Researchers identify risk markers for erectile dysfunction following radiation treatment in prostate cancer

BRONX, N.Y., Sept. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In the first study of its kind, a research team led by Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Mount Sinai School of Medicine discovered 12 genetic markers associated with the development of erectile dysfunction (ED) in prostate cancer patients who were treated with radiation. The findings, published online today in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology - Biology - Physics, are an important step toward helping clinicians determine the best course of treatment for prostate cancer patients and may lead to the development of therapies that alleviate side effects.

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The main treatments for prostate cancer - surgery, brachytherapy (seed implants) and external beam radiation therapy - are all very effective at curing prostate cancer. Unfortunately, each treatment places patients at risk for ED. According to the National Cancer Institute, the prevalence of erectile dysfunction following external beam radiation for prostate cancer ranges from 65 percent to 85 percent. The Prostate Cancer Foundation estimates prevalence of ED following seed therapy at 25 to 50 percent. Many men will be able to regain their potency with time and treatments, but doctors would like to identify which men may be more likely to develop this side effect.

In the first large scale Genome-Wide Association Study to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with susceptibility for the development of erectile dysfunction following radiotherapy for prostate cancer, researchers conducted a two-part study, first, to discover the candidate genetic markers of side effect risk, and second, to confirm which of those markers are replicated in a second group of patients. In the first group of prostate cancer patients, which included 132 men who developed erectile dysfunction after radiotherapy and 103 men similarly treated who did not develop erectile dysfunction, they found a set of genetic markers associated with erectile dysfunction. In the second part of the study, which examined 128 patients who developed erectile dysfunction after radiotherapy and 102 who did not, researchers confirmed that 12 SNPs were associated with erectile dysfunction.

"Thankfully, current treatments for prostate cancer offer excellent rates of long-term survival, so patients and their physicians have a choice about which treatment path to take," said Barry Rosenstein, Ph.D., professor of radiation oncology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "However, the risk of developing erectile dysfunction after radiation treatment is highly variable, suggesting there may be a genetic component to determining that risk. Our study confirms that specific markers make certain patients more susceptible to this side effect."

Patients in the study cohort were given one of three treatments: internal radiotherapy, known as brachytherapy; brachytherapy plus external beam radiation; or external beam radiation alone. They were followed for an average length of nearly four years to determine level of sexual function after treatment.

Interestingly, the 12 SNPs identified in this study were located near genes that seem to be related to erectile function rather than related to radiation response. The researchers conclude that these SNPs may affect genes that sensitize a patient to developing erectile dysfunction when exposed to radiation during therapy.

"Prostate cancer screening and treatment are undergoing major shifts," said Harry Ostrer, M.D., professor of pathology, of genetics and of pediatrics at Einstein and director of genetic and genomic testing for the division of clinical pathology at Montefiore Medical Center and co-principal investigator of the study. "This is part of our ongoing effort to identify men at highest risk for disease, identify the aggressive tumors that would be responsive to therapy, and to improve quality of life for men with indolent prostate cancers who might benefit from active surveillance, rather than therapy."

The authors indicate that examination of a large, independent cohort of similarly treated patients will be necessary to definitively determine which SNPs to include as part of a clinically useful predictive test to identify which men are at greatest risk for developing erectile dysfunction following prostate cancer radiotherapy. The researchers are also evaluating the impact of radiation treatment on urinary complications and proctitis, the inflammation of the rectum.

This study was supported by the American Cancer Society, United States Department of Defense, and the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Ostrer's paper is titled, "A Two-Stage Genome-Wide Association Study to Identify Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Associated with Development of Erectile Dysfunction Following Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer." Additional Einstein contributors include: Christopher Campbell, B.S., and Sarah Kerns, Ph.D., M.P.H. Other contributors include: Richard Stock, M.D., Nelson Stone, M.D., Michael Buckstein, M.D., Ph.D.,( )Lynda Rath, B.A. (Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY), Yongzhao Shao, Ph.D. (New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY), Dirk De Ruysscher, M.D., Ph.D., Guido Lammering, M.D., Ph.D.( )(Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, the Netherlands), Rosetta Hixson, M.D.,( )Jamie Cesaretti, M.D.,( )and Mitchell Terk, M.D. ( )(Florida Radiation Oncology Group, Jacksonville, FL)

This research was supported by grants from the American Cancer Society (RSGT-05-200-1), the Department of Defense (PC074201) and the National Institutes of Health (CA34444). The Einstein authors report no conflict of interest.

About Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University

Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University is one of the nation's premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. During the 2011-2012 academic year, Einstein is home to 724 M.D. students, 248 Ph.D. students, 117 students in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program, and 368 postdoctoral research fellows. The College of Medicine has 2,522 full time faculty members located on the main campus and at its clinical affiliates. In 2011, Einstein received nearly $170 million in awards from the NIH. This includes the funding of major research centers at Einstein in diabetes, cancer, liver disease, and AIDS. Other areas where the College of Medicine is concentrating its efforts include developmental brain research, neuroscience, cardiac disease, and initiatives to reduce and eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities. Its partnership with Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein, advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments and therapies that benefit patients. Through its extensive affiliation network involving Montefiore, Jacobi Medical Center - Einstein's founding hospital, and five other hospital systems in the Bronx, Manhattan, Long Island and Brooklyn, Einstein runs one of the largest post-graduate medical training programs in the United States, offering approximately 155 residency programs to more than 2,200 physicians in training. For more information, please visit www.einstein.yu.edu and follow us on Twitter @EinsteinMed.

About The Mount Sinai Medical Center

The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Established in 1968, Mount Sinai School of Medicine is one of the leading medical schools in the United States. The Medical School is noted for innovation in education, biomedical research, clinical care delivery, and local and global community service. It has more than 3,400 faculty in 32 departments and 14 research institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and by U.S. News & World Report.

