Thursday, December 6, 2012

Grammys 'Blew It' With Justin Bieber, Scooter Braun Rants

'This time he deserved to be recognized,' Schoolboy Records mogul tweets shortly after Bieber received zero Grammy nods.
By Jocelyn Vena


Scooter Braun
Photo: John Lamparski/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1698422/grammys-justin-bieber-scooter-braun.jhtml

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Citigroup's Equities Business in the Firing Line | Job News & Advice ...

Upset in equities (Photo credit: LoopZilla)

Upset in equities (Photo credit: LoopZilla)

Jobs in Citigroup?s equities business are going to go. We?ve been saying for several months that Citi?s equities business is overstaffed. In its announcement that it plans to cut 11,000 jobs in total and take a $1 billion charge in the fourth quarter, Citi has indicated equities is among the units on the firing line.

The bank said in its press release that it wants to ?improve productivity? in its markets business and to ?streamline its coverage model? in banking. In total, 1,900 jobs will go across the Institutional Clients Group (which includes investment banking and transaction services), of which 950 will come from operations and technology. The remaining 950 jobs will go from areas of low profitability, ?like cash equities,? Citi said. The bank wouldn?t comment.

Citigroup doesn?t break out the profitability or the number of people employed in its equities business. However, revenue-wise, it?s not looking great. In the first nine months of this year, Citi?s equities revenues fell by 10%, placing it among the worst performing banks according to Jon Peace, an equities analyst at Nomura. Analysts at Bernstein put Citi?s share of global equities trading revenues at 4.2% and falling, which is not good in a market where scale is seen as increasingly important. In a note last week, Glenn Schorr, an analyst at Nomura, suggested that Citi?s equities trading business is ?staffed as a top tier firm but consistently puts up second tier revenues.?

As Schorr?s chart below shows, Citigroup?s equities sales and trading business is diminutive compared to most other global banks.

Citigroup equities SchorrUnfortunately, Citi?s equities revenues are this diminutive after several years of investment and expansion ? particularly in London. ?Derek Bandeen [head of equities] and Mike Pringle [head of trading] have built up Citi?s equities business very heavily,? says one equities headhunter who asked not to be named.?They?re in a difficult position with equities revenues not looking too rosy.?

According the the UK?s Financial Services Authority, between April 2011 and January 2012, Citigroup added 159 approved persons to its London equities business. It?s since been cutting back, and has removed 39 FSA approved people from the equities business since February. However, Citi has been hiring for equities in Europe, too: in October, it brought on Farooq Hanif from Morgan Stanley as head of insurance research.

One London equities headhunter, says Hanif?s hire makes sense. According to this year?s Extel Survey, there are a few areas of European equities in which Citigroup?s research teams rank in the top three: banks, luxury goods, metals and mining, pharmaceuticals, specialty & other finance, retail, telecoms, tobacco, and utilities. Most of its other research teams aren?t top-ranked, suggesting Citi could follow Nomura and focus on a few key sectors in which it?s strong whilst pulling out of the rest.

All will unfortunately become clear in the next few months ? before bonuses are paid.

Source: http://news.efinancialcareers.com/128854/citigroups-equities-business-in-the-firing-line/

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Zynga Begins the Licensing Process for Real-Money Gaming in the ...

Zynga will still have to wade through a maze of regulations, but has taken at least one step forward in getting permission to conduct real-money gaming in the U.S.

The San Francisco social games company said today that it has filed an ?Application for a Preliminary Finding of Suitability? in Nevada. The process, conducted by the state?s gaming control board, could take up to 18 months. If Zynga is found suitable, it could apply for a license, which could take another two to three months.

?Zynga has filed its Application for a Preliminary Finding of Suitability from the Nevada Gaming Control Board. This filing continues our strategic effort to enter regulated RMG (real-money gaming) markets in a prudent way,? said the company?s Chief Revenue Officer Barry Cottle, in a statement. ?As we?ve said previously, the broader U.S. market is an opportunity that?s further out on the horizon based on legislative developments, but we are preparing for a regulated market.?

The company, which has been clear for awhile about its intention to enter the real-money gaming space, also recently partnered with bwin.party in the U.K. to roll out its first real-money gaming experiences in the first half of 2013.

Online gambling in the U.S. is still very much in the air. Last year, the Department of Justice ruled that online gambling is legal under federal law, but now it?s up to every state to pass legislation outlining operating procedures. Nevada and the District of Columbia moved quickly to enact laws, but clearly it will take time for every state to get a law passed, unless the federal government steps in with a national policy.

Source: http://allthingsd.com/20121205/zynga-begins-the-licensing-process-for-real-money-gaming-in-the-u-s/

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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Could high insulin make you fat? Mouse study says yes

ScienceDaily (Dec. 4, 2012) ? When we eat too much, obesity may develop as a result of chronically high insulin levels, not the other way around. That's according to new evidence in mice reported in the December 4th Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, which challenges the widespread view that rising insulin is a secondary consequence of obesity and insulin resistance.

