Benchmarks took a battering on Monday following uncertainty about the outcome of the Italian elections and a revival of euro zone concerns. The instability in the Italian government indicates European debt problems might resurface which in turn could weaken the global economy. The major indices logged their worst day since November. All ten S&P 500 industry groups ended in the red. Energy stocks were the biggest losers.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) lost 1.6% to close the day at 13,784.17. The S&P 500 decreased 1.8% to finish yesterday?s trading session at 1,487.85. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index declined 1.4% to end at 3,116.25. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) jumped 34% to settle at 18.99. Consolidated volumes on the New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq were roughly 7.27 billion shares, well above the daily average of 6.45 billion shares for 2012. Declining stocks outnumbered the advancing stocks. For the 24% that advanced, 74% declined.
Markets started yesterday?s trading session on a positive note and the S&P 500 advanced as much as 0.7% in morning trade. But skepticism about the Italian political situation and fears of a reemergence of the euro zone crisis dragged the indices into the negative. The S&P 500 closed below 1,500 for the first time since February 4. The fear-gauge CBOE VIX surged by 34%, its highest increase since August 18, 2011.
Uncertainty over the Italian elections dampened investor sentiment yesterday. The result of the elections will have a major impact on the European financial scenario since Italy is one of the region?s largest economies. According to three TV forecasts, the centre-left coalition has a marginal lead over centre-right, lead by ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. If any of the two blocs is unable to gain a clear majority in the Senate, fresh elections would have to be held. This could trigger fears of Italy defaulting on its debt.
Meanwhile, the final day to decide on reduction of US government spending as well as taxes is Friday. If by then, Democrats and Republicans fail to meet on common ground, federal spending will be decreased by $85 billion a month for seven months and $1.2 trillion over nine years. Spending cuts worth $85 billion will adversely affect major sectors like defense, education, and healthcare. President Barack Obama said, ?Companies are preparing layoff notices. Families are preparing to cut back on expenses. ...".
On the earnings front, shares of Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) dipped 4.8% in-spite of posting robust earnings and revenues. The company?s earnings and revenues beat the Street?s estimates but missed on the outlook front. For fiscal 2013, the company guided earnings per share to $2.05 versus the Street?s estimates of $2.10. The company said it has taken steps to cut costs in terms of lower hiring, closing locations and investing more in its online business.
Home building stocks took a hammering yesterday and the SPDR S&P Homebuilders (XHB) lost 3.5%. Stocks such as The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD), Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (NYSE:LL), M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MDC), The Ryland Group, Inc. (NYSE:RYL) and D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) dropped 2.5%, 6.7%, 4.5%, 5.4% and 4.2%, respectively.
Energy stocks declined the most among the top ten industry groups in the S&P 500. The Energy Select Sector SPDR (NYSEARCA: XLE) lost 2.6%. Stocks such as Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO), Hess Corp. (NYSE:HES) and Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU) declined 1.7%, 2.1%, 5.1%, 3.5% and 2.3%, respectively.
Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, this month in Paris. (Jacques Brinon/Reuters/Pool)Vice President Joe Biden will make a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the powerful lobbying group that advocates close relations between the U.S. and Israel. Biden will address the group on March 4, an aide told Yahoo News, confirming a report in JTA.
It was not immediately clear whether President Barack Obama would also speak to the group. But Obama is due to travel to Israel?his first visit there since taking office?in late March.
Biden has advocated close U.S.-Israel relations for decades, notably from his perch as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He could be expected to discuss such ongoing issues as Washington?s support for the ?Iron Dome? missile defense system and escalating tensions over Iran?s suspect nuclear program. Other issues on the table at the gathering are likely to include how to approach the so-called "Arab spring" countries.
Other scheduled speakers at the March 3-5 conference include Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Democratic House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) ? Ronda Rousey won the first women's bout in UFC history Saturday night, beating Liz Carmouche on an armbar with 11 seconds left in the first round of their bantamweight title fight at UFC 157.
Rousey (7-0) defended her belt with her signature move, forcing Carmouche to tap out after bending back her arm. Rousey raised both arms in victory while flat on the canvas after the longest fight of the mixed martial artist's ascendant career.
"Is this real life right now? I'm not sure," Rousey said.
