Cameron 'losing control' as rift with party core widens

By Mohammed Abbas

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron is "losing control of his party", Conservative Party grandee Geoffrey Howe said on Sunday, as a row raged over whether a close aide to Cameron had labeled grassroots activists "mad, swivel-eyed loons".

The furor threatens to further alienate Cameron and his inner circle from the core of his party, with whom ties are already almost at breaking point.

Differences with the grassroots over Britain's membership of the European Union and Cameron's support for legalizing same-sex marriage have raised questions over his leadership and could hurt the party's chances in the next election, due in 2015.

"Sadly, by making it clear in January that he opposes the current terms of UK membership of the EU, the prime minister has opened a Pandora's box politically and seems to be losing control of his party in the process," Howe wrote in an article for the Observer newspaper.

Howe was former prime minister Margaret Thatcher's longest-serving cabinet minister, but fell out with her over relations with Europe and is best remembered for a scathing resignation speech that helped topple her as leader in 1990.

Cameron's Conservatives have been rattled by the surging popularity of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), whose main aims are to pull Britain out of the EU and curb immigration.

Its rise has fuelled a heated national debate over whether Britain derives sufficient benefits from EU membership to outweigh the financial cost and the ceding of some important powers to Brussels, like the ability to limit immigrants from the other 26 countries in the union.

An opinion poll by pollster ComRes for the Sunday Mirror and Independent on Sunday newspapers put support for UKIP at 19 percent, which ComRes said was the highest level the party had achieved in any survey yet.

The opposition Labour party led with 35 percent, while the Conservatives were on 29 percent and their Liberal Democrat coalition partners on 8.

"The ratchet-effect of Euroscepticism has now gone so far that the Conservative leadership is in effect running scared of its own backbenchers, let alone UKIP," Howe said, referring to the hundreds of rank-and-file Conservative members of parliament who occupy the rows of seats behind Cameron and his ministers.

REFERENDUM PROMISE

In January, Cameron promised that if the Conservatives won the 2015 election they would call a national referendum in 2017 on whether Britain should stay in or leave the EU. But that did not go far enough for many Conservatives, who last week forced him to back a new bill that would enshrine it in law.

The Conservatives' restive right wing also last week voted to criticize the government's legislative agenda for not including such a bill in the first place, an unusual move in British politics that embarrassed Cameron.

Compounding Cameron's problems are media reports that an un-named close aide, at a private dinner last week, described the Conservative grassroots as "swivel-eyed loons".

Cameron's office says the comment did not come from them, and insist the prime minister is still in charge of his party.

The row comes at an especially bad time for Cameron, whose flagship bill to legalize same-sex marriage will be debated in parliament this week. Conservative activists wrote to Cameron on Sunday warning that the move would boost UKIP's membership.

"The prime minister seems to have gathered around himself a metropolitan elite who seem to inhabit a different planet to most of us ... Droves of previously loyal Conservative Party members are leaving," Bob Woollard, chairman of the Conservative Grassroots umbrella group, told the BBC.

Cameron says he would like to do more to satisfy the Conservative core, but is held back by being in coalition with the left-leaning Liberal Democrats.

Ties between the two parties have frequently come under strain since they teamed up in 2010, but they have pledged to stay together to help revive Britain's weak economy.

However, in an article published on Sunday, Cameron hinted that he could end the partnership before the 2015 election.

"Can we improve the state of the country? Can we fulfill our manifesto? The best way to do that is to continue with the coalition, but if that wasn't the case then we'd have to face the new circumstances in whatever way we should," he told Britain's Total Politics magazine.

(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cameron-losing-control-rift-party-core-widens-115639051.html

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Self-affirmation improves problem-solving under stress

May 3, 2013 ? It's no secret that stress increases your susceptibility to health problems, and it also impacts your ability to solve problems and be creative. But methods to prevent associated risks and effects have been less clear -- until now.

