Astronauts to repair power unit on International Space Station

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INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION --

Its try, try again for astronauts on board the International Space Station today.

Two astronauts are making another attempt to boost power to the space station during a spacewalk this morning. They began the spacewalk just after 7 a.m.

They tools the astronauts are using are unusual -- a tooth brush and some wire cleaners, along with other equipment. Their goal is to clean stuck bolts that prevented them from installing a new power unit to the exterior of the space station.

Suni Williams of NASA and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will try to complete installation of a spare Main Bus Switching Unit. Its one of four boxes thats on the outside of the space station that helps route power from solar arrays to different parts of the station.

It is key to making sure the space station has the power it needs. In last weeks attempt, a stuck bolt prevented astronauts from properly installing the power unit. Last weeks attempt clocked in at eight hours, 17 minutes, the third longest spacewalk in history.

Todays spacewalk is only supposed to last six and a half hours. At the four hour mark, if the astronauts cant get the unit installed, they will start to bring it inside the quest airlock and work on the box inside the space station.

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Astronauts to repair power unit on International Space Station

Astronauts try, try again to fix space station

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Two astronauts floated outside the International Space Station on Wednesday for the second time in six days to try to fix a power unit that was not properly installed during an earlier spacewalk last week.

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Japan's Akihiko Hoshide switched on the batteries on their spacesuits at 7:06 a.m. ET, signaling the official start of today's spacewalk.

The spacewalkers were expected to spend six and a half hours working in the vacuum of space to troubleshoot a pair of stuck bolts on a new replacement power unit that was to be attached to the space station's exterior. Wednesday's extra spacewalk was added after the troublesome bolts prevented the component from being properly installed on Aug. 30.

During Wednesday's outing, Williams and Hoshide were trying again to install the replacement power box called a main bus switching unit, or MBSU on the space station's backbone-like truss.

Last week, Williams and Hoshide removed a faulty MBSU and tried to install a new spare, but they were unable to drive in one of the bolts that fastens the unit to the station's truss. After repeated attempts failed, the astronauts used a tether to temporarily tie the MBSU down, and were forced to wrap up their marathon spacewalk. [Photos: Spacewalking Astronauts Fix Up Space Station]

The outing lasted 8 hours and 17 minutes, making it the third longest spacewalk in history and the longest ever performed by a space station crew.

The International Space Station has four MBSUs that harness power from the outpost's solar arrays and distribute it throughout the orbiting complex. Without the use of one unit, the station is unable to relay power from two of the eight solar arrays on the massive orbiting complex.

In an unrelated mishap, a component that ensures power is distributed at the proper amperage and voltage suffered a glitch late Saturday, NASA officials said. As a result, the station is able to use only five of its eight available power channels.

With three power channels unavailable, flight controllers reallocated available resources aboard the outpost for critical systems and to keep the crew safe. Despite the outages, space station operations have suffered only minimal impact, and the crew was not be affected during preparations for Wednesday's spacewalk, agency officials said.

Mission managers opted to proceed with the extra spacewalk after working around the clock to analyze the problem.

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Astronauts try, try again to fix space station

NASA announces asteroid naming contest for students

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Students worldwide have an opportunity to name an asteroid from which an upcoming NASA mission will return the first samples to Earth.

Scheduled to launch in 2016, the mission is called the Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx). Samples returned from the primitive surface of the near-Earth asteroid currently called (101955) 1999 RQ36 could hold clues to the origin of the solar system and organic molecules that may have seeded life on Earth. NASA also is planning a crewed mission to an asteroid by 2025. A closer scientific study of asteroids will provide context and help inform this mission.

"Because the samples returned by the mission will be available for study for future generations, it is possible the person who names the asteroid will grow up to study the regolith we return to Earth," said Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The competition is open to students under age 18 from anywhere in the world. Each contestant can submit one name, up to 16 characters long. Entries must include a short explanation and rationale for the name. Submissions must be made by an adult on behalf of the student. The contest deadline is Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012.

