Childhood ADHD Linked to Obesity in Adulthood

Increased risk of adult obesity is one of the long-term consequences facing children with ADHD, even if their diagnostic symptoms fade

By Tara Haelle

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Identification and treatment issues surrounding attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are challenging enough. Now research is shedding light on long-term outcomes for people with ADHD. A May 20 study in Pediatrics reports that men who had ADHD in childhood are twice as likely to be obese in middle age, even if they no longer exhibit symptoms of the disorder.

ADHD is a mental disorder characterized by hyperactivity, impulsivity, inattention and inability to focus. It affects approximately 6.8 percent of U.S. children ages three to 17 in any given year, according to a recent report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Medications used to treat ADHD, such as Ritalin (methylphenidate) or Adderall (dextroamphetamine and amphetamine), are stimulants that can suppress appetite. Two recent retrospective studies, however, have pointed to a possible increased risk for obesity among adults diagnosed with ADHD as children.

The new 33-year prospective study started with 207 healthy middle-class white boys from New York City between six and 12 years old, who had been diagnosed with ADHD. When the cohort reached an average age of 18, another 178 healthy boys without ADHD were recruited for comparison. At the most recent follow-up when the participants were an average age of 41, a total of 222 men remained in the study.

A troubling pattern emerged: A comparison of the men?s self-reported height and weight revealed obesity in twice as many men who had childhood ADHD were obese as in those without the disorder. The average body mass index (BMI) of the men with childhood ADHD was 30.1, and 41.4 percent were obese whereas those without the condition as kids reported an average BMI of 27.6 and an obesity rate of 21.6 percent. The association held even after the researchers controlled for socioeconomic status, depression, anxiety and substance abuse disorders.

The results have implications for parents currently raising kids with ADHD. ?Many parents are concerned that their children may not be gaining as much weight as they should because [ADHD] medications can decrease appetite in the short run, but these results would lead me to be much less worried about that now,? says corresponding author F. Xavier Castellanos of the Phyllis Green and Randolph Cowen Institute of Pediatric Neuroscience at New York University Langone Medical Center. ?It helps us to realize that over the long run, the potential risks of obesity, of overeating and of dysregulation, are a more prominent long-term concern."

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The study is case-controlled, which means researchers identified participants (cases) with the condition and then matched them to a control population to compare outcomes and look for risk factor differences. Therefore, it cannot prove causation because it?s observational. Only a randomized, controlled trial could show that obesity is caused by ADHD?but it?s impossible to randomize participants to have ADHD, both because it is unethical and researchers do not know precisely what brings about the condition. Possible causes could include genetics, nutrition, environmental factors or brain injuries.

Despite these shortcomings, the study?s findings are similar to results in other research that has found links between ADHD and obesity. The previous studies, however, were retrospective (relying on participants? recall), did not focus exclusively on ADHD (included other conduct disorders) or compared only men suffering from adult ADHD with those having remitted childhood ADHD, rather than to controls without ADHD. This prospective study is the most long-term and the first to focus exclusively on adult obesity rates in men with childhood ADHD compared with those who did not have the condition as children. Its findings therefore contribute to the growing evidence base for an association between obesity and childhood ADHD.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=eec22cd884c4f69f4ac4fa50b83db6f9

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Cee Lo Green: Returning to The Voice Season 5!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/cee-lo-green-returning-to-the-voice-season-5/

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'Trek' does $70.6M but falls short of studio hopes

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? "Star Trek: Into Darkness" has warped its way to a $70.6 million domestic launch from Friday to Sunday, though it's not setting any light-speed records with a debut that's lower than the studio's expectations.

The latest voyage of the starship Enterprise fell short of its predecessor, 2009's "Star Trek," which opened with $75.2 million.

Since premiering Wednesday in huge-screen IMAX theaters and expanding Thursday to general cinemas, "Into Darkness" has pulled in $84.1 million, well below distributor Paramount's initial forecast of $100 million. The film added $40 million overseas, pushing its total to $80.5 million since it began rolling out internationally a week earlier.

The "Star Trek" sequel bumped "Iron Man 3" down to second place after two weekends on top. Robert Downey Jr.'s superhero saga took in $35.2 million domestically to lift its receipts to $337.1 million. Overseas, "Iron Man 3" added $40.2 million, raising its international total to $736.2 million and its worldwide tally to nearly $1.1 billion.

While "Iron Man 3" and "Into Darkness" did well overseas, they were outmatched by the debut of Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby," which followed its domestic debut a week earlier with a wide rollout internationally. "Gatsby" pulled in $42.1 million overseas, coming in a bit ahead of both "Iron Man 3" and "Into Darkness."

Domestically, "Gatsby" held up well at No. 3 with $23.4 million, lifting its total to $90.2 million.

In today's Hollywood of bigger, better sequels, follow-up films often outdo the box office of their predecessors, as each "Iron Man" sequel has done. While "Into Darkness" earned good reviews and is getting strong word-of-mouth from fans, the film did not quite measure up to the opening weekend of director J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" reboot from four years ago, at least domestically.

"'Star Trek' remains a fan-boy movie. It doesn't seem to have the same kind of cross-over appeal as say an 'Iron Man' or some of these others," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. "It's a very specific brand, but I think the general public would love this movie, because it's such an action movie. But to get a hundred-million-plus opening weekend, unless you're 'Twilight,' you really have to cross over to all audiences."

Paramount points out that overseas business is up in many markets, though, so worldwide, the sequel is off to a better start.

"Because of the nature of the franchise, because of how many movies have been made and the various forms of the TV shows, I'm not sure that 'Star Trek' goes by the rules of normal sequels. I think each movie stands on its own, because it's a unique franchise," said Don Harris, Paramount's head of distribution. "My goal was always that we grow the franchise. We're clearly seeing by today's numbers that the movie is being embraced on a worldwide basis in a way we've never seen before."

Harris said that domestically, "Into Darkness" finished its first weekend 6 percent ahead of revenues for 2009's "Star Trek," which got a head-start with $4 million in Thursday night previews to give it a $79.2 million haul through the first Sunday.

