Preventing HIV infection with anti-HIV drugs in people at risk is cost-effective

Mar. 12, 2013 ? An HIV prevention strategy in which people at risk of becoming exposed to HIV take antiretroviral drugs to reduce their chance of becoming infected (often referred to as pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP), may be a cost-effective method of preventing HIV in some settings, according to a study by international researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine.

In an analysis of 13 modelling studies led by Gabriela Gomez from the Department of Global Health, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam/AIGHD in The Netherlands, the authors evaluated the impact of pre-exposure prophylaxis in different populations (heterosexual couples, men who have sex with men, and people who inject drugs) in different regions and countries, such as southern Africa, Ukraine, the US, and Peru.

They found that in every setting, the cost of antiretroviral drugs was an important factor influencing the affordability of effective prevention programmes but delivery of pre-exposure prophylaxis to populations at higher risk of HIV exposure appeared to be the most cost-effective strategy. The authors also found that both behavioural changes and adherence to the pre-exposure prophylaxis drug regimens affected programme effectiveness.

The authors say: "Our findings show that pre-exposure prophylaxis has the potential to be a cost-effective addition to HIV prevention programmes in some settings."

They continue: "However, the cost-effectiveness of pre-exposure prophylaxis is likely to depend on considerations such as cost, the epidemic context, pre-exposure prophylaxis programme coverage and prioritisation strategies, as well as individual adherence levels and pre-exposure prophylaxis efficacy estimates."

The authors add: "Given that our review shows that both the setting and which population is prioritised for pre-exposure prophylaxis are critical drivers of cost-effectiveness, the next step is to conduct context-specific demonstration studies, including comprehensive cost analyses, of different prioritisation and adherence promotion strategies to ensure that the maximum benefit from the introduction of pre-exposure prophylaxis is realised within combination HIV prevention programmes."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Public Library of Science.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Gabriela B. Gomez, Annick Borquez, Kelsey K. Case, Ana Wheelock, Anna Vassall, Catherine Hankins. The Cost and Impact of Scaling Up Pre-exposure Prophylaxis for HIV Prevention: A Systematic Review of Cost-Effectiveness Modelling Studies. PLoS Medicine, 2013; 10 (3): e1001401 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001401

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/HJOuLBHLP70/130312171612.htm

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Martian rock points to life-friendly conditions

Trace the Curiosity rover's journey to Mars and see the pictures that the six-wheeled robot has sent back from the Red Planet.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

Powder drilled out of a rock on Mars contains the best evidence yet that the Red Planet could have supported living microbes billions of years ago, the team behind NASA's Curiosity rover said Tuesday.

"I think this is probably the only definitively habitable environment that we have described and recorded," said David Blake, a scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center who is the principal investigator for Curiosity's CheMin lab.

The findings are in line with what the scientists hoped to find when they sent the 1-ton, six-wheeled laboratory to Mars' Gale Crater. "It wasn't serendipity that got us here. It was the result of planning," Caltech's John Grotzinger, the $2.5 billion mission's project scientist, told reporters at NASA Headquarters in Washington on Tuesday.

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Serendipity did, however, play a part in being able to find the evidence so soon, he said. Curiosity's handlers had planned to have the rover head for a 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) mountain in the middle of the crater. But when the rover landed, the science team decided to send Curiosity on a detour to a geologically interesting area in the opposite direction, nicknamed Yellowknife Bay. Preliminary readings showed that the area had been a riverbed or lake bed in ancient times.

Last month, the rover finally got a chance to drill into a Martian rock that was named John Klein, after a member of the mission team who died in 2011. Curiosity fed tablespoons of the ground-up gray powder into its two onboard chemical labs: CheMin (Chemistry and Mineralogy) and SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars). The results were announced at Tuesday's news briefing.

Scientists said the powder contained the elemental ingredients of life ? including sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen,?oxygen, phosphorus and carbon. More significantly, they found that clay minerals made up at least 20 percent of the sample. On Earth, these clays are produced when relatively fresh water reacts with igneous minerals such as olivine. The scientists also found calcium sulfate, which suggested that the water had a neutral or mildly alkaline balance.

NASA / JPL-Caltech / Ames

A side-by-side comparison shows the X-ray diffraction patterns of two samples collected by Curiosity. The left side shows data from a sample collected from a drift of windblown dust, and the right side shows data from the powder drilled out of the John Klein rock. The John Klein readings show an abundance of phyllosilicate, a class of clay minerals called smectites that form by the action of relatively pure and neutral pH water on minerals.

NASA / JPL-Caltech / Cornell / MSSS

The left image shows Wopmay rock in Endurance Crater, as studied by NASA's Opportunity rover. The right image shows Sheepbed in Yellowknife Bay, as studied by Curiosity. Scientists say both rocks were formed in the presence of water, but the water at Wopnay was highly acidic and salty, while the water at Sheepbed had a more neutral pH and lower salinity.

Earlier NASA missions had found evidence that?salty, acidic water was once present on Mars, but that extreme environment would have been challenging for today's Earth-type organisms. Curiosity's chemical analysis produced a different result: The water that was available during the formation of the rock at Yellowknife Bay, billions of years ago, could have supported the kind of life commonly found on Earth.

