Gene Mutation Linked to Chemo-Resistant Colon Cancer (HealthDay)

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Some people with advanced colorectal cancer are resistant to some types of chemotherapy, and a mutation in the so-called TFAP2E gene may play a part in that resistance, German researchers report.

Knowing which patients carry the mutation might help doctors tailor treatments or develop new targets for therapy, the researchers said.

"In our study, we identified a gene which is frequently altered in colorectal cancer," said lead researcher Dr. Matthias P.A. Ebert, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Magdeburg. "This genetic alteration is associated with increased resistance to chemotherapy and radiation in colorectal cancers."

The findings appear in the Jan. 5 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

For the study, Ebert's team analyzed how the TFAP2E gene functioned in colorectal cancer tumors.

Overall, they looked at more than 200 patients undergoing chemotherapy for advanced colorectal cancer. Among the first group of 74 patients, 38 had a mutation in this gene, the researchers found.

Mutated tumor cells in these and other patients made the cells resistant to fluorouracil, a widely used type of chemotherapy. However, the mutation did not make the tumor resistant to irinotecan or oxaliplatin, two other chemotherapy drugs, the researchers found.

In the rest of the patients after the first group, the researchers found a similar association between the TFAP2E gene mutation and tumors not responding to chemotherapy with fluorouracil.

"Chemotherapy and radiation is very helpful in the majority of patients with colon cancer and rectal cancers, respectively," Ebert said.

"If our studies are confirmed in prospective trials and by other groups, alteration of the TFAP2E gene could help identify subgroups of patients with colorectal cancer that would show good response to chemotherapy or radiation," he said.

Dr. Durado Brooks, director of the prostate and colorectal cancer division at the American Cancer Society, said "this is one more brick in the wall that is slowly helping us build our knowledge and understanding of how to attack cancer in new and different ways."

"If the findings are corroborated by other investigators, it could lead to testing of tumors to find if those tumors are likely to be resistant to fluorouracil-based chemotherapy," Brooks said.

It could also help identify new targets for treatment, he said.

Brooks thinks other gene mutations also affect how well chemotherapy works. Some genetic testing is done now for this purpose, he said; however, it's too soon to tell whether TFAP2E may be added to those tested, he said.

"This is a long way from moving into clinical practice," Brooks said.

"We need to know a lot more of how this impacts actual patients; all this data is based on looking at things under a microscope as opposed to investigating the impact of treatment in patients, which may turn out to be a little different," he said. "It's not ready to move from the lab bench to the bedside yet."

More information

To learn about colon cancer, visit the American Cancer Society.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120105/hl_hsn/genemutationlinkedtochemoresistantcoloncancer

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Cricket unveils ZTE Chorus, its third Muve Music smartphone

We're not saying much, but a little bird told us about this travesty months and months ago. Now, it seems that Cricket is ready to act on its plans, and well, here's the ZTE Chorus. It's certainly a handsome device, but sadly, there's not a whole lot going on underneath the hood. It combines a 3.2-inch 400 x 240 (WQVGA) resistive touch display with a 600MHz CPU, a 2 megapixel camera and a 1000mAh battery. Seeking redemption, the Chorus is the third smartphone in Cricket's stable to offer Muve Music access, and its $40 price tag (after some hefty rebates) is nothing to sneeze at, but really, even without contract, don't saddle yourselves down with this one, folks. The Samsung Vitality is a much better device, costs only two Jacksons more, and is free of all that self-loathing buyer's remorse. Yes, we hear the chorus, but why not travel to the beat of a different drum? If you haven't been fully dissuaded, you'll find the complete PR after the break.

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Newsmaker: Technocrat "oil man" takes charge of Libya lifeline (Reuters)

TRIPOLI (Reuters) ? Libya's new oil minister is seen as the right kind of technocrat, deeply experienced yet not too closely tied to the former regime of Muammar Gaddafi, to help restore the OPEC member's economic lifeline after eight months of war.

