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Friday, May 11, 2012
Dutch Officials Do Battle With Pirate Hordes
Today in international tech news: The Netherlands takes its blockade of The Pirate Bay a step further, ordering links and access tips be removed from the Net. Elsewhere, streaming service Ustream is attacked in an apparent attempt to cripple feeds coming out of Russia, data roaming charges in the EU get set to plunge, and China's Internet censors try to mute 70 million people.
Why Science Is Better When It's Multinational
Nations are rivals in soccer and international relations, but science is a unifying force. Many of our biggest achievements seem to come from international collaborations. A team from 11 laboratories in nine countries identified the SARS cor?onavirus in 2003 with unprecedented speed. Scientists come from all over to chase the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Col?lider near Geneva. Centers of excellence dot the globe. The world of science is getting flatter.
What has gone underappreciated in this trend is the effect on science itself and how science is actually done. It has become a clich? that great discoveries come from interdisciplinary thinking?a chemist bringing insight to a discussion of a materials problem, a physicist sharing an intuition about a problem in biology, a biologist helping an engineer see how nature comes up with optimal solutions. Few realize how much science is energized when team members have different cultural approaches to problem solving. International diversity is just as important as diversity of discipline.
I have seen this phenomenon at close quarters. For years I have collaborated with colleagues from Mexico and Germany. We see eye to eye on so many things. We like one another?s cuisine, hiking, and the mathematics and physics our research involves. When we began writing out equations on a chalkboard, though, our cultural differences became apparent.
When we first started out, our approaches seemed irreconcilable. The physics problems we work on?fluid suspensions of small particles?are hard. They encompass many unknowns, and the physics bumps up against many constraints and boundary conditions?rules that cannot be broken, like conservation of matter or the impassibility of a solid wall. While working on difficult equations, my Mexican cohorts wanted to relax the rules to make the mathematics more tractable and later put them back in. This set our German friends on edge. They kept reminding us of the constraints and the boundary conditions to make sure we did not stray too far. My American training left me somewhere in the middle: I worried about the constraints but was tentatively willing to relax them.
Over the years the creative clash of viewpoints bred success. The German-Mexican teams, along with some Americans, wound up solving challenging multibody hydrodynamics problems?the complicated mathematical descriptions of the way swarms of particles squeeze the fluid between them, explaining the flow behavior of pastes and slurries. ?
I first got a lesson in cross-cultural dynamics during a NATO post?doctor?al fellowship in Paris in 1985. Working with French colleagues taught me a different way to simplify and clarify a physics problem. An appreciation for the beauty of the problem and the value of intuition might have led us to solutions more easily than the typical American approach: to attack the problem with loads of mathematical equations. Later in Germany, as an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation awardee, I found that approaching an experimental problem with a deliberate, tactical and strategic way reduced the need for trial and error.
The power of this diversity of thought comes alive in international conferences where there is an opportunity to listen, ask questions, think about problems, confer with and critique one another, and continue the dialogue after the meeting is over.
New institutions have sprung up to take advantage of the synergies in multinational collaborations. Singapore has created an intensely international science scene, where talent converges to contribute and compete to form some of the best research teams in the world. In December, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology graduated its second cohort of men and women receiving master?s degrees in science and engineering, who hail from Saudi Arabia, China, Mexico, the U.S. and 29 other countries. Labs, institutes and universities are hubs that gather the best scientists to tackle the hardest problems.
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Thursday, May 10, 2012
Jermaine claims 'Voice' crown
By Reuters
Jermaine Paul of Team Blake won TV singing contest "The Voice" on Tuesday night, taking home a recording contract with Universal Republic Records, a $100,000 cash prize, and a shot at his dream of singing stardom.
Paul collapsed into a hug from his coach Blake Shelton and wiped away tears as he thanked his wife, children, and all of the people who voted for him, ending his speech by exclaiming "nobody but Jesus!"
Jermaine Paul, a former backup singer for Alicia Keys, has been named champion of the second season of "The Voice." He tells TODAY what it means to have found success as a solo artist.