The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation's oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. In 2012, U.S. News & World Report ranked The Mount Sinai Hospital 14th on its elite Honor Roll of the nation's top hospitals based on reputation, safety, and other patient-care factors. Mount Sinai is one of 12 integrated academic medical centers whose medical school ranks among the top 20 in NIH funding and by U.S. News & World Report and whose hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 560,000 outpatient visits took place.

For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org/. Find Mount Sinai on: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mountsinainycTwitter @mountsinainycYouTube: http://www.youtube.com/mountsinainy

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Albert Einstein College of Medicine

CONTACT: Kim Newman, +1-718-430-3101, sciencenews@einstein.yu.edu

Web site: http://www.aecom.yu.edu/

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?10m boost for oil and gas innovation

Funding worth up to ?10million is being made available by the Scottish government to support innovation in the oil and gas sector.

Scotland's energy minister Fergus Ewing announced yesterday that the fund is now open to the first round of applications. The first call will be for projects looking at improving the integrity and reliability of assets in the oil and gas industry.

According to Ewing, projects funded under the scheme will help ensure offshore assets can continue to run effectively and safely in the future, through inspection, change management and analysis of their future integrity.

He commented: "We know that there is a great future in oil and gas, and the sector is no stranger to innovation, with the great strides the industry has taken helping to secure our place at the lead of the global industry.

"The awards made under this fund will help drive that innovation and preserve the vital infrastructure of the industry, to ensure they continue to operate safely and efficiently for the recovery of oil and gas reserves for decades to come."

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Source: http://www.eurekamagazine.co.uk/design-engineering-news/_10m-boost-for-oil-and-gas-innovation/45124/

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Therapy over the phone as effective as face-to-face, study suggests

ScienceDaily (Sep. 28, 2012) ? A new study reveals that cognitive therapy over the phone is just as effective as meeting face-to-face. The research was published September 28, in the journal PLoS ONE.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge together with the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research & Care (NIHR CLAHRC) and NHS Midlands & East also found that providing talking therapy over the phone increases access to psychological therapies for people with common mental disorders and potentially saves the NHS money.

For the study, data from 39,000 patients in seven established Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services (an initiative which aims to expand the availability of psychological therapies) in the East of England were used to compare Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) delivered face-to-face versus over the phone. For all but an infrequent, identifiable clinical group with more severe illness, therapy over the phone was as effective as face to face, and the cost per session was 36.2% lower.

Patients may be unable to access health services due to transport problems, work commitments and physical disability, among many reasons. So increasing availability of talking therapies over the phone will make mental health services more accessible to patients.

On the back of the study results, NHS Midlands & East has instigated a regional training programme to standardise service delivery and ensure therapists are competent at phone contacts. The training programme has recently been extended into a partnership with a third party organisation.

Professor Peter Jones, Principal Investigator of the study from the University of Cambridge, said: "Providing therapy over the phone will not only help individuals gain much-needed access to mental health treatment, it will provide a more cost effective way of providing these services at a time when everyone is concerned about cutting costs."

Mental health illnesses affect one in four adults in Britain every year. Additionally, the NHS spends more on mental health than it does on cancer, heart disease, stroke and asthma put together (a total of ?9.95 billion in 2010-2011), with general practitioners spending more than a third of their time on mental health issues.

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Journal Reference:

1. Hammond GC, Croudace TJ, Radhakrishnan M, Lafortune L, Watson A, et al. Comparative Effectiveness of Cognitive Therapies Delivered Face-To-Face or Over the Telephone: An Observational Study Using Propensity Methods. PLoS ONE, 2012 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0042916

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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.

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Pregame: Washington State-Oregon

SEATTLE -- Though technically a home game for the Washington State Cougars, tonight?s matchup against the Oregon Ducks will probably be -- at the very least -- a neutral-field experience.

Even the mileage favors the No. 2 Ducks, who are squaring off the Cougars at CenturyLink Field in the Seattle game.

Eugene to Seattle = 283 miles.

Pullman to Seattle = 287 miles.

Obviously, the Ducks have a few more advantages than just the mileage. Like one of the nation?s most exciting offensive players in De'Anthony Thomas, a youthful but efficient quarterback in Marcus Mariota and a defense that is playing as well as any in the Pac-12.

Thomas is tied for the FBS lead with eight all-purpose plays of 30 yards or more. Which is a technical way of saying he?s super-duper explosive.

Washington State, meanwhile, is trying to bounce back from a loss last week to Colorado. This is the first time in Mike Leach?s career he?s faced Oregon.

Connor Halliday is again expected to start at quarterback for the Cougars. He?s appeared in seven games in his career for Washington State and has 17 touchdowns. That?s the most by any quarterback in school history during his first seven games.

It?s been a weird week of football at CenturyLink Field. Thursday night, Washington upset No. 8 Stanford; Monday night we saw the simultaneous-possession call at the end of the Seahawks-Packers game. Worth noting that the last time Washington State beat a ranked team, it was in 2006, when it beat No. 16 Oregon in Pullman.

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/67038/pregame-washington-state-oregon

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Pilot proposes with plane crash prank

One man's airborne proposal took his girlfriend's breath away when he pretended that their small plane was in trouble and asked her to read an emergency checklist that contained instructions for a "ring engagement procedure."

The groom-to-be was filming the entire episode on hidden camera, and he posted the video, "In Descent Proposal," on YouTube.

The man, Ryan Thompson, was flying his girlfriend, Carlie Kennedy, on a breathtaking flight above the Chicago skyline.

The video, which includes the date 2.11.12, contains no dialogue, just music and captions at the bottom of the screen to describe the conversation.

At first, the two are smiling. They appear happy, and the sky forms a brilliant blue backdrop.

"I thought he was surprising me for Valentine's Day," said Kennedy. "It was a gorgeous day, as you can see in the video."

Related: Russian man fakes car accident death in grisly proposal

But after a short while, the plane appears to shake and Carlie's smile falters.

