Michigan for making all the plays late."
That's for sure.
The fourth-seeded Wolverines (29-7) were down five when Tim Hardaway Jr. missed a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left, but Robinson won a scramble for the ball and hit a reverse layup to force Kansas to win the game at the free-throw line.
The Jayhawks couldn't do it. Burke's tying shot ? he pulled up from well beyond the arc just left of the key ? came with 4.2 seconds left after Elijah Johnson missed a free throw and Michigan got the rebound.
Moments earlier, with 21 seconds remaining, Johnson had hit two from the line to keep the Kansas lead at five. Burke had scored on a layup to get Michigan back to within three.
"We never had the mindset that we were going to lose the game," Burke said. "When we were down 14, we knew anything could still happen. It's March, anything can happen."
Michigan went to back-to-back championship games a generation ago with the Fab Five, led by Chris Webber, Juwan Howard and Jalen Rose. But the folks in Ann Arbor will be talking for years about the shot by Burke under the huge video board in Cowboys Stadium, just down the road from where Howard and Rose played their last game together with Ray Jackson and Jimmy King in a regional final loss to Arkansas in 1994.
The Wolverines will play Florida in the regional final Sunday. The third-seeded Gators beat 15th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast 62-50.
"Just to be able to get this program back to the Elite Eight, it feels good," Burke said. "But we want to go further."
The lead changed hands five times in overtime ? the first OT game of the tournament ? the last when Mitch McGary, who led Michigan with 25 points and 14 rebounds, hit a short jumper with Johnson in his face to put Michigan ahead 83-82.
The Jayhawks got a stop and had about 9 seconds to tie or win, but a jumbled possession ended with Naadir Tharpe missing a running jumper at the buzzer.
"We played like we were trying to hold onto something instead of just continuing to play," Johnson said.
Burke had eight points in the closing 14-4 run that tied the game, then gave Michigan its first lead since early with another long 3-pointer to make it 79-78 early in overtime. He hit a jumper on the next possession as well. After failing to score in the first 20 minutes, Burke ended his drought by scoring eight straight points early in the second half to momentarily cut the deficit to two.
"In the second half, Coach told me to be more aggressive, so I looked for my shot more," he said.
But Kansas restored a 10-point lead built on controlling the paint, this time with a 3-pointer and a tomahawk dunk on a breakaway by McLemore and a three-point play from Johnson.
Johnson, who picked up three fouls in just three minutes of playing time in the first half, gave Kansas its biggest lead at 68-54 with a 3-pointer from the corner with just under 7 minutes left.
Travis Releford had 16 points for the Jayhawks, while Jeff Withey had 12 points and eight rebounds.
McLemore didn't score again after going to the bench with his fourth foul with 8 minutes remaining.
"We had chance to seal the game, but we made some bonehead plays late," Releford said.
Kansas pushed out to a 10-point lead early by dominating around the basket. McLemore's first basket was the first outside the paint as the Jayhawks scored 34 of their 40 first-half points from inside while shooting 69 percent.
Withey put Kansas ahead 29-19 with a turnaround shot that had McGary shrugging at a teammate and saying, "I'm trying."
McGary wasn't having nearly as much trouble on the offensive end, leading the Wolverines with 11 points and five rebounds in the first half. He picked up where he left off in the third round against Virginia Commonwealth, when he had season highs of 21 points and 14 rebounds.
Michigan pulled within 40-34 at the half when Nik Stauskas hit a 3-pointer and had chance for a four-point play when McLemore bumped him on the shot. But he missed the free throw.
No matter. In the end, Burke was Fab-u-lous and the Wolverines are one win away from the Final Four.
Apple needs to fix their crappy designs and online services. I'm talking about green felt and iCloud sync. No, wait, I'm talking about brushed metal and MobileMe sync. No, wait again, I'm talking about pin stripes and .Mac sync. No... Come on, seriously, I've got this!
As much as recent complaints about heavily textured interface elements and problematic online sync solutions are important, and in many cases justified, they're not unique. "Apple has lost its way", is a variation of "Apple is doomed" -- both always true and never true. Apple does a lot of great things. A lot of visionary things. A lot of delightful things. But like any entity, they also do some some silly things, some destructive things, and some downright dumb things.
That's not new. Only the instance is new.
When it comes to perception over time, we often distort out own realities. We tend to forget a lot of the things that bugged us way back when, or at least remember them with far less visceral annoyance than what's bugging us now. We feel like the problems of the present, as yet unsolved, are worse than the problems of the past, many of which were solved just fine.
He may and they do. Just as pin stripes and brushed metal are no more, green felt may likewise be taken out back and put down. Just like .Mac and MobileMe steadily got better over time, so too should iCloud.
