The twice and future prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, garners big Pakistan vote

As counting continues in Pakistan's historic elections, Mr. Sharif's party has pulled away from its two main rivals. But the process of building a coalition will take time.?

By Saba Imtiaz,?Correspondent / May 12, 2013

Nawaz Sharif celebrates as early vote counts show his party with a commanding lead in the polls.

K.M. Chaudary/AP

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It took scores of terrorist attacks, months of speculation and campaigning, but the verdict is in: Twice-elected prime minister Nawaz Sharif is set to win a third term after his party won a majority in the country?s parliamentary elections.

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Pakistan went to the polls?Saturday?to elect candidates for the lower house of parliament and four provincial assemblies. Mr. Sharif?s party, the center-right Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ? is projected to win over 120 seats, with the ruling center-left Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) trailing by a huge margin. Despite making gains and galvanizing new voters to take part, a national upset wasn't in the cards for former cricket-star Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).?

But Sharif isn?t going to take over power?tomorrow?? or even next week. There?s a lengthy process ahead of forming a coalition.

The victorious Sharif told supporters?on Saturday?night that he would like an ?absolute majority? and ?not have to ask for votes? but was open to talking to every party. He is often said that he is open to a coalition, but has warned that a ?split mandate? is not what Pakistan needs given the scale of the country's challenges.?

Pakistan?s lower house of parliament ? the main legislative body ? comprises 342 seats, of which 272 were up for grabs in the election. Polls for several seats were suspended after the deaths of candidates. Polling may also be conducted again for one seat in Karachi, which was marred by reports of electoral fraud and delays. The other 60 seats, "reserved" for women and non-Muslims, are indirectly elected based on the number of seats won by their parties. The party that reaches a majority with 172 seats forms ?the next government at the federal level.

To reach the magic 172, Sharif will now have to form alliances, even if these are with parties that his center-right party is ideologically opposed to. So while the dust of the elections has settled and those killed in pre-election violence are mourned, a storm will be kicked up in Lahore, where the PML-N is headquartered.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/dV3c4xsz5yo/The-twice-and-future-prime-minister-Nawaz-Sharif-garners-big-Pakistan-vote

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'Gatsby' gives 'Iron Man 3' a run for its money

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Gatsby looks almost as great as a superhero at the weekend box office.

Leonard DiCaprio's "The Great Gatsby" partied like it was the Roaring '20s with a $51.1 million debut that made it a surprisingly strong runner-up to comic-book blockbuster "Iron Man 3."

Studio estimates Sunday put "Gatsby" at No. 2 behind Robert Downey Jr.'s superhero sequel, which pulled in $72.5 million domestically to raise its total to $284.9 million after just 10 days in U.S. theaters.

With an additional $89.3 million in its third weekend overseas, "Iron Man 3" lifted its international total to $664.1 million and its worldwide haul to $949 million.

"The Great Gatsby" far exceeded expectations by distributor Warner Bros. of a $35 million to $40 million opening weekend.

Director Baz Luhrmann's 3-D adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic was a rare box-office smash for films aimed at older adults during the youth-minded summer season. According to Warner Bros., viewers over 25 made up 69 percent of the film's audience.

"It answers the question that you and I hear all the time from people over 50, 'There's nothing for me to see,'" said Dan Fellman, the studio's head of distribution. "While every studio has the $200 million tentpoles in the marketplace, you still have those who feel that it's not directed at them, which is true. So that's why I think counterprogramming like this is very important."

The weekend's other new wide release, Lionsgate's romantic comedy "Peeples," flopped at No. 4 with just $4.9 million. Produced by Tyler Perry, the movie stars Craig Robinson and Kerry Washington in a meet-the-parents-style farce.

Getting a head start on its domestic launch Friday, "Star Trek: Into Darkness" opened with $31.7 million in seven international markets. Its overseas debut included $13.3 million in Great Britain, $7.6 million in Germany and $5.5 million in Australia.

