Curry's big night sends Duke past Spartans 71-61

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? Mike Krzyzewski already holds the NCAA record for most wins by a coach.

Thanks to Seth Curry's big scoring night, Krzyzewski could finish the weekend by tying one of John Wooden's records.

Curry scored 29 points, tied the school record for most 3-pointers in an NCAA tournament game and led the Duke Blue Devils past Michigan State 71-61, putting Krzyzewski within one win of his 12th Final Four appearance. All Duke has to do is beat top-seeded Louisville in the NCAA tournament's Midwest Regional final ? something it already has done.

"We were fortunate to win that game. They've been playing the best basketball in the country," Krzyzewski said, referring to Duke's 76-71 victory Nov. 24. "I love their two guards. I think they're great kids and they're dynamic. But they're deep. They're a deep team. We can't turn the ball over against them."

Duke (30-5) can create its own set of problems as the Spartans found out Friday night.

Curry knocked down six of his first seven 3s before missing his final two to tie a school record that had been attained six other times, most recently by Jason Williams on March 22, 2001, against UCLA. He had plenty of help, too. Rasheed Sulaimon scored 16 points, making 12 of 14 from the free-throw line, also tying a school record for free throws made in a tourney game. Mason Plumlee added 14 points and seven rebounds in the return to his home state.

And if Krzyzewski earns career win No. 958 on Sunday against top-seeded Louisville, he will break a second-place tie with North Carolina's Dean Smith and move into a tie with Wooden for most Final Four appearances by a head coach in NCAA history.

Krzyzewski isn't the only one chasing a milestone.

A win would also move Louisville coach Rick Pitino into a tie for fourth all-time with Roy Williams and he is trying to get the Cardinals back to the Final Four for the second straight year.

Clearly, Louisville (32-5) has a few advantages. The game in Indianapolis will be played about 100 miles from campus and another heavily-partisan Cardinals crowd is expected at Lucas Oil Stadium.

But Louisville will face a team that was ranked No. 1 earlier this season and in the same venue it lost as the top seeded team in the Midwest Region just four years ago to Michigan State. Plus, they'll be facing a Duke team that is clicking on all cylinders.

"If a team's game plan is to just to be tough or physical with us, that's not going to win," Plumlee said.

The Spartans (27-9) learned that lesson the hard way.

They focused, as usual, on dominating the middle.

Instead, Curry's 3-point barrage loosened things up, and forced Michigan State to play catch-up most of the second half.

His sixth 3 of the night broke a 38-38 tie early in the second half, sending Duke on a 9-0 run. The Blue Devils never trailed again.

"Honestly, I was just trying to help my shot. I got a few to go early," Curry said. "I feel like every time I take a shot, it's going to go down and nothing felt different tonight."

The Spartans were led by Keith Appling, who scored 16 points despite playing with a brace over his injured right shoulder. Adreian Payne added 14 points and 10 rebounds, but it wasn't nearly enough against Curry & Co.

Coach Tom Izzo was hoping that his only son's prediction, that Duke would beat Michigan State in the regional semis, would be wrong. Instead, the younger Izzo got it right.

"They're a good team, they played well, Curry hurt us, no question about it," Izzo said. "We didn't quit, we hung in there. I thought we played poorly for us, but the better team won tonight."

The game was billed as an entertaining contest between two of college basketball's most successful coaches ? and it lived up to the hype.

The first half was played to a near draw with four ties and eight lead changes.

Michigan State grabbed an 18-17 lead on Derrick Nix's tip-in with 9:52 left in the first half, but Curry then scored nine points in an 11-2 run for the Blue Devils. He was fouled by Travis Trice while attempting a 3-pointer and made all three free throws to make it 28-20 with 4:59 remaining.

Back came the Spartans, who clamped down on defense and closed to 32-31 at halftime.

But Curry's early second-half scoring spree was all the Blue Devils needed. Michigan State pulled within seven with 1:32 to go, but couldn't get any closer after trailing by as much as 13 in the second half.

"We knew we would have to play at that level. They're a little more athletic than we are," Krzyzewski said. "We had to try to match that and tonight we were able to do that. I'm glad it's not a seven-game series because I'm not sure we'd be able to continue to do it. But tonight we were able to do it."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/currys-big-night-sends-duke-past-spartans-71-073643245--spt.html

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Italy's president declines to resign, will stay to deal with crisis

By Giselda Vagnoni

ROME (Reuters) - Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Saturday ruled out standing down early to make way for new parliamentary elections, following the failure of attempts to form a government this week.

Napolitano, whose term ends on May 15, spoke after news reports suggested he might resign to get around constitutional provisions which prevent a president dissolving parliament and calling elections in the final months of his mandate.

The 87-year-old told reporters he would continue his efforts to break the deadlock since inconclusive elections last month that left no group able to form a government.

"I will continue until the last day of my mandate to do as my sense of national responsibility suggests, without hiding from the country the difficulties that I am still facing," he told reporters at his Quirinale palace.

He said he would ask two small groups of experts to formulate proposals for institutional and social and economic reforms that could be supported by all political parties.

But he acknowledged that he had limited scope to force the divided parties to find a way out of political situation that he said was "frozen between irreconcilable positions".

Napolitano met leaders of the main parties on Friday to try to find a way out of the stalemate, which has created deep uncertainty just as the Cyprus banking crisis has revived fears about the stability of the euro zone.

However with all of the three main groups in parliament clinging to entrenched positions that have prevented a majority being formed in parliament, hopes of a solution that would prevent the need to go back to the polls have faded.

Center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, whose party controls the lower house but does not have a majority in the Senate, failed to win enough support to form a government from any of the other parties during a week of talks.

He rejected demands by center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi for a cross-party coalition deal that would give the scandal-plagued former prime minister a share in power and the right to decide Napolitano's successor.

Both Berlusconi's group and the populist 5-Star Movement led by ex-comic Beppe Grillo have also ruled out a new technocrat government like the one led by outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti, blocking what appears to be the only other option.

IRRECONCILABLE

With investors mindful of the 2011 debt crisis that brought down Berlusconi's last government, the gridlock has fed worries about Italy's ability to confront an economic crisis that has fuelled rising social tensions and disillusion with its political class.

