Sunday, June 30, 2013

Matt Kenseth wins Sprint Cup race at Kentucky

Matt Kenseth celebrates with his crew members in the winner's circle after capturing the NASCAR Sprint Cup auto race at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky., Sunday, June 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Garry Jones)

Matt Kenseth celebrates with his crew members in the winner's circle after capturing the NASCAR Sprint Cup auto race at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky., Sunday, June 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Garry Jones)

Jimmie Johnson cruises out of Turn 3 well in front of the rest of the field in the NASCAR Sprint Cup auto race at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky., Sunday, June 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Garry Jones)

Pole setter Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (88) and Carl Edwards (99) lead the field in the first lap of the rescheduled NASCAR Sprint Cup auto race at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky., Sunday, June 30, 2013. The race was postponed on Saturday night because of rain. (AP Photo/Garry Jones)

Matt Kenseth celebrates his victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup auto race at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky., Sunday, June 30, 2013 by hoisting the trophy above his head in the winner's circle. (AP Photo/Garry Jones)

Jimmie Johnson (48) leads Carl Edwards (99) and the rest of the field early in the NASCAR Sprint Cup auto race at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky., Sunday, June 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Garry Jones)

(AP) ? Matt Kenseth's fuel-only pit road gamble helped him beat Jimmie Johnson late and win Sunday's rescheduled 400-mile NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway.

A race that was Johnson's to lose ultimately became Kenseth's series-high fourth victory of the season even though he passed on getting new tires following the race's ninth caution. He widened his lead after a wild four-wide restart on lap 246 that saw Johnson's No. 48 Chevy spin from second place on a dominant day he led three times for 182 of 267 laps.

The series points leader finished ninth and leads Carl Edwards by 38 points.

Kenseth led twice for 38 laps, including the final 23 in the No. 20 Toyota.

Second was Jamie McMurray in a Chevy, followed by Clint Bowyer (Toyota), Joey Logano (Ford) and Kyle Busch (Toyota).

Rain on Saturday forced NASCAR officials to postpone the race to a daytime start.

The race was red-flagged for 18 minutes following a six-car wreck involving defending race and Sprint Cup winner Brad Keselowski, who returned to finish 33rd.

Kenseth, like Johnson, was due for a breakthrough on the 1.5-mile oval after finishing seventh here last year and sixth in the 2011 inaugural race. But victory didn't seem likely for the 2003 Cup champion after qualifying 16th and running outside the top 20 during the first quarter of the 267-lap event.

From that point, the first-year Joe Gibbs Racing driver was a perennial top-five contender. Trouble was, he and other hopefuls seemed to need Johnson to suffer misfortune to have any shot of catching him.

Turns out, Kenseth needed to rely on his tires. Taking fuel only allowed him to gain three spots and the lead coming off pit road, and the rubber held up on the rough, bumpy track, both on the restart and through the final laps.

The surprising late turn of events and the tense finish capped a weekend when a number of drivers were projected to win at Kentucky.

Friday's pole qualifying generated enough excitement for the series' third visit, with eight drivers breaking Johnson's year-old track record of 181.818 mph. The group included the five-time champion, who shattered his own mark at 183.144 mph before Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s 183.636 mph speed in the No. 88 Chevy snatched the record and the pole, leaving Johnson to settle for the third spot.

Earnhardt's run in NASCAR's new Gen 6 vehicle sealed his first pole since last fall at Richmond and only his third top-10 start this season. But it continued an encouraging trend for Junior at Kentucky, where he started seventh last year and finished fourth. His objective was ending a 37-race victory drought and improving his seventh-place points standing coming in.

Keselowski sought to break his own drought as well and entered the race on a roll. On Friday night, the Michigan native dominated the second half of the Nationwide series race before earning a rain-shortened victory, which followed his runner-up finish in the Truck event on Thursday.

The combination of strong finishes gave Keselowski early bragging rights over fellow Cup veteran Kyle Busch, competing in the grueling tripleheader weekend as well. Busch wasn't far off from Keselowski, running a spot behind him in the Truck race and finishing fifth in Nationwide.

Edwards quickly got past Earnhardt after the green flag and led the first 32 laps, although a competition caution allowed Earnhardt to reclaim the lead with a two-tire stop, a strategy followed by the top 10. Denny Hamlin was one of those and restarted sixth on lap 36, but he quickly had to return to the pits when his right front tire went down.

Hamlin's misfortune quickly created concern for Earnhardt and Johnson when the rubber slid off the tire rim during his exit and flew back on to the track. Earnhardt ran over it, bending his splitter's right side, before the tire flew off and bounced off Johnson's hood to bring out the race's second caution on lap 39.

Another wreck sent Hamlin to the infield care center and left him 35th.

The biggest incident came 10 laps later when Kurt Busch spun out Keselowski near turn 1, triggering a six-car accident that red-flagged the race. Greg Biffle slammed into Keselowski, lifting his car off the asphalt and leaving both Fords mangled.

Somehow, both returned.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-06-30-CAR-NASCAR-Kentucky/id-134b4da7601a4e6c82ad663c5525e2c6

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30 sent to hospitals in Las Vegas as record heat parks over West, Southwest

In Los Angeles, heat-related power failures snarled traffic, and in Death Valley, where temperatures hit triple digits, the forecast is could bring a record 129 degrees. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.

By M. Alex Johnson, staff writer, NBC News

More than thirty people were taken to hospitals for heat-related injuries and illnesses Friday at a music festival in Las Vegas, authorities said, as a wave of life-threatening blistering temperatures blazed across the West.

Clark County fire personnel treated close to 200 people for heat-related nausea, vomiting and fatigue Friday afternoon and evening at the Vans Warped Tour, an eclectic outdoor music festival at the Silverton Casino off the famous Strip.


Most were given water and taken to shaded areas, but 34 had to be taken to hospitals for further treatment, the fire department said.

"It's pretty intense," said Clark County spokesman Eric Pappa. "We're used to summer temperatures of 100, 105. But we're beyond 100. It's a scorcher."

The high temperature officially hit 117 degrees at Las Vegas-McCarran International Airport ? equaling the airport's record ? Friday as thousands of people streamed to the casino site for the festival. The thermostat fell slightly Saturday, leveling at a still-steamy 105 degrees, according to The Weather Channel.

Records are similarly expected to be broken across the West and the Southwest through the weekend and into next week, the National Weather Service said, thanks to a high pressure "dome" parked over the sprawling region.