Starring DiCaprio in the title role as 1920s mystery millionaire Jay Gatsby, the latest Fitzgerald update co-stars Carey Mulligan as his lost love and Tobey Maguire as the friend chronicling their doomed romance.

It was by far the biggest debut ever for filmmaker Luhrmann, whose previous best was $14.8 million for "Australia." In just one weekend, "The Great Gatsby" nearly matched the $57.4 million domestic haul that Luhrmann's top-grossing film, the musical "Moulin Rouge!", managed in its entire run.

"Gatsby" also gave DiCaprio his second-biggest debut, behind the $62.8 million take for "Inception."

The film's success follows a bumpy road to theaters. Originally scheduled for release last December, Warner Bros. pushed it back to summer to give Luhrmann more time to finish his elaborate visual spectacle.

How well the film holds up in coming weeks depends on word-of-mouth from fans. Reviews for "The Great Gatsby" have been so-so, with many critics saying it sacrifices drama and substance for style and dazzle, including Lurhmann's elaborate party scenes backed by a contemporary soundtrack featuring Jay-Z, Beyonce and Lana Del Rey.

"Iron Man 3" was down a steep 58 percent from its opening weekend haul, no surprise given that its $174.1 million domestic debut was the second-biggest ever. The only film to do more business was Downey and company's ensemble adventure "The Avengers," which topped $200 million in its premiere last year.

"The Avengers" held up better in its second weekend with $103.1 million, a drop of only 50 percent. But "Iron Man 3" is on its way to becoming the biggest solo superhero hit worldwide and the second-biggest comic-book adaptation, behind the $1.5 billion "Avengers" payday.

"This is on a trajectory like no other individual superhero movie we've ever seen," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. "In less than three weeks, this thing is honing in on a billion dollars. It's just a testament to the incredible popularity of this character."

The movie already has far surpassed the franchise best of $624 million worldwide for "Iron Man 2."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "Iron Man 3," $72.5 million ($89.3 million international).

2. "The Great Gatsby," $51.1 million.

3. "Pain and Gain," $5 million.

4. "Peeples," $4.9 million.

5. "42," $4.7 million.

6. "Oblivion," $3.9 million ($11.7 million international).

7. "The Croods," $3.6 million ($17.3 million international).

8. "The Big Wedding," $2.5 million ($2 million international).

9. "Mud," $2.4 million.

10. "Oz the Great and Powerful," $802,000.

___

Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:

1. "Iron Man 3," $89.3 million.

2. "Star Trek: Into Darkness," $31.7 million.

3. "The Croods," $17.3 million.

4. "Oblivion," $11.7 million.

5. "Les Profs," $3.7 million.

6. "Boomerang Family," $3.6 million.

7. "Scary Movie 5," $2.7 million.

8. "Evil Dead," $2.6 million.

9. "Hanni and Nanni 3," $2.3 million.

10. "The Big Wedding," $2 million.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

http://www.rentrak.com

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gatsby-gives-iron-man-3-run-money-152258050.html

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Woods tied with Garcia, Lingmerth at Players

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia are part of a three-way tie for the lead at The Players Championship, both going after golf's richest prize without the pleasure of being in the same group for the final round at the TPC Sawgrass.

"It's probably good for both of us," Garcia said, referring to the rift that began when Garcia felt Woods instigated crowd noise as the Spaniard was playing a shot.

Woods finally made another birdie and finished off the third round Sunday morning with a 1-under 71. Garcia bogeyed the 15th when he resumed play, followed with a pair of birdies and closed with a superb chip to save par on the 18th hole for a 72.

David Lingmerth, a 25-year-old rookie from Sweden who had a two-shot lead when play resumed, made bogey from the trees on the 18th hole for a 3-under 69.

They were at 11-under 205, one shot clear of Henrik Stenson of Sweden (71), Ryan Palmer and Casey Wittenberg, who birdied his last three holes for a 70. Wittenberg only played the 18th hole Sunday morning to finish his round.