Napolitano's pledge to stay on appears to rule out the threat of a power vacuum with weeks of uncertainty until new elections, which would have to be called within 70 days of parliament being dissolved.

He stressed that Prime Minister Mario Monti retained full authority at the head of a caretaker administration until a new government can be formed.

Whether or not that can happen, parliament will soon have to begin preparations to vote for a new president either to oversee the first steps of a new government or early elections.

The election of the head of state, by a joint sitting of parliament and representatives from the regions, is likely to cause another bitter fight between the three main blocs which have become increasingly hostile to each other since the election.

A person close to the situation told Reuters on Saturday that Napolitano had considered resigning and the apparently coordinated leak of his thinking to newspapers may have been a move to increase pressure on the parties to secure a deal.

With bond markets closed for the Easter break, investors have been left on the sidelines but a poorly received auction of mid- and long-term debt last week underlined the danger if the crisis drags on.

Italy has been in deep recession for more than a year, with record unemployment, especially among the young and a 2-trillion-euro ($2.6-trillion) public debt that is dangerously exposed to swings on international bond markets.

Economy Minister Vittorio Grilli, responding to questions about market rumors of a ratings downgrade, told reporters on Thursday he had no knowledge of any imminent decision by Moody's to cut Italy's sovereign debt rating.

Moody's already rates Italy only two notches above "junk" grade, partly due to the uncertain political outlook.

(Writing by James Mackenzie; editing by Barry Moody)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italy-president-could-resign-allow-election-source-083108238--business.html

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PHOTO: Snooki Shows Off Her Post-Baby Body!

See photos of Snooki's beach ready body! Check out other cute and candid moments from the stars

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/celebrity-twitter-pictures/1-b-229669?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Acelebrity-twitter-pictures-229669

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Record Wall Street boosts sentiment, U.S. holds key in Q2

By Chikako Mogi

TOKYO (Reuters) - Whether the world's largest economy can sustain momentum will be a primary focus for investors for the next three months after a general recovery trend in the United States helped risk sentiment for broad markets in the first quarter of 2013.

Asian shares edged higher and the euro steadied on Friday after banks in Cyprus reopened to relative calm. Overall trade was subdued, with many Asian markets, including Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, closed on Friday for Easter holidays.

European and U.S. markets will also shut for Easter Friday.

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> was up 0.2 percent for a quarterly 1.5 pct gain, the worst performance in three quarters. The pan-Asian index touched a 1-1/2-year high in February.

The first quarter was marked by growing optimism about global growth, particularly with data pointing to a recovery in the U.S. economy that fed speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve might scale back its aggressive stimulus earlier than planned.

Such views spurred strong rallies in U.S. equities while underpinning the dollar, breaking the usual negative correlation between U.S. equities and the dollar.

The U.S. economy shows a seasonal tendency to weaken in the second quarter and effects of fiscal tightening may compound the bearish trend, with property regulations clouding China's growth prospects also providing potential risk.

The euro zone's financial crisis re-emerging in one form or another from time to time remains another downside risk. Worries over Chinese growth and the euro zone were not as severe as in past years, due to the brightening global growth outlook and safety nets being placed in Europe, along with the extremely accommodative monetary policy stance of major central banks.

"The basic scenario for the second quarter will be for the U.S. to maintain its economic recovery trend, which is key to sustaining hopes for improvement in global growth," said Junya Tanase, chief FX strategist at JPMorgan Chase Bank in Tokyo.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> ended on Thursday at a record high 1,569.19, finishing the first quarter up 10 percent, slightly below a 12 percent rise at the end of the first quarter a year ago.

The fairly orderly reopening for banks in Cyprus on Thursday after the island nation received a controversial 10 billion euro bailout reduced safe-haven demand for U.S. Treasuries and gold and weighed broadly on the dollar.

The dollar measured against a basket of key currencies <.dxy> fell 0.4 percent to 82.921 in Asia on Friday, moving away from Wednesday's 7-1/2 month peak of 83.302. The dollar index was set for a quarterly gain of nearly 4 percent, its best quarter since end-September 2011.

Demand for the dollar, backed by hopes on rising yields, might wane because the U.S. recovery is not yet strong enough to prompt the Fed to end its aggressive easing stance.

"The dollar remains firm basically, but its outperformance is likely to wane from the very strong showing in the first quarter," Tanase said.

JAPAN IN FOCUS

The Nikkei stock average <.n225> was up 0.6 percent, set for a quarterly increase of 19 percent, after touching a 4-1/2-year peak of 12,650.26 last week. <.t/>

Daiwa Securities senior strategist Eiji Kinouchi said in a research note that, given the past pattern of cyclically sensitive industrial names lagging interest rate-sensitive names in New York Dow components, funds may be allocated to stocks that are sensitive to economic fundamentals. That should also be positive for Japanese stocks, he said.

Japanese equities have largely benefited from the yen's steady decline on expectations the Bank of Japan would take bold reflationary steps under its new leaders, who will hold their first policy meeting next week.

The dollar steadied around 94.06 yen, having risen about 8.4 percent for the quarter after touching a 3-1/2-year peak of 96.71 earlier in March.

The latest available data from EPFR Global released on March 22 showed Japan Equity Funds had extended their recent run to mid-March and were on track for the biggest quarterly inflow since the fourth quarter of 2005.

In contrast, China Equity Funds posted outflows for the fourth week in a row, reflecting concerns about China's property tightening and uncertainty over the economy.

Stocks in the Philippines <.psi> and Indonesia <.jkse> hit a record high, while Thai stocks <.seti> this month scaled their highest point in 19 years.

The Thomson Reuters South East Asia Index <.trxfldanpu>, an indicator of stocks listed in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, was set for a 5.7 percent gain for the first quarter, down from a 14.8 percent jump a year earlier.

"Southeast Asia is in overbought territory and may be vulnerable temporarily to the downside in cases of receding risk appetite, but money is expected to continue flowing into Asia over the longer term," said Hirokazu Yuihama, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo.

