Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Radiation traces found in Japanese baby formula (AP)

TOKYO ? Traces of radiation spilled from Japan's hobbled nuclear plant were detected in baby formula Tuesday in the latest case of contaminated food in the nation.

Major food and candy maker Meiji Co. said it was recalling canned powdered milk for infants, with expiration dates of October 2012, as a precaution.

The levels of radioactive cesium were well below government-set safety limits, and the company said the amounts were low enough not to have any affect on babies' health even if they drank the formula every day.

Experts say children are more at risk than are adults of getting cancer and other illnesses from radiation exposure.

"There is no problem because the levels are within the government limit," Kazuhiko Tsurumi, a Health Ministry official in charge of food safety, said of the radiation in Meiji milk.

The March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan sent three reactors into meltdown at Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, which have been spewing radiation into the air and ocean.

Some of that radiation has crept into food, such as rice, fish and beef. But this was the first time radiation was reported in baby formula.

Kyodo News said the milk got contaminated by airborne radioactive cesium while it was being dried, citing the company. The company was not immediately available for comment late Tuesday.

The levels of cesium-134 and cesium-137 in the milk were up to 31 becquerels per kilogram, which is below the government limit of 200 becquerels per kilogram set for milk.

The government has been reviewing its food safety and other radiation standards because some of them were not clearly defined before the nuclear crisis.

Not all food samples are monitored for radiation, and readings have been voluntarily reported by the manufacturers, including the latest by Tokyo-based Meiji.

Many consumers are worried. Some stores are labeling where the food was grown or caught, allowing shoppers to opt for imports or products from parts of the country deemed safe.

___

Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at http://twitter.com/yurikageyama

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111206/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_nuclear_baby_milk

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Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Eurozone crisis: Leaders must make 'grand bargain' at summit

When European leaders meet in Brussels this week, they must reach a 'grand bargain' that addresses both immediate and long-term solutions to the eurozone crisis. Proposals to date, including by Merkel of Germany and Sarkozy of France, must go further.

These are dramatic times for Europe. Many warn that it has only days left to save the euro currency or face a potentially disastrous break-up over debt problems. All eyes are now on a summit set for Dec. 8 and 9.

Skip to next paragraph

To avert disaster, Europe?s leaders must reach a ?grand bargain? that includes short- and long-term solutions that will convincingly address both immediate and systemic problems. To solve either, help is now needed from the European Central Bank and Germany ? the new ?indispensable nation? of Europe and its largest and most successful economy.

The short-term challenge is to halt the rising cost of borrowing money for some eurozone countries, namely Italy and Spain. The interest rates they must pay to entice investors to buy their government bonds have reached unsustainable heights and have led to a self-fulfilling crisis: As financial markets become more concerned about the ability of these countries to repay their debts, they demand ever-higher interest rates, making it harder to repay debt.

For the foreseeable future, the European Central Bank seems to be the only actor able to arrest this vicious cycle by serving ? in one form or another ? as a backstop for Italian and Spanish debt.

So far, though, this idea is being rejected by the central bank and by Germany, out of worry that lax monetary policy could lead to higher inflation and take reform pressure off of debtor countries.

Should Europe, despite this bleak outlook, succeed in stabilizing the situation for the time being, it still faces a formidable long-term challenge. It must fix the flawed design of the euro, which lacks the backing of a common fiscal policy among the 17 countries that use it.

Several proposals seek to remedy this. One idea favors introducing jointly issued ?eurobonds? that would be backed by the full faith and credit of all eurozone governments. Presumably, this less risky investment will satisfy investors and take the pressure off of interest rates.

Another idea is being put forth by Germany and France. On Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed closer fiscal cooperation among the 27 members of the European Union. The two leaders favor tighter budget rules and automatic penalties for those who break them. They also both reject a eurobond (for now).

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/E630BTpcEHM/Eurozone-crisis-Leaders-must-make-grand-bargain-at-summit

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S&P piles pressure on EU budget plan (Reuters)

PARIS/NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Standard & Poor's has warned it may carry out an unprecedented mass downgrade of euro zone countries if EU leaders fail to deliver a convincing agreement on how to solve the region's debt crisis in a summit on Friday.

The ratings agency's threat to downgrade 15 countries all the way up to AAA-rated Germany and France came hard on the heels of a Franco-German initiative, to be discussed on Friday, to enforce budget discipline across the 17-member zone through EU treaty changes.

President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters that their plan included automatic penalties for states that fail to keep deficits under control, and an early launch of a permanent bailout fund for euro states in distress.

They said they wanted treaty change to be agreed in March and ratified after France wraps up presidential and legislative elections in June. "We need to go fast," Sarkozy said.

Italy, the biggest euro zone nation in trouble, offered a glimmer of hope that the bloc could halt a crisis that is threatening the survival of the common currency. Its borrowing costs tumbled after its new technocrat government announced an austerity program.

S&P's statement made no mention of that program, and French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said it did not take into account Sarkozy and Merkel's announcement.

He said France for its part did not plan to expand the austerity measures it already has announced.

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Interactive timeline: http://link.reuters.com/rev89r

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S&P told the governments it would conclude its review "as soon as possible" after the summit, making clear that it wanted to see political as well as financial solutions.

It highlighted "continuing disagreements among European policy makers on how to tackle the immediate market confidence crisis and, longer term, how to ensure greater economic, financial, and fiscal convergence among eurozone members."

In its statement, it said that "... systemic stresses in the eurozone have risen in recent weeks to the extent that they now put downward pressure on the credit standing of the eurozone as a whole.

ONE NOTCH OR TWO

It said ratings could be lowered by one notch for Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and by up to two notches for the remaining nine placed under review, including currently AAA-rated France. Cyprus was already on downgrade watch and Greece already has a 'junk' CC-rating.

S&P also threw into relief the difficulty that euro zone countries face in trying not to strangle growth with so much austerity, saying there was a 40 percent chance that the output of the euro zone as a whole would shrink next year.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner arrives on Tuesday to add to the pressure on the summit to convince markets that EU leaders have a viable plan to stabilize the finances of the euro zone's most debt-ridden countries.

