Monthly Archives: June 2012

Supreme Court Affordable Care Act Ruling Must Now Lead to Implementation That Will Promote Innovation and Expand …

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WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)President and CEO Jim Greenwood issued the following statement on the ruling issued today by the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the Affordable Care Act:

BIO will continue to work with relevant federal and state agencies to ensure implementation of the law in a manner that helps enable the U.S. biotech communitys continued development of lifesaving cures and other medical breakthroughs while expanding patient access to these critical cures, medicines and innovations. We will work to ensure that biotech researchers can continue to address the diseases of today while conducting the research and investment required to develop the advanced medicines and cures of tomorrow.

We also will continue our work with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to implement the bipartisan-backed biosimilars pathway that was enacted under the law. Specifically, we will advocate for implementation approaches that ensure patient safety, expand patient access and competition, and provide necessary and fair incentives that will help spur continued biomedical breakthroughs. FDA regulations and guidance must help todays patients while enabling the biotech community to move into tomorrow with cures and continued breakthroughs so our children and grandchildren won't have to live with the same diseases we have faced and, perhaps, one day, any diseases at all.

In addition, BIO will continue to support efforts to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), which threatens patient access to needed cures and medical breakthroughs.

About BIO

BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the worlds largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world. BIO produces BIOtechNOW, an online portal and monthly newsletter chronicling innovations transforming our world. Subscribe to BIOtechNOW.

Upcoming BIO Events

BIO India International Conference September 12 13, 2012 Mumbai, India

Livestock Biotech Summit September 19 21, 2012 Kansas City, MO

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Supreme Court Affordable Care Act Ruling Must Now Lead to Implementation That Will Promote Innovation and Expand ...

Kap girl published

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Kap girl published

'Grey's Anatomy' star Sarah Drew: 'I'll miss Chyler Leigh, Kim Raver'

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Grey's Anatomy star Sarah Drew has admitted that she will miss her co-stars Chyler Leigh and Kim Raver.

Leigh's character Lexie Grey was killed off in the show's eighth-season finale, while Raver's Teddy Altman also departed the series.

PA Images / Tony DiMaio

"Chyler is a very dear friend - she and I have always been such good buddies," Drew told TVLine.

"And Kim has been an unbelievable support as I went through pregnancy and early parenthood. She went out of her way to care for me and give advice, so I was tragically sad to see her go."

Drew admitted that the loss of Leigh and Raver makes her feel "trepidation" that her own character April Kepner could also be written out.

"Anybody can go at any time, especially on Grey's," she said. "But I'm really glad I didn't get killed off."

Grey's Anatomy will return to CBS with new episodes in late 2012. The series airs on Sky Living in the UK.

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'Grey's Anatomy' star Sarah Drew: 'I'll miss Chyler Leigh, Kim Raver'

Anatomy of an upset: How Jim Bridenstine beat Rep. John Sullivan

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Read all the election coverage.

Sullivan, according to aides, had returned to Washington, D.C.

Bridenstine was reporting for duty in the Navy Reserve, said campaign manager Erik Zoellner.

Zoellner said the Bridenstine camp went into election day thinking their candidate would probably win. If so, they were about the only ones who saw the eight-point victory coming.

"We all missed this," said University of Oklahoma political science professor Keith Gaddie.

"You could see something like this happening to Sullivan eventually, but nobody saw this time. If they say they did, they're lying."

Any loss by a congressional incumbent is rare. It last happened in Oklahoma in 1994, when retired school administrator Virgil Cooper defeated 2nd District U.S. Rep. Mike Synar in the Democratic primary and in so doing helped launch the political career of Tom Coburn.

Cooper, a protest candidate, did not really contest the general election and even encouraged people to vote for Coburn, who became the first Republican in 70 years to represent the 2nd District.

In that instance, voters had become discontented with what was perceived, at least, as Synar's increasingly liberal voting record at a time when conservatives were seizing control of Congress.

Long-time state political observer Bill Shapard said Sullivan had no similar ideological break with the electorate.

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Anatomy of an upset: How Jim Bridenstine beat Rep. John Sullivan

Pupils ‘travel world’ as school embraces Games

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Last updated at 14:00, Thursday, 28 June 2012

A BARROW school embraced the Olympics to learn about countries from across the world.

Title Author Copyright

Description

Pupils at Cambridge School, in Barrow, took part in an Olympic flag procession on Monday. (25/6)

The event was aimed at boosting the childrens international awareness and pupils from all years joined in the fun.

Flags on display included those of Jamaica, Cyprus, Trinidad and Tobago, France and the USA.