Published in PLOS ONE, new research from Carnegie Mellon University provides the first evidence that self-affirmation can protect against the damaging effects of stress on problem-solving performance. Understanding that self-affirmation -- the process of identifying and focusing on one's most important values -- boosts stressed individuals' problem-solving abilities will help guide future research and the development of educational interventions.

"An emerging set of published studies suggest that a brief self-affirmation activity at the beginning of a school term can boost academic grade-point averages in underperforming kids at the end of the semester. This new work suggests a mechanism for these studies, showing self-affirmation effects on actual problem-solving performance under pressure," said J. David Creswell, assistant professor of psychology in CMU's Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Because previous research indicated that self-affirmation may be an effective stress management approach, Creswell and his research team had college students rank-order a set of values (e.g., art, business, family and friends) in terms of their personal importance, and indicate their levels of chronic stress. Participants randomly assigned to a self-affirmation condition were asked to write a couple of sentences about why their number one ranked value was important (a standard self-affirmation exercise). All participants then had to complete a challenging problem-solving task under time pressure, which required creativity in order to generate correct solutions.

The results showed that participants who were under high levels of chronic stress during the past month had impaired problem-solving performance. In fact, they solved about 50 percent fewer problems in the task. But notably, this effect was qualified by whether participants had an opportunity to first complete the self-affirmation activity. Specifically, a brief self-affirmation was effective in eliminating the deleterious effects of chronic stress on problem-solving performance, such that chronically stressed self-affirmed participants performed under pressure at the same level as participants with low chronic stress levels.

"People under high stress can foster better problem-solving simply by taking a moment beforehand to think about something that is important to them," Creswell said. "It's an easy-to-use and portable strategy you can roll out before you enter that high pressure performance situation."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Carnegie Mellon University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. J. David Creswell, Janine M. Dutcher, William M. P. Klein, Peter R. Harris, John M. Levine. Self-Affirmation Improves Problem-Solving under Stress. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (5): e62593 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062593

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/bNH-1UohwYo/130503132956.htm

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Pacific Rim Trailer: Guillermo Del Toro's Japanese Influences

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/pacific-rim-trailer-guillermo-del-toros-japanese-influences/

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'Dark genome' is involved in Rett Syndrome

May 2, 2013 ? Researchers at the Epigenetics and Cancer Biology Program at IDIBELL led by Manel Esteller, ICREA researcher and professor of genetics at the University of Barcelona, have described alterations in noncoding long chain RNA sequences (lncRNA) in Rett syndrome.

These molecules act as supervisor agents responsible of 'switch on' or 'switch off' other genes in our genome that regulate the activity of neurons. The work has been published in the last issue of the journal RNA Biology.

Dark genome

Only 5% of our genetic material are genes that encode proteins. The remaining 95% is known as dark genome or non-coding DNA and its function is still unknown. Part of this DNA produces RNA molecules called noncoding long chain RNA (lncRNAs).

Rett Syndrome

Rett syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disease and it is the second most common cause of mental retardation in females after Down syndrome. Clinical symptoms occur between 6 and 18 months after birth and consist of a loss of cognitive, social and motor capacities accompanied by autistic behaviors, eg, stereotypic hand movements.

Today there is no effective treatment of the disease but the control of their symptoms. The syndrome is usually due to the presence of a mutation in MeCP2 epigenetic gene that, as a magnet, regulates the expression of many other genes of the cell.

Esteller's team works with a mouse model that faithfully reproduces the characteristics of the human Rett syndrome. In this study, researchers compared the expression of long chains of RNA in healthy and diseased animals and found that the presence of mutations in the Mecp2 gene causes alterations in the activity of lncRNA.

One such altered lncARN regulates the function of a key neurotransmitter in the nervous system in all vertebrates brain (GABA receptor). "Its alteration," says Esteller, "could explain the defects of communication between neurons in girls affected by Rett Syndrome."

