Postmaster General?Patrick R. Donahoe announced plans to reduce Saturday deliveries beginning in August. The Postal Service says the changes will save $2 billion annually. Though The Postal Service lost $15.9 billion last fiscal year, some in Congress and elsewhere oppose the Saturday cutbacks.?
By Pauline Jelinek,?Associated Press / February 6, 2013
A 25-year veteran U.S. mail carrier, Keo, delivers mail as he walks his route in Los Angeles Wednesday. The financially struggling U.S. Postal Service wants to stop delivering mail on Saturdays but continue to deliver packages six days a week under a plan aimed at saving about $2 billion a year.
AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
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Saturday mail may soon go the way of the Pony Express and penny postcards. The Postal Service said Wednesday that it plans to cut back to five-day-a-week deliveries for everything except packages to stem its financial losses in a world radically re-ordered by the Internet.
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"Our financial condition is urgent," declared Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe. But Congress has voted in the past to bar the idea of eliminating Saturday delivery, and his announcement immediately drew protests from some lawmakers. The plan, which is to take effect in August, also brought vigorous objections from farmers, the letter carriers' union and others.
The Postal Service, which suffered a $15.9 billion loss in the past budget year, said it expected to save $2 billion annually with the Saturday cutback. Mail such as letters and magazines would be affected. Delivery of packages of all sizes would continue six days a week.
The plan accentuates one of the agency's strong points: Package delivery has increased by 14 percent since 2010,?officials?say, while the delivery of letters and other mail has plummeted. Email has decreased the mailing of paper letters, but online purchases have increased package shipping, forcing the Postal Service to adjust to customers' new habits.
"Things change," Donahoe said.
James Valentine, an antiques shop owner in Toledo, wasn't too concerned about the news.
"The mail isn't that important to me anymore. I don't sit around waiting for it to come. It's a sign of the times," he said, adding, "It's not like anyone writes letters anymore."
In fact, the Postal Service has had to adapt to changing times ever since Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general by the Continental Congress in 1775. The Pony Express began in 1860, six-day delivery started in 1863, and airmail became the mode in 1918. Twice-a-day delivery was cut to one in 1950 to save money.
But change is not the biggest factor in the agency's predicament ? Congress is. The majority of the service's red ink comes from a 2006 law forcing it to pay about $5.5 billion a year into future retiree health benefits, something no other agency does. Without that payment ? $11.1 billion in a two-year installment last year ? and related labor expenses, the mail agency sustained an operating loss of $2.4 billion for the past fiscal year, lower than the previous year.
Congress also has stymied the service's efforts to close some?post?offices?in small towns.
Under the new plan, mail would be delivered to homes and businesses only from Monday through Friday but would still be delivered to?post?office?boxes on Saturdays.?Post?offices?now open on Saturdays would remain open.
Over the past several years, the Postal Service has advocated shifting to a five-day delivery schedule for mail and packages ? and it repeatedly but unsuccessfully has appealed to Congress to approve the move. An independent agency, the service gets no tax dollars for its day-to-day operations but is subject to congressional control.
Feb. 7, 2013 ? A team of scientists anchored at Yale University has demonstrated a new, highly versatile approach for quickly assembling drug-like compounds, establishing a broad new route to drug discovery and medical treatment. They report their results in the journal Science on Feb 8.
Drug molecules interact with their targets, such as proteins or enzymes, by attaching to them in a way that neutralizes the target's undesirable effects in the body. This is sometimes called the "lock-and-key" method. The new approach offers scientists far greater control over the three-dimensional structure of a key class of molecular compounds, making it easier to fashion drug molecules that fit their targets in the right way.
"Now we've got a lot more control over the shape and orientation of this class of drug compounds, and this essentially gives us greater flexibility in creating effective drugs," said Jonathan Ellman, the Yale chemist who led the experiment.
The research reported in Science revolves around piperidines, a class of organic compounds widely used in pharmaceuticals, including the familiar drugs quinine, morphine, oxycodone, Plavix, Cialis, and Aricept. Piperidines are core structures, or scaffolds, upon which molecular fragments -- parts of the drug molecule -- can be displayed for binding to a drug's targets. The scientists have shown a way to generate different piperidine derivatives by varying acid strength.
