Poliovirus vaccine trial shows early promise for recurrent glioblastoma

May 21, 2013 ? An attack on glioblastoma brain tumor cells that uses a modified poliovirus is showing encouraging results in an early study to establish the proper dose level, researchers at Duke Cancer Institute report.

The treatment, developed at Duke and tested in an ongoing phase 1 study, capitalizes on the discovery that cancer cells have an abundance of receptors that work like magnets drawing the poliovirus, which then infects and kills the cells.

The investigational therapy, known as PVSRIPO, uses an engineered form of the virus that is lethal to cancer cells, while harmless to normal cells. Infused directly into the patient's tumor, the virus-based therapy also triggers the body's immune fighters to launch an attack against the infected tumor cells.

Preliminary data, presented at the upcoming 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, previews the results of seven patients enrolled in the study whose tumors reoccurred despite traditional treatments for glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and aggressive brain tumor.

Of the patients enrolled in the study, three have responded well to the drug. One patient remains disease-free 12 months after treatment, another 11 months post-treatment and the third is disease-free after five months. With traditional treatment, about half of glioblastoma patients see recurrent tumor growth within eight weeks.

Two patients in the study did not fair as well; one had recurrent tumor growth after two months, and another's condition declined after four months. The remaining two patients have been treated in the last three and two months, respectively, and currently remain disease free.

"These early results are intriguing," said Annick Desjardins, M.D., FRCPC, principal investigator and associate professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. "Current therapies for glioblastoma are limited because they cannot cross the blood-brain barrier and often do not specifically attack the tumor. This treatment appears to overcome those problems. We are eager to see additional results as we move forward with our study."

In addition to Desjardins, study authors include J. H. Sampson, K.B. Peters, T. Ranjan, G. Vlahovic, S. Threatt, J.E. Herndon II, A. Friedman, H.S. Friedman, D.D. Bigner and M. Gromeier.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/3Cp30KhVPpg/130521132122.htm

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How Telemedicine Has Already Surpassed Our Earliest Predictions

Today, remotely operated robot doctors are zipping around intensive care units while smartphone apps beam vital signs from ambulance to hospital. Telemedicine is the wave of the future, but you might be surprised to learn that it has been for nearly a century.

The biggest hurdle for diagnosing a patient from a distance has always been delivering useful information to people with the expertise to analyze the data. Older tech like the telephone might let you talk to a doctor in a far-off city so that you can describe your symptoms, but what if she wants to monitor your heart-rate or take an X-ray?

In 1924 the writers of Science and Invention magazine thought they'd found an answer.

The headline proclaimed, "Specialist Brought to Every Town," and promised that experts in every field of medicine would be able to diagnose disease from a control room far removed from their patients.

With the aid of electrical indicating devices, it is easily possible to transmit the findings of any disease over wires from one place to another with almost absolute accuracy. The ideas necessary are shown in the illustration herewith. A cardiograph is attached to the patient's two wrists and variations in the current can be made to register in the distant specialist's office. Respiration pressure is transmitted through a carbon rheostat, the same as is the case with the blood pressure. The heart tone is transmitted by a radio microphone, temperature through a thermocouple. An X-ray of the infected member is transmitted by television.

Just how futuristic were their predictions about treating patients in the future? Television wasn't even a practical reality in 1924. John Logie Baird made the first public demonstration of television the following year in 1925.

We've made stunning advancements in the way that specialists can reach people through telemedicine. Neurologists in New York are now treating Parkinson's patients from 150 miles away, SUVs are being outfitted with wireless tech to bring much needed medical care to rural parts of India, and laws are changing in places like Montana to ensure that health insurers reimburse for things like videoconference doctor's consultations.

But despite all the robo-doctors and heart apps, telemedicine is in many ways still in its infancy. With the increased stresses of an aging Boomer population and a dearth of medical professionals in rural areas, the future of remote diagnosis can't come soon enough.

Images: October 1924 issue of Science and Invention

Source: http://gizmodo.com/how-telemedicine-has-already-surpassed-our-earliest-pre-508890541

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Pentagon to take over some CIA drone operations : sources

By Tabassum Zakaria and Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's administration has decided to give the Pentagon control of some drone operations against terrorism suspects overseas that are currently run by the CIA, several U.S. government sources said on Monday.

Obama has pledged more transparency on controversial counterterrorism programs, and giving the Pentagon the responsibility for part of the drone program could open it to greater congressional oversight.

Obama will make a speech on Thursday at the National Defense University in Washington that will include discussion of the government's use of drones as a counterterrorism tool. It is unclear whether he will announce the drone program shift in that speech or separately.

Four U.S. government sources told Reuters that the decision had been made to shift the CIA's drone operations to the Pentagon, and some of them said it would occur in stages.

Drone strikes in Yemen, where the U.S. military already conducts operations with Yemeni forces, would be run by the armed forces, officials said.

But for the time-being U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan would continue to be conducted by the CIA to keep the program covert and maintain deniability for both the United States and Pakistan, several sources said.

Ultimately, however, the administration's goal would be to transfer the Pakistan drone operations to the military, one U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.

The internal debate within the administration about whether to switch control of drone strikes to the military has been going on for months. Obama is under heightened pressure to show that his administration is transparent, after a series of scandals about civil liberties and allegations of government overreach broke last week.

A White House National Security Council spokeswoman and a CIA spokeswoman each declined comment.

DECISION AFTER MONTHS OF DEBATE

One of the reasons to make the shift is that it would help the CIA to return to more traditional spying operations and intelligence analysis, rather than paramilitary operations involving killing terrorism targets, officials have said.

The U.S. military is not engaged in ground combat in Pakistan, where the population in tribal areas has been angered by drone strikes and governments do not want to acknowledge that they allow U.S. unmanned aircraft to operate.

But in Yemen, the same sensitivities do not exist because the U.S. military is working with Yemeni forces in counterterrorism operations and so drone strikes in Yemen will shift to the Pentagon, two sources said.

There have been 355 drone strikes in Pakistan and 66 in Yemen, according to a widely cited drone attack database run by the New America Foundation think tank. (Database: http://natsec.newamerica.net/)

The United States has also carried out drone strikes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and East Africa, some of them operated by the military.

The use of armed drones jumped in 2008 when President George W. Bush authorized the use of "signature" strikes, allowing the targeting of terrorism suspects based on behavior and other characteristics without knowing the targets' identities.

Rosa Brooks, a New America Foundation fellow and Georgetown University law professor, said the problem with the targeted killing program was "an assertion by the executive branch that it has this essentially unconstrained and unreviewable power to kill people."

Brooks, who previously served at the Pentagon, said she hoped that Obama would publicly release the legal justifications and analysis for the targeted killings overseas, including of U.S. citizens.

"I would also like to see the president say that we will acknowledge all strikes, that we will publicly report on identities of who was targeted, at least after the fact," she said.

