GREE plans new international mobile social gaming platform for 2012

Japanese social gaming firm GREE has announced that it will introduce an international mobile gaming platform by mid-2012, according to a company statement.

The as yet unnamed platform will be developed in line with GREE?s??free-to-play? strategy but, that aside, the announcement does not contain a great many details with GREE promising to reveal all in December.

The development is entirely logical given its?acquisition of US-based Openfeint earlier this year, and the new platform will build on both services, according to?Naoki Aoyagi, CEO of GREE International who also revealed the company bold user number target.

The new platform will leverage OpenFeint and GREE assets and will bring together Western and Asian mobile social markets with a goal of reaching over one billion users.

GREE is growing quickly with new users joining at a rate of 3.8 per second, according to the statement, while ? optimistic?of increased growth ? it has also increased its forecasted earnings (for year ending June) by more than 40 percent.

The Japanese firm has never been shy to voice its goal of hitting one billion users as earlier this year it went public with its desire to challenge Facebook, where social gaming is a major part of the experience for the social network?s 800 million plus users.

The mobile social gaming industry is massive in Japan which has led GREE and rival DeNA, which also operates in the US, to plot plans to replicate the success in other regions. DeNA has already made a move into international markets and, following behind, this new GREE platform will be another test of global interest in mobile social gaming.

Source: http://thenextweb.com/asia/2011/11/02/japans-gree-to-launch-international-mobile-social-gaming-platform-in-2012/

fsu defiance acc mayweather vs ortiz ncaa football 12 ncaa football 12 direct tv

Senators: Cut 100,000 postal workers (Politico)

A bipartisan group of Senators unveiled legislation Wednesday to save the U.S. Postal Service from what Sen. Joe Lieberman called a ?financial death spiral? but keeps six-day-a-week delivery while slashing 100,000 employees.

Under the proposal by Sens. Lieberman (I-Conn.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Scott Brown (R-Mass.), the postal service also would reduce the number of post offices and implement a number of other cost-saving options. The legislation would also prohibit the postal service from ending Saturday delivery for at least the next two years.

Continue Reading

A move to five-day service, Collins said, should be ?truly the last resort, not the first option.?

?We are not crying wolf here,? Collins said at a press conference. ?The postal service literally will not survive unless comprehensive, legislative and administrative reforms are undertaken. Absent to action, the postal service will not be able to meet its payroll a year from now.?

A key provision of the proposed legislation would require the Office of Personnel Management to repay nearly the $7 billion due to the postal service for overpayments it made to the federal employee retirement system. This refund would authorize the Postmaster General to initiate a buyout program that would cut about 100,000 workers or more over the next several years.

Carper said the Postmaster General anticipates using about $2 billion to provide retirement incentives ? and if 100,000 employees accept a buyout, it would save the USPS $8 billion per year.

Other cost-cutting measures would include an option to negotiate with the postal union to alter its current healthcare system and benefits plan, a total overhaul of the workers? compensation program and a plan to streamline delivery by implementing curbside service over door deliveries.

Collins said the postal service could likely save hundreds of millions of dollars in workers? compensation payments alone.

The postal service, Lieberman said, is currently in a ?financial death spiral.? These steps must be taken or the USPS will not survive, he told reporters.
?The bottom line is we must act quickly to prevent a postal service collapse,? Lieberman said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has introduced a postal reform bill in the House that would create an oversight board, shutter thousands of post offices and cut Saturday service, along with other sweeping reforms. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has proposed a version of that bill in the Senate.

?

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories1111_67456_html/43472617/SIG=11mefc9q2/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/67456.html

hpq raising hope oman oman unforgettable metta world peace fullerton police beating

Kevin Smith's 'Hit Somebody' Is 'About So Much More' Than Hockey

Kevin Smith might have been calling "Hit Somebody" his "hockey movie," but when he chatted with MTV News recently, he was quick to clarify that it's much more than just that. "Now I understand some people are like, 'Dude, one hockey movie is a tough sell. Two?' I call it a hockey movie in the same [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2011/11/01/kevin-smith-hit-somebody-2/

columbus day mark davis bank holidays bank holidays john galt john galt post office hours

Personal stem cell banks could be staple of future health care

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 31-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Will Sansom
sansom@uthscsa.edu
210-567-2579
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Young environment rescues old stem cells for use in treating age-related diseases

SAN ANTONIO (Oct. 31, 2011) Old stem cells can be rejuvenated by being placed in a young microenvironment, research from The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio shows. This raises the possibility that patients' own stem cells may one day be rescued and banked to treat their age-related diseases.