The euro was at $1.2822, hovering near a four-month low of $1.2750 touched on Wednesday, and was set for a quarterly loss of 2.8 percent.

Crude futures markets will be shut on Friday.

Brent's slide of near 1 percent in the quarter and U.S. crude's robust 5.9 percent rise reflected the difference in sentiment between a gloomy outlook for Europe and a U.S. economy showing signs of improving growth.

Spot gold was down 0.1 percent to $1,595.19 an ounce, set to end the first quarter down nearly 5 percent.

(Editing by Paul Tait)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/record-wall-street-boosts-sentiment-activity-subdued-022012999--finance.html

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GOP moves to catch up with Democrats on technology

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republicans are moving aggressively to repair their technological shortcomings from the 2012 election, opening a new tech race to counter a glaring weakness against President Barack Obama.

With the blessing of party leaders, a new crop of Republican-backed outside groups is developing tools to improve communication with voters, predict their behavior and track Democratic opponents. After watching Obama win re-election with the aid of an unprecedented technological machine, GOP officials concede an urgent need for major changes in the way they reach voters. They are turning to a younger generation of tech experts expected to play a bigger role in the 2014 midterm elections and beyond.

"I think everybody realized that the party is really far behind at the moment and they're doing everything within their realistic sphere of influence to catch up," said Bret Jacobson, a partner with Red Edge, a Virginia-based digital advocacy firm that represents the Republican Governors Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Heritage Foundation.

Alex Skatell, former digital director for the GOP's gubernatorial and Senate campaign operations, leads a new group that has been quietly testing a system that would allow Republicans to share details about millions of voters ? their personal interests, group affiliations and even where they went to school. Democrats began using related technology years ago, giving Obama a significant advantage last fall in personalizing communication with prospective supporters.

With no primary opponent last year, Obama's re-election team used the extra time to build a large campaign operation melding a grass-roots army of 2.2 million volunteers with groundbreaking technology to target voters. They tapped about 17 million email subscribers to raise nearly $700 million online.

Data-driven analytics enabled the campaign to run daily simulations to handicap battleground states, analyze demographic trends and test alternatives for reaching voters online.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, in contrast, had only a few months after a lengthy primary fight to try to match Obama's tech advantage. He couldn't make up the difference. Romney's technology operation was overwhelmed by the intense flow of data and temporarily crashed on Election Day.

A 100-page report on how to rebound from the 2012 election, released last week by Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus, includes several technology recommendations.

"The president's campaign significantly changed the makeup of the national electorate and identified, persuaded and turned out low-propensity voters by unleashing a barrage of human and technological resources previously unseen in a presidential contest," the report said. "Marrying grass-roots politics with technology and analytics, they successfully contacted, persuaded and turned out their margin of victory. There are many lessons to be learned from their efforts, particularly with respect to voter contact."

Skatell, 26, is leading one new effort by Republican allies to fill the void. His team of designers, software developers and veteran Republican strategists is now testing what he calls an "almost an eHarmony for matching volunteers with persuadable voters" that would let campaigns across the country share details in real time on voter preferences, harnessing social media like Facebook and Twitter.

Other groups are working to improve the GOP's data and digital performance.

The major Republican ally, American Crossroads, which spent a combined $175 million on the last election with its sister organization, hosted private meetings last month focused on data and technology. Drawing from technology experts in Silicon Valley, the organization helped craft a series of recommendations expected to be rolled out later this year.

"A good action plan that fixes our deficiencies and identifies new opportunities can help us regain our advantage within a cycle or two," said Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio.

A prominent group of Republican aides has also formed America Rising, a company that will have a companion "super" political action committee that can raise unlimited contributions without having to disclose its donors. Its purpose is to counter Democratic opposition research groups, which generated negative coverage of Romney and GOP candidates last year.

America Rising will provide video tracking, opposition research and rapid response for campaign committees, super PACs and individual candidates' campaigns but does not plan to get involved in GOP primaries. It will be led by Matt Rhoades, who served as Romney's campaign manager, and Joe Pounder, the research director for the Republican National Committee. Running its super PAC will be Tim Miller, a former RNC aide and spokesman for former GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman.

Romney and several Republican candidates were monitored closely by camera-toting Democratic aides during the campaign, a gap that Miller said American Rising hopes to fill on behalf of Republicans.

Brad Woodhouse, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, said his party has "a several years' lead on data and analytics infrastructure and we're not standing still."

Of the GOP effort, Woodhouse said, "We don't see them closing the gap anytime soon."

___

Peoples reported from Boston.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gop-moves-catch-democrats-technology-065816379--election.html

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Analysis: Southeast Asia ready to build, but will investors come?

By Stuart Grudgings and Neil Chatterjee

KUALA LUMPUR/JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia is seeking European investors for $9 billion worth of water, road, air and seaport projects in what will be a litmus test of Southeast Asian countries' ability to seize on ripe financial conditions to upgrade decrepit infrastructure.

Easy global liquidity and investors' eagerness to tap one of the world's few fast-growing regions should create a sweet spot for the region to fill the $600 billion in infrastructure needs the Asian Development Bank identifies over the next decade.

But infrastructure experts say a shortage of projects offering compelling returns, coupled with stifling bureaucracy and regulatory uncertainty, threatens to undermine the ambitious plans of Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.

"There's a lot of money floating around but it's money looking for a return," said Bert Hofman, the World Bank chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific.

After years of chronic underspending, governments in the region of 600 million people have begun to sharply raise their infrastructure budgets to improve transport and energy networks.

Indonesia, the biggest regional economy, estimates it alone needs $150 billion worth of new infrastructure, but is only willing to finance 15 percent and has seen few takers so far for the public-private partnerships (PPPs) it is relying on.

Jakarta hopes that will change after a roadshow to Europe this year to market 16 projects from water treatment to ports.

"We're market-sounding," Chatib Basri, chief of the country's investment board, told Reuters. Speaking in Jakarta after a trip to Paris to meet potential investors, Basri said he saw demand coming from France and Germany.

The projects include water and waste treatment plants in the country's most populous Java island, a sector that could be of interest to firms such as France's Veolia Environment , the world's largest private supplier of drinking water, or German industrial giant Siemens .

