US Airways flight attendant found dead in Mexico City

A US Airways flight attendant was found dead in his hotel room in Mexico City, company spokeswoman Tina Swail said Saturday.

Authorities are investigating the circumstances of Nick Aaronson's death, she said.

Preliminary reports do not indicate a safety breach at the hotel, according to a statement from the Association of Flight Attendants Council 66.

FULL STORY

Source: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/29/us-airways-flight-attendant-found-dead-in-mexico-city

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Sports fans play the Washington game

If you're among the many Americans who believe lobbyists are part of what's wrong with this country, you should know this: If you've ever gone to a football, baseball, basketball or hockey game ? or even watched one on TV ? you have your own special interest groups pushing your agenda in Washington.

Even Ralph Nader is working for you.

"Ralph saw that there were more and more issues where the fans and participants were having little voice," which is why he recently revived his 1970s-era League of Fans, said Ken Reed, the organization's sports policy director.

"At the time, the NBA and NFL lockouts were on the horizon, and it was clear that there was going to be a power play and the fans were going to be left on the sidelines," Reed said.

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The League of Fans is one of a handful of lobbying and special interest groups that seek to "address the abuses of voiceless fans and participants," as Reed put it.

Another is the Sports Fans Coalition, which is "trying to shine a light on what the true costs of being a fan are," said Brian Frederick, the organization's executive director.

"We serve as a political voice here in the halls of power in D.C. on behalf of fans," Frederick said. "We try to raise awareness of the sorts of deals that are made and what happens as a result of them and what doesn't happen."

There's even a fully registered political action committee, Playoff PAC, which researches what it sees as the abuses of the college bowl system. It has brought to light numerous questionable financial practices by the committee that organizes the Fiesta Bowl; most recently, it has filed complaints with the IRS seeking to strip the bowls of their tax-exempt status, alleging financial improprieties that siphon off money that should go to participating schools.

"In general, we've provided a lot of publicity about how bad of a situation the bowls put a lot of schools in," said Bryson Morgan, a co-founder of the group. "College football as an organization can be unresponsive only so long."

Bringing political clout to the playing field
Nader is the most famous of the activists pushing a sports-fans agenda, but other groups have their own heavy hitters.

Sports Fans Coalition was founded in 2009 by David Goodfriend, deputy staff secretary in the administration of President Bill Clinton, and Bradley A. Blakeman, former president of the influential conservative group Freedom's Watch and a senior member of President George W. Bush's staff. Its board includes Dave Zirin, whose popular Edge of Sports column analyzes American sports from a liberal perspective, and Gigi Sohn, president of the digital rights advocacy group Public Knowledge.

Playoff PAC's volunteers, meanwhile, include more than a dozen former government officials and prominent Washington lawyers, notably Marcus Owens, former director of the IRS' Exempt Organizations Division (who submitted the group's tax complaints to his former agency), and Scott Thomas, former chairman of the Federal Election Commission.

Leaders of the groups push a number of different agendas ? fighting soaring ticket prices, league lockouts and television-rights deals that black out some fans, among others ? but they come together on one issue: what they see as the National Collegiate Athletic Association's exploitation of athletes and fans for profit.

Many believe the answer is to scrap the Bowl Championship Series, which purports to pit the two best college football teams in the country for the national championship, even though its postseason matchups are determined by pollsters and computers, not by on-the-field competition.

The NCAA didn't respond to a request for comment. In May, it told the U.S. Justice Department ? which was looking into whether the BCS violates antitrust law by favoring bigger universities from wealthier sports conferences ? that it "has no role to play in the BCS or the BCS system."

NCAA tells DOJ football playoff out of its hands

Morgan, the Playoff PAC co-founder, argued that playoffs "would generate a lot of revenue" ? not only from television networks, but also from recovery of money lost to what the group alleges is widespread corruption in the bowl system.

1. Playoff PAC

   Statement of purpose from Playoff PAC:

   Playoff PAC is a federal political committee dedicated to establishing a competitive post-season championship for college football.? The Bowl Championship Series is inherently flawed.? It crowns champions arbitrarily and stifles inter-conference competition.? Fans, players, schools, and corporate sponsors will be better served when the BCS is replaced with an accessible playoff system that recognizes and rewards on-the-field accomplishment.? To that end, Playoff PAC helps elect pro-reform political candidates, mobilizes public support, and provides a centralized source of pro-reform news, thought, and scholarship.

Playoff PAC was founded in 2009 as a standard political action committee, raising money with the idea of donating it to congressional candidates who agreed to push for playoffs if elected. But it found little traction there, raising less than $20,000 and making just one donation. So the group shifted direction to use its members' expertise in the ways of Washington to investigate the BCS.

Along the way, it began filing complaints with Arizona officials and the IRS after a 2009 Arizona Republic investigation indicated that the Fiesta Bowl, which is held in Glendale, Ariz., was laundering illegal campaign contributions. The bowl committee ended up firing its chief executive, citing information uncovered by the Playoff PAC 11 times in its public report (.pdf).

Anti-BCS group files complaint against Fiesta Bowl

More recently, Playoff PAC has filed complaints alleging that the Fiesta Bowl requires colleges playing in its game to buy a minimum number of hotel rooms through the Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. The PAC alleges that the convention bureau will "kick back" more than $8 million to the bowl committee over the 20-year life of the contract.

In a separate case, the PAC has asked the IRS to investigate whether the Fiesta Bowl and two other games in the BCS ? the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans and the Orange Bowl in Miami ? should be stripped of their tax-exempt status. Four members of Congress ? including Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, who has introduced legislation to require a football playoff ? signed a letter to the IRS endorsing the inquiry.

Sugar Bowl made improper campaign donations

"The BCS leaves so much money on the table for these universities," said Morgan, citing an independent report that tabulated that the University of Connecticut lost as much as $1.8 million on its trip to the Fiesta Bowl in January.

Money and its impact on colleges
The Sports Fans Coalition makes a similar argument.

1. Sports Fans Coalition

   Agenda declaration of the Sports Fans Coalition:

   The Sports Fans Coalition fights to make sure that fans have access to games both on television and in the stadium. Because fans have spent billions and billions of dollars financing sports stadiums, they deserve to see their local teams play. So we fight against all media blackouts and for affordable seating in public stadiums. In addition, we fight for a college playoff because of the corruption that exists in the BCS bowl system and the unfair way that revenues are distributed to our schools. Finally, we fight against work stoppages, such as the NBA lockout. Fans have spent billions on stadiums ? the least owners and players can do is play ball.