"We have found a habitable environment which is so benign and supportive of life that probably if this water was around, and you had been on the planet, you would have been able to drink it," Grotzinger said.

The scientists said they were surprised to find a mixture of oxidized and non-oxidized chemicals, allowing for the type of chemistry that earthly microbes use to generate the energy they need for survival. This partial oxidation was first hinted at when the drill cuttings were revealed to be gray rather than red.

"The range of chemical ingredients we have identified in the sample is impressive, and it suggests pairings such as sulfates and sulfides that indicate a possible chemical energy source for microorganisms," SAM principal investigator Paul Mahaffy said in a NASA news release.

NASA said another drilled sample would be used to help confirm the chemical findings for several of the trace gases that were analyzed by the SAM instrument.

The current plan calls for Curiosity to conduct experiments in the Yellowknife Bay for weeks or months longer, and then begin a roughly 6-mile (10-kilometer) drive to the big mountain, known as Mount Sharp or Aeolis Mons. Scientists will look for further evidence of ancient organic chemistry hidden in the mountain's many layers of rock.

The primary aim of Curiosity's two-year primary mission is to find evidence of past habitability ? in particular,?organic carbon compounds that could have played a role in the chemistry of life billions of years ago. Grotzinger said Curiosity's scientists will focus on the systematic search for organic carbon now that they had "the issue of habitability in the bag."

NASA intends to follow up on Curiosity's findings with future Mars missions, including the $500 million MAVEN orbiter (due for launch this year), the $425 million InSight drill-equipped lander (set for 2016 launch) and another Curiosity-like rover that's scheduled to be sent out in 2020.?

More about Mars:

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Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

This story was originally published on Tue Mar 12, 2013 1:48 PM EDT

Source: http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/12/17285137-nasa-says-mars-curiosity-rover-sees-traces-of-life-friendly-conditions-in-rock?lite

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Introducing... Scientific American MIND blogs!

Today is a big day here at the network! Earlier this morning we launched the MIND Blog Network.

Scientific American MIND, the younger sister magazine, woke up this morning to a sparkling shiny new homepage, as well as the special new landing page for the MIND blogs.

What is probably most exciting to us, and to you, the readers, is that we added six new blogs to the MIND blog network. Let me briefly introduce them:

Melanie Tannenbaum (Twitter) is a doctoral candidate in social psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her new blog, PsySociety (following in the footsteps of her previous blog), will cover social psychology through the prism of popular culture. Say Hi to Melanie on her introductory post.

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Felicity Muth (Twitter) received her PhD at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. Her blog Not bad science (just like her old blog of the same name) will cover new discoveries in animal behavior and cognition. See her first post and say Hello.

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Scott Barry Kaufman (Twitter) is a cognitive psychologist at NYU interested in intelligence and creativity, and the co-founder of The Creativity Post. His book, Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined, is scheduled to be published in June. Bookmark his new blog Beautiful Minds (and check out the archives of his old blog). You will learn more about Scott in his introductory post.

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Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik (Twitter) are the new Illusion Chasers! They are neuroscientists and laboratory directors at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. They use illusions to study how are brains construct experiences of the world. They are authors of the book Sleights of Mind, have written many pieces in the Scientific American MIND series ?Illusions? as well as on their old blog. They are now also member of the MIND?s Advisory Board. Welcome them on their new blog and follow them on Twitter.

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Adam Waytz (Twitter) and Jamil Zaki (Twitter) are starting their brand new blog ? The Moral Universe. Jamil Zaki is an assistant professor of psychology at Stanford University. Adam Waytz is an Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations at Northwestern University?s Kellogg School of Management. They are both interested in morality, empathy, and prosocial behavior and they explore it in dialogues with each other ? to which you are all now invited as well. You can jump right in.

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MIND Guest Blog is just like the main Guest Blog ? a place where we invite scientists and other outside contributors to share news, insights and commentary in their fields of expertise, in this case in all aspects of the study of the brain, mind and behavior. It will be edited by MIND editor-in-chief Sandra Upson, senior editor Ingrid Wickelgren and myself. Feel free to send us your pitches.

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Well, these are the new MIND blogs. But that is not all. Eleven of our current blogs are also receiving the new designation as MIND blogs. Here they are:

Streams of Consciousness: The scoop on how we think, feel and act. By Ingrid Wickelgren.

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Talking Back: A science blog sans blague. By Gary Stix.

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Brainwaves: Current thoughts on mind, life and culture. By Ferris Jabr.

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A Blog Around the Clock: Rhythms of life in meatspace and cyberland. By Bora Zivkovic.

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The Scicurious Brain: The good, bad, and weird in physiology and neuroscience. By Scicurious.

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The Thoughtful Animal: Exploring the evolution and architecture of the mind. By Jason B. Goldman.

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Literally Psyched: Conceived in literature, tested in psychology. By Maria Konnikova.

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Science with Moxie: Musical notes on neuroscience. By Princess Ojiaku.

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The White Noise: A hit of addiction and mental illness, chased by chemistry and culture. By Cassie Rodenberg.

