Majority of children readmitted to hospital following stem cell transplant

Apr. 24, 2013 ? Nearly two-thirds of children receiving stem cell transplants returned to the hospital within six months for treatment of unexplained fevers, infections or other problems, according to a study performed at Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center in Boston. Children who received donor cells were twice as likely to be readmitted as children who received their own stem cells.

"No one had ever looked at these data in children," said Leslie E. Lehmann, MD, clinical director of pediatric stem cell transplantation at Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center (DF/CHCC). "This is very important information and will allow us to counsel families appropriately, as well as try to devise interventions that reduce the rate of readmissions."

The study by Lehmann and Harvard Medical School student David Shulman is being presented at the 26th annual meeting of the American Society of Pediatric Hematology Oncology in Miami, April 24-27.

A record review of 129 children from 2008 to 2011 revealed that 64 percent had at least one hospital readmission within 180 days of transplant. The source of the donor cells was a key predictor: 79 percent of patients receiving transplants from a related or unrelated donor were readmitted compared to 38 percent who received their own cells (autologous transplant). The mean number of readmissions was 2.4, indicating that for some children, discharge after transplant is just the beginning of a long process characterized by repeated hospital stays.

Fever without a documented source of infection accounted for 39 percent of the readmissions; 24 percent were for infections and 15 percent for gastrointestinal problems.

"Most of the patients went on to be successfully treated and ultimately did very well," commented Lehmann.

"We hope these findings can eventually lead to identifying a group of low-risk children who could be managed at local hospitals rather than transplant centers, reducing costs and inconvenience to families."

Lehmann said the goal is to identify which patients could be safely treated without requiring an admission to the hospital.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

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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/top_news/~3/vstRiwx6iFU/130424081350.htm

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Fake tweet shows country 'sensitive to any news that sounds like terrorism'

By Bob Sullivan, Columnist, NBC News

A stock market and a nation already on edge was temporarily knocked off its axis on Tuesday by a single fake tweet.?

Following a hack attack, the Associated Press' verified Twitter account posted "an erroneous tweet" claiming that two explosions occurred in the White House and that President Barack Obama is injured. Moments later, the @AP Twitter account ? with nearly 2 million followers ? was suspended.

"That's a bogus tweet," an AP spokesperson initially told NBC News, a statement that was?repeated by the company's corporate communications account. Though the false tweet disappeared, the false message continued to exist on the service in over 4,000 retweets.

The chart of the Dow Jones industrial average just after 1 p.m. may as well have been a chart of America's heartbeat -- stopped for a moment, again, by seemingly horrific information. The Dow lost more than 140 points almost instantly, before recovering five minutes later.

It's incredible what a single 12-word lie can do.

The markets plummet, and then snap back after a fake AP terror tweet, with the "Power Lunch" crew.

"We're in an environment where we're sensitive to any news that sounds like terrorism," said Art Hogan of Lazard Capital Markets.? "That makes it that much more believable. That's the tricky part. When something like AP gets hacked, it becomes reality for a period of time, until it's not."

The market's reaction hints at the our collective fragility right now.? In the past, carefully crafted fake press releases or other Internet disinformation has been able to influence individual stocks both up or down.

But a single Tweet sinking the market?? It's just the latest sign that lies now spread on the Internet as fast as computer viruses, and can have just as much impact. Like the false rumors that spread like wildfire during the Boston bombing aftermath, or Hurricane Sandy before that, Twitter's surge to mainstream popularity ? it now boasts 140 million U.S. accounts???has made it an incredible source of on-the-spot information, but also the world's most powerful rumor-mongering tool.

"You wonder who did it and whether it was done on purpose. It certainly was an instant implosion," said Art Cashin, director of floor operations for UBS Financial Services, who watched the minutes of bedlam on the floor of the NYSE. Cashin said the reaction was especially dramatic because it said the president was injured.

