The folks at BitTorrent have been busy little bees since the beginning of 2013. Between Sync, SoShare, Live and Surf you'd think the company already had enough projects to work on. Now it's adding a new file format called Bundle to its lineup of experimentalalphas and betas. The technical details are a bit thin at the moment, but we do know that it's a torrent-based media format with tools added on top that allow for donation or email collection, among other things. The first release is part of a partnership with Ultra Music (home of artists such as David Guetta, Tiesto and deadmau5): a behind-the-scenes glimpse at Kaskade's 2012 tour. When you download the Bundle, which is basically a teaser for an upcoming tour documentary, you're also granted free access to the Dada Life remix of Dynasty. The rest of the content inside the file is essentially a self contained record store, with additional media you can unlock by submitting your email address. After the break you'll find a quick video overview of the format, which sounds like it has plenty of potential. Now let's hope BitTorrent isn't stretching itself too thin with this latest project.
I work in a corporate office (Cummins Inc.) with 100′s of other people. It was once common to see people carrying around soft drink bottles to and from their meetings. But in the last few years, soda has mostly been replaced by water. Where people once carried around Coke, Pepsi and Mt. Dew bottles, now [...]
Discovery helps show how breast cancer spreadsPublic release date: 5-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Julia Evangelou Strait straitj@wustl.edu 314-286-0141 Washington University School of Medicine
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered why breast cancer patients with dense breasts are more likely than others to develop aggressive tumors that spread. The finding opens the door to drug treatments that prevent metastasis.
It has long been known that women with denser breasts are at higher risk for breast cancer. This greater density is caused by an excess of a structural protein called collagen.
"We have shown how increased collagen in the breasts could increase the chances of breast tumors spreading and becoming more invasive," says Gregory D. Longmore, MD, professor of medicine. "It doesn't explain why women with dense breasts get cancer in the first place. But once they do, the pathway that we describe is relevant in causing their cancers to be more aggressive and more likely to spread."
The results appear online May 5 in Nature Cell Biology.
Working in mouse models of breast cancer and breast tumor samples from patients, Longmore and his colleagues showed that a protein that sits on the surface of tumor cells, called DDR2, binds to collagen and activates a multistep pathway that encourages tumor cells to spread.
"We had no idea DDR2 would do this," says Longmore, also professor of cell biology and physiology. "The functions of DDR2 are not well understood, and it has not been implicated in cancer -- and certainly not in breast cancer -- until now.
At the opposite end of the chain of events initiated by DDR2 is a protein called SNAIL1, which has long been associated with breast cancer metastasis. Longmore and his colleagues found that DDR2 is one factor helping to maintain high levels of SNAIL1 inside a tumor cell's nucleus, a necessary state for a tumor cell to spread. Though they found it is not the only protein keeping SNAIL1 levels high, Longmore says DDR2 is perhaps the one with the most potential to be inhibited with drugs.
"It's expressed only at the edge of the tumor," says Longmore, a physician at Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital and co-director of the Section of Molecular Oncology. "And it's on the surface of the cells, which makes it very nice for developing drugs because it's so much easier to target the outside of cells."
Longmore emphasizes that DDR2 does not initiate the high levels of SNAIL1. But it is required to keep them elevated. This mechanism that keeps tumor cells in a state that encourages metastasis requires constant signaling meaning constant binding of DDR2 to collagen.
If that continuous signal is blocked, the cell remains cancerous, but it is no longer invasive. So a drug that blocks DDR2 from binding with collagen won't destroy the tumor, but it could inhibit the invasion of these tumors into surrounding tissue and reduce metastasis.
One possible way DDR2 may govern metastasis is its influence on the alignment of collagen fibers. If fibers are aligned parallel to the tumor's surface, the tumor is less likely to spread. While fibers aligned perpendicular to the surface of the tumor provide a path for the tumor cells to follow and encourage spreading. Tumors without DDR2 or SNAIL1 tend to show the parallel fiber alignment that is protective against spreading.
"This whole notion of fiber alignment and the tumor interface is a hot topic right now," Longmore says. "Our co-authors at the University of Wisconsin have developed a scoring method for collagen alignment that correlates with prognosis. And the bad prognosis disappears when you take away DDR2."