(Editing by Alistair Bell and Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pentagon-over-cia-drone-operations-sources-013527563.html

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Early-life traffic-related air pollution exposure linked to hyperactivity

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Early-life exposure to traffic-related air pollution was significantly associated with higher hyperactivity scores at age 7, according to new research from the University of Cincinnati (UC) and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

The research is detailed in a study being published Tuesday, May 21, in Environmental Health Perspectives, a peer-reviewed open access journal published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, an institute within the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The research was conducted by faculty members from the UC College of Medicine's Department of Environmental Health in collaboration with Cincinnati Children's. Nicholas Newman, DO, director of the Pediatric Environmental Health and Lead Clinic at Cincinnati Children's, was the study's first author.

"There is increasing concern about the potential effects of traffic-related air pollution on the developing brain," Newman says. "This impact is not fully understood due to limited epidemiological studies.

"To our knowledge, this is the largest prospective cohort with the longest follow-up investigating early life exposure to traffic-related air pollution and neurobehavioral outcomes at school age." Scientists believe that early life exposures to a variety of toxic substances are important in the development of problems later in life.

Newman and his colleagues collected data on traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) from the Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study (CCAAPS), a long-term epidemiological study examining the effects of traffic particulates on childhood respiratory health and allergy development. Funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, CCAAPS is led by Grace LeMasters, PhD, of the environmental health department. Study participants?newborns in the Cincinnati metropolitan area from 2001 through 2003?were chosen based on family history and their residence being either near or far from a major highway or bus route.

Children were followed from infancy to age 7, when parents completed the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, 2nd Edition (BASC-2), assessing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related symptoms including attention problems, aggression, conduct problems and atypical behavior. Of the 762 children initially enrolled in the study, 576 were included in the final analysis at 7 years of age.

Results showed that children who were exposed to the highest third amount of TRAP during the first year of life were more likely to have hyperactivity scores in the "at risk" range when they were 7 years old. The "at risk" range for hyperactivity in children means that they need to be monitored carefully because they are at risk for developing clinically important symptoms.

"Several biological mechanisms could explain the association between hyperactive behaviors and traffic-related air pollution," Newman says, including narrowed blood vessels in the body and toxicity in the brain's frontal cortex.

Newman notes that the higher air pollution exposure was associated with a significant increase in hyperactivity only among those children whose mothers had greater than a high school education. Mothers with higher education may expect higher achievement, he says, affecting the parental report of behavioral concerns.

"The observed association between traffic-related air pollution and hyperactivity may have far-reaching implications for public health," Newman says, noting that studies have shown that approximately 11 percent of the U.S. population lives within 100 meters of a four-lane highway and that 40 percent of children attend school within 400 meters of a major highway.

"Traffic-related air pollution is one of many factors associated with changes in neurodevelopment, but it is one that is potentially preventable."

###

University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center: http://www.healthnews.uc.edu

Thanks to University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center for this article.

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

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128333/Early_life_traffic_related_air_pollution_exposure_linked_to_hyperactivity

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Why IRS investigation is already Obama's Watergate ? and Benghazi, too

Will Benghazi become President Obama's Watergate? Or perhaps the IRS scandal?

In a sense, they already have.

Watergate, of course, has become political parlance for any scandal that takes down a president. But it was also something that has become much more mundane ? something that has hit every two-term president since. It was a second-term scandal.

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President Regan had the Iran-Contra affair. President Clinton had the Monica Lewinsky scandal. President Bush had his vice president, Dick Cheney, embroiled in investigations over the public outing of a CIA agent, Valerie Plame.

Now, it seems, Mr. Obama is genuinely a part of the club, with allegations that the White House covered up the fact that the attack on a diplomatic outpost in Libya was terrorism, and that the IRS, on his watch, discriminated against conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.

The White House has said it did nothing wrong on Benghazi but simply released information as it was known. It also said Sunday that it had no knowledge of the IRS activities against tea party groups and others, and bristled at the idea of investigations swallowing Obama's second-term agenda.

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"What we're not going to participate in is partisan fishing expeditions designed to distract from the real issues at hand," said White House Senior Adviser Dan Pfeiffer on ABC's "This Week" Sunday.

What is it about second terms that get presidents into so much trouble? The fact that a first term preceded it. Presidential politics is rarely fluffy clouds and rainbows, and the massive American bureaucracy has never been likened to Swiss clockwork. Things go wrong, and (this being politics) that rarely leads to primetime presidential confessionals before Congress.

"What is it about presidents' second terms that makes them seem so scandal-ridden? Simple: The iron law of longevity," writes Doyle McManus in an opinion article for the Los Angeles Times. "All governments make mistakes, and all governments try to hide those mistakes. But the longer an administration is in office, the more errors it makes, and the harder they are to conceal."

Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth College, even has accompanying graphs to prove it. Once inaugural-year jitters are out of the way, the peak time for scandals during a president's career is the fifth year, he found by looking at data for when scandals were reported in The Washington Post.

"The Post data show an initially high risk of scandal as presidents try to find their footing and get their initial nominees confirmed followed by a decline in scandal risk through their second year. The likelihood of a scandal then increases again to a peak around their fifth year in office (for those who are re-elected) before declining by the end of their second term," he writes in a study released last Monday.

Yet time is just one factor in scandals, he suggests. Another powerful factor is how members of the opposition view a president. "The likelihood of scandal increases as the opposition base becomes more hostile to the administration," he writes.

In the current hyperpartisan era, it seems, second-term scandals have become almost an inevitability through a combustible mix of mistakes, secrets, egos, anger, and revenge.

Yet not all scandals are created equal.

Nate Silver at the FiveThirtyEight blog notes that the second-term curse is, to some degree, a creation of media perception. In other words, just because the media are covering it doesn't mean either that Americans are listening or certain to be outraged.

On one hand, he does note a second term effect: The average approval rating for the seven two-term presidents from Harry Truman to George W. Bush declines from 56 percent in the first year of the second term to 42 percent in the fourth year. But the decline is not universal.

For example, while Mr. Bush's approval rating plummeted from 45 percent in his fifth year to 28 percent in his eighth, Mr. Clinton's actually increased from 58 to 60 percent ? despite his impeachment by the House during the Lewinsky scandal. Likewise, while Mr. Reagan saw his approval decline from 60 to 52 percent from this fifth to eighth year, that 52 percent figure is higher than the average for his first term in office.

To some degree, approval depends on whether Americans think the opposition is reaching to create a scandal. For now, it appears that Americans have not yet decided what to make of Obama's "Watergates."

A Gallup poll released this weekend shows that Americans are not paying close attention to the scandals gripping Washington.

?Slim majorities of Americans are very or somewhat closely following the situations involving the Internal Revenue Service (54 percent) and the congressional hearings on the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and its aftermath (53 percent) ? well below the average for news stories Gallup has tracked over the years,? writes Frank Newport, Gallup?s editor-in-chief.

Yet the poll finds that wide majorities of respondents say the IRS and Benghazi allegations are ?serious enough to warrant continuing investigation? (74 percent for the IRS scandal and 69 percent for Benghazi).