If you define the term "hacking" loosely, you might consider that whoever wrote the fake tweet hacked not only AP's account, but the entire Wall Street trading system. The trades which sank the market Tuesday were almost certainly initiated by automated trading programs designed to profit by fast-twitch reacting to good or bad news.

The combination of a jittery public, automated trading, and a worldwide rumor tool was toxic for the markets.

"That goes to show you how algorithms read headlines and create these automatic orders ? you don't even have time to react as a human being," said Kenny Polcari of O'Neil Securities. "I'd imagine the (Security and Exchange Commission) is going to look into how this happened. It's not about banning computers, but it's about protection and securing our markets."

It's also about figuring out how to handle a world where the firewall between seemingly disconnected systems like Twitter and brokerage servers is really only 91 characters long, particularly a world where skepticism?s classic grains of salt seem to be in short supply.

CNBC's JeeYeon Park, Patti Domm and John Melloy contributed to this story.

Related:?AP Twitter account hacked, posts false White House scare

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2b1495ec/l/0Lredtape0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A40C230C178812150Efake0Etweet0Eshows0Ecountry0Esensitive0Eto0Eany0Enews0Ethat0Esounds0Elike0Eterrorism0Dlite/story01.htm

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Lawyer: Inspectors clear US horse slaughterhouse - Economy news

ROSWELL, New Mexico (AP) ? The attorney for a proposed horse slaughterhouse in southeastern New Mexico says a federal inspection Tuesday went well and the plant hopes to be in business soon.

Attorney Blair Dunn says agriculture officials found no issues at Valley Meat Co. and told the owners Tuesday they are recommending a grant of inspection be issued immediately. Dunn says he expects final approval for the plant to come in a matter of days.

Valley Meat Co. has become ground zero for an emotional, national debate in America over a return to domestic horse slaughter that has divided horse rescue and animal humane groups, ranchers, politicians and Indian tribes.

Fueling opposition is a recent uproar in Europe over horse meat being found in products labeled as beef. The company hopes the inspection ends a yearlong political drama that has left it idle and made owner Rick De Los Santos and his wife, Sarah, targets of vandalism and death threats.

Valley Meat Co. is a former cattle slaughterhouse whose kill floor has been redesigned for horses to be led in one at a time, secured in a huge metal chute, shot in the head, then processed into meat for shipment overseas.

At issue was whether horses are livestock or pets, and whether it is more humane to slaughter them domestically than to ship tens of thousands of neglected, unwanted and wild horses thousands of miles (kilometers) to be slaughtered in Mexico or Canada.

Front and center of the debate is De Los Santos, who along with his wife, has for more than two decades worked this small slaughterhouse, taking in mostly cows that were too old or sick to travel with larger herds to the bigger slaughterhouses for production.

Now, with cattle herds shrinking amid an ongoing drought, De Los Santos says he and his wife are just trying to transform their business and make enough money to retire by slaughtering domestically some of the thousands of horses that he says travel through the state every month on their way to what are oftentimes less humane and less regulated plants south of the border.

"They are being slaughtered anyway. We thought, well, we will slaughter them here and provide jobs for the economy," De Los Santos said. Instead, Valley Meat has been ensnarled in a yearlong political drama that has left the plant idle and its owners the target of vandalism and death threats ? warnings that increased after humane groups found a video a now-former plant worker posted of himself cursing at animal activists, then shooting one of his own horses to eat.

"People are saying, 'We will slit your throat in your sleep. We hope you die. We hope your kids die,'" De Los Santos said. "Sometimes it's scary. ... And it's all for a horse." Indeed, voice mails left on the company's answering machine spew hate and wishes for violence upon the family.

"I hope you burn in hell," said one irate woman who called repeatedly, saying, "You better pack your (expletive) bags (expletive) and get out of there because that place is finished." The couple have hired security and turned over phone records to federal authorities.

