Reserve Valentine’s Day dinner with a side of stars, moon at North Hills fundraiser

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Published: Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014, 9:00p.m. Updated 10 hours ago

This Valentine's Day, the students in North Hills High School's Astronomy Club are offering the moon and the stars along with dinner.

The Astronomy Club will serve chicken Parmesan, pasta and salad in the cafeteria at the school, 53 Rochester Road, Ross Township. Star-covered tablecloths, electric candles and flower centerpieces will help set the mood.

Proceeds from the dinner will go toward the cost of the Astronomy Club's one-day trip to the Challenger Learning Center in Wheeling, W.Va., in March or April.

The cost is $12 for an adult dinner or $8 for a child's pasta dinner without chicken.

The food will be catered by the district's food services department.

After eating, diners can watch a show in the high school's planetarium, which has a 24-foot dome.

We'll intertwine the use of our optical-mechanical projector, six slide projectors and video projector to show the movie and project constellations and a miniature sky across the dome ceiling, said Buck Batson, a retired North Hills chemistry teacher who unofficially assists his wife astronomy teacher Sue Batson with the running of the planetarium.

Seatings will be offered at 5:30, 6:15 and 7 p.m.

After the 5:30 and 6:15 p.m. dinners, the featured show is Her Seven Brothers. Targeted toward children from preschool through elementary age, it tells a Cheyenne legend about a young Native American girl who travels to the North Country to find her seven brothers, but trouble ensues. The show lasts about 30 minutes.

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Reserve Valentine’s Day dinner with a side of stars, moon at North Hills fundraiser

Astro-Physics mounts at Concordia Station. Summer maintenance. – Video

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Astro-Physics mounts at Concordia Station. Summer maintenance.
Astro-Physics mounts at Concordia Station, Dome C, Antarctica. I forgot the keypad outside for two days, which withstood -55C without problem. The blinking effect of the screen is an optical...

By: Gilles Cohen

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Astro-Physics mounts at Concordia Station. Summer maintenance. - Video

Extended Outcomes of Adjuvant Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation Patients Show Excellent Tumor Control, Breast …

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Newswise Fairfax, Va., January 29, 2014 Long-term (five-year) outcomes of breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) after breast-conserving surgery show excellent tumor control and breast cosmesis (cosmetic outcomes) with minimal late toxicity, according to a study published in the February 1, 2014 print edition of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics (Red Journal), the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

APBI delivers highly conformal radiation therapy, during a period of one to two weeks, to the site where the cancer was removed. APBI has seen a 10-fold increase in use from 2002 to 2007 and is currently the focus of several ongoing phase III trials.

The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute study examines the long-term outcomes, tumor control and breast cosmesis of a cohort of early-stage and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) breast cancer patients who received a five-day treatment of APBI at the University of Pittsburgh from 2002 to 2007.

The study is a retrospective review of 157 patients with localized breast cancer treated with adjuvant MammoSite, single-lumen balloon-based brachytherapy after breast-conserving surgery from June 1, 2002 to December 31, 2007. For all patients, at least five years had passed since receiving brachytherapy. Patients were all age 40 or older, with 88.5 percent over age 50, and had stage T1-T2 breast cancer, with 82.4 percent in stage T1A-C, 12.2 percent with DCIS, 4.7 percent in stage T2 and 0.7 percent in stage T1mic. Patients were also categorized by demographics and tumor characteristics into suitable, cautionary and unsuitable groups based on recommendations from ASTROs APBI Consensus Statement.

APBI was delivered to a median dose of 34 Gy in 10 fractions over a five-day period. In addition, 89 percent of patients received additional adjuvant systemic therapy, with 66.9 percent receiving hormonal therapy, 13.4 percent chemotherapy and 8.3 percent chemotherapy with hormonal therapy. Follow-up was conducted every three to four months for the first two years post-treatment, and every six months thereafter at the discretion of the patients breast surgeon and radiation oncologist. Baseline mammograms were performed three to six months after treatment, and annually thereafter. In addition, cosmetic outcomes were documented via photography at each visit, and toxicity was assessed during the final follow-up visit.