But "Into Darkness" had a full day of screenings Thursday plus its Wednesday IMAX business. Unlike the first movie, which played only in 2-D, the sequel also had the benefit of 3-D screenings that cost a few dollars more. Yet even with the 3-D upcharge and the earlier debut, it came away with just $4.9 million more than its predecessor through Sunday.

Still, it's a solid starting place for the movie to live long and prosper at theaters, with Paramount hoping "Into Darkness" can surpass the $385 million worldwide total of "Star Trek."

"I think we're well along on that road," Harris said.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "Star Trek: Into Darkness," $70.6 million ($40 million international).

2. "Iron Man 3," $35.2 million ($40.2 million international).

3. "The Great Gatsby," $23.4 million ($42.1 million international)

4. "Pain & Gain," $3.1 million.

5. "The Croods," $2.75 million.

6. "42," $2.73 million.

7. "Oblivion," $2.2 million.

8. "Mud," $2.16 million.

9. "Peeples," $2.15 million.

10. "The Big Wedding," $1.1 million.

__

Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:

1. "The Great Gatsby," $42.1 million.

2. "Iron Man 3," $40.2 million.

3. "Star Trek: Into Darkness," $40 million.

4. "Epic," $14.5 million.

5. "Fast & Furious 6," $13.8 million.

6. "The Croods," $10.6 million.

7. "Evil Dead," $5.6 million.

8. "Oblivion," $4.7 million.

9. "Montage," $4.1 million.

10. "Mama," $1.7 million.

__

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

http://www.rentrak.com

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/trek-does-70-6m-falls-short-studio-hopes-162544044.html

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Minister: France in talks with U.S., Israel to buy drones

PARIS (Reuters) - France is in talks with the United States and Israel to buy intelligence-gathering drones to build up a modern fleet, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Sunday.

France's existing hardware is outdated and its military intervention in Mali this year has exposed its shortage of surveillance drones suitable for modern warfare. The United States provided French commanders with intelligence from its drones based in Niger.

"We need this capacity in the short term. There are currently two countries in the world that build drones, the United States and Israel," Le Drian said on TV channel iTele.

"We are in discussions with each to buy some straight away," he said.

Le Monde newspaper reported on Saturday that France had received approval from the U.S. Pentagon to buy two Reaper drones, and that the deal only needed backing from Congress.

The newspaper said France was looking at eventually buying a total of five or seven Reapers, built by privately held General Atomics, for 300 million euros ($384.72 million).

The aim was to deploy the two U.S.-made drones in Mali before the end of the year, Le Monde said.

Buying hardware abroad is a sensitive subject in France, a country that strives to rely on allies as little as possible to meet its defense needs.

Le Drian said France had fallen behind other countries and that in the long-term it, and the rest of Europe, had to build up their capacities to make such unmanned aircraft. ($1 = 0.7798 euros)

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Pravin Char)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/france-talks-u-israel-buy-drones-minister-104809993.html

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RNA capable of catalyzing electron transfer on early earth with iron's help, study says

Public release date: 19-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: John Toon
jtoon@gatech.edu
404-894-6986
Georgia Institute of Technology

A new study shows how complex biochemical transformations may have been possible under conditions that existed when life began on the early Earth.

The study shows that RNA is capable of catalyzing electron transfer under conditions similar to those of the early Earth. Because electron transfer, the moving of an electron from one chemical species to another, is involved in many biological processes including photosynthesis, respiration and the reduction of RNA to DNA the study's findings suggest that complex biochemical transformations may have been possible when life began.

There is considerable evidence that the evolution of life passed through an early stage when RNA played a more central role, before DNA and coded proteins appeared. During that time, more than 3 billion years ago, the environment lacked oxygen but had an abundance of soluble iron.

"Our study shows that when RNA teams up with iron in an oxygen-free environment, RNA displays the powerful ability to catalyze single electron transfer, a process involved in the most sophisticated biochemistry, yet previously uncharacterized for RNA," said Loren Williams, a professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The results of the study were scheduled to be published online on May 19, 2013, in the journal Nature Chemistry. The study was sponsored by the NASA Astrobiology Institute, which established the Center for Ribosomal Origins and Evolution (Ribo Evo) at Georgia Tech.

Free oxygen gas was almost nonexistent in the Earth's atmosphere more than 3 billion years ago. When free oxygen began entering the environment as a product of photosynthesis, it turned the earth's iron to rust, forming massive banded iron formations that are still mined today. The free oxygen produced by advanced organisms caused iron to be toxic, even though it was and still is a requirement for life. Williams believes the environmental transition caused a slow shift from the use of iron to magnesium for RNA binding, folding and catalysis.

Williams and Georgia Tech School of Chemistry and Biochemistry postdoctoral fellow Chiaolong Hsiao used a standard peroxidase assay to detect electron transfer in solutions of RNA and either the iron ion, Fe2+, or magnesium ion, Mg2+. For 10 different types of RNA, the researchers observed catalysis of single electron transfer in the presence of iron and absence of oxygen. They found that two of the most abundant and ancient types of RNA, the 23S ribosomal RNA and transfer RNA, catalyzed electron transfer more efficiently than other types of RNA. However, none of the RNA and magnesium solutions catalyzed single electron transfer in the oxygen-free environment.

"Our findings suggest that the catalytic competence of RNA may have been greater in early Earth conditions than in present conditions, and our experiments may have revived a latent function of RNA," added Williams, who is also director of the RiboEvo Center.

This new study expands on research published in May 2012 in the journal PLoS ONE. In the previous work, Williams led a team that used experiments and numerical calculations to show that iron, in the absence of oxygen, could substitute for magnesium in RNA binding, folding and catalysis. The researchers found that RNA's shape and folding structure remained the same and its functional activity increased when magnesium was replaced by iron in an oxygen-free environment.

In future studies, the researchers plan to investigate whether other unique functions may have been conferred on RNA through interaction with a variety of metals available on the early Earth.

In addition to Williams and Hsiao, Georgia Tech School of Biology professors Roger Wartell and Stephen Harvey, and Georgia Tech School of Chemistry and Biochemistry professor Nicholas Hud, also contributed to this work as co-principal investigators in the Ribo Evo Center at Georgia Tech.