Death Valley, Calif., could even top 130 degrees Saturday through Monday, just below the world record high of 134 recorded there on July 10, 1913, The Weather Channel said.

Temperatures in Phoenix are expected to soar between 115 and 120 degrees. In western parts of Arizona, temperatures could reach 125.

Officials in Arizona warned residents to take precautions.

"If you get dizzy or lightheaded, those are some signs of dehydration. If you become confused, that's a real warning sign," Dr. Kevin Reilly of the University of Arizona Department of Emergency Medicine told NBC station KVOA of Tucson.

In Las Vegas, meanwhile, the National Weather Service warned of the potential for a "life-threatening heat event." Temperatures were expected to match those of a July 2005 heat wave when 17 people died in the Las Vegas Valley.

The extreme weather is expected to reach Reno, Nev., reach across Utah and stretch into Wyoming and Idaho, where forecasters are predicting potentially lethal hot spells. Triple-digit temperatures were forecast during Idaho's Special Olympics in Boise.

Matt York / AP

Runners take advantage of lower temperatures at sunrise Thursday in Mesa, Ariz. Excessive heat warnings will continue for much of the Desert Southwest as building high pressure triggers major warming in eastern California, Nevada and Arizona.

Organizers urged coaches to prepare their athletes.

"The basic stuff, wearing breathable, appropriate clothes, staying in the shade as much as possible, staying hydrated is obviously a big thing," Matt Caropino, director of sports and training for Special Olympics Idaho, told NBC station KTVB. "We've put in place some misters that we're going to have at our outdoor venues."

The National Weather Service advised people to keep tabs on signs of potentially lethal heat stroke.

"Heat stroke symptoms include an increase in body temperature, which leads to deliriousness, unconsciousness and red, dry skin," it said in a report. "Death can occur when body temperatures reach or exceed 106-107 degrees."

Los Angeles was forecast to peak between the upper 80s and the lower 90s Saturday as inland communities like Burbank edge toward the low 100s. Palm Springs, Calif., no stranger to steamy summers, may peak at 120 degrees, NBC station KMIR reported. Sweltering heat also is expected for the state's Central Valley, according to The Weather Channel.

While the west remains hot and dry, the east is getting lots of rain that has resulted in flash flooding. Some of the worst flooding was in upstate New York where whole neighborhoods remain under water. ?The Weather Channel's Mike Seidel reports.

Commercial airlines were also monitoring conditions because excessive heat can throw flights off course. The atmosphere becomes less dense in extremely high heat humidity, meaning there's less lift for airplanes ? calculations that have to be made individually for every type of aircraft.

Triple-digit heat forced several airlines to bring operations to a halt after Phoenix climbed to 122 degrees in June 1990.

Daniel Arkin of NBC News contributed to this report.

Related:

'It's brutal out there': Weekend heat wave to bake western US

Alaska sweating through brutal blast of heat

Oppressive heat hits West as storms soak East

This story was originally published on

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Saturday, June 29, 2013

Dead island that inspired Skyfall comes to Google Street View (video)

Japan's 'Dead Island' mapped by Google Street View,

It goes by the name of Hashima, or Gunkanjima ("Battleship Island"), or even "The Dead Island", since it inspired the water-locked cyberterrorist HQ in Skyfall. As you can see for yourself, courtesy of the new Google Street View (and official "making of" video) embedded after the break, it's a very a real place off the coast of Japan's Nagasaki Peninsula, and it's even lonelier than its fictional counterpart in the Bond film (which wasn't actually filmed there). There are no tourist offices or giant Oedipus Complexes, as far as we can see, just long stretches of overgrown roads and collapsing apartment blocks that once housed 5,000 people, before they abandoned the island in 1974 following the demise of its coal industry. It took a Google employee two hours to map the place and preserve its crumbling visage for posterity using a special backpack, but don't be surprised if you want to leave it after just a few minutes.

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Source: Google's Japanese Blog

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/EhkU-qLTnYY/

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Paula Deen, Proposition 8, and the sometimes-nuance of bigotry (Americablog)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/315912495?client_source=feed&format=rss

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AP photographer describes 128-degree heat

FURNACE CREEK, Calif. (AP) ? Associated Press photographer Chris Carlson is no stranger to heat. He grew up just outside Palm Springs, Calif. On Friday, he returned to his desert roots, leaving his home near Los Angeles and driving to the hottest place on earth on one of the hottest days of the year. Below, he describes what it is like to be in triple digit heat in Death Valley:

By 9 a.m., the two bags of ice I loaded in the cooler are gone and the floor of my rental car looks like a storage bin at a recycling plant. Hydration is essential.

I know what to expect in Death Valley: Unrelenting heat so bad it makes my eyes hurt, as if someone is blowing a hair dryer in my face. I don't leave CDs or electronics in the car because they could melt or warp. I always carry bottles of water.

But I still make mistakes. I forgot my oven mitts, the desert driving trick I learned as a teenager after burning my hands too many times on the steering wheel. And my rental car is black, adding several degrees to the outside temperature of 127. When the digital thermometer at the Furnace Creek visitor center ticks up to 128, a few people jump out of their cars to take a picture. The record temperature for the region ? and the world ? is 134 degrees, reached a century ago.

I try to work in flip-flops, but the sun sears the tops of my feet and I am forced to put shoes on. My cell phone, pulled from my shirt pocket, is so hot that it burns my ear when I try to take a call from my wife.

One of my first stops is at the Furnace Creek Golf Course, a place I've played in the past. The guy in the pro shop tells me they've only had two players all morning. Both were employees.

I don't stay long. The camera around my neck gets so hot it stops working. An error message flashes a warning at me.

I'm surprised to find out that hotels are packed with visitors. This is Death Valley's busy time of year. Tourists, mostly from Europe, come to experience extreme heat, or they just didn't know what they were getting into. Death Valley is between the Grand Canyon and Yosemite, and many people add it to their itinerary.

Tourists are out today, but they rarely emerge from their cars. They drive through the brown, cracked landscape, peering out at the vast desert and occasionally rolling down the windows, but only briefly.

Those who do attempt to get out of their cars park in sparse shade, sprint to local landmarks, snap a few photos, and then jump back in their cars. Most were out at daybreak. By midday, few people can be seen.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-photographer-describes-128-degree-heat-225620355.html

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Friday, June 28, 2013

U.S. got Snowden's name wrong?