Abdulrahman Ben Yazza is in his mid-50s and brings experience from both Libya's oil industry and Italian firm Eni, the largest foreign oil producer in Libya before the war.

He worked at Libya's Waha Oil company and at the state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC), culminating in a seat on the management committee. He then headed a joint venture between NOC and Eni.

"He's an excellent oil man," NOC Chairman Nuri Berruien told Reuters. "He's a first-class professional ... The most important (thing) is that he's from the oil patch. It is very important, it is good to work with people who speak your tongue."

A source close to Ben Yazza said the married father of four from Tripoli had been living in Milan for the last few years and traveling frequently to Libya.

"Ben Yazza is an old guy, well known and well liked. He knows Eni very well but that doesn't mean he will be pro-Eni ... he will be pro-Libyan," one Libyan oil industry source said.

"He's more a technocrat politician. Remember this is a transitory government, a bit like the Monti government in Italy ...It doesn't represent the power equilibrium and none of the big shots are in it."

Of all the new appointments in Prime Minister Abdurrahim El Keib's government, set to lead the country to elections next year, analysts and industry sources said Ben Yazza is seen as the most technocratic and least colored by the country's regional politics.

"In meetings he would listen to everyone's opinion," a person who worked with him at the NOC said, describing Ben Yazza as "very respectable."

NEW FACES

Before the February revolt, Libya's oil policy was run by the NOC headed by Shokri Ghanem, who defected in June and is believed to be living in Europe.

Officials have since indicated there will be changes, with plans to split commercial arrangements from policy.

Ben Yazza himself is seen as somewhat independent despite his NOC history, as a man who reportedly clashed at one point with Ghanem and who carries no strong affiliation with the ousted regime.

He is "very competent with a strong personality," one diplomatic source said.

"There were other candidates in the sector who had good international pedigrees, but they were often very closely associated with Col. Gaddafi - or they amplified their connections with Gaddafi in order to increase their prestige," said Geoff Porter, a U.S. independent expert on Libya.

"In the new post-Gaddafi Libya, they are tainted and would have been rejected by the Libyan population and by the hydrocarbon sector workers in particular."

The new set of faces will have to sustain the revival of the industry, which is returning to the international market faster than expected.

Libya holds Africa's largest oil reserves and was pumping 1.6 million barrels per day before the revolt.

Questions remain about the future, with a potential shake-up that would give more power to the oil ministry and carve up the NOC's responsibilities.

Berruien said the oil ministry and NOC would "complement each other."

Ben Yazza's appointment could see a number of former Libyan state oil company executives return to the public sector, according to political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.

"Highly experienced and extremely well-connected, we expect Ben Yazza to announce the recruitment of a number of his former NOC colleagues and friends to the NOC and the ministry," it said.

"The implications for the sector are good. Separating the regulatory and oversight functions from operations will remove some conflicts of interest," it said.

"Ben Yazza (will have) the opportunity to root out some of the more entrenched examples of corruption."

Still, he could encounter opposition from some workers still wary of former NOC officials. Waha Oil workers just recently ended a strike after their demands for a new chairman were met.

"Lack of experienced personnel has long been a retarding factor in the Libyan oil and gas sector and Ben Yazza will see the return of senior officials currently with IOCs (independent oil companies) as important if the sector is to reach its full potential," Eurasia said.

(Additional reporting by Taha Zargoun and Christian Lowe in Tripoli, Stephen Jewkes in Milan, Jessica Donati in London; editing by Jason Neely)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111125/wl_nm/us_libya_oil_minister

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Russian wanted by Lithuania arrested in London (AP)

VILNIUS, Lithuania ? A Russian businessman who owns Portsmouth Football Club and has tried to invest in cash-strapped car maker Saab has been arrested in London in connection with a money laundering probe that has rocked Lithuania and Latvia, officials said Friday.