Former UFC champion Lyoto Machida won a lackluster split decision over 42-year-old veteran Dan Henderson on the undercard at Honda Center, and bantamweight Urijah Faber beat Ivan Menjivar with an acrobatic rear naked choke late in the first round.
But the sellout crowd largely showed up to see Rousey, whose star power and athleticism ended UFC President Dana White's long-standing disinterest in women's MMA ? and even put Rousey and Carmouche in the main event of a pay-per-view show.
Rousey and Carmouche didn't disappoint in their sport's pressure-packed debut. Although Rousey was heavily favored, Carmouche (7-3) actually got Rousey in trouble early, nearly landing a rear naked choke while clinging to Rousey's back in the opening two minutes.
Rousey, who had never been so seriously threatened in a bout, barely escaped the chokehold. She gradually imposed her will on the former Marine after that, finally getting her legs on top of Carmouche and patiently separating her arms to land an armbar.
Rousey has won all seven of her professional MMA bouts by armbar, a judo move that has dislocated at least two prior opponents' elbows.
"I had to learn to take my time in judo, and I was just able to keep a clear head," said Rousey, who became the first American woman to win an Olympic judo medal in Beijing.
Carmouche earned a huge ovation from the sellout crowd for giving Rousey more trouble than she had ever faced.
"I thought I had it," said Carmouche, who served three tours of duty in Iraq. "Like everything else, you make a mistake, and it turns around."
Rousey had to deal with constant attention from media and fans in recent weeks, but said the pressure was nothing she couldn't handle.
"There's no amount of press that can save these girls from me," she said.
Machida (19-3), the former light heavyweight champion, had lost three of his previous five bouts before edging Henderson (29-9) in a slow, technical fight. Machida used his typical elusiveness and unorthodox, karate-based techniques to pick away at Henderson, who had won four straight fights.
Henderson finally took down Machida in the third round, but couldn't capitalize. Both fighters raised their arms in victory after the third horn, but Machida landed 68 percent of the fight's significant strikes, with a 23-8 advantage in head strikes.
Two judges favored Machida 29-28, while the third had Henderson winning 29-28.
"He's a very great opponent for me, and I have a lot of respect for him," Machida said while fans booed. "My strategy was to keep the fight standup, and I think I got it. I think I completely dominated the first round, second round, third round."
Faber (28-6) got his career back on track with an impressive victory over Menjivar (25-11), a Salvadoran veteran fighting out of Canada. With his home-state crowd behind him, Faber took early control on the ground and then finished Menjivar by clinging to his back and wrapping both legs around his standing opponent, forcing Menjivar to tap out while on his feet with 26 seconds left in the opening round.
"Ivan is a very crafty veteran," Faber said. "I just attacked the neck. He let me hold on too long, and that was that."
Although Faber has a huge fan following after dominating the now-defunct WEC, he was just 2-2 since moving to the UFC two years ago, dropping narrow decisions to bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and Renan Barao.
Earlier, Robbie Lawler stopped Josh Koscheck with 1:03 left in the first round with a series of strikes, and Court McGee beat Josh Neer by unanimous decision in his welterweight debut.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ? Mozilla, the non-profit foundation behind the popular Firefox Web browser, is getting into phones. But it's not stopping at Web browsers ? it's launching a whole phone operating system.
The Firefox OS will land in a crowded environment, where many small operating systems are trying to become the "third eco-system," alongside Apple's iOS and Google's Android. Together, those two account for 91 percent of smartphone sales, according to research firm IDC.
Mozilla has an ally in phone companies, who are interested in seeing an alternative to Apple and Google. Thirteen phone companies around the world have committed to supporting Firefox phones, Mozilla says, including Sprint Nextel in the U.S. Phones are expected this summer in countries like Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Poland, and Spain.
Last week, Acer got out in front of the Mobile World Congress madness by reintroducing its Liquid E1 smartphone and announcing the new Liquid Z2. Well, we're on the ground here in Barcelona and we just got to see them both in person. A quick recap for those who missed Acer's first Androids of 2013: the mid-range E1 runs Jelly Bean on a 4.5-inch 960 x 540 IPS display, has a dual-core 1GHz processor, a 5-megapixel camera and a 1,760mAh battery. The entry-level Z2 also runs Android 4.1, but has a 3.5-inch 480 x 320 screen, single-core 1GHz CPU, a 3-megapixel shooter and a 1,300 mAh cell. Both phones come in either black or white and can be had in single- or dual-SIM configurations. Peruse our galleries of photos below, won't you? Then join us after the break for a video and our full impressions.