"All of a sudden I felt my stomach kind of go up in my throat and I realized we were heading straight for the water," Kennedy said. "And then he [Thompson] said, 'Honey, I need you to stay calm. The flight controls aren't working.'"

In the video, Kennedy appears clearly shaken, but she complies, reading the emergency checklist he hands her.

"Unresponsive flight controls ? ," she begins, eventually getting to the instructions "to initiate the ring engagement procedure."

"Pilot in command. Determine if he is a good mate. Note: he will always love and honor you," she continues, appearing not to fully comprehend the meaning of the words .

"I genuinely did believe that we were going to die," she said, recounting the moment. "I felt like our lives depended on me making it through that checklist."

While Carlie reads, Thompson reaches into his pocket for the ring.

When she reads the question "Will you marry me?" she stops for a moment, stunned, then covers her face and bursts out laughing, casting several glances at the ring he's holding in front of her.

"Will you marry me?" he asks.

She said yes.

"A lot of the women that I've told the story [to] said, 'I would have slapped him,'" Kennedy said.

"But, for us, it was a perfect match," said her now-fiance, Thompson.

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Source: http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/pilot-proposes-plane-crash-prank-120547490--abc-news-lifestyle.html

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Tips to Choose the Best Weight Loss Supplements

Home | Health & fitness | Weight loss

Obesity is one of the most serious threats to societies across the world. Poor eating habits and lack of regular physical activity are the major contributors of obesity. Millions of people are looking for a safe and effective way to lose weight. Weight loss supplements are great alternatives to costly, painful surgeries, strict and yet unproductive diets and back breaking exercises. With so many supplements for weight loss available on the market today and their advertisements promising their effectiveness in burning unwanted gat, getting to pick the best weight loss supplement is not an easy task. Choosing a wrong supplement will lead to disappointments and even worse it could cause some unpleasant side effects. Hence, it is crucial to choose the best weight loss supplements that help you reach your weight loss goals.

Before choosing any diet pills, you need to decide what factors lead you to gain excess body weight. Many obese and overweight people are emotional eaters. They eat more calories than they actually need as a kind of defense mechanism to overcome negative emotions. If you are an emotional eater, the best weight loss supplements for you are the ones that suppress the appetite. The slimming pills that contain effective herbal extracts curb your hunger pangs and make you feel full, even if you eat less. Taking these pills along with your low calorie diet can help enhance the results. You can also find weight loss pills that contain ingredients to strip off fat deposits in your body. They encourage your body to store less fat and increase body?s metabolic rate. Choosing such diet pills can help you get rid of ugly fat deposits and improve your body shape as well as tone.

Once you have identified the best weight loss supplement that could work for you, you need to check whether there are any side effects associated with the use of that supplement. Many supplements cause mild to severe side effects, like nausea, drowsiness, headache, heart palpitations and high blood pressure. It is always advisable to pick safe weight loss pills that contain natural herbal extracts. Safe and effectual weight loss supplements encourage healthy eating plan and routine workout. They assure weight loss, without making you feel weak and tired. They give you a track for healthy living. Moreover, they offer a convenient way to shed excessive pounds quickly.

While buying weight loss supplements, ensure that they are manufactured by reliable and reputable companies. The best weight loss products are the ones that have a record of proving safe weight loss. A good company provides eating guide and exercise guide to help you get fast results. They do not use any addictives or preservatives, so you can use them without fearing about addiction or other allergic problems.

It is always advisable to consult your doctor, before using the supplements for weight loss. This is especially important, if you are a pregnant or nursing mother or have any health complications like hyperthyroidism, renal disease, blood pressure, spasms, asthma and heart problems. You should consult your doctor, if you are taking any prescription, over-the-counter drugs or nutritional supplements.

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All your search for Weight loss supplements shall end here. To get best weight loss supplement visit http://www.slimtonenow.co.uk .

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FAVI's $50 Streaming Stick adds apps, streaming services to any HDTV with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

Why get a Smart TV when you can enhance your existing HDTV with a dongle? That's the precise inquiry FAVI is aiming to answer with its SmartStick, a device that lets you access streaming movies, music, apps, and games just by plugging it into your television's HDMI port. It runs Jelly Bean, the latest Android OS, and supports services like Netflix, Hulu, Epix, YouTube, and Pandora. Other features include a full internet browser, 4GB of memory, and the ability to wirelessly stream media from your computer via its MediaSHARE app. Since it runs Android, you can download apps from the Google Play store as well. While we're still fans of the Roku Streaming Stick, the SmartStick's $50 price tag is hard to beat. You can also get a mini wireless keyboard and touchpad mouse for $39.99 for easier navigation. The FAVI Streaming Stick will be available this November, though you can pre-order it now for an October 30th ship date. Check after the break for the SmartStick promo video and the press release.

Continue reading FAVI's $50 Streaming Stick adds apps, streaming services to any HDTV with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

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Au Pair ? How to Finance Your Child's Private Education

For some parents, a private education is a non-negotiable expense when their children are of school age. Unfortunately, affording tuition for private school can be a bit of a challenge, especially in a difficult economic climate. There are, however, a few ways that parents can get creative about financing private educations for their children.