At a median follow-up of 5.5 years post-treatment, the five-year and seven-year actuarial ipsilateral breast control were 98 percent/98 percent, the lymph nodal control were 99 percent/98 percent and the distant control were 99 percent/99 percent. The breast cancer specific survival was 100 percent at five years and 99 percent at seven years. The overall survival was 89 percent at five years and 86 percent at seven years. There were no significant differences in tumor recurrence or survival rates in the appropriateness subgroups based on ASTROs consensus statement. Good to excellent breast cosmesis was reported in 93.4 percent of patients. Overall toxicity rates were low, and the most common toxicity was telangiectasia, small, dilated blood vessels near the surface of the skin, which was reported in 27 percent of study participants. The study correlated telangiectasia development and the maximum radiation dose to the skin. The study institution practice is to keep maximum skin dose 100 percent and at maximum 125 percent to limit the risk of telangiectasia.

These results may encourage women to choose this convenient five-day treatment and also help radiation oncologists use techniques that can reduce skin dose further, thus further reducing the long-term effects of partial breast radiation therapy on skin changes and breast cosmesis, said Sushil Beriwal, MD, a co-author of the study and a radiation oncologist at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Center. The promising outcomes seen across subgroups, as defined by prior consensus definitions for appropriate patient selection, suggest that the current metrics for selecting patients for APBI may need to be redefined such that more women may be candidates for less radiation over a shorter time via APBI.

The February 1 print edition of the Red Journal also contains two editorials addressing breast brachytherapy and examining the data from this study. Peter Y. Chen, MD, a radiation oncologist at William Beaumont Health System in Royal Oak, Mich., emphasizes the need to ensure guidelines keep up with changing data. Robert R. Kuske, MD, a radiation oncologist at Arizona Breast Cancer Specialists in Scottsdale, Ariz., and S. Stanley Young, PhD, the assistant director for bioinformatics at the National Institute of Statistical Sciences, explore the reported differences between breast brachytherapy and whole breast irradiation from the statistical and clinical implications.

Continued here:

Extended Outcomes of Adjuvant Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation Patients Show Excellent Tumor Control, Breast ...

EBRT reduces risk of subsequent mastectomy in patients with invasive breast cancer

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

29-Jan-2014

Contact: Brittany Ashcroft press@astro.org 703-839-7336 American Society for Radiation Oncology

Fairfax, Va., January 29, 2014 Standard external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) provided a higher breast preservation rate than brachytherapy in women age 66 and older with invasive breast cancer, according to a study published in the February 1, 2014 print edition of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics (Red Journal), the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

Brachytherapy after lumpectomy is an increasingly popular treatment protocol for breast cancer; however, there is conflicting data regarding its effectiveness. Additionally, published suitability criteria directing patient selection for brachytherapy have not been empirically validated. This study compares the long-term likelihood of breast preservation, risks of post-operative complications and local toxicities, and validity of suitability categories of three treatment strategies after lumpectomy: EBRT, brachytherapy and no radiation.

This study used the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked database to identify 35,947 women, age 66 and older, diagnosed with invasive breast cancer (79.9 percent) or ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) (20.1 percent) from 2002 to 2007 and treated with lumpectomy alone (23 percent), lumpectomy followed by brachytherapy (3.6 percent) or lumpectomy followed by EBRT (73.4 percent). Patients with invasive breast cancer were also classified as suitable (34.7 percent), cautionary (17.6 percent) or unsuitable (35.2 percent) for brachytherapy based on ASTRO's Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation Consensus Statement. Twelve-and-a-half percent of patients were unclassified. The patients with DCIS in this study were analyzed separately. For this study, patients age 70 or older were classified as "older suitable."

The median follow-up for patients was 3.5 years. For this study, subsequent mastectomy is defined as a claim for mastectomy identified from one year after diagnosis until December 31, 2009, which was the last date of follow-up. The five-year cumulative incidence of subsequent mastectomy for patients with invasive breast cancer was 4.7 percent for those treated with lumpectomy alone, 2.8 percent for those treated with lumpectomy followed by brachytherapy and 1.3 percent for those treated with lumpectomy followed by EBRT. In patients with DCIS, 2.2 percent underwent subsequent mastectomy during follow-up. The five-year cumulative incidence of subsequent mastectomy in patients with DCIS was 3.2 percent for those treated with lumpectomy alone, 4.6 percent for those treated with brachytherapy and 1.6 percent for those treated with EBRT.