###

This work was supported by NASA (Award No. NNA09DA78A). The content is solely the responsibility of the principal investigators and does not necessarily represent the official views of NASA.

---

[ | 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: 19-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: John Toon
jtoon@gatech.edu
404-894-6986
Georgia Institute of Technology

A new study shows how complex biochemical transformations may have been possible under conditions that existed when life began on the early Earth.

The study shows that RNA is capable of catalyzing electron transfer under conditions similar to those of the early Earth. Because electron transfer, the moving of an electron from one chemical species to another, is involved in many biological processes including photosynthesis, respiration and the reduction of RNA to DNA the study's findings suggest that complex biochemical transformations may have been possible when life began.

There is considerable evidence that the evolution of life passed through an early stage when RNA played a more central role, before DNA and coded proteins appeared. During that time, more than 3 billion years ago, the environment lacked oxygen but had an abundance of soluble iron.

"Our study shows that when RNA teams up with iron in an oxygen-free environment, RNA displays the powerful ability to catalyze single electron transfer, a process involved in the most sophisticated biochemistry, yet previously uncharacterized for RNA," said Loren Williams, a professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The results of the study were scheduled to be published online on May 19, 2013, in the journal Nature Chemistry. The study was sponsored by the NASA Astrobiology Institute, which established the Center for Ribosomal Origins and Evolution (Ribo Evo) at Georgia Tech.

Free oxygen gas was almost nonexistent in the Earth's atmosphere more than 3 billion years ago. When free oxygen began entering the environment as a product of photosynthesis, it turned the earth's iron to rust, forming massive banded iron formations that are still mined today. The free oxygen produced by advanced organisms caused iron to be toxic, even though it was and still is a requirement for life. Williams believes the environmental transition caused a slow shift from the use of iron to magnesium for RNA binding, folding and catalysis.

Williams and Georgia Tech School of Chemistry and Biochemistry postdoctoral fellow Chiaolong Hsiao used a standard peroxidase assay to detect electron transfer in solutions of RNA and either the iron ion, Fe2+, or magnesium ion, Mg2+. For 10 different types of RNA, the researchers observed catalysis of single electron transfer in the presence of iron and absence of oxygen. They found that two of the most abundant and ancient types of RNA, the 23S ribosomal RNA and transfer RNA, catalyzed electron transfer more efficiently than other types of RNA. However, none of the RNA and magnesium solutions catalyzed single electron transfer in the oxygen-free environment.

"Our findings suggest that the catalytic competence of RNA may have been greater in early Earth conditions than in present conditions, and our experiments may have revived a latent function of RNA," added Williams, who is also director of the RiboEvo Center.

This new study expands on research published in May 2012 in the journal PLoS ONE. In the previous work, Williams led a team that used experiments and numerical calculations to show that iron, in the absence of oxygen, could substitute for magnesium in RNA binding, folding and catalysis. The researchers found that RNA's shape and folding structure remained the same and its functional activity increased when magnesium was replaced by iron in an oxygen-free environment.

In future studies, the researchers plan to investigate whether other unique functions may have been conferred on RNA through interaction with a variety of metals available on the early Earth.

In addition to Williams and Hsiao, Georgia Tech School of Biology professors Roger Wartell and Stephen Harvey, and Georgia Tech School of Chemistry and Biochemistry professor Nicholas Hud, also contributed to this work as co-principal investigators in the Ribo Evo Center at Georgia Tech.

###

This work was supported by NASA (Award No. NNA09DA78A). The content is solely the responsibility of the principal investigators and does not necessarily represent the official views of NASA.

---

[ | 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/giot-rco051413.php

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SmithOnStocks Opines On Stocks: May 19th Edition - Seeking Alpha

One Approach for Investing in Emerging Biotechnology Stocks

I write on biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies of all sizes, but I have spent much of the last year focusing on small biotechnology companies ranging in size from as low as $50 million in market capitalization.to about $400 million. There is much less analyst and investor attention on these stocks, which can lead to pricing inefficiencies. There is also considerable risk as the investment thesis for the stocks often hinges on the outcome of a single clinical trial. While I don't have precise statistics, my impression is that more than half of late stage trials fail. These investment opportunities fit my asymmetric investing approach.

What do I mean by asymmetric investing? Some hedge funds have made enormous returns by looking for asymmetric investment opportunities. These stem from finding upcoming events that are not well understood and that have the potential to cause dramatic stock movements in the case of a positive outcome. The chance for such a positive outcome may be modest, but if it does occur, the potential reward dramatically offsets the risk of being wrong. Perhaps the upside opportunity is a fivefold or more increase in the stock price and the downside is losing much or all of one's money. These characteristics are similar to an option, but have the advantage that there is not the time element. One can be right on thinking that leads to an option investment and still lose all or much of your money if the option expires prior to an anticipated event. This is asymmetric investing, and emerging biotechnology lends itself very much to this approach.

For an asymmetric opportunity, there has to be lack of awareness or extreme skepticism that a positive outcome can occur. Small biotechnology companies fit this approach because most Wall Street analyst coverage in biotechnology is focused on larger biotechnology names (more symmetric investing). In addition, the large number of trial failures in small biotechnology has produced a pervasive skepticism that any clinical trials will succeed. Asymmetric investing does not mean that an investor is smart enough to predict with certainty clinical trial outcomes. The premise is that the event has a reasonable chance of occurring, is unexpected and if it does occur, the upside potential dramatically offsets the risk of losing much or all of the investment if the outcome is negative.

When I write my articles, I always think that my idea will be successful, but I know that some will fail. At least, that has how it has worked in the past. It has been my experience that one winner will significantly offset the loss of one or several losers, and I aspire to be right more than half of the time. I tend to take small positions in many companies so that I am not overly exposed to any one stock and in the aggregate, biotech is about 15% of my portfolio, which contains much of my personal wealth. However, no one position is so large that if the stock blows up, it will have a major impact on my portfolio.