Stem cells are immature cells that have the potential to convert into bone, muscle, blood vessels, nerve fibers, and other body cells and tissues. It's no wonder medical science seeks to utilize these versatile cells to restore tissues deteriorated by age, disease or injury.

Older stem cells are not as robust as young ones, however a challenge to clinicians who seek to use patients' own stem cells to treat age-related diseases.

"The number and quality of those cells decline with age, that is very clear," said Xiao-Dong Chen, M.D., Ph.D., a stem cell researcher at the UT Health Science Center. "And, using the patient's own cells can impact results."

Dr. Chen's team recently made a discovery in mice that, if translated to humans, could solve this predicament.

Old cells expand when grown on a young scaffold of tissue

Dr. Chen suspected that giving stem cells a youthful environment for growth would cause them to regenerate faster. His team extracted mesenchymal stem cells from the bone marrow of 3-month-old mice and 18-month-old mice. The group also obtained extracellular matrix (ECM) from mice of both ages. ECM is a scaffold of connective tissue, such as collagen, which constitutes a majority of the body's structure.

The lab team seeded half of the older stem cells on ECM from the 3-month-old mice and half on ECM from the 18-month-old mice. Likewise, half of the young stem cells were seeded on the young ECM and half were seeded on the old ECM.

Young and old cells showed a 16.1-fold and 17.1-fold expansion, respectively, when grown on ECM from young mice, compared to a 4.1-fold and 3.8-fold expansion when grown on ECM from old mice.

Finding confirmed in rodent implants

Next, under the skin of mice, Dr. Chen's group implanted artificial scaffolds seeded with stem cells of both ages that had been grown on young or old ECM. These were left to grow for eight weeks. The researchers targeted bone formation. When the implants were removed, the team found that old cells that had been grown on a young ECM produced just as much bone as young cells, while old cells grown on an old ECM produced no bone. The results were published in the FASEB Journal earlier this year.

"If this research transfers successfully to clinical application in humans, we could establish personal stem cell banks," Dr. Chen said. "We would collect a small number of older stem cells from patients, put those into our young microenvironment to rescue them increasing their number and quality then deliver them back into the patient."

This stem cell rescue and infusion could be done as often as disease treatment requires it, he said. The next step is to repeat the study in human stem cells and ECM.

Dr. Chen, an associate professor of comprehensive dentistry in the Health Science Center Dental School, discussed the finding at the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence conference (SENS, http://www.sens.org/conferences/sens5) held at Queens' College in Cambridge, U.K.

###

For current news from the UT Health Science Center San Antonio, please visit our news release website or follow us on Twitter @uthscsa.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country's leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 3 percent of all institutions worldwide receiving federal funding. Research and other sponsored program activity totaled $228 million in fiscal year 2010. The university's schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced approximately 26,000 graduates. The $744 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways "We make lives better," visit www.uthscsa.edu.


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

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 31-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Will Sansom
sansom@uthscsa.edu
210-567-2579
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Young environment rescues old stem cells for use in treating age-related diseases

SAN ANTONIO (Oct. 31, 2011) Old stem cells can be rejuvenated by being placed in a young microenvironment, research from The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio shows. This raises the possibility that patients' own stem cells may one day be rescued and banked to treat their age-related diseases.

Stem cells are immature cells that have the potential to convert into bone, muscle, blood vessels, nerve fibers, and other body cells and tissues. It's no wonder medical science seeks to utilize these versatile cells to restore tissues deteriorated by age, disease or injury.

Older stem cells are not as robust as young ones, however a challenge to clinicians who seek to use patients' own stem cells to treat age-related diseases.

"The number and quality of those cells decline with age, that is very clear," said Xiao-Dong Chen, M.D., Ph.D., a stem cell researcher at the UT Health Science Center. "And, using the patient's own cells can impact results."

Dr. Chen's team recently made a discovery in mice that, if translated to humans, could solve this predicament.