"The NCAA cannot control its own biggest sport ? college football ? and so the decisions that are being made right now ... are in pursuit of television revenue, and that's having a drastic effect on the entire higher education system," Frederick, the group's executive director, said in an interview.

The coalition's agenda extends well beyond college football's postseason, however. It frequently takes on the National Football League, accusing it of bullying taxpayers into financing palatial new stadiums and then charging them exorbitant ticket prices.

It sided with the NFL players union in a contract showdown this year that nearly led to a league lockout, going to court unsuccessfully to try to be in the room, representing fans, during negotiations over the collective bargaining agreement.

A spokesman for the NFL told msnbc.com simply that "we respect the views of all fans and appreciate their interest." But in June, the NFL told the Federal Communications Commission, which was considering a coalition challenge to the league's television policies, that the group was widely considered to be " a house organ for Dish Network." (.pdf)

The Sports Fans Coalition has been accused of being a front for cable and satellite TV interests ever since it set up shop.

Critics note that Goodfriend, a co-founder, is the former vice president for legal affairs for DISH Network, whose NFL package is one of its leading selling points, and they say it's no coincidence that the group has been especially aggressive in contesting the system under which the NFL and other leagues negotiate television rights.

(That system can lead to TV "blackouts" in some markets when a league and a network, or a network and the satellite and cable providers that carry it, can't agree on terms. That's what happened a year ago when subscribers of New York Cablevision couldn't watch the first two games of baseball's World Series.)

Frederick dismissed charges that the coalition lobbies for cable and satellite TV interests instead of fans, pointing to its activism on ticket prices, stadium deals and labor issues. But the doubts have continued to linger.

1. Msnbc.com and the NFL

   Msnbc.com has a significant interest in discussions of television rights to NFL games. It's a joint venture of Microsoft Corp. and NBC Universal, whose NBC Sports division pays the NFL $603 million a year to broadcast its Sunday night games. Those games are live-streamed from the msnbc.com home page.

   NBC Universal, meanwhile, is 51 percent owned by the cable giant Comcast Corp., which has had its own disputes with the NFL over rights to carry the NFL Network.

While the Sports Fans Coalition isn't, strictly speaking, a lobbying group itself, federal records show that it has paid more than $120,000 in the last two years to Emmer Consulting, a Bethesda, Md.-based lobbying group where Goodfriend went to work after he left DISH Network. DISH Network, as it happens, is one of Emmer's biggest clients.

And the coalition has accepted large contributions from Verizon, which operates the FiOS cable system, and from Time Warner.

Frederick said the coalition needed corporate donations to get up and running, saying, "Lord knows I would love every contribution we could get to keep this going." But despite his solicitations, no other cable or satellite companies have kicked in, he said ? not even DISH.

Filings with the Federal Election Commission confirm that.

"The folks that are skeptical are the ones that aren't in Washington and don't have experience in how Washington works," Frederick said. "I wouldn't be working for an organization that strictly existed to put forward a corporate interest."

Frederick's background would suggest that's true. An adjunct professor in sports management at Georgetown University in Washington, he was previously a research director for the liberal advocacy group Media Matters for America.

Most other members of the board of directors ? like Zirin, Sohn and Habiba Alcindor, communications director for The Nation ? are also associated with left-leaning institutions not usually considered friendly to corporations.

Going hard-core
Then there's Ralph Nader's group, which operates very much like a Ralph Nader group, with its own, occasionally idiosyncratic agenda.

Football playoffs are a part of the League of Fans' agenda. But in many respects, what it considers the best interest of the fan isn't necessarily what fans themselves might favor.

1. The League of Fans

   In its "Sports Manifesto," Ralph Nader's League of Fans lays out four main goals:

   1) To build momentum toward a vision in which all sports stakeholders are treated justly, fairly, and ethically.

   2) To ensure that all those who have a stake in sports ? including the millions of fans, sports consumers, sports participants, and taxpayers across the nation ? have a voice in how sports are operated in this country.

   3) To encourage sports stakeholders to become sports activists and reformers; and to take action to improve the world of sports, wherever they're at, in whatever way they can, in a collective effort to help sport serve the public interest.

   4) To increase the number of sports participants, at all ages in the United States, because of sport's numerous physical, mental and social benefits.

For one thing, the League of Fans wants to dismantle college sports as we know it, eliminating athletic scholarships because they turn students into "professional athletes," a proposal the NCAA has called "off-base on so many fronts it is hard to know where to start."

Ralph Nader calls for ending athletic scholarships

It also argues there should be no public funding for sports teams ? a position voters in numerous cities have chosen to disregard in approving public financing for stadiums.

The League does hold other positions that fans would likely applaud. It advocates for lower ticket prices, better safety standards for athletes and elimination of all doping. But its statement of core principles places much of its emphasis on de-corporatization campaigns long associated with Nader.

"In a way, 'League of Fans' is kind of a misnomer," acknowledged Reed, its sports policy director. "We're actively working on the whole sports reform thing."

Reed, who holds a Ph.D. in sports administration and has taught at the U.S. Sports Academy in Daphne, Ala., stressed that, like Nader, he is a devoted sports fan. For them, it's not a political agenda ? it's about "what's best for the games, the fans, the participants," he said.

"People ask, 'Why do you guys hate sports?'" Reed said. "It makes me mad and laugh at the same time. Probably no one person loves sports as much as I do.

"My father was a coach. I played two sports in college. I used to be on the sports marketing side and the sports professor side. ... I love sports. My response is, 'Why aren't you angry?'"

? 2011 msnbc.com Reprints

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44949131/ns/us_news-life/

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FCC unveils rules for rural broadband fund

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Federal regulators have unveiled a plan for overhauling the $8 billion fund that subsidizes phone service in rural areas and for the poor. It redirects the money toward broadband expansion.

The Federal Communications Commission's plan, adopted Thursday, establishes a new "Connect America Fund" for mobile telephone and broadband in rural communities and needy areas.

The money will continue to come from a surcharge on consumers' and businesses' monthly phone bills. Rates should stay flat or decline for most consumers, FCC officials said. The size of the fund will be capped at $4.5 billion annually. To receive money for network expansions into designated areas, telecommunications companies will be required to enter a bidding competition.

The FCC also approved new rules for the complex system that governs how phone companies pay each other for phone calls.

