Syrian forces bombard rebel areas near capital

A Jordanian boy wears a headband with Arabic writing that reads "there is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his Prophet." during a rally by Jordanian and Syrian followers of the banned Islamic-oriented Hizb Al-Tahrir, Liberation Party, after the Friday prayer in front of the Syrian embassy, in Amman, Jordan, Jan. 4, 2013. Hundreds of protesters shouted slogans proclaiming that Syria will have an Islamic state after the toppling of Bashar Assad and his regime. Russia's foreign minister said Saturday that Assad has no intention of stepping down and it would be impossible to try to persuade him otherwise. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

A Jordanian boy wears a headband with Arabic writing that reads "there is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his Prophet." during a rally by Jordanian and Syrian followers of the banned Islamic-oriented Hizb Al-Tahrir, Liberation Party, after the Friday prayer in front of the Syrian embassy, in Amman, Jordan, Jan. 4, 2013. Hundreds of protesters shouted slogans proclaiming that Syria will have an Islamic state after the toppling of Bashar Assad and his regime. Russia's foreign minister said Saturday that Assad has no intention of stepping down and it would be impossible to try to persuade him otherwise. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

Syrians stomp on a portrait during a demonstration in the neighborhood of Bustan Al-Qasr, Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Jan. 4, 2013. The U.N. said Wednesday that more than 60,000 people have been killed since Syria's crisis began in March 2011 ? a figure much higher than previous opposition estimates. (AP Photo/Andoni Lubaki)

A Syrian man uses his mobile phone to capture a child using a megaphone to lead others in chanting Free Syrian Army slogans during a demonstration in the neighborhood of Bustan Al-Qasr, Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Jan. 4, 2013. The U.N. said Wednesday that more than 60,000 people have been killed since Syria's crisis began in March 2011 ? a figure much higher than previous opposition estimates. (AP Photo/Andoni Lubaki)

A child uses a megaphone to lead others in chanting Free Syrian Army slogans during a demonstration in the neighborhood of Bustan Al-Qasr, Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Jan. 4, 2013. The U.N. said Wednesday that more than 60,000 people have been killed since Syria's crisis began in March 2011 ? a figure much higher than previous opposition estimates. (AP Photo/Andoni Lubaki)

This citizen journalism image provided by Edlib News Network, ENN, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows anti-Syrian regime protesters holding a placard during a demonstration in Kfar Nebel, Idlib province, northern Syria, Friday, Jan. 4, 2013. Syrian ground and air forces bombarded rebel strongholds on the outskirts of Damascus and other areas around the country Friday while anti-government forces targeted a military post near the capital with a car bomb, activists said. (AP Photo/Idlib News Network ENN)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian government warplanes and artillery pounded restive suburbs of Damascus on Friday and anti-regime activists said a car bomb targeted an intelligence building north of the capital.

Fighting in Syria's civil war has flared in areas around Damascus as rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad try to push into the city itself. The rebel advances in the suburbs threaten the government's grip on its seat of power, prompting a punishing response from the military on rebel areas skirting the capital.

Anti-regime activists circulated a video they said showed an explosion near a military intelligence office in the town of Nabk, north of the capital. They had no information on casualties and the government did not comment on the bombing.

The blast came one day after a car bomb hit a gas station in the capital itself, killing eleven people, activists said. While no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, they could be guerrilla strikes by rebels groups who lack the force to battle Assad's troops in the capital.

Syria's 21-month conflict has turned into a bloody stalemate that the United Nations says has killed more than 60,000 people, and it warns the civil war could claim the lives of many more this year. International efforts to stop the fighting have failed so far, and although rebels have made gains in recent months, they still can't challenge Assad's hold on much of the country.

On Friday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government warplanes bombed suburbs of the capital, including Douma, where twin airstrikes killed more than a dozen people a day earlier.

The Observatory also reported the explosion near the military intelligence building in Nabk, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Damascus.

A amateur video posted online showed a large explosion and a large gray cloud of smoke billowing from the area. An off-camera narrator said the blast struck the intelligence building.

The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting.

Fighting also raged south of the capital, where rebels have been trying to push into the city for weeks.