"It's complicated, this industry of feeding the world," Sarah De Los Santos says matter-of-factly. The meat would be processed for human consumption and exported to countries in eastern Europe and Asia.

The Obama administration wants to prohibit horse slaughter. The administration's 2014 budget request excludes money for inspectors for horse slaughter plants, which would effectively keep them from operating.

Humane groups and politicians including Gov. Susana Martinez and New Mexico Attorney General Gary King strongly oppose the plant. They argue that horses are iconic animals in the West, and that other solutions and more funding for horse rescue and birth control programs should be explored over slaughter.

Still others are pushing for a return to domestic slaughter. Proponents include several Native American tribes, the American Quarter Horse Association, some livestock associations and even a few horse rescue groups that believe domestic slaughter would be more humane than shipping the animals elsewhere.

Follow Jeri Clausing at https://twitter.com/jericlausing

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Source: http://www.mail.com/int/business/economy/2039896-lawyer-inspectors-clear-us-horse-slaughterhouse.html

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TV reporter fired for profanity to hit red carpet

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) ? A North Dakota news anchor whose profanity-laced television debut got him fired after one broadcast is already getting job offers.

A.J. Clemente's first stint as an anchor at KFYR-TV in Bismarck on Sunday night was also his last after he uttered two obscenities just as cameras began to roll. Clemente was fired Monday.

By Wednesday, he was making appearances on national talk shows as a bit of a celebrity. On "Live with Kelly and Michael," hosts Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan offered Clemente a job interviewing celebrities on the red carpet at the premiere of Pierce Brosnan's "Love Is All You Need." A wide-eyed Clemente agreed.

Later, he tweeted photos from the set of "The Late Show" with David Letterman, where he was to appear Wednesday night.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tv-reporter-fired-profanity-hit-red-carpet-235404179.html

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European rate cut hopes fuel market rally

LONDON (AP) ? Hopes that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates next month to support a fading economy fueled a rally in stock markets on Tuesday.

Investors, particularly in Europe, rushed to buy stocks and bonds on expectations that the ECB will opt to cut its main interest rate to a record low of 0.50 percent at its meeting next Thursday from the current 0.75 percent.

The speculation was triggered by a survey into manufacturing activity among the 17 European Union countries that use the euro. The PMI survey from Markit fell another 0.3 points in April to 46.5 ? anything below 50 indicates a contraction.

In particular, the survey showed that it wasn't just the weaker, indebted countries that are struggling. Germany, Europe's biggest economy and its export powerhouse, weakened too.

"This is now going to prompt talk again of an ECB rate cut, given that Bundesbank head, Jens Weidmann, conceded recently that a rate cut would be considered if we see further worsening in the economic data," said Craig Erlam, market analyst at Alpari. The Bundesbank is Germany's central bank.

In Europe, Germany's DAX rallied 2.4 percent to close at 7,658.21 while the CAC-40 in France rose 3.6 percent to 3,783.05. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares rose 2 percent to 6,406.12.

The market optimism helped lower interest rates on government bonds for financially weak countries like Italy and Spain. The yield on Italy's benchmark 10-year bond fell a further 0.12 percentage points to 3.91 percent while Spain's fell 0.24 percentage points to 4.26 percent. Neither country's borrowing rates have been this low since late 2010.

Wall Street was solid too, with the Dow Jones industrial average up 1 percent at 14,716, while the broader S&P 500 index rose 1.1 percent to 1,579.18.

A raft of earnings helped shore up the U.S. open. DuPont, the chemical maker, reported first-quarter profits that more than doubled as its agricultural unit did brisk business. Travelers insurance and Coach soared after strong reports.

The main point of interest on the earnings front will be when Apple reports after the markets close. The company has seen its share price take a battering over the past few months amid mounting concerns over its product line and tough competition.

"With the stock nearly 50 percent off all-time highs, the question is how much more scope is there on the downside," said Fawad Razaqzada, market strategist at GFT Markets.

