Pathway to bypass DNA lesions in replication process is experimentally shown

ScienceDaily (Nov. 30, 2012) ? DNA lesions are really common -- about one million individual molecular lesions per cell per day -- because its long strands usually have one missing base or are damaged. These lesions can stall the DNA replication process, what can lead to the cell death. To avoid it, there are several pathways to bypass lesions in order to continue with the process of DNA replication. One of these processes has been entirely reproduced in vitro using some techniques of manipulation of single-molecules in a study published November 30 in Science, led by the researcher of the University of Barcelona Maria Ma?osas.

"This pathway was proposed in the seventies and now we have been able to prove it on a bacteriophage through the manipulation of single-molecules that, oppositely to the traditional biochemical techniques that work with a great number of molecules, allows to study how a protein works on a molecule in real time," explains Ma?osas, professor at the Department of Fundamental Physics of the UB, affiliated with the campus of International excellence, BKC.

To study a single-molecule, we used magnetic tweezers, a technique which consists on tethering a DNA hairpin between a glass surface and a magnetic bead. A magnetic system generates a magnetic field which allows manipulating the beads and generates magnetic forces. This system can be used in order to measure the extension changes of DNA strands through the screening of the magnetic beads. According to Ma?osas, "proteins' activity over DNA can be inferred from the changes in the extension of the molecule. The changes are due to the proteins' work."

The template switching strategy

In the DNA replication process, the two strands who act as a template to synthesise a complementary strand are separated, and the new complementary strand joins each of the initial strands in order to obtain two identical copies of the original DNA molecule. In this process take part the polymerases, a family of enzymes that carry out all forms of DNA replication. When in any of the two derived strands there is a lesion, especially in the leading strand, the polymerase stops synthetizing the bases, so the replication process is stalled. "To stall this process can entail some problems in cellular growth," explains Ma?osas. "When the replication mechanism (replisome) is disassembled, the bypass process analysed in this study starts," points out the author, member of the Biomedical Research Networking center in Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN) and researcher at the University of Paris.

The studied process begins with the action of a helicase protein (UvsW) which promotes the binding of DNA strands, a phenomenon named DNA hybridization. This protein is also able to build an intermediate structure (Holliday junction) taking as a model the not damaged replicated strand and, together with the action of polymerase, drive the system to its departure point, once "jumped" the lesion, and then restart the DNA replication process. "Therefore, the information lost when one strand is damaged can be recovered from the other intact strand which acts as a backup; this process is named "the template switching strategy." In the study, we have also observed the regulation mechanisms of this pathway, as well as the rate of annealing of helicase UvsW, 1500 bases per second, one the largest known," concludes Ma?osas.

DNA repair is essential in a great number of diseases. A deeper knowledge of these phenomena will enable us to act over some proteins which have similar functions in humans. Ma?osas is working on this direction; she is carrying out a study on a human protein named HARP in order to know how it works, because it is known that it has a really important role in the genome conservation and its dysfunction is related to some types of cancer.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Universidad de Barcelona.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. M. Manosas, S. K. Perumal, V. Croquette, S. J. Benkovic. Direct Observation of Stalled Fork Restart via Fork Regression in the T4 Replication System. Science, 2012; 338 (6111): 1217 DOI: 10.1126/science.1225437

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/phtRVx8VzDw/121130095027.htm

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Did dinosaurs roam Grand Canyon?

LOS ANGELES?? The awe-inspiring Grand Canyon was probably carved about 70 million years ago, much earlier than thought, a provocative new study suggests ? so early that dinosaurs might have roamed near this natural wonder.

Using a new dating tool, a team of scientists came up with a different age for the gorge's western section, challenging conventional wisdom that much of the canyon was scoured by the mighty Colorado River in the last 5 million to 6 million years.

Not everyone is convinced with the latest viewpoint published online Thursday in the journal Science. Critics contend the study ignores a mountain of evidence pointing to a geologically young landscape and they have doubts about the technique used to date it.

The notion that the Grand Canyon existed during the dinosaur era is "ludicrous," said geologist Karl Karlstrom of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

How the Grand Canyon became grand ? with its vertical cliffs and flat plateaus ? has been debated since John Wesley Powell navigated the whitewater rapids and scouted the sheer walls during his famous 1869 expedition.

Some 5 million tourists flock to Arizona each year to marvel at the 277-mile-long chasm, which plunges a mile deep in some places. It's a geologic layer cake with the most recent rock formations near the rim stacked on top of older rocks that date back 2 billion years.

Though the exposed rocks are ancient, most scientists believe the Grand Canyon itself was forged in the recent geologic past, created when tectonic forces uplifted the land that the Colorado River later carved through.

The new work by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder and California Institute of Technology argued that canyon-cutting occurred long before that. They focused on the western end of the Grand Canyon occupied today by the Hualapai Reservation, which owns the Skywalk attraction, a horseshoe-shaped glass bridge that extends from the canyon's edge.

To come up with the age, the team crushed rocks collected from the bottom of the canyon to analyze a rare type of mineral called apatite. The mineral contains traces of radioactive elements that release helium during decay, allowing researchers to calculate the passage of time since the canyon eroded.

Their interpretation: The western Grand Canyon is 70 million years old and was likely shaped by an ancient river that coursed in the opposite direction of the west-flowing Colorado.

Lead researcher Rebecca Flowers of the University of Colorado Boulder realizes not everyone will accept this alternative view, which minimizes the role of the Colorado River.

"Arguments will continue over the age of Grand Canyon, and I hope our study will stimulate more work to decipher the mysteries," Flowers said in an email.

It's not the first time that Flowers has dug up evidence for an older Grand Canyon. In 2008, she authored a study that suggested part of the eastern Grand Canyon, where most tourists go, formed 55 million years ago. Another study published that same year by a different group of researchers put the age of the western section at 17 million years old.

If the Grand Canyon truly existed before dinosaurs became extinct, it would have looked vastly different because the climate back then was more tropical. Dinosaurs that patrolled the American West then included smaller tyrannosaurs, horned and dome-headed dinosaurs and duckbills.

If they peered over the rim, it would not look like "the starkly beautiful desert of today, but an environment with more lush vegetation," said University of Maryland paleontologist Thomas Holtz.

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Many scientists find it hard to imagine an ancient Grand Canyon since the oldest gravel and sediment that washed downstream date to about 6 million years ago and there are no signs of older deposits. And while they welcome advanced dating methods to decipher the canyon's age, Karlstrom of the University of New Mexico does not think the latest effort is very accurate.

Karlstrom said it also defies logic that a fully formed canyon would sit unchanged for tens of millions of years without undergoing further erosion.

Geologist Richard Young of the State University of New York at Geneseo said his own work suggests there was a cliff in the place of the ancient Grand Canyon.

Flowers "wants to have a canyon there. I want to have a cliff there. Obviously, one of us can't be right," he said.

Whatever the age, there may be a middle ground, said Utah State University geologist Joel Pederson.

Researchers have long known about older canyons in the region cut by rivers that flow in a different direction than the Colorado River. It's possible that a good portion of the Grand Canyon was chiseled long ago by these smaller rivers and then the Colorado came along and finished the job, he said.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50014196/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Obama staffers reveal odd campaign email strategy

President Barack Obama (Damir Sagolj/Reuters)Has Barack Obama ever invited you to dinner?

If you were one of the tens of millions of people on the president's campaign email list this cycle, your inbox was full of odd dinner invitations, personal questions and leading statements such as "So," "It doesn't have to be this way" and "Meet me for dinner."