This article was originally published on Oct. 11 and was updated on Feb. 22, as more information became available.
UPDATE:?In a new report released this week, cyber-security firm, Mandiant, pinpointed exactly where some of the most sophisticated hackers in China are working ? in or around a building that serves as a Chinese military unit's headquarters on the outskirts of Shanghai.
This elite group of hackers has been dubbed the "Shanghai Group." They've struck 141 times since 2006 across all sectors of the U.S. economy.? This is the first time such a group has been tracked right to the doorstep of the People's Liberation Army.
Two major United States newspapers, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, reported earlier this year that their computer systems have been repeatedly targeted by hackers based in China for the past several months.
The New York Times said the attacks, which began in mid-September, were in response to a Times investigation of the relatives and family of China?s Premier Wen Jiabao. The Wall Street Journal simply stated that the infiltration was "for the apparent purpose of monitoring the newspaper's China coverage."
This is not the first time cyber-attacks originating from China have been in the national spotlight. According to current and former intelligence officials at the highest levels of government, the Chinese have playing dirty in the international spy game for years.
?This is stealing American wealth.? It's stealing American jobs.? It's stealing American competitive advantage,? General Michael Hayden, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, said in an interview with NBC News.
Hayden?s comment was echoed by a?House Intelligence Committee report?released on October 8, 2012 warning that two Chinese telecommunications companies, Huawei and ZTE, could be funneling sensitive information back to Beijing, and cautioned American carriers to avoid doing business with them.
Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., told NBC News that the Chinese have targeted every sector of the American economy.
?Everything you can possibly imagine we have seen the Chinese make a concerted effort to steal that information and use it for their own economic advantage,? he said.
That includes blueprints for the next generation of auto parts, formulas for pesticides and pharmaceuticals, and other information that makes American companies competitive in the global marketplace.
Though the United States limits its espionage to national security interests, intelligence officials said, China has launched a well-organized campaign to steal American corporate secrets via the Internet.
?I know states steal secrets.?Our states steal secrets.?And we're actually pretty good at it.? But we self-limit.? We steal things that are valuable and useful for your security, for your liberty and for your safety,? Hayden said.
One of the first to find himself on the front lines of the economic cyber war with China at the corporate level was Brian Shields. He was a computer security specialist for Nortel, a giant Canadian telecommunications company.
A success story from the early Internet age, Nortel made cell phone and computer network equipment. At its height, the company employed 20,000 people in the U.S.
Shields said he first got wind of the Chinese in Nortel?s network in 2004.? An employee working in highly technical research and development saw some curious activity on a computer server.? His documents were being downloaded apparently by a senior executive named Brian McFadden, who worked in a completely different department.
Shields said McFadden had not downloaded anything.? Instead, someone had hacked into the computer network using McFadden?s stolen password. Shields said he discovered that seven passwords had been stolen, including that of then CEO Frank Dunn.
Though Shields could never determine who the individual hacker was, he was able to track the activity to servers in Shanghai and Hangzhou, China.
In total more than 1,400 documents were stolen including product designs and valuable customer information, according to Shields.
?They could know what companies we're buying, how much. They could know where we saw our future product. They could know where we saw our profitability,? he said.
After the attack, Shields said he watched his company steadily lose business, while a competitor, Huawei, began to grow.? Nortel went bankrupt in 2009, while Huawei has become one of the world?s premiere telecommunications companies. Shields said he believes Nortel went under as a result of spying by companies like Huawei.?
Most industry insiders say that Nortel was a victim of bad business decisions coupled with the burst of the Internet bubble.
A spokeswoman for Nortel said the company responded appropriately to the 2004 attacks and ?found no evidence of wide spread security issues.?
Huawei has denied stealing from Nortel or any other company. In a statement emailed to NBC News, the spokeswoman said the company has "the highest respect for the intellectual property of others."
In response to October 8th's House Intelligence Committee report, a Huawei spokesman said the accusations were based on rumors. The company defended its record as a member of the Fortune 500 list of the largest companies in the world.