Meetings at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt and with Germany's finance minister in Berlin kick off his fourth visit to the continent since September, underlining Washington's interest in averting a euro zone meltdown and its worries about Europe's woes weighing down the U.S. and the global economy.

After about two hours of talks with Merkel in Paris, Sarkozy told a joint news conference: "What we want ... is to tell the world that in Europe the rule is that we pay back our debts, reduce our deficits, restore growth."

Merkel added: "This package shows that we are absolutely determined to keep the euro as a stable currency and as an important contributor to European stability."

Later, the two leaders swiftly responded to S&P's action with a joint statement saying they were united in their determination, along with their European partners, to "take all measures to secure stability in the euro zone.

Confidence that European leaders will come up with a credible plan lifted world stocks on Monday, with European shares hitting a five-week high.

Investors and policymakers hope a summit deal on closer euro zone integration, combined with strict deficit reduction moves by heavily indebted states, will induce the European Central Bank to act decisively to stop bond market turbulence spreading.

ECB policymakers have been reluctant to buy up debt from distressed euro states, as this would take the pressure off governments to get their finances in order. But ECB chief Mario Draghi has signaled that a euro zone "fiscal compact" could encourage the bank to act more decisively on the crisis.

"This agreement probably will give the ECB the political cover for intervening more actively on a temporary basis," said Uri Dadush, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment's International Economics Program in Washington

"The bad news is that this is all temporary. It is difficult to see how a deal like this hangs together without a quid pro quo in terms of some movement towards (jointly guaranteed) euro bonds or some form of long-term fiscal support for the countries in trouble."

LACK OF PROGRESS

Brian Dolan, chief strategist at Forex.Com in Bedminster, New Jersey, said S&P might be "signaling to the EU this is it, that they've got to get something done now."

"If they are trying to send a message, now is a good time."

Merkel and Sarkozy both had wanted a system of more coercive discipline for euro zone governments that fail to keep down their budget deficits.

But they had been under unprecedented pressure to see eye to eye in a crisis that has split them on issues such as the role of the ECB in lending to troubled states, and whether the bloc should issue jointly guaranteed euro bonds.

Sarkozy and Merkel said they would send off their plan on Wednesday, in time for Friday's summit, and made clear their determination to drive through an EU treaty change despite objections from some member states.

If countries such as euro outsider Britain blocked a treaty change for the 27 EU members, the euro zone would proceed with an agreement among its 17 states, they said.

Sarkozy said the economic policy mistakes that led to the euro zone crisis must never happen again, accepting that France and Germany, the euro zone's two biggest economies, bore the biggest responsibility for finding a solution.

"In this extremely worrying period and serious crisis, France believes that the alliance and understanding with Germany are of strategic importance," he said. "Risking a disagreement would be risking the euro zone exploding."

Several governments, notably Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands, oppose treaty change because it might not win public backing if put to a referendum.

AUTOMATIC SANCTIONS

The revised treaty would permit automatic sanctions against states that breach an existing deficit limit of no more than 3 percent of total economic output, unless a "supermajority" of states voted against the penalty.

That would reverse the current system where a majority of states must vote to launch a disciplinary procedure.

It would also enshrine a budget-balancing rule in national constitutions across the euro zone, although Merkel and Sarkozy gave no detail of the proposed wording.

In deference to French concerns about sovereignty, they agreed the European Court of Justice could rule on whether euro zone states had implemented the fiscal rule properly in national law, but would not be able to reject national budgets.

Merkel appeared to have prevailed in her opposition to the issuing of bonds in theory guaranteed jointly by all euro zone countries, but in practice by the bloc's strongest member, Germany. "We reject the idea of euro bonds," she said.

Sarkozy rallied behind her, saying it would be absurd for France and Germany to cover the debts of countries over whose debt issuance they had no control.

In return, Merkel gave ground on the rules of a future permanent rescue fund for the euro zone, the European Stability Mechanism, which have been cited as a deterrent to investors.

One of the most startling market moves was in Italian bonds.

Prime Minister Mario Monti declared that but for his 30-billion-euro austerity plan, "Italy would have collapsed, Italy would go into a situation similar to that of Greece."

Italy's technocrat cabinet approved the combination of tax rises, pension reforms and incentives to boost growth in a three-hour meeting on Sunday.

Markets reacted enthusiastically, with the yield on Italian two-year bonds plunging 85 basis points to 5.78 percent. This was far below yields of over 7 percent last month, a level at which Greece, Ireland and Portugal had to take international bailouts.

But unions immediately called a strike to protest against the "Save Italy" package.

Ireland also unveiled a tough budget with new spending cuts accounting for nearly 60 percent of next year's 3.8 billion euro fiscal adjustment.

(Additional reporting by Geert De Clercq, Daniel Flynn, Vicky Buffery, Nicholas Vinocur, John Irish, Paul Taylor and Astrid Wendlandt in Paris, Gavin Jones and Steve Scherer in Rome, Luke Baker and Julien Toyer in Brussels, Michele Kambas in Nicosia, Andreas Rinke and Alexandra Hudson in Berlin and Walter Brandimarte in New York; Writing by David Stamp; Editing by Paul Taylor and Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111206/bs_nm/us_eurozone

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Monday, December 5, 2011

GOP rivals hope to court Cain supporters

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks at a town hall style event in the Staten Island borough of New York Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. Gingrich praised GOP presidential rival Herman Cain for bringing optimism and big ideas to the 2012 campaign on Saturday. Polls show that Gingrich's candidacy has surged in recent weeks, with many showing him topping the Republican field. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks at a town hall style event in the Staten Island borough of New York Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. Gingrich praised GOP presidential rival Herman Cain for bringing optimism and big ideas to the 2012 campaign on Saturday. Polls show that Gingrich's candidacy has surged in recent weeks, with many showing him topping the Republican field. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, speaks to supporters and volunteers during a rally Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011, in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul has his microphone attached before he appears on the Republican Presidential Forum on "Huckabee," the Fox News program hosted by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011 in New York. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)

Republican 2012 presidential candidate, Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum at a Toys-for-Tots drive at his headquarters in Bedford, N.H., Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. To some, Santorum appears to be the candidate most likely to engineer a surprise. ?Crisis pregnancy centers are strongly behind Sen. Santorum,? said Karen Floyd, a former South Carolina GOP chairwoman, noting this powerful and wide network of anti-abortion voters who show up on Election Day. (AP Photo/Cheryl Senter)

Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., speaks at the book-signing event for her book "Core of Conviction" Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011, in Aiken, S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt))

(AP) ? A day after Herman Cain shuttered his Republican candidacy for president, struggling GOP hopefuls looked to pick up the fallen candidate's tea party following and upset a primary dynamic that has pushed Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich to the forefront.