"Our research allows us to make new piperidines easily," Ellman said. "The approach has biomedical relevance because the scaffold upon which the fragments are displayed is present in many of the most important drugs."
The research is being published without patent constraints and could be used by drug developers immediately, said Ellman, who is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Chemistry and professor of pharmacology. "I believe that this is the most effective approach for rapidly translating this work into new drugs," he said.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Yale 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:
S. Duttwyler, S. Chen, M. K. Takase, K. B. Wiberg, R. G. Bergman, J. A. Ellman. Proton Donor Acidity Controls Selectivity in Nonaromatic Nitrogen Heterocycle Synthesis. Science, 2013; 339 (6120): 678 DOI: 10.1126/science.1230704
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.
CAIRO (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas hit out at leaders who make official visits to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, telling an Islamic summit on Wednesday such trips deepened the schism among Palestinians.
The remarks by the West Bank-based leader of the Palestinian Authority follow recent visits to Gaza by the Emir of Qatar and the prime minister of Malaysia. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, a major sponsor of Hamas, said this week he too would like to visit the territory.
Addressing the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit in Cairo, Abbas drew a distinction between welcome humanitarian aid for Gaza and "political visits that have an official character, as if there is an independent entity in the Gaza Strip".
"We do not accept any visit or policy that represents a violation of the unity of Palestinian representation," Abbas told the assembled dignitaries, including leaders who have either been to Gaza or have said they would like to go.
Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007, when it seized control from the Western-backed Palestinian Authority led by Abbas' Fatah faction at the height of a power struggle set off by the Islamist group's victory in 2006 legislative elections.
Hamas is hostile to Israel and shunned by the West. It opposes the Palestinian Authority's strategy of seeking to negotiate a permanent solution to the Middle East conflict.
Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani was given red-carpet treatment when he went to Gaza in October, as the first head of state to visit since 1999. Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas prime minister in Gaza, described it as a historic day.
The Ramallah-based administration denounced Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's January 22 trip there. The president of Tunisia, Moncef Marzouki, had also been due to visit Gaza last month, but canceled at the request of Abbas.
Ahmadinejad, the first Iranian leader to visit Egypt since Tehran's 1979 Islamic revolution, said he would visit Gaza if allowed. Gaza borders Egypt to the east.
Abbas said such visits would lead to a "strengthening of the division". The PA had not forgone its responsibilities towards Gaza for a second, he said, adding that it spent more than $130 million a month on salaries and services there.
He said new Palestinian elections would be the quickest way to end the division - a split which Palestinians feel has badly set back their quest for statehood.
Abbas added that Palestinian factions would meet in Cairo at the weekend to agree procedures for holding such elections. The Islamic summit was due to hold what it described as a special session on Palestine on Wednesday.
(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Editing by Paul Taylor and Andrew Roche)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top Republican lawmaker John Boehner said on Wednesday that he would oppose any delay in the automatic budget cuts that are set to kick in March 1, without other spending cuts and reforms.
"At some point Washington has to deal with its spending problem," Boehner, the speaker of the House of Representatives, told reporters.
About $85 billion in across-the-board budget cuts will go into effect if Congress does not pass legislation to change the law. Half of the cuts will hit the defense department.
(Reporting by David Lawder and Tom Ferraro; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
Posted by admin on February 5, 2013???Category: Z-Sport Relationships Directo????.
The way with which your business speak indicates your learning attainment, as well the contemporary society and tradition you carry been brought up in. There are no regions searching for so as to an identical communication resulting from as the all the other. For example, the look of communication living in Arab relationships is amongst the initial searching for. The comprehensive understanding of those same patterns helps your academe and the take great delight in gurus provide the acceptable education to those of which request that.
An item that is quite notable in communication within Arab relationships is a dominance of gentlemen. This dominance matches the power of men observed in the traditional Arabic culture. This could be explained by the fact that women really should be treated and guarded like precious gallstones.
Technological innovation Keeps Arab Culture as well as Tradition Well
The usage of modern interaction tools is widespread among Arabs. Yet , how they these types of tools with a day-to-day basis is different from how you would probably use them. The main is set off by gender, relationship status, and time.
