Tuesday, August 31, 2010

First moon alighting page sells for $152000

NEW YORK - A piece from the moody plan of the initial moon alighting sealed by wanderer Neil Armstrong and stamped with the difference "One small step for a man — one hulk jump for mankind" sole for $152,000 at auction Tuesday.

The page from the Apollo eleven moody plan, sole at Bonhams auction house, is stamped with the difference Armstrong says he spoken after he became the initial chairman to walkthe moonJuly 20, 1969. Armstrong sealed the moody plan piece and gave it to the head of NASAs open report bureau whilst he was quarantined at the Johnson Space Center after returning to Earth.

Armstrongs difference are mostly quoted as "Thats one small step for man — one hulk jump for mankind." But Armstrong has regularly insisted he pronounced "one small step for a man."

Story continues next ↓advertisement your ad here

In 2006, a computer research of the audio recording found justification that Armstrong did contend the blank "a."

Other lots sole at Bonhams" space story sale enclosed a moody button ragged by Apollo eleven wanderer Michael Collins and sealed by Collins, Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. It sole for $85,400 after being consigned by Collins himself.

The sale additionally enclosed an puncture checklist from the Apollo thirteen aborted moon alighting the following year.

That mission suffered an oxygen tank ruptureApril 13, 1970, 40 years ago Tuesday. The three-man organisation famously radioed "Houston, we"ve had a problem" and afterwards stabilized the booster whilst saving sufficient energy and oxygen to tarry the excursion home.

The air wave delivery about the oxygen tank puncture has been at large misquoted as "Houston, we have a problem."

The checklist from the flight, used and noted by the crew, sole for $45,750.

The sale prices all exceeded Bonhams" presale estimates and enclosed the auction houses commission. The names of the buyers werent released.

Click for associated contentCommander: Apollo thirteen was ‘successful failure’Astronauts applaud dual space anniversaries

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Sunday, August 29, 2010

Orbit plans digester plant

Orbit Energy, a Raleigh pick appetite company, is formulation a second energy plant in the state that will modify food and animal rubbish in to a incendiary gas that can be used as a surrogate for healthy gas to beget electricity.

The association plans to set up the small energy plant by Dec. 31 in Charlotte, only south of the Charlotte Douglas International Airport, according to Orbits registration matter with the N.C. Utilities Commission; it was released Tuesday on the agencys Web site.

Orbits $12 million trickery will make use of anaerobic digestive process to modify organic rubbish in to a biogas. The fuel source will come from rubbish food from grocery stores, restaurants and food estimate plants, as well as paper and cardboard.

Orbit plans to set up 60 such comforts national in the subsequent decade, pronounced CEO Anwar Shareef. The association operates one anaerobic digester in Clinton, about 60 miles south of Raleigh. The gas combined at the Clinton site is being flared off until Orbit is means to pointer a stipulate with Progress Energy.

Orbit hopes to pointer a 20-year stipulate to sell Duke Energy physical phenomenon from the programmed Charlotte plant. The energy genius of the Charlotte plant will be 3.2 megawatts, sufficient energy for about 1,530 homes. The energy outlay of the Clinton trickery will be about 1.6 megawatts.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

RSA plays down speak of move for Aviva arm

Insurer RSA pronounced it has copiousness of headroom to enter upon on acquisitions, but played down speak it could be eyeing Aviva"s ubiquitous word arm. Chief senior manager Andy Haste pronounced "we are gossip weary" but insisted RSA was "not antithetic to flourishing in the UK" if the right event comes along. "If the understanding is right, there is income to do it," he said. "At the moment, we see some-more opportunities in general and rising markets."

Royal and Sun Alliance HQ

Waiting game: RSA reliable it has the equates to to enhance in future

Certainly abroad ventures are proof some-more essential for RSA, though the executive European businesses have been strike by the mercantile downturn.