Vladimir Antonov, 36, and a Lithuanian partner, Raimondas Baranauskas, 53, were detained Thursday on an arrest warrant issued by investigators probing alleged fraud and money laundering at his banks in the Baltic states, Lithuanian prosecutor Tomas Krusna told reporters.

The Bank of Lithuania said late Thursday that his bank there, Snoras Bank, will be liquidated, calling it the best solution for country's financial system and economy, which were jolted after the bank was nationalized and its operations halted.

Lithuanian regulators claim that hundreds of millions of euros were siphoned from Snoras, the country's fifth-largest financial institution, while Latvian authorities have said that similar asset-stripping took place on a massive scale at Latvija Krajbanka, a subsidiary bank controlled by Snoras.

Lithuanian bank chief Vitas Vasiliauskas said the government was liquidating the bank rather than waste taxpayers' money trying to help "a plane that won't fly."

"There is no other way to solve this situation," he said.

The decision to liquidate Snoras means that Latvijas Krajbanka, which Snoras controls through a 68 percent stake, is almost certain to suffer the same fate given Latvia's meager financial resources as it emerges from one of the world's worst recessions.

When asked about Antonov's arrest, London police read a statement saying that two men ? age 36 and 53 ? were arrested in response to a Europe-wide arrest warrant in London's financial center. British officials do not name suspects until they have been charged.

Police said the two men remained in custody overnight and are due to appear in a London court later Friday.

Lithuanian prosecutors on Wednesday issued the warrant for Antonov, who owned over 60 percent of Snoras, and Baranauskas.

Antonov told the Lithuanian daily Respublika in a phone interview published Thursday that he feared for his life.

"I returned to London because I live and work here ? my family is here. Where else can I go? Russia? That would be a one-way ticket. I would have to stay there for safety, but this would be considered an escape attempt," he said.

"I am ready to testify...I understand that extradition is inevitable. I can say it openly ? I am scared that I may get killed," Antonov said.

Latvian officials had hoped that Lithuania's government might be able to salvage the banks, and Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis was due to travel to Lithuania on Friday on discuss the issue. However, once news of Snoras' liquidation broke, Dombrovskis canceled the trip.

Lithuania's Finance Ministry said Friday that they would pay out all guaranteed deposits ? up to euro100,000 ($132,000) ? at Snoras by Christmas ? requiring some 4 billion litas ($1.5 billion) in funds.

Latvia's government was due to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the fate of Latvijas Krajbanka.

Authorities in both Lithuania and Latvia say the two banks' collapse does not pose a systemic risk since they are mid-sized and the two states have ample reserves to guarantee deposits.

Latvijas Krajbanka was Latvia's 10th largest bank by assets after it was taken over by regulators on Monday.

Janis Brazovskis, an official with Latvia's Finance and Capital Markets Commission who was appointed to oversee Krajbanka, said Wednesday that Antonov's failed attempt to acquire the troubled Swedish automaker Saab might have triggered the Baltic banks' downfall.

He said that approximately 100 million lats ($200 million) were siphoned from the bank to increase its charter capital and finance Antonov's investment projects ? including the unsuccessful takeover of Saab.

Deposit holders in both countries are now forced to wait in long lines to withdraw money from cash machines, while companies and municipalities have seen the working capital virtually disappear.

Baranauskas, who owned just over 25 percent in Snoras, said last week that Lithuania's decision to nationalize Snoras was "robbery" and an attack on Antonov.

___

Associated Press writers Cassandra Vinograd in London and Gary Peach in Riga, Latvia, contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111125/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_lithuania_bank_woes

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Founder of Jamaica reggae, rocksteady trio dies (AP)

KINGSTON, Jamaica ? One of the founders of a leading Jamaican reggae and rocksteady trio from the 1960s has died.

A bandmate says Barry Llewellyn of the Heptones died Wednesday at age 64. Lead singer Leroy Sibbles said Friday that Llewellyn died of unknown causes at Kingston Public Hospital.