Now that the campaign is over, staffers have finally explained those odd fundraising subject lines and their apparent success to Bloomberg Businessweek's Joshua Green.

"We did extensive A-B testing not just on the subject lines and the amount of money we would ask people for," Amelia Showalter, director of digital analytics, told Green, "but on the messages themselves and even the formatting." The team would predict how much money could be generated by each subject line sample.

Profanity was a hit, the phrase "I will be outspent" was a winner and recipients apparently preferred "ugly, yellow highlighting" over something more aesthetically pleasing.

In the end, most of the $690?million the president raised online was through email.

The most successful subject line? "Hey."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-campaign-finally-opens-campaign-email-strategy-161904916--election.html

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US auto market showing signs of recovery

4 hrs.

Paul A. Eisenstein , The Detroit Bureau

It?s been the little engine that could, driving along an economy long struggling to avert a double-dip recession. And now, amid growing signs that the U.S. economy is clearly on the mend, industry leaders are increasingly confident the auto industry is heading in fast-forward toward some extremely good ? though probably not record ? years.

As manufacturers get set to report extremely strong numbers for October, Toyota?s top American executive, Jim Lentz said he expects to see 2012 end with sales of 14.3 million ? about 1 million more than a year before and a roughly 40 percent increase from the depths of the recession.

?And the forecast ahead looks even better,? Lentz said as he opened his keynote remarks at the opening of the annual LA Auto Show. ?Analysts expect we will reach 16 million in just a few short years.?

That optimism was clearly echoed by other industry leaders gathering for the first of two days of media previews. The Los Angeles show has been something of a bellwether? for the industry ? and the economy.? During the depths of the recession, there was a sharp cutback in the number of new products on display. Chrysler, then plunging into bankruptcy, went so far as to shut off the spotlights at its 2008 exhibit to save cash.

This year, that maker?s lights are back on ? and it has more than a half-dozen new products to debut if one includes its Italian partner Fiat.? In fact, there are expected to be around 50 new models introduced at the LA Convention Center during the media gathering, half of them making their global debuts, the others appearing for the first time in the U.S.

Horsepower and fuel economy
Another key product on display is the 2014 Ford Fiesta, the remake of the maker?s smallest North American offering.? The Fiesta is one of a fast-growing number of small, so-called B- and C-segment models targeting both buyers on a budget and others who simply want to downsize to reduce their fuel bills.

That market segment has grown from about 13 percent of overall U.S. car sales to 24?percent?since 2004, notes Jim Farley, Ford?s global marketing chief.

Significantly, buyers don?t necessarily have to sacrifice room and performance to boost mileage, industry executives stress ? pointing to the mix of new hybrids, plug-ins, battery cars and advanced conventional gasoline-powered vehicles.? New technologies, such as Direct Injection and turbocharging are accomplishing what once seemed impossible: boosting performance as well as mileage.

The new Porsche Cayman sports coupe, which debuted Wednesday, delivers an extra 10 horsepower, for example, and about 15 percent?better fuel economy.

Whether talking about entry-level econoboxes or luxury cars like the Porsche Cayman, ?Mileage is top of mind? for just about all buyers, asserted Mark Fields, who will officially become the maker?s new Chief Operating Officer this week.

And the significant improvements in mileage are luring buyers back to showrooms, industry officials uniformly agreed. But there are other factors driving a demand surge.? Auto loan interest rates are at or near historical lows, for one thing. Then there?s the issue of pent-up demand.

Aging US automobiles
Auto sales have fallen at least 10 million below the trendline since the start of the recession and several recent studies show that this means the current U.S. fleet is older than ever, the majority of vehicles now in service for around a decade ? and about 20 percent at least 16 years old.

The recession pushed many buyer groups out of the market, especially young motorists who have suffered a higher unemployment rate ? and who may have been struggling to pay off hefty student loans.? But in recent months, noted Toyota?s Lentz, ?Younger buyers have returned to the market at a faster rate than any other segment.?

The revival of the youth market is clearly helping drive the current demand surge. Ironically, so is the rebuilding effort in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.? By various estimates, the disaster may have ultimately cost the loss of 100,000 or more vehicles, many of which will be replaced by new products. According to Ford?s Fields, the industry is already seeing a sharp rise in sales in the greater New York area, where storm damage was most severe.

As a result, the Ford COO said he ?wouldn?t be surprised? if November?s final figures came in at an annualized rate of around 15 million or more, which would be the industry?s best pace in nearly a decade.

There are some potential pitfalls.? As the economy recovers, there are signs that fuel prices could once again spike. A modest upturn might actually increase demand for high-mileage models, though a major spike like the one seen last spring could choke off the U.S. recover, observers warn.

So might a failure by Congress and the White House to avert the so-called fiscal cliff, the need to work out new policies on taxing and spending. Ford Chairman Bill Ford recently warned this could also choke off a recovery, though a study by the University of Michigan was less worried about the impact on the auto industry.

Barring such setbacks, ?We would expect the market to improve,? Fields concluded.

That?s particularly good news even though few expect to see peak sales during the current cycle reach the 17 million-plus numbers seen early in the new millennium.? During the recession, most makers ? and especially the struggling Detroit Big Three ? took unprecedented steps to trim operating costs so even without reaching new sales records industry profitability could run substantially beyond anything ever seen in past auto sales boom years.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/us-auto-market-showing-signs-recovery-1C7316259

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Daglow: Consoles, big publishers not going anywhere ...

The rise of digital platforms, smartphones, tablets and crowdfunding from the likes of Kickstarter has afforded today's game designers many great opportunities, but also many new challenges. Getting a game noticed in a digital marketplace is certainly one of the larger challenges. Games veteran Don Daglow gazed into his crystal ball in a recent interview with GamesIndustry International, and noted that there will always be a need for the big boys of publishing like EA or Activision, even a decade from now when packaged goods might no longer be relevant.

"My crystal ball says that big publishers are still an important part of the landscape in 10 years," he says. "I just think that they will function differently than some of the models we see today. My guess, my instinct, is that, first of all, we're going to continue to have big blockbuster games on consoles and various platforms that will come from long term dedicated in-house teams of publishers... The exact structure may metamorphose a little bit."

Marketing and publishing go hand-in-hand, and while many upstart developers have embraced digital and self-publishing, it's not always the smartest move.

"If anything, I would think that some of the publishing partner programs from the really good publishers may get bigger 10 years from now"

Don Daglow

"I also think, one of the things that game designers sometimes give short shrift to, is how important good marketers are. As we get into online direct to consumer sales, the line between a salesperson and a marketing person blurs more and more, but there are fabulous people who work inside the publishers who really understand how to go out and acquire players, how to match players that they're going after with their marketing with the games those people will really enjoy," Daglow continues.

Daglow notes that the best game marketers can actually enhance the experience for a fan base, rather than being seen as some nuisance or disturbance.

"What we all hate is junk mail. Ok, they wasted part of a tree and they sent me something I'm not interested in. Brilliant marketers know how to go out and help people find games they want to play. So instead of being mad at the marketer for sending them junk mail, they're thanking the marketer. 'Oh, hey, this is cool.' And, in effect, they're thanking the marketer for doing that. That isn't a skill that just everybody can have and sometimes those in the game design community live under the illusion that we're also marketers," he says.

"It's a different specialty and the people who are good at it are incredibly good and they enhance the game experience. That knowledge, I think, is going to stay heavily concentrated in publishers. It's going to be more generally available than it was. But the idea of the publishers falling apart and ceasing to be I don't think is the case because I think the publishers are going to have that kind of skill they can bring to bear. And I think especially for smaller teams, newer teams, teams that don't want to think about those things, I think that the publishing partner model, if anything, I would think that some of the publishing partner programs from the really good publishers may get bigger 10 years from now and broader than they are now."