So much for that drama of Woods and Garcia paired again at Sawgrass, though Garcia didn't back away from sharing his feelings about Woods.

"I'm not going to lie, he's not my favorite guy to play with," Garcia said told Sky Sports. "He's not the nicest guy on tour."

Even though Woods tapped in for par before Garcia made his 4-foot par putt, Garcia joined Lingmerth in the final group. When two players in the same pairing are tied after the round, the player who was first to hit when the full round began is listed first. That put Garcia, who had a one-shot lead going into the third round, in the final group.

Woods figured they would play together in threesomes because of the rain delay ? it will be twosomes, instead ? and he said it didn't matter who he played with on Sunday afternoon.

"I'm tied for the lead, so I'm right there," he said.

Woods is dangerous from that spot. His record on the PGA Tour is 52-4 when he has at least a share of the lead going into the final round.

Public tension is rare in golf, though it was on full display when Garcia sat before a television camera during a storm delay on Saturday. The incident took root on the par-5 second hole when Garcia played his second shot from the fairway and hit it well right into trouble, leading to bogey. He heard a burst of cheers from the fans gathered around Woods in the trees, reacting to Woods taking out a 5-wood to play a high-risk shot.

"I wouldn't say that he didn't see that I was ready, but you do have a feel when the other guy is going to hit and right as I was in the top of the backswing, I think he must have pulled like a 5-wood or a 3-wood and obviously everybody started screaming," Garcia said on TV during the delay. "So that didn't help very much."

After the round, Woods said Garcia didn't have his facts straight.

"The marshals, they told me he already hit, so I pulled a club and was getting ready to play my shot," Woods said. "And then I hear his comments afterwards, and not real surprising that he's complaining about something."

They had a frosty relationship to begin with, and that only added another layer of ice.

Garcia said in a Golf Channel interview after he finished his third round, "We don't enjoy each other's company. You don't need to be a rocket engineer to figure that out."

Through it all, there's a prestigious golf tournament to be won that offers $1.71 million to the winner, along with a three-year exemption to the Masters and British Open, and a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour.

That would be helpful for Lingmerth, who made it onto the PGA Tour through the minor leagues last year.

He hit deep into the trees right of the 18th fairway, hit the trees trying to escape and was fortunate the ball landed in the fairway. He had a two-putt bogey and then waited to see if anyone could pass him.

Woods and Garcia were on the 15th hole when play resumed.

Garcia came up well short from the rough, and then hit a soft pitch that settled 10 feet short of the cup, leading to bogey. Woods' 12-foot birdie putt caught the lip. Both made birdie on the 16th, Woods with a chip shot instead of putting through about 10 feet of fringe. That set up a short birdie putt on the par 5. Garcia's second shot was buried in gnarly rough, and he chipped out perfectly to about 4 feet for birdie.

Garcia held his breath on the island-green 17th when his wedge hit the flagstick. Instead of bouncing back into the water, it caromed to the right of the flag, and he holed the 15-foot birdie putt to tie Woods and Lingmerth. On the final hole, Garcia came up short and well to the right, and his chip from 120 feet ran just 4 feet by the hole.

A dozen players were separated by four shots going into the last round.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/woods-tied-garcia-lingmerth-players-122750969.html

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Mark Zuckerberg's Lobby Unraveling As Musk And Sacks Leave