The projects also include an airport in Java and seaports, in an archipelago of 17,000 islands where an inadequate transport network means high logistics costs.

CHEAP MONEY, ROBUST GROWTH

Having fixed their public finances following a regional financial crisis in the late 1990s, Southeast Asian governments can borrow more cheaply than ever, while local conglomerates and banks are cash-rich on the back of robust economic growth.

A rapidly growing middle class is pressuring politicians to ease nightmarish traffic conditions in "mega-cities" such as Jakarta and Manila, while the massive plane orders being placed by low-cost airlines AirAsia and Lion Air attest to the dramatic growth in regional air travel.

This month, Thailand's cabinet approved a plan to borrow $68 billion to build rail, roads and water plants by 2020. That came days after the operator of Bangkok's SkyTrain, BTS Group Holdings Pcl , said it would raise up to $2.1 billion by listing an infrastructure fund in what could be Thailand's biggest IPO.

Indonesia and the Philippines, far-flung archipelagos with a combined population of 340 million, have passed laws to improve cooperation with the private sector to solve their bottlenecks.

ATTRACTING FUNDS

But attracting private funds remains difficult. Project finance lending in Southeast Asia fell 6.3 percent last year to $13.5 billion, Thomson Reuters data shows.

The Philippines, whose recent history is littered with failed or delayed infrastructure plans, has prepared at least 16 PPPs worth more than $4 billion.

So far, only two projects have been successfully bid out. Some foreign firms -- which face tight restrictions on investment -- say they have been put off by a lack of government guarantees on pricing.

In Indonesia, only two PPP projects offered since 2006 have made it to the construction phase -- a 2,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant in Java and an expressway in Bali. Even then, the power project has been delayed by land acquisition problems.

As well as investor-unfriendly lands laws, projects can be held up by sometimes conflicting national and local authorities. Moreover, returns in Indonesia and the Philippines often fail to reflect such risks, said Johan Bastin, chief executive of Singapore-based infrastructure private equity firm CapAsia.

"In my view, the institutional capabilities at local administrative level are underdeveloped, the regulatory regimes largely untested and the judiciary systems somewhat arbitrary," he said. "The returns we see in the markets seem to assume that these problems will be dealt with over time."

He said annual returns on projects were often about 3-5 percent below an "acceptable" level of around 15-20 percent.

MORE PUBLIC MONEY

The passage of a new land acquisition law last year should help jumpstart Indonesia's infrastructure pipeline, although it will only apply to future investments.

Meanwhile, the struggle to attract private investors means governments may have to play a bigger role. Long-delayed plans to build a mass-rapid transit system to relieve Jakarta's 10 million people of monster traffic jams are a case in point.

After plans for a pure private-sector solution were abandoned long ago, it has been held up for years by wrangling between Jakarta and the national government over how to pay back a $1.6 billion Japanese loan for the project.

While public infrastructure spending is rising in the region, it remains well below where it should be, economists say.

Indonesia, which spends only around 3-3.5 percent of its GDP on infrastructure, plans to raise its infrastructure budget by about 11 percent this year. The Philippines aims to double its infrastructure spending from 2.6 percent of GDP. China spends about 9 percent of its GDP on infrastructure.

Some governments' ability to expand infrastructure spending is hampered by heavy outlays on subsidies. Indonesia spent about $22 billion last year on fuel subsidies, and the prospects for reform are dim ahead of a presidential election in 2014.

"Southeast Asia has to rethink radically its strategy on infrastructure," said Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian economic research at HSBC. "I'm not inclined to bet this is happening really on a broader scale."

(Additional reporting by Rosemarie Francisco in Manila and Orathai Sriring in Bangkok; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-southeast-asia-ready-build-investors-come-210525518--finance.html

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IDIBELL licenses Histocell, a patent for acute respiratory diseases with stem cells

Public release date: 27-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jordi Morato
comunicacio@idibell.cat
IDIBELL-Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute

The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) has signed a licensing agreement with the Spanish biotech company Histocell to make use of a patent for the treatment of acute pulmonary diseases with mesenchymal stem cells. These cells, administered intravenously, have the ability to go directly to the damaged lungs, acting as a "smart drug".

To enhance the effect, researchers have modified this cells by genetic engineering. The studies have been developed by a team led by Josep Maria Aran, researcher at the Human Molecular Genetics group of IDIBELL, in collaboration with researchers of the Pneumology group at Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) and the Biomedical Research Network Centre for Respiratory Diseases (CIBERES). The outcomes of the research have supposed an international patent application managed by the Technology Transfer Office (TTO) at IDIBELL.

The researchers use adult mesenchymal stem cells extracted from adipose tissue obtained from liposuction. These cells are capable of enhancing the regeneration of the damaged lung tissue and secrete inflammatory proteins therein when injected into the blood.

Improvements

The novelty patented by IDIBELL and VHIR researchers has been the insertion of improvements through genetic engineering that can significantly enhance the anti-inflammatory and regenerative power of the mesenchymal cells. Specifically, researchers have modified the antagonist to secrete interleukin 33, a regulatory protein (cytokine) that has a fundamental role in the inflammatory process.

The treatment has proven to be very effective given intravenously, although it could be considered the option of administering it by inhalation.

In the administered dose, these stem cells do not involve immune rejection, because the body removes them after their function is performed. This makes them particularly useful for treating acute diseases.

Good results

The licensed product to Histocell has been successful in experiments on animals with acute respiratory distress, a very severe respiratory failure without effective treatment. It has also been proven effective in animal models with allergic asthma to persulfate salts, a condition equivalent to a professional disease detected among professional hairdressers. The researcher Josep Maria Aran stresses that the new technology could also have applications in other acute and even chronic conditions such as emphysema.

In any case, many years will be needed before the product can be applied in humans. It will require additional preclinical studies and clinical trials in people. In this sense, the patent licensed to Histocell is essential to complete these studies and bring the product to market.

Get to market

The head of the TTO at IDIBELL, Montse Ballarn, highlights the fact that "the licensed products developed at our institution reflect the IDIBELL strategy as a public research centre, to bring our ideas and inventions to market and, ultimately, to develop products at the service of society".