The contest is a partnership with The Planetary Society in Pasadena, Calif.; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington; and the University of Arizona in Tucson.

A panel will review proposed asteroid names. First prize will be awarded to the student who recommends a name that is approved by the International Astronomical Union Committee for Small-Body Nomenclature.

"Our mission will be focused on this asteroid for more than a decade," said Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for the mission at the University of Arizona. "We look forward to having a name that is easier to say than (101955) 1999 RQ36."

The asteroid was discovered in 1999 by the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) survey at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory. LINEAR is part of NASA's Near Earth Observation Program in Washington, which detects and catalogs near-Earth asteroids and comets. The asteroid has an average diameter of approximately one-third of a mile (500 meters).

"We are excited to have discovered the minor planet that will be visited by the OSIRIS-REx mission and to be able to engage students around the world to suggest a name for 1999 RQ36," said Grant Stokes, head of the Aerospace Division at MIT Lincoln Laboratory and principal investigator for the LINEAR program.

The asteroid received its designation of (101955) 1999 RQ36 from the Minor Planet Center, operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass. The center assigns an initial alphanumeric designation to any newly discovered asteroid once certain criteria are met to determine its orbit.

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NASA To Launch Sounding Rocket From Virginia

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Amelia ES Gym Closed Due To Mold Amelia ES Gym Closed Due To Mold

Updated: Wednesday, September 5 2012 7:19 AM EDT2012-09-05 11:19:19 GMT

Updated: Wednesday, September 5 2012 7:11 AM EDT2012-09-05 11:11:16 GMT

Updated: Wednesday, September 5 2012 7:05 AM EDT2012-09-05 11:05:25 GMT

Updated: Wednesday, September 5 2012 6:50 AM EDT2012-09-05 10:50:00 GMT

WALLOPS ISLAND, VA. (AP) - NASA is planning a test flight of a suborbital sounding rocket from its Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore.

The space agency says the test flight was set for Wednesday morning, but was postponed until Thursday morning to allow additional testing of the payload.

It will be the first flight of the Talos-Terrier-Oriole launch vehicle meant to support high-altitude space science research.

Officials say the three-stage vehicle is expected to lift its 1,664-pound payload to about 175 miles above Earth. The payload is expected to land in the Atlantic Ocean about 300 miles off Wallops Island after a 10 minute flight. The payload will not be recovered.

The launch may be visible to observers on parts of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, Maryland, and southern Delaware.

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NASA To Launch Sounding Rocket From Virginia

Why did NASA delay its Jupiter-bound craft's maneuver?

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NASA engineers are delaying a second engine firing in its Jupiter-bound spacecraft in order to check out the propulsion system. The craft, Juno, is on a mission tomap Jupiter's magnetic and gravity fields.

NASA says it has postponed a maneuver planned for the Jupiter-bound spacecraft Juno.

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The decision comes a week after Juno successfully fired its main engine. The second engine firing was slated for Tuesday but was delayed to Sept. 14.

After the last maneuver, engineers noticed higher-than-expected pressure in the propulsion system and wanted time to check it out.

The back-to-back burns are needed to put the spacecraft on course to fly by Earth next year and use the planet's gravity to accelerate to the outer solar system.

The space agency says the delay will not affect Juno's arrival atJupiter, scheduled for 2016.

Juno was launched last year. It's on a mission to peer throughJupiter'scloud cover and map its magnetic and gravity fields.

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Why did NASA delay its Jupiter-bound craft's maneuver?

American Journal of Medicine Publishes Hypertension Study Comparing the Fixed-Dose Combination of Azilsartan Medoxomil …

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DEERFIELD, Ill., Sept. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Results of a 10-week, phase 3 study published online in the American Journal of Medicine found the clinic systolic blood pressure (SBP) reductions of a fixed-dose combination of azilsartan medoxomil and chlorthalidone were significantly greater at six and ten weeks than those of azilsartan medoxomil co-administered with hydrochlorothiazide. Data also showed that more patients achieved their target blood pressure levels at the end of six and 10 weeks (secondary endpoints) when taking the azilsartan medoxomil and chlorthalidone fixed-dose combination.