However, as much as these things might hold our attention now, they're no more a sign of Apple losing their way than they were last year, or the year before, or the year before that, or the-- You and your stitched leather and back-to-my-Mac get the idea. (Yes, it would have happened then too...)
"Seeing the world through rose-colored glasses" means remembering past events more generously than they sometimes deserve. The consequence is perceiving present events more harshly than they sometimes deserve. And blasting them for it.
By all means be upset. Be powerfully, passionately upset. Advocate for change. Just keep it in context and perspective.
Jony Ive lending his considerable talents to software design is glee-inducing. Apple providing developers with sync they can count on is table-stakes. But they are signs of nothing more nor less than a company continuing to iterate and overcome challenges, just like it always has. And will always need to.
(Seriously, just wait until you hear the cries of monotony over bead-blasted aluminium and hear the screams for blood over busted Apple TV game sync...)
(Reuters) - FDA has approved a new diabetes drug from Johnson & Johnson, making it the first in its class to be approved in the United States.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug, Invokana, after data showed it was effective in lowering blood sugar in patients with Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease.
The FDA has asked for five postmarketing studies for the drug including a cardiovascular outcomes trial, an enhanced pharmacovigilance program, a bone safety study and two pediatric studies, the agency said in a statement on its website. (http://r.reuters.com/juj96t)
Invokana is expected to generate sales in 2016 of around $468 million, according to analysts' estimates compiled by Thomson Reuters.
Known chemically as canagliflozin, Invokana is a member of a new class of diabetes treatments called sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors that lower blood sugar by blocking reabsorbtion of glucose and increasing its excretion in urine.
Earlier this year, an advisory committee to the FDA discussed the benefits and risks of canagliflozin with a focus on any potential increased risk of heart attack or stroke.
A clinical study of patients at especially high risk of cardiovascular disease showed that within the first 30 days, 13 patients taking canagliflozin suffered a major cardiovascular event compared with just one patient taking a placebo. After that, the imbalance was reversed. The drug also caused a slight increase in unhealthy LDL cholesterol.
In January, 2012, the FDA rejected a similar drug, dapagliflozin, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and AstraZeneca Plc, citing concerns over a possible increased risk of cancer and liver injury. The drug was subsequently approved in Europe under the brand name Forxiga.
In January 2013, Britain's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which decides whether drugs should be paid for on the state health service, declined to recommend that Forxiga be reimbursed and asked the companies for more information.
Diabetes affects the body's ability to metabolize glucose, which is needed for energy. Glucose circulates throughout the bloodstream, is filtered by the kidneys, and returned to body by glucose-specific transporters. By blocking the amount of glucose reabsorbed into the bloodstream, more is excreted in urine.
Left untreated, diabetes can cause nerve damage, kidney disease and blindness. It affects roughly 25.8 million people in the United States, according to the American Diabetes Association.
Despite FDA's rejection of dapagliflozin, and a broad association in the class with genital infections, several companies are still developing SGLT2 inhibitors, including Astellas Pharma Inc, which recently filed for Japanese approval of its ipragliflozin, and Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly & Company, which recently filed for U.S. approval of their drug, empagliflozin.
(Additional reporting by Sagarika Jaisinghani in Bangalore; Editing by David Gregorio)
Mar. 28, 2013 ? Chemists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory believe they can now explain one of the remaining mysteries of photosynthesis, the chemical process by which plants convert sunlight into usable energy and generate the oxygen that we breathe. The finding suggests a new way of approaching the design of catalysts that drive the water-splitting reactions of artificial photosynthesis.
"If we want to make systems that can do artificial photosynthesis, it's important that we understand how the system found in nature functions," says Theodor Agapie, an assistant professor of chemistry at Caltech and principal investigator on a paper in the journal Nature Chemistry that describes the new results.
One of the key pieces of biological machinery that enables photosynthesis is a conglomeration of proteins and pigments known as photosystem II. Within that system lies a small cluster of atoms, called the oxygen-evolving complex, where water molecules are split and molecular oxygen is made. Although this oxygen-producing process has been studied extensively, the role that various parts of the cluster play has remained unclear.
The oxygen-evolving complex performs a reaction that requires the transfer of electrons, making it an example of what is known as a redox, or oxidation-reduction, reaction. The cluster can be described as a "mixed-metal cluster" because in addition to oxygen, it includes two types of metals -- one that is redox active, or capable of participating in the transfer of electrons (in this case, manganese), and one that is redox inactive (calcium).
"Since calcium is redox inactive, people have long wondered what role it might play in this cluster," Agapie says.
It has been difficult to solve that mystery in large part because the oxygen-evolving complex is just a cog in the much larger machine that is photosystem II; it is hard to study the smaller piece because there is so much going on with the whole. To get around this, Agapie's graduate student Emily Tsui prepared a series of compounds that are structurally related to the oxygen-evolving complex. She built upon an organic scaffold in a stepwise fashion, first adding three manganese centers and then attaching a fourth metal. By varying that fourth metal to be calcium and then different redox-inactive metals, such as strontium, sodium, yttrium, and zinc, Tsui was able to compare the effects of the metals on the chemical properties of the compound.