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Cargo Cult Contrarian: Notes on language, memory and perception. By Melody Dye.

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Bering in Mind: A research psychologist?s curious look at human behavior. By Jesse Bering.

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You know how you see little ?Staff? tags on the staff blogs on the homepage, like this?

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The MIND blogs will also have a tag, just like this:

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Both old and new MIND blogs will keep appearing on the SA homepage and Blogs homepage and in various feeds and social media. On top of that, they will also be aggregated on the new MIND homepage, new MIND blogs aggregator, and the MIND social media including Facebook and Twitter.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=33215377fb144102e06ea31aaac37a6a

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Panel criticizes military on sexual assault cases

Senate subcommittee on Personnel Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., left, leans into Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., before Boxer testified on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 13, 2013, before the subcommittee's hearing on sexual assault in the military. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Senate subcommittee on Personnel Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., left, leans into Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., before Boxer testified on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 13, 2013, before the subcommittee's hearing on sexual assault in the military. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 13, 2013, before the Senate subcommittee on Personal hearing to investigate sexual assault in the military. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Former US Army Specialist BriGette McCoy, left, wipes a tear as former US Army Sgt. Rebekah Havrilla, right, hugs Anu Bhagwati, a former Marine officer and Executive Director and Co-Founder of Service Women's Action Network, after they all testified on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 13, 2013, before the Senate subcommittee on Personnel hearing on sexual assault in the military. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Senate subcommittee on Personnel Chair, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., right, talks with former US Army Sgt. Rebekah Havrilla, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 13, 2013, after Havrilla testified before the subcommittee's hearing on sexual assault in the military. Havrilla told the committee that she encountered a "broken" military criminal justice system after she was raped by another service member while serving in Afghanistan. Havrilla described suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and described how her case was eventually closed after senior commanders decided not to pursue charges. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Brian Lewis, former Petty Officer Third Class, U.S. Navy, pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 13, 2013, before the Senate subcommittee on Personnel hearing on sexual assault in the military. Lewis told the subcommittee not to forget that many victims of sexual assault and harassment in the military are male. Lewis said he was raped in 2000 by a non-commissioned officer who outranked him. His commanders ordered him not to report the crime to Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Lewis said he was later misdiagnosed with having a personality disorder and he was discharged from the service in 2001. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? In a stinging rebuke of the military's efforts to curb sexual assault, members of a Senate panel hammered Defense Department officials on Wednesday for making too little progress in combating the crimes and failing to improve a military justice system that victims described as slow and uncaring.

During a two-part hearing, the panel heard harrowing testimony from several victims, who said military justice is broken and pushed for Congress to take action to stem the rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment that they said are pervasive in all the service branches.

Pentagon officials said they are taking the problem seriously. "Sexual assault in the military is not only an abhorrent crime that does enormous harm to the victim, but it is also a virulent attack on the discipline and good order on which military cohesion depends," said Robert Taylor, the Pentagon's acting general counsel.

"The Air Force has zero tolerance for this offense," added Lt. Gen. Richard Harding, the judge advocate general of the Air Force.

But lawmakers pointed to a decision by an Air Force general to reverse a guilty verdict in a sexual assault case as evidence of how the military fails the victims who come forward to report the crimes. Under military law, a commander who convenes a court-martial is known as the convening authority and has the sole discretion to reduce or set aside guilty verdicts and sentences or to reverse a jury's verdict.

Her voice rising, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said all the training and all the promises of "zero tolerance" from the witnesses amounted to nothing if a convening authority is the only individual who can decide whether to overturn a case. Gillibrand is the chairwoman of the Senate Armed Services personnel subcommittee.

"I appreciate the work you're doing, but it's not enough," she told the military officers arrayed at a long witness table.

Rebekah Havrilla, a former Army sergeant, told the panel that she encountered a "broken" military criminal justice system after she was raped by another service member while serving in Afghanistan. Havrilla described suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and described how her case was eventually closed after senior commanders decided not to pursue charges.

"What we need is a military with a fair and impartial criminal justice system, one that is run by professional and legal experts, not unit commanders," Havrilla said.

BriGette McCoy, a former Army specialist and a Persian Gulf war veteran, said she was raped when she was 18 and at her first duty station. But she did not report it. Three years later, she reported being sexually harassed and asked for an apology and to be removed from working directly with the offender.

"They did remove me from his team and his formal apology consisted of him driving by me on base and saying 'sorry' out of his open car door window," McCoy told the subcommittee.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered a review of Air Force Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin's decision to overturn the sexual assault conviction against Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, a former inspector general at Aviano Air Base in Italy.

The case is generating support for legislation that would prevent commanding officers from overturning rulings made by judges and juries at courts-martial proceedings.

"It appears to me that the Aviano general has really failed," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., referring to Franklin.

Anu Bhagwati of the Service Women's Action Network told the panel that commanders are unable to make impartial decisions because they usually have a professional relationship with the accused and, often times, with the victim as well. Bhagwati, a former Marine Corps captain, said court-martial cases should be left in the hands of "trained, professional, disinterested prosecutors."