Headteacher Linda Dean said: It was the launch of our involvement and interest in the London 2012 Olympics.

A flag procession was one of the suggested activities and we thought it would be a good way to get involved.

The pupils designed and made flags from different countries and we did a procession through the school, outside into the street, back through the playground and into the main hall.

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Pupils ‘travel world’ as school embraces Games

How To Build a Gaming Computer 2012: Parts Overview and Buying Guide [Part 1] – Video

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27-06-2012 12:55 Be sure to subscribe to stay tuned for my further uploads and updates to this series! Thanks Guys! Parts: i7 2600k Corsair H100 Corsair 650d Case 1 tb Seagate Barracuda 240gb Mushkin SSD 120gb Corsair Force SSD Samsung Blu Ray Drive DVD Drive GTX 680 Superclocked Edition G. Skill Sniper RAM 16gb Corsair Hx750 NZXT Cable Extensions Asrock Z77 Professional Silenx Effizio Fans -Ben

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How To Build a Gaming Computer 2012: Parts Overview and Buying Guide [Part 1] - Video

Supermicro® FatTwin(TM) Takes Center Stage at International Supercomputing Conference …

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New 4U, 8/4 Node FatTwin(TM) Joins Supermicro's SuperBlade, GPU Platforms, SuperWorkstation, 4-Way and Twin Architecture Solutions Highlighting Supermicro's Supercomputing Solutions for HPC

HAMBURG, Germany- Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI), a global leader in high-performance, high-efficiency server technology and green computing, will debut its newest innovative architecture, FatTwin(TM) at ISC, giving the public its first hands-on look at the future of power-efficient supercomputing. The FatTwin is a new 4U high-performance, high-capacity platform that offers versatile configurations for HPC with multi-node models that support dual 135W Intel Xeon E5-2600 processors, up to 8 hot-swap 3.5" HDDs in 1U and up to 8 GPUs in 2U. This new architecture is also designed to operate in high ambient temperatures providing greater performance while reducing cooling infrastructure costs.

"Many factors affect the successful implementation of scalable supercomputing solutions, and obtaining maximum performance within budget and power constraints is the most challenging task," said Charles Liang, President and CEO of Supermicro. "At Supermicro, we emphasize not only the highest-performance in our HPC solutions, but also the overall energy efficiency and optimal power-usage effectiveness (PUE) of our complete systems. Supermicro's new architectures such as FatTwin integrate the latest CPU, GPU and storage technologies with advanced high-efficiency digital switching power supplies and free-air cooling designs for maximum performance and increased operational temperature ranges up to 47 degrees C that eliminate costly air conditioning. Our expertise in server design and thermal management reduces our customer's TCO and offsets operating expenses providing more budget for mission critical compute performance."

Supermicro's new FatTwin expands on their widely adopted 1U and 2U Twin SuperServer lines and adds a new series of 4U systems that offers the industry's best capacity and efficiency in a standard 19" rack ready solution. The FatTwin is now shipping in high-compute density 4U 8 and 4 node configurations supporting dual Intel Xeon E5-2600 processors, up to 512GB of 1600MHz memory and up to 12 hot-swap 2.5" SAS/SATA HDDs per U in the 8 node or up to 8 hot-swap 3.5" SAS/SATA HDDs per U in the 4 node configuration. These systems also offer PCI-E 3.0 expandability and optional 56Gbps ConnectX-3 FDR InfiniBand or 10GbE connectivity. The real highlights of these systems reach beyond their high-performance and capacity with an earth friendly focus on energy efficiency and resulting cost savings. The FatTwin is designed to operate in extreme ambient temperature range (0 degrees C to 47 degrees C), free-air cooled environments, effectively eliminating the need for costly air-conditioning. The Twin architecture based multi-node solutions feature shared power and cooling resources reducing costly components and cabling, resulting in optimized air-flow and maximizing energy utilization. Combined with Supermicro's redundant Platinum Level high-efficiency (95%+) digital switching power supplies, the FatTwin delivers maximum compute density and energy efficiency for today's most demanding supercomputing needs. FatTwin is a versatile platform and additional models will be released in early Q3 2012 offering solutions optimized for GPU supercomputing and Big Data/Hadoop analytics.