Earlier, Chinese shares underperformed after a downbeat manufacturing survey renewed concerns over the world's second-largest economy.

A preliminary survey by HSBC Corp. found that China's manufacturing growth slowed in April, in a further sign that the economy is slowing.

HSBC's monthly purchasing managers' index ? a gauge of business activity ? fell to a worse-than-expected 50.5 from March's 51.6 on a 100-point scale. That means it's growing but only just ? anything below 50 would have signaled a contraction in activity.

"Just as in 2012, Chinese growth is failing to live up to the market's high expectations," said Rebecca O'Keeffe, head of investment at Interactive Investor.

The survey hit Chinese shares particularly hard, with the country's Shanghai Composite Index tumbling 2.6 percent to 2,184.54 and the Shenzhen Composite Index falling 2.7 percent to 923.42. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.1 percent to 21,806.61.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei index slipped as the yen gained ground against the dollar. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo fell 0.3 percent to close at 13,529.65.

In currency markets, the dollar recovered to rise 0.2 percent against the Japanese yen, to 99.40 yen. The euro fell 0.4 percent against the dollar, to $1.3011.

Oil prices were also depressed following the disappointing economic data, with the benchmark New York rate down 3 cents at $89.16 a barrel.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/european-rate-cut-hopes-fuel-market-rally-145634472--finance.html

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Iraq: 28 dead in clashes, bombing as tensions rise

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Clashes erupted Wednesday between the Iraqi army and armed Sunni tribesmen who sealed off a central Iraqi town, leaving nearly two dozen dead in an outbreak of violence that killed 28 people around the country.

The fighting came a day after security forces stormed a Sunni protest camp in the town of Hawija, sparking deadly clashes and a spate of other attacks, mostly targeting Sunni mosques, that killed at least 56 people.

The unrest is heightening Sunni-Shiite tensions and raising fears that the country could be headed toward a new round of all-out sectarian violence.

Wednesday's fighting broke out after tribesmen blocked roads leading to the Sunni town of Qara Tappah, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of Baghdad.

Iraqi troops arrived to try to clear the city. Fierce clashes erupted, and helicopters fired at the gunmen. Police say 15 gunmen and seven soldiers were killed.

In other violence, three gunmen were killed when they attacked a security checkpoint near the former al-Qaida stronghold of Mosul, about 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

Later, a car bomb struck a police patrol north of Baghdad, killing a policeman and two civilians, according to police.

Hospital officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information to reporters.

The Tuesday raid in Hawija drew harsh condemnations from Sunni leaders and foreign diplomats, raising fears that Iraq is being pushed back toward all-out sectarian fighting like the underlying conflicts in the civil war in neighboring Syria.

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged Iraqi authorities to ensure that any investigation into the Hawija killings takes into account allegations that security forces used excessive force. The rights group noted that there have been reports that security forces attacked demonstrators without provocation.

Iraq's Defense Ministry said it entered the protest area to try to make arrests over an attack on a nearby checkpoint several days earlier, and its forces came under heavy fire from several types of weapons, as well as snipers.

Tuesday's bloodshed followed four months of largely peaceful protests staged by Iraq's Sunni minority against the Shiite-led government.

Iraqi Sunnis say they face discrimination, particularly in the application of a tough anti-terrorism law that they believe unfairly targets them. The government frequently carries out arrests in Sunni areas on charges of al-Qaida or ties to the deposed Baathist regime of dictator Saddam Hussein.

___

AP writer Adam Schreck contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iraq-28-dead-clashes-bombing-tensions-rise-154823415.html

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The 20-Minute Rule

Over the years, I?ve developed what I refer to as the 20-minute rule. It basically says that a movie that hasn?t hooked me in the first 20 minutes probably isn?t going to.