Reps. Ron Paul of Texas and Michele Bachmann of Minnesota said Sunday they expected Cain supporters would fall in line behind them because of their messages on limited government, despite their low standing in the polls. Meanwhile, last-place rival Rick Santorum predicted he now had a good chance of winning the Iowa caucus.

While such brazen predictions are likely overstated, the 11th-hour press comes at a crucial time and could upset an already volatile race for the GOP endorsement. A month before the first vote is cast in the Iowa caucus and five weeks before the New Hampshire primary, most GOP candidates were looking to a week of heavy campaigning in Iowa ahead of the next debate, scheduled for Saturday. The stakes are possibly the highest for Mitt Romney, who could be hurt the worst if Cain supporters rally behind Gingrich.

"A lot of Herman Cain supporters have been calling our office and they've been coming over to our side," said Bachmann. "They saw Herman Cain as an outsider and I think they see that my voice would be the one that would be most reflective of his."

Likewise, Paul said he was optimistic that Cain's departure would reinvigorate his campaign.

"We're paying a lot of attention to that, because obviously they're going to go somewhere in the next week or so," Paul said of Cain's supporters.

Santorum predicted that his campaign would pick up steam in coming days.

"We have a very strong, consistent conservative message that matches up better with Iowans than anybody else. And we think we're going to surprise a lot of people," he said.

Once surging in the polls, Cain dropped out of the race Saturday after battling allegations of sexual harassment and a claim that he had a 13-year extramarital affair. The Georgia businessman has denied the accusations.

Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker from Georgia, has so far been the biggest beneficiary of Cain's slide. A Des Moines Register poll conducted Nov. 27-30 and released late Saturday found the former House speaker leading the GOP field with 25 percent support, ahead of Paul at 18 percent and Romney at 16.

A separate NBC News/Marist poll showed Gingrich beating Romney, 26 percent to 18 percent, among Republican caucus attendees in Iowa.

Gingrich also is enjoying national popularity that could give him the momentum he needs to overcome deficiencies in the organization of his campaign. At the same time, Gingrich says he knows his surge in the polls could disappear if his opponents stage a comeback.

"I'm not going to say that any of my friends can't suddenly surprise us," Gingrich said at a recent town hall meeting in New York sponsored by tea party supporters.

Meanwhile, Romney is running strong in New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first primary on Jan. 10. Romney is also seen by most conservatives at this point as having the greatest chance of defeating President Barack Obama next year.

But Romney continues to be viewed with suspicion by many conservatives who say he has changed his stance on such critical issues as abortion and health care. Santorum acknowledged Sunday that Romney has embraced more conservative positions on issues.

"The question is, you know, what's the sincerity of the move and whether he can be trusted," said Santorum.

Bachmann said it was too soon to declare anyone a true front-runner because the dynamic in the race was constantly changing.

"We've got 30 days," she said. "That's an eternity in this race."

Reince Priebus, the Republican Party chairman, said Sunday that he was indifferent to Cain's departure and that it was "only natural" in the face of falling poll numbers and trouble raising money.

This week's agenda for the primary candidates included a stop in Arizona by Romney and a forum Wednesday by the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington, which is expected to attract Bachmann, Gingrich, Huntsman, Perry, Romney and Santorum. Gingrich was scheduled to meet Monday with real-estate mogul Donald Trump at Trump's New York offices. Trump, who briefly entered the primary race in the spring and drew considerable publicity when he questioned the validity of Obama's birth certificate, said he would moderate a Republican presidential debate in Iowa on Dec. 27.

Paul, who has clashed publicly with Trump, said he thought the GOP was making a mistake in giving Trump so much credibility.

"I don't understand the marching to his office. I mean I didn't know that he had an ability to lay on hands, you know, and anoint people," Paul said.

Paul and Bachmann spoke on CNN's "State of the Union." Santorum spoke on ABC's "This Week." Priebus spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-12-04-US-GOP-Campaign/id-d64a35bebcb94c17b9e97ff0258e5ebb

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Biophysical Society Announces winners of 2012 International Relations Committee travel awards

Biophysical Society Announces winners of 2012 International Relations Committee travel awards [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 2-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Erica Retrosi
eretrosi@biophysics.org
240-290-5600
Biophysical Society

Rockville, MD -- The Biophysical Society has announced the winners of its International Relations Committee travel awards to attend the Biophysical Society's 56th Annual Meeting at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California, February 25-29, 2012. The purpose of these awards is to foster and initiate further interaction between American biophysicists and scientists working in countries experiencing financial difficulties. Recipients of this competitive award are chosen based on scientific merit and their proposed presentation at the meeting. They will be honored at a reception on Sunday, February 26.

The 2012 recipients of the International Relations Committee Travel Award are:

  • Ligia Antonio, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, AFM IMAGING REVEALS THE ASSEMBLY OF A P2X RECEPTOR COMPLEX CONTAINING P2X2, P2X4 AND P2X6 SUBUNITS.
  • Seetharamaiah Attili, CIC biomaGUNE, San Sebastian, Spain, COMPRESSIVE MECHANICS OF HYALURONAN BRUSHES - A STUDY WITH A COMBINED COLLOIDAL PROBE AFM/RICM SETUP.
  • Cecilia Bouzat, Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquimicas, Bahia Blanca, Argentina, CONTRIBUTION OF AGONIST BINDING SITES AND COUPLING REGIONS TO ACTIVATION AND DESENSITIZATION OF HOMOMERIC CYS-LOOP RECEPTORS.
  • Maria Celej, National University of Cordoba, Argentina, ALPHA-SYNUCLEIN AMYLOID OLIGOMERS EXHIBIT BETA-SHEET ANTIPARALLEL STRUCTURE AS REVEALED BY FTIR SPECTROSCOPY.
  • Ibrahim Cisse, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, France, FROM SINGLE-MOLECULE INTERACTIONS TO POPULATION-LEVEL DYNAMICS: UNDERSTANDING THE COMPLEX ORGANIZATION OF RNA POL II IN THE NUCLEUS OF LIVING CELLS.
  • Gustavo Contreras, University of Valparaiso, Chile, DIFFERENTIAL EFFECTS OF BETA SUBUNITS ON THE VOLTAGE SENSOR OF CA2+ AND VOLTAGE-ACTIVATED K+ CHANNELS.
  • Sandra de Keijzer, Radboud University Nijmegan Medical Center, The Netherlands, DECIPHERING THE CROSS-TALK OF THE PROSTAGLANDIN G-PROTEIN COUPLED RECEPTORS EP2 AND EP4: FROM MOLECULAR INSIGHTS TO NOVEL ANTI-TUMOR TARGETS.
  • Hongxia Fu, National University of Singapore, Singapore, ATP HYDROLYSIS DEPENDENT DYNAMIC STABILITY OF RECA NUCLEOFILAMENT ON DOUBLE-STRANDED DNA.
  • Vanesa Galassi, National University of Cordoba, Argentina, INTERACTION OF AN ACIDIC PERIPHERAL PROTEIN WITH ANIONIC LIPID MEMBRANES: INSIGHTS FROM MOLECULAR DYNAMICS.
  • Tzachi Hagai, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel, PROTEIN DISORDER AND DEGRADATION: IS UBIQUITIN THE MISSING LINK?
  • Radoslav Janicek, Institute of Molecular Physiology and Genetics SAS, Bratislava, Slovakia, REFRACTORINESS OF CALCIUM RELEASE UNITS IN RAT CARDIAC MYOCYTES.
  • Soojin Jo, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea, NORMAL MODE COMPARISON ELUCIDATES DYNEIN WALKING MECHANISM TRIGGERED BY ATP HYDROLYSIS.
  • Maria Mariani, National University of Cordoba, Argentina, A NEW SECRETORY PHOSPHOLIPASE A2 FROM GLYCINE MAX SOYBEAN: PURIFICATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND KINETIC ANALYSIS.
  • Nathaly Marin-Medina, Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia, OBSERVATION OF BACTERIAL TYPE I PILI EXTENSION UNDER FLUID FLOW.
  • Joaquim Marques, University of Lisbon, Portugal, FORMATION OF BIOMIMETIC MEMBRANE RAFTS ON BARE AND MODIFIED GOLD.
  • Kirill Nadezhdin, IBCH RAS, Moscow, Russia, STRUCTURE OF TRANSMEMBRANE DOMAIN AND DIMERIZATION MECHANISM OF AMYLOID PRECURSOR PROTEIN.
  • Anna Neumann, Gdansk University of Technology, Poland, NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE MEMBRANE MECHANISM OF ACTION OF AMPHOTERICIN B FROM MOLECULAR DYNAMICS SIMULATIONS.
  • Manuela Pereira, New University of Lisbon, Oeiras, Portugal, ENERGY TRANSDUCTION BY BACTERIAL COMPLEXES I.
  • Estefania Piegari, FCEN-UBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina, STUDYING CALCIUM SIGNAL RESHAPING BY BUFFERS OBSERVING THE COMPETITION OF TWO DYES.
  • Suvrajit Saha, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute for Fundamental Research, Bangalore, India, UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF CORTICAL ACTO-MYOSIN BASED ACTIVE PATTERNING MACHINERY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON THE DYNAMICS AND THE ORGANIZATION OF CELL SURFACE MOLECULES.
  • Maria Sanchez, INIMEC, Cordoba, Argentina, CHARACTERIZATION OF MEMBRANE LIPIDS AND PROTEIN LATERAL DIFFUSION IN PATTERNED SURFACES.
  • Ravi Santani, AIIMS, New Delhi, India, STRUCTURAL BASIS OF THE SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS OF PROTEINS SECRETED FROM MAMMARY GLAND DURING DIFFERENT PROGRESSIVE STAGES SUCH AS PROLIFERATIVE, EARLY-LACTATION, LATE-LACTATION AND INVOLUTION PHASES.
  • Saswata Sarkar, TIFR, Mumbai, India, STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF MOLTEN GLOBULAR INTERMEDIATES ENCOUNTERED DURING THE UNFOLDING OF BARSTAR.
  • Bidyut Sarkar, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India, MULTIPHOTON ULTRAVIOLET MICROSCOPY REVEALS DOPAMINE DYNAMICS IN LIVE BRAIN TISSUE.
  • Sivan Siloni, Tel Aviv University, Israel, N AND C TERMINAL INTERACTIONS UNDERLIE CHANNEL GATING OF M CHANNELS.
  • Nitu Singh, Advanced Center for Treatment, Research, and Education in Cancer, Navi-Mumbai, India, INSIGHTS INTO THE NOVEL ADAPTOR-INDEPENDENT APOPTOSIS MEDIATED BY HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS E2 PROTEIN.
  • Chen Song, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Gottingen, Germany, STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF THE HUMAN ANTIMICROBIAL PEPTIDE DERMCIDIN OLIGOMER: IT IS AN ION CHANNEL.
  • Orsolya Szilagyi, University of Debrecen, Hungary, THE POSSIBLE ROLE OF PSD-95 IN THE REARRANGEMENT OF KV1.3 CHANNELS TO THE IMMUNOLOGICAL SYNAPSE.
  • Sanjay Upadhyay, IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India, MODELING BINDING INTERFACES IN GAL3P-GAL80P AND GAL1P-GAL80P COMPLEXES: IMPLICATION FOR GAL GENES REGULATION.
  • Ishkhan Vardanyan, Yerevan State University, Armenia, INTERACTION OF PORPHYRINS WITH tRNA: THE INFLUENCE OF IONIC STRENGTH.
  • Ravi Kumar Verma, IIT Kanpur, India, DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF AQUAGLYCEROPORIN IN PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM: COMPARATIVE MOLECULAR DYNAMICS SIMULATIONS OF THREE AQUAPORINS.
  • Natalia Wilke, Center for Research in Biological Chemistry of Cordoba, Argentina, LINE TENSION IN LIPID MONOLAYERS WITH LIQUID-LIQUID PHASE COEXISTENCE.