The former backup singer for Alicia Keys took center stage as he sang R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly" to close out the show, which he also sang in his final performance on Monday's penultimate episode of the show. Paul received embraces from his wife and family members as he sang.
Paul beat out fellow contestants Juliet Simms of Team Cee Lo (Green), Tony Lucca of Team Adam (Levine), and Chris Mann of Team Christina (Aguilera). Host Carson Daly revealed that Paul edged out second place finalist Simms by fewer than four percentage points.
Tuesday's special two-hour finale included a plethora of performances from stars such as Justin Bieber, Lady Antebellum, Flo Rida, and Hall & Oates. Contestants previously voted off the show were invited back to perform with the four finalists.
"The Voice" became one of the most-watched TV shows in the United States earlier this season and was seen a challenge to Fox's top-rated singing show "American Idol."
During the season, it proved very competitive against "Idol," especially in the coveted 18-49 viewer group where the two shows are in a close race to be the most-watched program.
But "Idol" draws many millions more total viewers than "The Voice" - an average audience size of 19.2 million this season compared to 14.8 million for "The Voice", according to figures from the two TV networks.
Do you think Jermaine was the right choice? Share your thoughts on Facebook.
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Y Combinator-Backed Swiftype Builds Site Search That Doesn?t Suck
In my four-plus years covering tech, I don't think I've ever met another blogger who was happy with the search feature on their website. The options range from terrible to, uh, functional, but it's never good, and I've always found that it's easier to just search via Google. Apparently Matt Riley and Quin Hoxie saw the same problem when they were working at Scribd. So they left to build a better website search engine, one that they're calling Swiftype. The startup was part of Y Combinator's latest class of companies, and it's launching today.flyers 2012 white house correspondents dinner forrest gump bernard hopkins nfl draft grades devils dodgers
Justin Bieber Graduates From High School
'I just finished high school,' says Bieber.
By Gil Kaufman
Justin Bieber
Photo: MTV News
When most kids are getting ready to graduate from high school, the biggest worry on their mind is what college they're going to go to or finding a job. Justin Bieber, of course, is not the average high schooler.
And yet, in between releasing multi-platinum albums, touring the globe, renting out the Staples Center for dates with his sweetie and hanging out in the studio with Kanye West , Bieber has also managed to stay on top of his studies.
"I just finished high school," Bieber recently told England's Daily Telegraph. "I passed my test - I'm free! It was hard doing school and work every day."
Amid all the globe-trotting and studio sessions, Bieber kept his eye on the prize because, well, he's a good boy and he'd promised his mother that he would. "That was something my mom really wanted me to do, so I had to do it for her," said Bieber, 18. "I mean, this kind of lifestyle has given me a different perspective on life. I've been able to travel the world. At school, usually you have to do a lot of writing and reading. I'm really not into that stuff. I like to be out there."
Bieber can clearly buy himself anything he wants as a graduation gift — he already has a batmobile — but his fans have already given him the biggest prize of all: another huge hit. When the video for his new single, "Boyfriend," debuted last week it sent a single-day record on YouTube when it racked up 8 million views within 24 hours. As of press time the clip had been seen more than 19.5 million times.
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In Other News? ? OncoFacts
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?Is aspirin as good as FOLFOX4 in the adjuvant therapy of colon cancer?
A recent article in the British Journal of Cancer (BJC 106:1564) reports that taking two aspirin daily after being diagnosed with colon cancer can reduce the risk of dying from colon cancer by 30%. At ASCO 2009, the MOSAIC investigators reported that the 6 year overall survival for stage III colon cancer patients who received adjuvant FOLFOX4 arm was 72.9%. The survival in the comparator LV5FU2 arm was 68.7%.