HONG KONG (AP) ? Hong Kong officials say the U.S. government got National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden's middle name wrong in documents it submitted to back a request for his arrest.

Snowden hid in Hong Kong for several weeks after revealing secret U.S. surveillance programs. Hong Kong allowed him to fly to Moscow on Sunday, saying a U.S. request for his arrest did not fully comply with its requirements.

Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen said that discrepancies in the paperwork filed by U.S. authorities were to blame, although the U.S. Justice Department denied that Wednesday.

Yuen said Hong Kong immigration records listed Snowden's middle name as Joseph, but the U.S. government used the name James in some documents and referred to him only as Edward J. Snowden in others.

"These three names are not exactly the same, therefore we believed that there was a need to clarify," he said Tuesday.

Yuen said U.S. authorities also did not provide Snowden's passport number.

The decision to let Snowden leave Hong Kong irked the White House, which said it damaged U.S.-Chinese relations. U.S. officials implied that Beijing had a hand in letting Snowden leave Hong Kong, a former British colony that is now a semiautonomous region with its own legal system.

Hong Kong officials have pushed back, stressing that they followed the city's rule of law in processing the U.S. request.

The U.S. Justice Department rejected the notion Hong Kong had required clarification about Snowden's middle name ? or that it needed his passport number, saying the U.S. had provided to Hong Kong all that was required under the terms of their extradition treaty.

"The fugitive's photos and videos were widely reported through multiple news outlets. That Hong Kong would ask for more information about his identity demonstrates that it was simply trying to create a pretext for not acting on the provisional arrest request," a spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the department.

Yuen said the confusion over Snowden's identification and his passport were among factors that delayed an arrest. He said the government requested clarification from its counterparts in the U.S. on Friday afternoon.

"Up until the moment of Snowden's departure, the very minute, the U.S. Department of Justice did not reply to our request for further information. Therefore, in our legal system, there is no legal basis for the requested provisional arrest warrant," Yuen said. In the absence of such a warrant, the "Hong Kong government has no legal basis for restricting or prohibiting Snowden leaving Hong Kong."

Snowden flew from Hong Kong to Moscow and was expected to seek asylum in Ecuador.

Simon Young, a Hong Kong University professor specializing in criminal law, said that because of the "political sensitivities" involved in the case, authorities had not rushed the case and were taking extra care.

"I think that the Hong Kong government was insisting on a fairly high standard of completeness, and that, I assume, is their practice. They know that our courts will look at these things very closely and they don't take shortcuts," he said.

But he and other legal experts said Hong Kong authorities are typically able to exercise their discretion and use other methods, such as a photo or physical description, to identify fugitives, who often use aliases.

"It's not like he's some mystery figure. He revealed himself on TV," Young said. "The whole world knows what he looks like. So again I didn't see this presenting problems of identification."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hk-says-us-got-snowdens-middle-name-wrong-064609730.html

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China Lifts 17-year Ban on Dalai Lama Photos at Tibet Monastery (Voice Of America)

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2-day bicycling trip benefits MS Society - Livingston County News

OUTDOORS

2-day bicycling trip benefits MS Society

June 27, 2013 by TheLCN staff

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society is organizing a two-day cycling adventure.

Up to 300 riders will be able to chose from a 30-, 67- or 100-mile route that includes catered rest stops, bike mechanics, full meals and support vehicles.

The ride begins at 7:30 a.m. July 20 in Bluff Point. Registration is $50.

To register, go to www.msupstateny.org.

For more information, call (800) 344-4867, email nyr@nmss.org or go online to www.nationalmssociety.org/chapters/NYR/index.aspx

Source: http://thelcn.com/2013/06/27/2-day-bicycling-trip-benefits-ms-society/

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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Investing in People: How Crowdfunding Works - Mint

Investing in People: How Crowdfunding Works :: Mint.com/blog

You know you can invest in stocks, bonds and mutual funds. But what about new companies or projects? Can you invest in people too?

You can now, thanks to crowdfunding, one of the positive changes the?Internet has brought?to our world.?With crowd funding, a new small business, inventor or artist starts a campaign to?raise money for a?project, then investors or donors pledge funds.

An industry report from?Massolution?says more than 1 million projects?were crowd-funded with $2.7 billion?in 2012. This year, it estimates an?increase to $5.1 billion worldwide.

Here?s what you need to know to get involved:

Types of crowdfunding

There are two types of crowdfunding sites:

Charitable sites?such as?Indiegogo?and?Kickstarter?focus on creative projects or personal financial needs.

You may earn rewards for donating money to the project?? like a movie ticket to see the finished film you helped fund ??but you won?t earn financial returns.

Investment sites let you invest in a company or product from the ground up. You?ll earn a return on any profit the company makes but, like any investment, there are risks.

Platforms for crowd funding

There are dozens of different crowdfunding sites. Before signing up for one, read the rules and check out the available campaigns.

Here are a few examples:

  • Upstart. With this crowd funding site, highlighted in the video above, investors provide funding to a recent college graduate, then earn a percentage of the money they make, whatever they do.
  • Crowdfunder. This site ofers a mix of charitable donations and investments.
  • SoMoLend. It focuses on existing small businesses to help them grow or cover their debts.
  • AngelList. This site focuses mostly on tech start-ups?such as?new software or video game development companies.

What to look for in an investment

Investing in an individual, company or a new product is risky.

While there are rules in place to reduce the odds crowdfunding platforms aren?t havens for scammers, that doesn?t mean all those seeking to raise money will be profitable.

Do lots of research before investing.

Forbes?recommends these steps:

  • Examine tax returns and financial statements.?These should be provided by the crowdfunding site. Businesses attempting to raise $500,000 or more must furnish audited financial statements, but every company attempting to raise money should provide something. If you don?t know what to look for in documents like these, find someone who does, like an accountant.
  • Look for licenses and registrations.?Legitimate companies should be licensed or registered?in their city, county or state. Ask to see a copy of the?paperwork and look it over. If something doesn?t match up, be wary.
  • Search for lawsuits.?Look for lawsuits against the company or inventor on a site like?Justia.com. If they?ve ever been sued, you should know about it before you invest.
  • Verify personal background.?You?likely can?t obtain a full credit history, but you might be able to verify that what you?re told is?true.?If an inventor says he graduated from Yale, contact the university and ask. (Not all will disclose this information.) Verify the person?s location.?Look at social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to see what other people are saying about the company and the people involved, as well as LinkedIn.
  • Get the required disclosures.?A company has to disclose how much it?s?asking for and how?it plans to repay investors. Will they be raising more money in the future that could dilute your ownership interest? Do they have competition? How will the money be spent? Find out as much as you can about the company and its future plans.

