X-47B Completes a Carrier Takeoff

These robots grow up so fast. It was just two years ago that personnel at Naval Air Station?Patuxent River, Md. escorted PopMech through the lab, describing how they were making the X-47B jet fighter-sized drone ready to take off and land from a carrier. Today, the unmanned naval demonstration aircraft launched from the deck of George H.W. Bush, zipped around the carrier a few times, and flew itself back to Pax River.

Vice Adm. David Buss, commander of?Naval Air Forces?called the launch a "watershed event" in naval aviation.?"Today we saw a small but significant pixel in the future picture of our?Navy as we begin integration of unmanned systems into arguably the most?complex warfighting environment that exists today: the flight deck of a?nuclear-powered aircraft carrier," he said.

Taking off from the carrier is a milestone, but it requires only that the X-47B can handle the steam catapult launch, the same gear used by conventional Navy warplanes. Navy researchers were more interested to see how the unmanned aircraft behaved near the carrier, a complicated place for air traffic control that's full of different radio frequency emissions. The Navy says the testers "demonstrated the ability to precisely navigate the X-47B within the?controlled airspace around an aircraft carrier at sea and seamlessly pass?control of the air vehicle from a 'mission operator' aboard the carrier" to one located in?at NAS Patuxent River.

Over the next few weeks, the X-47B aircraft will fly several approaches to the?ship. This will lead up to the big show?landing this thing a?pitching flight deck. (The X-47B set down on land following this test.)

Landing on an aircraft carrier is one of the most difficult feats of aviation, requiring a clever mesh of man and machine. The Navy is building the X-47B's landing capability on technology pilots use today, the Precision Approach Landing System (PALS), but going beyond what it uses to help human aviators land on the deck. PALS uses SPN-46 radar to locate an aircraft in relation to a carrier.?However the PALS radar covers only the rear of the carrier and is limited by the number of aircraft it can track simultaneously. These deficiencies make it unsuitable for controlling UAVs that are approaching to land.

Instead, the Navy's robotic landing system relies on precise GPS coordinates to obtain 360-degree coverage and automate navigation. The airplane calculates the appropriate flight paths around the ship as the carrier supplies the vessel's speed, the sea state, and other data.

If the X-47B succeeds, it will not exactly open up a new chapter in naval aviation history?this is just a demonstration airplane?but it will blaze a trail for follow-up programs. Military strategists are keen on use of UAVs from carriers because these aircraft can stay overhead longer and launch from farther away. Those are good traits to have in an age of anti-ship missiles and other "access denial" strategies aimed at U.S. carrier groups. The ability to loiter in the air for long periods of time will also provide recon and intelligence-gathering possibilities that are vital for carrier operations, and give carrier-based planes the ability to?support friendly forces fighting on land.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/aviation/military/x-47b-uav-completes-a-carrier-takeoff-15470192?src=rss

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Pinterest for iPhone and iPad updated with push notifications for comments, likes, and repins

Pinterest for iPhone and iPad has been updated with a few new features including the ability to send a pin to someone (iPhone only) and push notifications for comments, likes, and repins, suggestions for search. You can also invite friends to pin with you on group boards, pin from the web, and mention your friends in comments.

Any Pinterest users out there? What do you think about this update? My favorite new feature is the ability to send a pin to someone -- been wanting to do that for awhile now, though I wish it was also supported for iPad.

• Free - Download now

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/NSMwHI6Kmu0/story01.htm

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Twitter buys Lucky Sort startup to help visualize your tweets

Twitter just acquired Lucky Sort, a Portland, Oregon-based startup that built TopicWatch, a visualization and navigation engine known for presenting large amounts of data in an easy-to-digest format. With more than 200 million users in more than 160 countries, Twitter certainly has more than enough data to warrant the acquisition, which means hashtag infographics like the one above could be available for Twitter users in the near future. Fans of Lucky Sort's TopicWatch product, on the other hand, will have to find some other venue for their data fix, for the service is set to shutter in the months ahead. Shocking, we know.

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Lucky Sort

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/13/twitter-buys-lucky-sort/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Minnesota legalizes gay marriage

By Mark Elkington MADRID, May 12 (Reuters) - Barcelona were turning their attentions to strengthening the squad for next season after second-placed Real Madrid drew 1-1 at Espanyol on Saturday, to gift them a fourth La Liga title in five years. Barca, who play at third-placed Atletico Madrid later on Sunday, have an unassailable lead in the table as Jose Mourinho's team trail them by seven points with only two games left to play. "There'll only be a few changes," Barcelona vice-president Josep Bartomeu told Barca TV. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/minnesota-legalizes-gay-marriage-212923538.html

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Master regulator that drives majority of lymphoma discovered

May 13, 2013 ? A soon-to-be-tested class of drug inhibitors were predicted to help a limited number of patients with B-cell lymphomas with mutations affecting the EZH2 protein. However, a research team, led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medical College, now report that these agents may, in fact, help a much broader cross section of lymphoma patients.