Exhibits at the show include Supermicro's wide range of X9 Intel Xeon E5-2600 based platforms optimized for HPC. SuperBlade offers various blade configurations with a 56Gb FDR InfiniBand switch for high-speed interconnectivity. The GPU Blade SBI-7127RG provides the highest compute density with 20 GPUs and 20 CPUs in 7U and the double-density TwinBlade SBI-7227R-T2 provides 20 DP (dual-processor) server nodes with 40 CPUs in 7U. The SYS-1027GR-TQFT offers an extreme 4 GPUs in 1U and the 2U 6 GPU SYS-2027GR-TRF is ideal for scalable cluster computing. The SYS-7047GR-TRF SuperWorkstation accommodates up to 5 GPUs and recently received NVIDIA Maximus(TM) certification making this system a powerhouse for engineering, design and simulation applications. Supermicro's advanced 4-Way MP (multi-processor) systems targeting mission-critical, data-intensive applications will be represented with the SYS-8047R-7RFT+.

In addition Supermicro will display its A+ line of AMD Opteron(TM) 6000 servers including the 4U rack mountable quad-processor AS-4042G-TRF and the 2U Twin(2) AS-2022TG-H6IBQRF offering four hot-pluggable dual-processor 16/12/8-Core nodes in a 2U form factor. Supermicro A+ Blade solutions include the 4-Way SuperBlade SBA-7142G-T4 with ten hot-pluggable quad-processor 16/12/8-Core nodes in a 7U blade enclosure and the double-density TwinBlade SBA-7222G-T2 with 20 DP 16/12/8-Core nodes in a 7U blade enclosure. Supermicro offers complete computing solutions with its 10G/1G Ethernet switches including two new models that also support free-air cooling operation in ambient temperatures of up to 47 degrees C.

Visit Supermicro at ISC'12 in Hamburg, Germany at the Congress Center Hamburg (CCH), booth #520 or browse Supermicro's total line of high performance, high-efficiency server and storage solutions at http://www.supermicro.com.

About Super Micro Computer, Inc.

Supermicro (NASDAQ: SMCI), the leading innovator in high-performance, high-efficiency server technology is a premier provider of advanced server Building Block Solutions for Data Center, Cloud Computing, HPC, Enterprise IT and Embedded Systems worldwide. Supermicro is committed to protecting the environment through its "We Keep IT Green" initiative and provides customers with the most energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly solutions available on the market.

SOURCE Super Micro Computer, Inc.

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Supermicro® FatTwin(TM) Takes Center Stage at International Supercomputing Conference ...

Super Micro Computer Turns More Into Less

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Margins matter. The more Super Micro Computer (Nasdaq: SMCI) keeps of each buck it earns in revenue, the more money it has to invest in growth, fund new strategic plans, or (gasp!) distribute to shareholders. Healthy margins often separate pretenders from the best stocks in the market. That's why we check up on margins at least once a quarter in this series. I'm looking for the absolute numbers, so I can compare them to current and potential competitors, and any trend that may tell me how strong Super Micro Computer's competitive position could be.

Here's the current margin snapshot for Super Micro Computer over the trailing 12 months: Gross margin is 16.3%, while operating margin is 5.5% and net margin is 3.5%.

Unfortunately, a look at the most recent numbers doesn't tell us much about where Super Micro Computer has been, or where it's going. A company with rising gross and operating margins often fuels its growth by increasing demand for its products. If it sells more units while keeping costs in check, its profitability increases. Conversely, a company with gross margins that inch downward over time is often losing out to competition, and possibly engaging in a race to the bottom on prices. If it can't make up for this problem by cutting costs -- and most companies can't -- then both the business and its shares face a decidedly bleak outlook.

Of course, over the short term, the kind of economic shocks we recently experienced can drastically affect a company's profitability. That's why I like to look at five fiscal years' worth of margins, along with the results for the trailing 12 months, the last fiscal year, and last fiscal quarter (LFQ). You can't always reach a hard conclusion about your company's health, but you can better understand what to expect, and what to watch.

Here's the margin picture for Super Micro Computer over the past few years.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Dollar amounts in millions. FY = fiscal year. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Because of seasonality in some businesses, the numbers for the last period on the right -- the TTM figures -- aren't always comparable to the FY results preceding them. To compare quarterly margins to their prior-year levels, consult this chart.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Dollar amounts in millions. FQ = fiscal quarter.

Here's how the stats break down:

With recent TTM operating margins below historical averages, Super Micro Computer has some work to do.

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Super Micro Computer Turns More Into Less

Diabetes breakthrough: UBC scientists reverse disease in mice using stem-cell transplants

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VANCOUVER -- For the first time ever, University of B.C. scientists have used human embryonic stem cell transplants to reverse Type 1 diabetes in mice with the disease, giving hope to about 300 million people around the world who suffer from the chronic disease.