According to Manel Esteller "this finding, in addition to increasing knowledge about the causes of the disease, could open the door to new therapeutic strategies that target lncRNA molecules or GABA receptor."

The study was supported by the Department of Health of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Catalan Institute of Advanced Studies (ICREA), the Spanish Ministry of Health (E-RARE), the European Project EPINORC DISCHROM and the Fondation Lejeune (France) and the Catalan Association Rett Syndrome.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by IDIBELL-Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Paolo Petazzi, Juan Sandoval, Karolina Szczesna, Olga C. Jorge, Laura Roa, Sergi Sayols, Antonio Gomez, Dori Huertas, Manel Esteller. Dysregulation of the long non-coding RNA transcriptome in a Rett syndrome mouse model. RNA Biology, Volume 10, Issue 7 [link]

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/5cgmJoWMXxA/130502142653.htm

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California may have to move 3,000 inmates at risk for Valley fever

By Sharon Bernstein

LOS ANGELES, May 1, 2013 - As many as 3,000 prison inmates in central California deemed to be at risk from a potentially lethal lung disease may need to be moved to other regions under an order from a court-appointed federal overseer.

The directive, issued on Monday, marks the latest effort to stem cases of valley fever, or coccidioidomycosis, at two prisons where the disease was found to have contributed to the deaths of nearly three dozen inmates from 2006 to 2011.

But it could complicate court-ordered efforts to reduce overcrowding across California's prison system, the nation's largest.

The pneumonia-like illness, contracted by inhaling fungal spores that grow in the dry soils of the American Southwest, is not contagious. But the spores become airborne when soil is disturbed by wind, construction, farming and other activities.

Problems with the disease at two prisons in San Joaquin Valley, the state's agricultural heartland, were documented on Wednesday in court papers filed by J. Clark Kelso, appointed as a federal receiver for medical issues at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Previous attempts to reduce both the number of infections and the severity of cases were ineffective, Kelso's spokeswoman, Joyce Hayhoe, told Reuters.

After a report last year found that problems continued at Pleasant Valley State Prison and Avenal State Prison, Kelso asked correctional officials to stop transferring some inmates there who were considered to be at high risk, Hayhoe said.

Among those deemed to be at higher risk of contracting or dying from the disease were African-Americans, inmates of Filipino heritage, those with compromised immune systems and those who older than 55.

On Monday, Kelso went a step further, directing the state to cease housing inmates who fell into those categories at the two prisons in question, though he stopped short of explicitly ordering those inmates to be transferred out.

On Wednesday, he added diabetics to the list of high-risk inmates, court papers showed. He called the state's response so far "anemic."

'ENORMOUS UNDERTAKING'

Jeffrey Callison, a spokesman for the Corrections Department, acknowledged that the state has not stopped sending at-risk prisoners to the two facilities, nor have any been moved out. Kelso's directive to stop housing vulnerable prisoners in the region came "out of the blue," he said.

Callison said that immediately complying with the receiver's directive "would be an enormous undertaking."

Dr. John Galgiani, a valley fever expert hired by lawyers representing inmates, agreed with the federal receiver and prison officials that no outbreak of the disease had been declared in the San Joaquin Valley.

But in his own court filing, Galgiani said the persistence of the illness in the two prisons amounted to a "medical emergency."

Noting a recent report by Kelso's office, Galgiani said in a court declaration that the infection rate at Pleasant Valley State Prison was "1,000 times the rate for Californians generally." Valley fever was a contributing cause of death in 34 cases between 2006 and 2011 in the two institutions, he wrote.

Symptoms of valley fever include a cough, fever, chest pains and muscle aches that can last for many weeks or months. But fewer than half of infected individuals become sick, and only a small percentage become severely ill.

The disease can be fatal, but the mortality rate among infected patients is about 0.1 percent, said Galgiani, an infectious disease specialist who directs the University of Arizona Valley Fever Center for Excellence.

A recent study found that Valley fever was identified as an underlying or contributing cause to 3,089 U.S. deaths during an 18-year span, from 1990 to 2008.