Gillibrand called the Wilkerson case "shocking" and promised to take a hard look at the military justice system. Nearly 2,500 sexual violence cases in the military services were reported in 2011, but only 240 made it to trial, Gillibrand said.

Wilkerson was found guilty on Nov. 2 by a jury of military officers on charges of abusive sexual contact, aggravated sexual assault and three instances of conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman. The victim was a civilian employee. Wilkerson was sentenced to a year in prison and dismissal from the service.

Wilkerson was at the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, S.C., until Feb. 26, when Franklin exercised his discretion as the convening authority. Franklin reviewed the case over a three-week period and concluded "that the entire body of evidence was insufficient to meet the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt," Hagel wrote in a March 7 letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

But Hagel told Boxer neither he nor the Air Force secretary is empowered to overrule Franklin, who is the commander of the 3rd Air Force at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

Boxer said during testimony before the subcommittee that "immediate steps must be taken to prevent senior commanders from having the ability to unilaterally overturn a decision or sentence by a military court."

Taylor, the acting general counsel, said in his written testimony the Defense Department is examining the role the convening authority plays, including a commander's power to set aside a court-martial's findings. But Taylor also stressed that commanders have long held this authority and it is directly tied to the need for the "portability" of military justice throughout the world and the need for senior officers to maintain discipline in the ranks.

In the wake of Franklin's decision, Reps. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, and Patrick Meehan, R-Pa., introduced legislation Tuesday in the House that would strip military commanders of the power to overturn legal decisions or lessen sentences. Their bill would amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice to take away the power of a convening authority to dismiss, commute, lessen or order a rehearing after a panel or judge has found the accused guilty and rendered a punishment.

McCaskill plans to introduce legislation that would change the Uniform Code of Military Justice by preventing a convening authority from overturning a decision reached by a jury. The legislation also would require the convening authority to issue a written justification for any action.

"This is not a crime that we're going to train our way out of," said McCaskill, who emphasized the need for the strong and effective prosecution of offenders.

Brian Lewis, a former Navy petty officer, told the subcommittee not to forget that many victims of sexual assault and harassment in the military are male. Lewis said he was raped in 2000 by a non-commissioned officer who outranked him. His commanders ordered him not to report the crime to Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Lewis said he was later misdiagnosed with having a personality disorder and he was discharged from the service in 2001.

"I carry my discharge as an official and permanent symbol of shame, on top of the trauma of the physical attack, the retaliation and its aftermath," Lewis said.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, asked whether the culture would change if the laws were overhauled. Lewis described the limitations of military law, arguing that it was unconscionable that punishment is solely at the discretion of a single individual and the offense of sexual assault is merely a year in prison.

"The military does not value what happened to the victim," Lewis said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-13-US-Military-Sexual-Assault/id-668c36f60fc549bfb04ccd159e6e0ca6

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Olivia Wilde reads hate tweets from Bieber fans

By Rebecca Macatee, E! Online

If you insult Justin Bieber, you better believe his Beliebers will be after you! Olivia Wilde learned that the hard way when she tweeted that the 19-year-old pop star needed to "put a f---ing shirt on." Well, on Tuesday, Jason Sudeikis' fiance talked about her feud with the Biebs -- and the backlash from his fans! -- on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno."

"This started because Justin Bieber went out without his shirt on...and he was in London, and it's so cold there and I was concerned," she said. "I have a 19-year-old brother in London, and it's freezing! And if I saw him without a shirt, I would tell him to put it on. So I told Justin Bieber, 'Put your f--king shirt on.'"

Let's be nice to the Biebs. He's had a rough month so far!

"I said it with love!" the "Incredible Burt Wonderstone" star said with a smirk. She then quipped that "people misunderstood and thought it was mean-spirited. They didn't understand it was said with love!"

The 29-year-old actress "got a lot of interesting feedback from (Justin's) fans." Joking that she heard from "about 35 million (people)," Olivia read aloud some tweets directed toward her.

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"One of them was, 'Are you a lesbian, or are you too old?' And it's great -- because it's a question I'd never asked myself before," she deadpanned. "And I was wondering, am I too old to be a lesbian?"

Another fan told Olivia to "Put your shirt over your mouth," which she plans to use as a "Shakespearean insult" later on.

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Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2013/03/13/17297513-olivia-wilde-reads-her-hate-tweets-from-justin-bieber-fans?lite

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Make Your Own Cheez-Its to Create New Flavors and Ditch the Processed Additives

Cheez-Its and other cheezy snack crackers are delicious, but if you want to control the flavor yourself, make them less salty or more spicy, or would just prefer to enjoy your Cheez-Its without all of the chemical additives used in the mass production of them, they're surprisingly easy to make at home. America's Test Kitchen shows us how.

You'll need the ingredients here and the time to make the dough, let it chill, and bake it, so don't expect this to be a more convenient solution than just grabbing a box at the grocery store. Even so, making your own lets you completely control the flavor and ingredients, and lets you make your cheesy crackers just right for your tastes. The base recipe is pretty straightforward, and uses ingredients you may already have in your pantry.

ATK even shows you the secret to that orange color that's so characteristic to Cheez-Its if that's what you want (Spoiler: It's crushed annatto seeds, available at most grocery stores.) Hit the link below to grab the recipe, and see how they're made?complete with photos for each step.

