MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia expressed "deep regret" over North Korea's rocket launch on Wednesday, saying the reclusive nation had violated a U.N. Security Council resolution limiting its use of ballistic technology.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the North Korean launch had heightened instability in the region and called on other nations to refrain from further escalating tensions.
"The new rocket launch carried out by North Korea flaunts the opinion of the international community, including calls from the Russian side, and leaves us with deep regret," it said.
North Korea launched a long-range rocket for the second time this year on Wednesday local time, and may have succeeded in putting a satellite into space, the stated aim of what critics say is a disguised ballistic missile test.
Russia's Defense Ministry said its early warning missile systems had tracked the rocket launch along a southern trajectory, the Interfax-AVN military news agency reported.
"Its flight took a southern course from the Korean peninsula. It posed no threat to Russia," Interfax-AVN quoted an unnamed Defense Ministry source as saying.
Russia is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and is upset by any defiance of council resolutions. Past launches by Pyongyang have caused concern among Russians living near the country's border with North Korea.
North Korea says its rockets are used to put satellites into orbit for peaceful purposes, but Moscow has said Pyongyang would only be allowed to exercise that right if the U.N.-imposed ballistics restrictions.
Russia has often balanced criticism of Soviet-era client state North Korea's nuclear activities and missile launches with calls on other powers to refrain from belligerent actions against Pyongyang, which it says can be counterproductive.
(Reporting By Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Steve Gutterman and Patrick Graham)
?HR must have the knowledge of the organization?s P&L, but more importantly, they should develop a people P&L.? This was a statement by Cynthia Trudell, Executive Vice President Human Resources & Chief Human Resources Officer of Pepsico.
Last week in New York there was an event called the HR Leadership Summit (built ?by HR Execs, for HR Execs). Well to me that line is an understatement. I have attended a lot of conferences, but this one day event is at the top of my list.
What will you call your plan?
Presentations were given by the folks at the top of the HR food chain, from people like Mark James, SVP, Human Resources & Communications at Honeywell;?Dimitra Manis, SVP, Global Head of People for Thomson Reuters;?Susan Peters, VP, Executive Development & Chief Learning Officer at GE;?Cara Capretta, VP, Human Capital Transformation for Oracle; and?Randy McDonald, CHRO for IBM.
My thought upon leaving that night was back on the P&L relationship to HR. The P&L is a financial statement that summarizes the revenues, costs and expenses incurred during a specific period of time ? usually a fiscal quarter or year. These records provide information that shows the ability of a company to generate profit by increasing revenue and reducing costs.
The concept of using or creating a sort of Human Capital metric dashboard which lays out dynamics of the workforce will be the new norm for HR. Imagine if a Human Capital P&L was presented and evaluated each time a business meeting was held, especially during quarterly and year end meetings.
Three quarters of CEO?s say that lack of key skills is the greatest threat to their business. Based on that, a process of this type should be a welcome addition to the executive agenda.
If that CEO statement about a lack of key skills was centered on marketing or a strategic dilemma, there is no doubt what they would do.
Alignment is here
There were so many CHRO?s at this New York event, each a super star in their own right, discussing the level of interactions they have in driving their respective business growth. I got the feeling that every one there came away with a sense of the future of HR. The bar has been raised to a totally new level.
We had been to the mountaintop and were given a chance to peak over and get a glimpse of the new model of HR importance. We were given this view by practioners who live it every day.
The implications of the economic recovery, a changing workforce, new regulation and legislation, changing social values and technological innovations are all redefining human resources.
During the recent recession, HR leadership has been faced with continued cuts and modifications to their human capital programs and policies which have forced most to revert to business as usual.
The question is, will HR carve out a new path going forward by developing a new model, or, will you find yourself unprepared for what lies ahead?
The alignment of a human capital strategy and programs with the organizational strategy is the new and sustainable model. That alignment will significantly impact the success of the organization.
Why we need a ?new HR? business model
Developing a business case that invests resources in the people side of the business positively influences everyone ? not only within the organization, but external factors as well, and ultimately, the bottom line.
One of the best ways to begin this transformation is to focus on the P&L, HR scorecard, or whatever name you call it that suits your fancy. This P&L will not only help calculate talent management metrics and benchmarks data extracted from your own organization, but it will help re-position HR strategically in your company.
Specifically, investing time in a more rigorous based metrics-driven model is going to be the key component in building and emerging a new business-oriented HR model with better alignment with the core corporate strategy.