"When making mixed-metal clusters, researchers usually mix simple chemical precursors and hope the metals will self-assemble in desired structures," Tsui says. "That makes it hard to control the product. By preparing these clusters in a much more methodical way, we've been able to get just the right structures."
It turns out that the redox-inactive metals affect the way electrons are transferred in such systems. To make molecular oxygen, the manganese atoms must activate the oxygen atoms connected to the metals in the complex. In order to do that, the manganese atoms must first transfer away several electrons. Redox-inactive metals that tug more strongly on the electrons of the oxygen atoms make it more difficult for manganese to do this. But calcium does not draw electrons strongly toward itself. Therefore, it allows the manganese atoms to transfer away electrons and activate the oxygen atoms that go on to make molecular oxygen.
A number of the catalysts that are currently being developed to drive artificial photosynthesis are mixed-metal oxide catalysts. It has again been unclear what role the redox-inactive metals in these mixed catalysts play. The new findings suggest that the redox-inactive metals affect the way the electrons are transferred. "If you pick the right redox-inactive metal, you can tune the reduction potential to bring the reaction to the range where it is favorable," Agapie says. "That means we now have a more rational way of thinking about how to design these sorts of catalysts because we know how much the redox-inactive metal affects the redox chemistry."
The paper in Nature Chemistry is titled "Redox-inactive metals modulate the reduction potential in heterometallic manganese-oxido clusters." Along with Agapie and Tsui, Rosalie Tran and Junko Yano of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are also coauthors. The work was supported by the Searle Scholars Program, an NSF CAREER award, and the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. X-ray spectroscopy work was supported by the NIH and the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Synchrotron facilities were provided by the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, operated by the DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by California Institute of Technology. The original article was written by Kimm Fesenmaier.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Emily Y. Tsui, Rosalie Tran, Junko Yano, Theodor Agapie. Redox-inactive metals modulate the reduction potential in heterometallic manganese?oxido clusters. Nature Chemistry, 2013; 5 (4): 293 DOI: 10.1038/nchem.1578
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Portable gaming isn't what it once was. Sure, you can still snag a handheld device from Sony or Nintendo, but today's video game industry is far more diverse. Gamers on the go have no shortage of hardware to pick from: tablets, smartphones, gaming laptops and purpose-built handhelds are redefining what a mobile gaming platform is. Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan must have felt the winds of change blowing his way when he cooked up Project Fiona, now known as the Razer Edge. The company's marketing material frames the curious device as an all-in-one gaming arsenal; it's a tablet, says the product page, as well as a PC and console. Above all, it's modular, a souped-up tablet with a small collection of docks and cradles designed to scratch your gaming itch from all angles. All told, Razer calls it the most powerful tablet in the world. Kitted out with the specs of a mid-range gaming laptop, it may very well be that -- but we couldn't let the proclamation pass without giving it the once-over ourselves.
Mar. 27, 2013 ? A strain of probiotic bacteria that can fight harmful bacterial infections in poultry has the ability to change its coat, according to new findings from the Institute of Food Research.
The probiotic is currently being taken forward through farm-scale trials to evaluate how well it combats Clostridium perfringens -- a cause of necrotic enteritis in poultry and the second most common cause of food poisoning in the UK
The researchers at IFR, which is strategically funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, had previously found that the probiotic Lactobacillus johnsonsii, when given to young chicks, prevents the colonisation of C. perfringens. Now, in research published in the journal PLOS ONE, they have found that the probiotic bacteria have the ability to alter their coat. They speculate that this could be one way in which the probiotic outcompete C. perfringens.
The researchers noticed when examining the bacteria that a small number of them appear smooth. They identified genes responsible for making a special coat, or slime capsule, which the bacteria surround themselves in. This protects the bacteria from stomach acids and bile salts, and helps them come together to form biofilms. It may also protect against drying out when outside the host. The natural appearance of smooth mutants could be a ploy used by the bacteria to introduce variation into its populations, making them able to take advantage of different environments.
By turning off one or more of the coat genes, they could see what effect this had on its ability to stick to gut tissues. "The next step is to understand the regulation of the genes involved in making the coat" said Dr Arjan Narbad, who led the studies. "We want to find out whether changing the coat affects the probiotic's fitness to colonise and inhabit the gut."
This in turn could prevent C. perfringens from colonising the gut. This competitive exclusion could be one reason why the probiotic strain prevents the growth of other harmful bacteria.