Histocell is a biopharmaceutical company based in the Basque Country (Spain) specialised in tissue engineering and in cell therapy. The company is dedicated to developing innovative products in the field of regenerative medicine. It has a cleanroom for developing cell therapy products based on tissue engineering. The company has four therapeutic programs: bone and joint regeneration, neuroprotection in spinal cord injury and pulmonary therapy.

The development of the patent transferred to Histocell has been possible thanks to the funding of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and the European funds for regional development (ERDF).

###

---

[ | 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.

Public release date: 27-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jordi Morato
comunicacio@idibell.cat
IDIBELL-Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute

The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) has signed a licensing agreement with the Spanish biotech company Histocell to make use of a patent for the treatment of acute pulmonary diseases with mesenchymal stem cells. These cells, administered intravenously, have the ability to go directly to the damaged lungs, acting as a "smart drug".

To enhance the effect, researchers have modified this cells by genetic engineering. The studies have been developed by a team led by Josep Maria Aran, researcher at the Human Molecular Genetics group of IDIBELL, in collaboration with researchers of the Pneumology group at Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) and the Biomedical Research Network Centre for Respiratory Diseases (CIBERES). The outcomes of the research have supposed an international patent application managed by the Technology Transfer Office (TTO) at IDIBELL.

The researchers use adult mesenchymal stem cells extracted from adipose tissue obtained from liposuction. These cells are capable of enhancing the regeneration of the damaged lung tissue and secrete inflammatory proteins therein when injected into the blood.

Improvements

The novelty patented by IDIBELL and VHIR researchers has been the insertion of improvements through genetic engineering that can significantly enhance the anti-inflammatory and regenerative power of the mesenchymal cells. Specifically, researchers have modified the antagonist to secrete interleukin 33, a regulatory protein (cytokine) that has a fundamental role in the inflammatory process.

The treatment has proven to be very effective given intravenously, although it could be considered the option of administering it by inhalation.

In the administered dose, these stem cells do not involve immune rejection, because the body removes them after their function is performed. This makes them particularly useful for treating acute diseases.

Good results

The licensed product to Histocell has been successful in experiments on animals with acute respiratory distress, a very severe respiratory failure without effective treatment. It has also been proven effective in animal models with allergic asthma to persulfate salts, a condition equivalent to a professional disease detected among professional hairdressers. The researcher Josep Maria Aran stresses that the new technology could also have applications in other acute and even chronic conditions such as emphysema.

In any case, many years will be needed before the product can be applied in humans. It will require additional preclinical studies and clinical trials in people. In this sense, the patent licensed to Histocell is essential to complete these studies and bring the product to market.

Get to market

The head of the TTO at IDIBELL, Montse Ballarn, highlights the fact that "the licensed products developed at our institution reflect the IDIBELL strategy as a public research centre, to bring our ideas and inventions to market and, ultimately, to develop products at the service of society".

Histocell is a biopharmaceutical company based in the Basque Country (Spain) specialised in tissue engineering and in cell therapy. The company is dedicated to developing innovative products in the field of regenerative medicine. It has a cleanroom for developing cell therapy products based on tissue engineering. The company has four therapeutic programs: bone and joint regeneration, neuroprotection in spinal cord injury and pulmonary therapy.

The development of the patent transferred to Histocell has been possible thanks to the funding of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and the European funds for regional development (ERDF).

###

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/ibri-ilh032713.php

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Healthy Computing - A Guide to better Computer Ergonomics

Healthy Computer Guide.

Introduction

We?ve developed this guide with the objective of offering a more helpful and convenient way to operate your personal computer. This guideline will also play a good role in lessening the usual problem of the occurrence of disabling as well as agonizing injuries which have been discussed in the Health Warning section given below. You don?t need to spend a long time looking over this guide but you will get a long-lasting benefit from whatever information you do apply.

HEALTH WARNING

The mouse and keyboard that we use lead to various severe disorders and health injuries.

When a person uses a computer, he has to undertake multiple activities at a time resulting in occasional irritations in various body parts like hands, shoulders, arms, neck etc. If you experience some symptoms like pain, discomfort, aching, throbbing, numbness, tingling, stiffness, burning sensation etc. persistently and even at the time when you are not involved in computer works,

NEVER IGNORE THESE SYMPTOMS AS THESE ARE WARNING FOR YOU AND CONSULT WITH A PHYSICIAN AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE.?

?These symptoms may be associated with the injuries which permanently disable muscles, nerves, tendons and other body parts. Some of such musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are tendonitis, tunnel syndrome, tenosynovitis etc.

Although, researchers still don?t know everything about MSDs, they agree that there are some factors which might contribute to the occurrence of MSDs for example stress and the sensitivity of a person to it, overall health, medical as well as physical condition, the positioning of a person?s body during work etc. Another factor is how much time a person spends on working.?

This ?Healthy Computer Guide? will show you the ways to work in a more convenient way with computer and decrease the possibility of encountering MSDs.?

If you want to extract detailed information on the arrangement of working place and development of the habits which may facilitate the decrease in the risk of MSDs, read ?Healthy Computing Guide? thoroughly. As there are lots of reasons which play a role in developing MSDs, so this guide may not give you idea about all the facts but you will definitely come to know about the predominant reasons. There is a history of lots of people of have gained better comfort as well as productivity after following the ways suggested by this guide. One thing you need to be clear that this guide will not act as an alternative to professional health expert or health program. If you want to know about the influence of your activities, lifestyle, medical and physical condition over MSDs then you should consult with a qualified physician.

Self-positioning

During working hour or when you are playing, try to avoid uncomfortable posture and always keep your body in comfortable position. This will not only enhance the overall productivity of you but also help to avoid the occurrence of MSDs. Don?t forget to change your positioning during lengthy task which will help you to get rid of fatigue and discomfort.

At the time of working with computer, adjust your surroundings as well as computer equipments to get a stress-free and contented posture of body parts. The arrangement of your work place in a comfortable way depends on the body size which is very unique for a person and also the work environment. The suggestions given below may help you to get a more flexible working environment.