As we face a new set of challenges in a rapidly changing marketplace, it underscores the imperative of continuous and visible engagement of HR to become fully aligned with the corporate strategy, and surmount the organizational silos to emerge as a ?new HR? business model.
And, when the time comes to expand opportunities and optimize the deployment of the organization?s human capital assets, are you and your organization going to be ready?
More importantly, are you?personally going to be ready?
Ron Thomas is Director, Talent and Human Resources Solutions at Buck Consultants (a Xerox Company). He is certified by the Human Capital Institute as a Master Human Capital Strategist (MHCS) and Strategic Workforce Planner (SWP). He's worked in senior level HR roles with Martha Stewart Living and IBM. Ron serves on the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council, McKinsey Quarterly Executive Online Panel, and the Human Capital institute's Expert Advisory Council on Talent Management Strategy. He also serves as a Faculty Partner and Executive Facilitator at the Human Capital Institute. Contact him at ronaldtthomas@gmail.com, or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Ronald_thomas.
UCLA cancer scientists identify liposarcoma tumors that respond to chemotherapyPublic release date: 10-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Shaun Mason smason@mednet.ucla.edu 310-206-2805 University of California - Los Angeles
Using a novel strategy, team finds tumors that can be imaged by FAC PET
Liposarcoma, the most common type of sarcoma, is an often lethal form of cancer that develops in fat cells. It is particularly deadly, in part, because the tumors are not consistently visible with positron emission tomography (PET) scans that use a common probe called FDG and because they frequently do not respond to chemotherapy.
Now, using a strategy that tracks cancer cells' consumption of nucleosides, a team of researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Center has identified a group of liposarcoma tumors that can be imaged by PET scanning using a tracer substance known as FAC. Furthermore, they have found that these tumors are sensitive to chemotherapy.
The team's findings are published online in the journal Cancer Discovery and will appear in an upcoming print edition.
Led by Jonsson Cancer Center researcher Heather Christofk, an assistant professor of molecular and medical pharmacology at UCLA, the scientists employed a metabolomic strategy that detected nucleoside salvage activity in liposarcoma cells taken from patient samples, cells grown in the laboratory and cells grown in mouse models. The nucleoside activity was visible using PET with the UCLA-developed FAC probe (FAC PET), which measures the activity of the DNA salvage pathway, a fundamental cell biochemical pathway that acts as a sort of recycling mechanism to help with DNA replication and repair.
FAC was created by slightly altering the molecular structure of the standard chemotherapy drug gemcitabine, and in the current study, the UCLA research team discovered that the liposarcoma cells with high nucleoside salvage activity were sensitive to gemcitabine chemotherapy.
In clinical practice, this strategy might be used to identify liposarcoma patients, at the time of diagnosis, who would respond well to gemcitabine chemotherapy, saving time on other treatments and possibly extending the lives of this sub-group of patients.
"It was a satisfying study because it has translational potential for liposarcoma patients now and this is a deadly disease," Christofk said. "Our metabolomic strategy is also generalizable to treatment strategies for other cancers, and that is something we hope to do."
The study was a collaboration between basic scientists and clinicians, following the translational paradigm of bench-to-bedside discoveries.
"This was an outstanding transdisciplinary project between a diverse group of physician scientists and basic scientists that translates molecular oncology from the laboratory to the clinic in a rapid and clinically relevant manner," said Dr. Fritz Eilber, an associate professor of surgery and of molecular and medical pharmacology at UCLA and an investigator on the study. "The findings from this work can be used to directly impact the care of patients with this morbid and lethal malignancy."
###
The research was supported in part by NIH grant P50CA0863062. Christofk is a Damon RunyonRachleff Innovation awardee, supported in part by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, the Searle Scholars Program, the NIH Director's New Innovator Award (DP2 OD008454-01) and the Caltech/UCLA Nanosystems Biology Cancer Center (NCI U54 CA151819).
UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has more than 240 researchers and clinicians engaged in disease research, prevention, detection, control, treatment and education. One of the nation's largest comprehensive cancer centers, the Jonsson Center is dedicated to promoting research and translating basic science into leading-edge clinical studies. In July 2012, the Jonsson Cancer Center was once again named among the nation's top 10 cancer centers by U.S. News & World Report, a ranking it has held for 12 of the last 13 years.
For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.
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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.