I want to emphasize that if you are looking to trade the biotech stocks that I am involved with, my articles are probably not for you. I am generally locked in on an event or series of events that will prove me right or wrong and these can sometimes take a year or longer to unfold. Along the way, unavoidably there will be many uncertainties and surprises that lead to sharp up and down movements in stock price and periods when a stock is just plain boring. I tend to ignore these and as long as the reasons that I bought the stock remain in place, I just shrug my shoulders and hang in there. I know that some people try to trade swings in the market and stocks in an attempt to enhance their total return. I have actually tried on occasion to do this as I suspect everyone else has. However, it just found it didn't work well for me.

While trading is neither my goal nor my forte, it does not mean that I am uninterested in short-term stock movements. There are times when I emphasize my buy recommendations because I anticipate an event that may cause near-term strength in the stock. Other times, when I think that the stock might be ahead of itself on a short term basis, I usually go quiet. As a rule, I don't to trade in and out of stocks in an attempt to catch a short-term move as long as I believe that my long-term thesis is intact.

Current Thoughts on Stocks in My Universe

This section highlights companies that I have recently written about and/or events that were meaningful to companies in my coverage universe. It is not necessarily comprehensive.

Neuralstem (CUR) is the most intriguing near-term situation. The lead investigator will give an important update on the ALS phase I trial on Friday, May 17. This should have meaningful efficacy data on eight patients and safety data on fourteen. I believe that the paper will be positive and potentially quite positive, which could result in a good near-term move. See my report

A.P. Pharma (APPA.OB) common has done well since the management change and of course, it was recovering from the 50% drop following the disappointing Complete Response Letter received on March 28, 2013. It is up more than 50% from its lows, which has been spurred by a management change. I think that the stock could retrace to $0.60 to $0.70 if the NDA is refiled and a PDUFA date is established. My asymmetric upside target is $3.00 to $4.00 in 2015. See my recent report

Trius (TSRX) has had a fairly steady stock rise since the equity offering in January and last week it was boosted by the unanticipated news of an allowed patent for the combination of tedizolid and Cubicin (daptomycin) to treat bacteria resistant to daptomycin. This added a new dimension to the Trius investment thesis and the possibility that this could incent Cubist to enter into a lucrative partnering deal or even acquire Trius outright. See my recent report

Antares (ATRS) has been pretty much flat for the last half year, perhaps due to the settlement that delayed the launch of Teva's (TEVA) potential AB rated generic to EpiPen and a stock offering. Also, the market capitalization is over $500 million. While reasonable for the unusually strong pipeline, it is not as undervalued or ignored as most of the companies that I focus on. The stock may have gotten ahead of itself last year.

With the approaching of the PDUFA for Otrexup and the potential for exciting pipeline developments throughout the balance of the year, I think the stock could trade up over the remainder of the year. My focus for the stock is on the 2015 period and beyond when I think that the company will enter a period of explosive growth. I have a price target of $11 for 2015. This is based principally on the launches of Otrexup, Vibex QTS and the AB equivalent to Epipen. See my recent report

Discovery Laboratories (DSCO) has just completed (still another) public offering of 9.5 million shares with no warrants at a stock price of $1.50. This brings the share count to 53.2 million. There are a large number of outstanding warrants, but only about 4.9 million issued in the Deerfield transaction are likely to be exercised below $10.00. There are also about 2.0 million options. This brings the fully diluted share count to about 60 million shares. At the current price of $1.50, this results in a market capitalization of $90 million.

DSCO ended 1Q, 2013 with $26 million of cash and I estimate that the company will burn about $10 million per quarter through the balance of 2013. With no equity offering or an infusion of cash from any other source, DSCO would have had cash of $6 million or less at about the time of the probable new launch date for Surfaxin in 4Q 2013. However, DSCO will receive $20 million from Deerfield upon the first dollar of commercial sales of Surfaxin, which should occur in 4Q 2013. This factor, along with the $13.5 million raised in this deal could bring the year-end cash position to $30 million. I also believe that a patterning deal on Aerosurf could bring in an additional $15 million of cash in 1H 2014. Assuming a $10 million quarterly burn, which is may be too high, the company would have $25 to $30 million of cash in mid-2014. I don't foresee the need for an equity offering in the next year.

The stock has been an extreme disappointment over the last decade as it has received six complete response letters for Surfaxin -- I beleive that this is a world record. This has led to innumerable equity offerings over the last decade, which have diluted the share price tenfold. No one who has bought the stock over the last decade and held it has made money. The stock has become a pariah and many seasoned investors would not go near the stock at any price.

Sometimes investors have to forget the past and look at where the company is now. The PDUFA data for Surfaxin is probably sometime in early October, and it now has enough cash to launch Surfaxin and end the year with $30 million of cash. Surfaxin is a relatively limited opportunity with peak sales potential of perhaps $75 million, but the pipeline potential provides the potential for an asymmetric upside. I have never wavered in my enthusiasm for its pipeline product Aerosurf, which I consider one of the most exciting new products in biotechnology. It will be entering phase II in 4Q 2013 and we could see meaningful proof of principal data in 2014. I also anticipate a partnering deal for Aerosurf, probably for foreign rights, in 1H 2014. I would urge investors to erase their memory banks and buy the stock. I am adding to my position. See my recent report

Transcept (TSPT): Will Purdue Return Rights to Intermezzo?

In an 8-K filed after the close on May 13, Transcept announced that Purdue will eliminate the 90 contract sales reps detailing Intermezzo and will continue to promote only with its 525 pain specialist reps. There were initially 275 contract reps hired when Intermezzo was launched in April 2012. This reflects the disappointment with the Intermezzo launch. I would not be surprised to see Purdue transfer rights for Intermezzo back to the company.

The initial Intermezzo launch has failed. The CEO of Transcept, Glenn Oclassen, has significant experience in building small pharmaceutical companies. I will be watching to see what he decides to do with Intermezzo if rights are returned and how he will deploy the $81 million of cash on TSPT's balance sheet. The cash per share is $4.31, which is more than the current stock price of $3.59. By this time next year, TSPT will be a very different company and I will be monitoring the situation, but I have no opinion on the stock at this time. I may have thrown in the towel on the initial launch of Intermezzo, but I haven't thrown in the towel on Mr. Oclassen.