In the middle is Obama himself. His approval rating ticked up slightly to 51 percent in the Gallup survey despite his tough week.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/why-irs-investigation-already-obamas-watergate-benghazi-too-201931814.html

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Beauty Foods: What You Eat Affects however You Look | Revista ...

We?ve all detected the recent saw, ?You square measure what you eat.? however what regarding the affiliation between your food and your face?

Most articles regarding nutrition concentrate on the role of your diet in maintaining optimum internal health and averting illness. as an example, several articles observe however the antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables will fight atom harm to your immune cells, your organs and your DNA.

Well guess what? identical phytochemicals, vitamins, nutrients and minerals that keep your insides within the pink square measure equally essential for clear skin, bright smiles, robust nails and clear eyes. If you would like to seem your absolute attractive best, keep these diet tips in mind:

* Antioxidants: Found in abundance in colourful fruits and vegetables, these nutrients facilitate combat signs of aging caused by the chemical reaction ? the rust, if you may, of our cells. Beauty foods that square measure potent sources of antioxidants include: pomegranates, prunes, Concord grape juice, blueberries, blackberries, purple cabbage, kale, national capital sprouts, dried plums, kiwis, raspberries, strawberries, raw spinach, oranges, apples and watercress.

* Essential fatty acids: bound unsaturated oils square measure referred to as ?essential? as a result of they have to be enclosed in our diet. EFAs, like omega-3 fatty acid and omega-6 fatty acid, might scale back inflammation which will clog skin and result in wrinkles. Sources embody food ? like salmon, sardines, trout and flounder ? further as almonds, walnuts and linseed.

* Avoid straightforward carbs: Some analysis suggests the hypoglycemic agent spike caused by straightforward carbohydrates, like bread, alimentary paste and sweets, might trigger a series of metabolic reactions which will result in breakouts.

* Maximize water, moderate alcohol: Water, and plenty of it, can facilitate keep your skin hydrous, whereas alcohol in way over one 4-ounce drink each day will dry it out. Also, some dermatologists say alcohol?s dilation of fragile facial capillaries will cause and exacerbate acne.

* Healthy fat: whereas it is often necessary to attenuate artery-clogging saturated fat, do not pull away from healthy monounsaturated fats, like vegetable oil and different liquid, plant-based oils that keep skin blended.

* victuals C: certify to conjointly feed your face with vitamin C to assist maintain albuminoid, the foremost necessary element of animal tissue contributive to the underlying foundation of your skin. the simplest sources of vitamin C includes citrus fruits and juices, broccoli, cauliflower, cantaloupe, strawberries, tomatoes, red peppers and inexperienced peas.

* Weight-loss bonus: Pound for pound, fruits and vegetables have fewer calories than different food teams. Plus, they need lots of fiber, thus they will assist you feel full. Such a fruit-and-vegetable-rich diet helps keep at bay cravings by guaranteeing the body gets the complete spectrum of nutrients, minerals, vitamins and phytochemicals it must operate.

Data from the National Weight management written account, that maintains records on quite three,000 people UN agency have had success heading off a minimum of thirty pounds, suggests that the winning diet for long weight loss may be a low-fat, complex-carb diet made in fruits and vegetables.

This information was recently strengthened by a global study, conducted by Northwestern University, assessing the diets of quite four,000 folks within the us, uk, Japan and China. The study found that, while not exception, a diet high in complicated carbohydrates, fiber and vegetable macromolecule was related to low body-mass index.

The bottom line is that there is nothing additional stunning than vivacious healthiness, and there is nothing healthier than a regime that has lots of exercise, rest, water, lean proteins, associated an abundance of fruits and vegetables.

Jennifer Grossman is that the director of the Dole Nutrition Institute. ? NU

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Source: http://revistawomenshealth.com/beauty/beauty-foods-eat-affects.html

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Teen?s device charges a phone in 20 seconds

>>> finally we've all been there. how about this, somewhere like here in hawaii and look down and only got one bar of batteries left on your cell phone . well if you're looking for a faster way to charge cell phones , the long wait may be over. apparently we've got an invention from an 18-year-old high school student from california, her name is eisha carr and she won $50,000 in an international science fair for inventing an energy storage device that fully charges in about 20 seconds. she calls it a super capacitor , and she has attracted the attention of google, apparently they've been in contact with her about that invention. maybe they'll pay her $1 billion something.

>> that's unbelievable. good for her.

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In first trip abroad, Chinese premier visits India

In an effort to expand economic cooperation and resolve a border dispute, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived in India Sunday, his first trip abroad since taking office in March.

By Ashok Sharma,?Associated Press / May 19, 2013

Chinese Premiere Li Keqiang waves as he is received by Indian Junior Minister for External Affairs, E. Ahamed, (l.), after he arrives in New Delhi, India, Sunday. Just weeks after a tense border standoff, China's new premier arrived in India on Sunday for his first foreign trip as the neighboring giants look to speed up efforts to settle a decades-old boundary dispute and boost economic ties.

Saurabh Das/AP

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Just weeks after a tense border standoff, China's new premier headed to India on Sunday for his first foreign trip as the neighboring giants look to speed up efforts to settle a decades-old boundary dispute and boost economic ties.

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China says Premier Li Keqiang's choice of India for his first trip abroad since taking office in March shows the importance Beijing attaches to improving relations with New Delhi.

"We think very highly of this gesture because it is our view that high-level political exchanges between our two countries are an important aspect and vehicle for our expanded cooperation," said India's external affairs ministry spokesman, Syed Akbaruddin.

Jasjit Singh, a defense analyst and director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in New Delhi, said last month's border standoff was unlikely to overshadow Li's three-day visit to India, which kicks off a foreign tour that will also see Li visiting Pakistan, Switzerland and Germany.

Singh said Indian and Chinese leaders were likely to review border talks that have failed to produce a breakthrough in the past 10 years despite 15 rounds of discussions. The two sides also will probably discuss working together in Afghanistan after next year's U.S. pullout and cooperating with Southeast Asian countries, he said.

But tensions run high between the two nations. China already sees itself as Asia's great power, while India hopes its increasing economic and military might ? though still far below its neighbor's ? will eventually put it in the same league.

While China has worked to shore up relationships with Nepal and Sri Lanka in India's traditional South Asian sphere of influence, India has been venturing into partnerships with Southeast Asian nations.

Other irritants remain in the bilateral relationship. China is a longtime ally and weapons supplier to Pakistan, India's bitter rival. Also, the presence in India of the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile is a source of tension. China accuses the Dalai Lama of wanting to split Tibet off from the rest of China, but he says he seeks real autonomy for Tibetans, not independence.

Unresolved border issues between the two nations have flared as well.

In last month's incident, India claimed that Chinese troops crossed the countries' de facto border April 15 and pitched camp in the Depsang valley in the Ladakh region of eastern Kashmir. New Delhi responded with diplomatic protests, then moved its soldiers just 300 meters (yards) from the Chinese position.