Llewellyn founded the Heptones with Earl Morgan in the late 1950s. The group was considered highly influential during the island's rocksteady era in the 1960s.

The Heptones reunited in the 1990s after a nearly 20-year absence during a worldwide ska and rocksteady revival.

Llewellyn is survived by his wife, Monica, and several children.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111125/ap_en_mu/cb_jamaica_obit_barry_lewellyn

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Pakistani ambassador's departure leaves void

CAPTION CORRECTION, CORRECTS SPELLING OF HAQQANI'S FIRST NAME - In this picture taken on Aug. 19, 2010 shows Pakistan's Ambassador in Washington Husain Haqqani, left, talks with U.S. Sen. John Kerry as Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari walks on in Multan, Pakistan. Pakistan's envoy to the United States Haqqani says he has resigned over claims he wrote a memo to Washington asking for its help in reining in the country's powerful military. Pakistan's slain governor Salman Taseer seen second from right. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash)

CAPTION CORRECTION, CORRECTS SPELLING OF HAQQANI'S FIRST NAME - In this picture taken on Aug. 19, 2010 shows Pakistan's Ambassador in Washington Husain Haqqani, left, talks with U.S. Sen. John Kerry as Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari walks on in Multan, Pakistan. Pakistan's envoy to the United States Haqqani says he has resigned over claims he wrote a memo to Washington asking for its help in reining in the country's powerful military. Pakistan's slain governor Salman Taseer seen second from right. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash)

(AP) ? The departure of Pakistan's man in Washington, Ambassador Husain Haqqani, leaves U.S.-Pakistani relations temporarily adrift, with few trusted go-betweens after months of bruising political sparring that followed the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Haqqani resigned Tuesday over what has become known as "memo-gate" ? allegations that he sought U.S. help to head off a possible Pakistani military coup after the bin Laden operation. Former information minister Sherry Rehman, an important player in President Asif Zardari's ruling political party, was appointed Wednesday to replace Haqqani.

Haqqani's departure robs the two sides of a man who simultaneously was one of the Pakistani military's biggest critics and a constant, needling thorn in Washington's side, refusing American requests to expand the CIA's drone campaign against militants or increase American intelligence personnel on the ground.

When relations went south between the two sides, as they did after the SEALs killed bin Laden inside Pakistan, Haqqani, a former journalist with a prodigious Rolodex, kept lines of communication open with the White House, the CIA and the media by text, email and multiple daily tweets.

His history as a critic of the Pakistani military and intelligence services allowed him to act as a somewhat neutral go-between. He could smoothly shift from sympathetic listener to hard bargainer, as much counselor as diplomat, convincing the Americans he understood their frustration and assuring his Pakistani masters back home that he was standing firm against U.S. pressure.

Yet despite the fallout here, his departure is more about Pakistani political squabbles than U.S. relations, with Washington serving as foil to help the Pakistani military get rid of a longtime enemy, said Tim Hoyt, counterterrorism scholar at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I.

Haqqani's detailed account of the relationship between the Pakistani military and Islamic radicals in his 2005 book "Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military" was seen "as a grievous betrayal," Hoyt said.

The book won him accolades in Pakistani civilian circles and helped secure academic positions as a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University.

The ease with which Haqqani moved in such rarefied U.S. circles "helps explain why the military, the intelligence services and many elites in Pakistan view him as dangerously pro-American," Hoyt said.

But it also made him effective. When U.S. lawmakers threatened to withdraw aid to Pakistan, Haqqani was credited with changing their minds. When then-U.S. military chief Adm. Mike Mullen accused Pakistan of complicity with the Haqqani militant network in attacking the U.S. Embassy in Kabul over the summer, the envoy went into overdrive, working the phones and persuading U.S. officials to meet him at his office or at the Army Navy Club near the White House ? discreet conversations that helped keep some forms of military cooperation moving forward.

The former ambassador has no family connection to the Haqqani militant network.

"Removing him at this juncture in U.S.-Pakistan relations can only be viewed as a self-inflicted wound," Hoyt said.