Disclosure: I am long CUR, TSRX, ATRS, DSCO. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. (More...)

Source: http://seekingalpha.com/article/1445891-smithonstocks-opines-on-stocks-may-19th-edition

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Emma Watson steals hearts (not pigs) at Cannes

Celebs

Randee Dawn TODAY contributor

4 hours ago

The girl-formerly-known-as-Hermione continues to wow crowds around the world, including at Cannes. On Thursday she made a stylish splash on the film festival's red carpet for her new film, "Bling Ring," directed by Sofia Coppola. And in a recent chat with The Hollywood Reporter, she continued to spread the charm.

In the video, the interviewer asks Watson about the jewel theft at Cannes just the day before, and she immediately cries, "I promise, it wasn't me!" Then she admits that this is only her second film festival ever.

"I was told in Cannes, if they don't like your movie, you known about it," Watson said. "So I knew if we got praise it would be honest."

Mainly, though, the young actress was there to support Coppola, whom she hugely admires. And, she admitted, she didn't sign on with "Bling" because of the script: "I basically would have done any role she had offered me. It was less about the role and more about working with her."

Still, while she's not on the hook for stealing any jewels at the festival, Watson does admit in the video that there was one piece of merch from the movie she could have considered walking off with -- Paris Hilton's pig. "I thought, that would be kind of cool," she admitted.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/emma-watson-steals-hearts-not-pigs-cannes-1C9989315

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Why IRS investigation is already Obama's Watergate

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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Beatles' guitar auctioned to the tune of $408,000

By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A custom-made electric guitar played by the late John Lennon and George Harrison of the Beatles sold at a New York auction on Saturday for $408,000, said officials with the company behind the event.

The semi-hollow-body guitar, manufactured by the VOX company, was sold to an unidentified U.S. buyer at the "Music Icons" event organized by Beverly Hills, California-based Julien's Auctions and held at the Hard Rock Cafe in Manhattan.

Julien's said previously it expected the guitar, which was the centerpiece of Saturday's sale, to fetch between $200,000 and $300,000.

Harrison played the instrument, distinguished by two symmetrical flared shoulders on the upper body, while practicing "I Am The Walrus," and Lennon used it in a video session for the song "Hello, Goodbye," according to a statement from Julien's Auctions.

Both songs were on the Beatles' 1967 album "Magical Mystery Tour."

The VOX guitar was a prototype instrument custom-built for Lennon in 1966, said Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien's. Lennon gave the VOX guitar as a gift in 1967 to Yanni "Magic Alex" Mardas, who was the electronics engineer for the band's Apple Records label, the auction house said.

The instrument, displayed in recent weeks at a museum in Ireland before the sale, was sold a few years ago by Christie's Auction House for a little over $100,000. Nolan said the latest buyer, who sent a representative to Saturday's auction to bid on his behalf, wished to remain anonymous.

Lennon was shot to death in New York in 1980 by a deranged fan, and Harrison died of lung cancer in Los Angeles in 2001. The surviving members of the Beatles are Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

(Reporting and writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Steve Gorman and Peter Cooney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/beatles-guitar-auctioned-tune-408-000-033318408.html

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The History of YouTube [Infographic] - Top Dog Social Media

We continue to marvel at the phenomenal growth of social media as if it is unstoppable but when you look at infographics like this one, it certainly seems plausible. The history of YouTube is an incredible example of how social networks are taking over the Internet and our attention with no sign of stopping in the future.

The history of YouTube begins in 2005 when three former PayPal employees came together with the hopes of creating a video-sharing website. They envisioned a platform that would allow users to upload, share, search and view videos online?a primitive idea by today?s standards but a daunting challenge in that era of the Internet.

The first video was ?Me At The Zoo? (shown below), a rather bland kick-off to what would become one of the biggest websites on the Internet.

History of YouTube: A Boom For Online Business

The history of YouTube for business has been fruitful so far. Studies have shown 46% of people say they?d be more likely to seek out information about a product or service after seeing it in an online video. (Source)

In a previous article we outlined 10 great ways businesses can use YouTube to promote themselves online:

1. Pick your niche (and stick to it)
2. Brand your channel with custom design to match your website and other social profiles
3. Always put links in your video description
4. Grab attention with YouTube annotations
5. Put keywords in your title, description and tags
6. Choose a great thumbnail
7. Create content, not commercials
8. Always have a call to action
9. Be concise
10. Share on other social media channels

The History of YouTube [Infographic]

I want to give a big shout out to ShortyMedia for creating this excellent infographic on the history of YouTube. All the milestones from the Google buyout to Gangnam Style are chronicled in this excellent visual timeline.

?

Which milestone in the history of YouTube stands out most in your mind? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: http://topdogsocialmedia.com/history-of-youtube/

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Flesh-eating disease victim gets prosthetic hands

ATLANTA (AP) ? A metro Atlanta woman who lost both hands, her left leg and right foot after contracting a flesh-eating disease was on her way back from Ohio Friday after being fitted with prosthetic hands.

Aimee Copeland, 25, is returning from Hilliard, Ohio, where she was fitted with a pair of "bionic" hands with 24 programmable functions that will improve her dexterity, her father, Andy, told the Associated Press.

Copeland, of Snellville, contracted a rare infection called necrotizing fasciitis in May 2012 after falling from a zip line and gashing her leg. She spent two months at the Shepherd Center, a rehabilitation clinic in Atlanta, learning to move, eat and bathe without prosthetics.

She spent part of the week at Touch Bionics being fitted for the prosthetic hands that her father says will be controlled by her muscle movements and arm positions.

"All four days she sent us videos of things she could do," Copeland said. "The second day she was moving water between cups. On the third day she was cutting a cucumber. On the fourth day she was doing more typical things, like applying makeup to her face and more personal things."

Copeland said the hands were given to Aimee in exchange for her serving as a Touch Bionics ambassador. He said Aimee is likely to begin looking for a prosthetic leg with a computer-controlled knee joint to allow for more natural movement than a mechanical one.

"I just really look forward to her regaining her confidence about certain things she's been unable to do," Copeland said, "Really I just want to see her enjoying life the way that she should."