Damascus activist Maath al-Shami said the government fired rockets and mortars from Qasioun mountain overlooking the capital at orchards near the southern suburbs of Daraya and Kfar Sousseh.

The Observatory reported clashes between rebels and the army in other areas south of the capital and on the road to the city's airport, to the southeast.

For its part, the Syrian army said in a statement late Thursday that troops had killed "terrorists" in areas around the capital, including Daraya.

The government says the uprising is fueled by foreign-backed terrorists who seek to destroy the country.

"Regime forces are facing very strong resistance in Daraya," said al-Shami via Skype, but added that government forces had been able to advance down the suburb's main thoroughfare.

The government's capture of Daraya, southwest of the city, would provide a boost to the regime's defense of Damascus. It is close to a military air base as well as government headquarters and one of President Bashar Assad's palaces.

In the north, rebels continued to clash with government forces inside the Taftanaz air base in Idlib province and near the Mannagh military airport and the international airport in Aleppo. The attacks are?part of the rebel's effort to erode the military's air power.

Fadi al-Yassin, an activist based in Idlib, said the rebels killed on Thursday the commander of Taftanaz air base, a brigadier general.

"The battles now are at the gates of the airport," al-Yassin said via Skype. He added that it has become very difficult for the regime helicopters to take off and land at the facility.

He said warplanes taking off from airfields in the central province of Hama and the coastal region of Latakia are targeting rebels fighting around Taftanaz.

The Syrian Army General Command said troops directed "painful strikes" against the "armed terrorist groups" of Jabhat al-Nusra, a group the U.S. claims has designated a terrorist organization that is at the forefront of the airport attacks. The Syrian military said it killed many of the group's fighters.

The Aleppo airport has been closed since Monday. A government official in Damascus said the situation is relatively quiet around the facility, adding that it is up to civil aviation authorities to resume flights.

A man who answered the telephone at the information office at the Damascus International Airport said, "God willing, flights will resume to Aleppo very soon."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-04-Syria/id-ba091bceb9c64d4991bf8b339e332dc4

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Beyond the 'cliff': Why spending cuts are next on the agenda ( video)

The just-concluded fiscal cliff deal answered most questions about taxes, for now, but until Obama and Congress address spending cuts, the federal deficit problem has not been solved.

By Mark Trumbull,?Staff writer / January 3, 2013

The US Capitol is seen amid reflections from inside the Cannon House Office Building on the last day of the 112th Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Enlarge

The "fiscal cliff" deal reached over the holiday weekend lifted an immediate cloud of uncertainty over US taxpayers in the new year, but it didn't resolve the longer-term question of how to significantly reduce federal deficits.

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That's why the next round of fiscal policy talks is already in the works. And because the just-completed round centered heavily on raising tax revenue from the rich, the dominant issue in the next round promises to be spending cuts.

The question for President Obama and Congress will be how to pare back the projected rise in federal spending in a sensible way ? so that deficits come down without doing undue harm to the economy and to important voter priorities.

In recent days, Mr. Obama hasn't seemed eager to lead the way on this. He has signaled firm opposition to linking the approval of a higher public-debt limit to commitments on spending cuts as demanded by conservatives, saying the ability of the US to pay its bills should be nonnegotiable.

A White House fact sheet on this week's fiscal deal, meanwhile, didn't put urgent emphasis on the spending issue. Instead, the statement lauded the Jan. 1 fiscal plan as providing "greater economic certainty for families and businesses," while acknowledging the need for more progress.

Yet the spending questions can't be easily avoided, for several reasons:

? Politics. Republicans are pushing hard, and they control the House and have filibuster potential in the Senate.