The two sides negotiated a peaceful end to the standoff by withdrawing troops to their original positions in the Ladakh area.

Gautam Bambawale, a senior Indian external affairs ministry official, said India and China were negotiating a Border Defense Cooperation Agreement, but declined to give details. Indian media reports said the agreement proposes a freezing of troop levels of the two countries in the disputed border region as they make efforts to settle the issue.

Bambawale also said Indian and Chinese officials recently held talks in Beijing on the future of Afghanistan. China, India and Russia have trilaterally discussed the matter with the idea of giving full support to Afghanistan's government as it makes the transition following the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 2014.

Shortly after his arrival in the Indian capital of New Delhi late Sunday afternoon, Li is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who will host a dinner for him. Delegation-level talks between the two sides are scheduled for Monday. Li will attend a business summit in Mumbai, India's financial capital, among other activities.

The border spat last month saw the Indian opposition and the media put pressure on the government to take on China and call off Li's visit. The government, however, chose to go ahead with the trip, highlighting its policy of trying to widen areas of cooperation with China while attempting to resolve key differences.

China has become India's biggest trading partner, with two-way trade jumping from $5 billion in 2002 to nearly $75 billion in 2011, although that figure declined to $61.5 billion last year because of the global economic downturn. Trade remains heavily skewed in China's favor, another source of concern for India.

"After Depsang, the loudest voices have warned of evils to come," K.S. Bajpai, a retired diplomat, wrote in an article in the Indian Express daily. "Whether commonalities on global issues like the WTO (World Trade Organization), or climate change, or even greater economic ties, can bind us in amity, or at least prevent the worst, remain debatable, but the attempt would certainly serve our interests, provided we also gear ourselves up."

Asian giants with more than 1 billion people each, India and China have had chilly relations since they fought a brief but bloody border war in 1962.

India says China is occupying 15,000 square miles of territory in the Aksai Chin plateau in the western Himalayas, while China claims around 35,000 square miles in India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. Fifteen rounds of talks have failed to resolve the dispute.

Li will leave India on Wednesday morning and head to close Chinese ally Pakistan before traveling to Switzerland and Germany on visits tightly focused on economic ties.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/q-bl48KVFBM/In-first-trip-abroad-Chinese-premier-visits-India

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Trainers wanted!

You wanna be the very best? Like no one ever was? To catch them is your real test and is to train them is your cause?

Well then come on and check out the Secret Ranch!

And don't worry we will accept trouble! But only if we make it double!

We also are accepting a man who seems to forget his own grandsons last name!

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Trainers wanted!

You wanna be the very best? Like no one ever was? To catch them is your real test and is to train them is your cause?

Well then come on and check out the Secret Ranch!

And don't worry we will accept trouble! But only if we make it double!

We also are accepting a man who seems to forget his own grandsons last name!

roleplay/kantos-secret-ranch

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Lawyer for accused singer: steroids had ill effect

VISTA, Calif. (AP) ? The lawyer for a California heavy metal singer accused of trying to hire someone to kill his estranged wife says the singer's mind has been ravaged by steroid use.

U-T San Diego (http://bit.ly/16EWVKZ) reports that the detail came to light during a Friday hearing for 32-year-old Timothy Lambesis, who has pleaded not guilty to solicitation for murder. A judge at the hearing reduced Lambesis' bail from $3 million to $2 million.

Prosecutors say Lambesis, frontman for Grammy-winning band "As I Lay Dying," paid $1,000 cash to an undercover detective posing as a hitman and gave instructions on how best to kill his wife.

Lambesis' attorney Thomas Warwick said in court that his client had gotten into body building and steroid use. He said Lambesis' thoughts were "devastatingly affected" by the drugs.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lawyer-accused-singer-steroids-had-ill-effect-041918206.html

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Japan PM sets targets in latest growth strategy tranche

By Kaori Kaneko

TOKYO (Reuters) - The latest tranche of Japan's growth strategy will aim to triple infrastructure exports and double farm exports by 2020, as well as boost private investment, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday.

The government will set a target for domestic private-sector investment of 70 trillion yen ($687 billion) annually, Abe said in a speech to business executives and academics, the level before the 2008 financial crisis and up about 10 percent from the current figure.

Measures to promote growth constitute what Abe calls the "third arrow" in his policy quiver as Japan battles to end 15 years of deflation and generate sustainable economic growth. The first two arrows of "Abenomics" are massive monetary easing and a burst of government spending.

Abe has promised that structural reform including deregulation will be a key part of the package of steps, to be fully unveiled in June. But it also includes a significant role for government in generating investment and innovation in key sectors, a stance some critics see as outdated and ill-advised.

The monetary and fiscal stimulus already sparked Japan's fastest economic growth in a year in the first quarter, but corporate investment has yet to follow suit.

Promising to be a "top salesman" for Japanese infrastructure exports, Abe vowed to promote private-sector investment at home and asked corporate Japan to do its bit to pass on the benefits of "Abenomics".

"The government will broadly implement a growth strategy starting with making it easier to invest, and I would like you business executives to pass on the fruits of this to working people in the form of jobs and compensation," he said.

Politicians in Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) worry that, while share prices are up and the yen's value is down, boosting corporate profits, Japanese households have yet to see the benefits in the form of higher wages, although prices are starting to rise.

Abe, who took office in December after a big LDP election win, has said he wants to unveil the growth strategy before a June 17-18 Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland. That would also come ahead of a July upper house election his party needs to win to cement its grip on power and set the stage for a long-term government.

JAPAN AS NUMBER ONE

Noting Japan's economy has begun to show signs of recovery, Abe reiterated his pledge to free the economy from the "spell" of prolonged deflation and lost confidence.

"This is an era in which you cannot survive tough competition unless you are No. 1 globally," he said, promising that the government would make it easier for companies to invest on a scale needed to compete with foreign rivals.

Abe said the growth strategy would focus intensively on boosting domestic private investment over the next three years, triple infrastructure exports by 2020 and double farm, fisheries and marine exports to 1 trillion yen by the same date.

In a nod to the farm lobby, which was upset by Abe's March decision to join talks on the U.S.-led Transpacific Trade Partnership free-trade pact, Abe also pledged to double farmers' income over the next 10 years. That would ease the pain of scrapping the high tariffs that currently protect many farmers.

Abe also said the growth strategy would aim to boost the number of annual foreign visitors to Japan to 20 million a year from about 8 million now and triple the overseas sales of "Cool Japan" content such as anime in five years.

Experts have said policy measures announced so far contain some positive steps but fall short of a sweeping overhaul of Japan-style capitalism with "Big Bang" deregulation.

Among the areas where the final package is expected to fall short are steps to free up Japan's rigid labor market to make it easier for firms to shed dying businesses, improvements in corporate governance, and addressing the touchy question of immigration to make up for Japan's shrinking population.