With the current emphasis on genetic mutations in cancer, Longmore is careful to point out that 70 percent of invasive ductal breast cancers show DDR2. But in 95 percent of these tumors the genes in this pathway from DDR2 to SNAIL1 are entirely normal, without mutations.
"If you did genomic sequencing, all of these particular genes would be normal," Longmore says. "You have to be careful not to just focus on mutations in cancer. This is an example of normal genes put together in an aberrant situation. The change in the environment -- the tumor and its surroundings -- causes the abnormal expression of these proteins. It is abnormal, but it's not caused by a gene mutation."
In early drug development efforts, Longmore and his colleagues have done some preliminary work looking for small molecules that may inhibit DDR2 binding to collagen.
"Currently there are no DDR2 specific inhibitors," Longmore says. "But there is great interest and work being done here and elsewhere to develop them."
###
This work was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants P50CA94056 to the Imaging Core of the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, GM080673, CA143868 and F31CA165729, and by Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
Zhang K, Corsa CA, Ponik SM, Prior JL, Piwnica-Worms D, Eliceiri KW, Keely PJ, Longmore GD. The collagen receptor discoidin domain receptor 2 stabilizes SNAIL1 to facilitate breast cancer metastasis. Nature Cell Biology. Online May 5, 2013.
Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
Discovery helps show how breast cancer spreadsPublic release date: 5-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Julia Evangelou Strait straitj@wustl.edu 314-286-0141 Washington University School of Medicine
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered why breast cancer patients with dense breasts are more likely than others to develop aggressive tumors that spread. The finding opens the door to drug treatments that prevent metastasis.
It has long been known that women with denser breasts are at higher risk for breast cancer. This greater density is caused by an excess of a structural protein called collagen.
"We have shown how increased collagen in the breasts could increase the chances of breast tumors spreading and becoming more invasive," says Gregory D. Longmore, MD, professor of medicine. "It doesn't explain why women with dense breasts get cancer in the first place. But once they do, the pathway that we describe is relevant in causing their cancers to be more aggressive and more likely to spread."
The results appear online May 5 in Nature Cell Biology.
Working in mouse models of breast cancer and breast tumor samples from patients, Longmore and his colleagues showed that a protein that sits on the surface of tumor cells, called DDR2, binds to collagen and activates a multistep pathway that encourages tumor cells to spread.
"We had no idea DDR2 would do this," says Longmore, also professor of cell biology and physiology. "The functions of DDR2 are not well understood, and it has not been implicated in cancer -- and certainly not in breast cancer -- until now.
At the opposite end of the chain of events initiated by DDR2 is a protein called SNAIL1, which has long been associated with breast cancer metastasis. Longmore and his colleagues found that DDR2 is one factor helping to maintain high levels of SNAIL1 inside a tumor cell's nucleus, a necessary state for a tumor cell to spread. Though they found it is not the only protein keeping SNAIL1 levels high, Longmore says DDR2 is perhaps the one with the most potential to be inhibited with drugs.
"It's expressed only at the edge of the tumor," says Longmore, a physician at Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital and co-director of the Section of Molecular Oncology. "And it's on the surface of the cells, which makes it very nice for developing drugs because it's so much easier to target the outside of cells."
Longmore emphasizes that DDR2 does not initiate the high levels of SNAIL1. But it is required to keep them elevated. This mechanism that keeps tumor cells in a state that encourages metastasis requires constant signaling meaning constant binding of DDR2 to collagen.
If that continuous signal is blocked, the cell remains cancerous, but it is no longer invasive. So a drug that blocks DDR2 from binding with collagen won't destroy the tumor, but it could inhibit the invasion of these tumors into surrounding tissue and reduce metastasis.
One possible way DDR2 may govern metastasis is its influence on the alignment of collagen fibers. If fibers are aligned parallel to the tumor's surface, the tumor is less likely to spread. While fibers aligned perpendicular to the surface of the tumor provide a path for the tumor cells to follow and encourage spreading. Tumors without DDR2 or SNAIL1 tend to show the parallel fiber alignment that is protective against spreading.
"This whole notion of fiber alignment and the tumor interface is a hot topic right now," Longmore says. "Our co-authors at the University of Wisconsin have developed a scoring method for collagen alignment that correlates with prognosis. And the bad prognosis disappears when you take away DDR2."