While mobile gaming has been one of the biggest drivers of digital growth, spurring on many a developer to self-publish, the big budget, triple-A console titles will stick around. Mobile is growing in importance every day, but it's not ever going to replace that in-depth console experience, Daglow insists.

"I think that 10 years from now - I think you have to go out 10 years for it to get really interesting, because that's when you have a chance for things to just completely make your brain fall out with the change - I think that having a box that is attached to the big living room entertainment screen that gives you really high quality visually stunning game play, I think that that is still going to happen," he says. "Now, the question is whose box is that going to be and exactly what is that box going to be like? What do we know about that box? Well, it's going to have to be like what we currently call consoles in order to deliver that visually stunning interactive gaming experience."

"There are some things that none of those [mobile] formats can do the way console does on that big TV and I think that that is going to continue to be a very real market," Daglow continues. "There are business issues right now, some of which I think technology is going to make moot. What processor will be in that box? That's going to be a very interesting war. Clearly that box is going to be connected. Who is it going to be connected to? Is it going to be connected to what we today think of as a cable company? Is it going to be what we today think of as an internet connection? Is it going to be some other kind of connection we haven't even thought of yet that the telephone company or somebody else tries to come up with? What I think we do know is that it is a combination of power, big screen, and connectedness, that will unlock the economic potential of those boxes."

Regardless of how players get their games in the future, the great thing that digital is enabling for developers is that direct connection to the audience. And listening intently to the audience is probably the most important thing for today's game makers and those of the future to do.

"I think in some ways there are some similarities where you could say we're like the movie business in 1951"

Don Daglow

"What digital delivery does is it makes the art of listening to your player utterly central to your life. We used to sit around and build games for a year and a half, two years, even three years, having some player contact, knowing how we felt as players, and then you made this judgment call about what you thought would please players. And if what you thought was right, then people would say a lot of nice things about you. If your judgment call was wrong, it wasn't such a good feeling," Daglow notes.

"Now you have this continual dialogue, where a lot less of it is a matter of doing some research and listening and then estimating, but a lot more of it is about continually listening... we hear what they say and what they don't say over time and we're not asking them to design the game for us, but because we know them and like them and are in touch with them, you get a feel for them and once you have a feel for them that's where being a game designer comes in. Because once you have a feel for them you get an indication. That's a cool feeling. I like that way, way better than the old days of do your research, guess, and hope that people like your game design. This contact with players - there are days when it's frustrating, but I find it really, really exciting," Daglow adds.

With Steam, Facebook, iOS, Android, free-to-play and more gaining prominence, even the last five years in the games industry have been a whirlwind of change. Considering that the first commercially available video games were created in the early 1970s, that puts the industry at around 40 years old. And Don Daglow has witnessed it all, so how does he view the state of the games business compared to other entertainment industries?

The Thing, a horror classic from '51

"I think in some ways there are some similarities where you could say we're like the movie business in 1951 because television at that point came along and people started to say, 'Wait? You can stay home and watch this? You don't have to go to a movie?' The movie business changed in fundamental ways - a lot of people predicted its death for years. I remember reading articles like that when I was a kid growing up, and the reports of its death were greatly exaggerated but the movie business changed in many fundamental ways in order to continue operating as a business and entertain people. But the movie business still has this wonderful place in our society. And TV is a completely different beast that exists alongside it," he observes.

"It is not a perfect analogy, but I think there are some comparisons; we have new kinds of games, we have new business models that are emerging for the games industry, and all these new ways to reach new players and new ways to entertain old players... And that dictates fundamental change for what had been our dominant piece in the console business. On the other hand, this is why I keep coming back to ten years from now and that screen on the wall in the living room. I think that just as film adapted to the presence of television, I think that something similar to what we think of as consoles is going to adapt and prosper alongside all those things we're seeing now."

Source: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-11-29-daglow-consoles-big-publishers-not-going-anywhere

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Internet, phones cut in parts of Syrian capital

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian activists say authorities have blocked Internet and cell phone signals in parts of the nation's capital, where rebels and government troops are engaged in fierce clashes.

An activist near Damascus who gave his name as Abu Sham says the government cut the Internet in the southern neighborhoods of the capital on Thursday.

Another activist, Abu Qais al-Shami, who lives outside the country, also says land lines, mobile phone signals and the Internet were cut in several of the capital's southern neighborhoods, including Yarmouk and Tadamon, around noon.

He says he has been able to communicate with contacts in Syria by using satellite telephones.

The government has previously cut phone lines and Internet access in areas where regime forces are conducting major military operations.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/internet-phones-cut-parts-syrian-capital-142929534.html

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Behavior problems, not depression, linked to lower grades for depressed youths

Public release date: 29-Nov-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Daniel Fowler
pubinfo@asanet.org
202-527-7885
American Sociological Association

WASHINGTON, DC, November 26, 2012 Behavior problems, not depression, are linked to lower grades for depressed adolescents, according to a study in the December issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

"Behavior problems including attention issues, delinquency, and substance use are associated with diminished achievement, but depression is not," said the study's lead author Jane D. McLeod, a sociology professor and an associate dean at Indiana University. "Certainly, there are depressed youths who have trouble in school, but it's likely because they are also using substances, engaging in delinquent activities, or have attention issues."

Titled, "Adolescent Mental Health, Behavior Problems, and Academic Achievement," McLeod's study uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), which followed thousands of U.S. adolescents from their middle and high school years through their transition to early adulthood. McLeod's analysis focuses on students who were in high school when Add Health began in 1994. To determine academic achievement, McLeod considered the high school GPAs of students after the first wave of Add Health in 1994 and the highest educational degrees they received by 2008-2009.

"There's a fairly sizable literature that links depression in high school to diminished academic achievement," said McLeod, who co-authored the study with Ryotaro Uemura, a project assistant professor in the International Center at Keio University in Japan, and Shawna Rohrman, a doctoral candidate in sociology at Indiana University. "The argument we make in our study is what's really happening is that youths who are depressed also have other problems as well, and it's those other problems that are adversely affecting their achievement."

Unlike students who experienced depression, the study found that adolescents who experienced attention issues, delinquency, or substance use had lower average GPAs than youths without any such problems. Similarly, delinquency and substance use were associated with receiving lesser degrees while depression was not. Adolescents who experienced two problems typically earned lower GPAs and lesser degrees than those who experienced only one problem, although some combinations of problems had more harmful effects than others. For example, substance use increased the educational risks associated with depression, attention issues, and delinquency. In contrast, experiencing depression in combination with attention issues, delinquency, or substance use was not linked to GPAs or levels of educational attainment lower than those of students who had any of these problems alone. Interestingly, attention issues were not associated with lower levels of educational attainment whereas they were related to lower GPAs.

"It could be that attention issues adversely affect high school GPA, but not level of educational attainment because success in college and graduate school may be less closely tied to behavior and interactions within the classroom than it is in high school," McLeod said. "For example, if you're in a large college classroom and you're someone who needs to be bouncing your knees or tapping your pen, that's not going to come to the notice of the instructor in the same way that it might in a smaller high school classroom."

The analysis controlled for academic aptitude, meaning the researchers took into account whether the youths in the study had the ability to do well in school. "What we found is that there are adolescents who have the ability to succeed, but who are not succeeding in school because of their troubling behaviorattention issues, delinquency, substance use or a combination," McLeod said. "This suggests to me that schools should reconsider the approach they take to dealing with these students. Perhaps, they should think about moving away from punitive approaches towards approaches aimed at integrating these students into the school community."