?For the past 25 years, we have held an upstanding record?We have been emphasizing that Huawei is committed to cooperating transparently with any and all government agencies who wish to carry out an open and impartial dialogue about our company and the products and services that have made us successful internationally,? read a Huawei statement responding to the report.
Huawei has already sold equipment to a dozen small carriers in the U.S.
The Huawei spokesman said company is a ?partner to the U.S. high-tech industry? and ?helps create jobs in the U.S.?
ZTE?released a statement?saying that the company is China?s ?most transparent, independent, globally focused, publicly traded telecom company.?
Click here to read a full response from Huawei
In response to this story, China?s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei denied stealing from any corporations, adding that last year the Chinese helped international agencies address hundreds of cyber-attacks.?? He said the Mandiant report linking attacks to the Chinese military was ?unfounded? and ?unprofessional.?
?China is also a victim of cyber-attacks, and we take a firm stance on continuously playing an active role in international cooperation,? Hong Lei told NBC News.
But top American brass said they are exasperated by China?s efforts to portray themselves as victims. Hayden said it is time to hold China accountable.
?Don't treat me like a child.? We know what you're doing.? We have good evidence with regard to what you're doing.? And if you continue to do what you do actions will have consequences,? said Hayden.
Rogers advocated that the White House make Chinese cyber espionage the number one issue in bilateral relations with China.
?They do respond to embarrassment.? And we ought to embarrass them for being thieves of the research and development of the United States of America.?
Viacom-owned kids network Nickelodeon is launching a branded TV Everywhere iPad app.
The Nick App will allow kids on-demand access to a range of the kids channel?s content as well as having behind the scenes information and video and associated polls and games.
A user authentication system will be used and, once verified as qualifying pay TV cusotmers, kids can watch full episodes of current Nick shows.
Nick said the app will also be used as a testing ground for new original content.
At launch the app is only available in the US and only for iPad. It will be free of charge. A preschool, Nick Jr. Version will follow later in the year.
?The Nick App creates a new platform unlike anything else available to kids today,? said Steve Youngwood, executive VP and general manager, Digital, Nickelodeon Group. ?The Nick App is the one place where kids can watch and play Nickelodeon and experience the complete fun and funny of our brand, wherever and whenever they want.?
THE multimillion-pound NHS debt in York and North Yorkshire should be written off by the Government, local councillors have said.
Members of City of York Council?s health overview and scrutiny committee are to write to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt asking him to ensure the North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust?s debt is not passed on to the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) which replaces it in April.
The committee has voted to write to the Government and the city?s MPs, Hugh Bayley and Julian Sturdy, inviting them to a meeting to discuss the situation.
The committee heard from the PCT?s chief executive, Chris Long, on the current financial position and on plans to shrink the region?s ?19 million budget deficit to ?12 million by April.
Committee member Coun Sandy Fraser said getting the debt written off seemed the only real solution to avoid the crisis continuing.
As The Press reported last month, health chiefs were slammed for spending ?320,000 on a consultants? report which was expected to reveal where cuts would fall but which was instead labelled a ?disappointment? by councillors.
Chairman Coun Tina Funnell said the financial position was ?pretty impossible? and the county had a poor funding settlement from the Government.
She also questioned what would happen to outstanding ?3 million bills in elderly social services care.
Ohio State and West Virginia University recently signed a partnership contract to conduct tens of millions of dollars worth of shale energy research in the Appalachian region.
Shale energy comes from grained rock that has oil components, which can be harvested for an alternative to conventional crude oil.
OSU President E. Gordon Gee signed the agreement on Feb. 8, followed by WVU President Jim Clements on Feb. 11, but the idea for the partnership was discussed last April at the ?2012 Public and Land-Grant University Conference on Energy Challenges,? according to a press release.
Tim Carr, a professor of geology at WVU and director of the Shale Gas Research Center, said that while no specific start date for the research has been determined, the universities did define research areas during their most recent meeting, with plans to focus on subsurface area, utilization, environment and public policies.
The collective research results could ultimately benefit students, the companies that are drilling wells and the environment, Carr said, and there is also the possibility to help the economy.
?If we can keep it going and there?s a lot of tax dollars flowing in, then it benefits our state and local governments,? Carr said.