Understanding the role of the slime capsule coat will inform the commercial development of this strain as a preventative treatment for C. perfringens infection in poultry, especially in regard to how the probiotic is stored and produced. Through the technology transfer company Plant Bioscience Ltd, the strain has been patented and is now in large-scale farm trials to assess its efficacy. As these bacteria have previously been used in the food chain and are considered safe for human consumption, this probiotic strain could become new way of controlling C. perfringens.
As there is a growing pressure to reduce the use of antibiotics in farming, new products are needed to maintain animal welfare standards, reduce the huge costs of necrosis in poultry and help keep our food safe.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Norwich BioScience Institutes.
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Journal Reference:
Nikki Horn, Udo Wegmann, Enes Dertli, Francis Mulholland, Samuel R. A. Collins, Keith W. Waldron, Roy J. Bongaerts, Melinda J. Mayer, Arjan Narbad. Spontaneous Mutation Reveals Influence of Exopolysaccharide on Lactobacillus johnsonii Surface Characteristics. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (3): e59957 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059957
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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
LONDON (AP) ? An Internet watchdog group responsible for keeping ads for counterfeit Viagra and bogus weight-loss pills out of inboxes around the world has been hit by a huge cyberattack, a crushing electronic onslaught that one expert said had already had ripple effects across the Web.
Spam-fighting organization Spamhaus said Wednesday that it had been buffeted by a massive denial-of-service attack since mid-March, apparently from groups angry at being blacklisted by the Geneva-based group.
"It is a small miracle that we're still online," Spamhaus researcher Vincent Hanna said in an interview.
Denial-of-service attacks work by overwhelming target servers with traffic ? like hundreds of letters being jammed through a mail slot at the same time. In a blog post, San Francisco-based CloudFlare, Inc. said the attackers were taking advantage of weaknesses in the Internet's infrastructure to trick servers from across the Internet into routing billions of bits of junk traffic to Spamhaus every second.
The attack could be bad news for email users, many of whose incoming messages are checked against Spamhaus's widely used and constantly updated blacklists.
Hanna said that his site had so far managed to stay on top of the spammers, but warned that being knocked offline could give them an opening to step up their mailings.
The sheer size of the attack has already affected Internet users elsewhere, according to Patrick Gilmore of Akamai Technologies.
He explained that colleagues at other Internet service providers had been in touch to say their services were affected by the attack. He declined to identify them ? saying they had shared the information on a confidential basis ? but said problems include sluggish access and dropped connections.
Store employee Pravin Mankodia stands outside Eagles Liquors in Passaic, N.J. Monday, March 25, 2013. Mankodia sold the winning $338 million Powerball ticket that was claimed by an unidentified New Jersey Resident. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz)
Store employee Pravin Mankodia stands outside Eagles Liquors in Passaic, N.J. Monday, March 25, 2013. Mankodia sold the winning $338 million Powerball ticket that was claimed by an unidentified New Jersey Resident. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz)
Carole Hedinger, Executive Director of the New Jersey Lottery, announces that the winning ticket in the $338 million Power Ball was sold at Eagle Liquors in Passaic N.J.. The announcement was made from lottery headquarters in Lawrence, N.J. Monday, March 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz)
Pravin Mankodia, sells a lottery ticket to Nature Haley at Eagles Liquors in Passaic, N.J. Monday, March 25, 2013. Mankodia sold the winning $338 million Powerball ticket that was claimed by an unidentified New Jersey Resident. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz)
PASSAIC, N.J. (AP) ? Pedro Quezada's neighbors see a lot of themselves in the winner of the $338 million Powerball jackpot: hardworking, a family man, an immigrant, and someone who has known hard times.
That's why they're so thrilled that one of their own has finally struck it rich.
Quezada, 44, entered Eagle Liquors store, where his ticket was sold, late Monday afternoon. The Passaic store's owner ran Quezada's ticket through the lottery machine and, as a newspaper and television outlets recorded the moment, validated that it was a winner.
"This is super for all of us on this block," said Eladia Vazquez, who has lived across the street from Quezada's building for the past 25 years. Quezada and his family "deserve it because they are hardworking people."
Quezada told reporters in Spanish that he was "very happy" and that he intends to help his family.
"I still can't believe it," his wife, Ines Sanchez, told The Record in Bergen County. "We never expected it, but thank God."
The New Jersey Lottery confirmed that the winning ticket was validated at Eagle Liquors at 4:30 p.m. Monday, but officials said they didn't yet know the winner's name.
The numbers drawn Saturday were 17, 29, 31, 52, 53 and Powerball 31. A lump sum payout would be $221 million, or about $152 million after taxes. It's the fourth-largest jackpot in Powerball history.
The Quezada family's apartment sits at the end of a short dead end block that abuts a highway in Passaic, 15 miles northwest of New York City.
The block has a half-dozen three-story brick apartment buildings on each side, and Vazquez says it's a neighborhood where everyone knows everyone, including what car they drive and what parking space they use.