The technology industry’s newest high-powered political lobby, FWD.us, is unraveling just a month after it launched, as two of its biggest partners, Tesla’s Elon Musk and Yammer’s David Sacks, leave the organization. Begun with a reported $20 million of Mark Zuckerberg’s own money, and rare op-ed by the politically shy Facebook founder, FWD.us has faced a torrent of criticism over funding advertisements that praise Republicans who support the controversial Keystone pipeline (below). Environmental groups were up in arms and circulated a boycott of FWD.us that had, ironically, had more supporters than FWD.us’s call to action. The Sierra Club, Progressives United and MoveOn.org were among a littany of progressive groups that are now boycotting Facebook?advertisements.? ?Immigration reform ? fine. Oil expansion and pipelines? NOT fine. Where?s the transparency here, rich dudes? Or does FWD actually stand for Fine With Drilling?,? wrote one angry commenter on the FWD.us Facebook page. Elon Musk, as founder of Tesla Motors, prides himself on a sterling environmental record, so it’s easy to see why he couldn’t tolerate being associated with a group indirectly funding pro-Keystone pipeline ads. But, David Sacks doesn’t have as much to lose publically as Musk, which means that Musk is likely hooking more high-level partners with his departure. Nor is this the group’s first PR disaster. Even before the group began, FWD.us director and Zuckerberg’s old Harvard roommate, Joe Green, had to issue a statement of regret for a leaked perspectus. “Given the status of our funders and quality of our team, we will drive national and local narratives to properly frame our agenda,” read the brash strategy note. As we’ve written about before, FWD.us has kept a tight lid on their funding and tactics. We do know that FWD.us splits its organization into Democratic and Republican teams, offering quid pro quo cash in exchange for support of its key initiative — immigration. This kind of back-door compromising may work in D.C., but it’s evidently not as well tolerated in the Valley. In my own off-the-record conversations with supporters, no one is happy with FWD.us right now. It’s going to become a political landmine to stay on board, let alone join the group. FWD.us is unraveling, and we predict it won’t be around much longer unless it becomes a lot more transparent and ditches the D.C. tactics. Stay tuned for more.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/2A-0sKVehMQ/

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Please check the URL for proper spelling and capitalization. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Yahoo!, try visiting the Yahoo! homepage or look through a list of Yahoo!'s online services.

Please try Yahoo Help Central if you need more assistance.

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Senate OKs honor for Birmingham bombing victims

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Four victims of a deadly Alabama church bombing at the height of the civil rights movement are now just a presidential signature away from receiving Congress' highest civilian honor.

The Senate on Thursday approved by voice vote a measure that would posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair. The Senate approval of the measure comes after the House in April voted 420-0 to award the medal to the girls. It now goes to President Barack Obama for signature.

Collins, Robertson and Wesley, 14 at the time of their deaths, and McNair, who was 11, were killed when a bomb planted by white supremacists exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham on Sept. 15, 1963. Twenty-two others were injured when the massive explosion blew a hole through a wall in the church, shattering most of its windows.

Reps. Terri Sewell, a Democrat, and Spencer Bachus, a Republican, have led the Alabama congressional delegation in its effort to honor the girls 50 years after the bombing. Sewell and Bachus represent Birmingham districts in Congress.

The Senate passed the measure with no debate.

While Congress has widely embraced awarding the medal, the idea has divided relatives of the four victims. Some are supportive, but others say they are seeking financial compensation and have little interest in the award.

Sisters of McNair and Robertson have supported the idea, traveling to Washington to sit in the House gallery during the debate and vote on the measure. Relatives of Collins and Wesley, also known as Cynthia Morris, have said they do not want the congressional honor.

Collins' sister Sarah, was critically injured in the bombing, losing an eye, though she recovered. In an April interview with The Associated Press Sarah Collins Rudolph said she was seeking millions in financial compensation and would not accept the medal.

"I can't spend a medal," she told the AP.

Wesley's brother, Fate Morris, has also said he wants compensation and isn't interested in accepting the medal on his sister's behalf.

September will mark the 50th anniversary of the traumatic event that garnered international media coverage and is considered a catalyst to passage of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Three members of the Ku Klux Klan were convicted of the bombing years after the attack. Two are dead, with one is still in prison.

Past recipients of the Congressional Gold Medal include Jackie Robinson, former President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, and Pope John Paul II.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-05-09-Birmingham%20Bombing%20Congress/id-57cd58ad872242a39930811787e02441

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Holder: Civilian courts best to try terror cases

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Attorney General Eric Holder says those who argue that civilian courts are incapable of handling terrorism cases "are simply wrong."