More...Reform banks or face bigger crisis, warns Mervyn KingShare tips round-up (thisismoney.co.uk)The most appropriate ways to deposit for income (thisismoney.co.uk)

The organisation is the second largest domicile and fourth largest engine insurer in the UK, most appropriate well known for the More Th>n brand. But it has been essay reduce volumes of commercial operation as the marketplace is so competitive. Even so, it has lifted rates on engine word premiums by around 7 per cent and completed "double digit" increases in premiums for new customers. Group pre-tax distinction sank by twenty-seven per cent to 554m last year, notwithstanding a 4 per cent climb in premiums to 6.7bn. Haste blamed weaker investment opening since of reduce down payment yields, but analysts were happy formula were on target. Shares fell 2.1p to 129.7p. Dividends climb 7 per cent to 8.25p.

lampshade for acne to phone help this mulls

Friday, August 27, 2010

A Cadbury law on takeovers is a perceptible stunt

Dominic OConnell: Agenda & ,}

Another choosing campaigning day, an additional grab for the headlines. Yesterday Labours plans for a Cadbury law were trailed heavily. The partys manifesto, out tomorrow, will introduce a shift in the UK takeover manners to protect companies deemed to be of inhabitant or vital interest.

Its a shrewd square of electioneering, but it should never get off the pages of the manifesto. The unsentimental obstacles to the doing are huge and would mutilate Britains hard-won repute as an open market.

Labour has seized on the open cheer about the takeover of Cadbury, a British icon, by Kraft, an American organisation that is easy to expel as a pantomime villain. The thought was initial floated by Roger Carr, Cadburys former chairman, not prolonged after the chocolate builder was sold, and has a small cross-party support. Peter Luff, the Conservative MP who chairs the Commons business committee, has pronounced he would similar to a shift in the law.

If the plan went ahead, predators would have to get two-thirds of a companies shareholders to opinion in their foster to seize control. At the moment, they need usually a elementary majority. Cadburys investors have finished utterly well for themselves (see chart) but in destiny they would have to show they had been long-term owners of shares prior to they got a opinion in a takeover situation, the thought being to retard sidestep supports pier in at the last notation and offered for cash.

Related LinksKraft "damaged the reputation" over Cadbury closureTories move to feat Labour difference with business

Here are a small of the problems. Britain already has mechanisms to strengthen companies deemed to be of inhabitant interest. They are ordinarily called golden share arrangements, but routinely engage clauses in the articles of association that give the state special rights in sure situations, including takeovers. Not most companies are stable by these rules: the three greatest are Rolls-Royce, the aero-engine maker, BAE Systems, the defence contractor, and Qinetiq, the privatised counterclaim investigate agency.

Successive governments have not been magnanimous with golden shares. What you might think are viewable vital industries energy generation, airports, defence electronics, H2O supply and helicopter have have all been allowed to pass in to the hands of unfamiliar companies. Labour politicians, including those perplexing to get re-elected at the moment, saw all that central investment in Britain as a great thing.

Raising the choosing by casting votes starting point to two-thirds of shares is additionally of indeterminate value. European foe manners will forestall any such taste when continental groups come pursuit so is Labour suggesting an anti-American or anti-Russian law? And exclusive sidestep supports from choosing by casting votes ignores the actuality that mostly the keenest sellers are the shareholders who have hold the shares the longest.

There is an evidence that the stream takeover manners do foster the buyer. The length of the behest routine and the permitting of most appropriate offers late in the day have laying encircle to a aim simpler than it should be.

The Takeover Panel, the City watchdog that polices acquisitions, is consulting on changes at the moment, and might have a small tweaks that calibrate the balance. Labour cant be blamed for seizing on a renouned subject, but it should be careful about where the route leads.

A couple of years ago we all done fun of France when it attempted to strengthen Danone, a yoghurt maker, as a vital industry. Now we are disturbed about makers of chocolate.

Footsie mandarins THE trainer of a FTSE 100 association told me not long ago the Conservatives had approached him and asked if he would stick on the house of a government department. If the Tories won the election, he would have been one of 3 non-executive directors charged with mending potency and advising on pay. Since afterwards I have asked each alternative association trainer I have met whether they have had the same approach. Quite a couple of have pronounced yes, but nothing has been eager by the sum of what the Tories are proposing.