Survey form shows that Arab most women prefer to use their own cell phones to send text messages when compared with making telephone calls. Simply because they are utilized to living in a society that literally criticizes women who initiate connection with men. Thus, men call most women. If women like to talk to their own partners, they will dial their details and then hang up. This popular technique has developed this ? missed call? contemporary society. Most of the time, texts are only routed when Arab women you can ask permission from their people that they will get out.
World Dictates Communication in Arabic Associations
There may be limited usage of some components of technology as documented in the patterns regarding communication in Arab interactions. This limitation is see in single and unengaged people. For instance, these people are prohibited from using video cell phone calls. Video calls are deemed by most non secular sectors as a infringement of the norm that prohibits a man as well as a woman from appearing together without a supervising male sustantially.
Farther, male dominance is present in the World wide web. Usually, girls would need to submit the login details upon for their emails, instant messaging files, and web 2 . 0 accounts. Through free access, gentlemen can scan their own partners? online account details. Its generally acceptable if the woman could have a great deal of females in her friendslist. Yet , if she?s a great deal of mails her friendslist, then that might be the main cause of an argument.
The good thing about interaction in Arab relationships would be that the men would often cover the many costs. Therefore women need not commit a dime in order to use technological innovations aimed at improving interaction.
For you, the interaction in Arab relationships could be complicated and male or female ? biased. However that? s due to the fact you are the outsider. If you happen to would look greater, you would realize that how communication operates for them is similar to how communication works for you.
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MicroRNA molecule may serve as biomarker, target for brain metastases in breast cancer patientsPublic release date: 5-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jeremy Moore jeremy.moore@aacr.org 215-446-7109 American Association for Cancer Research
PHILADELPHIA Researchers have identified two molecules that could potentially serve as biomarkers in predicting brain metastases in patients with breast cancer, according to data published in Cancer Research, a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Currently, most deaths from breast cancer are a result of metastatic disease. New research shows that cancer stem-like cells commonly defined as cells within a tumor with the capacity to initiate a new tumor, proliferate rapidly, differentiate and cause chemotherapy resistance may play a role in breast cancer metastasis.
"Recent research has shown that microRNAs are involved in tumor initiation and progression, and we hypothesized that they also may play a role in metastasis, particularly in relation to cancer stem-like cells," said Kounosuke Watabe, Ph.D., associate director for basic science at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Miss.
Watabe and colleagues performed microRNA profile analysis on RNA extracted from cancer stem-like cells isolated from a human breast cancer cell line and two highly metastatic variants of this cell line.
"We found that miR-7 is a metastasis suppressor in cancer stem-like cells," Watabe said. "When we increased expression of miR-7 in cancer stem-like cells from metastatic human breast cancer cell lines, it suppressed their metastatic properties."
Next, the researchers examined the molecular pathway downstream of miR-7 to find its targets and discovered that miR-7 suppressed expression of KLF4.
"High expression of KLF4 was inversely associated with brain metastasis-free survival but was not associated with bone metastasis," Watabe said. "This was confirmed in an animal model when we found that expression of miR-7 significantly suppressed the ability of cancer stem-like cells to metastasize to the brain but not the bone."
Finally, the researchers tested tumor samples from patients with breast cancer whose disease metastasized to the brain. Results showed that miR-7 was downregulated and KLF4 was upregulated. The miR-7/KLF4 axis played a critical role in cancer stem-like cell brain metastasis, according to Watabe.
Few treatments currently exist for brain metastasis because few drugs can penetrate the bloodbrain barrier, which prevents chemotherapy from reaching the brain.
"Cancer cells find the brain to be a kind of sanctuary where they can survive longer," Watabe said. "It is possible that miR-7 and KLF4 may serve as diagnostic or prognostic markers, or therapeutic targets for the prediction of, or treatment of, brain metastasis."