Tips on supporting the back:

?

• In order to support lower back, use a chair (see above image).
• Make an adjustment between the surface of working area and the height of the chair to achieve a natural as well as convenient body posture (see below image).

?How to promote comfortable postures of leg:

• Clear the underneath portion of your desk to get better leg movement and comfortable positioning.
• If you feel that your feet are not having comfortable rest on floor, you can employ a footrest.

In order to obtain flexible arm and shoulder posture and minimize reaching, you may use the following tricks:

• Keep the keyboard as well as mouse at the level of same height which will be good if it is at elbow level. The upper arms of the computer operator need to fall comfortable at the sides (see detail 3).
• During typing task, keep the keyboard centered in front of the mouse (see detail 4).
• Keep the items within the reach of your arms which are more commonly used (see detail 5).

?To attain perfect positioning of wrist and finger, follow the tips given below:

• During typing work and operating mouse, hold your wrist straight and don?t bend wrists to the sides or up and down. If you have legs with your keyboard, then you can extend them to get a straight wrist posture and better comfort.
• While you are typing, your wrists should float above your keyboard to enable you the usage of whole arm to catch the distant keys without stretching your fingers.

?To avoid bending of neck, try the tips stated below:

• Adjust the positioning of top portion of the screen at your eye level (see detail 6). In case of bifocal wearers, screen may be lowered or the glasses may be customized specially for computer works upon the consultation of a professional physician.?
• It?s necessary to center the monitor in front of you. If you need to have look over the documents more than the monitor, then place the documents in front of your eye and the monitor may be placed on a side slightly.
• In order to adjust the position of documents at eye level, you may use a document holder.

In order to reduce the stress on eye, try the following:

• In order to sit comfortably in front of monitor, keep it at an arm away distance.
• Keep your monitor at a distant place from light sources which are involved in creating glare or you may also use window blinds for controlling the level of light.
• Never forget to clean the screen as well as the glasses if you use them.
• Learn how to adjust the brightness and contrast of the monitor.
• Select the font size on screen which is more comfortable for you if you have that facility in your computer program.

Work Lightly

All the physical forces are involved in close interaction with our body. It?s not only the high impact forces like car crash that causes injury to our body but also low impact forces result in discomfort, injury and fatigue when these physical forces are encountered over long time.

Example of some low forces:

Dynamic force: The force which is generated through movement for example pressing key during mouse clicking or typing.? ?

Static force: The force which exists for a long period for example holding phone or mouse for long time.

Contact force: A force which is generated by resting on a hard surface for example resting wrists on your desk?s edge.

Try to embrace the following ways to reduce the influences of low-impact forces:

• During typing, keep your hands as well as fingers flexible and type with very light touch, after all you don?t need to give big effort to operate your keyboard?s keys.
• Click mouse with light touch, the same formula is applicable while using joystick or any other gaming controller device. ?
• Keep your hand relaxed while holding the mouse and avoid gripping your mouse forcefully.
• Never rest your wrist or palm on a surface during typing (see detail 7). This type of rest can be taken when you have a break from typing.
• When you are on break, try to make your hands and arms relaxed. Never rest the arms or hands on the edge of your desk.
• Make the adjustment of your chair in a way that no pressure from the seat pushes the back of knees (see detail 8).

Don?t forget to take breaks

?When you will take some break from your computer work, it will give time to your body for recovering activity and thus you can avoid MSDs. Based on the type of your work, you have to decide how long you will rest and how frequent you need to take rest. Not only postponing works and relaxing is the way to enjoy a break but also some other forms of breaks are present for instance choosing a different mode of work. If you change your position from sitting to standing during phone conversation, it will definitely help you to make muscles relax.

To alter day to day tasks and work productively, embrace the following ways:

• Make a planning for both work and play in such a way that you don?t need to perform the same task over a long period.
• In order to do the same job, try to use diversified input devices. Suppose, you are doing a scrolling job, you can use both keyboard arrow key and the wheel of mouse.
• To decrease your work pressure, adopt various software and hardware. For example, you have the opportunity to use Windows logo key to enter into the Windows start menu.
• Try to learn the operations of hardware and software by following the instructions given with the products. For instance, in order to highlight the test commonly, allocate your mouse to do ClickLock.

Be Healthy

?A healthy lifestyle is also necessary to perform daily tasks in proper way with enjoyment. You need to learn the detail about your health if you want to stay productive and flexible with your computer tasks.

?In order to maintain a healthy status of health, adopt the following ideas:

• Take balanced diet as well as sufficient rest.
• Don?t miss exercise as it will improve the flexibility, strength and overall fitness of body. In order to choose the right form of exercise for you, you may consult with a qualified physician.
• Make proper stress management. By planning your work area and program properly, you can keep the racket and disturbances to a minimum level.
• In order to be clear about the relevance of different factors like diabetes, injuries, rheumatoid arthritis, pregnancy etc. to MSDs, consult with a professional health specialist.

Source: http://blog.jpofficeworkstations.com.au/2013/03/healthycomputingguide.html

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Italian court orders new trial for Amanda Knox

File photos combo shows, from left; Italian student Raffaele Sollecito, slain 21-year-old British woman Meredith Kercher, her American roommate Amanda Knox. Amanda Knox was waiting anxiously Monday, March 25, 2013 in Seattle to hear if she will face trial again as Italy's top criminal court considered whether to overturn her acquittal in the murder of her roommate in Italy. Italian prosecutors have asked the high court to throw out the acquittals of Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend in the murder of 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher and order a new trial. The court's decision has been postponed to Tuesday. (AP Photo/files)

File photos combo shows, from left; Italian student Raffaele Sollecito, slain 21-year-old British woman Meredith Kercher, her American roommate Amanda Knox. Amanda Knox was waiting anxiously Monday, March 25, 2013 in Seattle to hear if she will face trial again as Italy's top criminal court considered whether to overturn her acquittal in the murder of her roommate in Italy. Italian prosecutors have asked the high court to throw out the acquittals of Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend in the murder of 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher and order a new trial. The court's decision has been postponed to Tuesday. (AP Photo/files)

FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011 file photo Amanda Knox gestures at a news conference in Seattle Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011, after returning home from Italy. Italy's highest criminal court has overturned the acquittal of Amanda Knox in the slaying of her British roommate and ordered a new trial. The Court of Cassation ruled Tuesday, March 26, 2013 that an appeals court in Florence must re-hear the case against the American and her Italian-ex-boyfriend for the murder of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, file)

FILE - This is a Monday, Oct. 3, 2011 file photo of Amanda Knox as she breaks into tears after hearing the verdict that overturns her conviction and acquits her of murdering her British roommate Meredith Kercher, at the Perugia court, central Italy. Italy's highest criminal court Tuesday March 26, 2013 has ordered a new trial in the case of Amanda Knox in the slaying of her British roommate. The court ruled that an appeals court in Florence must re-hear the case against the American and her Italian-ex-boyfriend. Knox has been living back in the U.S. while her former boyfriend continues studies in Italy. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito, File)

Giulia Bongiorno, lawyer of Amanda Knox's ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, talks to reporters as she leaves Italy's Court of Cassation, in Rome, Monday, March 25, 2013. Italy's highest court delayed until Tuesday a decision on whether American student Amanda Knox will face a new trial in the murder of her British roommate - an unsual but not unprecedented move. The court heard six hours of arguments Monday and spent several hours deliberating that and a handful of other cases on its docket before announcing it would issue decision at 10 a.m. (0900 GMT) Tuesday on whether the 2011 acquittals of Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Sollecito will stand. Italian prosecutors have asked the high court to throw out the acquittals of Knox and Sollecito in the murder of 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher and order a new trial. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca)

Giulia Bongiorno, lawyer of Amanda Knox's ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, talks to reporters as she leaves Italy's Court of Cassation, in Rome, Monday, March 25, 2013. Italy's highest court delayed until Tuesday a decision on whether American student Amanda Knox will face a new trial in the murder of her British roommate - an unsual but not unprecedented move. The court heard six hours of arguments Monday and spent several hours deliberating that and a handful of other cases on its docket before announcing it would issue decision at 10 a.m. (0900 GMT) Tuesday on whether the 2011 acquittals of Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Sollecito will stand. Italian prosecutors have asked the high court to throw out the acquittals of Knox and Sollecito in the murder of 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher and order a new trial. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca)

ROME (AP) ? Italy's highest criminal court on Tuesday overturned Amanda Knox's acquittal in the slaying of her British roommate and ordered a new trial, prolonging a case that has become a cause celebre in the United States.

Knox called the decision "painful" but said she was confident that she would be exonerated.

Italian law cannot compel Knox to return for the new trial, and her lawyer said she had no plans to do so. The appellate court hearing the new case could declare her in contempt of court but that carries no additional penalties.

Italy's Court of Cassation ruled that an appeals court in Florence must re-hear the case against the American student and her former Italian boyfriend for the murder of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher. The exact issues that have to be reconsidered won't be known until the court releases its full ruling within 90 days.

Knox, now a student at the University of Washington, stayed up until 2 a.m. Seattle time to hear her fate and issued a statement through a family spokesman.

"It was painful to receive the news that the Italian Supreme Court decided to send my case back for revision when the prosecution's theory of my involvement in Meredith's murder has been repeatedly revealed to be completely unfounded and unfair," she said.

Knox said the matter must now be examined by "an objective investigation and a capable prosecution."

"No matter what happens, my family and I will face this continuing legal battle as we always have, confident in the truth and with our heads held high in the face of wrongful accusations and unreasonable adversity," Knox said.

Knox, now 25, and Raffaele Sollecito, who turned 29 on Tuesday, were arrested shortly after Kercher's body was found in a pool of blood in November 2007 in her bedroom. Kercher, whose throat had been slashed, had shared an apartment with Knox and others in Perugia, an Italian university town where the two women were exchange students.

Prosecutors alleged Kercher was the victim of a drug-fueled sex game gone awry. Knox and Sollecito denied wrongdoing and said they weren't even in the apartment that night, although they acknowledged they had smoked marijuana and their memories were clouded.

An Ivory Coast man, Rudy Guede, was convicted of the slaying in a separate proceeding and is serving a 16-year sentence. Knox and Sollecito were also initially convicted of the murder and given long prison sentences, but were then acquitted on appeal and released in 2011.

The high court's ruling Tuesday overturned the appeals court acquittals.

"She thought the nightmare was over," Knox attorney Carlo Dalla Vedova said after the decision was released.

The court on Tuesday also upheld a slander conviction against Knox. During a 14-hour police interrogation, Knox had accused a local Perugia pub owner of carrying out the killing. The man was held for two weeks based on her allegations, but was then released for lack of evidence.

Dalla Vedova said Knox wouldn't come to Italy "for the moment" but would follow the case from home. He said he didn't think the new appeals trial would begin before early 2014.

It is unclear what would happen if Knox was convicted in a new appeals trial.

"If the court orders another trial, if she is convicted at that trial and if the conviction is upheld by the highest court, then Italy could seek her extradition," Dalla Vedova said Monday.

It would then be up to the United States to decide if it honors the request. U.S. and Italian authorities could also come to a deal that would keep Knox in the United States.

The appeals court that acquitted Knox and Sollecito in 2011 criticized virtually the entire case mounted by prosecutors. The appellate court noted that the murder weapon was never found, said that DNA tests were faulty and that prosecutors provided no murder motive.

It's not clear what part of the appeals sentence was faulted by the high court in ordering a new trial.

Kercher's family attorney, Francesco Maresca, said after Tuesday's ruling: "Yes, this is what we wanted."

Sollecito's attorney, Giulia Bongiorno, noted that Tuesday's ruling was not a determination of guilt but merely a need for further study of the appeals court ruling.

"It's a decision that cancels a verdict and orders a retrial," she said. "I'm not concerned about a deeper reading of the documentation, because I know the documentation."

She acknowledged that perhaps the appeals court ruling had been "too generous" in ruling that the pair simply did not commit the crime, but was confident that Sollecito's innocence would be affirmed.