?President Obama declared the other night that those he calls ?rich? are now paying their ?fair share.? So it?s time to move on," Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R) of Kentucky said Thursday. "The president got his revenue, now it?s time to turn squarely to the real problem, which is spending."
?
? Economic reality. Bringing the deficit under control will require restraint on the spending side, as well as the new tax revenue that Obama has won. Here's a reality check: This week's fiscal deal includes an estimated $650 billion in deficit reduction over 10 years, compared with a "baseline" in which all Bush tax cuts and some other key policies were extended. But over the next 10 years budget deficits were on track to total $7.9 trillion, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB).
?
So the Jan. 1 accord cuts deficits over the next 10 years by less than one-tenth. Few budget analysts are hoping for policymakers to bring deficits down to zero, but a widely voiced hope is that further bargaining could bring total deficit reduction to $4 trillion. That amount could make the difference between the national debt continuing to rise or falling somewhat, as a percentage of the year's gross domestic product (GDP).
?
For the economy, stabilizing or reducing it can pay big dividends. It would maintain investor confidence, a key enabler of job creation, whereas economic research suggests that the pace of GDP growth slows when debt is high and rising.
?
? Deadlines. Americans may be tired of the "cliff" metaphor that abounded in news reports leading up to Jan. 1, but now a new day of fiscal reckoning looms, in early March. The agreement just passed by Congress postponed sizable automatic spending cuts, which had been scheduled for January, until March 1. Neither side likes that automatic approach, called "sequestration." But to avoid it, they'll need to cut a bargain on spending.
?
Adding to the pressure: In early March, the government will start having trouble getting by without borrowing more money by issuing Treasury bonds and notes. For the government to borrow more, Congress must approve a hike in the official debt limit. Republicans don't want to agree to that unless a spending-restraint deal is reached, perhaps including some reforms of Social Security or health-care programs.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/3jdWy1NZsOY/Beyond-the-cliff-Why-spending-cuts-are-next-on-the-agenda-video

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K?ytt?j?:MonsonMestas437 ? Muurahaiset.net

To a lot of people, the word cellular marketing is usually regarded as simply some type of ad sent to a cell phone from the company or advertising service. At one point, this description might have been correct, however mobile marketing has moved beyond the simple act associated with providing an advertisement to some cell phone. Actually, the term mobile marketing is now able to regarded as some thing of an outdoor umbrella phrase to cover all the facets of delivering or getting information using their audience via a mobile device. The actual Cellular Advertising Organization has recently updated their own meaning of cellular advertising to exhibit this transformation.

Their description states: "Mobile Advertising is a set of practices home page that enables organizations to communicate and engage using their audience in an fun and related method through any mobile device or network.Inch More and more, cellular marketers are transferring through pushing happy to the customer to a new model which is more fun as well as engages using the consumer in an fascinating or significant method.

The other Kinds of Ads And Mobile Marketing Definitions Do You Need To Understand To achieve success? Cellular web marketing includes serving advertisements on web sites specifically designed for mobile devices. This is a very common form of cellular advertisements and has already been continuously growing. Many people access the web through their own smartphones which phones really don't possess a full-scale internet browser to see the actual web pages. In order to accommodate this particular, the owners of the web sites produce customized variations of their web pages that are particularly suitable for becoming seen within the browsers associated with cell phones. Since these webpages are not the same as the normal web pages, brand new ads are supplied for them. Marketing upon these mobile webpages helps to ensure that the advertisements are believed to be through individuals utilizing mobile devices. Usually, in the event that clicked on, these ads will require the audience to the mobile optimized web page of the marketer. The likes of Search engines, Yahoo, and Microsoft are some of the largest businesses selling advertising space on their own cellular content pages, specifically on their own research pages.

A location-based services are one that enables a marketer to send ads or other information to a mobile device according to it's physical location. Location dependent providers can be found by mobile phone systems that are in a position to track the general location of the mobile phone user through the procedure for triangulation. When the mobile phone consumer has their own GPS system switched on, which will additionally serve to determine their location inside a much more particular method. Once the network is able to find out where the user is actually, the marketer can send out an ad-based upon which location. For instance, if someone is actually strolling down the road having a Local cafe around the part, the actual location-based support may notice that the individual is actually close to the Starbucks and deliver all of them an advertisement for the shop. A more unaggressive form of this is to discover a physical base station inside a specific location. Whenever someone makes the vicinity which has authorized the system to send all of them communications, the base station may deliver hints place specific info or even advertisements to their mobile phone.

SMS advertising are advertisements offered via text messages. This can be a very common type of cellular marketing and one that can operate in both instructions. Marketers can deliver communications to a network associated with cellular customers all at one time, whilst mobile customers may send text messages to the actual advertiser's short code. Rapid code may be the Five to six digit quantity compared to numerous advertisers use in their SMS marketing communications. One typical instance is actually following the quake hit Haiti, everyone was asked to textual content a note to 90999. Which five digit number may be the short code for the United states Red-colored Cross. Rapid code numbers are valid for all mobile service providers inside a particular country. They have a tendency to become costly so usually they are utilised through bigger businesses.

