Mexico health sec: Swine flu way up after low year

A woman gets a voluntary swine flu vaccination from a nurse at a subway station in Mexico City, Tuesday Jan. 31, 2012. Federal Health Secretary Salomon Chertorivski Woldenberg said Tuesday there have been 1,623 cases of all strains of flu in Mexico so far in January, 90 percent of them H1N1. Despite the spike, Chertorivski said the cases are within normal range for a flu season. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A woman gets a voluntary swine flu vaccination from a nurse at a subway station in Mexico City, Tuesday Jan. 31, 2012. Federal Health Secretary Salomon Chertorivski Woldenberg said Tuesday there have been 1,623 cases of all strains of flu in Mexico so far in January, 90 percent of them H1N1. Despite the spike, Chertorivski said the cases are within normal range for a flu season. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A nurse prepares a swine flu vaccination to administer to people who volunteer to get it at a subway station in Mexico City, Tuesday Jan. 31, 2012. Federal Health Secretary Salomon Chertorivski Woldenberg said Tuesday there have been 1,623 cases of all strains of flu in Mexico so far in January, 90 percent of them H1N1. That's the version that originally was called swine flu when it caused pandemic that started in Mexico in 2009. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A man gets a voluntary swine flu vaccination from a nurse at a subway station in Mexico City, Tuesday Jan. 31, 2012. Federal Health Secretary Salomon Chertorivski Woldenberg said Tuesday there have been 1,623 cases of all strains of flu in Mexico so far in January, 90 percent of them H1N1. Despite the spike, Chertorivski said the cases are within normal range for a flu season. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

MEXICO CITY (AP) ? Swine flu is back in Mexico, the epicenter of a world pandemic three years ago that panicked people around the globe.

The country registered more cases of all types of flu and more incidents of the H1N1 strain, originally called swine flu, in January than in all of 2011, federal health officials said Tuesday.

Despite the spike, the number of cases is well within a normal flu season for Mexico, which can see from 5,000 to 11,000 incidents of all strains, Health Secretary Salomon Chertorivski Woldenberg said.

"Last year, H1N1 barely circulated in the country or in the world," Chertorivski said to explain the dramatic jump in cases in January.

There have been 1,623 cases of all strains of flu in Mexico recorded so far for January, 90 percent of them H1N1, Chertorivski told reporters. Thirty-two people died from flu, all but three of them from H1N1, he said.

That compares with about 1,000 flu cases in Mexico during all of last year, with 35 deaths from all strains. About 250 cases in 2011 were swine flu.

The low appearance of the H1N1 virus the past two years is one reason it's drawing so much media attention in Mexico. People have been lining up in hospitals and at school nurses for checks. A handful of private schools decided to close last week, and pharmacies reported shortages in antiviral drugs.

Chertorivski said there are plenty of doses of antiviral drugs in the country, but pharmacies initially were understocked after the low incidence of last year. He said the problem had been corrected.

Public nervousness about H1N1 has been high since the first outbreak in spring 2009, when the virus initially appeared to have a high mortality rate and Mexican authorities closed restaurants, schools, museums, libraries and theaters to stop its spread.

"Since 2009, we've remained more sensitive to the issue of flu," Chertorivski said. "2009 made us more conscientious and increased the number of tests and confirmations."

Chertorivski said the virus first reappeared this year in Chile and the Andean region of South America, where the flu season has now passed. He said the initial cases in Mexico were in southern and central states.

Health officials expect the cases to migrate north through Mexico and into the U.S., where incidents of H1N1 have increased in recent weeks, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Both the CDC and the Pan-American Health Organization also say that H1N1 cases this year are within the normal range.

The World Health Organization in 2009 declared swine flu the first global flu pandemic in 40 years.

Initial reports then suggested H1N1 was killing as many as one in 15 of those infected ? a death rate that would have been more than three times higher than the devastating flu pandemic of 1918-19. Later investigation, however, showed that many cases hadn't been reported by people who experienced mild symptoms and that the strain was lethal mostly to those with complicating circumstances. It is now considered a seasonal flu and included in the flu vaccine.

By July 2010, the Mexican government reported nearly 76,000 cases of H1N1 and more than 1,300 deaths, the most recent accumulated statistics on its website.