How to Make Homemade Cheese Snack Crackers | America's Test Kitchen

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No. 2 Indiana beats No. 7 Michigan 72-71 for title

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) ? Cody Zeller squeezed the basketball as the final seconds ticked off the clock, sealing Indiana's first outright Big Ten title in two decades.

It was a fitting finish, for sure. Because without some huge plays by their 7-foot center, the second-ranked Hoosiers would've had to share the conference championship.

Zeller made a go-ahead layup with 13 seconds left and altered Trey Burke's shot at the other end, lifting Indiana to a 72-71 victory over No. 7 Michigan on Sunday.

After falling out of bounds on the final sequence, Zeller got up quickly and gave teammate Christian Watford someone to save the ball to at the end.

"We've been working on that all year ? closing out games," said Zeller, who had 25 points and 10 rebounds.

The Hoosiers (26-5, 14-4) trailed by five in the final minute but took advantage when the Wolverines (25-6, 12-6) were unable to close it out at the foul line, costing themselves a piece of the Big Ten title.

Jordan Morgan had a fairly easy tip-in attempt of Burke's miss that could have won it for Michigan, but the ball rolled tantalizingly around the rim and off.

"It just hung there," Burke said.

Watford got to the rebound ? Indiana had 23 more boards than Michigan ? with 4 seconds left and threw it back in bounds to Zeller.

"Christian made a great play at the end that people might not realize, saving the ball to Cody," Hoosiers guard Jordan Hulls said.

A couple of Michigan's rivals surely wish the Wolverines had won.

Ohio State, which beat Illinois on Sunday, needed an Indiana loss to earn a share of the conference championship. Michigan State was in the same position before defeating Northwestern later in the day.

The Hoosiers had already clinched a share of the title, for the first time since 2002, but needed another victory to finish alone atop the conference for the first time since 1993.

"In retrospect, that'll be good and that'll sink in," Indiana coach Tom Crean said.

Indiana's 26th victory, and the fact that it withstood test after test in the highly competitive Big Ten, might have earned the Hoosiers a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. They will be the top-seeded team at this week's Big Ten tournament in Chicago.

"We're not done yet," Hulls said.

When the Hoosiers finished off Michigan and the teams shook hands along the sideline, Crean and Michigan assistant Jeff Meyer, a former Hoosiers assistant, had a heated exchange.

"I'm not talking about any of that," Crean said. "Ask him."

A message seeking comment from Meyer was left with a Michigan spokesman.

The Wolverines blew a chance to win a share of the Big Ten title for a second straight year for the first time since the 1985 and 1986 seasons.

"This really hurts," Burke acknowledged. "This was for a championship."

Morgan made a tiebreaking putback with 1:35 left, teammate Tim Hardaway followed with a layup on the Wolverines' next possession and Glen Robinson III made the first of two free throws with 52 seconds to go to give the Wolverines a 71-66 lead.

After Zeller made a shot on the ensuing possession, Hardaway missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Zeller then connected on two free throws and Burke couldn't convert at the line, missing the front end of another haunting 1-and-1.

"This game wasn't blown on the free throw line," Michigan coach John Beilein insisted. "Those two are our leaders, and they've won a lot of games for us. We're never going to put this on them."

Zeller hit another big shot down low, a double-pump layup, for the 14th lead change in the game.

Burke and Indiana's Victor Oladipo, both of whom are Big Ten and national player of the year candidates, struggled to make shots all game at Crisler Center.

Zeller, meanwhile, made sure no one forgot about him.

"I've been saying all year long, he should be the player of the year," Oladipo said. "If you don't give it to him, something's wrong with y'all."

Oladipo had 14 points on 7-of-18 shooting and a career-high 13 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end.

"We gave up 24 offensive rebounds," Hardaway said. "That's a disgrace."

Will Sheehey scored 10 points, six of which came on key 3-pointers, for the Hoosiers.

Burke scored 20 points on 7-of-20 shooting. Robinson added 13 points, Nik Stauskas had 10 of his 12 points in the first half and Hardaway scored 11. The Wolverines were 7 of 13 at the foul line.

Indiana, looking as though it didn't want to give any other team a piece of the Big Ten championship, got off to a strong start and led 10-3 when Yogi Ferrell's field goal followed a pair of 3-pointers from Hulls.

The Wolverines took control in the first half with a 12-0 run, but faded toward halftime and led 33-30 after 20 minutes.

Michigan led by as many as 11 points ? matching the biggest lead any team has had against the Hoosiers ? and looked as though it was going to be on the winning end of a closely contested game until it simply could not make key free throws or stop Zeller.

"There was a strong belief (in a comeback), but obviously they had to miss some shots with the free throws to make that happen and they did," Crean said.

___

Follow Larry Lage on Twitter: http://twitter.com/LarryLage

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/no-2-indiana-beats-no-7-michigan-72-223546451--spt.html

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Tiger Woods Stretches Lead In Cadillac Championship At Doral

DORAL, Fla. ? With one last birdie putt that never looked like it was going anywhere but in the hole, Tiger Woods walked off the Blue Monster in a familiar position.