###

About the American Sociological Association and the Journal of Health and Social Behavior

The American Sociological Association, founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society. The Journal of Health and Social Behavior is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal of the ASA.

The research article described above is available by request for members of the media. For a copy of the full study, contact Daniel Fowler, ASA's Media Relations and Public Affairs Officer.

For more information about the study, members of the media can also contact Tracy James, Indiana University Communications, at 812-855-0084 or traljame@iu.edu.

---

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?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 29-Nov-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Daniel Fowler
pubinfo@asanet.org
202-527-7885
American Sociological Association

WASHINGTON, DC, November 26, 2012 Behavior problems, not depression, are linked to lower grades for depressed adolescents, according to a study in the December issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

"Behavior problems including attention issues, delinquency, and substance use are associated with diminished achievement, but depression is not," said the study's lead author Jane D. McLeod, a sociology professor and an associate dean at Indiana University. "Certainly, there are depressed youths who have trouble in school, but it's likely because they are also using substances, engaging in delinquent activities, or have attention issues."

Titled, "Adolescent Mental Health, Behavior Problems, and Academic Achievement," McLeod's study uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), which followed thousands of U.S. adolescents from their middle and high school years through their transition to early adulthood. McLeod's analysis focuses on students who were in high school when Add Health began in 1994. To determine academic achievement, McLeod considered the high school GPAs of students after the first wave of Add Health in 1994 and the highest educational degrees they received by 2008-2009.

"There's a fairly sizable literature that links depression in high school to diminished academic achievement," said McLeod, who co-authored the study with Ryotaro Uemura, a project assistant professor in the International Center at Keio University in Japan, and Shawna Rohrman, a doctoral candidate in sociology at Indiana University. "The argument we make in our study is what's really happening is that youths who are depressed also have other problems as well, and it's those other problems that are adversely affecting their achievement."

Unlike students who experienced depression, the study found that adolescents who experienced attention issues, delinquency, or substance use had lower average GPAs than youths without any such problems. Similarly, delinquency and substance use were associated with receiving lesser degrees while depression was not. Adolescents who experienced two problems typically earned lower GPAs and lesser degrees than those who experienced only one problem, although some combinations of problems had more harmful effects than others. For example, substance use increased the educational risks associated with depression, attention issues, and delinquency. In contrast, experiencing depression in combination with attention issues, delinquency, or substance use was not linked to GPAs or levels of educational attainment lower than those of students who had any of these problems alone. Interestingly, attention issues were not associated with lower levels of educational attainment whereas they were related to lower GPAs.

"It could be that attention issues adversely affect high school GPA, but not level of educational attainment because success in college and graduate school may be less closely tied to behavior and interactions within the classroom than it is in high school," McLeod said. "For example, if you're in a large college classroom and you're someone who needs to be bouncing your knees or tapping your pen, that's not going to come to the notice of the instructor in the same way that it might in a smaller high school classroom."

The analysis controlled for academic aptitude, meaning the researchers took into account whether the youths in the study had the ability to do well in school. "What we found is that there are adolescents who have the ability to succeed, but who are not succeeding in school because of their troubling behaviorattention issues, delinquency, substance use or a combination," McLeod said. "This suggests to me that schools should reconsider the approach they take to dealing with these students. Perhaps, they should think about moving away from punitive approaches towards approaches aimed at integrating these students into the school community."

###

About the American Sociological Association and the Journal of Health and Social Behavior

The American Sociological Association, founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society. The Journal of Health and Social Behavior is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal of the ASA.

The research article described above is available by request for members of the media. For a copy of the full study, contact Daniel Fowler, ASA's Media Relations and Public Affairs Officer.

For more information about the study, members of the media can also contact Tracy James, Indiana University Communications, at 812-855-0084 or traljame@iu.edu.

---

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-11/asa-bpn112612.php

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Clashes resume in Cairo ahead of opposition rally

CAIRO (AP) ? Egyptian protesters and police clashed in Cairo on Tuesday just hours ahead of a planned massive rally by opponents of the country's Islamist president demanding he rescind decrees that granted him near-absolute powers.

Police fired tear gas and hundreds of protesters pelted them with rocks at a street between the U.S. Embassy and Tahrir Square, birthplace of the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime nearly two years ago.

The protesters have been staging a sit-in at the square since Friday night to demand President Mohammed Morsi revoke his decrees.

By mid-day, hundreds were starting to gather in Tahrir, chanting against Morsi's decrees and the Brotherhood. A new banner in the square proclaimed, "The Brotherhood stole the country."

"We are here to bring down the constitutional declaration issued by Morsi," said one protester at Tahrir, Mahmoud Youssef.

Hundreds of lawyers meanwhile gathered outside their union building in downtown Cairo ahead of their march to Tahrir. "Leave, leave," they chanted, addressing Morsi.

The rally planned for later Tuesday, with marches from various parts of Cairo to converge on Tahrir, is to be a significant test of the opposition's ability to bring out supporters and the public against Morsi's edicts issued last week.

The opposition says the decrees give Morsi near dictatorial powers by neutralizing the judiciary at a time when he already holds executive and legislative powers. Key parts of the judicial system have denounced the measures.

Morsi, in office since June, says the decrees are necessary to protect the "revolution" and the nation's transition to democratic rule. His declaration made all his decisions immune to judicial review and banned the courts from dissolving the upper house of parliament and an assembly writing the new constitution, both of which are dominated by Islamists. The decree also gave Morsi sweeping authority to stop any "threats" to the revolution.

Morsi's supporters canceled a massive rally they had planned for Tuesday, citing the need to "defuse tension" after a series of clashes between the two camps since the decrees were issued Thursday.

But a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, the fundamentalist group from which Morsi hails, said demonstrations supporting the president could go ahead outside the capital and that supporters would form human chains in some provinces to protect Brotherhood offices. Morsi's supporters say more than a dozen of their offices have been ransacked or set ablaze since Friday.

On Monday, Morsi met with the nation's top judges and tried to win their acceptance of his decrees. But the move was dismissed by many in the opposition and the judiciary as providing no real concessions.

Presidential spokeman Yasser Ali, said Morsi told the judges that he acted within his rights as the nation's sole source of legislation, assuring them that the decrees were temporary and did not in any way infringe on the judiciary. He underlined repeatedly that the president had no plans to change or amend his decrees.

According to a presidential statement late Monday, Morsi told the judges that his decree meant that any decisions he makes on "issues of sovereignty" are immune from judicial review.

The vaguely worded statement did not define those issues, but they were widely interpreted to cover declaration of war, imposition of martial law, breaking diplomatic relations with a foreign nation or dismissing a Cabinet. Morsi's original edict, however, explicitly gives immunity to all his decisions and there was no sign it had been changed.

The statement Monday did not touch the immunity that Morsi gave the constitutional assembly or the upper chamber of parliament, known as the Shura Council. It also did not affect the edict that the president can take any measures he sees as necessary to stop threats to the revolution, stability or public institutions. Many see that edict as granting Morsi unlimited emergency powers.

The Shura Council does not have lawmaking authorities but, in the absence of the more powerful lower chamber, the People's Assembly, it is the only popularly elected, national body where the Brotherhood and other Islamists have a majority. The People's Assembly was dissolved by a court ruling in June.

Rights lawyers and activists, however, dismissed Morsi's assurances as an attempt to defuse the crisis without offering concrete concessions.