I tend to apply it most forcefully when I?m watching films at festivals or when I?m sorting through DVD (or online) screeners at home. If nothing?s happening after 20 minutes, sorry, I?m out. As I?ve noted, at this particular point in our cinematic history, there simply isn?t sufficient time to watch all the movies that come my way ? so I?ll take an afternoon, say, and sit down with a stack of the screeners that have piled up.

They?ve got 20 minutes to grab me. If they do, I?ll either stick with them or come back to them later on and move to the next one.

At a film festival, it?s the same thing: so many movies, so little time. So if it?s not doing it for me in 20 minutes, I?m on to the next one.

I can hear the gasps, but be honest: In most cases, you can tell in the first 20 minutes whether a movie will or won?t be worth sitting through. In some cases, you can tell in the first 10 minutes.

Not that I bail on any movie that fails to spark my imagination in that first 20 minutes. I am, after all, doing a job here: reviewing films. And you can?t really review a movie you haven?t seen all the way through. Or you shouldn?t. So I do sit through a lot of crap because that?s what the job is ? sitting through the major movies, good and bad, and rendering a thoughtful opinion afterward.

But there are filters. While I?m mostly required to review the big studio films, the joy in this job is in finding the small film that is worth championing, to bring it to the attention of a larger audience. There are so many, however, that you need to sift through them to find the ones worth giving that kind of attention.

A producer once told me that similar methods are used to analyze scripts to decide which films to make. Except he used the figure of 15 pages: That?s how long the screenwriter has to grab the bored development person with a pile of screenplays to wade through and analyze. If it?s not happening in the first 15 pages, it?s probably not happening.

This, of course, raises the issue of the slow-cooking movie, the one that has subtler things on its mind than accumulating a large body count and blowing up lots of cool stuff. Even then, however, I would argue that the spark is there in that first 20 minutes of screen time.

There?s nothing, for example, in the last two hours of ?Tree of Life? that wasn?t foreshadowed by the first 20 minutes. OK, so you couldn?t predict that Terrence Malick was going to suddenly show us Earth from the Big Bang up to the present day in a wordless 15-minute montage ? but it was certainly of a piece with (and just as coherent as) what followed.

All of which is by way of explanation why I?m not reviewing a couple of this week?s releases that come with big names attached. Indeed, I?m not reviewing much this week, because it?s a bit of a vacation.

Timing and other assignments have meant I am missing the screenings for the week?s two biggest releases: ?The Big Wedding? and Michael Bay?s ?Pain & Gain.? But, under other circumstances, I probably would review ?At Any Cost,? which stars Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron, and ?Arthur Newman,? which stars Colin Firth and Emily Blunt (both doing flat American accents). And I?m not.

I went to see filmmaker Rahmin Bahrani?s ?At Any Price? at the Toronto Film Festival last fall ? and walked out after 20 minutes. I was one of the few who didn?t drink the Kool-Aid for Bahrani?s ?Goodbye Solo,? one of the more overrated films of the past five years. And I couldn?t swing with his take on middle-American farmers dealing with genetically modified seeds and the changing climate of agribusiness. After 20 minutes of the kind of obvious melodrama that Bahrani seemed to be dishing up ? about fathers and sons, down-home values versus shifting business ethics ? I?d had enough and walked out. You?ll undoubtedly read rapturous reviews of this film when it opens Friday; large grains of salt are encouraged.

Then I tried to watch a screener of ?Arthur Newman,? in which Firth plays a middle manager in Orlando, Fla., who loses his job, fakes his own suicide and takes on a purchased identity to start a new life as a teaching golf pro at a country club in Terre Haute, Ind. Talk about living the dream. But despite carefully setting up the premise, the film seemed to sputter along without truly lifting off, even with Firth?s sudden involvement with a troubled woman played by Blunt. Sorry ? next.

You make choices. Not reviewing is a choice which, hopefully, has meaning of its own. In this case, it means these movies weren?t worth the time required to watch them all the way through, let alone to write a review.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1927330/news/1927330/

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