Scientists cast doubt on Alzheimer's cancer drug study | The Raw Story

By Agence France-Presse
Sunday, May 26, 2013 9:01 EDT

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Four separate teams of scientists have said they were unable to replicate a highly publicized study that last year touted a cancer drug?s success against Alzheimer?s disease in mice.

?We wanted to repeat the study to see if we could build on it, and we couldn?t,? said David Borchelt, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Florida, noting that ?it was important to publish the fact.?

?Maybe there should be some caution going forward in regard to patients,? he added.

The high profile 2012 study in the US journal Science found that mice treated with bexarotene became rapidly smarter and the plaque in their brains that was causing Alzheimer?s started to disappear within hours.

The drug was believed to work by boosting levels of a protein, Apolipoprotein E (ApoE), that helps clear amyloid plaque buildup in the brain, a key hallmark of Alzheimer?s disease.

?We were shocked and amazed,? lead author Gary Landreth, a professor in the Department of Neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Ohio, told AFP when the study was published in February 2012.

?Things like this had never, ever been seen before,? he said.

But a key part of science is being able to replicate the findings of any research, and international researchers reported in four separate papers in Science?s May 24 edition that they had failed to do so.

Other researchers who published their attempts were Bart De Strooper, director of the VIB Center for the Biology of Disease in Belgium, and Sangram Sisodia, director of the Center for Molecular Neurobiology at the University of Chicago.

The scientists said their studies showed no effect on the plaque levels in three different populations of lab mice treated with bexarotene.

A fourth group of researchers said they observed mental gains in the mice but could not confirm they were achieved by the mechanism initially reported, said co-author Iliya Lefterov, associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.

?While we were able to verify that the mice quickly regained their lost cognitive skills and confirmed the decrease in amyloid beta peptides in the interstitial fluid that surrounds brain cells, we did not find any evidence that the drug cleared the plaques from their brains.?

The findings should also serve as a warning for doctors not to prescribe bexarotene as an off-label treatment for Alzheimer?s, researchers said.

The drug, also known as Targretin, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1999 for treating a type of skin cancer known as refractory cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

?Anecdotally, we have all heard that physicians are treating their Alzheimer?s patients with bexarotene, a cancer drug with severe side effects,? said Robert Vassar, professor of cell and molecular biology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

?This practice should be ended immediately, given the failure of three independent research groups to replicate the plaque-lowering effects of bexarotene.?

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Source: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/26/scientists-cast-doubt-on-alzheimers-cancer-drug-study/

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Your Internet Marketing Plan and Your Business Future ? Hot Article ...

Internet marketing can turn out to be very difficult to do. The outcome that you expect is not really important when it comes to your online business, but you should not start your business without a plan. The kinds of internet marketing strategies that you want to use is not important. Be certain that you have a plan for all of your techniques. However, there may be a question that you want to ask. So what do you need to do to plan the internet marketing for your business? How do you see to it that you?re headed in the right direction? The following article talks about three useful tips that you can use right away to improve your online marketing plan.

There are several Internet marketing strategies that you can work with. However, when you create a personal IM plan, make sure that it is something that you don?t have a problem doing. You have to select your methods according to the things that you want to happen in the end. Also, base your decision on the time you have on hand and the goals you have to achieve. For example, think about using PPC marketing if you have to have a fast outcome. However, if you can put a lot of effort into it, then you should consider use SEO as your key strategy.

If your business is typical, then there will come a time when you have to improvise so do not worry about it.

Anytime something comes up that is different in some way, then you just have to assess it and make your choices. Later on you will add marketing and advertising that you were not aware of when first creating your plan. Once completed, then immediately begin working on implementing what you want to do according to the plan. Even if something has to be changed, then you can do that on the fly and move forward.

Do not leave out your website from your IM plan. You will need this for your total IM plan. So, see to it that it?s got all the important elements in it. Plan the design, content and placement of your subscription box, etc. Be certain that your website does not have any overlooked components. The only way that you can accomplish this is by using a good plan. Also, jot down what type of software is needed. This lets your plan and stay on track. It is hard to beat the benefits of building your business plan based on your own specific goals. As you move ahead and work your way up the ladder, you will achieve this much needed clarity. But without everything planned out well in advance, it?s really not possible to reach the heights of Internet marketing success. The most important thing is to have something to work from and follow in the very beginning.