The changes represent the Obama administration's most significant overhaul of telecommunications regulations.

The administration has identified universal broadband as critical to driving economic development, producing jobs and expanding the reach of cutting-edge medicine and educational opportunities.

Overhaul of the system has been held up for years by competing interests.

The new fund will underwrite the cost of building and operating high-speed Internet networks in places that are too sparsely populated to justify costly corporate investments. It will include a $500 million "mobility fund" earmarked to help build mobile broadband networks in areas where businesses won't invest.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski called the action "a momentous step in our efforts to harness the benefits of broadband for every American." It will enhance the U.S. position in a "fiercely competitive" global economy, he said before the 4-0 vote.

The agency estimates that the program will bring high-speed Internet access to about 7 million people living in rural areas over the next six years and will create some 500,000 jobs.

In addition, Genachowski said, changing the system governing how phone companies pay each other for calls will eliminate billions of dollars in "hidden subsidies" in phone bills and put millions back in consumers' pockets.

The current system, virtually everyone in the industry agrees, is outdated and leads to perverse schemes by carriers to stimulate certain kinds of phone traffic.

"I don't expect that overall consumer rates will go up as a result of this" action, Genachowski told reporters after the meeting.

The agency estimates that the curbs on fees the phone companies pay each other will save consumers $2.2 billion a year. That assumes that the companies will pass on a substantial portion of their savings to consumers, FCC staff said.

Some consumers may pay on average an additional 10 to 15 cents a month on their bills, the agency said. No additional charges will be imposed on low-income consumers or anyone whose phone bill is $30 a month or more.

The Universal Service Fund was created to ensure that all Americans have access to a basic telephone line. It assumed its current form in 1996, but the idea of it has been around since the early 20th century. The program subsidizes phone service for the poor and pays for Internet access in schools, libraries and rural health clinics. But more than half the money goes to pay phone companies that provide phone service in rural places where lines are supposedly unprofitable.

Charles McKee, a Sprint vice president for regulatory affairs, said that by curbing the "wasteful traffic-pumping schemes" among carriers, the FCC plan will help foster a robust and efficient market for voice and broadband services.

Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy group, said it was concerned that the new program "will lead to higher prices at a time when the average American is watching every penny."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2011-10-27-TEC--Rural%20Broadband/id-0d2c1b5d878b42d4a65132879f043499

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Corning?s New Lotus Glass Promises Higher-Resolution Displays and More

By Casey Johnston, Ars Technica
Corning, the developers of Gorilla Glass, announced the launch of a new display material named Lotus Glass for use with LCD and OLED screens today in a press release. The company says Lotus Glass has more “thermal and dimensional stability,” which will allow it to better withstand the process of attaching [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/WUZl5WESfyk/

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Medco 3Q profit falls 4 percent on sale expenses (AP)

NEW YORK ? Medco Health Solutions Inc.'s third-quarter net income fell 4 percent because of expenses related to its pending acquisition by competitor Express Scripts Inc.

The pharmacy benefits manager also raised the low end of its full-year adjusted earnings outlook on Wednesday.

After reporting a string of major contract losses, Medco agreed to be acquired by rival Express Scripts in July for $29.1 billion, or $71.36 per share, in cash and stock. The sale would make Express Scripts the largest pharmacy benefits manager in the country by far.

The companies hope to combine in 2012, but regulators are still reviewing the sale. Congress has also turned its attention to the deal, as critics have said that it will reduce choices for patients and health plans.

Medco Chairman and CEO Dave Snow said during a conference call that Medco and Express Scripts are confident that antitrust regulators will approve the sale. He added that customers are reacting to the deal positively because it will reduce their health care costs.

Pharmacy benefits managers manage employee prescription drug benefits for their employer customers, with the goal of saving them money.

Medco reported net income of $355.4 million, or 90 cents per share, for the period ended Sept. 24. That's down from $371.5 million, or 85 cents per share, a year ago. Taking out buyout-related costs and other items, earnings were $1.07 per share.

This beat the $1.05 per share that analysts polled by FactSet expected.

Revenue climbed 4 percent to $16.98 billion from $16.32 billion, mostly because of new customers and higher prices for brand-name pharmaceuticals. But the results missed Wall Street's $17.04 billion forecast.

Specialty pharmacy revenue rose 16.7 percent to a record $3.4 billion.

Medco shares jumped 11.1 percent, or $5.19, to close at $52.13 Wednesday.

The Franklin Lakes, N.J., company says it handled 233.6 million adjusted prescriptions during the quarter, down about 1 percent from last year's quarter. Adjusted prescriptions is a measurement that counts 90-day mail-order prescriptions as three 30-day prescriptions. Express Scripts said Tuesday that its adjusted prescriptions also fell 1 percent in the third quarter.

Retail prescription volumes fell 1.2 percent to 152.2 million and mail-order prescriptions edged up 0.4 percent to 27.4 million. This includes generic mail-order prescriptions, which rose 3.5 percent to 17.7 million.

The overall generic dispensing rate climbed 2.2 percentage points to a record 73.8 percent. While generic drugs are less expensive than brand name drugs, they are more profitable.

For 2011, Medco now expects adjusted earnings of $4.08 to $4.12 per share. Its previous guidance was for earnings between $4.02 and $4.12 per share. Analysts are forecasting expect $4.08 per share on average.

The company expects its revenue will fall about $10 billion in 2012 because of lost business and introductions of new generic drugs. Starting in 2012, Medco will no longer handle the prescription drug benefits for the California Public Employees' Retirement System, MemberHealth LLC, Bravo Health, and the mail order prescription benefit of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. Also, health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc. said it will not renew a contract that expires Dec. 31, 2012 because it will handle its own pharmacy benefits business.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111026/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_medco

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AnandTech - HP To Stay in the PC Business

Backtracking on the company's August decision to consider selling or spinning off its PC business, new HP CEO Meg Whitman today announced that the company would be holding on to its Personal Systems Group for the time being.

This decision was reached after conducting "strategic review" of the group and the impact its sale or spin-off would have on the company's business, which found that the PSG contributed significantly to HP's portfolio and brand, and that the cost of setting the group up as its own company would outweigh the benefits.

This is definitely a step in the right direction for the world's biggest PC maker, but nevertheless, the announcement that HP was considering the sale of its PC group ruffled quite a few feathers, and may have damaged the brand's mindshare: an anonymous source told the New York Times last month that "business customers who buy tens of thousands of these machines along with support contracts are shutting [HP] out. Dell and Lenovo are all over these accounts. They?re having a field day."