The new study helps to solve this chicken-or-the-egg dilemma by showing that animals with persistently lower insulin stay trim even as they indulge themselves on a high-fat, all-you-can-eat buffet. The findings come as some of the first direct evidence in mammals that circulating insulin itself drives obesity, the researchers say.

The results are also consistent with clinical studies showing that long-term insulin use by people with diabetes tends to come with weight gain, says James Johnson of the University of British Columbia.

"We are very inclined to think of insulin as either good or bad, but it's neither," Johnson said. "This doesn't mean anyone should stop taking insulin; there are nuances and ranges at which insulin levels are optimal."

Johnson and his colleagues took advantage of a genetic quirk in mice: that they have two insulin genes. Insulin1 shows up primarily in the pancreas and insulin2 in the brain, in addition to the pancreas. By eliminating insulin2 altogether and varying the number of good copies of insulin1, the researchers produced mice that varied only in their fasting blood insulin levels. When presented with high-fat food, those with one copy and lower fasting insulin were completely protected from obesity even without any loss of appetite. They also enjoyed lower levels of inflammation and less fat in their livers, too.

Those differences traced to a "reprogramming" of the animals' fat tissue to burn and waste more energy in the form of heat. In other words, the mice had white fat that looked and acted more like the coveted, calorie-burning brown fat most familiar for keeping babies warm.

Johnson says it isn't clear what the findings might mean in the clinic just yet, noting that drugs designed to block insulin have been shown to come with unwanted side effects. But, he added, "there are ways to eat and diets that keep insulin levels lower or that allow insulin levels to return to a healthy baseline each day."

Unfortunately, constant snacking is probably not the answer.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Cell Press, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Arya?E. Mehran, Nicole?M. Templeman, G.?Stefano Brigidi, Gareth?E. Lim, Kwan-Yi Chu, Xiaoke Hu, Jose?Diego Botezelli, Ali Asadi, Bradford?G. Hoffman, Timothy?J. Kieffer, Shernaz?X. Bamji, Susanne?M. Clee, James?D. Johnson. Hyperinsulinemia Drives Diet-Induced Obesity Independently of Brain Insulin Production. Cell Metabolism, 2012; 16 (6): 723 DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2012.10.019

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/nutrition/~3/GguerNrqtvQ/121204145549.htm

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Scuba Diving ? A Mesmerizing and Recreational Sport for Diving ...

Let?s embark on a journey together throwing some light on the diverse aspects of such a wonderful sport and how it lets people have the time of their lives.

To begin with, scuba diving has one become one of the greatest frisky sports all around the world and can even be taken as a profession. It is one of the sophisticated forms of underwater diving where a diver is loaded with a scuba gear so that he can breathe underwater. You can come across numerous sports across the globe that you may find thrilling and enriched with adventure but if we talk about this fantastic sport, nothing can prove to be as awe-inspiring and exploratory than the sport of scuba diving. It is really incomparable than any other sport. When you take a plunge into the blue waters of an ocean, what you see is really out of the ordinary. It is about swimming underwater and able to stay in the water with the help of different paraphernalia such as dive computer, fins, scuba masks, gauge meters, breathing regulators and weights.

Why scuba diving is gaining its immense popularity?

It is the intriguing marine life, the gorgeous coral reefs and the incredible underwater experience that cannot be described with mere words. It is such a pleasurable activity that will make you change the views in life due to the fact what you see beneath your feet has a never-ending effect on how you relate to the virtual world that exists in real life. Just like other diving forms, this type of diving allows the diver explore the underwater world that is created by the Almighty. We should express our gratitude to the Lord that has bestowed an opportunity to us so let ourselves merged with the diverse kinds of flora and fauna. It simply feels irresistible when you have a close encounter with the creatures of different kind which you have not seen before. However, there are a few myths that are associated with this fabulous sport. They are the following:

?It is a sport exclusively for those who are opulent

?Sharks can attack you

?It is a risky sport

?You have to be physically fit to dive

?It is not environment friendly

The above mentioned myths are certainly not true as one can have an ultimate diving experience with scuba diving.

Health Benefits of Scuba Diving:

There are great benefits that are associated with this sport. It works your entire body. When you are swimming underwater, every single arm and leg muscle are in constant motion. Your muscles also work harder as the water resistance is greater than air resistance. It diminishes blood pressure and averts strokes and heart attacks. The fact cannot be disclaimed that diving in the deep blue sea is indeed a great way to improve one?s respiratory system.

About the Author

Diving Locker is based in Vancouver and offers scuba diving courses to the diving enthusiasts with the help of friendly and qualified instructors. It offers snorkeling equipment, prescription dive and snorkeling masks, new and used SCUBA gear, etc.

Source: http://www.sports-casting.com/2012/12/03/Scuba-Diving-A-Mesmerizing-and-Recreational-Sport-for-Diving-Lovers/

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Source: http://horacebartholomew.typepad.com/blog/2012/12/scuba-diving-a-mesmerizing-and-recreational-sport-for-diving.html

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Norway princess in secret India trip to play nanny

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit secretly travelled to India in order to care for infant twins born to the surrogate mother of a gay palace employee unable to get a travel visa, the palace said on Monday.