The charges against Haqqani remain unproven. They rise from a leaked memo he says he did not write, delivered by a Pakistani American businessman, Mansoor Ijaz, who lives in London and has a history of making such claims with little follow-through. The Pakistani government says it will investigate.

The envoy and his supporters have claimed the memo was a hoax cooked up by the military establishment to get rid of Haqqani and weaken the Zardari government and democratic institutions ? explosive charges in a country that has seen at least three military coups.

Ijaz claimed he received the missive from Haqqani and, following his instructions, passed it to Mullen through an intermediary after the bin Laden raid. A spokesman said Mullen had received it but considered it unreliable and ignored it.

The memo accuses army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani of plotting to bring down the government in the political turmoil and finger-pointing after the raid. It asks Mullen for his "direct intervention" to prevent a coup.

In return, it promises help in installing a "new security team" in Islamabad that would be friendly to Washington.

Ijaz has led a high-profile media campaign attacking the ambassador. He claimed that Lt. Gen. Shuja Pasha, the head of Pakistan's main intelligence agency, flew to London to meet with him last month. Ijaz said he provided Pasha with computer records implicating Haqqani.

Ijaz has a history of making claims to be well connected with U.S. politicians. During the Clinton administration, he said U.S. officials told him Sudan was willing to turn over then-fugitive bin Laden ? claims the U.S. administration immediately denied.

Haqqani returned to Pakistan over the weekend to face questioning over the alleged memo by the army and the intelligence chiefs.

"I have resigned to bring closure to this meaningless controversy threatening our fledgling democracy," he said in a statement. "It was an artificial crisis over an insignificant memo written by a self-centered businessman."

"I have much to contribute to building a new Pakistan free of bigotry & intolerance," Haqqani tweeted after his resignation. "Will focus energies on that."

Christine Fair, a Pakistan scholar who teaches at Georgetown University, said she didn't expect Haqqani's departure to lead to a further downturn in U.S.-Pakistan ties, noting that both countries were continuing with cooperation on targeting al-Qaida and on drone strikes in the Afghan border area.

"So we're still getting from them what we need in terms of a bare minimum," said Fair. "It would be surprising if a new ambassador would try to sabotage that ... but you can't rule it out."

___

Associated Press writers Chris Brummitt and Sebastian Abbot in Islamabad and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

Kimberly Dozier can be followed on Twitter (at)kimberlydozier.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-23-US-Pakistan-Envoy%20Scandal/id-6cff80c899794aae9aadee3e238c4305

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Video: GOP hopefuls spar on foreign policy in 11th debate

GOP candidate Newt Gingrich was front and center in Tuesday?s debate, reflecting his recent surge to the top of the polls. On immigration, Gingrich disagreed with the other candidates by calling for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who are longtime residents and have paid taxes. NBC?s Andrea Mitchell has more.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/45422604/

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NASA flies robotic lander prototype to new heights

ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2011) ? NASA successfully completed the final flight in a series of tests of a new robotic lander prototype at the Redstone Test Center's propulsion test facility on the U.S. Army Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala. Data from this test series will aid in the design and development of a new generation of small, smart, versatile robotic landers capable of performing science and exploration research on the surface of the moon or other airless bodies in the solar system, such as asteroids or the planet Mercury.

Since early October, the Robotic Lander Development Project at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville has subjected the lander prototype to a series of more complex outdoor flight tests maneuvers. The team steadily increased the lander's flight profile, starting by hovering the lander -- dubbed Mighty Eagle -- at 3 feet, then 30 feet and finally a record 100-foot flight test.

During the 100-foot flight test, the lander autonomously flew for 30 seconds. The Mighty Eagle ascended to 100 feet, hovered and then demonstrated the equivalent of an autonomous landing on the lunar surface. The final maneuver simulated the required descent approach by horizontally translating 30 feet while descending and landing on target. The test demonstrated the lander's ability to maneuver to avoid hazards before performing a safe, controlled landing.