Source: Business Wire

Source: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5024/hp-to-stay-in-the-pc-business

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Huskies offense stalls again in 35-20 loss to Pitt (AP)

PITTSBURGH ? Connecticut spent 10 days trying to figure out a way to stop Pittsburgh star running back Ray Graham.

The Huskies never saw Tino Sunseri coming.

The Pitt quarterback lit up the UConn defense for 419 yards and two touchdowns after Graham went down with a knee injury in the first quarter to lead the Panthers to a 35-20 victory that left the Huskies reeling.

"We were definitely geared up for Ray Graham and the run game, they have a great run game," UConn linebacker Sio Moore said. "They did some things that were a little brand new. At the same time, they did some things where they just made a play on us."

And the Huskies (3-5, 1-2 Big East) didn't have an answer.

Lyle McCombs ran for 124 yards but UConn could get little going in the passing game when it mattered. Johnny McEntee completed 17 of 33 passes for 193 yards and two scores, but the Big East's worst offense again struggled to move the ball for long stretches.

"It seemed like every game we do a pretty good job on certain drives and move the ball really well either we can't get a touchdown in the red zone or can't do it the whole game," McEntee said. "We just have to work on that."

There's plenty of work to go around for the defending Big East champions, who scored all of three offensive touchdowns during a forgettable October in which they lost three of four games.

"This (stuff) can't go on anymore," McEntee said. "We're going home and this is not going to be tolerated."

Particularly if UConn has any hopes of staying alive in the wide-open Big East. The Huskies didn't look like contenders during a rare midweek national television appearance.

Sunseri, whose grasp of the starting job has been tenuous this season, completed 29 of 42 passes and his 419 yards matched the most by a Pitt quarterback in eight years.

"As a quarterback you just want to move the ball down the field, and I felt like we were able to move the ball consistently and we were able to complete passes," Sunseri said.

Even if his coach thought Sunseri would complete a couple more.

"I thought we would throw for 500, I really did," Todd Graham said. "Our rhythm was really there tonight. ... That's what I'm used to."

Just not at Pitt.

Graham built his reputation by turning Tulsa into an offensive juggernaut and hoped for a quick transformation with the Panthers. The "high octane" attack he promised in the offseason has only shown itself occasionally.

Thinking his players were tentative because they were thinking too much, Graham simplified things over the past week. The trimmed down playbook worked.

The Panthers (4-4, 2-1) had little trouble moving the ball against the Huskies behind Sunseri, who made his coach's vote of confidence pay off with the best game of his career.

Pitt needed it when Graham crumpled to the ground at midfield after having his right leg pinned awkwardly underneath him while getting tackled by UConn's Jory Johnson following a 1-yard gain.

Graham clutched the back of his leg before being helped off the field, where he punched an equipment table before heading to the locker room.

The nation's second-leading rusher returned to the field in street clothes and is expected to have an MRI on Thursday to determine the extent of the injury.

The Panthers looked dramatically different without their star running back, but the embattled Sunseri appeared capable of keeping the offense afloat. Hitting receivers underneath and letting them do the work, Sunseri picked apart UConn's defense all night.

His legs weren't bad either. Sunseri ran for a team-high 40 yards, including an 8-yard touchdown four plays after Graham went down that gave Pitt a quick 7-0 lead.

Sunseri was just getting started. He hit Mike Shanahan for a 17-yard score to put the Panthers up 14-0 and led a 68-yard drive late in the first half that ended with a 3-yard dive by Zach Brown to put the Panthers up 21-3.

UConn made a game of it briefly after McEntee hit Kashif Moore for a 62-yard touchdown pass ? the Huskies' first offensive score in nearly a month ? and David Teggart drilled a 31-yard field goal to bring UConn within 21-13 midway through the third quarter.

The Panthers responded quickly, going 82 yards in just five plays with Shanahan doing most of the work on a 27-yard touchdown pass to put Pitt up 28-13.

The Huskies couldn't get back in it, and Pitt finished off UConn with a late touchdown pass from freshman wide receiver Ronald Jones to Devin Street.

"I thought our guys fought, but we just didn't play well enough tonight," UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111027/ap_on_sp_co_ga_su/fbc_connecticut

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Italian government on the brink as EU plan stalls

FILE - In this Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011 file photo, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi looks on after delivering his speech at the Lower Chamber, in Rome. Pressure built on Italy's embattled Premier Silvio Berlusconi as he struggled Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, to muster support for an emergency growth plan, which the EU wants within hours and which could cost the tenacious leader his job. Berlusconi has survived scandals, court cases and dozens of confidence votes, but experts say this economic plan will be one of the most critical tests yet of is grasp of the country's leadership. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011 file photo, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi looks on after delivering his speech at the Lower Chamber, in Rome. Pressure built on Italy's embattled Premier Silvio Berlusconi as he struggled Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, to muster support for an emergency growth plan, which the EU wants within hours and which could cost the tenacious leader his job. Berlusconi has survived scandals, court cases and dozens of confidence votes, but experts say this economic plan will be one of the most critical tests yet of is grasp of the country's leadership. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

Northern League's leader receives media attention as he arrives at the Chamber of Deputies building in Rome Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011. Ministers and lawmakers on Monday were debating measures aimed at raising the retirement age to match that of Germany, which is raising its retirement age to 67 for anyone born after 1964. However, any change in Italy's retirement age will face fierce resistance from Berlusconi's main political ally, the Northern League, whose constituency includes workers in Italy's productive north. Unions also oppose raising the pension age, as the European Union demanded Italy introduce tough new measures to spur economic growth. (AP Photo/Lapresse, Mauro Scrobogna)

Northern League's minister for Legislative simplification Roberto Calderoli, right, grimaces as he talks with Interior minister Roberto Maroni, following a meeting with premier Silvio Berlusconi in his residence in Rome Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011. Ministers and lawmakers on Monday were debating measures aimed at raising the retirement age to match that of Germany, which is raising its retirement age to 67 for anyone born after 1964. However, any change in Italy's retirement age will face fierce resistance from Berlusconi's main political ally, the Northern League, whose constituency includes workers in Italy's productive north. Unions also oppose raising the pension age, as the European Union demanded Italy introduce tough new measures to spur economic growth. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Northern League's leader Umberto Bossi lights a cigar as he sits in a bar next to the Chamber of Deputies building in Rome Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011. Ministers and lawmakers on Monday were debating measures aimed at raising the retirement age to match that of Germany, which is raising its retirement age to 67 for anyone born after 1964. However, any change in Italy's retirement age will face fierce resistance from Berlusconi's main political ally, the Northern League, whose constituency includes workers in Italy's productive north. Unions also oppose raising the pension age, as the European Union demanded Italy introduce tough new measures to spur economic growth. (AP Photo/Lapresse, Mauro Scrobogna)