The study, reported in Cancer Cell, found that the EZH2 protein the drug agents inhibited is a powerful regulatory molecule in B-cells, and a key driver of cancer in these immune cells.

The study's lead investigator, Weill Cornell Medical College's Dr. Ari Melnick, suggests that combining an EZH2 inhibitor with another related targeted therapy may offer a much improved treatment for follicular lymphoma, a cancer that currently has no cure, as well as a non-toxic alternative to chemotherapy for at least a third of diffuse large B-cell lymphomas. Because these two lymphomas account for 70 percent of adult lymphomas, Dr. Melnick believes the new therapy could potentially help a broad cross section of lymphoma patients.

"Our research indicates that these inhibitors will be remarkably effective. I am very optimistic," says Dr. Melnick, the Gebroe Professor of Hematology/Oncology, professor of medicine and director of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Center for Biomedical and Physical Sciences at Weill Cornell. "Researchers had thought EZH2 inhibitors would only help patients with a mutation in their EZH2 gene, which represents a small subset of lymphoma patients. What we found is that a majority of lymphomas turn out to be dependent on normal EZH2, not just mutated EZH2."

Tumor Cells Depend on the EZH2 Master Regulator

The new study was aimed at understanding what normal as well as mutated EZH2 does within B-cells -- basic information that remained unknown despite more than a decade of research into the protein.

The role of B-cells (white blood cells known as B-lymphocytes) is to produce antibodies against invading microbes. What the researchers discovered is that EZH2 is required in order for the immune system to generate germinal center B-cells, which are the cells that make the most powerful type of antibodies.

Germinal center B-cells divide extremely quickly and try to create within them the high affinity antibodies that will be beneficial to fight off invading infections. This process happens constantly because of our exposure to microorganisms.

"Most B-cell lymphomas arise from germinal center B-cells -- germinal centers are the engine for formation of lymphomas," says Dr. Melnick. "The reason for this is because germinal center B-cells divide very, very quickly while at the same time mutating their antibody genes. Unfortunately, many other genes get mutated when this happens, which can eventually result in lymphoma formation."

It turns out that the behavior of germinal center B-cell is orchestrated by EZH2, Dr. Melnick discovered. "EZH2 is a master regulator protein that turns off the brakes that prevent cell division, so it allows cells to divide without stopping," he says.

EZH2 also has a second function, which Dr. Melnick calls "surprising and perhaps even more important. It prevents germinal cells from transitioning to antibody-secreting cells," he says. "Indeed, in the normal immune system EZH2 prevents B-cells from exiting germinal centers so that these cells can continue to undergo sustained rapid cell division, which continues until the immune system says to stop. Then EZH2 goes away, and B-cells can develop into antibody-secreting cells, which send antibodies into the circulation to fight off infection."

Interestingly, mutations of EZH2 cause it to be even more efficient at promoting germinal center B-cell division and permanently keep them locked in this behavior, Dr. Melnick says. But he adds that most lymphomas that are derived from germinal cell B-cells are dependent on EZH2, whether normal or mutated, to sustain growth.

"Germinal center cells absolutely require EZH2 and the lymphomas that arise from germinal center cells inherit that need regardless of whether they have mutations," Dr. Melnick says. "We discovered that it is not just the small percentage of patients with EZH2 mutations who are candidates for these inhibitors. It is actually most of the lymphomas that originate from germinal center B-cells -- and that represents the majority of patients."

The researchers report the development of a novel and highly specific EZH2 inhibitor, tested its effects against large panels of lymphoma cells and found that it works particularly well against germinal center-derived lymphomas regardless of whether or not they have EZH2 mutations.

"The case of EZH2 exemplifies a critically important emerging concept in cancer -- that tumor cells are dependent on the master regulators that are required to sustain the normal cell type from which they originate," Dr. Melnick adds.

According to researchers, another implication of the study is that it may be possible to combine an EZH2 inhibitor with a drug that targets BCL2, which is also in clinical testing, to achieve a more powerful synergistic effect.