($1 = 101.9600 Japanese yen)

(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/japan-pm-sets-targets-latest-growth-strategy-tranche-095919014.html

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CA-NEWS Summary

Rome protest turns up heat on new PM Letta

ROME (Reuters) - Thousands of people protested in Rome on Saturday against austerity policies and high unemployment, urging new Prime Minister Enrico Letta to focus on creating jobs to help pull the country out of recession. "We hope that this government will finally start listening to us because we are losing our patience," said Enzo Bernardis, who joined the sea of protesters waving red flags and calling for more workers' rights and better contracts.

North Korea fires three short-range missiles

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired three short-range missiles from its east coast on Saturday, South Korea's Defense Ministry said, but the purpose of the launches was unknown. Launches by the North of short-term missiles are not uncommon, but the ministry would not speculate whether these latest launches were part of a test or training exercise.

France's Hollande signs gay marriage law

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande has signed into law a bill allowing same-sex marriage, making France the 14th country to legalize gay weddings. France's official journal announced on Saturday the bill had become law after the Constitutional Council gave it the go-ahead on Friday.

Eight killed, 10 policemen kidnapped in Iraq's Sunni heartland

RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - Suspected Sunni Muslim militants killed four state-backed Sunni fighters in Iraq on Saturday, security sources said, apparently viewing them as collaborators with the Shi'ite-led government of a nation plagued by sectarian hatred. Sunni-Shi'ite tensions in Iraq have been amplified by the conflict between mostly Sunni rebels and President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite-dominated forces in neighboring Syria.

Enraged by kidnapping, Egyptian police block Gaza border

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian police angered by the kidnapping of seven colleagues by Islamist gunmen kept a crossing into the Gaza Strip closed again on Saturday, stranding hundreds of Palestinian travelers, witnesses said. The protest began on Friday when police strung barbed wire across the Rafah border post and chained up the gates, local residents said, a day after the abductions.

Germany's Merkel visits Pope, urges tougher market controls

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Pope Francis on Saturday and, apparently responding to his criticism of a heartless "dictatorship of the economy", called for stronger regulation of financial markets. On Thursday, Francis appealed in a speech for world financial reform, saying the global economic crisis had made life worse for millions in rich and poor countries.

Switzerland close to deal in U.S. tax dispute: finance minister

ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland is on the brink of a deal to settle a long-running dispute with U.S. authorities over Swiss banks accused of helping wealthy Americans evade billions of dollars of tax, the finance minister said on Saturday. "We hope that we will shortly be at the finishing line," Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf told Swiss radio in an interview. "The banks won't get it for nothing."

France gets Pentagon backing to buy U.S.-made drones: paper

PARIS (Reuters) - France has received approval from the U.S. Pentagon to buy two Reaper drones for intelligence gathering, and now only needs backing from Congress, Le Monde newspaper said on Saturday. With its current hardware increasingly outdated, France is urgently trying to build up a modern fleet of drones for surveillance operations in countries such as Mali.

Nigerian military says 10 rebels killed, 65 arrested

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's military said on Saturday it had killed 10 insurgents and arrested 65 as part of an offensive meant to wrest back control of parts of its remote northeast from an Islamist group seen as the main security threat to Africa's top oil producer. A spokesman for Defence Headquarters also said the military had seized stockpiles of weapons including rocket-propelled grenades, guns and ammunition from areas around Maiduguri, the main city in the northeast.

Supporters and opponents of Ukraine president clash in Kiev

KIEV (Reuters) - Supporters and opponents of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich scuffled as both sides held large rallies in the capital Kiev on Saturday, police and local media said. A dozen young men hurled stones and plastic water bottles at opposition supporters and were then pushed away by police in riot gear, television footage showed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-003416837.html

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Israel warns against Russian arms supply to Syria

By Maayan Lubell

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said on Saturday that advanced weapons supplied by Russia to war-torn Syria could end up in the wrong hands and be used against the Jewish state.

A Russian shipment of Yakhont anti-ship missiles to Syria was condemned by the United States on Friday and Israel is also alarmed by the prospect of Russia supplying S-300 advanced air defense missile systems to Damascus.

While Israel has declined to take sides in the civil war between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebels trying to topple him, Western and Israeli sources say it has launched air strikes inside Syria in a bid to destroy weapons it believes are destined for the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni told Army Radio: "(Weapons) could reach others in Syria or Lebanon and be used against Israel."

"These are not just any weapons, they are tie-breakers, and that's why there is a responsibility with all world powers, certainly Russia, not to supply such arms," Livni said, adding that Israel had the right to defend itself.

Israel has neither denied nor confirmed reports that it attacked Iranian-supplied missiles stored near Damascus this month that it believed were awaiting delivery to Hezbollah, an Assad ally which fought a war with Israel in 2006.

Senior Israeli defense official Amos Gilad said the S-300 and the Yakhont would likely end up with Hezbollah and threaten both Israel and U.S. forces in the Gulf.

"If Hezbollah and Iran are supporting Syria and propping the (Assad) regime up, then why shouldn't it transfer those weapons to Hezbollah? You don't even have to be an intelligence expert, it makes sense that they will," Gilad told Channel Two television's Meet the Press.

In comments to Israel Radio on Friday, Gilad said: "If you ask the Russians if these weapons will be passed on to Hezbollah, they will say: 'No, that is against Russian law.' But it's not certain that Russian law is something they will respect. So if Hezbollah can put its hands on them, it will."

The two-year-old civil war in Syria between Assad's forces and rebel fighters has killed at least 80,000 people and driven 1.5 million abroad.

(Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-warns-against-russian-arms-supply-syria-185855539.html

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Watch an Epic Optimus Painting Come To Life In This Amazing Timelapse

Robert Burden, an artist living in San Francisco, has an affinity for immortalizing his favorite childhood action figures as gigantic oil paintings that makes them seem larger than life. His latest piece, The Autobot, which gives Optimus Prime the glory he so readily deserves, took over 1,000 hours to complete. And thankfully for us, Robert captured the entire process in an awesome two and a half minute timelapse.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/0ONWHrCYVBI/watch-an-epic-optimus-painting-come-to-life-in-this-ama-508222316

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Bazinga! Sheldon's best 'Big Bang' finale lines

TV

Anna Chan TODAY

1 hour ago

CBS

The gang dines and discusses throwing a party for Leonard.

Live long and prosper, Leonard Hofstadter! OK, that may be a little bit of a dramatic farewell, but the gang of "The Big Bang Theory" did say goodbye to him on Thursday's season finale -- though it was just a temporary adios.

As the sixth season of CBS' hit comedy came to a close, the experimental physicist (Johnny Galecki) left to join Stephen Hawking's team on the North Sea for a few months, and naturally, the gang had to throw a farewell party for their pal. But at the shindig, Raj (Kunal Nayyar) was dumped via text by his new lady friend. (Beats getting dumped on a Post-It note, right?!) As sad as that was, it led the tongue-tied astrophysicist to discover that he no longer needed alcohol to talk to women. Good for Raj, bad for the girls. (As Amy said so succinctly in the closing moments, "Does he ever shut up?!")