FILE - In this Saturday Oct. 4, 2008 file photo, from left Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, stand for a group photo during an emergency financial summit at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Berlusconi lashed out Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, at his German and French counterparts who have demanded Italy introduce tough new measures to spur economic growth, chiding them for trying to "give lessons" to Rome and insisting Italy's economy was stable. Berlusconi's pointedly critical statement came as he summoned his Cabinet for an emergency meeting to discuss growth measures the European Union has demanded so Italy doesn't get further dragged into Europe's debt crisis. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler, File)

MILAN (AP) ? The Italian government and a broad European plan to save the euro were both at risk on Tuesday, with Premier Silvio Berlusconi locked in a high-stakes battle with coalition partners to muster support for emergency growth measures demanded by the European Union.

Markets are looking to the EU's grand plan ? promised in time for an EU summit on Wednesday ? for a turnaround in the debt crisis that will avert a potential global recession.

But the plan risked being delayed, yet again, as governments failed to agree on details. Berlusconi's government, meanwhile, showed little sign of meeting the EU's demands for reforms, a prerequisite for the grand plan to go ahead.

The summit of EU leaders, meant to be a confidence-building day, risked going down as another failure in Europe's fight to stem its 2-year-long debt crisis.

EU officials say they will not present their comprehensive plan if Italy doesn't agree to new economic measures they demanded Sunday. But Berlusconi has been unable to get his key ally in parliament, the Northern League, to swallow an increase in the pension age. The Northern League says it will alienate its constituency of workers in the productive north.

Northern League leader Umberto Bossi conceded the government is at risk.

"Let's say the situation is difficult, very dangerous," he told reporters in Rome.

The head of Berlusconi's People of Freedom Party, Angelino Alfano, suggested Berlusconi's party had reached a deal with the Northern League ? but no details were announced and the premier's office remained silent.

"We hope to have identified a point of balance with the League that allows us to give a response to the European Union also on pensions," Alfano said during the taping of an evening talk show, the news agency ANSA reported.

Berlusconi has survived scandals, court cases and dozens of confidence votes, but experts say the economic plan he needs to get approved will be one of the most critical tests yet of his grasp on the country's leadership.

"Berlusconi has an immovable object at home which is Bossi and the Northern League, and an unstoppable force abroad which is the European Union, so he's in a very, very difficult position," said James Walston, a political science professor at American University in Rome.

A Cabinet meeting to draft the emergency growth measures ended Monday evening in silence ? a clear indication of discord within the government majority.

The EU wants Italy to raise its standard pension age from 65 to 67, change the legal system to encourage investment, and pass other reforms to improve growth. All are measures that have been talked about for years in successive governments, but there has been little political will to see through the unpopular decisions.

Bossi has said the Northern League will not support any increase in the pension age.

But it's a move that partners such as Germany view as critical. Germany is raising its pension age to 67 for anyone born after 1964 and Chancellor Angela Merkel will have a hard time explaining to voters at home why Europe's largest economy should be ready to help countries whose workers retire earlier.

A policy impasse this time could cost Berlusconi his power.

The failure of his majority in parliament to pass a routine measure earlier this month shows just how tenuous his hold on power has become. Berlusconi survived with a vote of confidence, but the impression remained that his government is weaker than ever ? and could fall on any test.

Ratings agencies have cited the government's inaction and failure to draft growth measures as reasons for downgrading Italy's growing debt, now euro1.9 trillion ($2.64 trillion), or nearly 120 percent of GDP and the second highest in the eurozone after Greece.

Despite the ratings agencies' lack of faith in Berlusconi, analysts in Italy caution that his ouster could bring months of political deadlock until a new parliament is elected. It would be up to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano to decide to retain Berlusconi in power pending new elections, or install a technical government, which also would require the cooperation of parliament.

"I believe at this moment, a government crisis would be a disaster, because in the next months we have a huge quantity of debt that needs to be refinanced. A government crisis would destroy the market trust," said Francesco Giavazzi, an economist at Milan's Bocconi University.

The outgoing governor of Italy's central bank, Mario Draghi, has already expressed concern that rising borrowing costs are threatening to eat up a chunk of the euro54 billion in austerity measures approved by parliament last month. For weeks, the ECB has been buying up billions in Italian bonds, trying to keep Italy's borrowing costs down.

Italy's fate is crucial to the eurozone because it is the bloc's third-largest economy and would be too expensive to rescue.

To avoid that scenario, the EU is working on a three-part plan ? writing off more of Greece's debt, raising ailing European banks' capital levels so they can deal with those losses on Greek bonds, and boosting the bailout fund's powers.

All three measures need to be agreed together in order to work, but it appeared that agreeing on the Greek writedowns and the bailout fund would take longer than expected.

The 10 EU countries that do not use they euro won't sign off on the move to force banks to raise new capital without the other two parts of the plan in place. They insisted to call off a meeting of finance ministers Wednesday, which was to iron out the technical details of the plan ahead of the leaders' summit later in the day, according to European officials said. The spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were confidential.

Without the finance ministers' meeting, it is likely that the summit's conclusions will remain vague.

The negotiations over easing Greece's debt load center on talks with banks and other private investors to take losses of as much as 60 percent on their Greek bond holdings. Negotiators for the banks, however, have indicated that they will not accept losses of that magnitude.

Forcing losses onto banks could trigger big payouts of credit insurance and cause huge turbulence in global markets, analysts warn.

At the same time, two schemes to give the euro440 billion ($612 billion) European Financial Stability Facility more firepower ? by using it to guarantee bond issues from shaky countries like Italy and Spain and attract private sector capital ? also still lack detail and broad agreement.

____

Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels and Eugenio Montesano in Rome contributed to this report.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects Angelino Alfano's title. This story is part of AP's general news and financial services.)