James Steele is a well-known blogger who writes informative articles on different topics such as marketing, online business, home business, network marketing etc. Checkout his article on My Video Talk review and on Ambit review

Source: http://hotarticledepot.com/your-internet-marketing-plan-and-your-business-future/

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GOP continues to slam new Obama war approach

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republicans keep slamming President Barack Obama's push to move the government away from a war footing and refine and recalibrate counterterrorism strategy.

Capitol Hill Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina say Obama is projecting weakness at a time when the United States needs to show resolve against terror networks like al-Qaida.

The South Carolina Republican said Sunday that "at a time when we need resolve the most, we're sounding retreat."

Obama gave a major speech Thursday in which he said al-Qaida is "on the path to defeat" and he's signaling that he's reluctant to commit troops overseas to conflicts like Syria or other countries struggling with instability in the uncertain aftermath of the Arab Spring. He's also modifying policies on the use of unmanned drone aircraft to try to limit civilian casualties and is redoubling his longstanding ? but so far unfulfilled ? promise to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where many terrorism suspects are being held without formal charges.

Obama is trying to recast the image of terrorists from enemy warriors to cowardly thugs and move the United States away a state of perpetual war.

But Graham said Obama is displaying a "lack of resolve" despite a slew of concerns in the Middle East, including civil war and chemical weapons in Syria and threats to Israel from Syria's unrest and Iran's nuclear program.

"We show this lack of resolve, talking about the war being over," Graham said. "What do you think the Iranians are thinking? At the end of the day, this is the most tone-deaf president I ever could imagine."

"I see a big difference between the president saying the war's at an end and whether or not you've won the war," said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. "We can claim that it's at an end, but this war's going to continue. And we have still tremendous threats out there, that are building, not declining, building, and to not recognize that, I think, is dangerous in the long run and dangerous for the world."

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., defended the president, reprising Obama's theme that maintaining a wartime posture runs the risk of compromising U.S. principles.

"If we're constantly thinking of this as a war, we stand a chance of doing things that compromise our freedoms," Durbin said.

Obama ally Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said that "having transparency, having rules and engaging other activities other than military to help curb the war on terror ? diplomacy, economic sanctions and things like that ? is going to be useful as well. So I think the president did a very, very smart pivot, realizing we're not going to let up on terrorists, but at the same time we're going to meet the changes in the world."

Graham and Durbin spoke on "Fox News Sunday." Schumer and Coburn spoke on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gop-continues-slam-obama-war-approach-143429204.html

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Boston Marathon Runners Finish At Indianapolis 500

INDIANAPOLIS -- Bundled up against the cold and with tears in their eyes, dozens of runners unable to complete the Boston Marathon due to the bombings last month finally finished their runs over the famed yard of bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.

The runners were honored at the Indianapolis 500 by having the opportunity to run down the front stretch moments before to the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing." Thousands of people, including some crew members of the race teams, cheered them on as they ran down pit road.

Jennifer Black, a 61-year-old from Loveland, Ohio, said she ran to the finish line with tears in her eyes after she saw her husband waving to her from the track's fourth turn.

"I was crying while I was running and blowing kisses to the crowd," she said.

The group crossed the finish line flanked by firefighters and police officers, breaking the tape less than 10 minutes before the command was given to start the engines.

"It was incredible. I have never run through a crowd like this," said Amber Larason of Nashville, Tenn., who was running the Boston Marathon with her mom and about two miles from the finish line on Boylston Street when the bombs exploded on April 15.

"I've never experienced anything like this," Larason said. "It was amazing."

All the runners who participated Sunday were pulled off the Boston Marathon course by officials after the bombings, which killed three people and wounded more than 250. Speedway officials extended an invitation to finish to the Boston Athletic Association, which contacted runners from Indiana and nearby states.