The plan is that each dialect house will have 3 non-executive directors from the in isolation sector. Sitting on tip of the house will be a kind of super-director, an minence grise who will pull on what all the alternative non-executives are revelation him and inform approach to the budding minister.

The commercial operation people I have oral to are penetrating to assistance but think the make up suggested is the wrong one. The non-executive purpose was devised for make use of in the in isolation sector, not the public.

A non-executive from a FTSE 100 organisation would have small precedence compared with Sir Humphrey.

That shouldnt put the Conservatives off. The National Insurance tale has proved that tip businessmen are rebuilt to come out publicly to behind a Tory policy. I think usually as most would be happy to assistance plunge into the necessity in the open finance management if the right approach to strap their talents could be found.

Improbable Carlsberg

MARTIN BROUGHTON, the British Airways authority who is off to sort out the disaster at Liverpool football club, has been struggling with a set upon at the airline over the past couple of weeks. He should be thankful, however, that he doesnt run Carlsberg, the Danish brewer. There, staff together with smoothness drivers have been distinguished over the companys plans to revoke the volume of splash they are authorised to splash whilst at work. Unbelievably, Carlsberg wants to stop them being means to splash all day, and says they should splash usually at lunchtime.

If they cant sort out the dispute, maybe the Danes would similar to to move their plant over here theres firm to be utterly a reserve of people wanting to do a pursuit where you can path up splash at lunchtime.

It wasnt guesswork

A LAST WORD on Desire Petroleum, a small of whose shareholders still think we are the demon incarnate. We revealed, forward of an central announcement, that the companys initial Falklands well was not commercial, and were deluged with emails accusing us of insider trade and alternative iniquitous crimes.

After explaining in this mainstay last week what we did, an additional unreasonable of emails arrived. The crux was that we couldnt presumably have well known about the timing of the proclamation in advance. Well, we had a satisfactory idea. On Feb 23, Desire pronounced it had proposed work, and training would take about thirty days. We made a note in the diary to begin creation calls at the finish of March. Its not rocket science.

dominic.oconnell@sunday-times.co.uk

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Lewis Hamilton: Formula 1 drivers Mercedes impounded by military in Melbourne

By Andrew Hough, and Tom Cary in Melbourne 224PM GMT twenty-six March 2010

F1 2009 Complete Grand Prix circuit guide McLaren issue Lie-gate reparation to FIA McLaren-Mercedes approaching to equivocate ban Jenson Button and Brawn GP overpower doubters at Australian Grand Prix

Hamilton expelled a matter by McLaren, apologising for his actions.

He pronounced "I was pushing in an over-exuberant demeanour and, as a result, was stopped by the police. What I did was silly, and I wish to apologize for it."

He was with an unnamed newcomer in the car. Police sources pronounced officers did not realize who they had pulled over.

Local reports pronounced he did "a burnout and a fishtail" in his ultimate array china Mercedes in front of a Victoria Police internal van, in the suburb of St Kilda, where officers afterwards pulled him over.

Police pronounced he is right away approaching to be charged with a justice justice order "in propinquity to crude make make use of of a engine vehicle". His car has been impounded for 48 hours underneath difficult new internal pushing laws.

"A twenty-five year-old man who resides in Switzerland … was seen pushing about 9.15pm when the motorist on purpose lost traction of the vehicle," pronounced Constable Wayne Wilson a Victoria military spokesman.

"The car was intercepted by police. The motorist was oral to by officers and is approaching to be charged on justice order in propinquity to the crude make make use of of a vehicle."

It is approaching he will crop up in justice at a after date.

After the situation became public, Hamilton was forced to issue a matter by his group apologising for his actions.

"This evening, I was pushing in an over-exuberant demeanour and, as a result, was stopped by the police," Hamilton said.

"What I did was silly, and I wish to apologize for it."

A Mclaren group orator declined to criticism further.

New homes sales tumble permanent orders up in February

Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON Wed Mar 24, 2010 7:34pm EDT Related News U.S. permanent products orders stand 0.5 pct in FebWed, Mar twenty-four 2010U.S. Jan commercial operation inventories unchangedFri, Mar twelve 2010 Related Video Video Business Update: Wall St. declines Wed, Mar twenty-four 2010 A residence for sale is graphic in Alexandria, Virginia, Mar 22, 2010. REUTERS/Molly Riley

A residence for sale is graphic in Alexandria, Virginia, Mar 22, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Molly Riley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales of newly built homes fell for a fourth true month to a jot down low in February, but an additional stand in new orders for permanent products offering declaration the mercantile liberation was on course.

