Sunday, January 20, 2013

Video: Obama?s new term brings challenges, opportunities

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Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50525335/

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United Healthcare : Fitness Care Services : Health Care industry



Some who devote themselves to the provision of fitness care services and health care products industry. As a basis for the definition of the United Nations international typical industrial classification of health care generally, medical and hospital activities as composition activities dental practice other human being health actions. Another class or instructor, nurse, midwife, physiotherapist, for example works under further related health professions in areas such as "laboratory diagnosis", clinics and suburban health facilities or optics, occupational therapy, hydrotherapy, Yoga therapy, chiropody, medical massage, music therapy, food therapy, speech therapy, medicine, homeopathy, acupuncture, or scientific.

In addition, in accordance with standard industry classification and global industry classification standards, such as industry and market classification not only of medical equipment and tools and services to fitness care, many classes will include delivery of biotechnology and diagnostic laboratories, materials and manufacture of pharmaceuticals.

For example, a high-technology exports United States and other European giants of medical equipment and pharmaceuticals. United States that three quarters of world biotechnology in sales, accounting, dominate the field.

Source: http://dailygoodhealths.blogspot.com/2013/01/fitness-care-services-health-care.html

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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Seven Steps to Energy Independence - Environmental Leader

There are few certainties in the world, but everyone agrees that the cost of energy will continue to rise and rise.

What if we in business could shake off our energy shackles, cut our energy costs, and reduce our carbon emissions while improving our service to our customers?

You can do all that by investing in renewable energy, which is what we are doing at IKEA. We are committed to become energy independent worldwide by 2020. By this we mean producing more (renewable) energy than we consume throughout our global business.

We have allocated ?1.5 billion for investment in renewables by 2015. So far, we have installed more than 342,000 solar panels on IKEA stores and buildings across the world, and we have invested in 126 wind turbines in six countries. These initiatives mark a major milestone in our ambition to be energy independent. As a sign of our rapid progress, our operations in Sweden will use only renewable energy within the next 12-18 months.

There are many businesses that could do what we?re doing and reap the benefits for themselves, their customers and society.

We?re getting closer to our 2020 goal by investing mainly in wind turbines and photovoltaics ? we love the wind and the sun.? There is plenty of clean energy available from nature and we intend to use it to grow our business.

Besides higher energy prices, we can confidently expect carbon pricing too as increased evidence of climate change makes political action inevitable. This is another reason why boosting energy efficiency and using renewables makes good business sense.

Becoming energy independent requires a mindset that reflects a clear understanding of what is happening to our planet and how business can make a positive contribution to a better world.

Here is our own 3-part business case for energy independence through renewables:

Future. The world is facing severe resource constraints and increased threats from climate change.? Harnessing renewable energy is good for the environment and provides us with a long term supply of affordable energy that will protect our business from energy shocks.

Competition. Predictable energy costs, combined with ever-greater energy efficiency, helps us cut costs and boosts our competitiveness. We want to provide customers with quality products at affordable prices.? Our renewable energy?? strategy helps us do that as we have greater control over our costs and we do not pass any increases on to our customers. .

Values.? Our actions are driven by our values.? We want our business to have a positive impact on the world. That is why we call our new sustainability strategy People & Planet Positive. It focuses on resources and independence, on helping our customers live more sustainable lives, and helping create a better life for people and communities.

If energy independence sounds attractive, here are seven tips that might help you get there.

1.? Start with energy efficiency.? This has a quick payback and reduces the amount of energy you will need.

2. Take a longer-term view of your return on investment (ROI). This might be easier for those businesses that are not part of the quarterly reporting cycle.? But if you really believe in the long-term future of your business, you will find a way to plan accordingly ? we have.

3. Choose your partners carefully.? You can?t do this alone and nor would you want to ? there is a lot expertise out there.? Make sure you choose partners with the same values and expectations as your business.

4. Use scale to cut costs.? Bigger companies have more leverage because they can use their scale to save costs.? We are doing this with our investments solar and wind generation, and are also helping our customers by converting all our lighting to super-efficient LED and making it much more affordable.

5. Work with your supply chain.? You and they can reap benefits by becoming more energy efficient and making greater use of renewable, helping to keep production costs manageable.? We have set targets to achieve this.

6. Engage co-workers.? Knowing the company you work for is committed to sustainability and using renewable energy, can help increase pride as well as attract new talent. It?s also a crucial step in improving energy efficiency as we call all do our bit to use less.

7. Be confident and persistent.? The energy landscape changes daily ? stay with it and keep your eyes on the (renewable) horizon.