###

The Biophysical Society, founded in 1956, is a professional, scientific Society established to encourage development and dissemination of knowledge in biophysics. The Society promotes growth in this expanding field through its annual meeting, monthly journal, and committee and outreach activities. Its 9000 members are located throughout the U.S. and the world, where they teach and conduct research in colleges, universities, laboratories, government agencies, and industry. For more information on these awards, the Society, or the 2012 Annual Meeting, visit http://www.biophysics.org.



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Biophysical Society Announces winners of 2012 International Relations Committee travel awards [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 2-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Erica Retrosi
eretrosi@biophysics.org
240-290-5600
Biophysical Society

Rockville, MD -- The Biophysical Society has announced the winners of its International Relations Committee travel awards to attend the Biophysical Society's 56th Annual Meeting at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California, February 25-29, 2012. The purpose of these awards is to foster and initiate further interaction between American biophysicists and scientists working in countries experiencing financial difficulties. Recipients of this competitive award are chosen based on scientific merit and their proposed presentation at the meeting. They will be honored at a reception on Sunday, February 26.

The 2012 recipients of the International Relations Committee Travel Award are:

  • Ligia Antonio, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, AFM IMAGING REVEALS THE ASSEMBLY OF A P2X RECEPTOR COMPLEX CONTAINING P2X2, P2X4 AND P2X6 SUBUNITS.
  • Seetharamaiah Attili, CIC biomaGUNE, San Sebastian, Spain, COMPRESSIVE MECHANICS OF HYALURONAN BRUSHES - A STUDY WITH A COMBINED COLLOIDAL PROBE AFM/RICM SETUP.
  • Cecilia Bouzat, Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquimicas, Bahia Blanca, Argentina, CONTRIBUTION OF AGONIST BINDING SITES AND COUPLING REGIONS TO ACTIVATION AND DESENSITIZATION OF HOMOMERIC CYS-LOOP RECEPTORS.
  • Maria Celej, National University of Cordoba, Argentina, ALPHA-SYNUCLEIN AMYLOID OLIGOMERS EXHIBIT BETA-SHEET ANTIPARALLEL STRUCTURE AS REVEALED BY FTIR SPECTROSCOPY.
  • Ibrahim Cisse, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, France, FROM SINGLE-MOLECULE INTERACTIONS TO POPULATION-LEVEL DYNAMICS: UNDERSTANDING THE COMPLEX ORGANIZATION OF RNA POL II IN THE NUCLEUS OF LIVING CELLS.
  • Gustavo Contreras, University of Valparaiso, Chile, DIFFERENTIAL EFFECTS OF BETA SUBUNITS ON THE VOLTAGE SENSOR OF CA2+ AND VOLTAGE-ACTIVATED K+ CHANNELS.
  • Sandra de Keijzer, Radboud University Nijmegan Medical Center, The Netherlands, DECIPHERING THE CROSS-TALK OF THE PROSTAGLANDIN G-PROTEIN COUPLED RECEPTORS EP2 AND EP4: FROM MOLECULAR INSIGHTS TO NOVEL ANTI-TUMOR TARGETS.
  • Hongxia Fu, National University of Singapore, Singapore, ATP HYDROLYSIS DEPENDENT DYNAMIC STABILITY OF RECA NUCLEOFILAMENT ON DOUBLE-STRANDED DNA.
  • Vanesa Galassi, National University of Cordoba, Argentina, INTERACTION OF AN ACIDIC PERIPHERAL PROTEIN WITH ANIONIC LIPID MEMBRANES: INSIGHTS FROM MOLECULAR DYNAMICS.
  • Tzachi Hagai, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel, PROTEIN DISORDER AND DEGRADATION: IS UBIQUITIN THE MISSING LINK?
  • Radoslav Janicek, Institute of Molecular Physiology and Genetics SAS, Bratislava, Slovakia, REFRACTORINESS OF CALCIUM RELEASE UNITS IN RAT CARDIAC MYOCYTES.
  • Soojin Jo, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea, NORMAL MODE COMPARISON ELUCIDATES DYNEIN WALKING MECHANISM TRIGGERED BY ATP HYDROLYSIS.
  • Maria Mariani, National University of Cordoba, Argentina, A NEW SECRETORY PHOSPHOLIPASE A2 FROM GLYCINE MAX SOYBEAN: PURIFICATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND KINETIC ANALYSIS.
  • Nathaly Marin-Medina, Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia, OBSERVATION OF BACTERIAL TYPE I PILI EXTENSION UNDER FLUID FLOW.
  • Joaquim Marques, University of Lisbon, Portugal, FORMATION OF BIOMIMETIC MEMBRANE RAFTS ON BARE AND MODIFIED GOLD.
  • Kirill Nadezhdin, IBCH RAS, Moscow, Russia, STRUCTURE OF TRANSMEMBRANE DOMAIN AND DIMERIZATION MECHANISM OF AMYLOID PRECURSOR PROTEIN.
  • Anna Neumann, Gdansk University of Technology, Poland, NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE MEMBRANE MECHANISM OF ACTION OF AMPHOTERICIN B FROM MOLECULAR DYNAMICS SIMULATIONS.
  • Manuela Pereira, New University of Lisbon, Oeiras, Portugal, ENERGY TRANSDUCTION BY BACTERIAL COMPLEXES I.
  • Estefania Piegari, FCEN-UBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina, STUDYING CALCIUM SIGNAL RESHAPING BY BUFFERS OBSERVING THE COMPETITION OF TWO DYES.
  • Suvrajit Saha, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute for Fundamental Research, Bangalore, India, UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF CORTICAL ACTO-MYOSIN BASED ACTIVE PATTERNING MACHINERY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON THE DYNAMICS AND THE ORGANIZATION OF CELL SURFACE MOLECULES.
  • Maria Sanchez, INIMEC, Cordoba, Argentina, CHARACTERIZATION OF MEMBRANE LIPIDS AND PROTEIN LATERAL DIFFUSION IN PATTERNED SURFACES.
  • Ravi Santani, AIIMS, New Delhi, India, STRUCTURAL BASIS OF THE SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS OF PROTEINS SECRETED FROM MAMMARY GLAND DURING DIFFERENT PROGRESSIVE STAGES SUCH AS PROLIFERATIVE, EARLY-LACTATION, LATE-LACTATION AND INVOLUTION PHASES.
  • Saswata Sarkar, TIFR, Mumbai, India, STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF MOLTEN GLOBULAR INTERMEDIATES ENCOUNTERED DURING THE UNFOLDING OF BARSTAR.
  • Bidyut Sarkar, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India, MULTIPHOTON ULTRAVIOLET MICROSCOPY REVEALS DOPAMINE DYNAMICS IN LIVE BRAIN TISSUE.
  • Sivan Siloni, Tel Aviv University, Israel, N AND C TERMINAL INTERACTIONS UNDERLIE CHANNEL GATING OF M CHANNELS.
  • Nitu Singh, Advanced Center for Treatment, Research, and Education in Cancer, Navi-Mumbai, India, INSIGHTS INTO THE NOVEL ADAPTOR-INDEPENDENT APOPTOSIS MEDIATED BY HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS E2 PROTEIN.
  • Chen Song, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Gottingen, Germany, STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF THE HUMAN ANTIMICROBIAL PEPTIDE DERMCIDIN OLIGOMER: IT IS AN ION CHANNEL.
  • Orsolya Szilagyi, University of Debrecen, Hungary, THE POSSIBLE ROLE OF PSD-95 IN THE REARRANGEMENT OF KV1.3 CHANNELS TO THE IMMUNOLOGICAL SYNAPSE.
  • Sanjay Upadhyay, IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India, MODELING BINDING INTERFACES IN GAL3P-GAL80P AND GAL1P-GAL80P COMPLEXES: IMPLICATION FOR GAL GENES REGULATION.
  • Ishkhan Vardanyan, Yerevan State University, Armenia, INTERACTION OF PORPHYRINS WITH tRNA: THE INFLUENCE OF IONIC STRENGTH.
  • Ravi Kumar Verma, IIT Kanpur, India, DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF AQUAGLYCEROPORIN IN PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM: COMPARATIVE MOLECULAR DYNAMICS SIMULATIONS OF THREE AQUAPORINS.
  • Natalia Wilke, Center for Research in Biological Chemistry of Cordoba, Argentina, LINE TENSION IN LIPID MONOLAYERS WITH LIQUID-LIQUID PHASE COEXISTENCE.