"The tragedy last month in Boston still resonates with everyone, so we wanted to give runners the chance to finish the race in front of thousands of fans who will appreciate their persistence and determination," said Doug Boles, the speedway's chief operating officer.

Black was wearing her Boston numerical marker with the number "21015" pinned to the top of her running jersey. She was about a half-mile from the finish when the bombs went off at the marathon, and remembers thinking medics were rushing to aid a runner who suffered a heart attack. When she learned it was a bomb, Black said she feared that her sister, former Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, might have been injured. Schmidt was waiting near the finish line, uninjured.

On Sunday, Schmidt waited again for her sister as she crossed the finish line, this time at the speedway. Schmidt urged people to donate to a fund established for victims of the bombing ? onefundboston.org.

"These people need our help. There will be no government help like there will be for the people in Moore, Okla.," she said. "There will be no government aid to these people. These people have an economic loss as well as limbs lost ? life lost, lives permanently damaged."

Ron Kuczma, a 65-year-old from Hudson, Ohio, said it was thrilling to be able to take part in a ceremonial finish at the speedway, where several fans waved American flags.

But Kuczma said he couldn't help thinking about the families of the bombing victims and the runners who are still recovering.

"We're here having a lot of fun today. We were treated like dignitaries," he said, "but there were a lot of people who were hurt in the bombings. And people died. We ran for them today. They couldn't be here and we could so we ran for them."

Paul Ryan of Marlborough, Mass., brought his father and sons to the race from the Boston area, and was unaware that the speedway was honoring victims of the bombing.

"I think it's great that they were bringing people out here to honor and still to keep it going because people forget stuff so fast these days. It's great that they were acknowledged out here," he said. "There's a lot of awful things going on right now that it's easy to lose focus.

"We just appreciate it, being from Boston, that other people notice it."

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Associated Press writer Rick Callahan and AP freelance writer Jim Johnson contributed to this report.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/26/boston-marathon-runners-indianapolis-500-finish_n_3339850.html

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French police search for man who stabbed soldier

Police officers stand near the cordoned off spot where a French soldier was stabbed in the throat in the busy commercial district of La Defense, outside Paris, Saturday May 25, 2013, and France's president said authorities are investigating any possible links with the recent slaying of a British soldier.(AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

Police officers stand near the cordoned off spot where a French soldier was stabbed in the throat in the busy commercial district of La Defense, outside Paris, Saturday May 25, 2013, and France's president said authorities are investigating any possible links with the recent slaying of a British soldier.(AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

Police officers stand near the cordoned off spot where a French soldier was stabbed in the throat in the busy commercial district of La Defense, outside Paris, Saturday May 25, 2013, and France's president said authorities are investigating any possible links with the recent slaying of a British soldier.(AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

Police officers stand near the cordoned off spot where a French soldier was stabbed in the throat in the busy commercial district of La Defense, outside Paris, Saturday May 25, 2013, and France's president said authorities are investigating any possible links with the recent slaying of a British soldier.(AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

PARIS (AP) ? French anti-terrorism investigators were combing video surveillance tapes Sunday as they continued their manhunt for a suspect who stabbed a soldier in the throat in the commercial district of La Defense outside Paris.

The 23-year-old soldier, Cedric Cordier, was in uniform patrolling the busy underground corridors where shops and crowded public transport lines converge beneath the famous Arch of La Defense.

Saturday's stabbing came days after a British soldier was hacked to death on a London street in broad daylight in a suspected terrorist attack that has raised fears of potential copycat strikes. However, there was no immediate confirmation of any link between the two attacks.

French police have surveillance video of a suspect taken before and after the attack. There are several security cameras operated by public transport agency RATP and others placed throughout the underground shopping center, according to one police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss terrorism investigations.

The official, who has not seen the videos himself, said investigators describe the suspect as tall. He couldn't provide any other description of the suspect. Police are going over videos to try to identify the suspect, trace his escape route and determine whether he was acting alone, the official said.

Cordier remained hospitalized Sunday, but officials said his throat wound wasn't life-threatening.