The current study reported in the BJC states that the ?Aim of the present observational population-based study was to assess the therapeutic effect on overall survival of aspirin/NSAIDs as adjuvant treatment used after the diagnosis of colorectal cancer patients?. The results of the study demonstrate that ?In total, 1176 (26%) patients were non-users, 2086 (47%) were pre-diagnosis and post-diagnosis users and 1219 (27%) were only post-diagnosis users (total n=4481). Compared with non-users, a survival gain was observed for aspirin users; the adjusted rate ratio (RR) was 0.77 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.63?0.95; P=0.015). Stratified for colon and rectal cancer, the survival gain was only present in colon cancer (adjusted RR 0.65 (95%CI 0.50?0.84; P=0.001)). For frequent users survival gain was larger (adjusted RR 0.61 (95%CI 0.46?0.81; P=0.001).In rectal cancer, aspirin use was not associated with survival (adjusted RR 1.10 (95%CI 0.79?1.54; P=0.6). The NSAIDs use was associated with decreased survival (adjusted RR 1.93 (95%CI 1.70?2.20; P<0.001).?
This, of course, was an observational, retrospective study and not a prospective comparison of FOLFOX4 versus aspirin as adjuvant therapy, but it may be food for thought.
Who do you trust?
Recent political PAC advertisements have suggested that the Affordable Care Act will cost senior citizens millions of dollars in added expenses for their prescription medications. However, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released data that since the enactment of the ACA law, seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare have saved a total of $3.4 billion dollars on prescription drugs. In the first 3 months of 2012 alone, more than 220,000 people are said to have saved an average of $837 on the prescription drugs they purchased after they hit the drug donut hole.
ASH urges federal agencies to support research in seven specific areas
The American Society of Hematology has released a list of seven promising areas of scientific investigation in Hematology that ASH believes warrant strong federal support.
These include:
- Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine to improve current technologies to cure blood disorders.
- Myelodysplastic Syndromes and Acute Myeloid Leukemia to find and effective and personalized treatment for the elderly.
- Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation to increase success rates by improving management of Graft versus host disease.
- Sickle Cell Disease to reduce barriers to care, burden of pain, end organ injury and premature death.
- Deep Vein Thrombosis and Venous Thromboembolism to understand the risk factors and develop targeted therapies.
- Childhood Leukemia to improve cure rates by performing coordinated research on novel targeted therapies.
- Translating Laboratory Advances into the Clinic to use novel genomic technologies to improve treatment of hematologic diseases.
Onyx Pharmaceuticals releases early results of Phase III trial in GIST
Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc recently released information regarding their phase III GRID study in gastrointestinal stromal tumors that had progressed despite prior treatment with at least imatinib and sunitinib. 199 patients were randomized in a 2:1 fashion to regorafenib plus best supportive care versus placebo plus BSC. The study was completed in July 2011 and is said to have met its primary endpoint of Progression Free Survival.
You may recall that the results of the CORRECT trial in relapsed/refractory advanced colorectal cancer were presented by Axel Grothey at the ASCO GI Cancer Symposium earlier this year. In that phase 3 study regorafenib demonstrated not only an increase in PFS but also in overall survival compared to placebo in CRC patients who were heavily pretreated.
Galeterone (TOK-001) shows efficacy in Castrate Resistant Prostate Cancer
Over the past few years a number of exciting new agents for advanced prostate cancer have presented new therapeutic options for CRPC. These include abiraterone acetate, MDV3100, Cabazitaxel and Radium-223.
At the 2012 AACR meeting, Dr. Mary Ellen Taplin from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute reported the results of the phase I ARMOR-1 study of galeterone or TOK-001 in CRPC. Galeterone is a unique small molecule, oral semi-synthetic steroid analog that attacks prostate cancer through three mechanisms. It blocks CYP17 lyase similar to abiraterone acetate. It acts as an androgen receptor inhibitor similar to MDV3100 and it degrades the androgen receptor, the levels of which are characteristically elevated in CRPC.
Patients enrolled in this phase 1 study had progressed through prior androgen ablation therapy, but were chemotherapy na?ve. Galeterone was very well tolerated with primarily grade 1 and 2 adverse events. Transient elevation of liver enzymes occurred in 25-36% of patients. A Maximum Tolerated Dose (MTD) was not reached in this phase 1 study. PSA reductions of >30% were achieved in 49% of the patients. Objective reductions in tumor size were noted in a number of patients. A phase 2 study will begin later in 2012.
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