Among other things, Copeland said, the prosthetic hands will help his daughter learn to prepare meals from scratch, which she enjoyed doing before the amputations.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/flesh-eating-disease-victim-gets-prosthetic-hands-013930801.html

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Mom in New Mexico chases down child abductor; man arrested

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) ? A mother whose 4-year-old was being abducted chased the suspect down and crashed her vehicle into his car, triggering a manhunt and the arrest of the suspect, Albuquerque police said Thursday.

The young girl was playing in her yard at St. Anthony's Plaza Apartments in Albuquerque's North Valley about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday when a group of teenagers saw the kidnapping and ran to alert the girl's mother, police said.

The family called 911 and the mother jumped into her vehicle and gave chase for about seven miles, unaware the man had pushed the girl out of the silver Buick before fleeing the apartment complex, authorities said. The girl was found wandering nearby, uninjured, police said.

According to police, the mother, who has not been identified, followed the suspect and finally rammed into his car near an intersection. The suspect fled on foot, police said.

The attempted kidnapping sparked a massive manhunt Wednesday as more than two dozen officers went door-to-door in the area looking for the suspect. A helicopter with heat-sensor cameras also was sent in for the search, authorities said.

Police arrested David Hernandez, 31, on Thursday afternoon in Rio Rancho after he saw his picture on television and called police. After being interviewed, he was charged with kidnapping, police spokeswoman Tasia Martinez said.

As he was being taken to jail, Hernandez told reporters that he was innocent. It was not known if Hernandez had an attorney.

Kevin Abar, assistant special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations, confirmed to The Associated Press that federal agents also helped Albuquerque police with the investigation.

In February, HSI and local enforcement agencies launched the Sexual Predator and Exploitation Enforcement Detail, or SPEED ? a task force aimed at finding missing and abducted children.

Police were also investigating a possible connection to the abduction and sexual assault of a 6-year-old from the same apartment complex last week. The suspect in that case was described as a male in a silver or gray vehicle.

Gilbert Hernandez, 25, a resident at the St. Anthony's, said he found the 6-year-old last week and was the one who contacted police. "This place isn't safe. People always let their kids run around here," Hernandez said. "We are all on the lookout now."

___

Follow Russell Contreras on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mom-nm-chases-down-child-abductor-man-arrested-211553701.html

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Revamp Your Home With These Fantastic Home Improvement Tips ...

Your home is your refuge from all the worries and cares of the world, and making improvements to your home could be a solution to raise your feelings of peace and security. Save your self money and time by getting of the best information for the home improvement project. Below are a few helpful pointers.

Remove a home from its body without taking out the screws in the handles. Have to take out a door in order to go a large piece of furniture? All you have to do is so the pin slides out of the top drive a nail through the base of the barrel of the joint. Do that on both hinges and the doorway is free!

Often, as any dog owner can inform you, your pets can be dangerous. When you yourself have had your dog tear holes in to your carpet don?t despair. You can actually cut fully out a of carpet, evaluate it, and using carpet tape actually shape the part right in the empty slot easily.

The water is shut off by always if working near pipes. Pipes may not be always involved by home improvement projects in the kitchen or bathroom, but closing off the water may prevent any mishaps from becoming catastrophes. Know where your primary water shut-off valve is, and put it to use any time you are working in these parts.

Paint a room. If you are looking for a house improvement project that requires a little effort and time, then painting could be for you. Make sure you have all of the right equipment to accomplish the task, and do it. A newly painted room can perform wonders for any home.

Before you find out if they are covered don?t hire a contractor! This can be a sure sign of a reliable company who is ready to complete the house improvements you required, and that they?re not really a scam artist who?ll take your money and work.

Exhibiting books in your living area could be a good decorating accent along with a great sign of intelligence. When you?re displaying your books to set up them based on color and height make sure. Maybe not preparing books based on height will make your selection look messy and unorganized. Arranging your books by color is likely to make your area look sophisticated.

Doing any do it yourself requires that you intend ahead for all and any difficulties that might happen. This may help keep you in your budget if you can anticipate any changes which have to be manufactured on the fly. Not only on budget will it hold you, but proper planning will avoid delays.

Do not get rid of your bath because it?s several hard to remove stains. There?s a simple answer that?s sure to greatly help your condition. Blend a teaspoons of baking soda and a teaspoons of cream of tartar. Fit enough liquid out of an orange to create a substance. Spread the paste with a material onto the mark. Keep it for approximately around 30 minutes and wash your container out go back and thoroughly.

Upgrading a bathroom that looks old and old, could be a easy and quick method to liven the overall appearance of one?s house. Consider replacing the carpet, throw on a coloring of coat, or buy new towels and a shower curtain, for many fast and simple effects.

As great aids in your property improvement projects use family members and friends. With friends and family, you could cut the dependence on help from a specialist that may cost quite a bit, while you also get yourself a lot of fun from the project. Also, you?ll realize that they are available in handy in the tidy up part of the project.

Keep your partly applied can of drywall compound from becoming dry between uses! All you need to complete clean and clean the insides of the can right down to the surface of the outstanding drywall mud. Next, put just enough water onto the dirt to cover its surface. Just pour off the water before you use it again and it?ll be new as good!

If your company looks at your door and offers his services for you, be wary. Some businesses like roofers or barrier contractors are known to utilize this tactic, but before you decide to employ them you must still do your research. Always check the BBB, on the web reviews, and all equipped references.

Be sure to sand it right down to it is natural finish, before you begin to paint the bookshelf in your living room. After it is sanded by you down, be sure to browse the cons and pros of every paint choice. Using this method, you?ll get the shelf you thought.

Painting is a definite task. Water-based latex offers make for easy and simple clean-up. You simply need soap and water. But sometimes oil paint is best for employment. It?s are more durable. When cleaning up from oil paint, use cooking oil on your own brushes to reduce the paint. Then you can use soap and water.

Focus on exterior lighting for the next do it yourself project. Installing a patio motion detector is an excellent choice; the sensor can ensure that the light only occurs when you need it to. Not only does this save you money on energy bills, but the motion sensor is also an excellent safety feature. If anybody is walking on your premises it alerts you.