He says that after Sept. 11, members of Congress "placed unwise and unwarranted" restrictions on where certain suspected terrorists could be held, charged and prosecuted.

In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, Holder says "many of these tired and meritless political arguments" about the effectiveness of civilian courts have come up again.

On Saturday, he told law school graduates of the University of California, Berkeley, that federal courts have shown a "robust ability to stop terrorists and collect intelligence," and he contends that any move to limit their use would be counterproductive.

The Justice Department in Washington released a copy of his speech.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-05-11-US-Holder/id-bc27476a58e64f9394a65b17d2bc8d01

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OpenTable For Android Gets Better Google Maps Integration, Booked Reservations To Calendar And Improved Navigation

If you've been using OpenTable to reserve tables at your favorite restaurants, the latest update for Android will help you discover new places to eat a little better and keep track of everything you have going on. It also got some of that Holo design lovin'.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/iSAW2xW4bms/

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Selena Gomez Answers Your Twitter Questions: Watch Now!

Gomez answers Selenators' most burning questions during 'MTV First: Selena Gomez.'
By Christina Garibaldi

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1707081/selena-gomez-fan-twitter-questions.jhtml

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"So many beautiful messages saying congratulations. Thanks everyone..." Walliams Tweeted Tuesday.

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Biomaterial shows promise for Type 1 diabetes treatment

May 9, 2013 ? Researchers have made a significant first step with newly engineered biomaterials for cell transplantation that could help lead to a possible cure for Type 1 diabetes, which affects about 3 million Americans.

Georgia Tech engineers and Emory University clinicians have successfully engrafted insulin-producing cells into a diabetic mouse model, reversing diabetic symptoms in the animal in as little as 10 days.

The research team engineered a biomaterial to protect the cluster of insulin-producing cells -- donor pancreatic islets -- during injection. The material also contains proteins to foster blood vessel formation that allow the cells to successfully graft, survive and function within the body.

"It's very promising," said Andr?s Garcia, Georgia Tech professor of mechanical engineering. "There is a lot of excitement because not only can we get the islets to survive and function, but we can also cure diabetes with fewer islets than are normally needed."

The research article -- a partnership with Emory's Dr. Robert Taylor and Dr. Peter Thule that was funded in part by the JDRF, the leading global organization funding Type 1 diabetes research -- will be published in the June issue of the journal Biomaterials.

Organizations such as JDRF are dedicated to finding a cure for Type 1 diabetes, a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas produces little or no insulin, a hormone that allows the transport of sugar and other nutrients into tissues where they are converted to energy needed for daily life.

Pancreatic islet transplantation re-emerged as a promising therapy in the late 1990s. Patients with diabetes typically find it difficult to comply with multiple daily insulin injections, which only partially improve long-term outcomes. Successful islet transplantation would remove the need for patients to administer insulin. While islet transplantation trials have had some success, and control of glucose levels is often improved, diabetic symptoms have returned in most patients and they have had to revert to using some insulin.

Unsuccessful transplants can be attributed to several factors, researchers say. The current technique of injecting islets directly into the blood vessels in the liver causes approximately half of the cells to die due to exposure to blood clotting reactions. Also, the islets -- metabolically active cells that require significant blood flow -- have problems hooking up to blood vessels once in the body and die off over time.

Georgia Tech and Emory researchers engineered a hydrogel, a material compatible with biological tissues that is a promising therapeutic delivery vehicle. This water-swollen, cross-linked polymer surrounds the insulin-producing cells and protects them during injection. The hydrogel containing the islets was delivered to a new injection site on the outside of the small intestine, thus avoiding direct injection into the blood stream.

Once in the body, the hydrogel degrades in a controlled fashion to release a growth factor protein that promotes blood vessel formation and connection of the transplanted islets to these new vessels. In the study, the blood vessels effectively grew into the biomaterial and successfully connected to the insulin-producing cells.