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-10-25-EU-Italy-Financial-Crisis/id-2ae5a1a91ba341bdb59c7f12ce049cab

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"How Long Will My Coffee Last?" Calculates When You'll Need to Order Your Next Batch of Beans [Coffee]

"How Long Will My Coffee Last?" is a simple web-based calculator that tells you when you'll need to buy your next bag of beans (or how much coffee you should buy).

Handy for your office or home, the self-explanatory webapp asks how many people are sharing your coffee, how many cups each person has per day, how many scoops per cup, grams per scoop, and so on to quickly arrive at your coffee consumption needs. It's nothing you couldn't do in a spreadsheet or on a piece of paper, but now you can do it with this simple webapp.

Now to get a better handle on what all that caffeine is doing to your brain.

How Long Will My Coffee Last

---

You can contact Adam Pash, the author of this post, on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/9G3f8l2SpJY/how-long-will-my-coffee-last-calculates-when-youll-need-to-order-your-next-batch-of-beans

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Video: Who?s next in line in the royal succession?

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45044188#45044188

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APNewsBreak: Texas DA offered leniency for cash

This December 2006 evidentiary photo provided by R. Christopher Goldsmith, lawyer for Gregory Fuller, shows, from left, Shelby County, Texas, Precinct Four Constable Randy Whatley, Shelby County District Attorney Lynda Kaye Russell and Tenaha Deputy City Marshal Barry Washington, posing with $81,000 cash and 15 kilos of cocaine. Fuller got probation for aggravated cocaine possession, a first degree felony that would normally result in a long prison sentence, after he agreed to forfeit the cash. Russell's system of allowing suspected drug runners and money launderers to receive extremely light sentences, or even escape criminal charges altogether, if they forfeited their cash to the prosecutor?s office is being investigated by the federal government. (AP Photo/R. Christopher Goldsmith)

This December 2006 evidentiary photo provided by R. Christopher Goldsmith, lawyer for Gregory Fuller, shows, from left, Shelby County, Texas, Precinct Four Constable Randy Whatley, Shelby County District Attorney Lynda Kaye Russell and Tenaha Deputy City Marshal Barry Washington, posing with $81,000 cash and 15 kilos of cocaine. Fuller got probation for aggravated cocaine possession, a first degree felony that would normally result in a long prison sentence, after he agreed to forfeit the cash. Russell's system of allowing suspected drug runners and money launderers to receive extremely light sentences, or even escape criminal charges altogether, if they forfeited their cash to the prosecutor?s office is being investigated by the federal government. (AP Photo/R. Christopher Goldsmith)

In this Sept. 1, 2011 photo, traffic moves along U.S. Highway 59, a well-known drug-trafficking route through Tenaha,Texas. The federal government is investigating the local district attorney's system of allowing suspected drug runners and money launderers to receive extremely light sentences, or even escape criminal charges altogether, if they forfeited their cash to the prosecutor?s office. (AP Photo/Danny Robbins)

CENTER, Texas (AP) ? The district attorney in a Texas county with a well-known drug-trafficking route repeatedly allowed suspected drug runners and money launderers to receive light sentences ? or escape criminal charges altogether ? if they forfeited their cash to prosecutors.

As a result, authorities collected more than $800,000 in less than a year using a practice that essentially let suspects buy their way out of allegations that, if proven, would probably have resulted in prison sentences.

"They were looking out for the treasury of their county instead of doing the job of protecting society," said R. Christopher Goldsmith, a Houston attorney who represented one of the defendants.

The system engineered by Shelby County District Attorney Lynda Kaye Russell is now one focus of a federal criminal investigation that is also reviewing whether Russell and other law enforcement officials targeted black motorists for traffic stops.

Interviews, court records and other documents reviewed by The Associated Press show numerous examples of suspects who went unpunished or got unusually light sentences after turning over tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The money from those and other defendants increased the DA's forfeiture account by more than two hundredfold and helped ease a tight budget. The county's former auditor has testified that at least a portion of it was spent on campaign materials, parades, holiday decorations, food, flowers, gifts and charitable contributions.

In one instance, a man accused of transporting 15 kilos of cocaine and more than $80,000 in cash got probation after forfeiting the money to the district attorney. When the Justice Department learned about the deal, federal officials regarded it as so outlandish that they took the rare step of building their own case.

In another case, a woman caught with more than $620,000 stuffed into Christmas presents walked away after reaching a similar agreement.

Russell, who has been district attorney in the county on the Texas-Louisiana border since 1999, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. She announced in June that she was resigning, effective at the end of the year, to care for her sick mother.

Law enforcement agencies across the country often seize money or property believed linked to criminal activity. If they can prove the link in civil court, authorities can take possession of it permanently. But it's highly unusual to make deals that provide suspects with freedom or leniency if they agree to forfeit their cash.

The Shelby County cases arose from traffic stops on U.S. Highway 59, which runs from the U.S.-Mexico border to Canada and is one of the nation's most notorious drug corridors.

Russell and other county law enforcement officials have been under investigation by the Department of Justice's civil-rights division since 2008, when they were named defendants in a class-action lawsuit stemming from traffic stops in the small town of Tenaha.

The lawsuit contends that a drug-enforcement program established by the town in 2006 was actually a scheme to threaten innocent motorists, most of them black, with money laundering charges if they didn't forfeit their cash.

In the program's first year, the DA's office and the law enforcement agencies that made the stops divvied up nearly $1 million in forfeited cash. That was a spectacular spike in income: Forfeitures had produced less than $2,000 the year before, according to reports filed with the Texas attorney general's office.

The class-action lawsuit has received national media attention, but the fact that the forfeiture deals were also made with people who fit the profile of "mules" transporting drugs or drug money is neither addressed by the complaint nor widely known outside Shelby County, about 175 miles northeast of Houston.

FBI agents have interviewed many of the motorists who were stopped in Tenaha, including some who were given leniency. And several Shelby County officials have testified before a grand jury in Tyler.

Malcolm Bales, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, said limited resources have put the district attorney at a disadvantage in prosecuting major crimes. But he acknowledged that several matters were mishandled, particularly the one that resulted in probation for the man with 15 kilos of cocaine.

That case "was extraordinary enough for me to take it on and re-prosecute the guy," said Bales, who was an assistant U.S. attorney based in Lufkin at the time.

Gregory Fuller of Nashville, Tenn., is now serving more than 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

Fuller was on parole for selling cocaine in Tennessee when he was stopped for speeding in 2006 in Tenaha. A search of his car turned up the drugs with a potential street value of more than $1 million. The offense carried a sentence of 15 to 99 years in prison.