Housing Market

The churned interpretation on Wednesday underscored that whilst enlargement continues, laggards such as housing and the work marketplace are station in the approach of a full recovery.

"The economy continues to be on a delayed to assuage recovery. I don"t see a relapse in the housing market, not right now," pronounced Nick Kalivas, clamp boss of monetary investigate at MF Global in Chicago.

Single-family home sales fell 2.2 percent to a 308,000 section annual rate, the Commerce Department said, startling markets that had approaching a 320,000 section pace.

In a second report, the dialect pronounced new orders for long-lasting made products increasing 0.5 percent in February, rising for the third true month, and January"s total were revised higher to show a 3.9 percent gain.

Markets had approaching orders to stand 0.7 percent in Feb from the formerly reported 2.6 percent rise.

The housing interpretation came on the heels of inform on Tuesday display existent home sales fell for a third true month in Feb whilst the supply of houses on the marketplace jumped.

Analysts pronounced snowstorms that lashed tools of the nation last month contributed to the dump in new home sales, but concurred the underlying citation remained weak.

U.S. monetary markets were small changed by the churned mercantile data, seeking elsewhere for direction. The downgrading of Portugal"s credit rating handed the Standard Poor"s 500 index .SPX and the Dow Jones industrial normal .DJI their greatest one-day dump in a month.

The U.S. dollar scaled a 10-month high opposite the euro. Benchmark supervision down payment yields jumped to their top turn in some-more than a month after an auction of five-year Treasury records captivated bad demand. The stand will approaching pull up debt rates and mystify the housing recovery.

Home sales have hardly responded to the prolongation and enlargement of a renouned taxation credit, that increasing purchases in the second half of 2009. Housing is display debility only as a key post of await is about to be dismantled.

The Federal Reserve will finish purchases of mortgage-based bonds subsequent week, that had lowered the cost of home loans to jot down lows and helped the housing marketplace scratch out of a three-year slump.

SPRING REVIVAL EYED

Still, analysts are anticipating a last notation pour out by buyers to validate for the lengthened taxation credit before to the Jun death could lift sales in the entrance months. An approaching collect up in practice is additionally approaching to await destiny sales.

"New-home sales are approaching to collect up this month. In the second half of this year, direct drivers of housing should urge as the pursuit marketplace stabilizes and starts to supplement jobs," pronounced Celia Chen, a comparison executive at Moody"s Economy.com. in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

"The awaiting of some-more foreclosures flooding the market, however, will keep improvements in the housing marketplace really medium by the rest of this year."

Home-builder Lennar Corp additionally struck carefully confident note on the housing marketplace and pronounced it was on lane to have a distinction this year.

A inform by the Mortgage Bankers Association showed U.S. debt applications fell for a second true week, with direct for home loan refinancing descending to the lowest turn in a month as seductiveness rates jumped.

While the housing marketplace is still struggling, production continues to enhance as businesses reconstruct inventories.

Manufacturing is heading the economy"s liberation from the misfortune downturn in 7 decades. Durable products inventories last month posted their greatest benefit given Dec 2008.

New permanent products orders incompatible travel rose 0.9 percent in Feb after descending 0.6 percent the before month.

"Durable orders interpretation yield serve justification that manufacturers are enjoying a full of health recovery, driven by restocking and the turnaround in universe trade," pronounced Paul Dales, a U.S. economist at Capital Economics in Toronto.

Non-defense collateral products orders incompatible aircraft, a closely watched substitute for commercial operation spending, rebounded 1.1 percent last month after a 3.9 percent tumble in January.

But shipments, that go in to the calculation of sum made at home product, lengthened their decrease in February. That caused a little economists to trim their forecasts for initial entertain GDP growth.

Unfilled orders increasing for the second true month in Feb and available their largest benefit given Jul 2008.