Alberto Liranzo, who lives two floors below Quezada, said the lottery winner has five children and owns a bodega in Passaic.
Dominican immigrant Jose Gonzalez said he barbecues and plays dominoes with Quezada in the summers in a backyard on their street.
"He sometimes would work from six in the morning to 11 at night, so I did not see him much," Gonzalez said in Spanish Monday night. "I am happy for him. ... I don't know where he is now but I imagine he will drop by to say hi to his friends."
Neighbors told The Record that the Quezada family has suffered bad luck in recent years. Two years, ago, thieves broke into their apartment and stole everything from clothing to jewelry. The year before, a fire destroyed much of their bodega, they said.
Now, the family's luck has changed with their Powerball success.
"It's a blessing for the neighborhood," resident Daphne Robinson told The Record. "It gives people hope that there is a blessing somewhere, for somebody."
Richard Delgado, who lives down the block from Quezada's building, also described Quezada as "a hard worker, like all of us here. We all get up in the morning and go to work."
Delgado said he got up Sunday morning and was going to take his dog for a walk when he heard the radio announce the Powerball results.
"When I heard there was one winner and it was in New Jersey, I immediately went and checked my tickets," Delgado said. "I wanted to be that guy."
When asked what it would be like to suddenly win such a large amount, Delgado said a person would have to set priorities.
"No. 1 is your health, because if you don't have that, the rest doesn't matter," he said. "No. 2 is your family. You take care of your own and live the rest of your life in peace. That's all anyone can do."
No one had won the Powerball jackpot since early February, when Dave Honeywell in Virginia bought the winning ticket and elected a cash lump sum for his $217 million jackpot.
The largest Powerball jackpot ever came in at $587.5 million in November. The winning numbers were picked on two different tickets ? one by a couple in Missouri and the other by an Arizona man ? and the jackpot was split.
Nebraska still holds the record for the largest Powerball jackpot won on a single ticket ? $365 million ? by eight workers at a Lincoln meatpacking plant in February 2006.
Powerball is played in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The chance of matching all five numbers and the Powerball number is about 1 in 175 million.
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Associated Press writers Claudia Torrens in Passaic and Angela Delli Santi in Lawrenceville, N.J., contributed to this report.
(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc has sued a major grocery workers union and others who have protested at its Florida stores, the latest salvo in its legal fight to stop "disruptive" rallies in and around its stores by groups seeking better pay and working conditions.
Wal-Mart does not have union-represented workers in its U.S. stores. Nevertheless, it has long faced opposition from various labor groups including the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), and from a small but vocal group of current and former employees backed by the union and known as OUR Walmart.
The lawsuit filed on Friday in Orange County, Florida state court seeks "to help protect our customers and associates from further disruptive tactics associated with their continued, illegal trespassing," Walmart spokesman Dan Fogleman said.
Defendants, however, charged that the world's biggest retailer is trying to muzzle its critics.
"This is another attempt on Wal-Mart's behalf of ... silencing their employees and also the communities that support them," Denise Diaz, executive director of Central Florida Jobs With Justice Corp and a defendant named in the suit, said before reviewing the documents.
"Rather than creating good jobs with steady hours and affordable healthcare, Walmart's pattern is to focus its energies on infringing on our freedom of speech," the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart), also a defendant, said in a statement.
Other defendants include the 1.3 million-member UFCW and the individuals Angela Williamson, Alex Rivera, and Alan Hanson.
The UFCW was not immediately able to comment on the lawsuit.
Wal-Mart alleged that the defendants violated Florida law through coordinated, statewide acts of trespass in several Walmart stores over the last eight months. It has asked the court for a legal ruling that would prevent future trespassing.
In the lawsuit Wal-Mart cited an example where a group of protesters projected a video promoting OUR Walmart on the side of a store in Orlando and passing out literature inside that store in July, 2012.
It alleged that a group of UFCW demonstrators returned to that same store on October 30, 2012 and "confronted the store manager and handed him a rotten pumpkin painted in support of OUR Walmart. The group left the store only after the manager warned that he had called the police."
Wal-Mart filed an unfair labor practice charge against the UFCW in November, asking the National Labor Relations Board to halt what the retailer said were unlawful attempts to disrupt its business in several states including protests that were planned for Black Friday, the busy shopping day right after Thanksgiving. In January, labor groups said that they would stop much of their picketing against the chain, while still trying to push the company to improve working conditions.
The case is Wal-Mart Stores Inc v. United Food and Commercial Workers International Union et al, 9th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, Orange County, No. 2013-CA-004293.
(Reporting by Jessica Wohl in Chicago; Additional reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
A wedding carriage is parked in front of Old North State Winery and Brewery, the venue for the 2013 Mount Airy Bridal Fair.