The World Health Organizations estimates that flu causes 3 million to 5 million cases of severe illness around the globe every year. It says about 250,000 to 500,000 deaths result, primarily among the elderly and the chronically ill.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2012-01-31-LT-Mexico-Swine-Flu/id-4afae535a8344b4b8a635a98debc5ad9

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Paula Abdul exits 'X Factor'; third to leave show

FILE - In this Dec. 22, 2011 file photo, singer Paula Abdul poses on the red carpet at The X Factor Finale show in Los Angeles. Abdul said she's leaving "The X Factor" after one season as judge. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg, file)

FILE - In this Dec. 22, 2011 file photo, singer Paula Abdul poses on the red carpet at The X Factor Finale show in Los Angeles. Abdul said she's leaving "The X Factor" after one season as judge. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg, file)

FILE - In this Sept. 14, 2011 file photo, host Steve Jones poses with judge Nicole Scherzinger at a world premiere screening event for the new television series, "The X Factor," in Los Angeles. Both Jones and Scherzinger will not be returning to the popular singing competition series for a second season. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, file)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Paula Abdul joined the exodus from Fox's disappointing "The X Factor," attributing her departure to business trumping all else.

Abdul said Tuesday she won't return to "dear friend" Simon Cowell's singing contest when it begins its second season later this year. Her announcement followed Monday's exits of fellow judge Nicole Scherzinger and host Steve Jones.

"I've learned through my longevity in this industry that business decisions often times override personal considerations," Abdul said in a measured statement. She and others involved with the show understand the situation, she said, adding, "Simon is, and will remain a dear friend of mine and I've treasured" working on "X Factor."

In a separate statement, Cowell didn't address the reason for the changes but thanked the exiting trio "for everything they did last year."

Cowell and Antonio "L.A." Reid remained on the judging panel. There was no immediate word from producers on who might fill the open seats.

Cowell returned Abdul's good wishes and said he expected he and his former "American Idol" teammate would work on another project in the near future.

Despite respectable ratings, "X Factor" has failed to achieve popularity similar to Fox's "American Idol," which Cowell left to import "X Factor" from the U.K. to the U.S. He had predicted his new show would be a blockbuster.

___

Online:

http://www.thexfactorusa.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-01-31-TV-X%20Factor-Abdul/id-37df5e9b3f994bc49e2cf2f34186c8af

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SAG Awards Fashion Face-Off: Brangelina vs. Klooney

It takes a lot to topple Brangelina.

But, let's face it, if one man were up for the job, it would be George Clooney.

That's the mission facing this wildly popular actor below, as he and girlfriend Stacy Keibler have teamed up to take on Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in a SAG Awards-based Fashion Face-Off. Which couple looks hottest? Vote now:

Among other match-ups from last night's star-packed event:

• Emma Stone is up against Michelle Williams.
• Meryl Streep has challenged Viola Davis.
• Lea Michele is posing down fellow Glee star Dianna Agron.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/sag-awards-fashion-face-off-brangelina-vs-klooney/

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Occupy Oakland damage assessed after protesters break into City Hall

Officials assessed damage to City Hall caused by Occupy Oakland?protesters while leaders of the movement claimed Sunday that police acted illegally in arresting hundreds of demonstrators.

Officials assessed damage to City Hall caused by Occupy Oakland?protesters while leaders of the movement claimed Sunday that police acted illegally in arresting hundreds of demonstrators and could face a lawsuit.

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Mayor Jean Quan was among those inspecting damage caused after dozens of people broke into City Hall on Saturday, smashing glass display cases, spray-painting graffiti, and burning an American flag.

That break-in culminated a day of clashes between protesters and police. Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan said nearly 400 people were arrested on charges ranging from failure to disperse to vandalism. At least three officers and one protester were injured.

RECOMMENDED:?What's next for Occupy Wall Street? Activists target foreclosure crisis.

In a news release Sunday, the Occupy Oakland Media Committee criticized the police conduct, saying that most of the arrests were made illegally because police failed to allow protesters to disperse.

"Contrary to their own policy, the OPD gave no option of leaving or instruction on how to depart. These arrests are completely illegal, and this will probably result in another class action lawsuit against the OPD, who have already cost Oakland $58 million in lawsuits over the past 10 years," the release said.