But just four days after his arrest, Fuller cut a deal allowing him to pay a $10,000 fine and receive three years' probation with deferred adjudication. On the day the documents were signed, he also agreed to forfeit $81,300 to the district attorney's office.

Fuller "walked out of there thinking he was the luckiest man on the planet," said Goldsmith, his attorney.

Less than two months later, federal authorities initiated their case under the principle of dual sovereignty, which permits the federal government to prosecute an offense even if it's been dealt with in state court.

"That incident demanded a full investigation, or at least an attempt to find out where Fuller got the narcotics and where they were going," Bales said.

The case of Angela Neveins, a Houston woman stopped in 2006, followed a similar pattern. She was charged with money laundering after her gift-wrapped packages were found to contain $626,000. But the charge was dismissed two days later when she signed a waiver agreeing to forfeit the cash.

Neveins told her attorney that the money wasn't hers, and she quickly agreed to give it up in exchange for her freedom.

"Once she heard the monkey would be off her back," said Houston attorney Jim Dyer, "she readily thought that was the way to go."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-10-25-Prosecutor-Drug%20Cash/id-991940acc3fe4e0f9e6a9d65be6b241f

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Sun. Candidate Schedule (TIME)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

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Toolbox Support Makita on Breast Cancer Research ?Pink? Promotion

(PRWEB UK) 22 October 2011

Is a normal coloured drill too boring? How about a pink drill to make DIY-ing that bit more colourful? Well here's a chance to get a hold of one. Online giant Toolbox are supporting tool giant Makita in the launch of their limited edition 10.8v drill driver.

Makita have chosen Breast Cancer Care as its first charity of the year after several staff members were affected and are hoping to raise ?50,000 to support people affected by breast cancer. For every limited edition drill that is sold Makita will be donating ?5 to the cause.

Lee Taylor, Online Manager of Toolbox said: ?It?s a fantastic promotion for such a great cause and as soon as I heard about it through our account manager we had to jump on board. The standard colour of the product is such a great seller, so I see no reason why the pink version won?t do the same if not better."

The drill is a pink version of the DF330D 10.8v drill driver - complete with one 1.3Ah Li-ion battery, fast charger, drill bit set and bag - which is popular with professional construction workers and, with its small and compact size, ideal for DIY?ers who want to get busy around the home.

Anthony Langston, Website Manager of Toolbox commented: ?We know just how popular the Makita range is and in these selfish times it?s nice to see a company that still cares about their staff and of course good causes. We try to get involved in charity work as much as possible and we will certainly be pushing for the sales on this one?.

Makita has a long history stretching back almost a century to 1915 when it all began in a small repair shop in Nagoya, Japan and since this time have expanded at a phenomenal rate with representation in over 150 countries around the world.????

Toolbox is the sister company of Plumbworld who were an early pioneer of online trading and started by James and Anita Hickman in 1999 and was sold to the Grafton Group PLC in December 2006, Plumbworld now employ more than 50 people in their purpose built warehouse and offices and currently boast an astonishing 49 websites selling everything from automotive tools and bathrooms to Hozelock fittings and woodburning stoves. The business has a turnover in excess of ?18 million and is growing at more than 20% year on year.

###

Source: http://uk.prweb.com/releases/2011/10/prweb8887319.htm

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Senate unveils next piece of Obama jobs bill

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev. speaks during a news conference to urging the passage of the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011, on Capitol Hill in Washington. He is joined by Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin of Ill., right, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., second from right, and others. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev. speaks during a news conference to urging the passage of the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011, on Capitol Hill in Washington. He is joined by Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin of Ill., right, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., second from right, and others. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama's allies in the Senate on Friday unveiled the next piece of his failed $447 billion jobs measure to get a vote in the Senate: a $60 billion investment in infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges.

Like its two predecessors, however, the infrastructure package figures to be unanimously opposed by Republicans and a handful of Democrats over its stimulus-style spending and tax surcharge on the very wealthy. A test vote on the measure will come after the Senate returns from vacation next month.

The legislation would provide an immediate $50 billion investment in America's roads, bridges and airports, and transit systems and establish a $10 billion national infrastructure bank to leverage private and public capital for longer-term infrastructure projects.

"This legislation will create hundreds of thousands of construction jobs rebuilding our roads, bridges and infrastructure," said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The measure would be financed by a 0.7 percentage point surcharge on income over $1 million.

The announcement by Senate Democrats came the day after Republicans scuttled a pared-back jobs measure designed to boost hiring of teachers and first responders.

That plan failed on a 50-50 test vote that fell well short of the 60 needed to break a filibuster. Two Democrats abandoned Obama on the vote and two more who voted with the president said they couldn't support the underlying Obama plan unless it's changed.

Thursday's $35 billion measure combined $30 billion for state and local governments to hire teachers and other school workers with $5 billion to help pay the salaries of police officers, firefighters and other first responders. The White House says the measure would "support" almost 400,000 education jobs for one year. Republicans call that a temporary "sugar high" for the economy and say it's a taxpayer-funded bailout of state and local governments.

Obama and his Democratic allies are acting like they've found a winning issue in repeatedly pressing popular ideas such as infrastructure spending and boosting hiring of police officers and firefighters. The sluggish economy and lower tax revenues have caused many teachers' jobs to be cut over the past several years.

"For the second time in two weeks, every single Republican in the United States Senate has chosen to obstruct a bill that would create jobs and get our economy going again," Obama said in a statement after the vote. "Every American deserves an explanation as to why Republicans refuse to step up to the plate and do what's necessary to create jobs and grow the economy right now."

"We cannot afford to be bailing out local governments, and we can't afford stimulus 2.0," countered Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

Democrats haven't said which piece they'll resurrect next as an individual bill, but there's widespread support among party members for spending on highway and bridge projects, as well as for a poll-tested financing mechanism ? a surcharge on income exceeding $1 million.

An AP-GfK poll taken Oct. 13-17 found 62 percent of respondents favoring the surcharge as a way to pay for jobs initiatives. Just 26 percent opposed the idea.

More ominously for Democrats, the poll shows that Obama's party has lost the faith of the public on handling the economy. In it, only 38 percent said they trust Democrats to do a better job than Republicans in handling the economy, the first time Democrats have fallen below 40 percent in the poll. Some 43 percent trust the Republicans more.

"The fact is we're not going to get this economy going again by growing the government. It's the private sector that's ultimately going to drive this recovery," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said. "Look, if big government were the key to economic growth, then countries like Greece would be booming right now."