Before any projects can be started, however, expenses have to be addressed.
Carr said the research will likely cost tens of millions of dollars and will force universities to look into ways to fund the projects, such as research grants.
Jeff Daniels, an OSU earth sciences professor, expects research organizations like the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Technology Lab and the Department of Energy to play a role in the research as well.
Ultimately, Daniels said there is hope the research OSU conducts will lead to even more funding.
?We feel very strongly that this is actually going to generate funding for the university because we?re going to have a better ability to attract funding for research and education and outreach efforts,? Daniels said. ?So there?s not going to be a big up-front or annual cost to the university other than a little bit of travel money, I suppose, that faculty will generally provide out of their own funds.?
Daniels said those researchers will come from across the university, in the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the School of Environment and Natural Resources, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Engineering and the College of Public Health.
The varying skills of OSU and WVU in those fields could mean the development of a strong, collaborative effort in research, Daniels said.
?I think we have two universities that happen to have strengths in certain areas that are very complementary,? he said. ?And combining our efforts, we?re clearly going to make the sum greater than the parts, the total greater than our individual efforts, and we will be able to be more effective in our research and educational outreach efforts in the Appalachian region.?
Carr said the cooperation between the schools should be positive.
?There are strengths on both sides,? Carr said. ?It?s just trying to build something up. It lets us see if we can do things together. It doesn?t stop at the Ohio River, it goes right merrily across.?
Despite the optimism of the universities regarding potential findings, one student shared his opposing thoughts on the partnership.
Daniel DiMarino, a second-year in environmental science and theater, said while he understands the purpose behind the research, he believes the time and money could be better spent focusing on other issues.
?I don?t know if it?s the best way that we can be allocating our resources and our time,? DiMarino said. ?I?d rather see us doing something involving wind energy or solar power and implementing some sort of program related to another form of energy that?s actually clean energy.?
Almost 2 million American homeowners were freed from negative equity in 2012, and the overall percentage of all homeowners with a mortgage in negative equity fell to 27.5 percent at the end of the fourth quarter, according to Zillow's fourth quarter Negative Equity Report. The falling negative equity rate is good news for struggling homeowners and is largely attributable to a 5.9 percent bump in home values nationwide last year to a median Zillow Home Value Index of $157,400. (When home values rise, negative equity falls.) At the end of 2011, 31.1 percent of homeowners with a mortgage were underwater, or more than 15.7 million people.
In the fourth quarter, Zillow determined where the American homeowners who were freed from negative equity in 2012 were located. Among the nation's 30 largest metro areas, those with the highest number of homeowners freed from negative equity last year were Phoenix (135,099 homeowners freed in 2012); Los Angeles (72,936 homeowners freed in 2012); Miami-Fort Lauderdale (70,484 homeowners freed in 2012); Dallas-Fort Worth (59,461 homeowners freed in 2012); and Riverside, Calif. (58,417 homeowners freed in 2012).
Still, despite the more than 1.9 million homeowners nationwide who found their way back above water last year, 13.8 million American homeowners are still struggling with negative equity. Many remain so far underwater that even the very high rates of appreciation experienced in many markets still can only bring them so far. In the Phoenix metro region, for example, despite more than 135,000 homeowners freed from negative equity last year, more than 300,000 homeowners -- or 40.4 percent of those with a mortgage -- remain trapped in negative equity. This is largely attributable to the fact that although home values in Phoenix rose 22.5 percent last year, they remain more than 44 percent below their peak. So for those who bought at the peak, even with rapid appreciation, they still have a long way to go.
Read the rest of this story on Zillow.
See more on Zillow: 5 Ways to Cure 'Model Home Syndrome' Designer Profile: Garrison Hullinger Privacy or Luxury? Top 5 Celebrity Home Destinations
More on AOL Real Estate: Find out how to calculate mortgage payments. Find homes for sale in your area. Find foreclosures in your area. See celebrity real estate.
Follow us on Twitter at @AOLRealEstate or connect with AOL Real Estate on Facebook.
Congrats to Terrance and Gina who were both baptized this weekend at the Hazel Dell Campus!? So amazing to hear their stories and see the change that Jesus is done in their lives!? My favorite part is that neither of them who say they have it all together and that is exactly what baptism is?a declaration of a dependence on God, not an arrival at perfection.? Any time you are ready to make that declaration, sign up to be baptized at www.coffeechurch.com.? We?ll fill the hot tub and make it happen!? Pictures coming soon!!