The French soldier was on a group patrol as part of a national protection program when he was attacked from behind.

Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who visited Cordier at the hospital Saturday evening, said he had been targeted because he was a soldier. Anti-terrorism investigators are leading the hunt for the attacker, but officials have yet to determine whether terrorism is involved, the police official said. Police also questioned witnesses to the attack.

Speaking shortly after the attack while on an official visit to Ethiopia, President Francois Hollande said that while "all hypotheses" will be investigated, there didn't appear to be a link with Wednesday's deadly attack in London.

French security forces have been on heightened alert since their country launched a military intervention in the African nation of Mali in January to regain territory seized by Islamic radicals. British Prime Minister David Cameron was in Paris meeting with Hollande when he first received word of the London attack.

Last year, three French paratroopers were killed by a man police described as a French-born Islamic extremist who then went on to strike a Jewish school in southern France, killing four more people.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-05-26-EU-France-Soldier-Stabbed/id-511c5236a29f445caf6e1b6f903c301c

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Cyclist tests positive for EPO, risks life ban

ROME (AP) ? Cycling's first major race since the end of the Lance Armstrong case was rattled by another high-profile positive doping test Friday.

Former Giro d'Italia winner Danilo Di Luca tested positive for EPO in a surprise check at his home before this year's race, organizers said.

If confirmed in a backup "B'' sample, Di Luca risks a lifetime ban since this is his third offense.

"I wasn't expecting this. It was a surprise for me. I'm disappointed," Di Luca said upon leaving his team's hotel in northern Italy. "I'll ask for the backup analysis, then we can talk again."

Armstrong appeared surprised, too.

"Knowing I have 0 cred on the doping issue - I still can't help but think, 'really Di Luca? Are you that ... stupid??" Armstrong tweeted, adding an expletive.

It's the second doping case from this year's Giro, after French rider Sylvain Georges tested positive for the banned stimulant Heptaminol in a urine sample after the seventh stage. The 28-year-old AG2R La Mondiale rider was immediately withdrawn from the race.

The UCI provisionally suspended Di Luca pending a hearing with the Italian cycling federation and the Vini Fantini-Selle Italia team fired the 37-year-old Italian rider.

"Danilo has betrayed cycling once again," Giro race director Mauro Vegni said. "But I'm happy it wasn't a young rider. Danilo belongs to a generation that has navigated through the doping system."

After being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, Armstrong confessed to doping in a TV interview in January with Oprah Winfrey. While many of Armstrong's former teammates have come forward to say they doped, some of the riders who supported the Texan during his career continue to race.

Longtime Armstrong lieutenant Yaroslav Popovych, a Ukrainian rider with the RadioShack-Leopard team, is 139th overall in the Giro.

The test on Di Luca was carried out April 29, five days before the Giro started, and the result drew a rebuke from Vini Fantini team director Luca Scinto.

"Di Luca is an idiot. I never wanted him," Scinto said. "Di Luca is sick. He needs to be helped."

Seemingly headed for retirement just a few months ago, Di Luca signed with Vini Fantini on April 26. Scinto and others were against hiring him, but sponsors eventually prevailed.

"The sponsors chose him and now they've got to take responsibility," Scinto said.

The team is considering suing Di Luca for damaging its image.

The race ends Sunday and Di Luca departs in 26th place overall, 33 minutes, 33 seconds behind overall leader Vincenzo Nibali.

The announcement came a day after the 28-year-old Nibali extended his lead by dominating a mountain time trial, garnering headlines in Italy as the new face of the sport.

In 2009, Di Luca was given a two-year ban after testing positive during the Giro for CERA, an advanced form of the blood booster EPO. That ban was subsequently reduced by nine months after he collaborated with Italian anti-doping authorities.

And after winning the 2007 Giro, Di Luca was banned for three months later in the year for frequent visits to Carlo Santuccione, a physician at the center of a four-year doping investigation titled Oil for Drugs.

Di Luca was stripped of his second-place finish and two stage wins in the 2009 Giro, which was won by Denis Menchov, a Russian rider who was never banned for doping but was often linked to banned drug cases.