Though the zingers came fast and furiously from many of the core characters throughout the episode, it was -- as usual -- Sheldon (Jim Parsons) who delivered the best. (Anything else would defy logic, as Sheldon might say.) Here are some of our favorites:

• "I used to be uncomfortable around people, then I learned a trick: I pretend everyone I meet is a beloved character from 'Star Trek.' ... (It's) working like a charm, unnamed crewman in a red shirt!" -- to Leonard, while lunching with the guys.
• "Should a guy with no name and a red shirt really go on an expedition?!" -- to Leonard, after hearing about his opportunity to join the North Sea expedition.
• "No one asked you, Uhura!" -- to Raj, after Raj chimed in on Leonard's big opportunity.
• "Leonard you?re being selfish. We need to give you a send-off so we'll have closure when you die at sea and crabs eat your face." -- while discussing Leonard's party during dinner with the gang at home.
• "It?s not that big of an opportunity. Even if Hawking's theories are correct, all they prove is where the universe came from, why everything exists and what its ultimate end will be. Me? I?m interested in the big questions!" -- to Penny, while shopping for Leonard's going-away party.
• "I?m not jealous. I?m just very unhappy that things are happening for him and not happening for me!" -- againto Penny, while shopping for Leonard's going-away party.

• "It did not kill me when you went to space. MONKEYS went to space!" -- to Howard (Simon Helberg), who said it must've killed Sheldon when Howard went to the International Space Station at the end of season five.
• "Penny, we?re in the red zone. You see, the white zone is for loading and unloading. We?re breaking the law. ... OK, you have to get out of the car right now. I?m not going to jail for you. ... Oh dear lord, a police officer glancing in our direction. We?ve been made! Don?t worry, officer, they just love each other, we?re not smuggling drugs!" -- while with Penny, dropping off Leonard at the airport and apparently parked illegally.
  

What was your favorite line from Sheldon? What did you think of the finale? Share your thoughts by clicking on "Talk about it" below!

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/bazinga-sheldons-best-lines-big-bang-theorys-season-finale-1C9965348

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Cook rubbishes complacency talks ahead of New Zealand series ...

Cook rubbishes complacency talks ahead of New Zealand series ? Cricket News Update

England skipper Alastair Cook, on Wednesday said that they will not take New Zealand as an easy opposition in the just to begin two-match Test series, commencing at Lord?s on Thursday, May 16, 2013.

Cook and Co was accused of complacency during their trip to New Zealand in March this year, where they failed to win even a single match in the three-Test series, despite being the favourites, finishing the series 0-0. Cook, however, did not agree that his side took the Black Caps lightly in that series, though he agreed they had not played as well as they could have.

?I don't think we were complacent at all,? Cook said at a pre-match press conference on Wednesday.?

?I don't think anyone who saw our build-up, or was involved in our build-up, would. I don't think there was complacency around, but we didn't play as well as we could have done: that's the bottom line,? insisted the home skipper.

The left-handed top order batsman also urged his players to be at their best in the just to begin two-Test home series against Brendon McCullum and Co.

?I think every Test series you play for England is a hugely important series, it doesn't matter what has gone before,? said the 28-year-old Gloucestershire batsman.

?We are fully focused on these two weeks of Test cricket versus New Zealand. We have to be at our best to win,? he added further.

Cook, who took over as England?s Test skipper in September last year, after Andrew Strauss retired from international cricket, was also happy to see ace spinner Graeme Swann and right-arm medium pacer Tim Bresnan returning to the squad for the New Zealand series, and hoped the duo?s return will give England?s bowling attack a cutting edge which they lacked during their trip to New Zealand.

Both Swann and Bresnan underwent elbow surgeries earlier this year, and were last declared fit for the opening Test against the Black Caps.

?It's great to have Graeme fully fit after his elbow surgery; you want your best players available,? said Cook, a veteran of 64 One Day Internationals.

?It's obviously great to have Bressie back. His elbow surgery has gone well. ?I think you miss every experienced player who doesn't play. You can't buy experience,? concluded the English skipper.

The first Test of the two match series will be played at Lord?s from May 16 to 20, while the second five-dayer will be hosted by Leeds from May 24.

Source: http://blogs.bettor.com/Cook-rubbishes-complacency-talks-ahead-of-New-Zealand-series-Cricket-News-Update-a215375

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Paleontology: The eloquence of the otoliths

Public release date: 16-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Luise Dirscherl
dirscherl@lmu.de
49-892-180-2706
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt Mnchen

Fish fossils that are about 23 million years old give unprecedented insight into the evolutionary history of the gobioid order, one of the most species-rich groups among the modern bony fishes.

Researchers led by paleontologist Professor Bettina Reichenbacher from the Division of Paleontology and Geobiology at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich / Germany have completed a comprehensive analysis of fish fossils which they assign to the group of bony fishes that includes the gobies. Their results, which have just appeared in the journal PLOS ONE, provide new insights into the evolutionary history of these fish and also have implications for their taxonomy.

The fossil material examined is unusually well preserved. "This has allowed us to describe a gobioid fossil in greater detail than ever before," says Reichenbacher. Indeed, the authors of the new study have been able to show that the fossil species concerned does not belong to the true gobies at all, in contrast to what earlier investigators had concluded. It is a member of an enigmatic family now known as the Butidae. Until very recently Butidae had been classified among the sleeper gobies. The family is now recognized as a separate clade, whose members are found in tropical river systems of Africa, Madagascar, Asia and Australia. Furthermore, no fossil specimens that could be attributed to this family have been identified until now. Indeed, datable gobioid fossils are comparatively rare in the fossil record. Since fossils of known age provide chronological markers of phylogeny, this has hampered understanding of the evolutionary history of this highly successful group of fishes.

The signature ear-stones

The new description published by the LMU team, in collaboration with a group of French researchers, is based on material that was discovered in the South of France and made available for study by the Cuvier Museum in Montbliard. The specimens were excavated from sediments that had been laid down in a shallow lagoon near the coast of the Tethys Sea, the precursor of the modern Mediterranean, towards the end of the Oligocene epoch, around 23 million years ago. Among the many unusual features of the find is the fact that the otoliths (also known as ear-stones), which are small calcified particles that form part of the balance organs in the inner ear of bony fish, are perfectly preserved. Reichenbacher, who specializes in the analysis of fossil otoliths, explains the significance of this: "Otoliths are made up of the mineral aragonite, together with a minor fraction of organic material. What makes them of such interest for us is that they can be read like a genetic code. Otoliths allow us to deduce what sort of fish they belonged to, even if nothing else has survived," she says. This is why the ear-stones play such a crucial role in studies of the paleontology, evolutionary history and biodiversity of the teleosts.

The otoliths revealed to the researchers that the fossils did not actually belong among the true gobies, but should be assigned to either the sleeper gobies or the butids. "Among the skeletal elements of the fossils, we then identified other traits that confirmed this assessment and enabled us to place the species among the butids," says doctoral student Christoph Gierl, who analyzed the structural anatomy of the skull and the dorsal and pelvic fins.