He had a four-shot lead over Graeme McDowell in the Cadillac Championship, the 17th time on the PGA Tour that he has led by at least four shots going into the final round. Woods has never lost when leading by that much on tour.

Saturday at Doral was a reminder, however, how quickly it all can change.

Woods knocked in a short birdie putt on the 15th hole to put six shots between him and McDowell.

Two holes later, after McDowell chipped in for eagle and Woods found himself staring some 20 feet in the air at his golf ball lodged in a palm tree to the right of the 17th fairway, the lead was cut in half.

Woods saved his best for the final hole.

He drilled a tee shot into the fairway, hit 9-iron to 15 feet and made his 24th birdie of the tournament for a 5-under 67, putting him on the cusp of another World Golf Championship and a big step toward returning to No. 1 in the world.

"After I made birdie on 15, I was looking pretty good with a six-shot lead, and with a drivable par 4," Woods said. "Two holes later, it's now cut down to three. I piped a tee shot down there, hit a little 9-iron there and was able to pour that putt in there."

The ball never came down from the tree, which was about the only thing that didn't fall his way.

The 24 birdies and 74 putts are personal records for Woods. More importantly, it put him in great position to win his 17th WGC title, and his first since 2009.

"He controlled every part of his game very well, very few loose shots," said McDowell, who did well to two-putt for par from 85 feet on the last hole for a 69 that at least kept him in final group for Sunday.

"You know, 17 was a really bad break for him. But in true Tiger fashion that we've become very accustomed to over the years, to come back and birdie the last, he was fantastic today," he said.

"So maximum respect there. He's going to be a tough man to catch tomorrow. I get to watch it and get to see him, and hopefully get a chance to get close to him tomorrow."

Woods has a 39-2 record when he has the outright lead going into the final round on the PGA Tour. The only time he has ever lost a lead of more than two shots in any tournament around the world was in 2010 against an 18-man field at the Chevron World Challenge, when McDowell beat him in a playoff.

McDowell certainly was up for the fight on a breezy, sunny afternoon near Miami. Despite a shaky stretch of holes that appeared to end his chances, he drove just over the green on the par-4 16th and chipped in for eagle, and hit that putt across the 18th green that amazed even Woods.

"He hit a hell of a putt," Woods said.

Woods was at 18-under 198.

Phil Mickelson, who badly wanted to get into the final group, overcame a three-putt from 4 feet for double bogey on the third hole by making four birdies the rest of the way. He had a 69, along with Steve Stricker, and both were five shots behind.

"I threw away five or six shots on the greens and around the greens, and I feel like I don't have to play too much different," Mickelson said. "I just can't afford to give away those shots. I'm going to have to play a round like I played at Pebble last year, something in the low 60s."

A year ago, Mickelson shot 64 in the final round to win at Pebble Beach while playing in the same group with Woods.

Rory McIlroy, the world's No. 1 player, had a rough start until rallying on the back nine with five birdies in a six-hole stretch that carried him to a 71. He was 15 shots behind.

Woods used to own these WGC events, winning 16 of the first 30 that he played. He has gone 0-for-10 since Firestone in August 2009, though the odds were stacked in his favor at the Cadillac Championship. He already is a three-time winner at Doral, and he has been putting well ever since Stricker gave him a tip on the eve of the tournament.

"You know what kind of closer he is," Stricker said. "When he gets the lead in a golf tournament, it's tough. He doesn't let too many guys in usually when he gets the lead. We've all got our work cut out for us. We're going to have to go out and try to make birdies on a difficult golf course, which is hard to do."

It's even tougher with Woods playing like this. He has matched the low round of the tournament all three days.

For nine holes, McDowell threw his best golf at Woods, and Woods counterpunched in a magnificent display on the breezy Blue Monster.

McDowell opened with a 20-foot eagle, Woods with back-to-back birdies. McDowell hit his approach to 10 feet on the third hole, and Woods followed with a shot 6 inches inside as both made birdie.

McDowell finally tied him for the lead with a 20-foot putt on the sixth hole, and he had a 10-foot birdie attempt on the seventh for the outright lead. The stroke was tentative, and the ball dipped on the low side.

And that was as close as McDowell could get.

Woods had a one-shot lead as they walked toward the green on the par-5 10th hole, with McDowell on the green in two and poised to catch him again.

It all turned so suddenly.

Woods hit another superb wedge to 6 feet for birdie, while McDowell's eagle attempt slid 4 feet by the cup, and he missed it coming back for par. McDowell was furious, slapping his leg in disgust. McDowell and Woods each had 6 feet for par on the 11th ? Woods made, McDowell missed, his first bogey of the week.

That gave Woods a three-shot lead, and McDowell fell even further behind when he muffed a pitch behind the 14th green and took double bogey, and Woods hit a towering tee shot on the par-3 15th to 6 feet for birdie.

"The three-putt on 10 kind of rattled me a little bit, because Tiger didn't look like he was going to do anything wrong," McDowell said. "I really felt like I needed to be making putts like that."

McDowell at least stayed in the game, but after his putt across the length of the 18th green stopped inside a foot from the hole, he could only watch as Woods poured in another putt for yet another birdie, making the task on Sunday even more difficult.