The rules for crowdfunding

Since crowdfunding is a relatively new type of investment, the laws governing it are still taking shape. President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Businesses Act into law last year, and?the Securities and Exchange Commission is hammering out the details.

Forbes summed them up like this:

?Without going through an expensive and onerous SEC registration, companies will be able to sell up to $1 million of stock per year to an unlimited number of investors. Individuals who earn less than $100,000 a year can invest up to $2,000 per company per year; wealthier folks can invest 10% of their income up to $100,000.?

The SEC has until Oct. 31?to implement the rules of the JOBS Act.

For now, companies can take on up to 35 non-accredited investors (people who make $200,000 or less a year), according to the?SEC, as long as those investors have a pre-existing relationship with the person or company and enough sophistication to be knowledgeable investors.

Meaning, you can invest in a project if you know the founder, she doesn?t already have 35 other non-accredited investors and you know what you?re doing. Or if you make more than $200,000 a year or have $1 million net worth.

Things might be a bit closed off and complicated for now, but expect that to change when the new SEC rules take effect.

?Investing in People: How Crowdfunding Works? was provided by MoneyTalksNews.com. ?

Source: http://www.mint.com/blog/trends/investing-in-people-how-crowdfunding-works-0613/

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Dem Rep. Markey wins US Senate election in Mass.

BOSTON (AP) ? Longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Edward Markey defeated Republican political newcomer Gabriel Gomez in a special election on Tuesday for the state's U.S. Senate seat long held by John Kerry, a race that failed to draw the attention that the state's 2010 special Senate election did.

Markey, 66, won the early backing of Kerry and much of the state's Democratic political establishment, which was set on avoiding a repeat of the stunning loss it suffered three years ago, when Republican state Sen. Scott Brown upset Democratic state Attorney General Martha Coakley in the election to replace the late Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Gomez, a 47-year-old businessman and former Navy SEAL, positioned himself as a moderate and Washington outsider who would challenge partisan gridlock, contrasting himself with Markey, who was first elected to the U.S. House in 1976.

Markey had an advantage of about 8 percentage points over Gomez with most precincts reporting late Tuesday, according to unofficial returns. He took to Twitter to thank voters after his victory.

"Thank you Massachusetts!" he tweeted. "I am deeply honored for the opportunity to serve you in the United States Senate."

Gomez said he called Markey to congratulate him and wished him "nothing but the best."

In a concession speech to supporters, Gomez said he was a better person as a result of the campaign and believed Markey would be a better senator having gone through the election.

Gomez said he'd waged the campaign with honor and integrity but was "massively outspent" by Democrats in the five-month election and was facing the might of the national Democratic Party.

Markey outspent Gomez throughout the race, and Republicans were unable to match a well-oiled Democratic field organization in an election that saw relatively light turnout in much of the heavily Democratic state.

Kerry left the Senate this year after being confirmed as U.S. secretary of state. Markey will fill out the remainder of Kerry's term, which expires in January 2015, meaning that another Senate election will be held a year from November.

Though Markey has a lengthy career in Congress, he will become the state's junior senator to Elizabeth Warren, who has been in office less than six months after defeating Brown last November.

Markey led in pre-election polls but said Tuesday when he voted with his wife in his hometown, Malden, that there was no overconfidence in his organization. He had said the campaign called or rang the doorbells of 3 million prospective voters in the past several days.

"I have delivered a message on gun safety, on a woman's right to choose, on creating more jobs, and I think that message has been delivered," Markey said.

President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden visited Massachusetts over the final two weeks of the campaign to shore up support for Markey.

Gomez said while voting Tuesday in Cohasset, where he lives with his wife and children, that the election was about choosing the future over the past and what he called Markey's failure to take on the important issues despite 37 years in office.

"Where I come from, that is mission incomplete," he said.

In Cambridge, Lori Berenson, 51, said she voted for Markey mainly because she was skeptical of one of Gomez's main campaign pitches: his request for just 17 months in office.

"He thinks in 17 months he's going to accomplish what Markey hasn't done in 37 years?" she said.

But David Wanders, 43, of Stoughton, said he voted for Gomez because he felt Markey had been in Washington too long.

"He's a lifer," said Wanders, an independent who voted for Obama in the last election. "I don't think he lives here. He lives in Washington."

Markey spent more than $8.6 million on the race through the end of the last reporting period June 5, compared with $2.3 million by Gomez, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Outside groups also poured about $6 million into the Markey-Gomez contest, in the absence of an agreement between the candidates akin to one that had kept most outside money out of last year's Warren-Brown race.

Among the big independent spenders were a Republican-backed super political action committee funded by John Jordan, a California-based donor, and NextGen, a super PAC financed by another wealthy Californian, Thomas Steyer, who supported Markey largely because of his opposition to the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, which would carry oil from western Canada to Texas.

Also on the ballot was Richard Heos, affiliated with the Twelve Visions Party.

___

Associated Press writer Steve Peoples contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dem-rep-markey-wins-us-senate-election-mass-011355003.html

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Drug Enforcement Agency Seizes First Bitcoins From Silk Road Dealer

Drug Enforcement Agency Seizes First Bitcoins From Silk Road Dealer

The Drug Enforcement Agency has seized 11.02 Bitcoins?about $800?from a drug dealer in South Carolina who had been using Silk Road. It's the first (known) time the government has taken control of the virtual currency like it were property or real-world cash.

Read more...

    


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/JAOq_CVXeDs/drug-enforcement-agency-seizes-first-bitcoins-from-silk-595189571

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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

New study on popular prostate cancer protein provides insight into disease progression

June 25, 2013 ? Researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute have uncovered for the first time the vital role a popular protein plays in the stroma, the cell-lined area outside of a prostate tumor.

Researchers have long understood the function of the protein, Caveolin-1 (Cav-1), in prostate cancer, including its role in treatment resistance and disease aggressiveness. However, prior to this study, little was known about the role of Cav-1 within the stroma.

The study, published in the Journal of Pathology, found that a decreased level of the Cav-1 protein in the stroma indicated tumor progression -- a function opposite to the known role of Cav-1 within a tumor. Inside the tumor, an increased level of this protein signifies tumor progression. These human tumor findings suggest that patients whose prostate tumor is surrounded by a stroma with decreased levels of the Cav-1 protein may have an overall worse prognosis and a higher chance of disease relapse.