One of the lawyers, Ahmed Ragheb, described the presidential statement and Ali's comments as "playing with words."

"This is not what Egyptians are objecting to and protesting about," he said. "If the president wanted to resolve the crisis, there should be an amendment to his constitutional declaration."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/clashes-resume-cairo-ahead-opposition-rally-105449431.html

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House, DOJ will try to resolve records lawsuit

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Lawyers for the House and the Justice Department will meet to try to resolve a lawsuit over congressional efforts to get records related to Operation Fast and Furious, a bungled gun-tracking operation in Arizona.

The lawyers told U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Tuesday that the two sides would prefer to meet without the assistance of the court. Kerry W. Kircher, a lawyer for the GOP-led House, said the discussions would take place in the "near future." Jackson, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, scheduled another status conference in the case for Jan. 10.

In broaching the topic of a settlement, Jackson told the two sides that there is "not a lot of controlling legal precedent here."

Obama has invoked executive privilege and Attorney General Eric Holder has been found in contempt of the House for refusing to turn over records that might explain what led the Justice Department to reverse course, after initially denying to Congress that federal agents had used a controversial tactic called gun-walking in the failed law enforcement operation.

In a Feb. 4, 2011, letter to Congress, the Justice Department said agents made every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico. That assertion turned out to be incorrect, and the department withdrew the letter 10 months later.

In a question-and-answer session after a news conference on another topic in New Haven, Conn., on Tuesday, Holder said the department has long sought to resolve the issue with the House.

"We are prepared as we indicated many months ago to try to strike a deal, to come up with a way in which we can satisfy the legitimate oversight request that Congress has made, understanding that there is a need for privilege, the ability for us in the executive branch to speak candidly with one another," he said.

"I think there is a deal that can be struck," Holder added. "We could have struck this deal many months ago."

The department has already turned over 7,600 pages of documents on the operation itself. The continuing dispute is over documents describing how the department responded to the congressional investigation of the operation. Obama asserted executive privilege to shield the administration's internal decision-making about the congressional investigation.

In Fast and Furious, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives abandoned the agency's usual practice of intercepting all weapons they believed to be illicitly purchased. The goal of the gun-walking approach was to track such weapons to high-level arms traffickers who long had eluded prosecution, and to dismantle their networks.

But agents lost track of many of the weapons, and hundreds of them purchased from Arizona gun shops wound up in Mexico, where many of them were recovered at crime scenes. Two guns in Operation Fast and Furious were found on the U.S. side of the border at the scene of a shooting in which U.S. border agent Brian Terry was killed. Five men have since been charged in Terry's death, and one pleaded guilty last month and faces life in prison. Three others remain fugitives.

Also Tuesday, Ian Heath Gershengorn, a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's civil division, told the judge that the subpoena from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for the records will expire on Jan. 3, when the current Congress expires and a new one takes its place. He said that could make the case moot.

Jackson asked both sides to file a joint report in January on the status of the subpoena. Because the House will remain in GOP hands, it's likely that a new subpoena would be issued, barring a settlement in the case.

The Justice Department has urged Jackson to dismiss the lawsuit. In court papers, the department argued that the Constitution does not permit the courts to resolve the political dispute between the executive branch and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Lawyers for the House responded in their own filing that "labeling a dispute 'political' is not a legal argument; it is a talking point masquerading ? poorly ? as an argument."

Meanwhile, two men were sentenced to multi-year prison terms on Monday for their roles in a gun smuggling ring that was tracked by Operation Fast and Furious. The Justice Department said the men were among so-called straw buyers who illegally purchased weapons for traffickers and Mexican drug cartels in a Phoenix-based gun trafficking ring.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Melia in New Haven, Conn., contributed to this story

___

Follow Fred Frommer on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ffrommer

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/house-doj-try-resolve-records-lawsuit-163508849.html

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South Korea to sack Jill Kelley as honorary consul

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Jill Kelley leaves her home in Tampa, Fla., on Nov. 13.

By NBC News and news services

Jill Kelley, the Tampa, Fla., socialite who inadvertently launched the FBI investigation that led to the resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus, will be sacked as an ?honorary consul? for South Korea because she used the title for personal gain, a senior official said Monday during a U.S. visit.

South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kyou-hyun first revealed Kelley?s removal from the post, which pays $2,500 a year, on Monday during a visit to Washington, South Korea?s Yonhap news agency reported.

"It's not suitable to the status of honorary consul that (she) sought to be involved in commercial projects and peddle influence," Yonhap quoted Kim as saying.

The Associated Press reported that an unidentified government official in Seoul confirmed the action on Tuesday.

---

The South Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not immediately return phone calls from NBC News seeking comment.

It was not immediately clear what Kim was referring to as far as Kelley?s alleged efforts to benefit from the honorary consul post.

A New York businessman, Adam Victor, told Dateline NBC that Kelley was introduced to him at the Republican National Convention in Tampa in August as someone whose friendship with Petraeus would help facilitate a no-bid deal with South Korea on a coal-gasification project. She would supposedly be in a position to help broker the billion-dollar deal directly with the Korean president, and expected a 2 percent commission, according to Victor, president and chief executive officer of TransGas Development Systems.

ABC News has reported that it reviewed emails that appear to support Victor?s account.?

But Abbe Lowell, a Washington, D.C., attorney representing Kelley, on Tuesday disputed Victor's account, telling NBC News that the businessman?misrepresented the fee that was discussed, that Kelley never accepted any offer and that Victor falsely claimed that the discussions had anything to do with her connections with the U.S. military.

The 37-year-old Kelley also cited her honorary post in 9-1-1 calls complaining about members of the media who besieged her house after the Petraeus scandal broke, incorrectly maintaining that it entitled her to some type of diplomatic protection.

"I'm an honorary consul general, so I have inviolability, so they should not be able to cross my property," she said on tapes released earlier this month. "I don't know if you want to get diplomatic protection involved as well, because that's against the law to cross my property because, you know, it's inviolable."

A senior South Korean Foreign Ministry official who handles consulate affairs in the United States told the AP on Tuesday that honorary consuls don't have diplomatic immunity, and that the ministry applies much less strict standards in appointing them than it does for potential government officials.

Kelley also had worked as a volunteer ?social liaison? to MacDill Air Force Base until mid-November, when her participation in the ?Friends of MacDill? program was revoked as the Petraeus scandal erupted.

Kelley met Petraeus after he took over as head of U.S. Central Command at MacDill in October 2008, and became friends with him and his wife, Holly, during his time there.

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As their secret dissolved, Petraeus, Broadwell chatted at awards dinner

Numerous government and law enforcement officials have told NBC News that Kelley inadvertently triggered the FBI investigation that led to Petraeus? resignation as CIA chief on Nov. 9, citing an extramarital affair.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say Kelley complained in mid-May to an FBI agent she was acquainted with about harassing anonymous emails warning her to stay away from Petraeus. The agent turned over the emails to the local FBI cyber investigations unit, which traced them to Paula Broadwell, Petreus? biographer, the officials said.

In the course of the investigation, the agents discovered evidence that Petreaus and Broadwell had engaged in an extramarital affair, they said.

Kelley has largely remained silent since her role in the case became public shortly after Petraeus resigned. She and her husband, Scott, issued a single statement on Nov. 11, saying, "We and our family have been friends with Gen. Petraeus and his family for over five years. We respect his and his family's privacy and want the same for us and our three children."

In a separate investigation, the Pentagon?s inspector general is looking into ?potentially inappropriate? emails that Kelley exchanged with Petraeus? temporary successor as CentCom commander, Marine Gen. John Allen, defense officials tell NBC News.