In this study, brachytherapy was associated with a greater likelihood of breast preservation than lumpectomy alone, while EBRT showed more likelihood of breast preservation than brachytherapy. When stratified into the ASTRO-defined suitability groups, the study found suitable group patients were the least likely to undergo subsequent mastectomy and had the smallest absolute difference when comparing those treated with brachytherapy and those treated with EBRT. The small number of patients with DCIS treated with brachytherapy in this cohort does not allow definitive conclusions on the effectiveness of brachytherapy for these patients.

"Brachytherapy offered a breast preservation benefit, although in general this benefit was slightly less than the benefit derived from standard external beam radiation therapy," said Benjamin D. Smith, MD, a co-author of the study and associate professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. "Our findings suggest that certain patients with very favorable tumors do just as well with either brachytherapy or standard external beam radiation therapy, whereas other patients with higher risk tumors seem to do better with standard external beam radiation therapy."

The February 1 print edition of the Red Journal also contains two editorials addressing breast brachytherapy and examining the data from this study. Peter Y. Chen, MD, a radiation oncologist at William Beaumont Health System in Royal Oak, Mich., emphasizes the need to ensure guidelines keep up with changing data. Robert R. Kuske, MD, a radiation oncologist at Arizona Breast Cancer Specialists in Scottsdale, Ariz., and S. Stanley Young, PhD, the assistant director for bioinformatics at the National Institute of Statistical Sciences, explore the reported differences between breast brachytherapy and whole breast irradiation from the statistical and clinical implications.

Read more:

EBRT reduces risk of subsequent mastectomy in patients with invasive breast cancer

External Beam Radiation Therapy Reduces Risk of Subsequent Mastectomy in Patients with Invasive Breast Cancer

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Newswise Fairfax, Va., January 29, 2014 Standard external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) provided a higher breast preservation rate than brachytherapy in women age 66 and older with invasive breast cancer, according to a study published in the February 1, 2014 print edition of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics (Red Journal), the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

Brachytherapy after lumpectomy is an increasingly popular treatment protocol for breast cancer; however, there is conflicting data regarding its effectiveness. Additionally, published suitability criteria directing patient selection for brachytherapy have not been empirically validated. This study compares the long-term likelihood of breast preservation, risks of post-operative complications and local toxicities, and validity of suitability categories of three treatment strategies after lumpectomy: EBRT, brachytherapy and no radiation.

This study used the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked database to identify 35,947 women, age 66 and older, diagnosed with invasive breast cancer (79.9 percent) or ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) (20.1 percent) from 2002 to 2007 and treated with lumpectomy alone (23 percent), lumpectomy followed by brachytherapy (3.6 percent) or lumpectomy followed by EBRT (73.4 percent). Patients with invasive breast cancer were also classified as suitable (34.7 percent), cautionary (17.6 percent) or unsuitable (35.2 percent) for brachytherapy based on ASTROs Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation Consensus Statement. Twelve-and-a-half percent of patients were unclassified. The patients with DCIS in this study were analyzed separately. For this study, patients age 70 or older were classified as older suitable.

The median follow-up for patients was 3.5 years. For this study, subsequent mastectomy is defined as a claim for mastectomy identified from one year after diagnosis until December 31, 2009, which was the last date of follow-up. The five-year cumulative incidence of subsequent mastectomy for patients with invasive breast cancer was 4.7 percent for those treated with lumpectomy alone, 2.8 percent for those treated with lumpectomy followed by brachytherapy and 1.3 percent for those treated with lumpectomy followed by EBRT. In patients with DCIS, 2.2 percent underwent subsequent mastectomy during follow-up. The five-year cumulative incidence of subsequent mastectomy in patients with DCIS was 3.2 percent for those treated with lumpectomy alone, 4.6 percent for those treated with brachytherapy and 1.6 percent for those treated with EBRT.