• Grants and Scholarships ? Children that show particular academic promise or athletic prowess may qualify, through some private schools or public grant programs, for financial assistance with education expenses. Researching any scholarship options that your chosen school offers and looking into the possibility of grant funding through programs like GrantSpace can help you determine what, if any, tuition assistance is available to your family.
• Increasing Income Through Overtime or Second Jobs ? While the idea of working longer hours and spending less time with your children can be immediately repelling, it may also be one of your only effective options for generating the additional income you?ll need to finance their private school tuition if money is tight. Speaking with your employer about getting overtime work or even taking on a second, part-time job may help you afford your child?s tuition.
• Transition to Less Expensive Childcare ? If you?ve been investing in expensive, private childcare, the reduction in hours and salary when your child enters school may result in savings that equal or even surpass her private school expenses. Provided that you only have one child or that your youngest is entering school, transitioning to a less expensive form of childcare for the few hours that separate the end of classes and a parent?s return home might be the most financially sound decision.
• Cut Non-Essential Spending ? Every household budget suffers from a bit of non-essential spending, but cutting those expenses can result in far greater savings than many parents realize. Carefully consider your budget, and determine the places where excesses can be trimmed. With a bit of creative budgeting, you may find that there?s more than enough to cover tuition.
• Consider Religious Schools ? On average, private schools affiliated with spiritual or religious groups run about $10,000 a year less than their nonreligious counterparts. ?Catholic education programs come at even a greater savings. Where non-sectarian private school tuition, according to the Council for American Private Education (CAPE), costs approximately $17,316 per year, Catholic education costs parents, on average, about $6,018 annually. Other religious programs come in at $7,117. By considering a spiritually-based program for your children, you can help them reap the many benefits of private school without quite as hefty of a price tag.
• Look Into Tuition Payment Plans ? Just as some private schools offer scholarships for promising young athletes or academically-minded students, there are also those that offer tuition payment plans that make financing a private education a bit less of a burden. Check with the admissions office of your chosen private school to determine what programs are available.
• Home Equity Loans ? Tapping the equity of your home or borrowing from your 401(k) plan in order to pay for your child?s private school tuition may seem extreme, but it is a relatively common practice. If a home equity loan is a feasible option for your family, it can be one of the easiest ways to finance private schooling.
• Education Loans ? Before tapping your home equity, taking on a second job or discontinuing your nanny?s employment contract, speak with a loan officer at your bank. Many parents are under the misconception that student loans are only available to college students, but this isn?t always the case. Some banks do offer student loans for elementary and secondary education expenses, which can be a saving grace for parents whose chosen schools do not offer a tuition payment plan program.

The smaller class sizes and more controlled atmosphere of most private schools can be very appealing to parents, especially those who live in struggling public school districts. Private school students do tend to outperform their publicly-educated peers in standardized testing, and are more likely to receive a bachelor?s or advanced degree after high school, according to a U.S. Department of Education report entitled Private Schools: A Brief Portrait. This same report published findings that indicated the graduation requirements of private schools were more strenuous than those in the public sector, as well. The benefits of a private education make it well worth the added financial strain for many families, which can be considerable when there are several children in the household. Creative budgeting, payment plans and elementary education loan programs can help families shoulder this potentially significant financial burden, giving kids an academic advantage over their publicly educated peers when the time for college admissions and choosing a career path presents itself.

Source: http://www.aupair.org/blog/how-to-finance-your-child%E2%80%99s-private-education/

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What's wrong with this picture - The Observation Deck - timesunion ...

Our opinion: A costly piece of art leaves us asking, what is NYRA thinking? Horse racing should be an asset in New York, not one bumble and scandal after another.

When you embark on a project, it?s useful to ask: What would success look like? We can?t think of a more appropriate question when it comes to the future of thoroughbred racing in New York.

We sure know what success wouldn?t look like. It wouldn?t look like the 2011 annual report of the state?s Franchise Oversight Board, which detailed how the New York Racing Association lost even more money than 2010, despite taking in millions of dollars more in bets and getting help from new video slots.

Nor would it look like a $250,000 piece of vanity art commissioned by an association that is forever crying poverty while managing the kind of business that any mob boss would give his right arm to run.

What was NYRA thinking when it hired an artist to paint a mural that featured some of NYRA?s own leaders? If NYRA had a quarter of a million dollars burning a hole in its pocket, it should have sent it to the state treasury to start making up for all those years that the association stiffed taxpayers on their fair share of proceeds from their own racetracks.

It?s bad enough that as the Times Union?s James M. Odato reported Thursday, NYRA commissioned this art in a year when it lost $24 million. It?s all the more insulting that it was ordered by Charles Hayward, NYRA?s now-ousted CEO, at a time when NYRA was secretly overcharging certain bettors to the tune of $8.5 million. And for Mr. Hayward to give this commission to a friend smacks of crass cronyism.

When it comes to what not to do, a new NYRA Reorganization Board has plenty to work with as it embarks on a three-year project to reform the association and the management of horse racing in New York. The list of ?don?ts? stretches back through years of mismanagement and corruption.

As for how racing in New York should look, three words come to mind: professional, transparent and invisible.

A professional racing operation would operate like a public benefit corporation, not like a private club whose members seem to think they?re living off a taxpayer-supported trust fund. It used to be called the sport of kings, but horse racing has long been subsidized by the ordinary citizens of New York, and they deserve a return on their investment.

A transparent racing operation would open its records and operations to taxpayer scrutiny, just as a public agency is required to do, and its salaries would be more in line with the public sector than a Vegas casino. That would be the case even if the state decides, as some have suggested, to hand the management of the state?s tracks over to a for-profit company. Before that happens, though, New York should explain why this can?t be done by a public or nonprofit entity.

As for invisible, NYRA, or whoever is running the show, wouldn?t overshadow the excitement of great horse racing. Its blunders wouldn?t interfere with the economic benefits that race tracks would be spinning off to their surrounding communities, nor would its scandals limit the millions of dollars that are supposed to be earmarked for ? remember this? ? education.

In short, racing, and all its promised benefits, would be the headlines. NYRA? We?d hardly know it was there.

Source: http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion/what%E2%80%99s-wrong-with-this-picture/22245/

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Thread: skill saw get new home - Family Woodworking - Yes

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KL Conference on Islamic Wealth Management & Financial ...

Despite the recent global economic crisis, the Islamic finance industry has continued pushing forward strongly. Entering 2012, the industry increased its total assets by 23.8 per cent by the end of 2011? comprising a hefty 22.4 per cent of the total assets of the banking system.

Global recognition has not been in short supply either as evidenced by The Banker Magazine?s 2011 rankings of top Islamic financial institutions which saw 21 Malaysian institutions listed.

?