The officials say a small number of the emails contained language that could be considered ?inappropriate? or even ?suggestive.? They also said that the investigation was deemed necessary to remove any suggestion that the Pentagon was covering up any improprieties by Allen, who remains in command of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan pending the outcome of the probe.

And sources close to Kelley have?denied speculation that she had any kind of inappropriate relationship with Allen and praised her work at MacDill, which they noted was recognized by authorities there.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/27/15484600-south-korea-to-sack-tampa-socialite-jill-kelley-as-honorary-consul?lite

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Video: Matthews: Does the GOP believe they have ?the right to rule??

Grapefruit may turn more drugs deadly

If you kick-start your day with a glass of grapefruit juice, be careful. Canadian scientists say the number of common prescription drugs that can interact badly with the tart citrus is climbing, with the potential for dangerous, even deadly, results.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/49971623#49971623

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Major Pediatric Group Throws Support Behind Emergency Contraception For Teens

Emergency contraception is safe and effective for teenage girls, and pediatricians should push for increased access to this type of birth control, regardless of age and insurance, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. The organization issued a new policy statement on Monday.

"Emergency contraception should be available, and it should be available over the counter," Dr. Cora Collette Breuner, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, told HuffPost. "Education should be provided in the pediatrician's office ..."

Currently, girls under the age 17 must get a prescription for emergency contraceptive pills.

Emergency contraception is the only contraceptive method that can help prevent pregnancy after intercourse, when taken within five days of unprotected sex or contraceptive failure. FDA-approved formulas of the drug, often called the "morning after pill," include Levonorgestrel, which goes by the brand names Plan B One-Step and Next Choice One Dose, and ulipristal acetate, brand name Ella.

Though the exact mechanisms differ, the pills work by preventing a woman's body from releasing eggs. Other available forms of emergency contraception include certain combinations of hormonal birth control, although this is considered an "off-label use," or implanting a copper IUD.

According to the new policy statement from the AAP, the United States' major pediatric organization, nearly 45 percent of 15- to 19-year old girls in the U.S. have had sex, and adolescents are at particularly high risk of skipping birth control pills or failing to use contraception.

"Cognitively, teens tend to be very concrete -- they make decisions based on 'right now'," Breuner said. "They can be impulsive."

Thus, one focus of the new policy statement is the importance of writing a prescription before it is needed. A 2010 review in the Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology of seven trials concluded that advance prescribing decreased the time before usage, making the emergency contraception more effective, and did not increase sexual activity among teens.

"From a strictly scientific point of view, there's not much controversy -- the medicine is pretty safe and pretty effective," said Dr. John Santelli, a pediatrician and chair of the department of population and family health at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. "To say that emergency contraceptive is controversial goes back to the fundamental issue that many adults in this country are uncomfortable with adolescent sexuality and sexual behavior."

In December, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius denied an application by Teva Women's Health Inc., the pharmaceutical company that manufactures Plan B One-Step, to make the drug available over the counter for all women of reproductive age.

Breuner stressed that the current scientific literature has not definitively shown that greater use of emergency contraception would affect rates of unintended teen pregnancy. In the U.S., teen pregnancy rates have been on the decline -- in 2011, nearly 333,000 babies were born to 15- to 19-year-old women, an all-time low in the age group -- but they are still significantly higher than those in comparable industrialized countries. Nonetheless, the new policy states that "all adolescents" should be counseled on emergency contraception in the context of discussions about sexual safety, regardless of whether teens are sexually active.

"As pediatricians, our job is to help make sure adolescents have healthy, productive lives with families that they plan," she said. "Our job is to [explain] that there are options out there. Knowledge is power."

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/26/emergency-contraception_n_2171289.html

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Euro zone, IMF secure deal on cutting Greek debt

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund clinched agreement on reducing Greece's debt on Monday in a breakthrough to release urgently needed loans to keep the near-bankrupt economy afloat.

After 12 hours of talks at their third meeting in as many weeks, Greece's international lenders agreed on a package of measures to reduce Greek debt by 40 billion euros, cutting it to 124 percent of gross domestic product by 2020.

In a significant new pledge, ministers committed to taking further steps to lower Greece's debt to "significantly below 110 percent" in 2022 -- the most explicit recognition so far that some write-off of loans may be necessary from 2016, the point when Greece is forecast to reach a primary budget surplus.

To reduce the debt pile, they agreed to cut the interest rate on official loans, extend their maturity by 15 years to 30 years, and grant Athens a 10-year interest repayment deferral.

"When Greece has achieved, or is about to achieve, a primary surplus and fulfilled all of its conditions, we will, if need be, consider further measures for the reduction of the total debt," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said.

Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said ministers would formally approve the release of a major aid installment needed to recapitalize Greece's teetering banks and enable the government to pay wages, pensions and suppliers on December 13.

Greece will receive up to 43.7 billion euros in stages as it fulfills the conditions. The December installment will comprise 23.8 billion for banks and 10.6 billion in budget assistance.

The IMF's share, less than a third of the total, will only be paid out once a buy-back of Greek debt has occurred in the coming weeks, but IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the Fund had no intention of pulling out of the program.

They promised to hand back 11 billion euros in profits accruing to their national central banks from European Central Bank purchases of discounted Greek government bonds in the secondary market.

They also agreed to finance Greece to buy back its own bonds from private investors at what officials said was a target cost of around 35 cents in the euro.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on leaving the talks: "I very much welcome the decisions taken by the ministers of finance. They will certainly reduce the uncertainty and strengthen confidence in Europe and in Greece."

BETTER FUTURE

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras welcomed the deal.

"Everything went well," he told reporters outside his mansion at about 3 a.m. in the morning.

"Tomorrow, a new day starts for all Greeks."

However, the biggest opposition party, Syriza, dismissed the deal and said it fell short of what was needed to make the country's debt sustainable.

The euro strengthened against the dollar after news of the deal and commodities and Asian shares also rose.

Greece, where the euro zone's debt crisis erupted in late 2009, is the currency area's most heavily indebted country, despite a big "haircut" this year on privately-held bonds. Its economy has shrunk by nearly 25 percent in five years.

Negotiations had been stalled over how Greece's debt, forecast to peak at 190-200 percent of GDP in the coming two years, could be cut to a more sustainable 120 percent by 2020.

The agreed figure fell slightly short of that goal, and the IMF was still insisting that euro zone ministers should make a firm commitment to further steps to reduce the debt stock if Athens implements its adjustment program faithfully.

The key question remains whether Greek debt can become sustainable without euro zone governments having to write off some of the loans they have made to Athens.

Germany and its northern European allies have hitherto rejected any idea of forgiving official loans to Athens, but EU officials believe that line may soften after next year's German general election.

DEBT RELIEF "NOT ON TABLE"

Schaeuble told reporters earlier that debt forgiveness was legally impossible, not just for Germany but for other euro zone countries, if it was linked to a new guarantee of loans.

"You cannot guarantee something if you're cutting debt at the same time," he said. That did not preclude possible debt relief at a later stage if Greece completed its adjustment program and no longer needs new loans.

At Germany's insistence, earmarked revenue and aid payments will go into a strengthened "segregated account" to ensure that Greece services its debts.

A source familiar with IMF thinking said a loan write-off once Greece has fulfilled its adjustment program would be the simplest way to make its debt viable, but other methods such as forgoing interest payments, or lending at below market rates and extending maturities could all help.

The German banking association (BDB) said a fresh "haircut" or forced reduction in the value of Greek sovereign debt, must only happen as a last resort.