This is the first butid fossil to be found anywhere. Interestingly, no members of the Butidae are found in European waters today. The new findings show that, back in the Oligocene, butids were distributed in estuaries and lagoons around the Tethys and the Paratethys (the remnant sea to the northeast that was cut off from the rest of the Tethys Sea, today's Mediterranean, when the Alps were formed), which were then located in subtropical latitudes. The family vanished from these waters during the Early Miocene, about 22 million years ago. "They were probably displaced by true gobies that were more adaptable," says Reichenbacher.

The researchers expect that their study will lead to a better picture of the evolutionary history of the gobioids as a whole. "Our results also demonstrate that otoliths can play a much greater role in the classification of gobioids than has previously been appreciated," Bettina Reichenbacher concludes.

###

---

[ | 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: 16-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Luise Dirscherl
dirscherl@lmu.de
49-892-180-2706
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt Mnchen

Fish fossils that are about 23 million years old give unprecedented insight into the evolutionary history of the gobioid order, one of the most species-rich groups among the modern bony fishes.

Researchers led by paleontologist Professor Bettina Reichenbacher from the Division of Paleontology and Geobiology at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich / Germany have completed a comprehensive analysis of fish fossils which they assign to the group of bony fishes that includes the gobies. Their results, which have just appeared in the journal PLOS ONE, provide new insights into the evolutionary history of these fish and also have implications for their taxonomy.

The fossil material examined is unusually well preserved. "This has allowed us to describe a gobioid fossil in greater detail than ever before," says Reichenbacher. Indeed, the authors of the new study have been able to show that the fossil species concerned does not belong to the true gobies at all, in contrast to what earlier investigators had concluded. It is a member of an enigmatic family now known as the Butidae. Until very recently Butidae had been classified among the sleeper gobies. The family is now recognized as a separate clade, whose members are found in tropical river systems of Africa, Madagascar, Asia and Australia. Furthermore, no fossil specimens that could be attributed to this family have been identified until now. Indeed, datable gobioid fossils are comparatively rare in the fossil record. Since fossils of known age provide chronological markers of phylogeny, this has hampered understanding of the evolutionary history of this highly successful group of fishes.

The signature ear-stones

The new description published by the LMU team, in collaboration with a group of French researchers, is based on material that was discovered in the South of France and made available for study by the Cuvier Museum in Montbliard. The specimens were excavated from sediments that had been laid down in a shallow lagoon near the coast of the Tethys Sea, the precursor of the modern Mediterranean, towards the end of the Oligocene epoch, around 23 million years ago. Among the many unusual features of the find is the fact that the otoliths (also known as ear-stones), which are small calcified particles that form part of the balance organs in the inner ear of bony fish, are perfectly preserved. Reichenbacher, who specializes in the analysis of fossil otoliths, explains the significance of this: "Otoliths are made up of the mineral aragonite, together with a minor fraction of organic material. What makes them of such interest for us is that they can be read like a genetic code. Otoliths allow us to deduce what sort of fish they belonged to, even if nothing else has survived," she says. This is why the ear-stones play such a crucial role in studies of the paleontology, evolutionary history and biodiversity of the teleosts.

The otoliths revealed to the researchers that the fossils did not actually belong among the true gobies, but should be assigned to either the sleeper gobies or the butids. "Among the skeletal elements of the fossils, we then identified other traits that confirmed this assessment and enabled us to place the species among the butids," says doctoral student Christoph Gierl, who analyzed the structural anatomy of the skull and the dorsal and pelvic fins.

This is the first butid fossil to be found anywhere. Interestingly, no members of the Butidae are found in European waters today. The new findings show that, back in the Oligocene, butids were distributed in estuaries and lagoons around the Tethys and the Paratethys (the remnant sea to the northeast that was cut off from the rest of the Tethys Sea, today's Mediterranean, when the Alps were formed), which were then located in subtropical latitudes. The family vanished from these waters during the Early Miocene, about 22 million years ago. "They were probably displaced by true gobies that were more adaptable," says Reichenbacher.

The researchers expect that their study will lead to a better picture of the evolutionary history of the gobioids as a whole. "Our results also demonstrate that otoliths can play a much greater role in the classification of gobioids than has previously been appreciated," Bettina Reichenbacher concludes.

###

---

[ | 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/2013-05/lm-pte051613.php

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Documents: Ricin letters suspect evaded police

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) ? The man suspected of sending poison-laced letters to President Barack Obama and other officials appears to have attempted to evade law enforcement just days before his arrest, according to FBI documents made public Thursday.

James Everett Dutschke, 41, was arrested April 27 at his home in Tupelo, Miss., and charged with making ricin, the same substance mailed on April 8 to Obama, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Lee County, Miss., Justice Court Judge Sadie Holland.

FBI applications for warrants for Dutschke's phones, dated April 25, were made public Thursday when they were filed in U.S. District Court in Oxford.

The documents say that at about 3:30 a.m. on April 24, Dutschke and his wife got into their green minivan and went to two different banks where they appeared to be drawing money from ATMs.

After they went home, Dutschke waved at the surveillance team that was tracking him. When the team re-positioned its vehicles, the van left and wasn't found until that afternoon at Dutschke's former martial arts studio, the documents say.

Later that night, at about 8 p.m., Dutschke "appeared to attempt to elude law enforcement" when he crouched in the backseat of a friend's truck and hid under blankets.

Dutschke and his friend drove "an evasive route" that took two hours to go 22 miles to a house in Mantachie, Miss., the documents said. Dutschke slipped away, prompting a search by law enforcement on the ground and by air, the county sheriff said at the time.

Dutschke (pronounced DUHS'-kee) was located the next day about 70 miles away in Ashland, Miss., but it's not clear how he got there, the FBI documents say.

A friend of Dutschke's, Kirk Kitchens, told The Associated Press on April 25 that he helped Dutschke sneak off, but Kitchens insisted he was only helping Dutschke get away from the news media, not law enforcement.

Kitchens said he drove Dutschke to Kitchens' parents' house in Mantachie then helped him slip out the back door, through the woods and to a rendezvous point where someone else picked him up.

"I just helped him get out of the spotlight," Kitchens said at the time.

But the FBI asked later that day for permission to track the location of cellphones belonging to Dutschke and his wife in case agents needed to find them at "any time of day or night."

Dutschke, a former martial arts instructor, has unsuccessfully run for public offices, including a 2007 challenge of Holland's son, Democratic state Rep. Steve Holland. Dutschke is being held without bond pending the action of a grand jury. He has denied any involvement in the letters.

Authorities say a dust mask that he removed from his former martial arts studio and dumped in a trash can down the street tested positive for ricin and the DNA of two people, including Dutschke.

Dutschke is the second person to be charged in the case. The first, Elvis impersonator Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, was arrested on April 17, but the charges were dropped six days later. After his arrest, Curtis said he was framed and gave investigators Dutschke's name as someone who could have sent the letters, according to court records.