In this study, brachytherapy was associated with a greater likelihood of breast preservation than lumpectomy alone, while EBRT showed more likelihood of breast preservation than brachytherapy. When stratified into the ASTRO-defined suitability groups, the study found suitable group patients were the least likely to undergo subsequent mastectomy and had the smallest absolute difference when comparing those treated with brachytherapy and those treated with EBRT. The small number of patients with DCIS treated with brachytherapy in this cohort does not allow definitive conclusions on the effectiveness of brachytherapy for these patients.

Brachytherapy offered a breast preservation benefit, although in general this benefit was slightly less than the benefit derived from standard external beam radiation therapy, said Benjamin D. Smith, MD, a co-author of the study and associate professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Our findings suggest that certain patients with very favorable tumors do just as well with either brachytherapy or standard external beam radiation therapy, whereas other patients with higher risk tumors seem to do better with standard external beam radiation therapy.

The February 1 print edition of the Red Journal also contains two editorials addressing breast brachytherapy and examining the data from this study. Peter Y. Chen, MD, a radiation oncologist at William Beaumont Health System in Royal Oak, Mich., emphasizes the need to ensure guidelines keep up with changing data. Robert R. Kuske, MD, a radiation oncologist at Arizona Breast Cancer Specialists in Scottsdale, Ariz., and S. Stanley Young, PhD, the assistant director for bioinformatics at the National Institute of Statistical Sciences, explore the reported differences between breast brachytherapy and whole breast irradiation from the statistical and clinical implications.

For a copy of the manuscript of the study or the editorials, contact Brittany Ashcroft at 703-839-7336, press@astro.org. For more information about the Red Journal, visit http://www.redjournal.org.

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External Beam Radiation Therapy Reduces Risk of Subsequent Mastectomy in Patients with Invasive Breast Cancer

Extended outcomes from APBI show tumor control, breast cosmesis and minimal late toxicity

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

29-Jan-2014

Contact: Brittany Ashcroft press@astro.org 703-839-7336 American Society for Radiation Oncology

Fairfax, Va., January 29, 2014 Long-term (five-year) outcomes of breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) after breast-conserving surgery show excellent tumor control and breast cosmesis (cosmetic outcomes) with minimal late toxicity, according to a study published in the February 1, 2014 print edition of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics (Red Journal), the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

APBI delivers highly conformal radiation therapy, during a period of one to two weeks, to the site where the cancer was removed. APBI has seen a 10-fold increase in use from 2002 to 2007 and is currently the focus of several ongoing phase III trials.

The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute study examines the long-term outcomes, tumor control and breast cosmesis of a cohort of early-stage and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) breast cancer patients who received a five-day treatment of APBI at the University of Pittsburgh from 2002 to 2007.

The study is a retrospective review of 157 patients with localized breast cancer treated with adjuvant MammoSite, single-lumen balloon-based brachytherapy after breast-conserving surgery from June 1, 2002 to December 31, 2007. For all patients, at least five years had passed since receiving brachytherapy. Patients were all age 40 or older, with 88.5 percent over age 50, and had stage T1-T2 breast cancer, with 82.4 percent in stage T1A-C, 12.2 percent with DCIS, 4.7 percent in stage T2 and 0.7 percent in stage T1mic. Patients were also categorized by demographics and tumor characteristics into suitable, cautionary and unsuitable groups based on recommendations from ASTRO's APBI Consensus Statement.

APBI was delivered to a median dose of 34 Gy in 10 fractions over a five-day period. In addition, 89 percent of patients received additional adjuvant systemic therapy, with 66.9 percent receiving hormonal therapy, 13.4 percent chemotherapy and 8.3 percent chemotherapy with hormonal therapy. Follow-up was conducted every three to four months for the first two years post-treatment, and every six months thereafter at the discretion of the patient's breast surgeon and radiation oncologist. Baseline mammograms were performed three to six months after treatment, and annually thereafter. In addition, cosmetic outcomes were documented via photography at each visit, and toxicity was assessed during the final follow-up visit.