I got to introduce Lorraine, 94 years old, and Loretta, 91 years old, to each other on Sunday.? Both of them attend our church with their grandkids?isn?t that SO cool?? God changes lives and hearts and that impacts GENERATIONS!? As the first Christian in my family, it is not lost on me that my grandkids will be different because of my decision to follow Jesus.
The 3-5th Grade boys had a Nerf Gun War Party after church on Sunday.? Awesome young men!!!!
We are looking forward to next Sunday for our Annual Celebration Meeting.? It?s a great time to get to hear about all that God is doing at our church!? We are meeting at Hazel Dell at 4:00 pm and Battle Ground at 7:00 pm.? You are welcome to attend either campus (or both!) as the information will be the same, although campus specific staff will be sharing at their campus only (ie, Kim will share about Kid City at HD and Vanessa at BG).??Everyone will be sharing on behalf of the church as?a whole!??We?ve had a couple of people ask why we don?t have one meeting.? Short answer:? we don?t fit in one building at one time.? That?s a good problem!??This solution?of two meetings also alleviates some drive time for most people, which is a good deal!
If you have a preschool age student, we will be opening registration for the North Creek Learning Center on March 1.? This?week day preschool is located at our Battle Ground location and has been an asset to?the community for?17 years.? We look forward to continuing on?with the?legacy passed along to us!??More info to come soon!
As a church?the challenge has been set before us to memorize a chapter in the book of James?are you up for it?? I?took on?chapter 5?if you choose that chapter, start in the middle and work backwards.? The first?few verses are a tongue twister and it?s discouraging!? It?s easier to get some success under your belt and then tackle the rest.? Here?s a good life lesson: do hard things.??it?s worth the work!? The easy way will probably not help you to?grow and become all that God has for you!? P.S.? Our Kid?s pastors are encouraging all the?K-5th graders to memorize James 1.? I?m pretty confident that the kids will be amazing at?it!!!
I love how Jesus changes lives!
I hope that this week brings about a new resolve in your heart to be unstoppable for Him.? Be blessed!
This is why it takes so long to get over tendon injuriesPublic release date: 15-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Senior Researcher Katja Heinemeier katjaheinemeier@gmail.com 45-28-55-66-02 Aarhus University
The Achilles heel of the body
The Achilles heel of the body getting over damage to tendons can be a long and painful process. By combining the nuclear tests of the 1950s with tissue samples and modern technology, a research collaboration between the Aarhus University and University of Copenhagen now reveals why the healing process is so slow.
Many people are affected by injuries caused by straining the Achilles tendon and other tendons in the body. Danish athletes alone account for up to 200,000 injuries per year. This often leads to frustration over the poor treatment options available, and it can take several years to get over tendon damage. The long healing process has always been something of a mystery to medical science because the body's regeneration normally manages to remedy most injuries to human tissue.
Research results now surprisingly show that the Achilles tendon remains the same throughout adult life. This new knowledge partly reveals why healing following an injury can be a long and painful process, and it opens up for possibilities for seeking new forms of treatment.
"It's fascinating that some parts of the body are designed to last an entire lifetime. The Achilles tendon can withstand very strong forces up to 500 kg when you're hopping, for example and you might think that it would be exposed to minor injuries all the time, thus requiring constant repair and renewal. Not the Achilles tendon, however. Its construction is very strong almost like a steel cable that has to last your whole life. Unfortunately, this 'tendon construction' does not last in a considerable number of cases, as can be testified by Denmark's numerous patients with strained tendons. With our new discovery, we can explain why the healing process can be difficult and take such a long time," explains Katja Heinemeier, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen.
Inheritance from the Cold War
To find out how quickly the Achilles tendon can regenerate, the research group used a somewhat unusual combination of competences and adopted a positive approach to the many nuclear tests carried out during the Cold War. These nuclear tests took place during the period 1955, and led to a very strong increase in the amount of radioactive carbon-14 in the atmosphere. This increase called the bomb pulse reached its peak in 1963, when the amount of carbon-14 doubled compared with the natural level. Since then, it has gradually fallen to the present level, which is almost normal. However, Aarhus physicists can actively use the 'imprint' of the bomb pulse to study the carbon-14 content of materials. This has enabled the research group to find an entry point to what can be called the inheritance from the Cold War nuclear race.