MMS advertising is comparable to SMS marketing however enables more than simple texts. Customers may deliver photos, video, or sound as well as texts to the organization running the campaign. In some instances this can be in real-time, such as Moto becoming a member of using the Home of Blues to provide real-time pictures associated with live shows on a display near the phase.

In-game advertising are increasingly normal with the increase in interest in games. One of the most common uses for in-game marketing will be to supply relevant ads to some focus on population. For example, vehicle businesses frequently location in-game ads as banners within car racing games to advertise their own brand name or perhaps a specific vehicle. This particular looks like it is area of the sport, but the placement continues to be paid for. An additional form with regard to related site marketing is actually sponsorships associated with events or even data. For example, Old Spice sponsors a figure in the football sport Madden 11 called Swagger. This particular coincided with the discharge of their own new deodorant, also called Swagger.

Source: http://www.muurahaiset.net/wiki/index.php/K%C3%A4ytt%C3%A4j%C3%A4%3AMonsonMestas437

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How to Increase Sales Through Streaming Audio ? cheap ralph ...

Many studies have proven that radio is a good medium for product advertisements. People listen to the radio for entertainment, usually to listen to the latest music or to their favorite radio program. In between the program, advertisements on products and services are being played.For many years, this has been the trend in advertising. But now that the radio medium is almost behind the audio-visual medium, the TV, and the Internet, other marketing strategies have to be employed to continue the benefits of advertising through audio.It is then that the benefits of using music on websites were discovered. Before, music on the Internet was just available in downloadable forms as mp3. Even through hosting downloadable music on their servers, companies were able to get much traffic on their sites. And everyone engaged in Internet marketing knows that website traffic plays a big role in boosting product and service sales.However, there had been a problem with illegal music download in which artists, musicians and record companies have lost millions of revenues.Then, came the popularity of Internet music streaming. Unlike the former, radio streaming does not allow download of the music files. Thus, the copyrights of the artists and record label owners are protected.So, how can this be done? There are several ways to stream audio from your site. First, is to stream a radio program from your site or blog. You can find free affiliate programs that allow you to stream their radio content from your site.What will this mean to you? This means that your site will have new audio content every time it is visited. What?s even great is that the content is being updated even without much effort from you.In this case, what you needed to do is to signup with an Internet radio station and have the link embedded on your blog or website.Another way is to stream mp3s. To do this, you just need to upload your mp3files on a server and add the files? links to the page. When the link is clicked, the browser opens a media player window and plays a file. However, since the file is in mp3 format, it may also be downloaded. Downloading music files without the authorization of the copyright owner is illegal. Therefore, if you will be using this type of streaming, make sure that you have the appropriate permit to do so.A third way to add audio to you blog or website is to stream music through organizing playlists. Playlists are m3u files, which if downloaded, will not play music if offline. Using this process, however, can be complex. Here is a short instruction on how to do it.1.Save your mp3 or wma file on the server. You may skip this step if you know that the file exists on another server and know the link to that file. Make sure that the link has a .mp3 or .wma extension.2.Open your text editor and type the path to the file. Include the http:// and the file extension. Repeat this step until you have included all the links to the files that you would like to be included in the playlist.3.Save the playlist with a .m3u extension.4.Upload the m3u file on the directory where the music files are hosted or to your server.5.Open your html editor and embed the link to the m3u file. Through this, you can also set if you want to have the playlist to autoplay if someone visits your site of if you want your visitor to control playing the music. You can also set the volume level.After the code is embedded on the html file, and whenever your site is visited, the songs in the playlist will be buffered, streamed and played one after another. If your playlist has several songs, the user can skip forward or go back a song in the playlist using the media player controls.Doing this setup works for many website owners. Through this you can customize the type of music being played on your site. You can even play recordings related to your product to boost product awareness.It requires knowledge of html to be done. But if it will be the best way to increase traffic to your site, why not request assistance from programmers. After all, having audio on a website is a proven way to increase sales.