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Jessica Johnson | The News
The Bridal Fair fashion show features models wearing wedding attire from Southern Bride and F. Rees.
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Jessica Johnson | The News
Those attending the Mount Airy Bridal Fair are entertained with a free fashion show featuring wedding attire for the entire party as well as honeymoon clothing for the bride.
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Jessica Johnson | The News
The Salon 222 booth at the 2013 Bridal Fair features a free massage.
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Brides from Surry County and surrounding areas were greeted by businesses and wedding industry vendors Saturday during the annual Mount Airy Bridal Fair, sponsored by the Downtown Business Association and held at Old North State Winery and Brewery.
Jennie Lowry Caudill, a representative for the Downtown Business Association who helped to plan the event, said she believes the event offers brides more ?one-on-one attention? than they would typically receive at larger bridal fairs.
The Mount Airy Bridal Fair encouraged brides and grooms to use local resources and businesses when planning their wedding.
The wedding industry in North Carolina alone brought in $1.4 billion to the state last year, and the average bride spent around $20,000 on her wedding, according to statistics released by The Wedding Report.
Brides who attended yesterday?s bridal fair indicated they wanted a simpler and toned-down approach to wedding planning, and the majority said they were looking to cut costs whenever possible.
Maranda Hill traveled from the Yadkinville area for the event after she saw an advertisement for the bridal fair.
Slthough her wedding would not be held in Surry County, she wanted more ideas for her reception and was finding inspiration by browsing the vendor booths and decor at the bridal fair.
Future bride Brooke Chilton, of Mount Airy, said she is planning a wedding for September with fiance Brandon Brim.
Chilton said she and her fiance decided to have their wedding locally because it is more convenient for the type of event they strive for: ?a simple celebration with our family involved.?
She was joined by her mother, grandmother, and future mother-in-law as they enjoyed posing for pictures in a photo booth set up by one of the vendors.
After they selected props such as sunglasses and hats, Chilton and other members of her group posed for free pictures in the photo booth, which was a bridal fair favorite for those in attendance.
Angie Holcomb, owner of Prints Charming Photo Booth, said many brides and grooms have chosen to feature a photo booth at their weddings in order to entertain guests with ?interactive fun with unlimited pictures? and even an option for guests to add the pictures to an instant scrapbook for the newlyweds.
Representatives from Cooke Rentals said they offer a photo booth rental, available for any occasion, which had already been reserved for the upcoming Mount Airy High School prom. The Cook Rentals booth featured place settings, stemware, glasses, cake stands and a display of a variety of other items available for rent.
Cross Creek Country Club representatives said they were ?proud to offer a full-service facility? for brides, which included an in-house event planner and multiple spaces for the ceremony and reception. With 16 weddings held at Cross Creek last year, and past years with as many as 25 weddings, country club continues to be a popular wedding venue for local brides.
Agents with Travel Specialists said destination weddings continued to be popular with brides and the most popular honeymoon destination in the nation was Hawaii.
Several downtown businesses such as Main Oak Emporium and Something Different on Main said they have wedding registry services available for brides and grooms.
Vicki Fields and Robin Owens of Pioneer Printing had a booth decorated with ideas for invitations, save-the-date cards, programs, napkins, customized memory candles, and wedding accessories. Fields said that she recommends that brides spend their money locally because they will receive ?loyal customer service? they may not receive by looking for wedding needs online or out-of-town.
Jenna Claxton-Puckett, coordinator of the bridal fair and representative of the Downtown Business Association, said the annual event is tied in with one of the main focuses of the D.B.A., which is ?shop local and support local businesses.?
?I think that is what is so important about the D.B.A. ? we want to keep money in the local economy. You get a more one-on-one experience?personally, I am passionate about this?it has a trickle-down effect.?
Vendors and contributors for the Mount Airy Bridal Show included Salon 222, Pioneer Printing, Terri Hall with Merle Norman Cosmetics, Cooke Rentals, Cross Creek Country Club, Old North State Winery Catering, Prints Charming Photo Booth, Southern Bride, F. Rees Co. and The Addition, The Travel Specialists, Hampton Inn and Suites, Shelton Vineyards, Shutterbug Photography by Amber Adams, Something Different on Main, B-Dazzle Productions DJ Blanton Youell, Main Oak Emporium, White Sulphur Springs Cabins, Airmont Florist, and Professional Rental Service linen rentals.
Reach Jessica Johnson at jessicajohnson@civitasmedia.com or 719-1933.