By all appearances, Malaysia?s Islamic finance industry is well on its way?to fulfilling its aspirations to becoming an international Islamic financial centre.

Is it all hunky dory?

?

Missing element: ?The government should look into establishing a special court for Islamic banking,? says Datuk Ahmad Zaini Othman, Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian Building Society Berhad (MBSB). ?This is something I think is still missing in this country.?

?If they want Islamic financing in Malaysia to be recognised internationally, they need to do this,? the CEO stresses.

?

Zaini points out that at present the legal aspects such as legal settlements still go through conventional courts. While the conventional judiciary may be familiar with Islamic financing law, Zaini stresses that we need judges who not only know the Islamic financing law but who also possess deep understanding of the religious aspects that go beyond laymen comprehension.

?

?It is all there in the Quran and Sunnah, but we need people who can correctly interpret them,? says Zaini, emphasising that ?interpretation is important.?

?

?For example, riba is not right and forbidden; however excessive profit, such as selling a property for 150 per cent profit, is wrong too.?

Mismatched avenue:?Zaini believes that continuing to rely on conventional courts for Islamic financing?s legal matters would be detrimental in the long run.

?

?Conventional court in itself is a mismatch,? says Zaini, clarifying that the word ?conventional? does not match with ?Islamic?.

?

?Because it is religion-based, at the end of the day we need to return to that essence and adhere to it,? says Zaini. ?That means having the necessary infrastructure to uphold it in a dedicated manner.?

?

What might happen if conventional courts continue to be used to deal with legal matters pertaining to Islamic financing?

?

?For one, you will continue looking at it through a secular way of thinking,? replies Zaini, adding that it may lead to oversight of some aspects based on Islamic principles. According to Zaini, another effect would be the stagnation of Islamic financing expertise in the country.

?

?One example is the musharakah mutanaqisah product ? this product is not feasible for properties under construction as some aspects of the law do not recognise certain parts of the transaction,? highlights Zaini. ?So if a developer goes ahead with the product, there is no protection for the developer under any law.?

?

The CEO further points out how the lack of protection in certain scenarios is limiting the industry. ?If you want to attract foreign Islamic investment in a big way, you need to have a strong Islamic legislative framework in place.?

?

?Foreigners would not come here and invest hundreds of millions if they are not protected,? Zaini emphasises. ?With a proper legal framework, we can do much bigger business.?

?

In addition, Zaini also points out that such a framework would also mean that the country would be more attractive to top talents in the industry.

If you do not have a very strong framework, you may not have a strong image of the Islamic platform,? says Zaini, asking rhetorically, ?why would an Islamic financing talent from the GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) come to work in Malaysia if we don?t even have a court for Islamic banking??

?

?He would probably much rather go to GCC countries where the legislation is more developed in this respect.?

?

Challenging:?However, Zaini admits that putting in place a legal framework for Islamic financing would be challenging. Differing opinions and interpretations worldwide pose a daunting obstacle ? Zaini cites the introduction of Profit Equalisation Reserve (PER) by Bank Negara as an example.

?

?The Islamic deposit programme is based on profit and loss whereby banks pay dividends based on the allocated profits,? says Zaini, explaining that this means the dividends are higher if the Islamic banks make good profit and vice versa. ?In comparison, conventional banks pay based on a fixed amount of interest.?

?

?So when Islamic banks report good profits and subsequently pay more dividends than conventional banks, there would be a flow of customers from the conventional banking market to the Islamic financing market.?

?

Zaini explains further that PER was introduced to avoid the mass movement between markets by fixing the percentage of profit shared as dividends by the Islamic banks.

?

?Say they make profit and are able to pay 9 per cent, PER means they can only pay for example 4 per cent while 5 per cent would be kept in reserve.?

?

?There might come a time when the profit margin is smaller, in such an event, the reserve would be used to top up the dividends to be paid out,? says Zaini. ?The GCC is against this and do not recognise the practice because it is not in line with shariah.?

(However, Zaini feels the way forward would be to ignore the differences and focus on what can actually be done.

?

?Malaysia is heading towards a two-system financial system and for the Islamic part of it, we need a strong legal platform,? says Zaini. ?I think we have a sufficient pool of shariah legal expertise, and our universities are also producing enough experts in the area of Islamic financing.?

?

?But I think we also need to bring in scholars from abroad with a different perspective of the international market so that when we formulate the legal framework, it will be more comprehensive,? adds Zaini, explaining that doing so would enable Islamic financing in the country to reach greater heights.

?

?Like the English law, this will not happen overnight but instead through years of practice and experience.?

(Real Estate And Decor / 28 Sep 2012)

---
Alfalah Consulting - Kuala Lumpur:?www.alfalahconsulting.com
Islamic Investment Malaysia:?www.islamic-invest-malaysia.com

Source: http://www.islamic-wealth-management.net/2012/09/strong-legal-framework-needed-for.html

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The author is a full time internet marketer after work his job as an engineer in a multinational company.

Use and distribution of this article is subject to our Publisher Guidelines

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Source: http://ezeens.com/secrets-of-traffic-generation-ezine-solo-ads/

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Ready for your close-up?

Thursday, September 27, 2012

As the saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words." For people in certain professions ? acting, modeling, and even politics ? this phrase rings particularly true. Previous studies have examined how our social judgments of pictures of people are influenced by factors such as whether the person is smiling or frowning, but until now one factor has never been investigated: the distance between the photographer and the subject. According to a new study by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), this turns out to make a difference ? close-up photo subjects, the study found, are judged to look less trustworthy, less competent, and less attractive.

The new finding is described in this week's issue of the open-access journal PLoS One.

Pietro Perona, the Allen E. Puckett Professor of Electrical Engineering at Caltech, came up with the initial idea for the study. Perona, an art history enthusiast, suspected that Renaissance portrait paintings often featured subtle geometric warping of faces to make the viewer feel closer or more distant to a subject. Perona wondered if the same sort of warping might affect photographic portraits ? with a similar effect on their viewers ? so he collaborated with Ralph Adolphs, Bren Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and professor of biology, and CNS graduate student Ronnie Bryan (PhD '12) to gather opinions on 36 photographs representing two different images of 18 individuals. One of each pair of images was taken at close range and the second at a distance of about seven feet.