A 13-member team, whose milestone work is published in the journal Diabetes, shows that after transplantation, the stem cells matured into insulin-secreting, pancreatic beta-cells. The cells automatically sensed blood sugar levels to release the right amount of insulin and a few dozen diabetic mice were gradually weaned off insulin given to them over a period of months.

Insulin is produced by beta-cells to to help the body absorb sugar and use it for energy.

Essentially, the mice were cured of their diabetes by placing the body back in charge of regulated insulin production as it is in healthy, non-diabetics, said lead author Timothy Kieffer.

It took about four to five months for the [stem] cells to become functional in our experiments and the mice were able to maintain good blood glucose levels even when fed a high-glucose diet, said Kieffer, a UBC professor in the department of cellular and physiological sciences.

Type 1 diabetes otherwise known as juvenile diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which a patients immune system kills off insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. About 10 per cent of diabetics are Type 1 and typically, they must inject themselves with insulin or use pumps to control their blood glucose levels.

While pancreatic islet cell transplantation pioneered at the University of Alberta several years ago has been shown to be an effective way of reducing dependence on insulin injections, the treatment is costly and cumbersome as it requires donor cells from cadavers, which are always in short supply. As well, islet cell transplant patients must forever take anti-rejection drugs that can cause organ damage.

In the study methodology, mice were anesthetized and then injected with millions of cells derived from stem cells which were placed under the left kidney area.

Although the research showed that stem cells may one day provide a cure for diabetes, it also revealed hurdles to overcome before agencies like the Food and Drug Administration in the United States or Health Canada can approve the therapy.

For example, some mice developed bone or cartilage in areas where the cells were inserted, an unacceptable side-effect that future experiments must resolve.

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Diabetes breakthrough: UBC scientists reverse disease in mice using stem-cell transplants

Retreat looking for volunteers

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VOLUNTEERS are needed to operate Mary MacKillop House (pictured) in Richmond from August to October.

Set in beautiful grounds, the historic "House of Spirituality" which used to be the old St Joseph convent, is now used as a place for contemplation, prayer and spirituality workshops, according to the director of the Western Ministry for Spirituality, Terry Lees.

"This year we've been running it with the help of volunteers who live in and coordinate the daily activities and operations of the house, cook meals if there are guests, provide cups of tea for visitors and show them around.

"We have daily prayer sessions and workshops scheduled and the position is a live-in one," Mr Lees said.

The house looked out over the lake at Richmond, and Mr Lees said it had a "million dollar view".

The volunteer/s would also be in charge of maintaining the gardens.

Mary MacKillop House was administered by the Catholic Diocese of Townsville.

Anyone interested should contact Terry Lees on 0419 729 225 or by email at Patterle@bigpond.net.au

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Retreat looking for volunteers

Ripples in the sky: Space Station astronaut captures mysterious 'night shining' clouds over Tibetan plateau

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By Rob Waugh

PUBLISHED: 06:37 EST, 28 June 2012 | UPDATED: 10:31 EST, 28 June 2012

Space Station astronauts captured images of rare 'night shining' clouds as the craft passed over the Tibetan Plateau - high-altitude clouds which appear as delicate, shining threads against the darkness of space.

The clouds can only be seen from aircraft in flight, from the Space Station, or rarely from the ground at twilight - and shine at night because the ice crystals are lit up by the sun from beneath the visible horizon.

The clouds can only be seen from aircraft in flight, from the Space Station, or rarely from the ground at twilight - and shine at night because the ice crystals are lit up by the sun from beneath the visible horizon

The clouds - called 'polar mesospheric' clouds or 'noctilucent', night-shining clouds were photographed on June 13 by the crew of the ISS using a Nikon D2X.

In both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, during their respective late spring and early summer seasons, polar mesospheric clouds are at the peak of their visibility.

On June 13, 2012, when this image was taken from the ISS as it passed over the Tibetan Plateau, polar mesospheric clouds were also visible to aircraft flying over Canada.

In addition to the still image above, the ISS crew took a time-lapse image sequence of polar mesospheric clouds several days earlier (June 5) while passing over western Asia. It is first such sequence of images of the phenomena taken from orbit.

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Ripples in the sky: Space Station astronaut captures mysterious 'night shining' clouds over Tibetan plateau

Space Station Science at a Critical Point, NASA Says

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DENVER It's time to get serious about science in space, and the International Space Station is the perfect place to start, NASA officials said Tuesday (June 26).

"We are in a position in space research and space exploration where we have to push the ball and advance forward or we're about ready to retreat from space," William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations, told a crowd of researchers here at the first annual ISS Research and Development Conference.