New study identifies unique mechanisms of antibiotic resistancePublic release date: 26-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jennifer Kritz Jennifer.Kritz@tufts.edu 617-636-3707 Tufts University, Health Sciences Campus
BOSTON (March 26, 2013) As public health authorities across the globe grapple with the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, Tufts University School of Medicine microbiologists and colleagues have identified the unique resistance mechanisms of a clinical isolate of E. coli resistant to carbapenems. Carbapenems are a class of antibiotics used as a last resort for the treatment of disease-causing bacteria, including E. coli and Klebsiella pneumonia, which can cause serious illness and even death. Infections involving resistant strains fail to respond to antibiotic treatments, which can lead to prolonged illness and greater risk of death, as well as significant public health challenges due to increased transmission of infection. The study, published in the April issue of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, demonstrates the lengths to which bacteria will go to become resistant to antibiotics.
Resistance to carbapenems usually emerges through the acquisition of an enzyme, carbapenemase, which destroys the antibiotic intended to treat infection. Resistance may also block entry of the drug into the E-coli bacteria. The current research, led by corresponding author Stuart Levy, M.D., Professor of Molecular Biology & Microbiology and of Medicine and Director of the Center for Adaptation Genetics & Drug Resistance at Tufts University School of Medicine, sought to determine what made this particular clinical isolate of E. coli resistant to carbapenem in the absence of carbapenemase.
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has documented a significant increase in Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) so-called 'super bugs' that have been found to fight off even the most potent treatments," Levy said. "We knew that bacteria could resist carbapenems, but we had never before seen E. coli adapt so extensively to defeat an antibiotic. Our research shows just how far bacteria will go with mutations in order to survive."
Levy and his colleagues determined that the E. coli genetically mutated four separate times in order to resist carbapenems. Specifically, the isolate removed two membrane proteins in order to prevent antibiotics from getting into the cell. The bacteria also carried a mutation of the regulatory protein marR, which controls how bacteria react in the presence of antibiotics. The isolate further achieved resistance by increasing expression of a multidrug efflux pump. Moreover, the researchers discovered that the E. coli was expressing a new protein, called yedS, which helped the drug enter the cell, but whose expression was curtailed by the marR mutation. yedS is a normally inactive protein acquired by some E. coli that affects how the drug enters the bacterial cell. It is generally expressed in bacteria through a mutation.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CRE germs have increased from 1% to 4% in the United States over the last decade. Forty-two states report having identified at least one patient with one type of CRE. Approximately 18% of long-term acute care hospitals in the United States and 4% of short-stay hospitals reported at least one CRE infection in the first half of 2012.
The clinical isolate of E. coli studied by Levy and his colleagues came from the sputum of a patient at Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Beijing, China, where three of the study authors are on the faculty. Drug resistance is a particularly serious public health concern in China, antibiotics are overprescribed and used widely in the livestock and farming industries.
"The first quinolone-resistant strains of bacteria came out of China, where we see that the drugs of last resort begin being used, because the other drugs don't work after so much overuse," Levy said.
###
Additional authors of the paper are Doug Warner, Director of Undergraduate Laboratories, Boston College; Qiwen Yang, Section Director of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Peking Union Medical College Hospital; Valerie Duval, Research Assistant at Tufts University Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance; Minjun Chen, Professor of Clinical Microbiology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital; and Yingchun Xu, Chair, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Peking Union Medical College Hospital.
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under award number R01AI56021.
Warner, D.M., Yang, Q., Duval, V., Chen, M., Xu, Y., Levy, S.B. (2013). Involvement of MarR and YedS in Carbapenem Resistance in a Clinical Isolate of Escherichia coli from China. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., 57(4), 1935-1937. doi: 10.1128/AAC.02445-12.
About Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences
Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University are international leaders in innovative medical education and advanced research. The School of Medicine and the Sackler School are renowned for excellence in education in general medicine, biomedical sciences, special combined degree programs in business, health management, public health, bioengineering and international relations, as well as basic and clinical research at the cellular and molecular level. Ranked among the top in the nation, the School of Medicine is affiliated with six major teaching hospitals and more than 30 health care facilities. Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School undertake research that is consistently rated among the highest in the nation for its effect on the advancement of medical science.
If you are a member of the media interested in learning more about this topic, or speaking with a faculty member at the Tufts University School of Medicine or another Tufts health sciences researcher, please contact Jennifer Kritz at 617-636-3707 or Siobhan Gallagher at 617-636-6586.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
New study identifies unique mechanisms of antibiotic resistancePublic release date: 26-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jennifer Kritz Jennifer.Kritz@tufts.edu 617-636-3707 Tufts University, Health Sciences Campus
BOSTON (March 26, 2013) As public health authorities across the globe grapple with the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, Tufts University School of Medicine microbiologists and colleagues have identified the unique resistance mechanisms of a clinical isolate of E. coli resistant to carbapenems. Carbapenems are a class of antibiotics used as a last resort for the treatment of disease-causing bacteria, including E. coli and Klebsiella pneumonia, which can cause serious illness and even death. Infections involving resistant strains fail to respond to antibiotic treatments, which can lead to prolonged illness and greater risk of death, as well as significant public health challenges due to increased transmission of infection. The study, published in the April issue of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, demonstrates the lengths to which bacteria will go to become resistant to antibiotics.