"It turns out that faces photographed quite close-up are geometrically warped, compared to photos taken at a larger distance," explains Bryan. "Of course, the close picture would also normally be larger, higher resolution and have different lighting ? but we controlled for all of that in our study. What you're left with is a warping effect that is so subtle that nobody in our study actually noticed it. Nonetheless, it's a perceptual clue that influenced their judgments."

That subtle distance warping, however, had a big effect: close-up photos made people look less trustworthy, according to study participants. The close-up photo subjects were also judged to look less attractive and competent.

"This was a surprising, and surprisingly reliable, effect," says Adolphs. "We went through a bunch of experiments, some testing people in the lab, and some even over the Internet; we asked participants to rate trustworthiness of faces, and in some experiments we asked them to invest real money in unfamiliar people whose faces they saw as a direct measure of how much they trusted them."

Across all of the studies, the researchers saw the same effect, Adolphs says: in photos taken from a distance of around two feet, a person looked untrustworthy, compared to photos taken seven feet away. These two distances were chosen by the researchers because one is within, and the other outside of, personal space ? which on average is about three to four feet from the body.

In some of the studies, the researchers digitally warped images of faces taken at a distance to artificially manipulate how trustworthy they would appear. "Once you know the relation between the distance warp and the trustworthiness judgment, you could manipulate photos of faces and change the perceived trustworthiness,'' notes Perona.

He says that the group is now planning to build on these findings, using machine-vision techniques ? technologies that can automatically analyze data in images. For example, one application would be for a computer program to have the ability to evaluate any face image in a magazine or on the Internet and to estimate the distance at which the photo was taken.

"The work might also allow us to estimate the perceived trustworthiness of a particular face image," says Perona. "You could imagine that many people would be interested in such applications ? particularly in the political arena."

###

California Institute of Technology: http://www.caltech.edu

Thanks to California Institute of Technology for this article.

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Jury in NJ convicts Ill. man in military info case

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) ? A man who worked for a New Jersey-based defense contractor was found guilty on Wednesday of taking military trade secrets from his employer and presenting them in his native China.

Sixing Liu is a former employee of Space & Navigation, a New Jersey division of New York-based L3 Communications. The 48-year-old was arrested at his home in Deerfield, Ill., in March 2011 and accused of taking restricted military data and presenting them at two conferences in China the previous fall. Prosecutors argued the technology was proprietary and could be used for target locators and other military applications.

A federal jury in Newark found Liu guilty on nine counts, including exporting defense-related data without a license and possessing stolen trade secrets. He was acquitted on two counts of lying to federal authorities.

Liu was ordered held until his Jan 7 sentencing. He faces up to 20 years in prison and possible deportation.

Liu sat quietly at the defense table and showed little reaction as the verdict was read. The father of three later turned to one of his daughters, seated in court, and handed her his watch and the contents of his pockets as he prepared to be led off to jail.

Liu's attorney, James Tunick, said they would file an appeal.

According to the indictment, Liu took a personal laptop computer to conferences on nanotechnology in Chongqing in 2009 and Shanghai in 2010 and, while there, gave presentations that described the technology he was working on, in violation of U.S. laws that prohibit exporting defense materials without a license or approval from the Department of State.

Returning from Shanghai in November 2010, Liu lied about his involvement in the conference when questioned by customs officials at Newark Liberty International Airport, prosecutors said.

Tunick had argued his client had not intentionally violated any rules and had downloaded information on his personal laptop to work on outside the office. Tunick also said Liu had received only brief training on the company's restrictions on sharing proprietary information and was unfamiliar with U.S. import-export rules. He also sought to downplay the conferences in China as academic gatherings that featured professors from many countries, including the U.S.

Describing his client as "an educator," Tunick said Liu's punishment seemed harshly disproportionate to those levied against U.S. corporations found guilty of violating the same trade laws.

"There was no financial motive, no quid pro quo," Tunick said of Liu's case. "On these types of alleged crimes, the Department of Justice treats corporations differently."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jury-nj-convicts-ill-man-military-case-170020509.html

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Human brains develop wiring slowly, differing from chimpanzees

ScienceDaily (Sep. 25, 2012) ? Research comparing brain development in humans and our closest nonhuman primate relatives, chimpanzees, reveals how quickly myelin in the cerebral cortex grows, shedding light on the evolution of human cognitive development and the vulnerability of humans to psychiatric disorders. Myelin is the fatty insulation surrounding axon connections of the brain.

Recent research by Chet Sherwood, associate professor of anthropology in Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, along with Daniel Miller, a former GW graduate student, and other colleagues, reveals this key difference in brain development between human and chimpanzee. The findings were recently published in the September 24th edition Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

In the article, Dr. Sherwood and co-authors write that the development of myelin from birth to adulthood in humans is protracted in comparison to chimpanzees. In humans, myelin develops slowly during childhood, followed by a delayed period of maturity beyond adolescence and into early adulthood. In contrast, in chimpanzees, the development of myelin already starts at a relatively more mature level at birth and ceases development long before puberty.

?These observations indicate that a marked delay in the development schedule of the human neocortex may play an important role in the growth of connections that contribute to our species-specific cognitive abilities,? wrote Dr. Sherwood and co-authors.

The developmental timing of myelination is important because it establishes connectivity among parts of the growing brain, which is essential to higher-order cognitive functions, such as decision-making and emotional regulation. These cognitive functions are known to mature relatively late in humans, after the time of adolescence. Also, this period of persistent myelin development during early adulthood in humans is a time of particular vulnerability to neuropsychiatric diseases, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by George Washington University.