UCLA cancer scientists identify liposarcoma tumors that respond to chemotherapyPublic release date: 10-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Shaun Mason smason@mednet.ucla.edu 310-206-2805 University of California - Los Angeles
Using a novel strategy, team finds tumors that can be imaged by FAC PET
Liposarcoma, the most common type of sarcoma, is an often lethal form of cancer that develops in fat cells. It is particularly deadly, in part, because the tumors are not consistently visible with positron emission tomography (PET) scans that use a common probe called FDG and because they frequently do not respond to chemotherapy.
Now, using a strategy that tracks cancer cells' consumption of nucleosides, a team of researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Center has identified a group of liposarcoma tumors that can be imaged by PET scanning using a tracer substance known as FAC. Furthermore, they have found that these tumors are sensitive to chemotherapy.
The team's findings are published online in the journal Cancer Discovery and will appear in an upcoming print edition.
Led by Jonsson Cancer Center researcher Heather Christofk, an assistant professor of molecular and medical pharmacology at UCLA, the scientists employed a metabolomic strategy that detected nucleoside salvage activity in liposarcoma cells taken from patient samples, cells grown in the laboratory and cells grown in mouse models. The nucleoside activity was visible using PET with the UCLA-developed FAC probe (FAC PET), which measures the activity of the DNA salvage pathway, a fundamental cell biochemical pathway that acts as a sort of recycling mechanism to help with DNA replication and repair.
FAC was created by slightly altering the molecular structure of the standard chemotherapy drug gemcitabine, and in the current study, the UCLA research team discovered that the liposarcoma cells with high nucleoside salvage activity were sensitive to gemcitabine chemotherapy.
In clinical practice, this strategy might be used to identify liposarcoma patients, at the time of diagnosis, who would respond well to gemcitabine chemotherapy, saving time on other treatments and possibly extending the lives of this sub-group of patients.
"It was a satisfying study because it has translational potential for liposarcoma patients now and this is a deadly disease," Christofk said. "Our metabolomic strategy is also generalizable to treatment strategies for other cancers, and that is something we hope to do."
The study was a collaboration between basic scientists and clinicians, following the translational paradigm of bench-to-bedside discoveries.
"This was an outstanding transdisciplinary project between a diverse group of physician scientists and basic scientists that translates molecular oncology from the laboratory to the clinic in a rapid and clinically relevant manner," said Dr. Fritz Eilber, an associate professor of surgery and of molecular and medical pharmacology at UCLA and an investigator on the study. "The findings from this work can be used to directly impact the care of patients with this morbid and lethal malignancy."
###
The research was supported in part by NIH grant P50CA0863062. Christofk is a Damon RunyonRachleff Innovation awardee, supported in part by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, the Searle Scholars Program, the NIH Director's New Innovator Award (DP2 OD008454-01) and the Caltech/UCLA Nanosystems Biology Cancer Center (NCI U54 CA151819).
UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has more than 240 researchers and clinicians engaged in disease research, prevention, detection, control, treatment and education. One of the nation's largest comprehensive cancer centers, the Jonsson Center is dedicated to promoting research and translating basic science into leading-edge clinical studies. In July 2012, the Jonsson Cancer Center was once again named among the nation's top 10 cancer centers by U.S. News & World Report, a ranking it has held for 12 of the last 13 years.
For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.
[ | E-mail | 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.
??January: 496, up 49 percent ??February: 497, up 26 percent ??March: 693, up 35 percent ??April: 631, up 43 percent ??May: 739, up 57 percent ??June: 845, up 39 percent ??July: 722, up 58 percent ??August: 945, up 55 percent ??September: 810, up 15 percent ??October: 1,021, up 85 percent
Source: ASU W.P. Carey School of Business
GILBERT ? Kori Rockwell said it was exciting to see her dream home being built from the ground up.
She, her husband and three daughters have been in love with every aspect of the four-bedroom house since they moved into a KB Home development last month, Rockwell said.
?We wanted a house that hasn?t been lived in, we wanted a house that didn?t have somebody else?s problems associated with it,? Rockwell said. ?It was exactly what we wanted, and there wasn?t anything in it that we didn?t like.?
Rockwell is just one of many Valley residents who have been snapping up newly constructed homes this year.
According to a report by Arizona State University?s W.P. Carey School of Business, 1,021 new single-family homes were sold in the Phoenix area during October, an 85 percent increase from the same month last year.
For the year, 7,399 new single-family homes have been sold, up 37 percent from the same period in 2011.
?It?s certainly hotter than it was,? said Mike Orr, author of the ASU report and director of the W.P. Carey School?s Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice. ?It?s not returned back to normal yet, but it?s increasingly getting there.?