Science experiments on the space station have been under way since the outpost's early days, of course. Construction of the orbiting laboratory began in 1998, and there has been a continuous human presence on the station since 2000. Now, however, there is little left to build and many opportunities to exploit, according to NASA speakers, who encouraged scientists to spread the word.

"We need to really reach out and push and use that same creativity and innovation that we used to build this wonderful facility to actually utilize it," Gerstenmaier said. [Infographic: The International Space Station Inside and Out]

In May, SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule successfully docked with the space station, becoming the first commercial spacecraft in history to do so. With SpaceX and other private companies providing transportation, private research companies will have the routine access they need to commit to space research, Gerstenmaier said. Meanwhile, upgrades like Earth-compatible power outlets and wireless internet connectivity will make it easier for terrestrially bound scientists to create experiments that will work in space, said Mike Suffredini, NASA's ISS Program Director.

Keeping humans in space

The human component to space exploration was at the forefront in NASA officials' messages. Human experimenters can be part of experiments, making observations in a way that an automated system never could, said NASA Chief Scientist Waleed Abdalati. And human perseverance can also yield surprising results.

For example, now-retired astronaut Shannon Lucid was once conducting a fluid physics experiment on the Russian research satellite Mir, Gerstenmaier said. Her job was to shake a container of liquid in an attempt to form a bubble in a certain spot. Based on computer models, researchers were certain that the experiment was physically impossible but Lucid didn't know that. With communications temporarily interrupted between Mir and Earth, she kept at the experiment for over an hour. Finally, she got the bubble to form.

"It blew away their theory," Gerstenmaier said. "They believed their computer analysis. She didn't know that and really pushed that boundary."

Space station research can have applications for humanity on Earth one experiment performed on the station uncovered immune system changes that can predict shingles, a painful skin disorder caused by the chickenpox virus, Suffredini said as well as for future space travel and basic science.

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Space Station Science at a Critical Point, NASA Says

Space Pictures This Week: Mickey Mouse Craters, More

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Suspended Stars

Image by Rolf Olsen, Your Shot

Seen from a New Zealand observatory, the young star cluster NGC 6193 (center) appears suspended within the nebula NGC 6188. The nebula itself is littered with thousands of dimmer, colorful stars in this image recently submitted to National Geographic's Your Shot photo community.

NGC 6188 is a large-emission nebula some 4,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Ara. (See more nebula pictures.)

Published June 28, 2012

Photograph courtesy DLR

The German Aerospace Center's unmanned SHEFEX II spacecraft takes off from the Andya Rocket Range in Norway on June 22. Ten minutes later the 43-foot-tall (13-meter-tall) rocket landed safely west of Spitsbergen, Norway.

As it re-entered the atmosphere, SHEFEX (SHarp Edge Flight EXperiment) endured temperatures over 4,500 degrees Fahrenheit (2,500 degrees Celsius), and its 300 sensors sent measurement data to a ground station.

"The SHEFEX II flight takes us one step further in the road to developing a space vehicle built like a space capsule but offering the control and flight options of the space shuttle much more cost-effectively," project manager Hendrik Weihs said in a statement.

(See "SpaceX Launches for Space Station-Like 'Winning the Super Bowl.'")

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Space Pictures This Week: Mickey Mouse Craters, More

UPDATE 9-Oil heads for worst quarter since 2008 crisis

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* Wall Street extends losses after Supreme Court decision

* Euro zone deeply divided over how to battle debt crisis

* Coming up: U.S. consumer confidence survey, Friday

By Gene Ramos

NEW YORK, June 28 (Reuters) - Crude oil futures fell as much as 3 percent o n T hursday, heading for the worst quarterly performance since the 2008 financial debacle, on worries that an EU summit will not find durable solutions to the euro zone crisis, stifling global growth prospects.

Weaker U.S. equities on Wall Street after the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding key elements of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law added to the day's pressures on crude futures.

Despite recent gains, Brent crude futures were on track to end the second quarter with a drop of about 25 percent, the worst since the last quarter of 2008, at the height of the financial crisis after the collapse of Lehman Bros.

U.S. crude futures, meanwhile, were poised to see a fall of about 24 percent, also the biggest quarterly loss since the last quarter of 2008.

Trading on Wall Street was volatile, with healthcare stocks hit after the Supreme Court upheld the centerpiece "individual mandate" provision of the Obama healthcare overhaul. Equities were already lower on skepticism that the European Union Summit will result in concrete measures.

"It's the euro zone problems, the strength of the dollar and the weak equities, said Stephen Schork, president of the Schork Group in Villanova, Pennsylvania, commenting on the reasons for the day's price drop.

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UPDATE 9-Oil heads for worst quarter since 2008 crisis