Source: http://pelsoess.page2.jp/?p=389

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Monti wants to cut left and right extremes from Italy's politics

ROME (Reuters) - Mario Monti, bidding for a second term as Italy's prime minister, said on Thursday that excluding "extreme" elements from mainstream politics would make it easier to push ahead with economic reforms.

The former European commissioner said last week he would lead a centrist bloc in parliamentary elections in February, shedding his neutral stance and criticizing factions he felt had hindered his government's progress over the past 13 months.

"I believe that cutting out the extreme wings would be a good thing," Monti told the Uno Mattina program on state television.

"It will be very important to be able to gather up reformists on the left and right who are available to contribute to the reform effort," he said.

Monti was appointed in November 2011 to lead an unelected right-left government of experts to save Italy from financial crisis after then-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi quit. The 69-year-old is in a three-way race with the Democratic Party (PD) on the left and Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) on the right.

A poll published on Wednesday said Monti's grouping would win 12 percent of the vote. One published last week said it could gain up to 16 percent, depriving rivals of a clear win, but not enough to govern.

The PD and its coalition ally, the Left, Ecology, Freedom party, are on track to win the elections, at least in the lower house.

Monti has blamed the left-wing CGIL trade union and a minority of PD supporters for blocking more radical labor reforms he had wanted to introduce. He also said pressure from the pharmacy sector and its backers on the right had watered down plans to deregulate that market.

Monti said on Thursday that the next government should aim to reduce taxes gradually alongside public spending controls, and continue to fight tax evasion.

To Italians who have borne the brunt of the austerity measures he passed in late 2011 to shore up public finances, he has pledged to cut labor taxes and redistribute wealth from the richest to the poorest if he wins.

But on Thursday he said he was not considering an annual tax levy on wealth, though he said it was not a "taboo" topic.

(Reporting By Catherine Hornby; Editing by Naomi O'Leary and Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/monti-wants-cut-left-extremes-italys-politics-113612409--business.html

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Arbitration, Mediation, & Jury Trial - Apples & Oranges | Lesser Law ...

We have found that new clients unfamiliar with the litigation process often use the terms ?arbitration?, ?mediation?, and ?jury trial? interchangeably.? The fact of the matter is, however, their differences far exceed their similarities.? Arbitration as well as mediation are forms of alternative dispute resolution.? Cases may be referred to arbitration by court order, by agreement of the parties, or by contract.? The arbitrator(s) hears the evidence and renders a decision which is legally binding and enforceable upon the parties.? Proponents of arbitration argue it is beneficial and it is a much quicker process than proceeding to a jury trial.? Further, proponents of arbitration also contend that it is less expensive than traditional civil litigation.? A recent study published in Inside Counsel magazine, however, rebutted these arguments.? The comparative study of 19 single-plaintiff cases, of which 9 resolved through arbitration and 10 through court proceedings, found that arbitration, on average, is both more expensive as well as slower than litigation.? Here in South Florida, a typical three day arbitration costs upward of $45,000.00 (3 arbitrators at $5,000.00 per day per arbitrator).

As opposed to arbitration or a jury trial, mediation is a process where the parties involved in a dispute work with an impartial party, the mediator, to attempt to resolve the conflict.? In a typical mediation, each party has an opportunity to explain to the mediator his/her position.? At the conclusion of each parties? presentation, the parties are placed in separate rooms.? At that point, the mediator spends time separately with each party attempting effectuate an amicable resolution.? As opposed to an arbitrator?s ruling or a jury?s verdict, a mediator does not issue a binding ruling.? Instead, the mediator attempts to reach a mutual compromise.? This requires each party to agree to the resolution.

Finally, in a jury trial the finders of fact are a jury of one?s peers.? In Florida, the jury pool is comprised of individuals that are randomly selected from the driver?s license database.? Each individual receives a summons to serve on a jury.? Each party engages in a jury selection process where they have an opportunity to ask pertinent questions of the potential jurors.? A judge is still present throughout a jury trial.? During a jury trial, the judge is charged with determining all of the legal issues.? The jury is charged with the duty of listening to the evidence, applying the law as directed by the judge, and rendering its verdict.? In essence, a jury is a fact finder.? The jury?s verdict is binding upon the parties.