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Journal Reference:

1. D. J. Miller, T. Duka, C. D. Stimpson, S. J. Schapiro, W. B. Baze, M. J. McArthur, A. J. Fobbs, A. M. M. Sousa, N. Sestan, D. E. Wildman, L. Lipovich, C. W. Kuzawa, P. R. Hof, C. C. Sherwood. Prolonged myelination in human neocortical evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1117943109

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/most_popular/~3/F8qJbuAS8yc/120925142645.htm

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Obesity promotes prostate cancer by altering gene regulation

ScienceDaily (Sep. 25, 2012) ? Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men and early treatment is usually very successful. However, like other cancers, obesity increases the risk of aggressive prostate disease. New research, published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine, finds that the fat surrounding the prostate of overweight or obese men with prostate cancer provides a favorable environment to promote cancer growth.

Fat is a generally underrated organ. Not only is it an energy store but it secretes a wide range of growth factors, cytokines and hormones, including leptin and adiponectin, and is a major player in the immune system, which protects the body from infection and disease. But too much fat can cause these systems to go haywire and can increase risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

An international team led by Prof Gema Fr?hbeck and Dr Ricardo Ribeiro analyzed fat, from around the prostate, taken from patients undergoing surgery for prostate disease. Samples were included from men with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), prostate cancer (PC), and from men where their cancer was no longer confined to the prostate. The men were also classified as being either lean (BMI<25) or overweight /obese (BMI>25).

Regardless of type of prostate disease the overweight men had different levels of gene activity in the fat surrounding their prostates compared to the lean men. This included genes which encode proteins involved in immunity and inflammation (such as LEP, which encodes the protein leptin), and cell growth and proliferation (including ANGPT1 which encodes angiopoietin 1), fat metabolism and programmed cell death.

Additionally the activity of more genes was altered between hyperplasia and prostate cancer, and between cancer and non-confined cancer, suggesting a gradual increase in dysregulation during cancer progression.

Prof Fr?hbeck explained, "Both LEP and ANGPT1 encode proteins which are thought to have roles beyond adipose tissue itself, especially because prostate cancer cells have receptors for leptin, and angiopoietin 1. Taken together with the abnormal activity levels of other genes they will ultimately foster fat mass growth, reduce immune surveillance, and promote the formation of new blood vessels, so producing a favorable environment for prostate cancer progression."

Dr Ribeiro continued, "In an increasingly obese population, understanding how fat, especially the fat surrounding the prostate, can influence the growth and severity of prostate cancer may provide an opportunity for implementing personalized lifestyle and therapeutic strategies."

This article is part of the thematic series Metabolism, Diet and Disease from BMC Biology and BMC Medicine.

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Journal Reference:

1. Ricardo Ribeiro, C?tia Monteiro, Victoria Catal?n, Pingzhao Hu, Virg?nia Cunha, Amaia Rodr?guez, Javier G?mez-Ambrosi, Avelino Fraga, Paulo Pr?ncipe, Carlos Lobato, Francisco Lobo, Ant?nio Morais, Vitor Silva, Jos? Sanches-Magalh?es, Jorge Oliveira, Francisco Pina, Carlos Lopes, Rui Medeiros and Gema Fr?hbeck. Obesity and prostate cancer: gene expression signature of human periprostatic adipose tissue. BMC Medicine, 2012; (in Press)

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/top_news/top_health/~3/GR9eUT73B4E/120924202530.htm

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Pre-op steroids to prevent nausea do not significantly increase post-op bleeding in tonsillectomy, study finds

ScienceDaily (Sep. 25, 2012) ? Tonsillectomy is exceedingly common, with a reported increase in tonsillectomy rates in children younger than 15 years from 287,000 to 530,000 per year over the past decade. Although safe, adenotonsillectomy can result in significant complications, such as aspiration and bleeding. Complications are infrequent, but because tonsillectomy is so common, the absolute number of children experiencing tonsillectomy complications is formidable.

Corticosteroids are often given to children undergoing tonsillectomy to reduce postoperative nausea and vomiting; however, previous research has suggested that corticosteroids may increase the risk of hemorrhage during and after surgery. Researchers from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Virginia, and colleagues set to determine the effect of dexamethasone, a corticosteroid, on bleeding. They found that administration of the dexamethasone to children during a tonsillectomy was not associated with excessive, serious bleeding events following surgery compared to patients who received placebo. Their findings are reported in the September 26 issue of JAMA.

A recent randomized trial studying the dose response of perioperative dexamethasone to postoperative nausea and vomiting [PONV] in children undergoing tonsillectomy was prematurely terminated due to an increased risk of postoperative hemorrhage. The outcomes of the trial suggested that a single dose of intraoperative dexamethasone significantly increased post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage events. In light of these findings, there is a need to reassess the safety profile for dexamethasone when used during tonsillectomy," the authors write.

"This was a troubling study as it ran counter to our own American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery guidelines recommending steroids after tonsillectomy to reduce nausea and vomiting, as well as against the Cochrane Group data suggestions," said Senior Author Christopher Hartnick, M.D., co-director of Mass. Eye and Ear's Pediatric Airway/Swallowing/Voice Center and Harvard Medical School Associate Professor, Otology and Laryngology, "It went against the experience of a majority of practitioners who have routinely used steroids for years without finding an elevated bleeding rate. But the only way of testing this was through a randomized trial."

Dr. Hartnick, along with Thomas Q. Gallagher, M.C., U.S.N., of the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Va., and colleagues performed a clinical trial (NTC01415583) to examine bleeding events in children associated with dexamethasone use during tonsillectomy. The multicenter, randomized trial included 314 children ages 3 to 18 years undergoing tonsillectomy without a history of bleeding disorder or recent corticosteroid medication use. The study was conducted between July 2010 and December 2011 with 14-day follow-up. The researchers tested the hypothesis that dexamethasone would not result in 5 percent more bleeding events than placebo using a noninferiority (outcome not worse than treatment compared to) statistical design. Patients received a single perioperative dose of dexamethasone or an equivalent volume of saline.