"The successful completion of the Mighty Eagle lander prototype provides a high level of confidence in our flight system design which significantly reduces cost and schedule," said Julie Bassler, Robotic Lander Development project manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. "Our combined NASA and contractor team went from the drawing board to successfully flight testing an autonomous, closed-loop, lander prototype system in less than two years," she said. "Mighty Eagle has performed well, demonstrating precision ascents, descents and horizontal translation flights to prove the lander can control itself and land safely."

"Our small team has worked tirelessly to develop a robust lander system," said Dr. Greg Chavers, lead systems engineer for the Robotic Lander Development Project at Marshall. "The prototype lander has the capability to launch, descend and land safely on its own -- without a man in the loop -- demonstrating the lander's autonomous and reusable test capability. Our team has matured the lander's guidance, navigation and control algorithms, which provided stable control of the lander, even through light wind and rain."

Mighty Eagle is a three-legged prototype that resembles an actual flight lander design. It is 4 feet tall and 8 feet in diameter and weighs 700 pounds when fueled with 90 percent hydrogen peroxide.

The lander receives its commands from an onboard computer that activates its 16 onboard thrusters -- 15 pulsed and one gravity cancelling thruster -- to carry it to a controlled landing using a pre-programmed flight profile. The prototype serves as a platform to develop and test algorithms, sensors, avionics, software, landing legs, and integrated system elements to support autonomous landings on airless planetary bodies, where aero-braking and parachutes are not options.

The next test phase of the test series is set to resume in early Spring when weather is more favorable for outdoor flight test. This new test series will test enhanced navigation capabilities.

Development and integration of the lander prototype is a cooperative endeavor led by the Robotic Lunar Lander Development Project at the Marshall Center; Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory; and the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation, which includes the Science Applications International Corporation, Dynetics Corp., Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc., and Millennium Engineering and Integration Company, all of Huntsville.

The project is partnered with the U.S. Army's Test and Evaluation Command's test center located at Redstone Arsenal. The Redstone Test Center is one of six centers under the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command and has been a leading test facility for defense systems since the 1950s. Utilizing an historic test site at the arsenal, the project is leveraging the Redstone Test Center's advanced capability for propulsion testing.

For more photos of the hardware visit: http://www.nasa.gov/roboticlander

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/QZEMzd7Ne4s/111121192410.htm

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Networks walk a tightrope over crowded debates (AP)

NEW YORK ? Keeping the crowded Republican presidential debates fair, lively and topical at the same time can seem like the equivalent of juggling while walking a tightrope.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer is the next television personality on stage. He's moderating Tuesday's GOP forum in Washington, a little more than a week after a misplaced email from the CBS News political director raised questions about whether networks give short shrift to candidates they determine have little chance at reaching the White House.

The fluidity of the Republican nomination process and the increased importance of the debates make fairness an important issue. Viewership is up significantly compared with a similar point in the campaign four years ago, and political pros say the debate performances of Herman Cain, Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry have had a big impact on their poll standings.

Tim Graham of the Media Research Center, a conservative press watchdog, said he thinks there is "a tilt" at the networks "toward front-runners."

"The only thing that makes it less unfair is that the front-runners keep changing," Graham said.

That nod to front-runners was made clear when CBS political director John Dickerson questioned, in an email sent to colleagues on Nov. 12, how much airtime Bachmann would be getting during and after the network's debate that night. "She's not going to get many questions," he wrote, in apparent reference to Bachmann's shrinking standing in opinion polls.

The email was mistakenly sent to Bachmann's campaign, which immediately seized upon it. Keith Nahigian, her campaign manager, said on Facebook that the email was "concrete evidence confirming what every conservative already knows ? the liberal mainstream media elites are manipulating the Republican debates by purposely suppressing our conservative message."