"The changes in atmospheric carbon-14 can be constantly reflected in the human body because we eat plants and animals fed with plants that absorb carbon-14 from the atmosphere. In doing so, a kind of history is built up in our tissue. At a later stage, this can tell us about the environment we've lived in, at the same time as precisely showing how quickly the different types of tissue were regenerated. We've studied Achilles tendons from people who lived during the bomb pulse era, and we can conclude that their tendons have retained the very high levels of carbon-14 found during the bomb pulse and for decades afterwards. This can only be explained by the fact that very little renewal takes place in the building blocks of the tendons. Our studies show that the building blocks that made up your Achilles tendons when you were seventeen years old are virtually the same when you're fifty," explains Associate Professor Jan Heinemeier. In addition to being director of the AMS 14C Dating Centre at Aarhus University, he is Katja Heinemeier's father.
Possibility for new forms of treatment
When a tissue has limited renewal of its building blocks also called slow turnover it means a poorer healing process in general. Very limited tendon renewal thus provides a good explanation of why tendon injuries are difficult to treat and can often persist for years.
"Based on our results, we actually think that the cells living in the tendon are in a kind of hibernation state, and therefore don't manage to wake up and repair the tendon when it's injured. The interesting results achieved by our research collaboration cutting across different fields of study now form a much better understanding of tendon function. And now that we've found an explanation of why tendons heal so badly, we've got a better chance of developing new ways of treating tendon injuries. A new treatment strategy could involve trying to provoke the dormant tendon cells to wake up and start repairing the tendon, for example. We're about to initiate a study of this possibility," says Professor Michael Kjr, who is head of the Department of Sports Medicine, Bispebjerg Hospital, and is affiliated with the Centre for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen.
###
Fact box: Your body is constantly renewing itself
The thigh muscle you have today is not made of the same material it was two years ago. The shape and structure are largely the same, but you are getting new muscle tissue all the time at a microscopic level. This constant renewal takes place because the body's building blocks wear out over time, and the body therefore replaces them with new ones to maintain the function of the different parts of the body. There are actually only a few types of tissue in the body such as teeth and the lens in the eye that are built to last an entire lifetime.
This is the mechanism that the researchers behind the new discovery used in their work, because a tissue that is not really renewed keeps hold of the carbon-14 atoms from the bomb pulse throughout its life. In contrast, a tissue that is quickly replaced such as muscle tissue is unable to 'remember' the bomb pulse because its building blocks have been renewed numerous times since the high level of carbon-14 at the time of the bomb pulse.
Fact box: About the group behind the discovery
The AMS 14C Dating Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, is headed by Associate Professor Jan Heinemeier, who has many years of experience using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) to measure carbon-14 concentrations. The centre has previously shown that the lens in the eye is permanent, by means of the same method used to observe the low renewal rate of the Achilles tendon. Read more here.
Professor Michael Kjr is head of the group of researchers at the Institute of Sports Medicine Copenhagen (ISMC), the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery M81, Bispebjerg Hospital, and the Centre for Healthy Aging, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. The group consists of a research department that mainly focuses on tendon tissue, and a sports clinic that treats patients with different sports injuries. Read more here.
The project receives financial support from the Danish Council for Independent Research | Medical Sciences (FSS) and the Danish Rheumatism Association. Senior Scientist Katja Heinemeier was the main applicant.
For more information, please contact
Senior Researcher Katja Heinemeier, University of Copenhagen
+45 2855 6602
katjaheinemeier@gmail.com
Associate Professor Jan Heinemeier, Aarhus University
+45 2338 2318
jh@phys.au.dk
Professor Michael Kjr, University of Copenhagen
+45 3531 6089
michaelkjaer@sund.ku.dk
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
This is why it takes so long to get over tendon injuriesPublic release date: 15-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Senior Researcher Katja Heinemeier katjaheinemeier@gmail.com 45-28-55-66-02 Aarhus University
The Achilles heel of the body
The Achilles heel of the body getting over damage to tendons can be a long and painful process. By combining the nuclear tests of the 1950s with tissue samples and modern technology, a research collaboration between the Aarhus University and University of Copenhagen now reveals why the healing process is so slow.