New home sales held 12 percent of residential property market share this October, up from 7 percent in 2011, the report said.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 10,357 single-family building permits had been issued in Maricopa and Pinal counties this year through October. For all of 2011, the number was 7,297.
Orr said the strong growth will not lead to another real estate bubble.
?A bubble occurs when people forget that bubbles are possible,? he said. ?Right now everybody is very very aware that we went through a bubble, so the chances of another bubble in the next 10 years is almost zero.?
Jim Belfiore, president of Belfiore Real Estate Consulting, a Phoenix-based residential property research company, said the new home segment started to recover 18 months ago and the resurgence will continue into next year.
?In the spring of 2013, you are going to see that the new housing market is better than it has been in the past six years,? Belfiore said. ?It is going to be an astounding spring.?
David Godlewski, president of the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association, said Tucson lags Phoenix in single-family home construction but will follow the Valley?s lead in coming years.
?We are starting to see some improvements,? Godlewski said. ?I?m optimistic that we will be able to sustain and see increases in 2013.?
Connie Wilhelm, president of the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, said low interest rates are encouraging buyers to enter the market.
?It allows people to get into a home and afford mortgage easily,? Wilhelm said. ?It?s a great incentive.?
At the same time, a dwindling supply of foreclosures has pushed prices higher and left loan-burdened traditional buyers in a worse position to compete against cash-rich investors. She said this motivates traditional buyers to enter the new home segment.
The rebound is also spurring residential property investors to buy land in the Valley. Last month, two deals were sealed in Mesa.
In mid November, a New York City-based real estate investor, GTIS Partners, bought 563 acres in southeast Mesa near Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.
The investor plans to develop 400 residential lots for 3,500 single-family homes and 50 acres of commercial lots for hotels, shopping malls and offices.
?We invest across the country, but we are particularly excited about the Phoenix market,? said Teddy Karatz, vice president of GTIS Partners. ?It has all the makings: It?s a top-tier city and it?s highly affordable.?
Shortly after that deal, a Scottsdale-based home builder and community developer, AV Homes, and another New York City-based residential property investor, JEN Partners, announced a co-purchase of 527 acres of land adjacent to the parcels GTIS bought.
AV Homes plans to build 1,000 homes, and JEN Partners will develop 550 sites to sell to home builders.
?We are definitely coming out of the worst home-building cycle ever, and our job growth is coming back,? said Carl Mulac, vice president of AV Homes. ?A lot of things are pointing to the right direction right now for recovery.?
Nate Nathan, president of the land brokerage firm Nathan and Associates, said his company has done 131 transactions in the last five months in the Phoenix area, up from 80 in all of last year.
?It?s an absolute frenzy to buy finished lots or platted lots, the busiest my company?s ever been,? Nathan said.
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FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank pondered an interest rate cut on Thursday and predicted the euro zone economy would shrink again in 2013, leaving the door open to a possible reduction in borrowing costs early next year.
ECB President Mario Draghi said the policymaking Governing Council held a wide discussion on interest rates before opting to leave them on hold. The euro fell against the dollar and the yen in response.
The Council also touched on the idea of cutting its deposit rate into negative territory. By effectively charging banks for their deposits rather than paying them interest, the ECB could push banks to put their money to work elsewhere.
"There was a wide discussion ... but the consensus was to leave the rates unchanged," Draghi told a news conference, a hint that opinions differed about what course to take. When there is unanimity, the ECB chief generally says so.
In the end, the ECB left its main interest rate at a record low 0.75 percent for the fifth month running despite new forecasts which suggest the euro area economy will contract next year as it has this. It left the deposit rate at zero.
On the idea of negative deposit rates, Draghi said: "We briefly touched upon the complexities that such a measure would involve and possible unintended consequences, but we didn't elaborate any further."
The bank's new staff projections put gross domestic product in a range of falling by 0.9 percent to growing by just 0.3 percent next year, suggesting contraction is far more likely than not. Draghi said downside risks prevailed.
In September, the ECB's staff had penciled in a significantly higher range of -0.4 to +1.4 percent for the euro area economy.
"The somewhat downbeat ECB forecasts, the somber tone of the ECB statement and Draghi's admission that the ECB had a 'wide discussion' over many issues including a potential rate cut also keep the door open for a cut in early 2013," said Berenberg Bank economist Holger Schmieding.
The Governing Council's decision to leave its main interest rate unchanged for now matched economists' expectations in a Reuters poll, which also showed opinion was split down the middle over the chances of a cut early next year.
"Later in 2013, economic activity should gradually recover as global demand strengthens and our accommodative monetary policy stance and significantly improved financial market confidence work their way through the economy," Draghi said.