"How a prostate tumor communicates with its microenvironment, or stroma, is a vital process we need to understand to assess the aggressiveness of a patient's disease and potential response to treatment," said Dolores Di Vizio, MD, PhD, associate professor in the Urologic Oncology Research Program and senior investigator of the study. "This research suggests that the cells surrounding a prostate tumor are equally as important as the tumor itself in helping understand the complexity of a man's disease. This early-stage research may provide a new, future marker that may ultimately aid diagnosis and treatment, and personalize prostate cancer therapy."

In addition to understanding the role of Cav-1 in the tumor microenvironment, researchers discovered that the loss of Cav-1 causes an increase of cholesterol in the stroma. Previous research findings suggest that cholesterol levels are related to aggressive prostate cancer, but cholesterol's role had never been evaluated within the stroma.

"Cholesterol has been shown to be a driver of prostate cancer progression," said Di Vizio. "For the first time in prostate cancer research, we found that when levels of Cav-1 decrease in the stroma, both cholesterol and androgens increase. This finding may partly explain a resistance to traditional treatments."

Though the findings are preliminary, the Cedars-Sinai researchers Di Vizio, Michael Freeman, PhD, vice chair of research in the Department of Surgery and professor/director of the Cancer Biology Program at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, and post-doctoral fellows Matteo Morello, PhD, and Sungyong You, PhD, will continue evaluating the role of the Caveolin-1 protein in the stroma and its potential end benefit in patients.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/VE9UPKMFmBY/130625092006.htm

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Involving community group in depression care improves coping among low-income patients, study finds

Involving community group in depression care improves coping among low-income patients, study finds [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Warren Robak
robak@rand.org
310-451-6913
RAND Corporation

Improving care for depression in low-income communities -- places where such help is frequently unavailable or hard to find -- provides greater benefits to those in need when community groups such as churches and even barber shops help lead the planning process, according to a new study.

When compared to efforts that provided only technical support to improve depression care, a planning effort co-led by community members from diverse services programs further improved clients' mental health, increased physical activity, lowered their risk of becoming homeless and decreased hospitalizations for behavioral problems.

The study was conducted in two large under-resourced areas of Los Angeles and the findings are reported in papers published online by the Journal of General Internal Medicine. The study team included researchers from the RAND Corporation and UCLA, and community partners from Healthy African American Families, QueensCare Health and Faith Partnership, and Behavioral Health Services.

"People who received help as a part of the community-led effort to improve depression care were able to do a better job navigating through the daily challenges of life," said psychiatrist Kenneth Wells, the project's lead RAND investigator. "People became more stable in their lives and were at lower risk of facing a personal crisis, such as experiencing poor quality of life or becoming homeless."

Researchers say the findings demonstrate that incorporating an array of community groups in planning efforts to treat depression, and then providing trainings to address depression jointly across health care and community agencies, can provide a more-complete support system and help depressed people make broader improvements in health and social outcomes.

Depression is one of the world's leading causes of impairment and affects 15 percent to 20 percent of people from all cultural groups at some point in their lives. Wells said one participant in the study characterized depression as a "silent monster" in the low-income neighborhoods studied. Evidence-based treatments for depression, such as antidepressants or therapy, often are not available in these neighborhoods because of poor access to services and other obstacles such as stigma or cost.

The study team, including researchers and community leaders, worked together for a decade to determine how to address depression in communities with few resources. The latest project compared two models.

One approach involved providing technical support and culturally-sensitive outreach to individual programs, including health, mental health, substance abuse and an array of other community programs. The second was a community engagement approach. In this effort, programs across the same broad array of health, mental health, substance abuse and other community programs worked together with shared authority to make decisions and collaborate as a network in providing depression services.

The study took place in South Los Angeles and Hollywood-Metropolitan Los Angeles, and involved nearly 100 programs across the range of primary care, mental health, substance abuse and social services providers. Participating programs included those who provide homeless services, prisoner re-entry help, family preservation programs, and faith-based and other community-based programs like senior centers, barber shops and exercise clubs. All programs were randomly assigned to one of the two approaches (technical assistance or community engagement), but only in the community engagement approach did agencies work together to decide how best to provide training for providers and collaborate to deliver depression services.

"Community members helped us think about where in their neighborhoods people with depression go for help and to think about how support could be provided for depression in all those places," Wells said.

"We worked together as a community to create a system that would provide clear and consistent messages for anyone with depression, regardless of gender, ethnicity, medical conditions, age or income level," said Loretta Jones, one of the project's lead community investigators and CEO of Healthy African American Families.

Agencies in the community engagement approach created programs to aid depressed persons by combining the study resources with their own expertise. One substance abuse program operates a reading club based on the book, "Beating Depression: The Journey to Hope," which is based on a prior RAND study. A group of churches developed classes that teach people resiliency skills to better cope with life's challenges. And two park and senior centers linked outreach and social services to exercise classes to encourage depressed elderly people to increase their physical activity.

People enrolled in the study were primarily African American and Latino, most had earnings below the federal poverty level, and nearly half were both uninsured and at high risk for becoming homeless. The majority also had multiple chronic medical conditions, while many had multiple psychiatric conditions and substance abuse problems.

Once the two improvement efforts were in place, survey staff hired from the community screened about 4,400 clients from participating agencies, following about 1,200 who showed signs of depression. Symptoms and functioning were assessed at the beginning of the project and six months after the project began. The work was done during 2010 and 2011.

The study team found that the chance of having depression at six months was similar for the two groups, as well as the chance of having antidepressant medication or formal health care counseling for depression. But those participants involved in the community-partnered planning had better mental health-related quality of life and reported being more physically active.

In addition, clients from programs in the community-planning group had a lower risk of either being currently homelessness or having multiple risk factors for future homelessness, including having prior homeless nights, food insecurity, eviction or a financial crisis. They also had a lower rate of hospitalization for behavioral problems and shifted their outpatient services from specialty medication visits toward primary care, faith-based and park-based depression services.

"The pattern of findings suggests that the community engagement approach increased support for depressed clients in nontraditional settings, with gains in quality of life and social outcomes like homelessness risk factors," Wells said. "This is in contrast to traditional depression improvement programs affecting use of depression treatments and symptoms."

Researchers also noted that there are few studies showing that community engagement and planning can improve health more than traditional training approaches. This is one of the largest and most rigorous studies of that issue in the field of mental health.