(Additional stating by Julie Haviv in New York; Editing by Andrew Hay)

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Monday, August 23, 2010

Pittsboros Biolex raises $10 million

A Pittsboro biotechnology association utilizing a genetically engineered pool plant to rise an primary diagnosis for hepatitis C right away has some-more income for the mission.

Biolex Therapeutics lifted $10 million from the existent investors, the in isolation association reported in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company, that scrapped plans in 2008 for an primary open charity of stock, lifted $60 million from try collateral investors in tumble 2008.

The income will be used to go on clinical contrast of the Locteron diagnosis for hepatitis C. Biolex produces the active part of Locteron utilizing Lemna, an nautical plant additionally well known as duckweed.

Company officials, together with CEO January Turek, are scheduled to benefaction halt formula from Locteron clinical trials at an Apr liver discussion in Vienna, Austria. The drug will need one more contrast prior to Biolex can find regulatory approval.

Biolex additionally is utilizing the record of genetically modifying duckweed to rise primary drug to disintegrate red blood clots and to provide non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Proposed industry bid to revoke salt in food could save lives income investigate shows

In the study, the researchers grown a computerized indication that simulates the goods of marked down sodium money coming in on a large race of people in between the ages of 40 and 85. Based on a similar, salt-reduction debate in the United Kingdom, the researchers estimated that a collaborative industry bid could lead to a 9.5 percent diminution in Americans" salt intake.

That, in turn, would lead to a really medium diminution in red red red red red red red blood vigour between American consumers, minimizing a vital risk cause for cardiovascular problems.

In the analysis, we found these small decreases in red red red red red red red blood vigour would be in effect in shortening deaths due to cardiovascular disease, pronounced Crystal Smith-Spangler, MD, a postdoctoral academician at the VA and initial writer of the study. The numbers of influenced people are huge, so even a small diminution is poignant if you have large numbers of people involved.

By the researchers" calculations, a little 513,885 Americans would be spared from potentially deadly strokes in their lifetimes, and an additional 480,358 would not humour heart attacks as a outcome of the marked down salt campaign. The commentary will be published in the Mar 2 Annals of Internal Medicine.

The examine comes at a time when there is majority interest, both in the United States and abroad, in controlling salt calm in dishes as a approach to revoke red red red red red red red blood vigour and thereby urge health outcomes. High red red red red red red red blood vigour stays an outrageous open health complaint in the United States, with a little 73 million Americans -- or one in 3 adults -- believed to humour from the condition, that accounted for $73.4 billion in health-care costs in 2009, according to a new inform from the Institute of Medicine.

Many clinical studies have shown that tying peoplesalt expenditure reduces red red red red red red red blood pressure, Smith-Spangler noted. Most Americans devour far some-more salt than recommended, with as majority as 75 percent indulging in some-more than the referred to limit of 2.3 grams a day, Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH, executive of the sovereign Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, remarkable in an paper concomitant the study.

After tobacco control, the majority cost-effective involvement to carry out ongoing diseases (such as cardiovascular disease) competence be rebate of sodium intake, Frieden wrote.

He remarkable that the United Kingdom began operative with manufacturers in 2003 to diminution salt calm in foods, ensuing in a twenty to thirty percent diminution in salt found in processed dishes sole in stores. Japan, Finland, Ireland, Australia and Canada have not long ago launched identical initiatives, he said.

In January, New York City introduced a wide-ranging health beginning to inspire food manufacturers and grill bondage to diminish their salt have make use of by twenty-five percent over the subsequent five years. The Institute of Medicine additionally has called on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as state and internal governments, to rise new strategies for shortening dietary sodium.

Smith-Spangler, who is additionally a postdoctoral academician at StanfordCenter for Health Policy, pronounced the Stanford researchers were desirous by the U.K. experience to examine either a identical debate in the United States could be cost-effective and worthwhile.

Based on the data, it looks similar to it could be value you do since itvery poor and since cardiovascular disease is such a outrageous complaint and hypertension is such a vital risk cause for cardiovascular disease, she said. Even small reductions in risk can have inestimable benefits for the population.