The scene around City Hall was mostly quiet Sunday morning, and it was unclear whether protesters would mount another large-scale demonstration.

Dozens of officers remained present inside and outside City Hall after maintaining guard overnight. Occupy Oakland demonstrators broke into the historic building and burned a U.S. flag, as officers earlier fired tear gas to disperse people throwing rocks and tearing down fencing at a convention center.

"They were never able to occupy a building outside of City Hall," Jordan said Sunday. "We suspect they will try to go to the convention center again. They will get not get in"

Saturday's protests ? the most turbulent since Oakland police forcefully dismantled an Occupy encampment in November ? came just days after the group said it planned to use a vacant convention center building as a social center and political hub and threatened to try to shut down the Port of Oakland for a third time, occupy the airport and take over City Hall.

Quan, who faced heavy criticism for the police action last fall, on Saturday called on the Occupy movement to "stop using Oakland as its playground."

"People in the community and people in the Occupy movement have to stop making excuses for this behavior," Quan said.

On Sunday, Quan said she is tired of the protesters' repeated actions.

"I'm mostly frustrated because it appears that most of them constantly come from outside of Oakland," Quan said. "I think a lot of the young people who come to these demonstrations think they're being revolutionary when they're really hurting the people they claim that they are representing."

Saturday's events began late Saturday morning, when a group assembled outside City Hall and marched through the streets, disrupting traffic as they threatened to take over the vacant Henry Kaiser Convention Center.

The protesters then walked to the convention center, where some started tearing down perimeter fencing and "destroying construction equipment" shortly before 3 p.m., police said.

Police said they issued a dispersal order and used smoke and tear gas after some protesters pelted them with bottles, rocks, burning flares and other objects.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/bsTjnvnCMGY/Occupy-Oakland-damage-assessed-after-protesters-break-into-City-Hall

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College Tuition Controversy Highlights Challenges (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | According to the Associated Press, President Barack Obama is upset with colleges and universities that have been raising their tuition rates, forcing an increasing number of students into debt as college degrees are worth less in a down economy. He has threatened to cut federal dollars for these schools and transfer the money to schools that offer good education for a reasonable price.

That rising tuition is a problem is undeniable. With the weak job market oversaturated with college graduates, degrees are worth less and less while remaining indispensable -- twentysomethings cannot hope for a shot at a middle class lifestyle unless they nab a diploma. Knowing that high school graduates cannot hope for middle class security without a term of stay at college, colleges have teens by the short hairs: They can charge more each semester, and everyone has no choice but to pay.

And if all colleges raise their prices similarly, it makes no point to contemplate a transfer. Students might as well grin and bear it as they write checks, grimly hoping the economy improves and their degree is worth something by the time they walk across the graduation stage.

Despite being able to engage in abusive tuition-raising at will, institutions of higher education are consistently protected by the fact that hurting schools will hurt students. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., a critic of Obama's tough talk, said shifting federal dollars from universities hurts the students it is meant to help.

Aye, the old rock-and-a-hard-place dilemma: You can't put the squeeze on universities today to get them to change their tuition-raising ways so nothing changes tomorrow. Every time you get ready to teach a well-deserved lesson to those in corrupt ivory towers, you are lambasted as a tyrant who is harming innocent kids. To avoid looking like an anti-education Neanderthal you must spare the fiscal rod and spoil the college president child.

The catch-22 scenario afflicting attempts to rein in tuition abuse at colleges and universities is also seen in other areas, particularly military spending. If you try to cut military spending you risk being attacked as an unpatriotic coward who is risking the lives of brave American soldiers by denying young men sufficient body armor and weaponry. Therefore, you can never deny the Pentagon the funds it desires, lest you be seen as willing to send young Americans to their deaths.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120129/pl_ac/10898175_college_tuition_controversy_highlights_challenges

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Cell Therapeutics withdraws cancer drug application (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Cell Therapeutics Inc said on Monday it has voluntarily withdrawn the marketing application for its cancer drug, sending its shares down 17 percent before the bell.

The company said it withdrew the application as it needed additional time to prepare for the review of the drug, Pixuvri, designed as a treatment for relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in patients who failed two or more lines of prior therapy.