"Hypertension management can be complex, and the use of combination therapy with a diuretic is a common treatment approach," said study co-author William C. Cushman, M.D., professor of preventive medicine at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis, Tenn. "While hydrochlorothiazide is more commonly used in clinical practice, this study provides further support for the use of chlorthalidone in fixed-dose combination for patients with hypertension."

About the Study The 10-week, randomized, double-blind, titrate-to-target study compared blood pressure reductions of the fixed-dose combination of azilsartan medoxomil and chlorthalidone to azilsartan medoxomil co-administered with hydrochlorothiazide among 609 patients with stage 2 hypertension. The average age of patients in the study was 56.4 years and the average baseline clinic blood pressure was 164.6/95.4 mm Hg. After two weeks of treatment with azilsartan medoxomil (40 mg) alone, patients received 12.5 mg of either diuretic for four weeks (up to week 6) and were then titrated to 25 mg for another four weeks (up to week 10) if they had not achieved their target blood pressure; otherwise, patients continued their initial dose.

Primary endpoint data showed that at week 6, the clinic SBP reductions of the fixed-dose combination of azilsartan medoxomil and chlorthalidone were -35.1 mm Hg. These data were statistically significantly (P<0.001) greater than those of azilsartan medoxomil and hydrochlorothiazide (-29.5 mm Hg) with a mean difference of -5.6 mm Hg. At the end of 10 weeks, greater clinic SBP reductions were maintained in patients taking the fixed-dose combination of azilsartan medoxomil and chlorthalidone (-37.8 mm Hg) versus those taking azilsartan medoxomil and hydrochlorothiazide (-32.8 mm Hg) with a mean difference of -5.0 mm Hg.

Additionally, secondary endpoint data showed that a greater proportion of patients taking the fixed-dose combination of azilsartan medoxomil and chlorthalidone achieved their target blood pressure versus those taking azilsartan medoxomil and hydrochlorothiazide at the end of both six weeks (64.1 percent vs. 45.9 percent) and 10 weeks (71.5 percent vs. 62.3 percent).

Adverse events leading to permanent drug discontinuation occurred in 9.3 percent of patients taking the fixed-dose combination of azilsartan medoxomil and chlorthalidone and 7.3 percent of patients taking azilsartan medoxomil co-administered with hydrochlorothiazide. The most common adverse events accounting for study drug discontinuation were dizziness (1.0 percent versus 1.7 percent) and increased serum creatinine (4.0 percent versus 2.0 percent) in the fixed-dose combination of azilsartan medoxomil and chlorthalidone and azilsartan medoxomil and hydrochlorothiazide groups, respectively. The most common adverse events (greater or equal to five percent in either group) were increased blood creatinine, dizziness and headache. Serum potassium levels below 3.4 mmol/L were observed in 1.7 percent and 0.3 percent of patients in the fixed-dose combination of azilsartan medoxomil and chlorthalidone and azilsartan medoxomil and hydrochlorothiazide groups, respectively.

Edarbyclor (azilsartan medoxomil and chlorthalidone) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December 2011 for the treatment of hypertension to lower blood pressure in adults. It is the first and only hypertension medication to combine an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) with the diuretic chlorthalidone in a once-daily, single tablet.

About Hypertension Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a chronic medical condition in which blood pressure is elevated to levels of 140 mm Hg or greater systolic and/or 90 mm Hg or greater diastolic. Hypertension impacts approximately 76 million Americans, or nearly one in three adults. It is estimated that nearly one billion people are affected by hypertension worldwide, and this figure is predicted to increase to 1.5 billion by 2025. Hypertension typically has no symptoms. Adults of all ages and backgrounds can develop hypertension; however, the risk of developing the condition increases with age, with more than half of people over age 60 affected in the U.S.

Elevated systolic or diastolic pressure increases cardiovascular risk, and lowering blood pressure reduces the risk of fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular events, primarily strokes and heart attacks. The absolute risk increase per mm Hg is greater at higher blood pressures, so that even modest reductions of severe hypertension can provide substantial benefit.