The ministers agreed to reduce interest on already extended bilateral loans from the current 150 basis points above financing costs to 50 bps.

No figures were announced for the debt buy-back in an effort to avoid triggering a rise in market prices in anticipation of a buyer. But before the meetings, officials had spoken of a 10 billion euro buy-back, that would achieve a net reduction of about 20 billion euros in the debt stock.

German central bank governor Jens Weidmann has suggested that Greece could "earn" a reduction in debt it owes to euro zone governments in a few years if it diligently implements all the agreed reforms. The European Commission backs that view.

An opinion poll published on Monday showed the Syriza party with a four-percent lead over the Conservatives who won election in June, adding to uncertainty over the future of reforms.

(Additional reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek, Ethan Bilby, Luke Baker in Brussels, Reinhardt Becker in Berlin; Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Luke Baker and Anna Willard)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/euro-zone-imf-reach-deal-cutting-long-term-002100564.html

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Sands shares up on dividend payment news

Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. jumped Tuesday after the casino operator said it would pay a special dividend to shareholders by the end of the year.

THE SPARK: Las Vegas Sands is returning more money to its shareholders. The company said Monday that it would pay $2.75 per share in December on top of a regular quarterly dividend of 25 cents, also payable in December.

The company earlier this month lifted its regular quarterly dividend to 35 cents, starting next year.

THE BIG PICTURE: The casino operator is the latest in a string company to move up its quarterly payout or issue a special end-of-year payment to protect investors from potentially having to pay higher taxes on dividend income starting in January. Tax rates are scheduled to rise from a maximum 15 percent on dividend income to as much as 43.4 percent for the highest earners, unless rules change under a budget compromise between Congress and President Barack Obama.

The company said it was making the move as it part of its commitment to returning capital to shareholders. Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson, who owns about 52 percent of the company's shares, stands to receive $1.19 billion from the special dividend payment.

THE ANALYSIS: The special dividend provides further evidence that Las Vegas Sands is nearing a "transformative phase," said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Steven Wieczynski, one in which growth slows from "exponential" rates of the past two years, and the company focuses more on returning money to its investors.

Revenue climbed 37 percent in 2011, and analysts expect growth of 17 percent this year.

SHARE ACTION: Shares jumped $2.64, or 6 percent, to $46.67 in early afternoon trading. Its stock has ranged between $34.72 and $62.09 in the past 52 weeks, while gaining 3 percent overall in 2012.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sands-shares-dividend-payment-news-183740080--finance.html

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How to choose good shower bath for your mining machinery | Auda ...

Types of building insulation can be broken down in many different ways. From the material used to how it is installed, building insulation is remarkably diverse. In many cases, it is best to install insulation before a wall is completed, but even if this is not done, there are types of insulation that can help. Choosing the best insulation will depend on your particular circumstance.

Types of building insulation can be broken down in many different ways. From the material used to how it is installed, building insulation is remarkably diverse. In many cases, it is best to install insulation before a wall is completed, but even if this is not done, there are types of insulation that can help. Choosing the best insulation will depend on your particular circumstance.

Another type of insulation is foam. This usually takes the form of rigid boards of polystyrene or some other similar material. While this material can only be applied in unfinished walls, it is somewhat easier and less irritating to deal with than rolls of fiberglass. Foam is also a good choice when trying to insulate in between concrete blocks. It can be poured-in-place foam or come in pre-sized pieces.

In most cases, installing building insulation is a task that is easy for the person who likes to do home improvement projects by themselves. This is especially true of rolled insulation and rigid foam insulation. Insulation that is blown in place requires specialized equipment. Though it may be possible to rent this equipment, this may be a job better left to the experts.Henan Hongxing roller crusher will be your best choice.

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Whether in homes, offices, or commercial buildings, the types of building insulation used are often very similar to each other. In some cases, the building insulation may be more exposed in some commercial buildings, where aesthetics are more of a secondary concern, such as in industrial settings. However, insulation is often meant to be used underneath a completed surface. Not completing the wall or ceiling could substantially cut down the effectiveness of building insulation.

Mining companies need focus on improving their machine kit with the key components of technology and manufacturing level, improving the machine products supporting dynamic performance, planning to set up engineering and large crusher equipment supporting with crusher experiment center, and working closely with large enterprise in this industry so as to build research and development platform or innovation coalition.

Source: http://blog.a-cphotography.com/?p=5748

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The Ugly Numbers Behind The Viggle-GetGlue Merger

As you look through Viggle's actual financials there are many troubling signs. Let's start with the merger itself, which is contingent on Viggle raising an additional $60 million in funding. The company says it's got some strategic partners signed on, but checks haven't been cashed yet -- a source told TechCrunch that Viggle expects the financing to close in the next 30 days.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/2gGBTSUPAcs/

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Sneak Peek !!!!! ( BBW) Brooke, Gloria, and Draya decide to get ...

Sneak Peek !!!!! ( BBW) Brooke, Gloria, and Draya decide to get body piercings together

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Taxable Account Investing - Early-Retirement.org