Resistance to carbapenems usually emerges through the acquisition of an enzyme, carbapenemase, which destroys the antibiotic intended to treat infection. Resistance may also block entry of the drug into the E-coli bacteria. The current research, led by corresponding author Stuart Levy, M.D., Professor of Molecular Biology & Microbiology and of Medicine and Director of the Center for Adaptation Genetics & Drug Resistance at Tufts University School of Medicine, sought to determine what made this particular clinical isolate of E. coli resistant to carbapenem in the absence of carbapenemase.
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has documented a significant increase in Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) so-called 'super bugs' that have been found to fight off even the most potent treatments," Levy said. "We knew that bacteria could resist carbapenems, but we had never before seen E. coli adapt so extensively to defeat an antibiotic. Our research shows just how far bacteria will go with mutations in order to survive."
Levy and his colleagues determined that the E. coli genetically mutated four separate times in order to resist carbapenems. Specifically, the isolate removed two membrane proteins in order to prevent antibiotics from getting into the cell. The bacteria also carried a mutation of the regulatory protein marR, which controls how bacteria react in the presence of antibiotics. The isolate further achieved resistance by increasing expression of a multidrug efflux pump. Moreover, the researchers discovered that the E. coli was expressing a new protein, called yedS, which helped the drug enter the cell, but whose expression was curtailed by the marR mutation. yedS is a normally inactive protein acquired by some E. coli that affects how the drug enters the bacterial cell. It is generally expressed in bacteria through a mutation.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CRE germs have increased from 1% to 4% in the United States over the last decade. Forty-two states report having identified at least one patient with one type of CRE. Approximately 18% of long-term acute care hospitals in the United States and 4% of short-stay hospitals reported at least one CRE infection in the first half of 2012.
The clinical isolate of E. coli studied by Levy and his colleagues came from the sputum of a patient at Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Beijing, China, where three of the study authors are on the faculty. Drug resistance is a particularly serious public health concern in China, antibiotics are overprescribed and used widely in the livestock and farming industries.
"The first quinolone-resistant strains of bacteria came out of China, where we see that the drugs of last resort begin being used, because the other drugs don't work after so much overuse," Levy said.
###
Additional authors of the paper are Doug Warner, Director of Undergraduate Laboratories, Boston College; Qiwen Yang, Section Director of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Peking Union Medical College Hospital; Valerie Duval, Research Assistant at Tufts University Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance; Minjun Chen, Professor of Clinical Microbiology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital; and Yingchun Xu, Chair, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Peking Union Medical College Hospital.
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under award number R01AI56021.
Warner, D.M., Yang, Q., Duval, V., Chen, M., Xu, Y., Levy, S.B. (2013). Involvement of MarR and YedS in Carbapenem Resistance in a Clinical Isolate of Escherichia coli from China. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., 57(4), 1935-1937. doi: 10.1128/AAC.02445-12.
About Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences
Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University are international leaders in innovative medical education and advanced research. The School of Medicine and the Sackler School are renowned for excellence in education in general medicine, biomedical sciences, special combined degree programs in business, health management, public health, bioengineering and international relations, as well as basic and clinical research at the cellular and molecular level. Ranked among the top in the nation, the School of Medicine is affiliated with six major teaching hospitals and more than 30 health care facilities. Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School undertake research that is consistently rated among the highest in the nation for its effect on the advancement of medical science.
If you are a member of the media interested in learning more about this topic, or speaking with a faculty member at the Tufts University School of Medicine or another Tufts health sciences researcher, please contact Jennifer Kritz at 617-636-3707 or Siobhan Gallagher at 617-636-6586.
[ | 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.
?During the battle 13 of our soldiers fell, one is unaccounted for,? said Zuma. ? File Photo by Reuters
PRETORIA: At least 13 South African troops deployed in the Central African Republic were killed and 27 wounded in clashes with rebels who captured the capital Bangui over the weekend, President Jacob Zuma said Monday.
?During the battle 13 of our soldiers fell, one is unaccounted for,? said Zuma.
South Africa deployed 200 soldiers to Central Africa in January to support the poorly trained, ill-equipped government troops following an offensive launched by the Seleka rebel coalition in early December.
?Our soldiers paid the ultimate price in the service of their country?., we honour them,? said Zuma.
?Just over 200 of our soldiers fought bandits who wanted to cause harm? but the actions of these bandits would not deter us from from our mission of peace and security,? said Zuma.
The rebels renewed their offensive last week and seized the capital Bangui on Sunday, forcing President Francois Bozize to flee the country.
?As a member of the African Union, South Africa rejects any efforts to seize power by force,? Zuma told reporters.
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Public release date: 26-Mar-2013
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