Old cells expand when grown on a young scaffold of tissue

Dr. Chen suspected that giving stem cells a youthful environment for growth would cause them to regenerate faster. His team extracted mesenchymal stem cells from the bone marrow of 3-month-old mice and 18-month-old mice. The group also obtained extracellular matrix (ECM) from mice of both ages. ECM is a scaffold of connective tissue, such as collagen, which constitutes a majority of the body's structure.

The lab team seeded half of the older stem cells on ECM from the 3-month-old mice and half on ECM from the 18-month-old mice. Likewise, half of the young stem cells were seeded on the young ECM and half were seeded on the old ECM.

Young and old cells showed a 16.1-fold and 17.1-fold expansion, respectively, when grown on ECM from young mice, compared to a 4.1-fold and 3.8-fold expansion when grown on ECM from old mice.

Finding confirmed in rodent implants

Next, under the skin of mice, Dr. Chen's group implanted artificial scaffolds seeded with stem cells of both ages that had been grown on young or old ECM. These were left to grow for eight weeks. The researchers targeted bone formation. When the implants were removed, the team found that old cells that had been grown on a young ECM produced just as much bone as young cells, while old cells grown on an old ECM produced no bone. The results were published in the FASEB Journal earlier this year.

"If this research transfers successfully to clinical application in humans, we could establish personal stem cell banks," Dr. Chen said. "We would collect a small number of older stem cells from patients, put those into our young microenvironment to rescue them increasing their number and quality then deliver them back into the patient."

This stem cell rescue and infusion could be done as often as disease treatment requires it, he said. The next step is to repeat the study in human stem cells and ECM.

Dr. Chen, an associate professor of comprehensive dentistry in the Health Science Center Dental School, discussed the finding at the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence conference (SENS, http://www.sens.org/conferences/sens5) held at Queens' College in Cambridge, U.K.

###

For current news from the UT Health Science Center San Antonio, please visit our news release website or follow us on Twitter @uthscsa.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country's leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 3 percent of all institutions worldwide receiving federal funding. Research and other sponsored program activity totaled $228 million in fiscal year 2010. The university's schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced approximately 26,000 graduates. The $744 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways "We make lives better," visit www.uthscsa.edu.


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

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/uoth-psc103111.php

snow storm reggie bush ufc 137 boston news black friday day light savings time matilda

U.S. Gulf buildup would be imprudent: Iran foreign minister (Reuters)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) ? Any buildup of U.S. forces in the Gulf after their withdrawal from Iraq would be imprudent, Iran's foreign minister said on Monday, urging all nations to tread cautiously in a troubled region.

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi made the comments in Baghdad days after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Iran not to try to exploit the U.S. withdrawal at the year-end.

"Now, about the U.S. planning to build up their forces in the region ... they are not following a rational and prudent approach," Salehi told a joint news conference with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari.

"The Americans always have a deficit, unfortunately, in rationality and prudence. So what I expect is that it's about time for the Americans to be ... more prudent and wise in their approach," he said.

Washington is planning to bolster its military presence in the Gulf after it pulls out of Iraq, including negotiating to maintain a combat presence in Kuwait, and is considering deploying more warships in the area, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

Salehi said the region was entering a troubled period. "The consequences of these developments are not yet known to anybody, so one has to be cautious. Everybody has to be cautious, including the U.S.," he said.

Iraq and the United States failed after months of talks to agree on keeping U.S. troops in Iraq past the end of this year.

U.S. President Barack Obama announced he would stick to plans to pull out the remaining force, about 39,000 now, by the year-end, nearly nine years after the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

U.S. officials have accused Iran of interfering in Iraqi affairs by supporting Shi'ite militias in Iraq.

On Sunday Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hailed the coming withdrawal of U.S. troops from neighboring Iraq as a "golden page in that country's history.

"Iraq does not need anybody to meddle in its internal affairs. Iraq is an independent country," Salehi said.

Asked if Iran was ready to make a deal with Iraq to train its forces and exchange intelligence information, Salehi said: "Sure. (There is) no problem in such a suggestion, to make a thorough pact that includes all these (ideas)," he said.