###

Support for the study was provided by the National Institute of Mental Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the California Community Foundation. The project was led by Wells at RAND with UCLA psychologist Jeanne Miranda, and three lead community investigators, including Jones for South Los Angeles, Elizabeth Dixon for Hollywood-Metropolitan Los Angeles, and James Gilmore across areas.

The study team included researchers from RAND, the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA, the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Health System, Healthy African American Families, QueensCare Health and Faith Partnership, Behavioral Health Services, and more than two dozen community-based agencies on the project's steering council.

RAND Health is the nation's largest independent health policy research program, with a broad research portfolio that focuses on health care costs, quality and public health preparedness, among other topics.


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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.


Involving community group in depression care improves coping among low-income patients, study finds [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Warren Robak
robak@rand.org
310-451-6913
RAND Corporation

Improving care for depression in low-income communities -- places where such help is frequently unavailable or hard to find -- provides greater benefits to those in need when community groups such as churches and even barber shops help lead the planning process, according to a new study.

When compared to efforts that provided only technical support to improve depression care, a planning effort co-led by community members from diverse services programs further improved clients' mental health, increased physical activity, lowered their risk of becoming homeless and decreased hospitalizations for behavioral problems.

The study was conducted in two large under-resourced areas of Los Angeles and the findings are reported in papers published online by the Journal of General Internal Medicine. The study team included researchers from the RAND Corporation and UCLA, and community partners from Healthy African American Families, QueensCare Health and Faith Partnership, and Behavioral Health Services.

"People who received help as a part of the community-led effort to improve depression care were able to do a better job navigating through the daily challenges of life," said psychiatrist Kenneth Wells, the project's lead RAND investigator. "People became more stable in their lives and were at lower risk of facing a personal crisis, such as experiencing poor quality of life or becoming homeless."

Researchers say the findings demonstrate that incorporating an array of community groups in planning efforts to treat depression, and then providing trainings to address depression jointly across health care and community agencies, can provide a more-complete support system and help depressed people make broader improvements in health and social outcomes.

Depression is one of the world's leading causes of impairment and affects 15 percent to 20 percent of people from all cultural groups at some point in their lives. Wells said one participant in the study characterized depression as a "silent monster" in the low-income neighborhoods studied. Evidence-based treatments for depression, such as antidepressants or therapy, often are not available in these neighborhoods because of poor access to services and other obstacles such as stigma or cost.

The study team, including researchers and community leaders, worked together for a decade to determine how to address depression in communities with few resources. The latest project compared two models.

One approach involved providing technical support and culturally-sensitive outreach to individual programs, including health, mental health, substance abuse and an array of other community programs. The second was a community engagement approach. In this effort, programs across the same broad array of health, mental health, substance abuse and other community programs worked together with shared authority to make decisions and collaborate as a network in providing depression services.

The study took place in South Los Angeles and Hollywood-Metropolitan Los Angeles, and involved nearly 100 programs across the range of primary care, mental health, substance abuse and social services providers. Participating programs included those who provide homeless services, prisoner re-entry help, family preservation programs, and faith-based and other community-based programs like senior centers, barber shops and exercise clubs. All programs were randomly assigned to one of the two approaches (technical assistance or community engagement), but only in the community engagement approach did agencies work together to decide how best to provide training for providers and collaborate to deliver depression services.

"Community members helped us think about where in their neighborhoods people with depression go for help and to think about how support could be provided for depression in all those places," Wells said.

"We worked together as a community to create a system that would provide clear and consistent messages for anyone with depression, regardless of gender, ethnicity, medical conditions, age or income level," said Loretta Jones, one of the project's lead community investigators and CEO of Healthy African American Families.

Agencies in the community engagement approach created programs to aid depressed persons by combining the study resources with their own expertise. One substance abuse program operates a reading club based on the book, "Beating Depression: The Journey to Hope," which is based on a prior RAND study. A group of churches developed classes that teach people resiliency skills to better cope with life's challenges. And two park and senior centers linked outreach and social services to exercise classes to encourage depressed elderly people to increase their physical activity.

People enrolled in the study were primarily African American and Latino, most had earnings below the federal poverty level, and nearly half were both uninsured and at high risk for becoming homeless. The majority also had multiple chronic medical conditions, while many had multiple psychiatric conditions and substance abuse problems.

Once the two improvement efforts were in place, survey staff hired from the community screened about 4,400 clients from participating agencies, following about 1,200 who showed signs of depression. Symptoms and functioning were assessed at the beginning of the project and six months after the project began. The work was done during 2010 and 2011.

The study team found that the chance of having depression at six months was similar for the two groups, as well as the chance of having antidepressant medication or formal health care counseling for depression. But those participants involved in the community-partnered planning had better mental health-related quality of life and reported being more physically active.

In addition, clients from programs in the community-planning group had a lower risk of either being currently homelessness or having multiple risk factors for future homelessness, including having prior homeless nights, food insecurity, eviction or a financial crisis. They also had a lower rate of hospitalization for behavioral problems and shifted their outpatient services from specialty medication visits toward primary care, faith-based and park-based depression services.

"The pattern of findings suggests that the community engagement approach increased support for depressed clients in nontraditional settings, with gains in quality of life and social outcomes like homelessness risk factors," Wells said. "This is in contrast to traditional depression improvement programs affecting use of depression treatments and symptoms."

Researchers also noted that there are few studies showing that community engagement and planning can improve health more than traditional training approaches. This is one of the largest and most rigorous studies of that issue in the field of mental health.

###

Support for the study was provided by the National Institute of Mental Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the California Community Foundation. The project was led by Wells at RAND with UCLA psychologist Jeanne Miranda, and three lead community investigators, including Jones for South Los Angeles, Elizabeth Dixon for Hollywood-Metropolitan Los Angeles, and James Gilmore across areas.

The study team included researchers from RAND, the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA, the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Health System, Healthy African American Families, QueensCare Health and Faith Partnership, Behavioral Health Services, and more than two dozen community-based agencies on the project's steering council.

RAND Health is the nation's largest independent health policy research program, with a broad research portfolio that focuses on health care costs, quality and public health preparedness, among other topics.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/rc-icg062513.php

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'Active surveillance' may miss aggressive prostate cancers in black men

'Active surveillance' may miss aggressive prostate cancers in black men [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: John Lazarou
jlazaro1@jhmi.edu
410-502-8902
Johns Hopkins Medicine

A Johns Hopkins study of more than 1,800 men ages 52 to 62 suggests that African-Americans diagnosed with very-low-risk prostate cancers are much more likely than white men to actually have aggressive disease that goes unrecognized with current diagnostic approaches. Although prior studies have found it safe to delay treatment and monitor some presumably slow-growing or low-risk prostate cancers, such "active surveillance" (AS) does not appear to be a good idea for black men, the study concludes.