Updating the surface of your dwelling by painting the surface or upgrading the siding is really a very cost value included do-it-yourself. It?s among the most reliable methods to raise the purchase price of one?s house. By giving your home an outdoor facelift you are able to immediately increase more buying appeal to your home.

In just about any home with original wood floors, the homeowner considering home improvement projects, should avoid changing the floors, at all cost. The older a floor is, the not as likely it?s that it may be replaced by having an equally beautiful floor. It is much better to refinish current wood floors. Even in cases of the most intense injury, laying a brand new floor within the original one is better than removing it.

The helpful advice in the article above will give you confidence and a few ideas with regards to your property improvement project. With assiduous application of the advice, your project may be effective. Help your house be a beautiful yet functional destination. www

Source: http://do.wehitbuttons.com/?p=132635

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Water-Activated LED Wall: Sounds Dangerous, Looks Beautiful

Water and electricity: historically, not a great combo! But Antonin Fourneau, a French artist and engineer, combines both to remarkable ends in his installation, Water Light Graffiti, which landed in New York this week.

The surface of Water Light Graffiti is dotted by thousands of LEDs, each ringed by a sensor that triggers the light when it's wet. Visitors are welcome to grab a paintbrush or super soaker (or straight-up bucket) and go to town on the board, which fades back to black after a few minutes. The idea, Fourneau says, is to get people creating and interacting without the self-consciousness of actually painting. He describes the installation as a way to "share magically:"

The ?Water Light Graffiti? is a surface made of thousands of LED illuminated by the contact of water. You can use a paintbrush, a water atomizer, your fingers or anything damp to sketch a brightness message or just to draw. Water Light Graffiti is a wall for ephemeral messages in the urban space without deterioration. A wall to communicate and share magically in the city.

The piece debuted in Paris a few months ago, but Fourneau and his patron, the French arts foundation DigitalArti, have been on the road with the installation ever since. It'll be on view at the Grohe showroom as part of New York Design Week until Friday, when it heads back to France. [Grohe]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/water-activated-led-wall-sounds-dangerous-looks-beaut-507615655

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Colossal hydrogen bridge between galaxies could be fuel line for new stars

Researchers studying a filament of hydrogen between the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies found rotating clumps of gas the size of dwarf galaxies. But questions remain.

By Pete Spotts / May 8, 2013

This combined graphic shows new, high-resolution GBT imaging of recently discovered hydrogen clouds between M31 (upper r.) and M33.

Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF

Enlarge

New observations of a bridge of tenuous hydrogen gas stretching between two nearby galaxies may help solve a longstanding puzzle: Billions of years after star formation peaked in the universe, what continues to fuel the formation of new stars in spiral galaxies like the Milky Way?

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Newly published radiotelescope observations of this segment of what researchers have dubbed the ?cosmic web? reveal that about half of the neutral hydrogen gas in the bridge is contained in rotating clumps the size of dwarf galaxies. Neutral hydrogen ? atoms with one proton and one electron ? represents the raw material for new stars.

?If this gas is being accreted by the galaxies, then we need to understand how they're doing that. That information could, in principle, help us understand how galaxies like Andromeda, like our own Milky Way, can acquire gas to form new stars,? says Spencer Wolfe, a PhD candidate in astronomy at West Virginia University and the lead scientist on the project.

Over the past decade, astronomers have come to appreciate the potential of gas between galaxies to provide fresh fuel for making stars in spiral galaxies.

Star formation in the universe appears to have peaked some 10 billion to 11 billion years ago. Stellar birthrates these days are less than 10 percent of what they were then, notes Robert Braun, an astronomer at the Australia Telescope National Facility in Epping, New South Wales.

Left to their own devices, galaxies have on average about 1 billion to 2 billion years worth of gas in the cosmic tank, a condition that has existed throughout most of the universe's history, Dr. Braun writes in an e-mail. Many of them, therefore, should have stopped forming stars billions of years ago.?Moreover, the total mass of stars in the universe today is about five times higher than the amount of neutral hydrogen available 12 billion years ago, suggesting that the universe's larger inventory of ionized hydrogen kept star formation going in some way.

Researchers have identified other mechanisms for the galactic equivalent of in-flight refueling. For instance, gas gets recycled for a time through successive generations of stars. Collisions, mergers, and even near-misses between galaxies can trigger bursts of star formation.?But filaments of ionized hydrogen appear to be the only features persistent enough to keep galaxies stocked with stars over billions of years of cosmic history. Somehow, within those filaments, enough of the ionized gas condenses into the neutral form to serve as new stellar nurseries.

The filament or bridge Mr. Wolfe and his team studied appears between the Milky Way's nearest neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy, and the Triangulum Galaxy. Andromeda is some 2.5 million light-years from Earth, while the Triangulum is roughly 3 million light-years away.

The presence of neutral hydrogen in the bridge was first reported in 2004 and confirmed in follow-up observations published last year. But it's fiendishly difficult to detect. One way neutral hydrogen betrays its presence is via radio waves, with a tell-tale signal at about the same frequency that a typical cell-phone uses. But the clumps are so wispy that their radio emissions were too faint for detailed studies with the radio telescopes used in the early work.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/A69dw6I6LmM/Colossal-hydrogen-bridge-between-galaxies-could-be-fuel-line-for-new-stars

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Smoke forces evacuation of White House West Wing

District of Columbia Fire department trucks and personnel respond to a call at the White House, Saturday, May 11, 2013, in Washington. The West Wing including the media area were evacuated because of smoke, according to Secret Service Uniformed Division. journalists were sent outside shortly after 7 a.m. while firefighters inspected the West Wing. They were allowed back into the building about an hour later. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

District of Columbia Fire department trucks and personnel respond to a call at the White House, Saturday, May 11, 2013, in Washington. The West Wing including the media area were evacuated because of smoke, according to Secret Service Uniformed Division. journalists were sent outside shortly after 7 a.m. while firefighters inspected the West Wing. They were allowed back into the building about an hour later. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