In the study, the researchers relied on interpretation from a accumulation of sources, together with the Framingham Heart Study and the 2006 Medical Panel Expenditure Survey, to rise a suppositious indication of health benefits and costs of dual opposite methods to revoke salt money coming in on a large scale. One was a intentional industry program, whilst the alternative was a supervision dig taxation on tainted foods.

The industry collaboration, they found, would cut salt money coming in by 9.5 percent, sufficient to revoke red red red red red red red blood vigour by a medium 1.25 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) in the age organisation studied. This rebate would magnify the lives of Americans by a common 1.3 million years over the lifetime of the organisation studied, the researchers estimate. It would additionally save $32.1 billion, together with $14 billion in hospitalizations for cadence and heart attack.

The researchers estimated that the sodium taxation would have less impact, heading to a 6 percent diminution in salt money coming in and a 0.93 mmHg rebate in red red red red red red red blood pressure. That would outcome in 327,892 fewer strokes and 306,173 fewer heart attacks, they calculated. But the feasibility of this choice seems less realistic, Smith-Spangler said.

She pronounced the researchers did cruise a little of the unintended consequences of a marked down salt campaign. Manufacturers have make use of salt to have their products delectable to consumers; with less salt, consumers competence spin to fat instead to urge taste, to illustrate wiping out intensity benefits, she noted. These and alternative probable health impacts of the debate would have to be delicately monitored, she said.

Her colleagues in the examine are Jessie Jussola, MS, in StanfordDepartment of Management Science and Engineering, and Eva A Enns, MS, in the Department of Electrical Engineering; and Douglas Owens, MD, MS, and Alan Garber, MD, PhD, at the VA-Palo Alto and the Center for Health Policy.

Smith-Spangler was upheld by a VA Special Fellowship in Health Services Research. Additional await came from the Stanford University Management Science and Engineering Advisory Board Fellowship Fund, the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, the National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Happiness Is ... Making More Money Than the Next Guy

One key to complacency competence be either you have some-more thanyour peers, in any case of either that income is 6 total or usually a mediocretake-home, a new investigate finds.

This judgment of "doing improved than the Joneses" is wellestablished in between children: A fondle gets ditched as shortly as a shinier fondle in the hands of an additional kid isspotted. But a little researchers have often thought thatwhen it comes to adults and money, things functions differently, in that the moremoney one has, in any case of how it stacks up, the some-more resources can beacquired to beget happiness.

However, the new investigate suggests income and complacency areindeed similar to childs play.

We lend towards to be happy "as prolonged as weve got some-more than thepeople around us," pronounced investigate researcher Christopher Boyce in theDepartment of Psychology at the University of Warwick in England. "You competence buy anew car. But if your nearby resident has usually paid for the really same car, that new cardoesnt appear as great as it once was if you were the usually one to have thatcar."

I have some-more than youdo...

Past investigate has referred to that income rank, not usually absoluteincome, is important, but prior large-scale studies looked usually atsatisfaction with economicconditions rather than altogether hold up satisfaction, the researchers say.

Boyce and his colleagues used interpretation picked up in between 1997and 2004 in the British Household Panel Survey, in that some-more than 80,000 participantsrated how discontented or confident they were with their hold up overall.Household incomes were practiced for informal differences in vital costs andfor series of people in a household. The ensuing figure represented theamount of spending energy a chairman would have.

Then, they took the ranked on all sides of each persons incomewithin the complete representation in a since year and compared it with the individualsabsolute income. Statistical tests were run to establish how that rankpredicated a persons hold up satisfaction. While a persons hold up satisfactionwent up with higher comprehensive pay, when ranked income was taken in to account,the comprehensive numbers were no longer related to happinesslevels.

Then the researchers grouped participants and compared theirincome with assorted anxiety groups, together with geographical region, gender andeducation, and age, as people competence do in genuine life. In each case, incomes wereranked relations to that sold anxiety group. Again, a persons lifesatisfaction was often explained by income arrange inside of each counterpart group.

They additionally found that people are 1.75 times some-more expected tocompare themselves to those on tip of them in income than to those below.