At a median follow-up of 5.5 years post-treatment, the five-year and seven-year actuarial ipsilateral breast control were 98 percent/98 percent, the lymph nodal control were 99 percent/98 percent and the distant control were 99 percent/99 percent. The breast cancer specific survival was 100 percent at five years and 99 percent at seven years. The overall survival was 89 percent at five years and 86 percent at seven years. There were no significant differences in tumor recurrence or survival rates in the appropriateness subgroups based on ASTRO's consensus statement. Good to excellent breast cosmesis was reported in 93.4 percent of patients. Overall toxicity rates were low, and the most common toxicity was telangiectasia, small, dilated blood vessels near the surface of the skin, which was reported in 27 percent of study participants. The study correlated telangiectasia development and the maximum radiation dose to the skin. The study institution practice is to keep maximum skin dose 100 percent and at maximum 125 percent to limit the risk of telangiectasia.

"These results may encourage women to choose this convenient five-day treatment and also help radiation oncologists use techniques that can reduce skin dose further, thus further reducing the long-term effects of partial breast radiation therapy on skin changes and breast cosmesis," said Sushil Beriwal, MD, a co-author of the study and a radiation oncologist at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Center. "The promising outcomes seen across subgroups, as defined by prior consensus definitions for appropriate patient selection, suggest that the current metrics for selecting patients for APBI may need to be redefined such that more women may be candidates for less radiation over a shorter time via APBI."

Originally posted here:

Extended outcomes from APBI show tumor control, breast cosmesis and minimal late toxicity

Google isn’t the only company working on artificial intelligence. It’s just the richest

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17 hours ago Jan. 29, 2014 - 10:30 AM PST

Artificial intelligence might be the most misunderstood term in technology. It conjures up images of malevolent robots and self-aware computer systems capable of outwitting or at least matching wits with human beings. It is not that. At least not today.

Googles acquisition of artificial intelligence startup DeepMind for $400 million sent the tech world atwitter earlier this week. Everybody wanted to know what the mysterious company was up to and why Google was willing to pay so much for it. After a day or so of mystery and even speculation that Google wanted to turn its new robots into sentient beings, the probable truth finally began to emerge.

Google just wants to build a better search platform, and talent isnt going to come cheap with everybody in the web vying for it.

DeepMind was working on some form of artificial intelligence technology, although the details are still somewhat murky. It had filed patent applications around image search, and the Re/Code post linked to above quotes AI expert Yoshua Bengio, who described a DeepMind paper about teaching a computer to learn the rules of Atari games as essentially using deep learning. Heres a primer (albeit one in need of an update) we did on deep learning in November.

Whether or not its methods or its people are worth $400 million is up for debate, but one thing is not: DeepMind was just the latest in a string of similar acquisitions of artificial intelligence talent and technology by large web companies. And it wont be the last.

We recapped the recent activity earlier this month when Pinterest bought a computer vision startup called Visual Graph, but heres an abbreviated version of moves that happened throughout 2012 and 2013: Dropbox bought Anchovi Labs; Google bought DNNresearch (and its co-founder Geoffrey Hinton); Yahoo bought LookFlow, IQ Engines and SkyPhrase; Facebook hired Yann LeCun to head up its new AI lab. Various students of Hinton and LeCun (who are also professors), as well as of their peers from other top universities, are floating around companies like Google, Facebook and Microsoft.

How SkyPhrases technology interpreted my query.

A betting man might wager that a Silicon Valley startup called Vicarious is one of the next up for acquisition. It launched in August 2012 with $15 million in venture capital and in October 2013 claimed it has passed the Turing test by successfully cracking CAPTCHAs at up to a 90 percent rate. Vicarious is clear to point out that it doesnt do deep learning (nor do some of the other startups mentioned), but its trying to accomplish a similar task. If someone is interested in buying it, the acquisition price might depend on who else is making offers.

Which, actually, brings up one other thing thats not up for debate: deep learning, artificial intelligence and similar technologies are not what we instinctively want to think they are. Largely, the companies and researchers being acquired by Google, Facebook et al are focusing on two things: computer vision (usually object recognition) and natural language processing. Their algorithms try to learn the features of objects and the meanings of words and phrases so computers can automate tasks such as classification.