Curtis said he knows Dutschke and they feuded over the years.

An FBI agent testified at a preliminary that Dutschke used the Internet to make three purchases of castor beans, from which ricin is derived, and researched how to make it.

The FBI has not revealed details about how lethal the ricin was. A Senate official has said the ricin was not weaponized, meaning it wasn't in a form that could easily enter the body. If inhaled, ricin can cause respiratory failure, among other symptoms. No antidote exists.

Dutschke faces up to life in prison if convicted in the ricin case. He's also facing unrelated charges of child molestation.

___

Follow Mohr at http://twitter.com/holbrookmohr

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/documents-ricin-letters-suspect-evaded-police-171031213.html

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Grizzlies go from uncertain future to West finals

Memphis Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins gestures during the second half of Game 5 of their Western Conference Semifinals NBA basketball playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. Memphis won 88-84. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Memphis Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins gestures during the second half of Game 5 of their Western Conference Semifinals NBA basketball playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. Memphis won 88-84. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Memphis Grizzlies Marc Gasol shoots as Oklahoma City Thunder's Kevin Durant defends during the second half of Game 5 of their Western Conference Semifinals NBA basketball playoff series in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. Memphis won 88-84. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Memphis Grizzlies Marc Gasol reacts to a call against him during a play against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second half of Game 5 of their Western Conference Semifinals NBA basketball playoff series in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. Memphis won 88-84. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Scott Brooks reacts during the second half of Game 5 of their Western Conference Semifinals NBA basketball playoff series in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. Memphis won 88-84. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka (9), guard Thabo Sefolosha (2) and center Hasheem Thabeet (34) watch from the bench during the second half of Game 5 of their Western Conference Semifinals NBA basketball playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. Memphis won 88-84. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) ? Midway through the season, the Memphis Grizzlies came through Oklahoma City and left with questions swirling about the franchise's future after leading scorer Rudy Gay was traded away in the club's second big deal in just over a week.

Months later, the Grizzlies left town with a far different feeling.

Memphis is headed to the Western Conference finals for the first time in franchise history after beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 88-84 on Wednesday night, finishing off the second-round series in five games.

Not bad for a team that seemed to be slashing salary in a bid to stay competitive for years to come.

"We were struggling that day, obviously," said point guard Mike Conley, who had 13 points and 11 assists in Game 5. "We thought we lost a family member in Rudy here in Oklahoma City. We played the game with seven players and got blown out. We didn't know what to expect the rest of the year, but we pulled it together.

"Somehow we pulled it together, we trusted each other, we just played as hard as we could and now we're one step closer to getting where we want to go."

There have been some giant leaps in the past four years.

Back in 2009, the Grizzlies were finishing off a miserable three-year run ? twice winning 22 games and then 24 ? before hiring Lionel Hollins as coach. Before 2011, the team had never even won a playoff game. And before this current run, it only won one playoff series.

But there's no sense of satisfaction for just making it this far.

"We're trying to do something really special. We want to go as far as we can go," Hollins said. "To get there, we had to get through Oklahoma City. And now, we have to get through either Golden State or San Antonio to get further."

The West finals will start no earlier than Sunday, and Hollins said players would have the day off Thursday before returning Friday to work toward making even more history.

"This is the first time, so it definitely means a lot. I'm happy, but we've still got work to do," said All-Star power forward Zach Randolph, who had 28 points and 14 rebounds in the clincher. "I want to win a ring."

It hasn't been easy getting this far.

The Grizzlies rebounded from the emotional blow of losing Gay and reserves Marreese Speights, Wayne Ellington, Josh Selby and Hamed Haddadi to earn the fifth seed in the West, then fell behind the Los Angeles Clippers 2-0 in the first round of the playoffs.

Memphis reeled off four straight wins to advance, then did it again after losing Game 1 to the Thunder.

It was a series filled with games that went down to the wire, and the finale fit right in ? even though the Thunder trailed by 12 with 3 minutes left. Oklahoma City came back with a 16-6 rally, and Reggie Jackson's 3-pointer cut the deficit to 86-84 with 14.3 seconds remaining.

Randolph missed two free throws with 11.3 seconds on the clock to give the Thunder one last chance to save their season. Durant got the ball beyond the 3-point line on the left wing and navigated around Tony Allen before missing a 16-foot jumper with 6 seconds left.

He ended up 5 for 21 from the field, the third-worst shooting performance in his playoff career.

"I gave it all I had for my team. I left it all out there on the floor," said Durant, who scored 21 points and committed three of his seven turnovers in the fourth quarter. "I missed 16 shots, but I kept fighting, I kept being aggressive. That's all I can ask for."

Durant was the hero in Game 1, hitting six of nine shots in the fourth quarter, including the go-ahead jumper with 11.1 seconds left. After that, Hollins started including Tony Allen ? the top vote-getter for the NBA's all-defensive team ? among those guarding Durant. The three-time scoring champion's effectiveness declined as the series progressed.

"They had to play him and he had to be the go-to guy, and we knew that," Hollins said. "We just tried to just make him work for everything."

Durant's only two worse shooting performances in the playoffs came in Game 6 against the Lakers in the 2010 first round (5 for 23, 21.7 percent) ? also an elimination game ? and in Game 6 of the 2011 West semifinals against Memphis (3 for 14, 21.4 percent).

He faced increasing pressure after All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook had knee surgery two games into the first round and was lost for the rest of the playoffs. Durant averaged 45.6 minutes during the series and played all 48 minutes in Game 5.

"He wasn't going down. He didn't want to sit and watch and go down," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "He wanted to play."

Oklahoma City trailed by as many as 14 before it got a breath of life with a bizarre play midway through the third quarter when Derek Fisher's missed 3-pointer turned into a four-point possession. Allen, who was on the bench, waved his arms to try and distract Fisher on his shot and a shirt slipped out of his hands and onto the floor near Fisher's feet.

Referee Marc Davis ruled that Fisher's 3-pointer should count, and Durant hit the free throw resulting from a technical against Allen to get the Thunder within 60-53. Oklahoma City got as close as 64-62 by the end of the quarter, after Fisher's 3-pointer and a layup by Thabo Sefolosha.

But the Thunder missed eight of their first nine shots to start the fourth quarter to fall behind 76-64, then couldn't quite recover with their star struggling so badly.

NOTES: NBA Commissioner David Stern attended the game and sat eight rows from the court. ... Sefolosha wore a brace on his sore left hand. He played just six minutes in the first half, then played the entire third quarter. ... It was the second straight game the Thunder scored the first seven points, only to give up the lead a few minutes later. ... Nick Collison picked up three fouls in the first 2:35 of the second quarter and got pulled. ... After the third-quarter buzzer, Jerryd Bayless made a shot from three-quarters court that did not count.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-05-16-BKN-Grizzlies-Thunder-Folo/id-86919b7aa53246c7b77a026b6c325c34

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