That creates clarity from an evolutionary perspective, becauseit would behoove someone to accumulate report about the higher-ups in sequence toimprove oneself to in conclusion get there, Boyce explained. "But thatresults in low compensation with your stream standing," he added.

Happy nations

The formula could insist because as inhabitant economies grow,average happinesslevels havent followed suit. "Its about carrying some-more than everybody else,"Boyce said, "which is because the nations are not augmenting in complacency onaverage."

Even if a nations monetary waistline bulges, that doesntmean the people inside of that economy will turn happier. Theres usually oneguy at the top.

"Our investigate underlines concerns per the office ofeconomic growth. There are bound amounts of arrange in multitude usually oneindividual can be the tip earner," Boyce and his colleagues write in arecent online book of the biography Psychological Science. "Thus, pursuingeconomic growth, nonetheless it stays a key domestic goal, competence not makepeople any happier."

Boyce total the investigate formula can be explained by status,and all things compared with being "better than," together with the bestmates.

"Biologically, people are going to be some-more captivated topeople at the tip of the amicable hierarchy," Boyce told LiveScience.

5 Keys to Happiness 7 Thoughts That Are Bad For You Happiness Is ... Being Old, Male and Republican

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Few U.S. studies review one drug to another: inform

Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor WASHINGTON Tue Mar 9, 2010 4:37pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Comparing medical treatments to find the best and the cheapest may be a pillar of U.S. healthcare reform efforts, but very little such research is being done, according to a report published on Tuesday.

Health

Most of the so-called comparative effectiveness research is done at academic institutions or by other noncommercial enterprises, and less than 20 percent examine the safety of treatments, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"Most of the comparative effectiveness studies we reviewed simply tested whether medication "x" is better than medication "y," rather than addressing fundamental questions such as: How can we use this medication more effectively? When is this medication better than surgery? Which among two effective approaches is the safest?" said Dr. Danny McCormick of Harvard Medical School in Boston, who led the study.

McCormick and Dr. Michael Hochman of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles chose 328 studies in major medical journals that evaluated drugs.

About a third, 104 of them, compared a drug to something else. Forty-three percent compared one drug to another, 11 percent compared a drug to a non-drug therapy, 15 percent focused on different dosing schedules, 19 percent looked at safety and just 2 percent included an analysis of cost effectiveness.

While most drug trials are sponsored by companies, noncommercial entities paid for 87 percent of the comparative effectiveness studies, Hochman and McCormick found.

"Many of our nation"s research priorities are driven by the pharmaceutical industry," Hochman said in a statement.

"These companies, not surprisingly, focus most of their attention on new therapies."

NEW NOT ALWAYS BETTER

Healthcare reform is U.S. President Barack Obama"s signature political strategy and he has proposed comparative effectiveness research as one big component. Last year Congress approved $1.1 billion for comparative effectiveness research as part of an economic stimulus plan.

"Additional information about existing comparative effectiveness research could help guide policy makers as they determine the amount and types of comparative effectiveness research that are most needed," Hochman and McCormick wrote.

"In particular, our findings suggest government and noncommercial support should be increased for studies involving nonpharmacologic therapies, for studies comparing different therapeutic strategies, and for studies focusing on the comparative safety and cost of different therapies."

The Food and Drug Administration should require such studies for drug approvals when possible, they added.

In a separate commentary, Dr. Alec O"Connor of the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York agreed.

"Given the continued progress of science, approval of a new drug or device implies to physicians and the general public that the product represents an advance over older treatments," O"Connor wrote.

But this is not always true. Recent studies have shown, for instance, that older, cheap drugs such as generic diuretics to treat high blood pressure, or metformin to treat diabetes, work better than newer drugs in many cases.

"For example, if a new medication to treat depression is approved based only on placebo comparisons, it"s very difficult to know how the new drug compares with the dozens of medications already approved for depression," he added in a statement.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Health

Thursday, August 5, 2010

EU blocks re-use of offsets BluexNext to resume

Nina Chestney LONDON Thu Mar 18, 2010 3:06pm EDT Related News Hungary tracing CER sales as carbon trade stallsWed, Mar 17 2010EU carbon stalls as used CERs sold on BlueNextWed, Mar 17 2010Hungary sells "used" CO2 permits, sparks EU concernFri, Mar 12 2010

LONDON (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Thursday it would prevent from August the re-entry into its emissions trading scheme of carbon permits which companies had already used for compliance with their emissions caps.