"This study offers the most conclusive evidence to date that broad application of active surveillance recommendations may not be suitable for African-Americans," says urologist Edward M. Schaeffer, M.D., Ph.D., a co-author of the study. "This is critical information because if African-American men do have more aggressive cancers, as statistics would suggest, then simply monitoring even small cancers that are very low risk would not be a good idea because aggressive cancers are less likely to be cured," he says. "We think we are following a small, nonaggressive cancer, but in reality, this study highlights that in black men, these tumors are sometimes more aggressive than previously thought. It turns out that black men have a much higher chance of having a more aggressive tumor developing in a location that is not easily sampled by a standard prostate biopsy."

A report of the study, posted online and ahead of the print version in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, describes it as the largest analysis of potential race-based health disparities among men diagnosed with a slow-growing, very nonaggressive form of prostate cancer.

The Johns Hopkins study also showed that the rate of increased pathologic risk, as measured by the Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment (CAPRA), was also significantly higher in African-Americans (14.8 percent vs. 6.9 percent). The 12-point CAPRA score is an accepted predictor of biochemical disease recurrence based on blood levels of prostate specific antigen, Gleason score, lymph node involvement, extracapsular extension, seminal vesicle invasion, and positive surgical margins. Schaeffer and his team say their data suggest that "very-low-risk" African-Americans have different regional distributions of their cancers and appear to also develop more high-grade cancers. Researchers added that these tumors hide in the anterior prostate a region that is quite difficult to assess using current biopsy techniques.

All study participants, of whom 1,473 were white and 256 black, met current National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) criteria for very-low-risk prostate cancer, and were thus good candidates for AS. The study showed that preoperative characteristics were similar for very-low-risk whites and blacks, although black men had slightly worse Charlson comorbidity index scores, a commonly used scale for assessing life expectancy. Detailed analysis showed that black men had a lower rate of organ-confined cancers (87.9 percent vs. 91.0 percent), a higher rate of Gleason score upgrading (27.3 percent vs. 14.4 percent) and a significantly higher hazard of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) defined biochemical recurrence (BCR) of prostate cancer. The latter measure is widely used for reporting the outcome of surgical prostate removal.

According to Schaeffer, the median age of men in his study was 58, younger than the median ages (62 to 70) of most men in AS groups. And he cautioned that the age difference is a potential "confounder" of his results, highlighting the need for more studies to gauge the safety of AS.

Schaeffer, associate professor of urology, oncology and pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of global urologic services for Johns Hopkins Medicine International and co-director of the Prostate Cancer Multi-Disciplinary Clinic at The Johns Hopkins Hospital's James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, emphasizes that "the criteria physicians use to define very-low-risk prostate cancer works well in whites this makes sense, since the studies used to validate the commonly used risk classification systems are largely based on white men." But, he adds, "Among the vast majority of African-American males with very-low-risk cancer who underwent surgical removal of the prostate, we discovered that they face an entirely different set of risks."

"Alternate race-specific surveillance entry criteria should be developed and utilized for African-American men to ensure oncologic parity with their white counterparts. Our research team, in collaboration with the internationally recognized Hopkins pathologist Dr. Jonathan Epstein, is currently developing new race-based risk tables that begin to solve this key issue," adds Schaeffer.

All of the men whose records were analyzed for the current study were selected from a group of 19,142 who had surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital between 1992 and 2012 to remove the prostate gland and some of the tissue around it.

Previous published research, Schaeffer says, revealed significant racial disparities in prostate cancer, with African-Americans having a much higher incidence of death from the disease than Caucasian men. According to the National Cancer Institute, black men have considerably higher incidence rates (236 cases per 100,000 from 2005 to 2009) than white men (146.9 cases per 100,000 per 2005 to 2009). The reasons for this are unclear.

"In the laboratory, we are developing new strategies to more accurately risk-classify African-Americans with newly diagnosed prostate cancer, in order to determine whether a patient should undergo active surveillance or have immediate treatment," says Schaeffer. "And we are beginning to work out the science behind why prostate cancers have a tendency to hide out in the anterior prostate, specifically in African-Americans."

Schaeffer says the main limitation to their study is that it is a retrospective analysis of the experience of a single academic medical center. "The results of our study do not support the universal rejection of AS in black men, but, rather, should promote future studies to address whether alternate race-specific surveillance entry criteria should be used for African-American men to ensure oncologic parity with their white counterparts," adds Schaeffer.

###

The study was financially supported by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases training Grant No. T32DK007552, the American Urological Association Foundation's Astellas Rising Star Award, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Physician-Scientist Early Career Award.

Besides Schaeffer, other Johns Hopkins investigators involved in this study were lead investigator Debasish Sundi, M.D.; Ashley E. Ross , M.D., Ph.D.; Elizabeth B. Humphreys, M.D.; Misop Han, M.D.; Alan W. Partin, M.D., Ph.D.; and H. Ballantine Carter, M.D.

For additional information, go to: http://urology.jhu.edu/about/faculty.php?id=53 http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/early/2013/06/17/JCO.2012.47.0302.full.pdf+html

JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICINE

Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM), headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, is a $6.7 billion integrated global health enterprise and one of the leading health care systems in the United States. JHM unites physicians and scientists of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with the organizations, health professionals and facilities of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System. JHM's mission is to improve the health of the community and the world by setting the standard of excellence in medical education, research and clinical care. Diverse and inclusive, JHM educates medical students, scientists, health care professionals and the public; conducts biomedical research; and provides patient-centered medicine to prevent, diagnose and treat human illness. JHM operates six academic and community hospitals, four suburban health care and surgery centers, more than 38 primary health care outpatient sites and other businesses that care for national and international patients and activities. The Johns Hopkins Hospital, opened in 1889, was ranked number one in the nation for 21 years by U.S. News & World Report.