Those most at risk for life-threatening complications from the illness include the elderly and people with compromised immune systems, Galgiani said.

An estimated 150,000 infections occur in the Southwest each year, the majority of them in Arizona. California accounts for nearly all the remaining cases.

(This story refiles to remove an extraneous word in the first paragraph)

(Additional reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Philip Barbara)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/california-may-move-3-000-inmates-risk-valley-005340767.html

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George Jones' album sales up 1,000 percent

Music

Keith Caulfield The Hollywood Reporter

6 hours ago

Getty Images file

George Jones, circa 1970.

The late country icon George Jones is remembered on the Billboard charts this week, following his his death on April 26.

Country music legend George Jones dies at 81

As Nielsen SoundScan's sales tracking week ended on April 28, Billboard's new sales charts reflect only three days since Jones' passing. (SoundScan provides data to Billboard for its music chart rankings.) On the Billboard 200 albums chart, Jones logs his highest-charting set ever on the tally, as the 1998 release "16 Biggest Hits"debuts at No. 42 with a 441 percent gain (9,000 copies sold in the week, up from less than 1,000 a week ago).

While a titan on our country charts, Jones never went higher than No. 53 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart, with his 1999 album "Cold Hard Truth."

STORY: George Jones, "King of Broken Hearts," remembered

Jones additionally dots the Billboard 200 this week with the 1987 compilation "Super Hits," debuting at No. 56 with 7,000 (up from 1,000 copies a week ago). Also arriving: "The Essential George Jones" at No. 92 (5,000, up from basically nothing the week previous) and "Hits I Missed . . . And One I Didn't" at No. 183 (3,000, up from 1,000 a week ago).

Jones' catalog of albums sold 35,000 last week -- up 1,002 percent from 3,000 the week previous.

In terms of digital songs, Jones sold 149,000 downloads last week -- up from 5,000 the week previous (a gain of 2,739 percent). Jones sold more songs this past week than he did in all of 2013 up until his death (91,000).

His biggest selling song last week was his classic hit "He Stopped Loving Her Today," which debuts on Country Digital Songs at No. 15 with 34,000 (up from 1,000 a week ago). His second-biggest tune was "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes," with 11,000 (up from basically nothing a week ago).

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/george-jones-album-sales-1-000-percent-death-6C9733508

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FDA lowers age for buyers of Plan B pill to 15

This undated image made available by Teva Women's Health shows the packaging for their Plan B One-Step (levonorgestrel) tablet, one of the brands known as the "morning-after pill." The Plan B morning-after pill is moving over-the-counter, a decision announced by the Food and Drug Administration just days before a court-imposed deadline. On April 30, 2013, the FDA lowered to 15 the age at which girls and women can buy the emergency contraceptive without a prescription ? and said it no longer has to be kept behind pharmacy counters. Instead, the pill can sit on drugstore shelves just like condoms, but that buyers would have to prove their age at the cash register. (AP Photo/Teva Women's Health)

This undated image made available by Teva Women's Health shows the packaging for their Plan B One-Step (levonorgestrel) tablet, one of the brands known as the "morning-after pill." The Plan B morning-after pill is moving over-the-counter, a decision announced by the Food and Drug Administration just days before a court-imposed deadline. On April 30, 2013, the FDA lowered to 15 the age at which girls and women can buy the emergency contraceptive without a prescription ? and said it no longer has to be kept behind pharmacy counters. Instead, the pill can sit on drugstore shelves just like condoms, but that buyers would have to prove their age at the cash register. (AP Photo/Teva Women's Health)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? In a surprise twist to the decade-plus effort to ease access to morning-after pills, the government is lowering the age limit to 15 for one brand ? Plan B One-Step ? and will let it be sold over the counter.

Today, Plan B and its generic competition are sold behind pharmacy counters, and people must prove they're 17 or older to buy the emergency contraception without a prescription. A federal judge had ordered an end to those sales restrictions by next Monday.

But Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration approved a different approach: Plan B could sit on drugstore shelves next to condoms, spermicides or other women's health products ? but to make the purchase, buyers must prove they're 15 or older at the cash register.

Manufacturer Teva Women's Health, which had applied for the compromise path, said it planned to make the switch in a few months.

The question is whether Tuesday's action settles the larger court fight. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Edward Korman of New York blasted the Obama administration for imposing the age-17 limit, saying it had let election-year politics trump science and were making it hard for women of any age to obtain emergency contraception in time for it to work.

The FDA said Tuesday's decision was independent of the court case and wasn't intended to address it. The Justice Department remained mum on whether it planned to appeal Korman's ruling by Monday's deadline, and the White House had no immediate comment.

The women's group that sued over the age limits said Tuesday's action is not enough, and it will continue the court fight if necessary.

Lowering the age limit "may reduce delays for some young women but it does nothing to address the significant barriers that far too many women of all ages will still find if they arrive at the drugstore without identification," said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights.

The FDA said the Plan B One-Step will be packaged with a product code that prompts the cashier to verify a customer's age. Anyone who can't provide such proof as a driver's license, birth certificate or passport wouldn't be allowed to complete the purchase. In most states, driver's licenses, the most common form of identification, are issued at age 16.

"While an improvement over current policy, today's announcement is still disappointing," said Marcia D. Greenberger of the National Women's Law Center. "Because all women will be required to show an ID to establish their age, those without IDs could be denied access."

Other advocates called the move promising. "This decision is a step in the right direction for increased access to a product that is a safe and effective method of preventing unintended pregnancies," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. "It's also a decision that moves us closer to these critical availability decisions being based on science, not politics."

Social conservatives had opposed any efforts to loosen restrictions on sale of the morning-after pill, arguing that it was important for parents and medical professionals to be involved in such decisions involving young girls.

The group Concerned Women for America charged that health officials were putting politics and so-called progress ahead of the health of children as well as women.

"It makes no sense that kids need parental permission to take aspirin at school, but they're free to buy and administer Plan B," Penny Nance, CEO and president of CWA, said in a statement.

Half the nation's pregnancies every year are unintended, and doctors groups say more access to morning-after pills could cut those numbers. The pills contain higher doses of regular contraceptives and, if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, can cut the chances of pregnancy by up to 89 percent. But they work best if taken in the first 24 hours.

The FDA had been poised to lift all age limits and let Plan B be sold over the counter in late 2011, but Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in an unprecedented move, overruled her own scientists. Sebelius said some girls as young as 11 are physically capable of bearing children but shouldn't be able to buy the pregnancy-preventing pill on their own.

President Barack Obama supported Sebelius' move and a spokesman said the president's position hadn't changed.

The Justice Department could appeal Korman's ruling and seek a stay. If granted, the appeals process would move through the courts, while Plan B is sold over the counter whenever Teva has the product repackaged to meet the FDA's requirements.

Absent a stay, "we will want to go back to court as quickly as possible and ask the judge to hold them in contempt," said Janet Crepps, a senior counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights.

The FDA said Tuesday that Teva had provided data proving that girls as young as 15 could understand how Plan B works and use it properly, without the involvement of a health care provider. Teva plans to conduct a consumer-education program and indicated it is willing to audit whether stores are following the age requirement, the agency said.

The FDA said its ruling applies only to Plan B One-Step, and not to generic versions of the pill, which would remain behind pharmacy counters with the age-17 restriction.