The BlueNext carbon exchange on Wednesday had suspended CER trading after it found that "used" permits had traded on its exchange, and said on Thursday that it would resume such trade on March 22, having made it "impossible to trade recycled CERs."

The European Union executive said it would from Friday suspend the process where companies counted carbon offsets against their emissions, except during a two-week period leading up to an April 30 deadline to comply with 2009 caps.

The move would not prevent carbon trading. It was precipitated by trade of permits called certified emissions reductions (CERs) on the Paris-based BlueNext exchange, after companies had already submitted the same allowances against their targets.

The Commission said in a statement that it would amend trading rules from August to prevent "re-entry of already surrendered CERs" into emissions trading accounts, in the scheme meant to fight climate change.

"There is an urgent need to address the market uncertainty," it said.

Last week Hungary said it had sold CERs to a Hungarian trading house, after Hungarian companies had already submitted these against their emissions targets, with the understanding that they could not be re-used in the EU scheme.

The Budapest trade was legal, exploiting a loophole under the U.N.-backed Kyoto Protocol, but it would be illegal for a company to count the permits against their emissions in Europe, making them invalid there.

The EU executive"s move on Thursday prevented such carbon offsets from re-entering the EU emissions trading scheme at all.

"It"s the right thing to do," said one trader.

Budapest said that when it had sold the CERs it made clear these were only valid for sale to non-European buyers.

That threw a focus on Thursday on the identity of the trading firm which had subsequently sold the CERs without a buyer beware warning, leading them to appear on BlueNext.

Hungarian environment ministry chief Jozsef Molnar told Reuters that it was agreed at a meeting with BlueNext on Thursday that the name of that firm would not be revealed.

Budapest did not rule out selling more CERs, using the same loophole. "We will not take any further steps until we learn the European Commission"s new rules," Molnar said.

The week"s developments were the latest setback for the European Union"s emissions trading scheme (ETS).

Last year fraudsters perpetrated a 5 billion euro pan-EU VAT fraud, adding to technical and over-supply glitches in its five-year history. The scheme now faces low prices in the wake of recession.

(Additional reporting by Sandor Peto in Budapest; Writing by Gerard Wynn; Editing by Anthony Barker)

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Saab in partnership talks as chases profit: Spyker CEO

ROISSY-EN-FRANCE, France Wed Mar 24, 2010 12:16pm EDT Related News UPDATE 1-Saab in partnership talks as chases profit-Spyker CEOWed, Mar 24 2010 Stocks & &

ROISSY-EN-FRANCE, France (Reuters) - Swedish automaker Saab is in talks with possible partners about exchanging technologies as it tries to return to profit by 2012, the head of new owners Spyker Cars (SPYKR.AS) said on Wednesday.

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A large number of serious players had approached the company, Victor Muller said on a trip to meet French Saab dealers, adding that he wanted to ensure Saab had the technologies it needed to be profitable and self-supporting.

"Nobody sees us as a threat so everybody wants to talk with us," Muller said.

"And there are good chances that we will be supplying our technology to third parties, we"re not going to be just on the demand side of things," he added.

The impact of the financial and economic crisis on the auto industry has put joint research, parts and platform programs in focus as carmakers cut costs and accelerate car development.

Loss-making Saab was acquired from General Motors GM.UL for $400 million last month by money-losing Dutch luxury car maker Spyker and put on an ambitious turnaround path.

Saab said earlier this month it would have to sell more than 100,000 cars a year to break even after sales plunged to below 40,000 last year. It hopes a complete renewal of its model range will help it exceed that level in 2012, reaching 125,000.

Saab will focus on three to four models, including the 9-3 and the new 9-5.

Muller added that the combined group was studying a dual stock market listing in London and Stockholm and that moving Spyker"s headquarters to Sweden from the Netherlands was not ruled out.

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume; Editing by David Cowell)

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