Cell Therapeutics said it had requested the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reschedule the drug's review date prior to the withdrawal, but the health regulator was unable to accommodate the request.

The company plans to resubmit the application later this year.

Shares of the Seattle-based company were down 17 percent at $1.13 in premarket trade. They closed at $1.33 on Friday on the Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Kavyanjali Kaushik in Bangalore; Editing by Supriya Kurane)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/diseases/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/hl_nm/us_celltherapeutics

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Huge asteroid may be packed with water ice

The surface of Vesta ? the second-largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter ? appears to be quite dry. But water ice may lurk underground over roughly half of the huge space rock's area, particularly near the poles, researchers said.

The giant asteroid Vesta may contain a vast supply of water ice, a supply that has sat frozen for billions of years, a new study reveals.

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The?surface of Vesta?? the second-largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter ? appears to be quite dry. But water ice may lurk underground over roughly half of the huge space rock's area, particularly near the poles, researchers said. And it may have been there for billions of years.

"Near the north and south poles, the conditions appear to be favorable for?water ice?to exist beneath the surface," study co-author Timothy Stubbs,? of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said in a statement.

Asteroid ice underground?

Vesta has an average diameter of about 330 miles (530 kilometers). It probably doesn't have any permanently shadowed craters where water ice could stay frozen at the surface, researchers said. [NASA Photos of Asteroid Vesta]

That's because the asteroid is tilted on its axis at about 27 degrees,?giving Vesta seasons?akin to the ones we experience on Earth. So every part of the space rock's surface likely sees the sun at some point during a Vestan year.

However, the research team ? using models based on data gathered by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and other instruments ? determined that average annual temperatures near Vesta's poles are probably less than minus 200 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 129 degrees Celsius). Below this threshhold, water ice is thought to be able to survive in the top 10 feet (3 meters) or so of Vestan soil, or regolith.

The average temperatures near Vesta's equator, however, are roughly minus 190 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 123 Celsius), according to the study ? too high to allow water to remain within a few meters of the surface.

This band of relatively warm temperatures extends from the equator to about 27 degrees north and south latitude, researchers said.

"On average, it's colder at Vesta's poles than near its equator, so in that sense, they are good places to sustain water ice," Stubbs said. "But they also see sunlight for long periods of time during the summer seasons, which isn't so good for sustaining ice. So if water ice exists in those regions, it may be buried beneath a relatively deep layer of dry regolith."

Water ice might be stable at the bottom of some craters for much of the Vestan year (about 3.6 Earth years), the study found. But at some point during the summer, sunlight would probably drive it off the surface, either to be lost into space or redeposited somewhere else on the asteroid.

A spacecraft's view of Vesta

Modeling results such as those presented in the new study could soon be vetted by a robotic visitor to Vesta.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft?entered into orbit around the huge space rock in July 2011 and has been studying it ever since. Part of the probe's work involves searching for water with its gamma ray and neutron detector (GRaND) spectrometer, and Dawn recently spiraled close enough to Vesta to get a good look.

"The Dawn mission gives researchers a rare opportunity to observe Vesta for an extended period of time, the equivalent of about one season on Vesta," Stubbs said. "Hopefully, we'll know in the next few months whether the GRaND spectrometer sees evidence for water ice in Vesta's regolith."

Dawn will stay at Vesta until July, when it will depart and journey to Ceres, the largest object in the?asteroid belt. It should arrive there in February 2015.

Both Vesta and Ceres are so large that scientists consider them protoplanets ? baby planets whose growth was interrupted when Jupiter formed. Scientists hope Dawn's observations shed light on the role water has played in the evolution of planets.

"Our perceptions of Vesta have been transformed in a few months as the Dawn spacecraft has entered orbit and spiraled closer to its surface," said Lucy McFadden, a planetary scientist at NASA Goddard and a Dawn mission co-investigator. "More importantly, our new views of Vesta tell us about the early processes of solar system formation. If we can detect evidence for water beneath the surface, the next question will be is it very old or very young, and that would be exciting to ponder."

Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter?@Spacedotcom?and on?Facebook.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/v32_LX3SZ44/Huge-asteroid-may-be-packed-with-water-ice

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