Hypertension is also costly to the nation's health care system. The American Heart Association recently estimated that direct and indirect expenses associated with hypertension cost the nation more than $73 billion in 2009.

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American Journal of Medicine Publishes Hypertension Study Comparing the Fixed-Dose Combination of Azilsartan Medoxomil ...

Roche looks to personalized medicine for growth

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LONDON (Reuters) - Roche Holding AG, the world's biggest maker of cancer drugs, said it would build on its drive into personalized medicine to hold onto its long-term growth momentum and said it would keep up spending on research and development. In a statement ahead of a presentation to investors in London on Wednesday, the Swiss drugmaker said it expected 19 late stage trials to read out over ...

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Roche looks to personalized medicine for growth

Effenbert Liberty to return at Nurburgring

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The team opted to miss the championship's first outing at the Moscow Raceway due to the need for what they described as organisational changes.

But their entry for the upcoming German round has been confirmed, with Jakub Smrz, Maxime Berger and Brett McCormick all making the riders' list.

Also set to feature at the Nurburgring is Norino Brignola with Grillini Progea BMW while Alexander Lundh gets another outing for Pedercini Kawasaki after the Swede impressed in Moscow.

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Effenbert Liberty to return at Nurburgring

Liberty Gold Announces 'Visible Gold' in Initial Samples on Their Arizona Property

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NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire -09/05/12)- Liberty Gold, Corp. (LBGO) has announced that they have 'visible metallics and gold' from bulk samplings taken from their properties. Initial samples were collected from 5 different locations within the Domestic Portfolio holdings to determine whether, once processed, visible gold was present at 3 different screen sizes: 100 minus, 50 minus and 25 minus. Samples from each of the 5 different locations resulted in the detection of visible metallics.

Lynn Harrison, Liberty Gold's President and CEO is encouraged by the results of the samplings and will now proceed with larger samplings to assess the full mineral potential of the property. The company has also recently announced the doubling of their Alaska claim.

In June 2012, Goldman Sachs updated its forecast on the gold price to US$ 1,940.- within the following 12 months, i.e. by mid of 2013. Barclays Capital expects a gold price of US$ 1,790.- in the fourth quarter of 2012, while Morgan Stanley now predicts gold prices to be on a level of US$ 2,000.- during that quarter.

Other active metal mining stocks are: Great Northern Iron Ore (GNI), Kaiser Aluminum (KALU) and Commercial Metals Co (CMC)

This report is for information purposes only, and is neither a solicitation to buy nor an offer to sell securities. Information, opinions and analysis contained herein are based on sources deemed to be reliable and are subject to change without notice. A third party has hired and paid Century Capital Markets one thousand two hundred and ninety five dollars for the publication and circulation of this news release. Accordingly, certain information included herein may be forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. However, no representation, expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy, completeness or correctness. In light of the above, we accept no liability for any losses arising from an investor's reliance on or use of this report. We do not and have not had any ownership interest in said third party of any kind.

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Liberty Gold Announces 'Visible Gold' in Initial Samples on Their Arizona Property

Spotlight on payment reform in Massachusetts

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By Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff

The September issue of Health Affairs is focused on new ways of paying for health care, and it is chock-full of contributors from Massachusetts.

A major piece of payment overhaul today is the idea that doctors will change the way they manage care for their sickest patients if they get to share in some of the financial benefits of doing so. Ultimately, they could also lose money if they cost insurers more than expected.

A group of Boston researchers have created a primer for doctors and policymakers considering such shared-savings programs, which lead author Joel Weissman, Harvard professor and deputy director of the Center for Surgery and Public Health at Brigham and Womens Hospital, called weigh stations on the road to a fuller health care overhaul.

Many large doctor or hospital groups already have the infrastructure and know-how to assume some of the risk in caring for their patients, or to accept the possibility of losing money. Five hospital systems in Massachusetts are taking steps to do that as part of the Medicare Pioneer program.