Taxable Account Investing

Today, 10:39 AM	? #1
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post ? Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 1,180	Taxable Account Investing I am totally clueless about investing in a taxable account. All of our investments have been in retirement accounts. However, we just sold some property that we owned that had no debt on it and have refinanced our home to do some improvements. We will be using some of it for home improvements, but will have about $100k cash left over. I am uncertain how to best invest it to limit income taxes. We have a 55/45 allocation with DH's IRA at Vanguard (which we do draw from) and my 401(k) at Fidelity (which we don't draw from). DH is retired (he is 65) and I'm semi-retired, working very part-time. Ordinarily to make big purchases (car, major home improvement, etc) we need to withdraw from his IRA which we don't love doing since a large withdrawal is taxable. I expect that in 2013 we will be in the 25% tax bracket. I sort of plan to take the $100k that is in taxable accounts and put it in Vanguard and just have it sit there but it will be available for those kinds of large withdrawals in the future. For example, we may want to buy a car in a couple of years and we could part of it for that. Or we might use it for major home repairs, etc. (Nothing really planned for any time soon.) I'm uncertain where to put the money at Vanguard from a tax standpoint. I just don't know that much about how taxes work on investments since we have never had to pay taxes on any given that everything has been in retirement accounts. ' + '?' + google_ads[i].line2 + '?' + google_ads[i].line3 + '?' + '' + google_ads[i].visible_url + ' '; } } '' } if (google_ads[0].bidtype == "CPC") { /* insert this snippet for each ad call */ google_adnum = google_adnum + google_ads.length; } document.write(s); return; } google_ad_client = 'ca-pub-7757781251671730'; google_ad_channel = '3711355403'; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '6'; google_ad_type = 'text'; google_feedback = 'on'; // --> __________________
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Today, 10:47 AM	? #2
Recycles dryer sheets ? Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 131	Hi, Boggleheads has a good artical in the library on what asset class to put in your taxable vs non taxable accounts. basically you want bonds , reits and balanced funds in the non tax account. best bob ' + '?' + google_ads[i].line2 + '?' + google_ads[i].line3 + '?' + '' + google_ads[i].visible_url + ' '; } } '' } if (google_ads[0].bidtype == "CPC") { /* insert this snippet for each ad call */ google_adnum = google_adnum + google_ads.length; } document.write(s); return; } google_ad_client = 'ca-pub-7757781251671730'; google_ad_channel = '3568142076'; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '6'; google_ad_type = 'text'; google_feedback = 'on'; // --> __________________ You've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?
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Today, 11:37 AM	? #3
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post ? Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 1,069	Depending on what you invest in you will pay taxes on interest payments or dividend payments. If you are investing in mutual funds, you may encounter year-end distributions of capital gains. What to invest in depends on your overall asset allocation, considering all of your accounts. The $100K could be a part of your cash allocation, and depending on your investment policy, might make up a part of your designated cash reserves. For example, I maintain a two-year cash reserve in addition to my short-term bond allocation. I can't advise on Vanguard investments, as I don't have an account with them, but would suggest that you consider EFTs as an investment vehicle as the potential for capital gains is reduced. -- Rita __________________ Only got A dimple, would have preferred 2!
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Today, 11:51 AM	? #4
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post ? Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 1,180	I don't put anything in cash frankly (well a little in my bank account but not part of my asset allocation). Basically what I am struggling with is whether to put this in an equity fund or a bond fund. All of my 401(k) is in an S&P 500 fund At Vanguard we have our money currently in Extended Market fund High Yield Corporate fund Short Term Investment Grade Fund Total Bond Total International Wellesley Our overall allocation is 55/45. I am happy with what our investments are in Vanguard so would probably invest this 100k in one of the funds I'm already invested in. The closest we have to cash investment is the short term investment fund which is where we draw regular IRA withdrawals from. I don't want to use this 100k for that so the choices would be to invest it in the Extended market fund, high yield fund, total bond, total international, or Wellesley. Just not sure which would be better from a tax standpoint. __________________
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Today, 12:07 PM	? #6
Moderator ? Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Chicagoland! Posts: 8,518	I don't put anything in cash frankly (well a little in my bank account but not part of my asset allocation). Basically what I am struggling with is whether to put this in an equity fund or a bond fund. All of my 401(k) is in an S&P 500 fund At Vanguard we have our money currently in Extended Market fund High Yield Corporate fund Short Term Investment Grade Fund Total Bond Total International Wellesley Our overall allocation is 55/45. I am happy with what our investments are in Vanguard so would probably invest this 100k in one of the funds I'm already invested in. The closest we have to cash investment is the short term investment fund which is where we draw regular IRA withdrawals from. I don't want to use this 100k for that so the choices would be to invest it in the Extended market fund, high yield fund, total bond, total international, or Wellesley. Just not sure which would be better from a tax standpoint. If you want to keep the same 55/45 allocation, using the $100K for equities in the taxable account has some advantages. If equities do decline you can use the loss for tax loss harvesting. If equities increase in value you can sell them a preferred, capital gains rates (under current tax law). Also under current tax law, qualified dividends are subject to preferred rates. Most of the funds you mention are not tax-efficient and are better in the IRA. One exception is the International fund. Your investment there is subject to foreign taxes, but because it is tax deferred you do not get the credit. If you sell that in the IRA and buy it in the taxable account you will get benefit. You could then use the cash in the IRA to buy a combination of Wellington and fixed income to get back to your target allocation. __________________ It's not the cards you're dealt in life but what you do with them that matters
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Today, 01:56 PM	? #10
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post ? Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 1,562	I'd keep it in cash. You are withdrawing from an IRA now. You could withdraw less to stay under the 25% tax bracket and fill in the rest of your income needs with the taxable money, saving on taxes. You can also characterize the IRA withdrawal as a Roth conversion. Again, cover your expenses normally paid with that IRA withdrawal with funds from your taxable account instead. Effectively, you end up transferring most of your taxable account value into a Roth IRA Rollover account. Then it is tax free after that, including bulk withdrawals to cover a new car. It also can allow you to continue withdrawing from your IRA only to the bottom of the 25% tax bracket while covering the rest of your needs from the Roth. That will maximize the amount of the IRA that you pull out at 15% instead of 25%. And you can invest it the same way you're used to in the traditional IRA. Watch out for the Roth 5 year rules, they may restrict your access to the Roth IRA. You must complete a Roth conversion within the calendar year, but there's no reason you have to do it this year if your income is already into the 25% tax bracket. I'd probably wait until you've studied all the tax consequences and planned it out. Then execute the plan next year. You don't want to screw it up. If you're already into the 25% tax bracket you probably won't have the taxable account hanging around for long. That's why you can just leave it in cash for now. That's your next year's expenses. __________________
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Today, 02:06 PM	? #11
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post ? Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 2,490	My approach is similar to what others have recommended. I look at AA across all my taxable, tax-deferred and tax-free accounts. The first priority for my tax-deferred accounts is my bond allocation. If my total bond allocation were to exceed my tax-deferred account, then the excess would go into the tax-free accounts and and lastly to the taxable account; in all cases since bond funds pay a lot of dividends and are not tax efficient. In actuality, my tax-deferred accounts exceed by bond allocation, so my taxable and tax free accounts are all equities. But I did learn one thing from this thread about the foreign tax credit that I'll need to chase. Right now, I have some Roth invested in international equities and it sounds like I would be better off to make those domestic equities and keep all my international equities in my taxable accounts. Since you have Vanguard, you can run a Portfolio Watch report across all your accounts given your target AA and then use Portfolio Tester to evaluate how to invest the $100k. Alternatively, you probably have enough at Vanguard to have them do a financial planning session for you and get additional ideas on how to place the $100k. Good luck. __________________
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Today, 08:16 PM	? #13
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post ? Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 1,180	I have zero interest in keeping the money entirely in cash. I've read enough to be convinced that large cash holdings are not advisable. So, I don't want to do that. Our intent with this money was to keep it for those large expenses that you know you will have but don't know when (car, major home repair like a new roof, etc.). The kind of thing where I wouldn't want to have to withdraw from the IRA due to the taxes. The hope is that we keep this money invested in the meantime and hope we don't need to do anything with it for a couple of years. It may not make sense to anyone else for us to do this instead of just spending it...but it's what we want to do. On asset allocation. We used to have total stock market in Vanguard. However, my 401k at Fidelity has limited choices, particularly those with low expenses. So I am in an S&P fund at Fidelity. To get to the desired allocation and have the right balance of types of equities we sold the total stock market at Vanguard and bought the extended market fund which basically is equities other than those in the S&P 500. Between that and what I have in my 401(k) we have the right balance among types of equities. If it wasn't for my 401(k) we probably would have total stock market but it isn't in the cards for now. Next year and as long as I work part time, I expect us to be in the 25% tax bracket. We live in a state with no income tax. I don't know how long I'll continue to work part time (as long as I like it basically). When I stop we will be probably be in the 15% bracket. Oh, we can't withdraw less to stay under the 25% tax bracket while I'm working part-time. I will get us there on my income alone and even if my income went down with DH's SS we would certainly get there.. Most of our living expenses in 2013 will be paid from my part-time income. DH does receive SS and we will have some withdrawals from his IRA (about 25% of our total income will come from those). I want to do something with this money that is relatively simple and easy to account for from a tax standpoint. While I'm an attorney, taxes are not my area. I do our own taxes using Turbo Tax so I don't want to do anything so complicated I would have hire someone to do taxes. __________________
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Today, 08:46 PM	? #15
Dryer sheet aficionado ? Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Sarasota Posts: 34	Have you considered a municipal bond fund? For someone who doesn't pay income taxes? Bruce ' + '?' + google_ads[i].line2 + '?' + google_ads[i].line3 + '?' + '' + google_ads[i].visible_url + ' '; } } '' } if (google_ads[0].bidtype == "CPC") { /* insert this snippet for each ad call */ google_adnum = google_adnum + google_ads.length; } document.write(s); return; } google_ad_client = 'ca-pub-7757781251671730'; google_ad_channel = '2895579729'; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '6'; google_ad_type = 'text'; google_feedback = 'on'; // --> __________________
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