With the current emphasis on genetic mutations in cancer, Longmore is careful to point out that 70 percent of invasive ductal breast cancers show DDR2. But in 95 percent of these tumors the genes in this pathway from DDR2 to SNAIL1 are entirely normal, without mutations.
"If you did genomic sequencing, all of these particular genes would be normal," Longmore says. "You have to be careful not to just focus on mutations in cancer. This is an example of normal genes put together in an aberrant situation. The change in the environment -- the tumor and its surroundings -- causes the abnormal expression of these proteins. It is abnormal, but it's not caused by a gene mutation."
In early drug development efforts, Longmore and his colleagues have done some preliminary work looking for small molecules that may inhibit DDR2 binding to collagen.
"Currently there are no DDR2 specific inhibitors," Longmore says. "But there is great interest and work being done here and elsewhere to develop them."
###
This work was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants P50CA94056 to the Imaging Core of the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, GM080673, CA143868 and F31CA165729, and by Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
Zhang K, Corsa CA, Ponik SM, Prior JL, Piwnica-Worms D, Eliceiri KW, Keely PJ, Longmore GD. The collagen receptor discoidin domain receptor 2 stabilizes SNAIL1 to facilitate breast cancer metastasis. Nature Cell Biology. Online May 5, 2013.
Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
Adds battery life. One-piece design. Silicone rubber absorbs shock.
Cons
Imprecise fit doesn't feel secure.
Bottom Line
The PowerSkin iPhone 5 case features a one-piece silicone design that might appeal to some, but its battery life doesn't quite measure up to the competition.
By Eugene Kim
Ever since Apple's big switch from the 30-pin to the Lightning connector, the slow trickle of iPhone 5?battery cases continues, with only a handful of accessories available for Apple's latest smartphone. The PowerSkin for the iPhone 5 ($79.99 list) is the latest entrant, offering the company's signature, flexible silicone exterior along with the promise of a 70 percent increase in battery life. It features the same battery capacity (1500mAh) as our Editors' Choice, the Mophie Juice Pack Helium, but it didn't deliver the same battery life results in our tests, and we had some problems with an insecure fit.
Design and Features PowerSkin cases are known for pliable silicone construction, and the iPhone 5 version is no different. The case measures 5.51 by 2.52 by 0.63 inches and weighs 2.88 ounces, making it ever-so-slightly larger, thicker, and heavier than the Juice Pack Helium, but comparable to the higher-capacity Juice Pack Air. Unlike Mophie's two-piece, slide-together cases, the PowerSkin uses a single-piece design, with flexible rubber sides allowing you to slip the iPhone 5 in and out with ease. But I found the fit to be a bit loose, and the silicone lip that holds the phone in place wasn't quite rigid enough. The iPhone's edges peeked out at a few points, and the case was a little too easy to remove.
You get cutouts for the camera and lock switch, and rubber covers for the Volume and Power buttons. Around back are four battery status LEDs and a button to activate the flow of juice. There's a micro USB port along the left edge for charging (but not syncing), and a recessed hole for the 3.5mm headphone jack. Like Mophie, PowerSkin includes a 3.5mm extender that you'll need to use most headphone pairs with the case. The Lightning port within is actually at the end of a movable cable, which you can extend to plug into your iPhone before sliding it into the case, but I found that it was prone to bunching at the bottom and adding to the insecure fit problem.
Performance and Conclusions The PowerSkin uses a 1500mAh battery, which is the same capacity as the Juice Pack Helium. In my tests, making a continuous call with LTE enabled with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth switched off, the PowerSkin added 4 hours, 28 minutes of talk time to my completely drained AT&T iPhone 5. The Helium added 6 hours, 20 minutes on the same test, while the Juice Pack Air, with its 1700mAh battery, added 6 hours, 57 minutes. The iPhone 5 lasts 8 hours, 40 minutes on its own.
If it were not for the insecure fit issue, the difference in design between the PowerSkin and Juice Pack line would boil down to a matter of taste. Some people might prefer the silicone construction, and it does likely absorb a bit more shock than rigid plastic. That said, the Mophie Juice Pack Helium remains our Editors' Choice, with greater added battery life and a more streamlined and secure design?all for the same price.?
By Eugene KimJunior Analyst, Consumer Electronics
Before joining the consumer electronics team at PCMag, Eugene worked at local news station NY1 doing everything from camera work to writing scripts. He grew up in Montclair, New Jersey and graduated from the University...