The leaderboard still had the best golfers. Woods, however, separated himself from them.

Honda Classic winner Michael Thompson and Sergio Garcia each had a 67 and were at 11-under 205, along with Charl Schwartzel (69) and Keegan Bradley (69). Masters champion Bubba Watson could only manage a 71 and was eight shots behind.

Woods will be going for his second win of the year, an ominous sign with the Masters a month away. Woods has not won twice before the Masters in five years.

"All respect to the way he handled himself today and the way he played," McDowell said. "He's going to be a tough guy to catch. But according to the forecast tomorrow, we are going to have strong winds. I think that's an advantage to the rest of the field. ... With tough conditions tomorrow, hopefully we'll have a chance."

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/09/tiger-woods-lead-cadillac-doral_n_2845875.html

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Reviewing Humble Bundle 5: Dynamite Jack

A few of the games in Humble Bundle 5 are making their Android debut, and Dynamite Jack is one of them. This retro-styled game that reminds us of old arcade titles translates well to the phone with touch controls. And because its part of the Humble Bundle, it won't cost you much to play.

Hang with us after the break and see how Dynamite Jack performs in its first Android release.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/sIh66nu_c7E/story01.htm

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How do critters survive in the concrete jungle? It takes smarts

Scott Halleran / Getty Images

A marmoset looks on during the final round of the LPGA Brazil Cup at the Itanhanga Golf Club in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

By Nidhi Subbaraman

Crows in Japan have the strangest habit. They carry nuts in their beak and drop them on crosswalks. Passing cars run over them, cracking them. It's not just that the crows have outsourced the heavy lifting, they've even come to realize that it's easier to collect their reward on a section of asphalt where traffic consistently stops, and then goes.

Foxes, songbirds ? even whales ? have something in common with those wily crows from Japan. When they wound up in a man-made city habitat (or a human-impacted area), they've come up with new tricks to survive. What about the animals that can't adapt so well? It's up to humans to adjust their behavior for the sake of the critters, say researchers.

In their new paper in Animal Behavior, Daniel Sol and collaborators at Catalonia's Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications survey species who've learned to make the most of their new circumstances when humans started meddling with their natural habitat. It's not uncommon for species to change when their environment shifts, but behavioral changes for urban life tend to be the most spectacular, Sol told NBC News.

Scientists have drummed up a long list of behavioral changes that have allowed small mammals and birds to get comfortable in cities around the globe:

• The black-capped chickadee?belts out a shorter, shriller song?when it needs to be heard over the sound of moving traffic. When traffic noise subsided, they return to a slower, deeper melody that is more familiar to potential mates. Its flexibility is part of what makes it a successful urban dweller.
• Pigeons have become used to human hands feeding them, so much so they can now recognize their regulars when they show up with birdseed. But not all people are pigeon-friendly, the birds have learned. They also quickly learned to avoid humans?who had previously chased them away.
• Similarly, urban mockingbirds in North Carolina?learned to recognize?people who had threatened their nests fairly quickly.?
• Near Bristol in the UK, traveling urban red foxes now tend to cross roads more often at night, when they are less likely to be hit by a car.
• Black tufted marmosets living in a public park in Belo Horizonte, Brazil,?avoided noisy sections of it, even if there is plenty of food to be had there, and instead move to quieter locations.
• Coyotes have made themselves at home in cities like Chicago, where they live in public parks, and among apartment complexes and industrial buildings. If you watched "The Lion King," you may have guessed that they usually hunt in packs, but the urban coyote flies solo and prefers to hunt at night. Coyotes even seem to be doing a bit of good, however unknowingly ??they control the spread of Canada geese in the city by sneaking up on their nests and stealing their eggs.

And out in the ocean, where there's no sign of city life, man-made sonar tends to challenge the typical behavior of whales. Single male humpback whales sing for hours during the breeding season, in what scientists believe is a mating display. So when sonar interfered with their serenade,?their songs got even longer. (Though, data made public later?showed?that this isn't always the case. When the military tests their sonar equipment, whales stop diving for food and singing.)

Why are some animals better city dwellers? A species might naturally be a curious, bold sort ? that would give it an advantage. Another possibility is that cities select for certain genetic traits, so the songbird that survives in city is one that is biologically different from its country cousin. But so far, it looks like it's the most innovative species, like the careful foxes and nut-cracking crows and song-switching birds, that stand the best chance, Sol explains. If they can change their behavior, they're most likely to do well.

Species set in their ways may have a harder time, Sol says, but there are ways we can help.?Breaking up the concrete some and building green spaces and parks helps new species find their feet. "If the environment is more similar, [if] they contain gardens, more green space, then birds or other animals can do much better," Sol says.

Of course, neatly trimmed hedges and astroturf aren't a complete replacement of the wooded homes most animals enjoyed. "We need to build cities that have more gardens and parks, but we also need to maintain natural habitats as they are because they are crucial for biodiversity," he says.

Nidhi Subbaraman writes about science and technology. Follow on Google+, Twitter, Facebook.