Steve Howard is chief sustainability officer of IKEA Group. Read more like this at People & Planet Positive.

Stay Up-to-Date On Environmental Management, Energy & Sustainability News with EL's Free Daily Newsletter

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Source: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2013/01/14/seven-steps-to-energy-independence/

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Ancient Pompeii had upstairs toilets, too

The residents of the ancient city of Pompeii weren't limited to street-level plumbing, a new study finds. In fact, many in the city may have headed upstairs when nature called.

Most second floors in the Roman city are gone, claimed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii in A.D. 79. But vertical pipes leading to lost second stories strongly suggest that there were once toilets up there, according to a new analysis by A. Kate Trusler, a doctoral candidate in anthropology at the University of Missouri.

"We have 23 toilets that are connected, that are second-story preserved, that are connected to these downpipes," Trusler told LiveScience on Friday at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in Seattle, where she presented her research.

Traces of toilets
Trusler became interested in Pompeii's latrines six years ago while doing fieldwork in the city. Previous researchers and works on Pompeii often stated that there was a toilet in almost every house. But Trusler found that statement confusing. Walking around the city, she said, it was clear that some spots were chock full of homes with private latrines, while other areas seemed to be toilet deserts.

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"And," Trusler added, "there are all of these downpipes that are part of that picture that no one is really considering." [ Image Gallery: A Look at Pompeii's Toilets ]

So Trusler decided to conduct a plumbing survey of sorts, mapping latrine and downpipe locations around the city. One residential district, known to archaeologists as Region 6, does indeed have toilets on the ground story of almost every home, she said. But other blocks have few toilets. In total, 43 percent of homes in the city had latrines on the ground floor, Trusler found.

Downpipes provide the other half of that picture. These vertical, usually terracotta pipes are concentrated in the oldest part of the city, where there were many workshops and small businesses crammed into close quarters. A total of 286 pipes run down the walls of these buildings, leading to the mostly lost second floors. In 23 cases, however, the second story remains, and the same types of pipes lead to latrines.

In addition, Trusler said, unpublished research on scrapings from the insides of the pipes revealed fecal material and traces of intestinal parasites, good signs of a toilet.

The plumbing of Pompeii
The upstairs plumbing offers a window into daily Pompeii life, Trusler said.

"The sanitation features can tell us a lot about what people are doing on upper floors and above these little shops," she said.

"What they suggest is that people are living there."

Most of the downpipes were likely installed in the first century B.C. into the first century A.D., Trusler said, the same time that the city developed its pumped-water system.

Residents of apartments above shops would have been able to get water from public fountains installed in the streets.

"You really have a picture of urban development going on in Pompeii," Trusler said.

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas??or LiveScience @livescience. We're also on Facebook and Google+.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50459474/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Why Gold and Silver Correlations Should Be Constantly Monitored ...

Financial Market Forecasts 2013

Commodities / Gold and Silver 2013 Jan 14, 2013 - 12:55 PM

By: P_Radomski_CFA

Commodities

Correlation is a useful measure - it helps us make predictions about a variety of events. But it's also a bit tricky - while there are relationships that seem stable (such as the fact that rich people tend to spend more on luxury goods than the less wealthy), there are some that do experience some volatility. These require special caution, as relying blindly on what was seen in the past without checking whether it is still true can lead to disaster.

Unfortunately, precious metals markets fall into the latter category, hence the relationships between particular assets need constant monitoring in order to be useful and - which is even more important - not to be harmful to the investors. We have already written about the correlations between gold, silver and U.S. dollar turned upside down, and it seems that a lot of what was written then is still in place, however, due to the fact that markets change every day, it is a good idea to see if there are any indications that the situation will soon return to normalcy.

To do so, let us move on to the technical part of today's essay - we'll start with the analysis of euro's long-term chart (charts courtesy by http://stockcharts.com.)

$XEU Euro - Philadelphia INDX

We saw a sharp rally last week as the declines of late 2012 were erased and the index is back to levels not seen since December. With the correction behind us, it now seems that higher values are likely as a short-term uptrend is in place.

The most recent declines stopped at two Fibonacci retracement levels. The first was the 38.2% level based on weekly closing prices and the second the 50% level based on intra-day lows. The Fibonacci retracement levels once again have shown their value as a useful technical tool.

Let's move on to the U.S. currency and see whether the rally in euro has had any influence on the USD.