Although arbitrations, mediations and jury trials are each manners of resolving disputes, they are very different mechanisms.? At Lesser, Lesser, Landy & Smith, we have years of experience in determining which method, or methods, is in the best interest of our clients.? If you have any questions regarding the resolution of your dispute, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Source: http://www.lesserlawfirm.com/injuryblog/arbitration-mediation-jury-trial-apples-oranges/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=arbitration-mediation-jury-trial-apples-oranges

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Taxiing plane clips parked jet at Fla. airport

18 hrs.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. --?Authorities say no one was injured when two airplanes got into a sort of fender-bender at a Florida airport.

Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue says a taxiing Spirit Airlines Airbus A-320 clipped a US Airways Airbus A-320. The US Airways jet was parked Monday night in a remote area away from the gate at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Spirit spokeswoman Misty Pinson says a flight from Atlanta was taxiing to its gate when its left wing clipped the parked plane. Pinson says all 162 passengers on board got off at the gate as normal, and the plane returned to service.

Authorities say the US Airways aircraft was left with a gash in its tail section.

Firefighters were called to the scene, but there was no fuel leak from either aircraft. ?

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/taxiing-plane-clips-parked-jet-fla-airport-1C7785095

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Dr. Oz?s Miraculous Medical Advice

Dr. Mehmet Oz. Dr. Mehmet Oz

Photograph by Jason Kempin/Getty Images.

As people were getting ready for the holiday season and its accompanying waist expansion late last year, Dr. Mehmet Oz let viewers of his TV show in on a timely little secret. ?Everybody wants to know what?s the newest, fastest fat buster,? said the board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon and one of People magazine?s sexiest men alive. ?How can I burn fat without spending every waking moment exercising and dieting??

He then told his audience about a ?breakthrough,? ?magic,? ?holy grail,? even ?revolutionary? new fat buster. ?I want you to write it down,? America?s doctor urged his audience with a serious and trustworthy stare. After carefully wrapping his lips around the exotic words ?Garcinia cambogia,? he added, sternly: ?It may be the simple solution you?ve been looking for to bust your body fat for good.?

In Dr. Oz?s New York City studio, garcinia extract?or hydroxycitric acid found in fruits like purple mangosteen?sounded fantastic, a promising new tool for the battle against flab. Outside the Oprah-ordained doctor?s sensational world of amazing new diets, there?s no real debate about whether garcinia works: The best evidence is unequivocally against it.

The miracle cure isn?t really a miracle at all. It?s not even new. Garcinia cambogia has been studied as a weight-loss aid for more than 15 years. A 1998 randomized controlled trial looked at the effects of garcinia as a potential ?antiobesity agent? in 135 people. The conclusion: The pills were no better than placebo for weight and fat loss.

More recently, a group of researchers summarized the evidence for this ?breakthrough? extract in a systematic review of 12 randomized trials involving 706 participants. Some?trials?reported?short-term slimming, but the overall effects were so small and most studies were?so?methodologically flawed that?the authors were unable to conclude that garcinia extract has an impact on body weight.

One of those authors, Edzard Ernst, has dedicated his career to analyzing research on alternative and complementary medicine; he found that the supplement may be linked to adverse gastrointestinal effects. He told us, ?Dr. Oz's promotion of this and other unproven or disproven alternative treatments is irresponsible and borders on quackery.?

Still, people march into pharmacies or their physicians? offices every day asking for Dr. Oz-endorsed treatments?even when these treatments are backed by the barest of evidence or none at all. Oz?s satellite patients spend tremendous amounts of money on products he recommends, a phenomenon that has been dubbed the ?Oz Effect.? After he promoted neti pots, for example, Forbes magazine reported sales and online searches for the nasal irrigation system rose by 12,000 percent and 42,000 percent, respectively.

Who can blame his viewers? Oz may be the most credentialed of celebrity health promoters. He?s a professor and vice-chair of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He earned his degrees at Ivy League universities, namely Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. He?s won a slew of medical awards (in addition to his Emmys) and co-authored hundreds of academic articles. He?s clearly a smart guy with qualifications, status, and experience. It?s reasonable to assume he is well-versed in the scientific method and the principles of evidence-based medicine. ?Because he?s a physician, that lends a certain authority and credibility to his opinions,? said Steven Novella, a?clinical?neurologist?and assistant professor at Yale University School of Medicine who has taken Oz to task for his science. ?But it lends credibility to anything he says.?