###

The Biophysical Society, founded in 1956, is a professional, scientific Society established to encourage development and dissemination of knowledge in biophysics. The Society promotes growth in this expanding field through its annual meeting, monthly journal, and committee and outreach activities. Its 9000 members are located throughout the U.S. and the world, where they teach and conduct research in colleges, universities, laboratories, government agencies, and industry. For more information on these awards, the Society, or the 2012 Annual Meeting, visit http://www.biophysics.org.



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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/bs-bsa_1120211.php

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Sunday, December 4, 2011

Director of Marketing and Communications (San Francisco, California)

Summer Search seeks a National Director of Marketing and Communications who will have the exceptional opportunity to shape a consistent and unique national brand for Summer Search. Through the development and implementation of a strategic marketing plan, they will position us to raise significantly more dollars by communicating our value proposition and by raising our national reputation and profile. This position reports to the CEO and partners with the Chief Development Officer and with site leadership and development staff.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Develop and execute a strategic marketing and communications plan that develops a consistent and compelling national brand for Summer Search.
* Solicit input from key stakeholders across the sites including funders, board members, staff and program partners and participants to identify and articulate what makes Summer Search unique and compelling.
* Use this input to build a brand architecture, with key messages and brand promise.
* Build and implement marketing plans targeted to each of the key stakeholders above including a calendar for electronic and social media communications that effectively supports fundraising goals.
* For all marketing and communications activities, create and track against tangible measures of success.

2. Build and implement a public relations strategy that builds our presence and profile in the philanthropic, corporate, education and non-profit communities.
* Increase media coverage at national and site levels by implementing a media plan.
* Position senior staff as thought leaders on youth development and education through media exposure.

3. Lead communications operations to support effective fundraising nationally and at the sites.
* Build our marketing tool kit including collateral materials for current and potential funders, event management tools and publicity support.
* Oversee the development of all print communications including collateral materials and the Annual Report, and electronic communications including the web site, e-newsletters, and social media.
* Support sites with different marketing needs while maintaining consistency of voice and brand look and feel that supports national and multi-site fundraising efforts.

4. Lead Summer Search's marketing team.
* Leverage strengths and efforts of current staff at our national Support Center and at the seven sites through building collaborative relationships with key leadership and development staff.
* Manage current full-time Support Center communications and design staff member.
* Manage the budget for and relationships with contract and pro-bono marketing, communications and branding partnerships and vendors.

LOCATION
We are headquartered in San Francisco and prefer applicants who can be based from San Francisco. We will consider applicants who can be based from our New York City office. Some travel to all our offices will be required.

Source: http://www.bridgestar.org/MyCareerCenter/PositionDetails.aspx?jobId=10177

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Saturday, December 3, 2011

NBA players authorize return of union (AP)

NEW YORK ? NBA players have authorized the return of the players' association, with more than 300 submitting the necessary signatures to a third-party accounting group.

With the union re-formed, negotiations with owners will resume Friday on the remaining issues that would be in the collective bargaining agreement, according to a person familiar with the plans. The hope is to complete the CBA next week so both sides can ratify it in time to open training camps Dec. 9.

"This is good news and completes another step in the process of finalizing our agreement," NBA spokesman Tim Frank said.

When talks with the NBA broke down Nov. 14, the NBPA disclaimed interest in representing the players, paving the way for them to file an antitrust lawsuit against the league. But negotiations continued despite the litigation, and a tentative agreement was reached early last Saturday.