Media Contacts:

John Lazarou
410-502-8902
jlazaro1@jhmi.edu

Helen Jones
410-502-9422
Hjones49@jhmi.edu


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


'Active surveillance' may miss aggressive prostate cancers in black men [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: John Lazarou
jlazaro1@jhmi.edu
410-502-8902
Johns Hopkins Medicine

A Johns Hopkins study of more than 1,800 men ages 52 to 62 suggests that African-Americans diagnosed with very-low-risk prostate cancers are much more likely than white men to actually have aggressive disease that goes unrecognized with current diagnostic approaches. Although prior studies have found it safe to delay treatment and monitor some presumably slow-growing or low-risk prostate cancers, such "active surveillance" (AS) does not appear to be a good idea for black men, the study concludes.

"This study offers the most conclusive evidence to date that broad application of active surveillance recommendations may not be suitable for African-Americans," says urologist Edward M. Schaeffer, M.D., Ph.D., a co-author of the study. "This is critical information because if African-American men do have more aggressive cancers, as statistics would suggest, then simply monitoring even small cancers that are very low risk would not be a good idea because aggressive cancers are less likely to be cured," he says. "We think we are following a small, nonaggressive cancer, but in reality, this study highlights that in black men, these tumors are sometimes more aggressive than previously thought. It turns out that black men have a much higher chance of having a more aggressive tumor developing in a location that is not easily sampled by a standard prostate biopsy."

A report of the study, posted online and ahead of the print version in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, describes it as the largest analysis of potential race-based health disparities among men diagnosed with a slow-growing, very nonaggressive form of prostate cancer.

The Johns Hopkins study also showed that the rate of increased pathologic risk, as measured by the Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment (CAPRA), was also significantly higher in African-Americans (14.8 percent vs. 6.9 percent). The 12-point CAPRA score is an accepted predictor of biochemical disease recurrence based on blood levels of prostate specific antigen, Gleason score, lymph node involvement, extracapsular extension, seminal vesicle invasion, and positive surgical margins. Schaeffer and his team say their data suggest that "very-low-risk" African-Americans have different regional distributions of their cancers and appear to also develop more high-grade cancers. Researchers added that these tumors hide in the anterior prostate a region that is quite difficult to assess using current biopsy techniques.

All study participants, of whom 1,473 were white and 256 black, met current National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) criteria for very-low-risk prostate cancer, and were thus good candidates for AS. The study showed that preoperative characteristics were similar for very-low-risk whites and blacks, although black men had slightly worse Charlson comorbidity index scores, a commonly used scale for assessing life expectancy. Detailed analysis showed that black men had a lower rate of organ-confined cancers (87.9 percent vs. 91.0 percent), a higher rate of Gleason score upgrading (27.3 percent vs. 14.4 percent) and a significantly higher hazard of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) defined biochemical recurrence (BCR) of prostate cancer. The latter measure is widely used for reporting the outcome of surgical prostate removal.

According to Schaeffer, the median age of men in his study was 58, younger than the median ages (62 to 70) of most men in AS groups. And he cautioned that the age difference is a potential "confounder" of his results, highlighting the need for more studies to gauge the safety of AS.

Schaeffer, associate professor of urology, oncology and pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of global urologic services for Johns Hopkins Medicine International and co-director of the Prostate Cancer Multi-Disciplinary Clinic at The Johns Hopkins Hospital's James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, emphasizes that "the criteria physicians use to define very-low-risk prostate cancer works well in whites this makes sense, since the studies used to validate the commonly used risk classification systems are largely based on white men." But, he adds, "Among the vast majority of African-American males with very-low-risk cancer who underwent surgical removal of the prostate, we discovered that they face an entirely different set of risks."

"Alternate race-specific surveillance entry criteria should be developed and utilized for African-American men to ensure oncologic parity with their white counterparts. Our research team, in collaboration with the internationally recognized Hopkins pathologist Dr. Jonathan Epstein, is currently developing new race-based risk tables that begin to solve this key issue," adds Schaeffer.

All of the men whose records were analyzed for the current study were selected from a group of 19,142 who had surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital between 1992 and 2012 to remove the prostate gland and some of the tissue around it.

Previous published research, Schaeffer says, revealed significant racial disparities in prostate cancer, with African-Americans having a much higher incidence of death from the disease than Caucasian men. According to the National Cancer Institute, black men have considerably higher incidence rates (236 cases per 100,000 from 2005 to 2009) than white men (146.9 cases per 100,000 per 2005 to 2009). The reasons for this are unclear.

"In the laboratory, we are developing new strategies to more accurately risk-classify African-Americans with newly diagnosed prostate cancer, in order to determine whether a patient should undergo active surveillance or have immediate treatment," says Schaeffer. "And we are beginning to work out the science behind why prostate cancers have a tendency to hide out in the anterior prostate, specifically in African-Americans."

Schaeffer says the main limitation to their study is that it is a retrospective analysis of the experience of a single academic medical center. "The results of our study do not support the universal rejection of AS in black men, but, rather, should promote future studies to address whether alternate race-specific surveillance entry criteria should be used for African-American men to ensure oncologic parity with their white counterparts," adds Schaeffer.

###

The study was financially supported by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases training Grant No. T32DK007552, the American Urological Association Foundation's Astellas Rising Star Award, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Physician-Scientist Early Career Award.

Besides Schaeffer, other Johns Hopkins investigators involved in this study were lead investigator Debasish Sundi, M.D.; Ashley E. Ross , M.D., Ph.D.; Elizabeth B. Humphreys, M.D.; Misop Han, M.D.; Alan W. Partin, M.D., Ph.D.; and H. Ballantine Carter, M.D.

For additional information, go to: http://urology.jhu.edu/about/faculty.php?id=53 http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/early/2013/06/17/JCO.2012.47.0302.full.pdf+html

JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICINE

Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM), headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, is a $6.7 billion integrated global health enterprise and one of the leading health care systems in the United States. JHM unites physicians and scientists of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with the organizations, health professionals and facilities of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System. JHM's mission is to improve the health of the community and the world by setting the standard of excellence in medical education, research and clinical care. Diverse and inclusive, JHM educates medical students, scientists, health care professionals and the public; conducts biomedical research; and provides patient-centered medicine to prevent, diagnose and treat human illness. JHM operates six academic and community hospitals, four suburban health care and surgery centers, more than 38 primary health care outpatient sites and other businesses that care for national and international patients and activities. The Johns Hopkins Hospital, opened in 1889, was ranked number one in the nation for 21 years by U.S. News & World Report.

Media Contacts:

John Lazarou
410-502-8902
jlazaro1@jhmi.edu

Helen Jones
410-502-9422
Hjones49@jhmi.edu


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/jhm-sm062513.php

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