And lately, a lot of what Oz has been saying is downright wrong (scroll to the end if viewing as a single page).

To support the awesome assertions about the flab-fighter Garcinia cambogia, the doctor created on his TV show an atmosphere of accessible scientific certainty. He brought out researchers and physicians in white coats who discussed what they said was compelling evidence for the weight-loss panacea. There was an inspiring testimonial from a member of the audience. Plastic models even demonstrated how garcinia could suppress appetite and stop fat from being made. The show had the same easy manner as Oprah discussing Leo Tolstoy with her book club.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=867ef7c8049a6b1a54d2aa815ee09394

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Chinese medicine yields secrets to scientists

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

The mysterious inner workings of Chang Shan?a Chinese herbal medicine used for thousands of years to treat fevers associated with malaria?have been uncovered thanks to a high-resolution structure solved at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI).

Described in the journal Nature this week, the structure shows in atomic detail how a two-headed compound derived from the active ingredient in Chang Shan works. Scientists have known that this compound, called halofuginone (a derivative of the febrifugine), can suppress parts of the immune system?but nobody knew exactly how.

The new structure shows that, like a wrench in the works, halofuginone jams the gears of a molecular machine that carries out "aminoacylation," a crucial biological process that allows organisms to synthesize the proteins they need to live. Chang Shan, also known as Dichroa febrifuga Lour, probably helps with malarial fevers because traces of a halofuginone-like chemical in the herb interfere with this same process in malaria parasites, killing them in an infected person's bloodstream.

"Our new results solved a mystery that has puzzled people about the mechanism of action of a medicine that has been used to treat fever from a malaria infection going back probably 2,000 years or more," said Paul Schimmel, PhD, the Ernest and Jean Hahn Professor and Chair of Molecular Biology and Chemistry and member of The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at TSRI. Schimmel led the research with TSRI postdoctoral fellow Huihao Zhou, PhD.

Halofuginone has been in clinical trials for cancer, but the high-resolution picture of the molecule suggests it has a modularity that would make it useful as a template to create new drugs for numerous other diseases.

The Process of Aminoacylation and its Importance to Life

Aminoacylation is a crucial step in the synthesis of proteins, the end products of gene expression. When genes are expressed, their DNA sequence is first read and transcribed into RNA, a similar molecule. The RNA is then translated into proteins, which are chemically very different from DNA and RNA but are composed of chains of amino acid molecules strung together in the order called for in the DNA.

Necessary for this translation process are a set of molecules known as transfer RNAs (tRNAs), which shuttle amino acids to the growing protein chain where they are added like pearls on a string. But before the tRNAs can move the pearls in place, they must first grab hold of them.

Aminoacylation is the biological process whereby the amino acid's pearls are attached to these tRNA shuttles. A class of enzymes known as aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases is responsible for attaching the amino acids to the tRNAs, and Schimmel and his colleagues have been examining the molecular details of this process for years. Their work has given scientists insight into everything from early evolution to possible targets for future drug development.

Over time what has emerged as the picture of this process basically involves three molecular players: a tRNA, an amino acid and the aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase enzyme that brings them together. A fourth molecule called ATP is a microscopic form of fuel that gets consumed in the process.

The new work shows that halofuginone gets its potency by interfering with the tRNA synthetase enzyme that attaches the amino acid proline to the appropriate tRNA. It does this by blocking the active site of the enzyme where both the tRNA and the amino acid come together, with each half of the halofuginone blocking one side or the other.

Interestingly, said Schimmel, ATP is also needed for the halofuginone to bind. Nothing like that has ever been seen in biochemistry before.

"This is a remarkable example where a substrate of an enzyme (ATP) captures an inhibitor of the same enzyme, so that you have an enzyme-substrate-inhibitor complex," said Schimmel.

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Scripps Research Institute: http://www.scripps.edu

Thanks to Scripps Research Institute for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126078/Chinese_medicine_yields_secrets_to_scientists

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