Small practices just need to be brought along gently, Weissman said in an interview. Even the benefits-only programs are very complicated and very difficult to negotiate, he said.

Along with Needham health care consultant Michael Bailit and others, Weissman laid out a set of principles for policymakers and physicians to consider. Payers and providers must agree on the point at which they will share savings, because smaller variations in costs could be related to chance and not actual changes in how doctors treat patients, they wrote.

As often as possible, they said, payers should join forces so that doctors are not trying to meet different goals on cost and quality for each insurer.

The lack of a coherent and unified program works at cross purposes with true system redesign, they wrote. If only a minority of payers participate, then the size of the incentive may not be big enough for provider participation to be worthwhile. As a result, providers find themselves with one foot in the accountable care world and another foot in the volume-based world.

Austin Frakt, Boston University assistant professor and health economist at VA Boston Healthcare, compared accountable care organizations with the failed capitation model of the 1990s, when doctors were put on a strict budget for each patients care.

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Spotlight on payment reform in Massachusetts

Woman dies without health care

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Elder said that being diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2005 while uninsured was "the most honest feeling of powerlessness."

The Elder family tragedy

The Elder family tragedy

The Elder family tragedy

The Elder family tragedy

The Elder family tragedy

The Elder family tragedy

The Elder family tragedy

The Elder family tragedy

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

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Woman dies without health care

DNC 2012: Obamacare Dominates Policy Discussion

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First Lady Michelle Obama waves to delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday, Sept. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

First Lady Michelle Obama addresses the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

First Lady Michelle Obama waves to delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday, Sept. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

First Lady Michelle Obama addresses the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

First Lady Michelle Obama waves to delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday, Sept. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

First Lady Michelle Obama speaks to delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

First Lady Michelle Obama hugs Elaine Brye before speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro speaks to delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, left, and his brother Joaquin Castro, wave at delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro and his brother Joaquin Castro, right, wave to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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DNC 2012: Obamacare Dominates Policy Discussion

Prisons Under Pressure as Cost of Freedom Rises

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The cost of freedom under austerity is weighing more than ever on prisoners who struggle with financial instability on release and are more likely to re-offend than ever, continuing a vicious circle of crime and punishment just as prisons approach full capacity across Britain and the rest of Europe, charities say.

According to reports from nationwide prison organizations, the majority of ex-offenders struggle to cope with debt, housing costs, unemployment and austerity on release from prison.

They say that the financial factor is borne out by the the rate of recidivism - or relapse into crime- that has reached record highs in 2012 with 90 percent of prisoners having previous convictions, according to the Ministry of Justice.

Chris Bath, Executive Director of Unlock, the National Association of Reformed Offenders, told CNBC that prisoners face "enormous financial barriers" on release from prison, and he warned that the cycle of crime, punishment and re-offending - that costs the British economy 95 billion pounds ($150 billion) a year - is set to continue if the financial hardship faced by prisoners on release is not addressed.

"When you're released from prison you become a social leper...or low-skilled ex-con" he told CNBC.

"If I had a pound for every person I've met who said to me "I thought prison was going to be the hard bit," he told CNBC.

"At least in prison you have a roof over your head and food in your stomach. The moment you walk out of prison you become a social leper, a low-skilled ex-con - you are completely lost and you become nothing."

With 75 percent of employers saying they would reject someone with a conviction, Bath told CNBC that it was extremely hard for ex-offenders to return to the "straight and narrow" and find a job in a society where even the most skilled and experienced workers cannot find employment.

Indeed, with most prisoners reported to be "financially excluded" even before they enter prison and a third having no bank account, according to research by the Civil and Social Justice Survey, the chances of "going straight" and returning to a decent a law-abiding way of life when no-one will employ you is slim, Bath told CNBC.

However, with 230,000 people going through the criminal justice system every year and 9.2 million of Britons of working age having criminal records, according to the Police Crime Database, Bath told CNBC that there is an urgent problem of millions of people exiting the prison system to a "society that doesn't want them back."

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Prisons Under Pressure as Cost of Freedom Rises