But a political impasse over the United States' fiscal policy, which could presage steep tax hikes and budget cuts if a deal is not reached, could also dampen sentiment for longer, he said.
The level of uncertainty was reflected in the ECB's first attempt to forecast 2014, for which it penciled in growth of between 0.2 and 2.2 percent. The midpoint forecast for 2012 was pushed slightly lower to -0.5 percent.
The ECB will also continue to supply euro zone banks with all the liquidity they ask for in the central bank's refinancing operations at least until July 2013, Draghi said.
WAITING FOR SPAIN
While financial markets have calmed since the European Union and the International Monetary Fund put in place further steps to help Greece, and the ECB promised to do what it takes to preserve the euro, the bloc's economy has sunk into recession from which it shows few signs of emerging soon.
An inflation forecast of 1.1 to 2.1 percent next year -- compared with the ECB's target of close to but below two percent -- means there appears to be plenty of room to cut rates further.
But some at the central bank are wary of taking any action that could see the bloc's governments soft-pedal on budget consolidation efforts. Others, it seems, feel the economy warrants more stimulus now.
Market interest rates vary greatly across the 17-country bloc and the ECB is focused primarily on fixing what it calls the 'transmission mechanism' for passing on its rates to all corners of the euro area before.
The most obvious way of doing that would be using the ECB's yet to be used new bond-buying scheme, which could drive down government borrowing costs.
The ECB has not yet bought any sovereign debt under its new program -- dubbed Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) -- because Spain, which is seen as most likely to become the first country to make use of the new support measure, has not yet fulfilled the precondition of asking for help from the euro zone's rescue fund.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has said he wants assurances that ECB intervention would bring down Spain's debt yields, Draghi refused to commit to any targets for bringing down Spanish borrowing costs.
"The conditions under which the OMT is going to be activated are very straight," he said. "They don't talk about negotiations or a certain interest rate or anything like that."
(Writing by Mike Peacock/Paul Carrel. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)
ScienceDaily (Dec. 6, 2012) ? A new study shows that a microbicide gel is highly effective in block infection by the AIDS virus in a non-human primate model. In the paper published December 6 in the Open Access journal PLOS Pathogens, Dereuddre-Bosquet and colleagues from the European Combined Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Microbicides (CHAARM) Consortium describe the gel's key ingredient, which are small peptides engineered to present a decoy to bind up the virus and prevent it from entering and infecting the cells of the body. Because this is a gel it can be topically applied and could represent a powerful preventative agent against sexual transmission of HIV.
Worldwide, the scientific community is working on the development of a vaccine against HIV. Meanwhile, research is also focused on the reduction of the spread of the virus by the application of a microbicide gel to protect users during intercourse which is a time of first exposure to virus. To date, few treatments that block virus entry have shown promising protection.
Dereuddre-Bosquet et al. engineered peptides named "miniCD4s" because they mimic the CD4 receptor used by HIV to gain entry into immune cells of the body. The study shows that the miniCD4s blocks HIV entry into isolated cells in a dish and tissue models that mimic mucous membranes which are points of virus entry. The authors then formulated miniCD4s at 0.3% in a microbicide gel that was vaginally applied to six female cynomolgus macaques monkeys for one hour before the animals were given a high dose of the virus also in the vagina. This dose would ordinarily make the animals highly infection but instead, five of the six were completely protected from HIV infection. No trace of virus was found in any body tissue. They were also unable to detect any antibodies to the virus in the plasma of the animals, indicating that the virus was completely repelled and there was full protection.
This study provides a proof of principle that for a a promising strategy for the prevention and protection against HIV ransmission during sexual intercourse. Importantly, the protection was demonstrated in a non human primate model which represents an essential step prior needed to progress to a prospective clinical trial.
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Journal Reference:
Nathalie Dereuddre-Bosquet, Laurence Morellato-Castillo, Joachim Brouwers, Patrick Augustijns, Kawthar Bouchemal, Gilles Ponchel, Oscar H. P. Ramos, Carolina Herrera, Martha Stefanidou, Robin Shattock, Leo Heyndrickx, Guido Vanham, Pascal Kessler, Roger Le Grand, Lo?c Martin. MiniCD4 Microbicide Prevents HIV Infection of Human Mucosal Explants and Vaginal Transmission of SHIV162P3 in Cynomolgus Macaques. PLoS Pathogens, 2012; 8 (12): e1003071 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003071
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.
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Public release date: 10-Dec-2012
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