Armed with a diplomatic passport that granted her immediate access, the future queen jumped on a plane in late October when the employee, who is also a friend, and his husband were unable to travel to care for their newborns.

"For me, this is about two babies lying alone in a New Delhi hospital," Mette-Marit said in a statement. "I was able to travel and wanted to do what I could."

She did not alert Indian authorities and spent several days with the babies at the Manav Medicare Centre, where staff assumed the wife of Norway's Crown Prince Haakon was a nanny.

While the princess was away, her name continued to appear in the official palace calendar and her absence from a parliamentary dinner was not explained.

A relative of the two fathers eventually took over from Mette-Marit and the fathers received a visa in November, when they brought the babies back to Norway, the palace added.

Surrogacy is a hotly debated issue in Norway and the government discourages Norwegians from paying surrogate parents for children.

Protestant Norway was the second country in the world in 1993 to register same sex partnerships while same sex marriage has been legal since 2009.

The Crown Princess acknowledged the debate and insisted she is not taking a side and only did what a friend had to do.

"Sometimes life presents you with situations with few good solutions. This was one of those," she said. "There is an important debate going on about surrogacy and this was not meant as taking a side."

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/norway-princess-secret-india-trip-play-nanny-032334744.html

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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

X-ray analysis deciphers master regulator important for skin cancer

Monday, December 3, 2012

With the X-ray vision of DESY's light source DORIS, a research team from Hamburg and Iceland has uncovered the molecular structure of a master regulator central to the most deadly form of skin cancer, melanoma. The results, published in the scientific journal "Genes & Development", throw new light on the workings of the so-called Microphthalmia-associated Transcription Factor MITF, that is not only connected to skin cancer, but also to a variety of hereditary diseases where the production of the skin pigment melanin is disturbed, and to certain aspects of ageing. "Our data could provide a rational basis for the development of tailor-made drugs targeting MITF", explains first author Vivian Pogenberg from the Hamburg branch of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY is the leading German accelerator centre and one of the leading in the world. Among other things, DESY develops and provides accelerator based light sources for research.

Melanoma is a malignant tumor of the cells that produce the skin pigment melanin, the melanocytes. It is not the most common form of skin cancer but the one with the greatest death toll by far: about 3 out of 4 skin cancer related deaths are caused by melanoma. Important for the development of melanoma are malfunctions of the Microphtalmia-associated Transcription Factor MITF. Transcription factors regulate which part of the DNA is read and transcribed into a blueprint for a protein within the cell. Only few parts of the DNA are active in each cell, and this activity also changes with time. MITF for instance activates the cell's machinery to turn the amino acid tyrosine into the pigment melanin.

But MITF also makes stem cells turn into melanocytes in the first place and controls cell proliferation and death in these cells. That's why MITF is called a master regulator. In fact, it also has functions in other cell types like mast cells of the immune system and bone eating osteoclasts. Mutations in MITF not only play a role in the development of skin cancer, but also cause severe genetic diseases like the Tietz and Waardenburg syndromes that lead to deafness, skin and hair pigmentation defects, abnormal eye anatomy and altered vision. The transcription factor also plays a role in our hair turning grey with age and other age-related pigmentation alterations.

The researchers crystallised MITF in the lab and x-rayed them with DORIS. Crystals scatter X-rays in characteristic ways and produce diffraction patterns from which the structure of the crystal - and here MITF - can be reconstructed. The analysis revealed unexpected molecular insertions that give MITF a unique kink. MITF forms a dimer with a long coiled-coil protein "zipper", and the kink in this zipper limits MITF's ability to bind to other transcription factors. The team could also identify structural changes caused by a number of MITF mutations known to lead to particular coat colours in mice and to Tietz or Waardenburg syndrome in humans. The different forms of MITF were supplied by the University of Iceland, where the lab of Eir?kur Steingr?msson hosts a comprehensive MITF library. Steingr?msson also provided his expertise in cell biology and genetics to support the structural data produced in Hamburg.

Thanks to the structural information from DORIS the team could also investigate the binding site of MITF to the DNA at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France. The analysis revealed for instance that the eponymous mutation (the one leading to white coats and small eyes - or microphthalmia - in mice) causes structural changes in the MITF that prevents it from binding to the DNA. Other mutations also affect the binding site to the DNA, making MITF bind to the wrong genes. "Ultimately the goal will be to fully understand how MITF functions to evaluate how it can be targeted for potential treatment", says Matthias Wilmanns, a group leader at EMBL Hamburg. "One way would be, for instance, to design molecules that specifically stop MITF dimerisation in melanocytes," explains Pogenberg. "Or, on an alternative route, a different custom made molecule could stop the recognition of DNA by MITF."

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Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY: http://www.desy.de

Thanks to Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125640/X_ray_analysis_deciphers_master_regulator_important_for_skin_cancer

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