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FILE - In this April 30, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama answers questions during his new conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. The president aims to assure Latin America that the U.S. is serious about immigration reform when he travels to Mexico and Costa Rica, beginning Thursday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - In this April 30, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama answers questions during his new conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. The president aims to assure Latin America that the U.S. is serious about immigration reform when he travels to Mexico and Costa Rica, beginning Thursday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is headed to Mexico with a domestic ambition at the top of his travel agenda. To sell his immigration overhaul back home, he needs a growing economy in Mexico and a Mexican president willing to help him secure the border.
Obama was to fly to Mexico City on Thursday to meet with President Enrique Pena Nieto, eager to promote Mexico's economic success and the neighboring country's place as the second largest export market for U.S. goods and services. Mexicans will be hanging on the president's words, but Obama also has in mind an important audience back in the United States.
Though the role played by Latino voters in last year's U.S. presidential election gets much credit for the current momentum for changing immigration laws and providing a path to citizenship for 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally, another reason for the change in attitudes is that stronger border protections and the recession have been disincentives to cross into the U.S. As a result, illegal immigration has declined.
"With Mexico, first and foremost, they are critical to our ability to secure the border," said Ben Rhodes, an Obama deputy national security adviser. "All the immigration plans that have been contemplated put a focus on securing the border as an essential priority and starting point for immigration reform."
Even better than a strong border is an economy that keeps people from fleeing.
"If the Mexican economy is growing, it forestalls the need for people to migrate to the United States to find work," Rhodes added.
Eager to focus on the economy and immigration, the administration is downplaying Pena Nieto's recent steps to end the broad access Mexico gave U.S. security agencies to help fight drug trafficking and organized crime under his predecessor, Felipe Calderon. Still, the changes are likely to be a subject during the two leaders' private talks. Obama said this week he wouldn't judge the new moves until he heard directly from Mexican officials.
Pena Nieto took office in December, and for Obama the trip is an opportunity to take his measure of the Mexican leader early in his tenure.
"It's really important to go there while this new president is forming his own plans and judgments about what he's going to do about the border, about where he's going to be on immigration, about where he is on trade," U.S. Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Thomas Donohue said in an interview.
The chamber long has worked to improve U.S.-Mexico trade, noting that now about 6 million U.S. jobs depend on commerce with Mexico.
Striking the right note on border security is key, Donohue said, because it is a central to winning support in Congress for the rest of the immigration legislation.
"That's what everybody wants to hear, and we have to do that in a way that makes these guys down there feel like we're doing it in conjunction with them and for them, so we can do this thing on immigration well, so we can expand our trade, so we can deal with our political issues as they are trying to deal with theirs," Donohue said.
Still, with 33 million U.S. residents of Mexican origin, Obama's message in Mexico is also bound to resonate in the U.S., where Latinos could increase pressure on Congress to act.
"It helps keep these passions alive as far as an issue to promote for the administration," said Carl Meacham, a former senior Latin America adviser on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
But Meacham, now director of the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, cautioned that despite some bipartisan support to create a path to citizenship in the immigration bill, there is skepticism in Latin America. "They've been brought to the altar so many times by different American administrations that there's a little bit of a lack of trust," he said.
For Pena Nieto, Obama's visit is a chance for him to showcase his country's economic gains. After suffering along with the U.S. during the recession, its economy is now growing at a better clip than that of the U.S. Per capita income has gone from an annual $7,900 two years ago to $10,146. But Diana Negroponte, a Latin America expert at the Brookings Institution, says corruption remains endemic, human rights are still a problem, and efforts to change and improve the judicial system have been too slow.
"There is concern on our side of the border that greater help needs to be given in order for Mexico to reform its system," she said.
Pena Nieto's changes in the security relationship with the U.S. have prompted some U.S. officials to speculate that the new president might be embracing the policies of his Institutional Revolutionary Party, which long has favored centralized political and bureaucratic control.
Among those watching the new steps is Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who has held up $228 million sought by the Obama administration for Mexico under a security cooperation agreement. Under the agreement, known as the Merida Initiative, Congress has already given Mexico more than $1.9 billion in aid since 2008.
But Leahy, chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the State Department budget, has been a critic of how the money has been used and with the results.