District of Columbia Fire department trucks and personnel are seen parked between the The Eisenhower Executive Office Building and the West Wing as they respond to a call at the White House, Saturday, May 11, 2013, in Washington. The West Wing including the media area were evacuated because of smoke according to Secret Service Uniformed Division. Journalists were sent outside shortly after 7 a.m. while firefighters inspected the West Wing. They were allowed back into the building about an hour later. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Members of the White House security including Secret Service Uniformed Division, stand in front of an evacuated West Wing as the District of Columbia Fire Department responds to a call at the White House, Saturday, May 11, 2013, in Washington. The West Wing including the media area were evacuated because of smoke according to Secret Service Uniformed Division. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A District of Columbia Fire Department truck is seen parked between the The Eisenhower Executive Office Building and the West Wing as they respond to a call at the White House, Saturday, May 11, 2013, in Washington. The West Wing including the media area were evacuated because of smoke according to Secret Service Uniformed Division. Journalists were sent outside shortly after 7 a.m. while firefighters inspected the West Wing. They were allowed back into the building about an hour later. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

District of Columbia Fire department trucks and personnel are seen parked between the The Eisenhower Executive Office Building and the West Wing as they respond to a call at the White House, Saturday, May 11, 2013, in Washington. The West Wing including the media area were evacuated because of smoke according to Secret Service Uniformed Division. Journalists were sent outside shortly after 7 a.m. while firefighters inspected the West Wing. They were allowed back into the building about an hour later. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Reporters and photographers were evacuated briefly from the West Wing of the White House early Saturday because of smoke from an overheated transformer in a mechanical room.

President Barack Obama and his family were not affected by the incident, according to the White House.

U.S. Secret Service spokesman Max Milien said that at about 7 a.m., smoke was seen coming from a mechanical room closet on the first floor.

Journalists and others were evacuated out of "an abundance of caution" and the District of Columbia fire department was called, he said.

People were allowed back into the building about an hour later.

No injuries were reported.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-05-11-White%20House%20Smoke/id-ac215c39867546368178d6d6acd6ecf9

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IRS official knew in 2011 of 'Tea Party' targeting: watchdog report (reuters)

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

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Greenhouse gas milestone; CO2 levels set record

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Worldwide levels of the chief greenhouse gas that causes global warming have hit a milestone, reaching an amount never before encountered by humans, federal scientists said Friday.

Carbon dioxide was measured at 400 parts per million at the oldest monitoring station which is in Hawaii sets the global benchmark. The last time the worldwide carbon level was probably that high was about 2 million years ago, said Pieter Tans of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

That was during the Pleistocene Era. "It was much warmer than it is today," Tans said. "There were forests in Greenland. Sea level was higher, between 10 and 20 meters (33 to 66 feet)."

Other scientists say it may have been 10 million years ago that Earth last encountered this much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The first modern humans only appeared in Africa about 200,000 years ago.

The measurement was recorded Thursday and it is only a daily figure, the monthly and yearly average will be smaller. The number 400 has been anticipated by climate scientists and environmental activists for years as a notable indicator, in part because it's a round number ? not because any changes in man-made global warming happen by reaching it.

"Physically, we are no worse off at 400 ppm than we were at 399 ppm," Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer said. "But as a symbol of the painfully slow pace of measures to avoid a dangerous level of warming, it's somewhat unnerving."

Environmental activists, such as former Vice President Al Gore, seized on the milestone.

"This number is a reminder that for the last 150 years ? and especially over the last several decades ? we have been recklessly polluting the protective sheath of atmosphere that surrounds the Earth and protects the conditions that have fostered the flourishing of our civilization," Gore said in a statement. "We are altering the composition of our atmosphere at an unprecedented rate."

Carbon dioxide traps heat just like in a greenhouse and most of it stays in the air for a century; some lasts for thousands of years, scientists say. It accounts for three-quarters of the planet's heat-trapping gases. There are others, such as methane, which has a shorter life span but traps heat more effectively. Both trigger temperatures to rise over time, scientists say, which is causing sea levels to rise and some weather patterns to change.

When measurements of carbon dioxide were first taken in 1958, it measured 315 parts per million. Some scientists and environmental groups promote 350 parts per million as a safe level for CO2, but scientists acknowledge they don't really know what levels would stop the effects of global warming.

The level of carbon dioxide in the air is rising faster than in the past decades, despite international efforts by developed nations to curb it. On average the amount is growing by about 2 parts per million per year. That's 100 times faster than at the end of the Ice Age.

Back then, it took 7,000 years for carbon dioxide to reach 80 parts per million, Tans said. Because of the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, carbon dioxide levels have gone up by that amount in just 55 years.

Before the Industrial Revolution, carbon dioxide levels were around 280 ppm, and they were closer to 200 during the Ice Age, which is when sea levels shrank and polar places went from green to icy. There are natural ups and downs of this greenhouse gas, which comes from volcanoes and decomposing plants and animals. But that's not what has driven current levels so high, Tans said. He said the amount should be even higher, but the world's oceans are absorbing quite a bit, keeping it out of the air.

"What we see today is 100 percent due to human activity," said Tans, a NOAA senior scientist. The burning of fossil fuels, such as coal for electricity and oil for gasoline, has caused the overwhelming bulk of the man-made increase in carbon in the air, scientists say.

The world pumps on average 2.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide into the air every second for a total of 38.2 billion tons in 2011, according international calculations published in a scientific journal in December. China spews 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air per year, leading all countries, and its emissions are growing about 10 percent annually. The U.S. at No. 2 is slowly cutting emissions and is down to 5.9 billion tons per year.

The speed of the change is the big worry, said Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann. If carbon dioxide levels go up 100 parts per million over thousands or millions of years, plants and animals can adapt. But that can't be done at the speed it is now happening.

Last year, regional monitors briefly hit 400 ppm in the Arctic. But those monitoring stations aren't seen as a world mark like the one at Mauna Loa, Hawaii.

Generally carbon levels peak in May then fall slightly, so the yearly average is usually a few parts per million lower than May levels.

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Online:

NOAA monitoring at Mauna Loa: http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/weekly.html

Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/greenhouse-gas-milestone-co2-levels-set-record-193012833.html

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