$USD US Dollar Index - Cash Settle (EOD) ICE

We begin the analysis of the USD Index with the long-term chart since it gives us a bigger perspective. With the situation bullish for the euro, it seems that a bearish outlook here would be no surprise. This is very much the case as the index closed below the resistance line yesterday. No breakout has been seen and a recent attempt to move above this line was invalidated. The outlook here is clearly bearish at this time; the resistance line appears strong enough to hold a possible short-term rally in check.

Now, let's have a look at the USD Index short-term chart.

$USD US Dollar Index - Cash Settle (EOD) ICE

Here, we have similar implications to what was seen from the long-term perspective. The index dropped significantly on Thursday after an unsuccessful attempt to break out above the declining resistance line based on tops seen last year in July and November. The invalidation is a bearish factor and likely a major contributor to Thursday's decline. The index closed even lower on Friday after having tried to move much higher that day which is a bearish indication. It seems that additional moves to the downside are ahead along with additional rally in the Euro Index.

An encouraging development last week was that the precious metals rallied when the USD Index declined, seemingly a step towards return to normalcy, that is, negative correlations between the dollar and the metals. We would like to see more of this, however, before stating that this bullish development is once again in place.

Finally, let us have a look at the intermarket correlations to see how what we saw last week translates into the numbers, and whether we can expect any improvements in the correlation structure soon.

Correlation Matrix

The Correlation Matrix is a tool, which we have developed to analyze the impact of the currency markets and the general stock market upon the precious metals sector (namely: gold & silver correlations). On Thursday, we saw something that contributed to a possible move back to the normal correlations. It is too early to say, however, that the negative correlation between gold, silver and the mining stocks and the USD Index is definitely back. What's normal? Negative correlation between metals and the dollar and positive one between metals and stocks - just like you can see in the medium term columns. Why should you care? Because without this correlation in place, lower values of USD Index may not translate into higher values of precious metals - this is what we've been seeing for a few weeks now.

We prefer to see a few more days of declines in the dollar and higher prices for precious metals before saying that the worst is over with respect to the upside down correlations. While it is more likely than not that lower values for the dollar will coincide with higher precious metals prices, this is not yet something we would describe as "highly likely". And this could be viewed as the answer to the title question: Correlations should be constantly monitored in order to avoid formulating conclusions and forecasts automatically - someone who's heard that "when USD rallies, gold falls" could decide to sell the yellow metal because of the strong dollar and lose lots of money in the profits that they would not make - that could be the case when gold rallies along with the USD Index, when it's being pushed higher by the demand from Europe and Asia. Such scenarios will likely take place some time during this and/or the following years, so it is important to keep the correlations in mind and check them before taking big steps regarding your gold & silver investments.

Summing up, the outlook for the euro is bullish for the short term but bearish for the USD Index for both the short and medium term. The implications from the currency markets this week are bullish for the precious metals sector overall, but may have no direct, instantaneous effect until correlations return to their normal values.

Use the following link to sign up for a free, no-obligation trial of our Premium Service and read the complete version of this study that is over 10 times bigger. You'll also receive Market Alerts when things "get hot" on the precious metals market and when the trial expires, you'll start receiving our free newsletter. Additionally, you will also receive 12 gold best practice emails.

Thank you for reading. Have a great and profitable week!

Would you like to read the full version of today's analysis? Sign up for a free trial on our gold & silver investment website SunshineProfits.com.

Przemyslaw Radomski, CFA

Founder, Editor-in-chief

Gold & Silver Investment & Trading Website - SunshineProfits.com

* * * * *

About Sunshine Profits

Sunshine Profits enables anyone to forecast market changes with a level of accuracy that was once only available to closed-door institutions. It provides free trial access to its best investment tools (including lists of best gold stocks and best silver stocks), proprietary gold & silver indicators, buy & sell signals, weekly newsletter, and more. Seeing is believing.

Disclaimer

All essays, research and information found above represent analyses and opinions of Przemyslaw Radomski, CFA and Sunshine Profits' associates only. As such, it may prove wrong and be a subject to change without notice. Opinions and analyses were based on data available to authors of respective essays at the time of writing. Although the information provided above is based on careful research and sources that are believed to be accurate, Przemyslaw Radomski, CFA and his associates do not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the data or information reported. The opinions published above are neither an offer nor a recommendation to purchase or sell any securities. Mr. Radomski is not a Registered Securities Advisor. By reading Przemyslaw Radomski's, CFA reports you fully agree that he will not be held responsible or liable for any decisions you make regarding any information provided in these reports. Investing, trading and speculation in any financial markets may involve high risk of loss. Przemyslaw Radomski, CFA, Sunshine Profits' employees and affiliates as well as members of their families may have a short or long position in any securities, including those mentioned in any of the reports or essays, and may make additional purchases and/or sales of those securities without notice.