"EZH2 and BCL2 mutations tend to occur together in germinal center derived lymphomas. In our report, we show that indeed these two genes cooperate to drive lymphoma formation from germinal center B-cells, and so a combination therapy that inhibits both genes might offer a very powerful therapy," says Dr. Melnick. "Indeed, combining EZH2 inhibitors and BCL2 inhibitors had a much greater effect in cells and in animal models of lymphomas than either drug alone." These results pave the way for translation of combinatorial-targeted therapy for patients with incurable lymphomas.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/QFGwZyW77ro/130513152838.htm

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Argentina faces very different debt default if loses legal fight

By Hilary Burke

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - When Argentina defaulted on its debt in 2002, the economy was collapsing and a bloody popular revolt had helped topple two presidents in a week. Now, the country could default again, but it would be over a matter of principle rather than necessity.

After a decade of sleepy litigation, investors got a jolt late last year when U.S. courts ruled in favor of "holdout" creditors who had rejected Argentine debt exchanges in 2005 and 2010 and sued to be repaid in full on their defaulted bonds.

A U.S. judge ordered Argentina to pay the holdouts the full $1.33 billion owed them the next time it serviced restructured debt. Argentina appealed, and a ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected in the coming weeks.

Investors are following the case closely because Argentina appears willing to enter into technical default in order to avoid paying the holdouts any more than other creditors received.

The nearly 93 percent of bondholders who accepted the debt exchanges got returns of as low as 25 cents on the dollar.

Tough-talking Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has pledged to keep paying the restructured debt but vows never to pay the "vultures" that bought the bonds at a steep discount and sued for full repayment.

When Argentina defaulted on some $100 billion in bonds 11 years ago, its debt represented 166 percent of gross domestic product. Bank deposits were frozen and devalued, the economy shrank 11 percent in one year, and millions lost their jobs.

Argentina's economy rebounded after that crisis and boomed during most of the last decade. Although growth slowed sharply in the last year and inflation is high, the debt burden is down to about 42 percent of GDP.

In other words, Argentina could pay the holdouts if it wanted, but it refuses to do so.

"Argentina will not blink and neither will the holdouts, so this will lead to a technical default," said Shahriar Shahida, co-founder of Constellation Capital Management LLC in New York, which is currently invested in Argentina and believes it would be unfair to favor the holdouts over exchange bondholders.

"This is an unparalleled case of somebody defaulting not because they don't have capacity, not because they don't have willingness, but because somebody is forcing them to do something egregious," he said.

MARKETS ON EDGE

Argentina says it will fight the holdouts - led in this case by Elliott Management affiliate NML Capital and Aurelius Capital Management - all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sources familiar with the position of Elliott and Aurelius say Argentina has never shown a willingness to negotiate.

Investors anticipate the country will eventually defy U.S. courts if they insist the holdouts be paid in full.

In that scenario, Argentina is widely expected to force a technical default on the restructured bonds issued under New York law - which would be most directly affected by the rulings - while trying to create a new payment scheme for those bonds.

One option would be a swap in which the exchange bondholders turned in their New York paper for new Argentine-law bonds. Some analysts warn that might not be doable, however.

The default would be technical because Argentina might try to pay the exchange bondholders without paying the holdouts, and the courts could then disrupt the payments. Or the country could suspend payments on the restructured bonds citing its own laws, which bar it from paying the holdouts on better terms.

Argentine economic officials have refused to discuss whether they are evaluating a "Plan B" for payments. The next interest payments on restructured bonds come due June 2 and June 30.

When the court rulings first came down last year, many investors scrambled to sell off their Argentine bonds and some firms specializing in distressed debt moved in to buy.

The market has since stabilized and the restructured bonds regained some ground in April. Argentina's Global 2017, issued during the 2010 debt swap, is now yielding around 16.3 percent, down from 19.6 percent in early March.

In terms of credit default swap contracts - which act as insurance against a default - the maximum payout possible dropped sharply in late 2012 and now stands at about $1.53 billion, data from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp shows.

CDS payouts would likely be less, however, after an auction process to determine the recovery value of the defaulted bonds.

Ultimately, Argentina is no longer as relevant to global credit markets as it used to be. It has not issued international debt since the 2002 default and its weighting on the JPMorgan Chase EMBI+ emerging market sovereign bond index has shrunk to 1.8 percent from over 23 percent in early 2001.

Capital controls and more-recent foreign currency restrictions have further isolated the country, which is seen as an anomaly in largely market-friendly Latin America.