Armstrong raced the Giro for the only time in 2009, but did not contend for the title.

Di Luca fared well in several stages of this year's Giro, finishing third in the seventh leg, seventh in Stage 9, sixth in Stage 11 and 10th in Thursday's uphill time trial.

"He wrote me a text message saying, 'I don't know what to say. I'm sorry,'" Giro director Michele Acquarone said. "If someone looks you in the eye and asks for your support and then betrays you, then it means he has a serious problem ? in this case a strong addiction."

The Giro's 19th stage on Friday was canceled because of snow.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cyclist-tests-positive-epo-risks-life-ban-124923801.html

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Bridge collapses in Washington state ? cars, people in water

Taylor Linden

Cars and people are in the Skagit River at the scene of an I-5 bridge collapse near Mt. Veron, Wash.

By Andrew Rafferty and Justin Kirschner, NBC News

Three people were rescued from a river after a bridge along Interstate-5 in Washington State collapsed on Thursday evening, plunging cars into the water below, according to Washington State Patrol.

MSNBC's Milissa Rehberger reports that people and cars were in the water after an I-5 bridge collapsed over the Skagit River in Washington state.

The extent of the injuries for the three is unclear, but all were evaluated on scene and were transported to area hospitals, according to Marcus Deyerin of the Washington Incident Management Team. Authorities say they have no reason to believe any others are still in the river.

Two vehicles were submerged in the Skagit River when the bridge fell around 7 p.m. local time (10 p.m. EDT), and traffic has been closed in both directions.

NBC Seattle affiliate KING5 reported that traffic was significantly backed up in both directions. I-5 is the main freeway that runs along the West Coast.

A witnesses told KING5 that an oversized truck hit the upper right side of the bridge before the collapse, though it wasn't clear if that caused the span to give way.

The minimum vertical clearance on the bridge (distance from the road to something a truck can bump into) is 14.5 feet. The standard height is 16 feet.

This I-5 bridge over the Skagit River at Mount Vernon was described by the Washington State Department of Transportation, after an inspection in August 2010, as "somewhat better than minimum adequacy to tolerate being left in place as is."

State inspection reports submitted to the Federal Highway Administration were reviewed by NBC News. That overall evaluation of the structural condition on the bridge corresponds to a score of 5 on a scale from 0 (worst) to 9 (best).

The bridge received identical scores on inspections in 2010, 2008 and 2006, and is on a schedule for inspection every 24 months, as generally required by federal regulations. State officials said Thursday evening they were working to make public a copy of the latest inspection report, presumably from 2012.

Looking at specific areas of the bridge, the substructure (piers, abutments, footings, piles, etc.) was described as in satisfactory condition, with the superstructure (beams, girders, stringers, trusses, cables, pins, hangers, etc.) in somewhat worse condition, listed as fair, according to the inspection data online from the Federal Highway Administration. "Fair" meant that all primary structural elements were sound but may have minor defects.

The 1,112-foot steel truss bridge was built in 1955, and was carrying an average daily traffic of 71,000 vehicles.

The bridge was of a "fracture critical" design, as are 18,000 bridges nationwide, meaning it could collapse if even one part failed.

Even after the bridge collapse that killed 13 people in Minneapolis in 2007, a haphazard system of inspections continued, with federal authorities choosing not to require re-inspection of all the fracture-critical bridges.

In a survey of every state by msnbc.com in 2008, only six states and the District of Columbia said they began to recheck all their fracture-critical bridges.

Officials in Washington state, like in most states, said they performed special inspections of only their few dozen bridges of the particular deck-truss design used in Minneapolis.

The bridge that fell Thursday did go on to receive its regular inspections in 2008 and 2010, according to the federal records, called the National Bridge Inventory.

Bill Dedman of NBC News contributed to this report.

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Gina Cole / Skagit Valley Herald

North end of the I-5 bridge over Skagit River collapsed Thursday night.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2c5591eb/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A50C240C184560A810Ebridge0Ecollapses0Ein0Ewashington0Estate0Ecars0Epeople0Ein0Ewater0Dlite/story01.htm

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