In her statement, Knox took the Perugia prosecutors to task, saying they "must be made to answer" for the discrepancies in the case. She said "my heart goes out to" Kercher's family.

After nearly four years behind bars in Italy, Knox returned to her hometown of Seattle after the 2011 acquittal and Sollecito resumed his computer science studies, following the degree he earned while studying in prison.

Italy's judicial system allows for two levels of appeals, and prosecutors can appeal acquittals.

Although the court on Monday heard gruesome details, including how Kercher choked on her own blood, it wasn't ruling on the guilt or innocence of the defendants. Its sole task was to decide if the appellate trial was properly conducted.

Dalla Vedova had argued Monday that the slander verdict against Knox should be thrown out because she was questioned without a lawyer even though police essentially treated the student as a suspect in their 14-hour interrogation session.

Because of time she served in prison before the appeals-level acquittals, Knox didn't have to serve time for the slander conviction.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-26-Italy-Knox/id-986542551ad44f5bbacd1e5baced7e86

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NKorean defector groups report computer attacks

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Websites and organizations run by North Korean defectors in South Korea say they have suffered cyberattacks, one week after computer systems at some South Korean banks and TV networks were widely disrupted.

Daily NK, which posts news about North Korea, says it experienced a cyperattack Tuesday, while South Korea's Yonhap news agency says that Free North Korea Radio was also attacked.

Daily NK says its site was temporarily paralyzed by a cyberattack that was routed through the United States. It says some access was restored about an hour later but the attacks were continuing.

Yonhap says a computer network used by seven local governments was also briefly attacked, as was a network belonging to broadcaster YTN.

Authorities have not confirmed who was behind last week's cyberattack but suspect North Korea.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-03-26-SKorea-Computer%20Crash/id-ff4939cc3b7143f6b7e6f2242d0227a9

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A Huge Round-Up of Supreme Court Marriage Equality Updates ...

Make sure not to miss a Towleroad headline by following @TLRD on Twitter.

The L.A. Times profiles Ted Olson: "The marriage case, the 60th case that he will have argued before the nation's highest court, has been a transformative experience, he says. He speaks with passion, and sometimes a tear, about the gay men and women, including Republicans, who reach out to thank him."

Chris Johnson talks to folks in line at the Supreme Court. This photo is from the Washington Post's front page.

Several of those waiting in line are just paid placeholders: "The second and third people in line on Saturday seemed indifferent about the cases and declined to give their names or say whether they were being paid to be there. One of them said it was his third time in line for a Supreme Court hearing, but he could not remember the other cases. He said he had been in line since Thursday; seat assignments are to be given out on Tuesday morning."

Roe v. Wade looms over gay marriage cases: "Ginsburg has suggested that the Supreme Court in 1973 should have struck down only the restrictive Texas abortion law before it and left broader questions for another day. The analogous approach four decades later would be to strike down California?s ban on same-sex marriage but leave in place prohibitions in about 40 other states."

Chris Geidner profiles Freedom to Marry's Evan Wolfson and blogger Andrew Sullivan.

A NYT profile on National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown: "Mr. Brown grew up in Whittier, Calif., a town with a Quaker background on the border of Los Angeles and Orange Counties, the son of an accountant and a homemaker who split when he was 13. Maggie Gallagher, his predecessor as the marriage organization?s president and the author of a book about the dangers of divorce, said that Mr. Brown 'shares a lot of characteristics of children of divorce? who as adults make ?a really firm commitment to do something different for their children.'"

How marriage equality could win in the worst possible way.

Focus on the Family President Jim Daly talks to NPR, claiming gay marriage is "outside of God's design".

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone spouts out on same-sex marriage: "Our bodies have meaning. The conjugal union of a man and a woman is not a factory to produce babies; marriage seeks to create a total community of love, a "one flesh" union of mind, heart and body that includes a willingness to care for any children their bodily union makes together...Treating same-sex relationships as marriage is the final severing by government of the natural link between marriage and the great task of bringing together male and female to make and raise the next generation together in love."

NOM is pushing an incredibly hostile document to its supporters.

Reuters: Gay marriage cases to define Supreme Court legacy. "It has been a decade since the court last took up a gay-rights case. Four new justices have joined the bench since then, including Chief Justice John Roberts, 58, who last year cast the deciding vote to uphold the Obama administration's healthcare law."

How did Vermont's "civil" war fuel the gay marriage movement? "It seemed radical at the time, and tore the state apart so wretchedly and publicly that historians were hard-pressed to come up with a parallel. Imagine the recent Wisconsin union wars, only injected with sex and religion. But the Legislature in Montpelier approved An Act Relating to Civil Unions, and Dean quietly signed it later that spring, making it the first law in the nation to extend marriage-like rights of any kind to gay and lesbian couples."

The AP interviews Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, plaintiffs in the Prop. 8 case: "They will get married quickly, in a small, private ceremony. 'We did the big celebration a long time ago,' Perry said. 'I hope this will be something a lot bigger than the two of us.'"

What the Supreme Court's ruling might mean for Colorado's new civil union law: "...the high court judges could not only declare California's Prop 8 unconstitutional, they could rule that states, like Colorado and eight others, that give gay people some relationship distinction without calling it 'marriage' is unfair."

And here's what we covered over the weekend:

Our legal expert ARI EZRA WALDMAN penned a few more SUPREME COURT PREVIEW columns for you including one on STANDING in the DOMA case and SCRUTINY in DOMA and Prop 8..?

California Attorney General Kamala Harris said "50,000 children in California are asking, 'why can't my parents be married too?' ...

Karl Rove says he can imagine a 2016 presidential candidate supporting GAY MARRIAGE ...

Freedom to Marry's Evan Wolfson schooled Tony Perkins on FACE THE NATION ....

PROP 8 Attorney David Boies laid out the Supreme Court Case on 'Meet the Press' ...

Rand Paul said he wouldn't mind a 'neutral' government on same-sex marriage.

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS protested same-sex marriage in PARIS, some rioted, using children as human shields.

NEW YORK held a rally and a VIGIL.

Source: http://www.towleroad.com/2013/03/marriage-updates.html

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