The union needed at least 260 signatures from players to be received by the American Accounting Association by the end of the day Thursday and had easily surpassed that number by the close of business.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111202/ap_on_sp_bk_ne/bkn_nba_labor

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Jackson legacy expected to thrive after trial (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? The private world of Michael Jackson, fiercely shielded by the superstar in life, was exposed in the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray. But rather than suffering harm from revelations of drug use, experts say Jackson's legacy and posthumous earning power will survive any damage done and could actually grow after he was portrayed as a victim of a money-hungry doctor.

Jackson died before he could launch a series of highly anticipated comeback concerts in London as he tried to regain the towering status he enjoyed when he released the "Thriller" album in 1983.

But his death did breathe new life into record sales and boosted other projects to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for his estate, even as his already tarnished personal life took another hit by revelations about his drug use.

Jackson zoomed to the top of the Forbes Magazine list of highest earning dead celebrities and his executors are moving quickly on more projects designed to burnish the performer's image and expand the inheritance of his three children.

A Cirque du Soleil extravaganza, "Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour" opens in Las Vegas this weekend, a precursor to a permanent installation at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, and fans are expected to flock there for a "Fan Fest" exhibit of Jackson memorabilia.

After the trial, a judge made it clear that the defense effort to cast Jackson as the villain in the case had been a miserable failure. Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, called a reckless opportunist and sentenced to the maximum four years in prison.

Judge Michael Pastor also blasted Murray for experimenting on the pop star with the operating-room anesthetic propofol to help him battle debilitating insomnia, even though the drug was never meant to be used in a private home.

Some experts say the revelations made the King of Pop look more like a regular person coping with a difficult challenge.

"In the final analysis, not a lot of damage was done," Jackson biographer J. Randy Taraborelli said. "I think the trial humanized Michael Jackson. It presented him as a human being with problems."

As evidence unfolded, "It definitely made our hearts go out to Michael Jackson. He was a person suffering a great deal and not getting the help he needed," the author said.

Taraborelli said the entertainer's family, fans and estate executors were concerned before the trial that testimony would paint Jackson as responsible for his own death while resurrecting past accusations of child molestation and bizarre behavior by the King of Pop.

But the judge limited testimony and evidence to Jackson's final months and specifically ruled out any mention of the 2005 molestation trial.

Thomas Mesereau Jr., the attorney who won Jackson's acquittal in that case, believes the Murray trial did damage Jackson's reputation but said the impact would likely be short term.

"It certainly didn't help to have all this testimony about drug use," Mesereau said. "But as time passes, people will focus more on his music and the negatives will fade."

While Murray was ultimately shown to be negligent, the portrait of his patient that emerged during the trial was one of an aging superstar desperate to cement his place in entertainment history while providing a stable home life for adored children, Paris, Prince and Blanket.

The image of Jackson as a caring father had never been illustrated quite so vividly. A probation officer who interviewed Jackson's mother, Katherine, said she told him: "Michael Jackson was his children's world, and their world collapsed when he left."

A leading expert on the licensing and branding of dead celebrities believes the trial engendered so much sympathy for Jackson that in the long run it will eclipse negative fallout from his past.

"I don't think any tawdry revelations that may have come out of the trial will have any impact on his lasting legacy," said Martin Crebbs, who is based in New York. "We as a society tend to give everyone a second chance. Michael's legacy will be like Elvis and the Beatles. It will be his music, his genius. and his charitable works "

Crebbs has represented the estates of such deceased luminaries as Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Steve McQueen and Mae West.

He is not involved in the Jackson estate but praised its executors' efforts. Beginning with the rapid release of the concert movie, "This Is It," he said, "They have done a brilliant job of reminding us of Michael's genius."

Taraborelli also cited the film based on rehearsals for Jackson's ill-fated concerts as a spectacular move setting the stage for a posthumous comeback of the Jackson entertainment empire.

"It made you want to embrace him," said the author of "Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness."

Jackson's eccentricities and bizarre behavior often made headlines. Whether it was traveling with a chimp named Bubbles, sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber or dangling his baby Blanket off a balcony, he managed to alienate many people. The molestation trial pushed him further from the mainstream.

"That all ended on the day the news was announced that Michael was dead," said Lance Grode, a former music executive and onetime attorney for Jackson who now teaches legal issues in music at University of Southern California.

"The public decided they prefer to remember Michael as this great superstar and music prodigy and to forgive and forget any negative things they had heard over the last 10 or 15 years," Grode said. "Nothing came out at the trial that was nearly as bad as things they had heard in the past."

Grode said evidence of public acceptance is seen in the Jackson estate's ability to generate a half-billion dollars in the wake of his death.

The Cirque show, which launched in Canada, is slated for 150 dates across North America through July and expected to run through 2014 internationally. The permanent Las Vegas show is due in 2013.

The year he died, Jackson sold 8.3 million albums in the U.S. ? nearly twice as many as second-place Taylor Swift ? and "This Is It" became the highest-grossing concert film and documentary of all time.

Joe Vogel, author of a new book on Jackson's music, and others said the most shocking part of the Murray trial was the playing of a recording of a drugged Jackson slurring his words while dreaming aloud about his future concert and his plans to build a fantastic state of the art children's hospital.

Vogel said the recording, found on Murray's cell phone, reveals the dark side of Jackson's world.

"Michael had a difficult life. He said once that you have to have tragedy to pull from to create something beautiful and inspiring. And that's what he did. His music has staying power," Vogel said.

Rich Hanley, a pop culture specialist who teaches journalism at Connecticut's Quinnipiac University, said Jackson had "complexities on top of complexities."

"There may be collateral damage to his reputation from the trial. His inner sanctum was penetrated for the first time," he said.

However, "his music is eternal. It brings universal joy to people and will continue as much as Elvis' work continues to attract new fans even though he's been gone for generations," Hanley said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_en_mu/us_michael_jackson_legacy

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Monday, November 28, 2011

Analysis: Sprint network upgrade may curb unlimited data (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Sprint Nextel may be forced to abandon the biggest advantage it has over its rivals -- unlimited data services for a flat fee -- because of heavy data users and a shortage of wireless airwaves.