During that night's debate, there were seven questions addressed to Bachmann ? four of them during an online-only portion shown after the television network's coverage ended. Cain and Newt Gingrich were asked 11 questions each, and Mitt Romney had 10. Perry and Rick Santorum each had eight questions, while Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman each had five.

PBS' Jim Lehrer, who has moderated 11 general election presidential debates, said running these pre-primary debates is extremely difficult.

"You not only want to be fair, you have to be perceived as being fair," Lehrer said, "and it's really hard when you have eight or nine candidates."

Playing favorites in terms of questions asked is dangerous because, as borne out by this year's opinion polls, today's also-ran could be tomorrow's front-runner. A network that doesn't try to treat everyone onstage equally is "buying themselves a lot of trouble that they don't need," said Lehrer, author of a recent book on debates, "Tension City: My View From the Middle Seat."

A network might naturally want to spend more time with a front-runner, but in these situations has a civic role more than a journalistic one, Lehrer said. CBS News President David Rhodes argued that handling the debates as journalists serves a civic purpose.

"Part of why we're here is to serve an audience," Rhodes said. "The audience has a greater interest in people who are more likely to succeed in the process. You could argue that's unfair because some of the people who are not successful today could become successful tomorrow, and that's true. But that's a challenge for these people ? not for us."

Networks usually have people backstage keeping track of how many questions are asked, often with stopwatches to measure airtime, said David Bohrman, president of Current TV and former CNN Washington bureau chief. If there was too much of an imbalance, he would try to get word to the moderator.

"You have to treat all of the candidates the same," said Sam Feist, CNN's current Washington bureau chief. "If you're going to invite them, you have to treat them the same, particularly with the fluidity of this race."

Except for some quick follow-up questions, moderators at recent debates aired on CNBC and Fox News Channel made a conscious effort to ask each candidate onstage to address one issue at the start of their debates. Fox said it tries to treat each candidate equally; NBC News would not discuss its debate policies.

An examination of transcripts for four debates (one each by CNN, CBS, Fox and CNBC) revealed that Romney, generally perceived as the campaign's front-runner, had the most questions addressed to him. He had 45, with Cain next at 37, Perry at 36 and Gingrich at 35. Santorum and Bachmann had 29 and Paul had 27. Huntsman did not participate in all four debates.

Even the networks that strive for some equality in asking questions can't guarantee equal time on camera. If one candidate specifically criticizes another in an answer, the victimized candidate is generally given rebuttal time. Organizers seem to relish when a couple of candidates go after one another and often let those exchanges play out.

"It's a vicious cycle," Bohrman said. "People who are more in the news have more to say and are paid more attention to, and they have even more to say."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_on_en_tv/us_tv_fair_debates

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DARPA aims to hear your fear in a crowd

Arshad Arbab / EPA

In this file photo locals topple over a burnt out car after a car bomb blast near a market in Peshawar, Pakistan. The U.S. military is working on technology to track down terrorists by listening for their heartbeats, even in a crowd.

By John Roach

You can run, you can hide, but the masterminds in the military's high-tech research arm have their eyes on a gadget that will allow them to hear your racing heart even as you try to get lost in a crowd.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency already has the technology to hear your heart as you crouch and cower in a dark corner across the room. Now the agency aims to increase its ability to do this at even greater distances, through walls ??and even hear and distinguish between multiple hearts at once.


The technology could help chase down terrorists who set off a bomb and then scatter into the fleeing crowd, for example. It could also help rescue victims trapped in the rubble from the explosion.

The goal of the agency's "Biometrics-at-a-distance" program is a technology that "can record human vital signs at a distance greater than 10 meters using non-line-of-sight and non-invasive or non-contact methods" and do this for up to 10 people at once.

The technology to do this, the agency suspects, is likely to build from electrocardiograms, which measure the heart's electrical activity. This is what doctors use, for example, to diagnose heart disease in people.

[Via Gizmodo]

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Source: http://futureoftech.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/21/8934288-darpa-aims-to-hear-your-fear-in-a-crowd

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