Democrats Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Democratic-leaning Independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut broke with Obama on Thursday's vote. Two Democrats who voted with the president, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana, said they couldn't support the underlying Obama plan unless it's changed.

"This bill fails to give taxpayers any guarantee that this money would actually be used to hire teachers and invest in our schools," Tester said. "States would get loads of money with little guidance that they spend the money on teachers."

Immediately after the vote on Obama's plan, Democrats turned the tables and filibustered Republican-backed legislation that would prevent the government from withholding 3 percent of payments to government contractors. The legislation failed to get the 60 votes needed to end the filibuster on a 57-43 vote, even though 10 Democrats voted to advance it.

Many Democrats and Obama support the idea but opposed it Thursday because it would be paid for with $30 billion in cuts from domestic agency spending. Advocates of repealing the withholding requirement say it will help create jobs, especially from contractors on large projects with smaller profit margins.

The withholding law was passed in 2006 by a GOP-controlled Congress. Then, the idea then was to make sure contractors couldn't duck their taxes and was imposed after government investigators found that thousands of federal contractors owed taxes.

The GOP-controlled House is likely to pass the measure next week and Reid promised that the Senate would revisit the issue, though there's likely to be a split between the House and Senate over how to pay for the cost of repealing the withholding rule.

After voting on the competing jobs measures, the Senate worked past midnight on a $128 billion spending bill covering five Cabinet departments.

Early Friday, the Senate voted 84-15 to end direct payments to farmers whose annual incomes exceed $1 million.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-10-21-US-Senate-Jobs/id-c241341d559645969148bfb589fabee5

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Next-generation allergy vaccines to be developed in Finland to create effective and safe desensitization therapies

Public release date: 21-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Hans Soderlund Professor
Hans.soderlund@vtt.fi
358-207-225-104
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

VTT holds patents on gene technology which can be applied to alter the structure of an allergen, i.e. a protein causing allergy, so that it will cause less allergic symptoms than the original allergen, while remaining effective in desensitisation therapy.

"The vaccine helps to improve the protection to the allergen, thus, alleviating the symptoms. That's why we prefer to use the term vaccine, instead of medication," VTT's Senior Advisor Hans Sderlund explains. The research objective is to develop an orally administered vaccine.

The foundation for this development rests on a scientific breakthrough dating back five years to a co-operation project involving VTT, the University of Eastern Finland and HUCH Skin and Allergy Hospital. Researchers were able to determine how an IgE antibody binds an allergen and were the first to present a detailed 3D structure of this complex. This proved to be different from what scientists around the world had anticipated.

Initially, Desentum Oy will develop a product line of 20 to 25 new hypoallergens which could be used as vaccines for some of the most important allergies. These include pollens (birch, hay, common wormwood, etc.), allergens from pets, and proteins associated with food allergies (fish, nuts, apple, celery). Clinical testing of the first products is anticipated to start within the next three years.

Pekka Mattila, Desentum Oy's Managing Director, knows how to run a biotechnology company and increase its business opportunities. He was one of the founding members of the Finnzymes Group and acted as its CEO until 2010, when the company was sold to the American Thermo Fisher Scientific.

What is an allergy?

Allergies are caused by the immune reaction to normally harmless proteins allergens - present in environment, food or consumer and medical products. Due to sensitisation, the body generates Immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies. Next time when these antibodies recognise the same allergen, they trigger an allergic reaction and cause symptoms in the respiratory or digestive system, or the skin. An extreme allergic reaction may cause anaphylaxis or even death.

The prevalence of allergies and allergic reactions has increased in the industrialised countries, and they are now estimated to belong to the top five most costly disease groups. In Europe, the number of people suffering from allergies is estimated to exceed 80 million, while in the US the corresponding number is 65 million. According to further estimates, half of the European population will suffer from an allergy by 2015.

In the US alone, the market for antiallergic drugs is anticipated to exceed USD 15 billion by 2015. In 2010, the estimated market for new allergy vaccines is approximately USD 700 million.

###

---

[ | 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.

Public release date: 21-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Hans Soderlund Professor
Hans.soderlund@vtt.fi
358-207-225-104
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

VTT holds patents on gene technology which can be applied to alter the structure of an allergen, i.e. a protein causing allergy, so that it will cause less allergic symptoms than the original allergen, while remaining effective in desensitisation therapy.

"The vaccine helps to improve the protection to the allergen, thus, alleviating the symptoms. That's why we prefer to use the term vaccine, instead of medication," VTT's Senior Advisor Hans Sderlund explains. The research objective is to develop an orally administered vaccine.

The foundation for this development rests on a scientific breakthrough dating back five years to a co-operation project involving VTT, the University of Eastern Finland and HUCH Skin and Allergy Hospital. Researchers were able to determine how an IgE antibody binds an allergen and were the first to present a detailed 3D structure of this complex. This proved to be different from what scientists around the world had anticipated.

Initially, Desentum Oy will develop a product line of 20 to 25 new hypoallergens which could be used as vaccines for some of the most important allergies. These include pollens (birch, hay, common wormwood, etc.), allergens from pets, and proteins associated with food allergies (fish, nuts, apple, celery). Clinical testing of the first products is anticipated to start within the next three years.

Pekka Mattila, Desentum Oy's Managing Director, knows how to run a biotechnology company and increase its business opportunities. He was one of the founding members of the Finnzymes Group and acted as its CEO until 2010, when the company was sold to the American Thermo Fisher Scientific.

What is an allergy?

Allergies are caused by the immune reaction to normally harmless proteins allergens - present in environment, food or consumer and medical products. Due to sensitisation, the body generates Immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies. Next time when these antibodies recognise the same allergen, they trigger an allergic reaction and cause symptoms in the respiratory or digestive system, or the skin. An extreme allergic reaction may cause anaphylaxis or even death.

The prevalence of allergies and allergic reactions has increased in the industrialised countries, and they are now estimated to belong to the top five most costly disease groups. In Europe, the number of people suffering from allergies is estimated to exceed 80 million, while in the US the corresponding number is 65 million. According to further estimates, half of the European population will suffer from an allergy by 2015.

In the US alone, the market for antiallergic drugs is anticipated to exceed USD 15 billion by 2015. In 2010, the estimated market for new allergy vaccines is approximately USD 700 million.

###

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/vtrc-nga102111.php

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