Four weeks after the transplantation, diabetic mice treated with the hydrogel had normal glucose levels, and the delivered islets were alive and vascularized to the same extent as islets in a healthy mouse pancreas. The technique also required fewer islets than previous transplantation attempts, which may allow doctors to treat more patients with limited donor samples. Currently, donor cells from two to three cadavers are needed for one patient.

While the new biomaterial and injection technique is promising, the study used genetically identical mice and therefore did not address immune rejection issues common to human applications. The research team has funding from JDRF to study whether an immune barrier they created will allow the cells to be accepted in genetically different mice models. If successful, the trials could move to larger animals.

"We broke up our strategy into two steps," said Garcia, a member of Georgia Tech's Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience. "We have shown that when delivered in the material we engineered, the islets will survive and graft. Now we must address immune acceptance issues."

Most people with Type 1 diabetes currently manage their blood glucose levels with multiple daily insulin injections or by using an insulin pump. But insulin therapy has limitations. It requires careful measurement of blood glucose levels, accurate dosage calculations and regular compliance to be effective.

This work was also funded by the Regenerative Engineering and Medicine Center at Georgia Tech and Emory, and the Atlanta Clinical and Translation Science Institute under PHS grant UL RR025008 from the Clinical and Translational Science Award Program.

The Center for Pediatric Healthcare Technology Innovation at Georgia Tech, the Department of Veterans Affairs Merit Review Program and the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (Grant R01 DK076801-01) helped fund the project as well.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/CbrUmMhHZTI/130509154554.htm

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Selena Gomez and Rihanna Included Among Maxim Hot 100 Top 10

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/selena-gomez-and-rihanna-included-among-maxim-hot-100-top-10/

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Nerve stimulation for severe depression changes brain function

May 7, 2013 ? For nearly a decade, doctors have used an implanted electronic stimulator to treat severe depression in people who don't respond to standard antidepressant therapy.

Now, preliminary brain scan studies conducted by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are beginning to reveal the processes occurring in the brain during stimulation and may provide some clues about how the device improves depression. They found that vagus nerve stimulation brings about changes in brain metabolism weeks or even months before patients begin to feel better.

The findings will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Brain Stimulation and are now available online.

"Previous studies involving large numbers of people have demonstrated that many with treatment-resistant depression improve with vagus nerve stimulation," says first author Charles R. Conway, MD, associate professor of psychiatry. "But little is known about how this stimulation works to relieve depression. We focused on specific brain regions known to be connected to depression."

Conway's team followed 13 people with treatment-resistant depression. Their symptoms had not improved after many months of treatment with as many as five different antidepressant medications. Most had been depressed for at least two years, but some patients had been clinically depressed for more than 20 years.

All of the participants had surgery to insert a device to electronically stimulate the left vagus nerve, which runs down the side of the body from the brainstem to the abdomen. Once activated, the device delivers a 30-second electronic stimulus to the vagus nerve every five minutes.

To establish the nature of the treatment's effects on brain activity, the researchers performed positron emission tomography (PET) brain imaging prior to the initiation of stimulation, and again three and 12 months after stimulation had begun.

Eventually, nine of the 13 subjects experienced improvements in depression with the treatment. However, in most cases it took several months for improvement to occur.

Remarkably, in those who responded, the scans showed significant changes in brain metabolism following three months of stimulation, which typically preceded improvements in symptoms of depression by several months.

"We saw very large changes in brain metabolism occurring far in advance of any improvement in mood," Conway says. "It's almost as if there's an adaptive process that occurs. First, the brain begins to function differently. Then, the patient's mood begins to improve."

Although the patients remained on antidepressants for several months after their stimulators were implanted, Conway says many of those who responded to the device eventually were able to stop taking medication.

"Sometimes the antidepressant drugs work in concert with the stimulator, but it appears to us that when people get better, it is the vagus nerve stimulator that is doing the heavy lifting," Conway explains. "Stimulation seems to be responsible for most of the improvement we see."