Credit Suisse analysts said last week that most of their contacts in Buenos Aires believe the spillover effects of a technical default "would be relatively small due to Argentina's relative isolation from international capital markets and the ongoing deterioration in Argentina's business climate."

LEGAL OUTLOOK

In November, U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa ordered Argentina to deposit the $1.33 billion owed to holdouts in an escrow account by December 15, when restructured debt came due.

He also required that third parties involved in payments on Argentina's restructured bonds be held accountable if the court order were evaded. This included Bank of New York Mellon Corp, which acts as trustee for the exchange bondholders.

The 2nd Circuit suspended these orders under an emergency judicial stay while reviewing Argentina's appeal.

It is not clear, however, that the stay would remain in place if Argentina had to appeal to the Supreme Court. Most analysts seem to think it would, but there is no guarantee.

It is also anyone's bet how the 2nd Circuit will rule. The court upheld Griesa's original decision, finding Argentina had discriminated against the holdouts and violated the "pari passu" or equal treatment clause in their defaulted bond contracts.

But with the U.S. government arguing Griesa's rulings could complicate future sovereign debt restructurings, the 2nd Circuit may seek to limit the scope of the payment orders.

The appeals court asked Argentina to submit its own payment proposal, which essentially echoed the terms of the 2010 swap. NML and Aurelius rejected this outright.

If Argentina appealed to the Supreme Court and its case were accepted for review, a ruling could be made as late as June 2015, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts.

A new Argentine default, no matter how short-lived, would tend to push bond prices lower and hurt the balance sheets of local banks, which hold lots of debt. But most economists do not think there would be massive fallout, in part because Argentine exporters are much less reliant on trade finance than in 2002.

Guillermo Nielsen, who as finance secretary helped push through Argentina's tough debt restructuring in 2005, said nonetheless a default should be avoided at all costs.

"The New York financial market is important not only for less developed countries but also for developed countries. Even Sweden issues debt in the New York market," Nielsen said. "And here we have everything to be made, to be built, to be created. We need that financing."

(Additional reporting by Daniel Bases in New York and Alejandro Lifschitz and Guido Nejamkis in Buenos Aires; Editing by Kieran Murray, Bernard Orr)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/argentina-faces-very-different-debt-default-loses-legal-110556026.html

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Philly abortion doctor guilty in 3 babies' deaths

FILE - In this March 8, 2010 file photo, Dr. Kermit Gosnell is seen during an interview with the Philadelphia Daily News at his attorney's office in Philadelphia. Gosnell was found guilty Monday, May 13, 2013 of found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies born alive but acquitted in the death of a fourth baby. Gosnell was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of a patient. (AP Photo/Philadelphia Daily News, Yong Kim, File) MANDATORY CREDIT, NO SALES

FILE - In this March 8, 2010 file photo, Dr. Kermit Gosnell is seen during an interview with the Philadelphia Daily News at his attorney's office in Philadelphia. Gosnell was found guilty Monday, May 13, 2013 of found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies born alive but acquitted in the death of a fourth baby. Gosnell was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of a patient. (AP Photo/Philadelphia Daily News, Yong Kim, File) MANDATORY CREDIT, NO SALES

Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, leaves the courthouse in Philadelphia Monday, May 13, 2013. Gosnell was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies who authorities say were delivered alive and then killed with scissors at his grimy clinic. He was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the drug-overdose death of a patient who had undergone an abortion. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? An abortion doctor was convicted Monday of first-degree murder and could face execution in the deaths of three babies who were delivered alive and then killed with scissors at his grimy, "house of horrors" clinic.

In a case that became a grisly flashpoint in the nation's abortion debate, Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72, was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of an abortion patient. He was cleared in the death of a fourth baby, who prosecutors say let out a whimper before the doctor cut the spinal cord.

Gosnell, who portrayed himself as an advocate for poor and desperate women in an impoverished West Philadelphia neighborhood, appeared hopeful before the verdict was read and calm afterward.

The jury reached its verdict on its 10th day of deliberations. It will return May 21 to hear evidence on whether Gosnell should get the death penalty.

Gosnell attorney Jack McMahon called it a "very difficult case" to defend and said there was "a little bit of feeling on the defense part of what salmon must feel swimming upstream."

"There's a lot of emotion. You have the baby factor, which is a big problem. The media has been overwhelmingly against him," he said. But noting that Gosnell was cleared on some of the charges, McMahon said the jurors "obviously took their job seriously."

Prosecutors looked elated, but District Attorney Seth Williams declined comment until after the sentencing phase, citing a gag order.