(Editing by Jim Loney)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111031/pl_nm/us_iraq_iran_us

richard pryor richard pryor don t ask don t tell don t ask don t tell dancing with the stars season 13 sam bradford nancy grace

Mexico: Resort town shoppers trapped by gunfight

(AP) ? Hundreds of people cowered for about two hours inside a shopping mall in this resort town Saturday while security forces traded sporadic gunfire with armed men in the parking lot and then searched stores for suspects.

No one was injured in the gunbattle, but some cars and entrance doors to the shopping center were damaged, authorities said.

Police said they arrested two men who were also suspected of being involved in an overnight attack near the mall that killed a Mexican marine.

Authorities said the shooting at the Plaza Sendero shopping center erupted when marines and police found armed men in the parking lot about 1 p.m. Police ordered shoppers and employees to stay inside during the battle and the later search of the mall.

The military said army troops arrived to help secure the area and caught one suspect, who was turned over to city officials. The soldiers also provided security for the shoppers and employees inside the mall, who were allowed to leave around 3 p.m.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-10-29-LT-Mexico-Mall-Shootout/id-d923ecd024e44307a6f29dbbc41aebcf

nextdoor premier fitness dan uggla john wayne gacy top chef just desserts jamarcus russell sister wives

One-Minute Physics: How to break the speed of light

Sandrine Ceurstemont, editor, New Scientist TV Can anything travel faster than light? You may think it's a cosmic limit imposed by Einstein's special theory of relativity, but that's actually not the case. In this One-Minute Physics episode, animator Henry Reich shows how you can break the speed of light in your backyard, without violating any laws of physics.

If you enjoyed this video, check out our previous One-Minute Physics episodes to find out, for example, why there is no pink light or why light slows down in glass.

Subscribe to New Scientist Magazine

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/19b3c923/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cnstv0C20A110C10A0Cone0Eminute0Ephysics0Ehow0Eto0Ebreak0Ethe0Espeed0Eof0Elight0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

mona simpson tebow in living color cl p cl p happy halloween happy halloween

Metal prices end week higher on European bailout (AP)

Metal prices ended the week sharply higher Friday on hopes that a new financial bailout plan in Europe will lead to an increase in global economic growth.

Copper for December delivery gained 1.4 cents Friday to settle at $3.706 a pound.

Copper is up 15.2 percent for week. Platinum is up 9 percent and palladium is up 7 percent for the week.

The rally began after European officials announced early Thursday that they agreed to a broad framework to shore up banks and heavily indebted nations there such as Greece. While many details of the plan have yet to be finalized, markets have jumped on news of the agreement. Many traders were worried that European leaders wouldn't be able to agree on a deal.

Traders think the European bailout will help contain that region's financial woes. If the plan works, it might boost economic growth and increase demand for raw materials. Industrial metals like copper, palladium and platinum are used to make everything from iPods to automobiles.

December palladium fell $1.55 Friday to close at $668.35 an ounce. January platinum gained $10.40 to finish at $1,651.80 an ounce.

Precious metal prices also rose. Traders are buying more gold and silver because they think the European bailout could increase inflation by pumping more money into the global economy. Gold and silver are seen as a good investment when currency values fall.

Gold for December delivery fell 50 cents to settle at $1,747.20 an ounce. December silver was up 17.6 cents to close at $35.288 an ounce. That left gold up nearly 7 percent for the week, and silver up almost 13 percent.

Crop prices were mixed and did not rally as much as metals did during the week. Crop prices did end the week higher because economic growth generally boosts demand for grain and crop-based fuels like ethanol.

December wheat rose 0.5 cents to finish at $6.445 per bushel. Wheat is up 2.4 percent for the week.

December corn rose 3.5 cents to end at $6.55 per bushel. Corn rose nearly 1 percent for the week. November soybeans fell 18 cents to finish at $12.26 a bushel. Soybeans gained 1.1 percent in the week.

Oil prices fell. Benchmark oil lost 64 cents to end at $93.32 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Heating oil fell 3.73 cents to finish at $3.0664 per gallon, gasoline futures dropped 6.11 cents to close at $2.6461 per gallon and natural gas gained 14.6 cents to close at $4.042 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111028/ap_on_bi_ge/us_commodities_review

gravitas steve jobs and bill gates steve jobs quotes pancreatic cancer symptoms apple stock aspergers tcu