If a woman already is pregnant, the morning-after pill has no effect. It prevents ovulation or fertilization of an egg. According to the medical definition, pregnancy doesn't begin until a fertilized egg implants itself into the wall of the uterus. Still, some critics say Plan B is the equivalent of an abortion pill because it may also be able to prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus, a contention that many scientists ? and Korman, in his ruling ? said has been discredited.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-01-Morning-After%20Pill/id-67a559647e1a4ac2b7c0d308e22e6f23

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May Day Rallies Held Around the World (Voice Of America)

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

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With Damaged Credit, Can I Get A Mortgage? | Bankrate.com

Dear Dr. Don,
I have come to the conclusion that I must downsize my home and reduce my mortgage payment. Am I able to get a loan for a new, smaller house with about half the mortgage payment when I recently had two late payments on the mortgage on my current home? I do have a potential buyer for my house. I would need a mortgage for the new, smaller house. Is this going to be impossible?

Thanks,
-- Terri Turndown

Dear Terri,
The bad news is late payments on your current mortgage are a red flag to any lender considering you for a new mortgage. Worse news is these late payments happened recently. How late they were matters. Missing the grace period isn't as bad as payments 30 or more days late. Sixty or more is even worse. You get the idea.

These transgressions are already reflected in your credit report and your credit score, so you can figure out where you stand.

Get your credit score from one or more of the three principal consumer reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. That's the first step to assess the damage. As time passes, the late payments should have less impact on your credit score. Unfortunately, your late payments were recent.

Lenders use risk-based pricing to determine the interest rate on your mortgage. Bad credit scores mean higher mortgage rates. Even so, you should be able to find a mortgage lender to provide the money to finance your new home. If applying to multiple lenders, concentrate your applications within two to three weeks. That makes it clear that you are shopping for loans. It won't hurt your credit score like it would if you strung out applications over a longer time horizon.

If you aren't likely to get a conventional mortgage, look into a Federal Housing Administration mortgage. FHA loan underwriting standards allow you to qualify for a loan with a lower credit score than conventional financing.

Source: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/mortgages/damaged-credit-get-mortgage.aspx

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Your Brain on Computers: Readers Respond - NYTimes.com

My Disruptions column this weekend looked at a nascent technology through which you can control computers, smartphones and robotic arms with your mind.

Although some people are clearly excited by this nearing technology, where they can change channels on their television just by thinking about it, other readers were mortified by the idea of a gadget reading their brain waves.

?Yeah, well, currents flow two ways. You turn your lights on with your brain; the lights turn your brain off,? wrote Tom from San Diego in a comment on the column. ?Me? Leave me disconnected.?

Another, Tony from Pennsylvania, seemed downright scared. ?I actually find this a little on the scary side,? he wrote. ?If technology can be controlled by thought, who?s to say our thoughts can?t be read the government??

It seems these readers aren?t alone.

On the frequently asked questions area of Muse, a lightweight, wireless headband that can engage with computers and mobile devices, there is one particular question that stood out. ?Can a brainwave sensor read my mind?? the question asks. Trying to put the reader at ease, Muse answers: ?Absolutely not. It cannot read thoughts. A brainwave sensor is a non-invasive device.?

James Temple, a reporter for The San?Francisco?Chronicle, wrote in a column over the weekend that some researchers fear that the rise of brain-reading gadgets will bring with it a new genre of hacker who could try to steal people?s thoughts.

Mr. Temple cited research published last year where scientists tried to siphon A.T.M. codes from students? minds by flashing bank logos, A.T.M. machines and debit cards, all while?monitoring the student?s thoughts using brain-scanning technologies.

?Some of these tests worked better than others,? but over all the researchers? ability to predict the right A.T.M. code ?improved by anywhere from 15 to 40 percent, compared with random guesses.?

Scary stuff indeed.?One of the comments on my column predicted how this all might play out.

?What a difference a generation or two makes. When I was a young man, the notion of having a computer chip implanted in your head was cause for alarm,? wrote Holmes from Middletown, Conn.??Now I can easily see young people doing so in order to access their beloved devices, in fact, lining up in order to be the first among their peers.?

As for those who opt not to use brain-reading?technology,? they might instead choose to wear tin-foil hats.

Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/your-brain-on-computers-reader-response-to-mind-reading-computers/

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