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Google isn’t the only company working on artificial intelligence. It’s just the richest

Lee Aerospace Re-Acquires Triumph Aerospace Systems-Wichita, Eyes New Opportunities

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Wichita, KS--January 29, 2014 --Lee Aerospace, Inc. is back. After 14 years as part of the Triumph Group, Inc., the Wichita, Kansas-based aircraft window, sheet metal and composite structure operation known since 2000 as Triumph Aerospace Systems-WIchita was re-acquired by the firms founder and current president, Jim Lee, on January 17, 2014. The new entity has revived its original brand and will again be known as Lee Aerospace, Inc.

The opportunity to re-acquire the company presented itself late last year and we are pleased to announce that Lee Aerospace has returned after 14 years of being part of the Triumph family, said Jim Lee, president. We are excited to once again be a locally-owned and operated company serving local OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and others around the world.

Being part of Triumph was a great learning experience and we are grateful to the Triumph Group for the support and foundation they provided as we grew the business from a producer of aircraft transparencies to include aerostructures and assemblies, composite manufacturing and aftermarket sales, as well.

The new Lee Aerospace is projecting a solid year in 2014 and expects to increase its employment in the coming months. This is an exciting time for us, Lee continued. We anticipate significant growth in employment and strong sales performance as we add new products and begin deliveries of large aircraft assemblies to Viking Air Limited, a first tier original equipment manufacturer (OEM).

We are extremely pleased to have been chosen by Viking to supply them with fuselage sections for the Viking Twin Otter 400. We began work on this project during mid-year 2013 and are proud to announce that, last weekend, we shipped the first of what we expect will be many fuselage sections to their assembly location in Calgary, Alberta.

With more than 800 built, Twin Otters can be found around the world in jungles, deserts, mountains, and polar regions-- anywhere rugged reliability and short-take-off-and-landing are required. Adding to that versatility the Twin Otter can be fitted with wheels, skis or floats. In 2001, it was deemed the only aircraft capable of performing a South Pole evacuation flight of a critical patient in the harsh -60C conditions. Lee Aerospace builds the fuselage assemblies for the Viking 400 version.

Originally founded in 1989, Lee Aerospace currently occupies facilities totaling more than 146,000-square feet at 9323 E. 34th Street North and employs more than 200. During its 14 years as a Triumph Group company it increased employment by more than 300% and revenues by 350%. In addition to Viking, Lee Aerospace looks forward to continuing our great working relationships with Wichita-based manufacturers Bombardier Learjet, Beechcraft, Cessna, and Spirit AeroSystems, as well as non-local airframers Honda, Cirrus, and Gulfstream, Lee concluded. Further information can be obtained by visiting the Lee Aerospace website at http://www.leeaerospace.com or calling 316-636-9200.

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Lee Aerospace Re-Acquires Triumph Aerospace Systems-Wichita, Eyes New Opportunities

Ball Aerospace satellite readied for launch by DigitalGlobe

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WorldView-3 spacecraft to enhance Longmont firm's high-resolution imagery capabilities

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has completed assembly of its WorldView-3, the fourth remote-sensing satellite it has built for DigitalGlobe, scheduled to launch this summer from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The WorldView-3 spacecraft is billed by Ball Aerospace as the first multi-payload, super-spectral high resolution commercial satellite for Earth observations and "advanced geospatial solutions."

Ball, in addition to the satellite bus, will provide an atmospheric instrument that it calls CAVIS - Cloud, Aerosol, Water Vapor, Ice, Snow.

CAVIS, integrated with the spacecraft, will monitor the atmosphere and provide correction data to enhance WorldView-3's imagery when it documents Earth features through dust, haze or other things that might impair visibility.

DigitalGlobe, based in Longmont but moving to Westminster next year, claims to own and operate one of the most agile and sophisticated collections of high-resolution commercial Earth imaging satellites in the world, capable of collecting more than 1 billion square kilometers of high-quality imagery every year.

WorldView-3 is described by Ball Aerospace as building on WorldView-2 and WorldView-1 technology by enhancing the satellite's control moment gyroscopes, which reorient a satellite over a targeted area in 4-to-5 seconds, compared to the 30-to-45 seconds required for traditional reaction wheels.