"Congress has been asked for a significant new investment, but it's not clear what the new Mexican government's intensions are," Leahy said in a statement to The Associated Press. "We're in a period of uncertainty until we know enough to be able to reset that part of our relationship. I'm not ready to sign off on more money without a lot more details."
BOSTON (AP) ? Veteran U.S. Rep. Edward Markey has won the Democratic nomination to run in Massachusetts' special election for the U.S. Senate seat previously held by John Kerry.
Unofficial returns show Markey defeating fellow U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch in Tuesday's Democratic primary.
In the June 25 special election, Markey will face businessman and former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez, who won a three-way Republican primary against former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan and state Rep. Daniel Winslow.
Markey has served in the U.S. House since 1976 and is the dean of the state's congressional delegation. He had the early backing of Kerry, who resigned from the Senate to become U.S. secretary of state.
MOSCOW (AP) ? European markets steadied Tuesday following a strong performance the previous session despite growing expectations of an interest rate reduction from the European Central Bank later this week.
The expectation that the ECB will cut its main interest rate from the already all-time low of 0.75 percent has grown after figures Tuesday showed eurozone unemployment up at another record high of 12.1 percent.
But while the rise in unemployment was not much of a surprise, the sharp fall in inflation was. Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, said inflation rose 1.2 percent in the year to April, way down from the 1.7 percent rate recorded in March and markedly below market expectations for a modest decline to 1.6 percent.
The preliminary April rate was the lowest since February 2010 and takes inflation even further below the ECB's target of keeping inflation "close to but below" 2 percent.
Given that expectations of a rate cut were largely factored in and following a solid session on Monday, stocks were solid, if unspectacular.
"I think the reason for this mild response is that a rate cut has now already been priced into the markets," said Craig Erlam, market analyst at Alpari.
Germany's DAX added 0.5 percent to 7,913 while France's CAC-40 was 0.3 percent lower at 3,856. Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.25 percent to 6,441.
The euro, which has dropped in recent days as investors priced in a rate cut, was trading 0.4 percent higher at $1.3150.
Wall Street opened slightly lower after drug company Pfizer and other companies reported weak earnings.
The earnings reports offset the impact of upbeat economic indicators. The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index rose 9.3 percent in February, the most in almost seven years. Separately the New York-based Conference Board said its consumer confidence index rose to 68.1 points in April from 61.9 in March.
The Dow was down 0.1 percent at 14,800 while the broader S&P 500 index was flat at 1,593.
Stocks around the world have performed solidly over the past few weeks despite a run of mostly disappointing economic data. However, the upside for investors in stock markets is that the soft patch may mean the world's central banks persevere with their easy and cheap monetary policies for longer than thought.
"Risk appetite continues to be enlivened rather than encumbered by the slew of poor data this week, with investors choosing to rely on optimism that the Fed will leave its current stimulus in place and that the ECB will look to cut its key lending rate," said Brenda Kelly, senior market strategist at IG.
The U.S. Federal Reserve will later in the day begin its two-day policy meeting.
As the week progresses, investors will be positioning themselves for perhaps the most important data release of the month. On Friday, U.S. nonfarm payrolls data for April will be published, a key gauge of employment in the world's largest economy.
Earlier, Asian stocks closed higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.7 percent to 22,737.01. South Korea's Kospi advanced 1.2 percent to 1,963.95. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 1.3 percent to 5,191.20.
However, Japanese data showing only modest improvement in manufacturing dampened sentiment there with Nikkei 225 index dropping 0.2 percent to close at 13,860.86.
Oil prices were steady, with the benchmark New York rate down 79 cents to $93.71 per barrel.
___
AP Business Writer Pamela Sampson contributed to this report from Bangkok.
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Public release date: 5-May-2013
Share ] 
PowerSkin cases are known for pliable silicone construction, and the iPhone 5 version is no different. The case measures 5.51 by 2.52 by 0.63 inches and weighs 2.88 ounces, making it ever-so-slightly larger, thicker, and heavier than the Juice Pack Helium, but comparable to the higher-capacity Juice Pack Air. Unlike Mophie's two-piece, slide-together cases, the PowerSkin uses a single-piece design, with flexible rubber sides allowing you to slip the iPhone 5 in and out with ease. But I found the fit to be a bit loose, and the silicone lip that holds the phone in place wasn't quite rigid enough. The iPhone's edges peeked out at a few points, and the case was a little too easy to remove.
By Eugene Kim