Additionally, the PET scans demonstrated that structures deeper in the brain also begin to change several months after nerve stimulation begins. Many of those structures have high concentrations of brain cells that release dopamine, a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain's reward and pleasure centers and also helps regulate emotional responses.

There is a consensus forming among depression researchers that problems in dopamine pathways may be particularly important in treatment-resistant depression, according to Conway. And he says the finding that vagus nerve stimulators influence those pathways may explain why the therapy can help and why, when it does work, its effects are not transient. Patients who respond to vagus nerve stimulation tend to get better and to stay better.

"We hypothesized that something significant had to be occurring in the brain, and our research seems to back that up," he says.

Funding for this research comes from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Other funding was provided by a Young Investigator Award to Charles Conway from the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders (NARSAD) and the Sidney R. Baer Jr. Foundation. Cyberonics, the maker of the vagus nerve stimulation device, donated three cost-free devices to subjects in this trial. NIH grant numbers are 1K08MH078156-01A1, 9K24MH07951006 and P30NS048056.

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/mind_brain/mental_health/~3/JkQHh2rceIk/130507134412.htm

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Sony VAIO Fit 14 (SVF14A15CXB)

The Sony VAIO Fit 14 (SVF14A15CXB) ($849 list) is an almost-ultrabook. Coming in at a hair over the 21mm thickness specification, the VAIO Fit 14 is a mainstream laptop that doesn't qualify as an ultrabook, even though it shares its Intel Core i5 processor, SSD+Hard drive configuration, and quick wake from sleep capabilities with systems that meet the ultrabook spec. We surmise that Sony called it the Fit to fill a niche between its thinner ultrabooks and its larger desktop replacement laptops. Most times, system manufacturers choose to go off-spec to gain some benefit that the strict specifications can limit. Other than the inclusion of an optical drive, however, we can't seem to find a reason. The system costs as much as competing ultrabooks and performs on most benchmark tests just as well. However a couple of drawbacks emerged during testing, including a short battery life and a very uncomfortable keyboard. These downsides held the VAIO Fit 14 from gaining a better overall score in the end.

Design and Features
The VAIO Fit 14 has the hallmarks of a Sony VAIO design, with its black-brushed metal lid, embossed VAIO logo (now with chrome outline), matching palm rest, and one piece trackpad. The system measures 0.87 by 13.5 by 9.25 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.26 pounds. These are quite respectable stats for a 14-inch laptop, though the system is thicker than touch ultrabooks like the Toshiba Satellite U845t-S4165 ($799).

The center of attention on the VAIO Fit 14 is the 14-inch screen with its 1,600 by 900 resolution. This is a much higher resolution than the 1,366 by 768 resolution screen we see on run of the mill laptops in this segment like the Samsung Series 5 UltraTouch NP540U3C-A01UB ($849). While not true 1080p HD, the VAIO Fit 14's screen is sharp, clear, and bright, which is everything we expect from Sony. The 10-point touch screen is responsive, and is protected by a seamless piece of glass. The black border around the screen is necessary to give your finger an off-screen starting point for Windows 8 gestures, and on the whole the system has a pleasing aesthetic. The multi-touch trackpad is also compatible with Windows 8 gestures, so you can use either to get around in Windows and on the Internet.

The backlit keyboard has an intelligent layout, with reduced sized keys for the F1-F12 keys and the arrow keys. The only other buttons on the top of the system are the power button and the VAIO Assist button, which opens a help utility. The chiclet-style keyboard could use some help: the keys are very stiff, which let you type quickly, but the flat key tops and very shallow key travel means that the keyboard feels uncomfortable to use. While you'd be able to easily type at 60 words per minute or more, the keyboard feels uncomfortable during use, and your fingers and wrists may tire quickly. It is similar to the touch keyboard cover on the Microsoft Surface Windows 8 Pro ($999): you can use the keyboard part time quite successfully, but it will start to become uncomfortable after about ten to fifteen minutes of use. Since the built-in keyboard is one of the main reasons to buy a laptop over a slate Windows 8 tablet, we see the uncomfortable keyboard as a glaring flaw. The Sony VAIO Fit 14 comes with a utilitarian, yet unremarkable set of I/O ports. The VAIO Fit 14 has two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, SD card reader, Ethernet, and a headset jack.