WorldView-3 utilizes the Ball Configurable Platform BCP 5000 spacecraft, which is designed to handle the next-generation optical and synthetic aperture radar remote sensing payloads, and is currently meeting or exceeding all its performance specifications on the WorldView-2 satellite.

Companies 'have grown up together'

For Jeff Dierks, Ball Aerospace program manager for WorldView-3 and its predecessor, WorldView-2, the next step in its partnership with DigitalGlobe only further cements what has been a rich relationship since the early 1990s.

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Ball Aerospace satellite readied for launch by DigitalGlobe

Genetic screening spreads to primary care at Sanford clinics

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Anne Roberts of Moorhead

Anne Roberts of Moorhead talks about her decision to have her breasts removed after being diagnosed with the gene that made her a high risk for developing breast cancer. David Samson / The Forum

Sanford medical lab scientist Tylise Graff looks at tumor tissue from a breast cancer sample which helps determine the course of treatment. David Samson / The Forum

Would you consider genetic testing?

FARGO Anne Roberts considers herself a breast cancer previvor.

After learning that she inherited a gene that placed her at very high risk and knowing her family history was riddled with cancer she opted for preventive surgery, a double mastectomy.

My surgeon explained to me it wasnt a matter of if, she said. I was going to get cancer. It was a question of when.

Roberts was 55 when she had the surgery four years ago the same age her older sister first developed breast cancer, and the age of her paternal grandmother when she died of cancer.

Genetic testing revealed the Moorhead woman had an 87 percent chance of developing breast cancer. Preemptive surgery reduced her risk by 90 percent.

Now, the kind of genetic screening and counseling that has long been common in treating cancer and assessing prenatal or childhood risk of inheriting disease is spreading to primary care at Sanford Health clinics under a new $125 million initiative in genetic medicine.

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Genetic screening spreads to primary care at Sanford clinics

Best Candidate for Stem Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine Techniques? – Video

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Best Candidate for Stem Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine Techniques?
Dr Robert Wagner discusses the profile of the best candidate for stem cell therapy and regenerative medicine techniques. To learn more, visit http://www.stemcellarts,com.

By: StemCell ARTS

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Best Candidate for Stem Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine Techniques? - Video

Stem cell researchers heralding ‘major scientific discovery’

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January 29, 2014 - 17:55 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Stem cell researchers are heralding a "major scientific discovery", with the potential to start a new age of personalized medicine, BBC News reports.

Scientists in Japan showed stem cells can now be made quickly just by dipping blood cells into acid.

Stem cells can transform into any tissue and are already being trialled for healing the eye, heart and brain.

The latest development, published in the journal Nature, could make the technology cheaper, faster and safer, according to the BBC.

The human body is built of cells with a specific role - nerve cells, liver cells, muscle cells - and that role is fixed. However, stem cells can become any other type of cell, and they have become a major field of research in medicine for their potential to regenerate the body.

Embryos are one, ethically charged, source of stem cells. Nobel prize winning research also showed that skin cells could be "genetically reprogrammed" to become stem cells (termed induced pluripotent stem cells).

Now a study shows that shocking blood cells with acid could also trigger the transformation into stem cells - this time termed STAP (stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency) cells.

Dr Haruko Obokata, from the Riken Centre for Developmental Biology in Japan, said she was "really surprised" that cells could respond to their environment in this way.

She added: "It's exciting to think about the new possibilities these findings offer us, not only in regenerative medicine, but cancer as well."

Link:
Stem cell researchers heralding ‘major scientific discovery’

Weekly Vlog #13 (Meals, Core FURY, NASM and Physiology of Exercise Classes, Sleep Over with Lindsey) – Video

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Weekly Vlog #13 (Meals, Core FURY, NASM and Physiology of Exercise Classes, Sleep Over with Lindsey)
Contact me for online personal training and nutritional consulting (Beast Fitness) - beastfitness101@yahoo.com or PM me on here! My Workout Logs: Bodybuildin...

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Weekly Vlog #13 (Meals, Core FURY, NASM and Physiology of Exercise Classes, Sleep Over with Lindsey) - Video