? 2005-2012 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.

Source: http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article38490.html

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EGFR mutation not prognostic factor in non-small cell lung cancer

EGFR mutation not prognostic factor in non-small cell lung cancer [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 15-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Kristal Griffith
Kristal.Griffith@iaslc.org
720-325-2952
International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer

Smoking status seems to be most important prognostic factor

DENVER Recent studies have demonstrated that molecular-targeted agents, such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI), may prolong survival of selected patients based on tumor biomarkers. The presence of mutation in the EGFR gene is known as a predictive marker for the response to treatment. However, whether or not these EGFR mutations are prognostic factors for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not been known. A recent study published in the February 2013 issue of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer's (IASLC) Journal of Thoracic Oncology, concludes EGFR mutations are not a prognostic factor in surgically resected patients or patients with recurrence treated with conventional therapies. However, after disease recurrence, administration of EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors can prolong survival.

A prognostic marker is a patient characteristic or tumor factor that predicts the patient outcome, independent of the treatment. In the study, researchers retrospectively collected a series of samples from patients who underwent surgery whose EGFR mutations status had been tested, then analyzed patient survival. The patients were seen between June 1998 and February 2010 at the Seoul National University Hospital. And after excluding some patients, researchers analyzed data from 863 patients.

They concluded that although the EGFR mutation is a predictive marker for EGFR TKI response, the presence of EGFR mutation is not a prognostic factor in NSCLC.

The researchers believe, "the clinical observation that patients with EGFR mutation seem to survive longer may be because EGFR mutation is more frequently associated with other significant prognostic factors, such as age, stage, or smoking status. On the basis of our results, the pathologic stage seems to affect the prognosis by influencing the cancer recurrence, and smoking status seems to be the most important prognostic factor for overall survival."

###

The lead author of this work is IASLC member Dr. Young Tae Kim. Co-authors include IASLC members Dr. Ikhyu Park and Dr. Chang Hyun Kang.

About the IASLC:

The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) is the only global organization dedicated to the study of lung cancer. Founded in 1974, the association's membership includes more than 3,500 lung cancer specialists in 80 countries. To learn more about IASLC please visit www.iaslc.org.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


EGFR mutation not prognostic factor in non-small cell lung cancer [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 15-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Kristal Griffith
Kristal.Griffith@iaslc.org
720-325-2952
International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer

Smoking status seems to be most important prognostic factor

DENVER Recent studies have demonstrated that molecular-targeted agents, such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI), may prolong survival of selected patients based on tumor biomarkers. The presence of mutation in the EGFR gene is known as a predictive marker for the response to treatment. However, whether or not these EGFR mutations are prognostic factors for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not been known. A recent study published in the February 2013 issue of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer's (IASLC) Journal of Thoracic Oncology, concludes EGFR mutations are not a prognostic factor in surgically resected patients or patients with recurrence treated with conventional therapies. However, after disease recurrence, administration of EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors can prolong survival.

A prognostic marker is a patient characteristic or tumor factor that predicts the patient outcome, independent of the treatment. In the study, researchers retrospectively collected a series of samples from patients who underwent surgery whose EGFR mutations status had been tested, then analyzed patient survival. The patients were seen between June 1998 and February 2010 at the Seoul National University Hospital. And after excluding some patients, researchers analyzed data from 863 patients.

They concluded that although the EGFR mutation is a predictive marker for EGFR TKI response, the presence of EGFR mutation is not a prognostic factor in NSCLC.

The researchers believe, "the clinical observation that patients with EGFR mutation seem to survive longer may be because EGFR mutation is more frequently associated with other significant prognostic factors, such as age, stage, or smoking status. On the basis of our results, the pathologic stage seems to affect the prognosis by influencing the cancer recurrence, and smoking status seems to be the most important prognostic factor for overall survival."

###

The lead author of this work is IASLC member Dr. Young Tae Kim. Co-authors include IASLC members Dr. Ikhyu Park and Dr. Chang Hyun Kang.

About the IASLC:

The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) is the only global organization dedicated to the study of lung cancer. Founded in 1974, the association's membership includes more than 3,500 lung cancer specialists in 80 countries. To learn more about IASLC please visit www.iaslc.org.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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/2013-01/iaft-emn011513.php

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