Moreover, the increasing likelihood that AT&T's plan to buy T-Mobile USA, the nation's fourth-largest mobile operator, will fail may have the paradoxical result of making Sprint's position even more untenable, according to analysts who follow all three companies.

Sprint, the nation's third-largest mobile service provider, is planning to upgrade its network with the latest mobile standard, Long Term Evolution. But it is launching that service with only half the wireless airwaves bigger rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc have assigned, leading experts to suggest that the popularity of Sprint's unlimited data plan could put a strain on the network or slow down Web surfing speeds.

Sprint has assigned just 10 megahertz of spectrum for the launch compared with its rivals' 20 megahertz, analysts say. It will have to reassign airwaves being used for other services in order to expand its capacity for LTE.

Unlike AT&T and Verizon, which cap data use to stem overcapacity issues brought on by heavy users, Sprint is the only big U.S. carrier still selling unlimited data for a flat fee to users of smartphones, including the Apple Inc iPhone, on its current network.

"It's a very bare-bones implementation of LTE," said Tolaga Research analyst Phil Marshall. "The risk is, if you don't have headroom as your LTE subscriber base grows, then the speeds will go down."

In that situation, Marshall does not see Sprint being able to continue to offer unlimited services.

"Unlimited is going to kill them," he said. "I think they're going to have to back off from the all-you-can-eat plan."

Unlimited data is a strong selling point for Sprint, which has been struggling for years to retain customers. For Sprint to keep the marketing advantage it has over rivals, one option could be for it to institute usage caps that are considerably higher than those of its competitors.

"That's a lever they can play if they run into being constrained," said an industry source who asked not to be named due to a lack of authorization to speak publicly. "It's inevitable that they will eventually have to put caps (on their data use)."

SPRINT: NO HEADACHE

Sprint, which is spending $7 billion to upgrade its network to LTE by the end of 2013, says concerns about its capacity are overblown, arguing that advanced technology allows it to make the most of its spectrum resources. Bob Azzi, a Sprint executive in charge of the company's network, said the company's plans assume that it will keep its unlimited data service during the LTE rollout.

"I don't consider it a headache," he told Reuters, "We have a good understanding of the nature of those plans and what they do."

Azzi added that the section of the 1,900 megahertz spectrum band Sprint has set aside for LTE is currently unused. He also plans to reallocate spectrum in its 800 megahertz band to use for the high-speed service by early 2014, provided it can secure regulatory approval to do so. That spectrum is currently being used by the aging iDen service Sprint hopes to shut down in mid-2013.

Sprint is also in talks with Clearwire Corp, its majority-owned venture, about expanding their partnership to cover LTE. Sprint currently depends on Clearwire's network for its fastest service based on WiMax technology, and the latest talks are aimed at allowing it to piggyback on Clearwire's LTE to help it boost capacity in the "hottest of hotspots" by 2014 when Azzi says Sprint will need more capacity.

But the future of Sprint's tempestuous relationship with Clearwire is murky since it is not yet certain if Clearwire will raise the roughly $1 billion in new funding it needs to upgrade its network to LTE.

Clearwire lost one-third of its value after Sprint said on October 7 that a bankruptcy filing by the company could be "constructive." Clearwire shareholders again fled on November 18 after the company said it may skip a debt interest payment due December 1. Many analysts saw that pronouncement as a negotiating tactic to try to force Sprint's hand into an agreement with favorable terms for Clearwire.

SOAP OPERA

One investment manager described the Clearwire/Sprint relationship as a "soap opera" that will end with an agreement because they are both heavily dependent on each other.

"In the short term Sprint doesn't need them beyond (WiMax) but they do need them later," said the manager, who asked not to be named.

Even if Sprint and Clearwire reach an agreement, however, Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett is skeptical about how much it would help because of the frequency Clearwire's spectrum is on, which he said causes signal problems within buildings.

"Now that the person next to you at the conference table is surfing away on Verizon ... the shortcomings of Clearwire become painfully apparent," Moffett said.

Moffett also noted that even if Clearwire upgrades its network, it will still have coverage for only about one-third of the U.S. population because it would need to raise a lot more funding than it is currently seeking to extend its network into new markets.

Since Sprint has already had to tap capital markets for $4 billion in debt and needs up to $3 billion more in funding for its own network upgrade, analysts are skeptical it can come up with the money to help Clearwire expand further.

"What are you going to do with the (rest) of the United States? You can't just limp around on one leg," said Moffett, who has a "hold" rating on Sprint due to the uncertainty around its strategy.

The uncertainty around AT&T's deal for T-Mobile USA is another big wrinkle in the Sprint story. On Thursday, AT&T withdrew its application for deal approval with the Federal Communications Commission, saying that it would focus on its legal battle with the Department of Justice. If that deal is approved, it leaves Sprint as a distant No. 4. But if it is blocked, as many analysts now expect, T-Mobile USA may look for another partner, according to the investment manager.

Instead of forging a deal with Clearwire or Sprint, Moffett suggested that T-Mobile USA would instead turn to U.S. cable operators such as Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable. Some investors had hoped these companies would come to Sprint's aid as they are part-owners in Clearwire. But since the cable operators have unused spectrum in the same band as T-Mobile USA, Moffett suggested that the cable providers would instead create a partnership with that company if it has to abandon the AT&T deal.

Sprint has loudly opposed the AT&T/T-Mobile USA deal, a position that Moffett said was against its best interests.

"Now Sprint loses its logical partners in the cable operators," said Moffett, who described a potential cable/T-Mobile deal as a "match made in heaven."

Moreover, some analysts said that the $6 billion breakup package AT&T will have to pay T-Mobile if the deal fails would make T-Mobile into a more formidable rival to Sprint in the market for cost-conscious mobile consumers.

The uncertainty means that Sprint does not "know exactly how desperate they are at any given point in time," the investment manager said, noting that Sprint's $2.38 share price speaks volumes about investor confidence in the operator's strategy.

"It shows there's not a whole lot of faith out there that they'll be able to successfully execute on these things," this person said.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; editing by Peter Lauria and Matthew Lewis)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111127/wr_nm/us_sprint4g

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