Former clinic employees testified that Gosnell routinely performed illegal abortions past Pennsylvania's 24-week limit, that he delivered babies who were still moving, whimpering or breathing, and that he and his assistants dispatched the newborns by "snipping" their spines, as he referred to it.

"Are you human?" prosecutor Ed Cameron snarled during closing arguments. "To med these women up and stick knives in the backs of babies?"

Gosnell was also convicted of infanticide, racketeering and more than 200 counts of violating Pennsylvania's abortion laws by performing third-term abortions or failing to counsel women 24 hours in advance. The courtroom was locked for more than 30 minutes as the verdicts were read and the jurors polled one by one.

His co-defendant, former clinic employee Eileen O'Neill, was convicted of taking part in a corrupt organization and illegally billing for her services as if she were a licensed doctor.

The jury foreman let out big sigh before the verdicts were read and looked stressed. Another juror was seen crying.

The gruesome details came out more than two years ago during an investigation of prescription drug trafficking at Gosnell's clinic. Investigators said it was a foul-smelling "house of horrors" with bags and bottles of fetuses, including jars of severed feet, along with bloodstained furniture, dirty medical instruments, and cats roaming the premises.

Pennsylvania authorities had failed to conduct routine inspections of all its abortion clinics for 15 years by the time Gosnell's facility was raided. In the scandal's aftermath, two top state health officials were fired, and Pennsylvania imposed tougher rules for clinics.

Four former clinic employees pleaded guilty to murder and four more to other charges. They include Gosnell's wife, Pearl, a cosmetologist who helped perform abortions.

Both sides in the highly charged abortion debate endorsed the verdict.

"This has helped more people realize what abortion is really about," said David O'Steen, executive director of the National Right to Life Committee. He said he hopes the case results in more states passing bills that prohibit abortion "once the unborn child can feel pain."

Supporters of legalized abortion said the case was a preview of what poor, desperate young women could face if abortion is driven underground with more restrictive laws.

"Kermit Gosnell has been found guilty and will get what he deserves. Now, let's make sure these women are vindicated by delivering what all women deserve: access to the full range of health services including safe, high-quality and legal abortion care," said Ilyse G. Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Midway through the six-week trial, anti-abortion activists accused the mainstream media of deliberately ignoring the case. Major news organizations denied it, though a number promptly sent reporters to cover the trial. About 30 reporters were in court for the verdict.

After prosecutors rested their five-week case, Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Minehart threw out for lack of evidence three of seven murder counts involving aborted fetuses. That left the jury to weigh charges involving fetuses identified as Baby A, Baby C, Baby D and Baby E.

Prosecution experts said one was nearly 30 weeks along when the abortion took place, and was so big that Gosnell allegedly joked the baby could "walk to the bus." A second baby was said to be alive for about 20 minutes before a clinic worker snipped the neck. A third was born in a toilet and was moving before another clinic employee severed the spinal cord, according to testimony.

Baby E let out a whimper before Gosnell cut the neck, prosecutors alleged. Gosnell was acquitted in that baby's death, the only one of the four in which no one testified to seeing the baby killed.

Gosnell's attorney argued that none of the fetuses was born alive and that any movements were posthumous twitching or spasms.

Gosnell did not testify, and his lawyer called no witnesses in his defense. But McMahon branded prosecutors "elitist" and "racist" for pursuing his client, who is black and whose patients were mostly poor minorities.

"I wanted to be an effective, positive force in the minority community," Gosnell told The Philadelphia Daily News in a 2010 interview. "I believe in the long term I will be vindicated."

The defense also contended that the 2009 death of 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar of Woodbridge, Va., a Bhutanese immigrant who had been given repeated doses of Demerol and other powerful drugs to sedate her and induce labor, was caused by unforeseen complications and did not amount to murder, as prosecutors charged.

Bernard Smalley, a lawyer for the woman's family, said he now hopes to bring "some sense of justice and quiet to this family that's been through so much."

Gosnell still faces federal drug charges. Authorities said that he ranked third in the state for OxyContin prescriptions and that he left blank prescription pads at his office and let staff members make them out to cash-paying patients.

He performed thousands of abortions over a 30-year career, some on patients as young as 13. Authorities said the medical practice alone netted him about $1.8 million a year, much of it in cash. Authorities found $250,000 hidden in a bedroom when they searched his house. Gosnell also owned a beach home and several rental properties.

"He created an assembly line with no regard for these women whatsoever," Cameron said. "And he made money doing that."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-13-Abortion%20Clinic%20Deaths/id-263824f000be4722982480425cafa695

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