Source: http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/09/17239386-how-do-critters-survive-in-the-concrete-jungle-it-takes-smarts?lite

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Oz the Great and Powerful copyright legal battle with Warner Bros ...

Hollywood executives who followed the yellow brick road found it ended in legal disputes and unprecedented laws regarding usage of public domain and copyright regulation.

Pushing aside the creative shortcomings of Disney?s Oz: The Great and Powerful?? and boy, there are many?? there is one scene director Sam Raimi gets absolutely right.

The prologue of his prequel to Victor Fleming?s?beloved The Wizard of Oz (1939) introduces us to a conniving, womanizing, big-thinking circus illusionist (James Franco) who is chased by angry carnies and escapes in a hot air balloon. The balloon is swept up in a tornado and lands in the CGI-splotched land of Oz.

Shot in 4:3 ratio, in smoky black and white, the scene is a handsomely rendered old-school prelude to two hours of candy-coloured landscapes and 3D-enhanced screensavers. The original film similarly opened in sepia-toned monochrome (though it, of course, was not lathered in digital artifice).

But the top brass at Warner Bros. (distributor of the 1939 film) were not beguiled by this beauty. Instigating a stoush that may have far-reaching implications for how film copyright law is enforced and understood, Warner?s lawyers have scoured every frame for ammunition that could be used to blow away the Big Mouse then sip champagne while eating his cheese.

Absurd though it may sound, one of the reasons the opening of Oz: The Great and Powerful was legally cleared is because use of black and white cinematography is not against the law. A judgement call was made that the same could not be said about ? wait for it ? the film?s use of shades of the colour green.

Author Frank Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a children?s novel, in 1900. This means characters such as Dorothy, the Lion and the Scarecrow exist within public domain. But the 1939 production adds elements the book does not have. And here?s where it gets tricky.

In 2006 Warner Bros sued a company named AVELA, which specialises in nostalgia merchandise (like, for example, Tin Man t-shirts with captions such as ?If I only had a heart?). Five years later the case ended up in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that properties associated with characters can be copyrighted even if the characters themselves cannot:

?There is no evidence that one would be able to visualize the distinctive details of, for example, Clark Gable?s performance before watching the movie Gone with the Wind, even if one had read the book beforehand. At the very least, the scope of the film copyrights covers all visual depictions of the film characters at issue, except for any aspects of the characters that were injected into the public domain by the publicity materials.?

Therefore, depicting Dorothy?s iconic red shoes was never on the cards for Sam Raimi (they were silver in Baum?s book). Munchkins still exist in Oz: the Great and Powerful, but Disney lawyers deemed some of their haircuts too close to ones in the original film. These were restyled in post-production.

If you thought that sounds a tad pedantic, it gets worse.

Oscar-winning makeup artist Howard Berger, assigned the task of turning Mila Kunis into the new Wicked Witch of the West, ?was finally able to come up with a shade of green which satisfied Disney?s legal team,? according to a report published on SlashFilm.com.

Unusual copyright issues such as the ones highlighted by Warner Bros.? aggressive protection of the Oz universe are not unprecedented.

In 1978, the American government redefined public domain regulation, extending copyright expiration for works created between 1923 and 1977. For the Sherlock Holmes universe, this means Conan Doyle books published before that period exist in the public domain, but stories in ?The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes?, published in America in 1927, are protected by copyright until 2023.

So while you can legally create original stories set in the Sherlock Holmes universe, these stories could contravene copyright regulation if they reference components unique to the 1927 book.

But avoiding breaking the law by changing the shade of the colour of a representation of a character that exists in the public domain is on a whole other level.

In the context of an escapist fantasy intended to transport viewers to a rainbow coloured parallel dream world, this is the ultimate reality check. No matter how many times Dorothy clicks her heels, she?d better be certain that ?there?s no place like home? doesn?t have a TM looming after it; that the yellow brick road always leads to business and box office, and that her friendly Munchkins have?lawyered up. Behind the scenes machinations are as brutal as they are banal.

As the original The Wizard of Oz suggested, if you want to get swept away in the transformative powers of illusion, magic, cinema, etcetera, it?s best not to look behind the curtains.

Source: http://blogs.crikey.com.au/cinetology/2013/03/10/we%E2%80%99re-off-to-see-the-lawyers-the-wonderful-lawyers-of-oz-because-because-because/

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Gigabot is a huge consumer 3D printer awaiting your Kickstarter dollars (video)

The standard crop of 3D printers are all well and good, but what about those times when you need to print something really, really big? Gigabot's hoping to fill in that gaping void with a build envelope of 24 x 24 x 24 inches -- 30 times the volume of a standard consumer device, by its calculations. The device is a beast, naturally -- and metal one, at that. It's so big, in fact, that it can support a full-sized laptop sitting atop an attached arm.

The project is the brainchild of re:3D, an Austin-based startup, which has turned to Kickstarter to help bring the Gigabot into the world -- and from the looks of it, the company should hit its $40,000 goal, no problem. You can pick one of these up for a $2,500 pledge, which gets you everything thing you need to build one at home. Video of the printer in action after the break.

Gallery: Gigabot 3D printer hands-on

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Source: Kickstarter

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