###
Follow the AACR on Twitter: @aacr #aacr
Follow the AACR on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aacr.org
About the American Association for Cancer Research
Founded in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is the world's first and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research and its mission to prevent and cure cancer. AACR membership includes more than 34,000 laboratory, translational and clinical researchers; population scientists; other health care professionals; and cancer advocates residing in more than 90 countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise of the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, biology, diagnosis and treatment of cancer by annually convening more than 20 conferences and educational workshops, the largest of which is the AACR Annual Meeting with more than 17,000 attendees. In addition, the AACR publishes eight peer-reviewed scientific journals and a magazine for cancer survivors, patients and their caregivers. The AACR funds meritorious research directly as well as in cooperation with numerous cancer organizations. As the scientific partner of Stand Up To Cancer, the AACR provides expert peer review, grants administration and scientific oversight of team science and individual grants in cancer research that have the potential for near-term patient benefit. The AACR actively communicates with legislators and policymakers about the value of cancer research and related biomedical science in saving lives from cancer. For more information about the AACR, visit www.AACR.org.
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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.
MicroRNA molecule may serve as biomarker, target for brain metastases in breast cancer patientsPublic release date: 5-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jeremy Moore jeremy.moore@aacr.org 215-446-7109 American Association for Cancer Research
PHILADELPHIA Researchers have identified two molecules that could potentially serve as biomarkers in predicting brain metastases in patients with breast cancer, according to data published in Cancer Research, a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Currently, most deaths from breast cancer are a result of metastatic disease. New research shows that cancer stem-like cells commonly defined as cells within a tumor with the capacity to initiate a new tumor, proliferate rapidly, differentiate and cause chemotherapy resistance may play a role in breast cancer metastasis.
"Recent research has shown that microRNAs are involved in tumor initiation and progression, and we hypothesized that they also may play a role in metastasis, particularly in relation to cancer stem-like cells," said Kounosuke Watabe, Ph.D., associate director for basic science at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Miss.
Watabe and colleagues performed microRNA profile analysis on RNA extracted from cancer stem-like cells isolated from a human breast cancer cell line and two highly metastatic variants of this cell line.
"We found that miR-7 is a metastasis suppressor in cancer stem-like cells," Watabe said. "When we increased expression of miR-7 in cancer stem-like cells from metastatic human breast cancer cell lines, it suppressed their metastatic properties."
Next, the researchers examined the molecular pathway downstream of miR-7 to find its targets and discovered that miR-7 suppressed expression of KLF4.
"High expression of KLF4 was inversely associated with brain metastasis-free survival but was not associated with bone metastasis," Watabe said. "This was confirmed in an animal model when we found that expression of miR-7 significantly suppressed the ability of cancer stem-like cells to metastasize to the brain but not the bone."
Finally, the researchers tested tumor samples from patients with breast cancer whose disease metastasized to the brain. Results showed that miR-7 was downregulated and KLF4 was upregulated. The miR-7/KLF4 axis played a critical role in cancer stem-like cell brain metastasis, according to Watabe.
Few treatments currently exist for brain metastasis because few drugs can penetrate the bloodbrain barrier, which prevents chemotherapy from reaching the brain.
"Cancer cells find the brain to be a kind of sanctuary where they can survive longer," Watabe said. "It is possible that miR-7 and KLF4 may serve as diagnostic or prognostic markers, or therapeutic targets for the prediction of, or treatment of, brain metastasis."
###
Follow the AACR on Twitter: @aacr #aacr
Follow the AACR on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aacr.org
About the American Association for Cancer Research
Founded in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is the world's first and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research and its mission to prevent and cure cancer. AACR membership includes more than 34,000 laboratory, translational and clinical researchers; population scientists; other health care professionals; and cancer advocates residing in more than 90 countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise of the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, biology, diagnosis and treatment of cancer by annually convening more than 20 conferences and educational workshops, the largest of which is the AACR Annual Meeting with more than 17,000 attendees. In addition, the AACR publishes eight peer-reviewed scientific journals and a magazine for cancer survivors, patients and their caregivers. The AACR funds meritorious research directly as well as in cooperation with numerous cancer organizations. As the scientific partner of Stand Up To Cancer, the AACR provides expert peer review, grants administration and scientific oversight of team science and individual grants in cancer research that have the potential for near-term patient benefit. The AACR actively communicates with legislators and policymakers about the value of cancer research and related biomedical science in saving lives from cancer. For more information about the AACR, visit www.AACR.org.
[ | 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.
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Public release date: 5-Feb-2013
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