The system comes with a 750GB hard drive for storage with a 8GB cache SSD. Sony calls this setup a Hybrid Hard Drive, but essentially it's like the cache SSD plus spinning hard drive configuration common to entry level ultrabooks like the Editors' Choice Acer Aspire M5-481PT-6644 ($730). The cache drive helps these systems on day-to-day tasks (as seen by the PCMark7 scores below), as well as helping these systems wake from sleep quicker than systems that have a hard drive-only configuration. The VAIO Fit 14 took less than three seconds to wake from sleep mode, which is as fast as SSD-only systems like the Toshiba Satellite U845t-S4165. The VAIO Fit 14 comes with an optical DVD burner, which will come in handy if you want to watch programs from your DVD library or want to install older programs that came on CD or DVD.

The VAIO Fit 14 has a very good selection of multimedia content creation apps, like ArtRage Studio (a painting program that leverages the touch screen), Sony's ACID Music Studio, DVD Architect Studio, Movie Studio Platinum, and Sound Forge Audio Studio. If you don't already have these programs, they can help turn your den or dorm room into a music/video/podcasting studio. Other preloaded programs include music and photo library programs by Sony, Sociallife (a social networking aggregator), Skype, Solitaire, Minesweeper, Slacker Radio, iHeartRadio, Music Maker Jam, PlayMemories Home, VAIO Movie Creator, Intel AppUp, Hulu Plus, and Skype. It's a lot of programs that you have no say in receiving, but most of them can be useful to the creative hobbyist. The VAIO Fit 14 comes with a one-year warranty.

Performance
The VAIO Fit 14 comes with an Intel Core i5-3337U processor, 8GB of memory, and that 750GB hard drive with 8GB cache SSD. The combination of components garners the VAIO Fit 14 a very good score on the day-to-day PCMark7 benchmark test. It's not quite as fast as the SSD-powered Toshiba U845t-S4165, but it's close. Likewise, the VAIO Fit 14 comes in with very close scores with the Toshiba U845t-S4165 on the multimedia benchmark tests (Handbrake and Photoshop CS6). Taken together, this means that the VAIO Fit 14 will be a good companion to the multimedia maven, provided she can get over the uncomfortable keyboard. The 3D numbers from the VAIO Fit 14 were good, thanks to the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 in the Core i5 processor. You won't be able to play high-end 3D games, but you should be able to play light 3D games and browser-based games fine.

Battery life is important to laptop usage, and unfortunately the VAIO Fit 14's score of 4 hours 8 minutes on our battery rundown test is another of the system's disappointments. Systems like the Toshiba U845t-S4165 (6:17) and Acer M5-481PT-6644 (6:04) go past six hours, which means that they will be able to last most if not all of your afternoon's schedule. The VAIO Fit 14 might last the afternoon, if you lay off the social networking and let the system sleep while you're not taking notes. The battery is sealed in the chassis, so you won't have the option of carrying spare charged batteries to extend your day.

The Sony VAIO Fit 14 is a mainstream laptop that's almost an ultrabook with a few glaring drawbacks that keep it in the middle of the pack. If you're interested in the system and its higher resolution screen, give the system a tryout in your local big box store. If you can tolerate the keyboard and if you won't mind carrying the AC adapter with you, the system is a good find. However, for most users, systems like our Editors' Choice for entry-level touch ultrabooks Acer Aspire M5-481PT-6644 are a better choice overall.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Sony VAIO Fit 14 (SVF14A15CXB) with several other laptops side by side.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/NJCrPcLF4uo/0,2817,2418648,00.asp

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