The primary outcome measured was rate and severity of post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage in the 14-day postoperative period using a bleeding severity scale (level I, self-reported or parent-reported postoperative bleeding; level II, required inpatient admission for postoperative bleeding; or level III, required reoperation to control postoperative bleeding).

One hundred fifty-seven children (median [midpoint] age, 6 years) were randomized into each study group, with 17 patients (10.8 percent) in the dexamethasone group and 13 patients (8.2 percent) in the placebo group reporting bleeding events. The overall rate of bleeding events for all levels was 30 out of 314 (9.6 percent). The researchers found that in an intention-to-treat analysis, the rates of level I bleeding were 7.0 percent (n = 11) in the dexamethasone group and 4.5 percent (n = 7) in the placebo group; rates of level II bleeding were 1.9 percent (n = 3) and 3.2 percent (n = 5), respectively; and rates of level III bleeding were 1.9 percent (n = 3) and 0.6 percent (n = 1), respectively.

"The dexamethasone treatment failed to show noninferiority for the level I bleeding, but did demonstrate that the bleeding rate with dexamethasone is not more than 5 percent greater than that with placebo (noninferiority) for both level II and III bleeding events. The data was stratified for primary vs. secondary bleeding events and a decrease in level II and level III bleeding events in both groups was noted," the authors write.

"In conclusion, in this prospective, randomized study of 314 children undergoing tonsillectomy, perioperative dexamethasone administration was not associated with more level II or III bleeding events than placebo as shown by noninferiority. Increased subjective (level 1) bleeding events caused by dexamethasone could not be excluded because the noninferiority threshold of 5 percent was crossed," the authors write.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.

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Journal Reference:

1. Gallagher LQ, Hill C, Ojha S, et al. Perioperative Dexamethasone Administration and Risk of Bleeding Following Tonsillectomy in Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial. JAMA, 2012; 308 (12): 1221-1226 DOI: 10.1001/2012.jama.11575

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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/~3/4rgvLck1DAE/120925171222.htm

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Work by Mass. lab could taint 1,100 inmates' cases

BOSTON (AP) ? Faced with the daunting task of evaluating more than 34,000 drug cases handled by a Massachusetts chemist accused of misconduct, prosecutors and defense attorneys are starting with 1,140 cases of people who are already serving prison sentences based on potentially tainted evidence.

David Meier, a defense attorney and former prosecutor appointed to help sort through the legal quagmire created by the chemist's alleged actions, on Monday turned over a list of 690 people currently serving sentences in state prisons and 450 who are currently serving sentences in county jails. Samples in all of the cases were tested by chemist Annie Dookhan, who state police say failed to follow testing protocols and deliberately mishandled evidence in some cases.

Meier said it is unclear how many of those samples might have been tainted by Dookhan's actions, but said both sides want to deal first with people who are already in prison.

"That is our first priority, people who are presently incarcerated," he said.

Meier said lawyers in those cases will now have to work out resolutions on a case-by-case basis.

"The merits and any alleged issues in any one of those cases is for prosecutors and defense attorneys and judges to determine," he said.

State police have said Dookhan was involved in testing more than 60,000 drug samples involving about 34,000 defendants during her nine years at the Boston lab. Dookhan resigned in March during an internal investigation by the state Department of Public Health, which ran the lab until state police took over on July 1 as part of a budget directive.

Meier, who was appointed by Gov. Deval Patrick last week, met Monday with a group of district attorneys, defense attorneys and public safety officials. After the meeting, Meier said he turned over a list of currently incarcerated defendants whose cases were worked on by Dookhan, either as the primary chemist, who performs an initial test on a drug sample, or as the secondary chemist, who performs a second, confirmatory test.

The list does not include thousands of people who are currently awaiting trial, are on probation or are serving federal sentences in cases in which Dookhan tested drug samples.

Since the lab was closed last month, judges in Suffolk and Norfolk counties have already begun to hear motions filed by defense attorneys seeking bail reductions for drug defendants awaiting trial in cases handled by Dookhan. Prosecutors have agreed to many of those motions, citing possibly tainted evidence.

Dookhan hasn't been charged, but the state attorney general's office is conducting a criminal investigation.

On Monday, a judge in Boston agreed to put the sentences of career criminal David Huffman on hold and set bail for him at $75,000 cash, with GPS monitoring. The 55-year-old Huffman had pleaded guilty in August to trafficking in heroin and cocaine, possession of oxycodone with the intent to distribute and unlawful possession of ammunition and a firearm as an armed career criminal He began serving concurrent seven- to 10-year sentences last month.

Huffman's lawyer, Bernard Grossberg, said the next step will likely be for the defense to ask that Huffman be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea.

"He would not have pleaded guilty to the gun charges if it was not part and parcel of his plea on the drug charges," Grossberg said.

Jake Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley, said prosecutors opposed the motion to put his sentence on the gun charges on hold. He said the gun evidence was tested in a different lab and was unaffected by the drug lab scandal.

"This is an individual who's been involved in just about every type of property and violent crime over the course of 40 years. He is a mid-tier narcotics distributor and was a plague on the community," Wark said.

"We believe the judge should have treated the two cases separately," he said.

Dookhan has not responded to repeated requests for comment. Her father, Rasheed Khan, told The Associated Press that she had been "bullied and abused," but he would not say by whom.

"No one has heard her side of the story," Khan said outside his home in Kissimmee, Fla., on Saturday.

State police have said Dookhan failed to follow testing protocols and deliberately mishandled evidence in some cases.

In a letter sent to defense attorneys earlier this month, Max Stern, the president of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said he was told during a meeting with state officials that Dookhan was accused of deliberately tampering with evidence, including the weight of drug samples, which can affect the length of sentences given to drug defendants.

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Associated Press Writer Mike Schneider contributed from Kissimmee, Fla.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mass-lab-could-taint-1-100-inmates-cases-062414913.html

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