Many people are affected by injuries caused by straining the Achilles tendon and other tendons in the body. Danish athletes alone account for up to 200,000 injuries per year. This often leads to frustration over the poor treatment options available, and it can take several years to get over tendon damage. The long healing process has always been something of a mystery to medical science because the body's regeneration normally manages to remedy most injuries to human tissue.
Research results now surprisingly show that the Achilles tendon remains the same throughout adult life. This new knowledge partly reveals why healing following an injury can be a long and painful process, and it opens up for possibilities for seeking new forms of treatment.
"It's fascinating that some parts of the body are designed to last an entire lifetime. The Achilles tendon can withstand very strong forces up to 500 kg when you're hopping, for example and you might think that it would be exposed to minor injuries all the time, thus requiring constant repair and renewal. Not the Achilles tendon, however. Its construction is very strong almost like a steel cable that has to last your whole life. Unfortunately, this 'tendon construction' does not last in a considerable number of cases, as can be testified by Denmark's numerous patients with strained tendons. With our new discovery, we can explain why the healing process can be difficult and take such a long time," explains Katja Heinemeier, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen.
Inheritance from the Cold War
To find out how quickly the Achilles tendon can regenerate, the research group used a somewhat unusual combination of competences and adopted a positive approach to the many nuclear tests carried out during the Cold War. These nuclear tests took place during the period 1955, and led to a very strong increase in the amount of radioactive carbon-14 in the atmosphere. This increase called the bomb pulse reached its peak in 1963, when the amount of carbon-14 doubled compared with the natural level. Since then, it has gradually fallen to the present level, which is almost normal. However, Aarhus physicists can actively use the 'imprint' of the bomb pulse to study the carbon-14 content of materials. This has enabled the research group to find an entry point to what can be called the inheritance from the Cold War nuclear race.
"The changes in atmospheric carbon-14 can be constantly reflected in the human body because we eat plants and animals fed with plants that absorb carbon-14 from the atmosphere. In doing so, a kind of history is built up in our tissue. At a later stage, this can tell us about the environment we've lived in, at the same time as precisely showing how quickly the different types of tissue were regenerated. We've studied Achilles tendons from people who lived during the bomb pulse era, and we can conclude that their tendons have retained the very high levels of carbon-14 found during the bomb pulse and for decades afterwards. This can only be explained by the fact that very little renewal takes place in the building blocks of the tendons. Our studies show that the building blocks that made up your Achilles tendons when you were seventeen years old are virtually the same when you're fifty," explains Associate Professor Jan Heinemeier. In addition to being director of the AMS 14C Dating Centre at Aarhus University, he is Katja Heinemeier's father.
Possibility for new forms of treatment
When a tissue has limited renewal of its building blocks also called slow turnover it means a poorer healing process in general. Very limited tendon renewal thus provides a good explanation of why tendon injuries are difficult to treat and can often persist for years.
"Based on our results, we actually think that the cells living in the tendon are in a kind of hibernation state, and therefore don't manage to wake up and repair the tendon when it's injured. The interesting results achieved by our research collaboration cutting across different fields of study now form a much better understanding of tendon function. And now that we've found an explanation of why tendons heal so badly, we've got a better chance of developing new ways of treating tendon injuries. A new treatment strategy could involve trying to provoke the dormant tendon cells to wake up and start repairing the tendon, for example. We're about to initiate a study of this possibility," says Professor Michael Kjr, who is head of the Department of Sports Medicine, Bispebjerg Hospital, and is affiliated with the Centre for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen.
###
Fact box: Your body is constantly renewing itself
The thigh muscle you have today is not made of the same material it was two years ago. The shape and structure are largely the same, but you are getting new muscle tissue all the time at a microscopic level. This constant renewal takes place because the body's building blocks wear out over time, and the body therefore replaces them with new ones to maintain the function of the different parts of the body. There are actually only a few types of tissue in the body such as teeth and the lens in the eye that are built to last an entire lifetime.
This is the mechanism that the researchers behind the new discovery used in their work, because a tissue that is not really renewed keeps hold of the carbon-14 atoms from the bomb pulse throughout its life. In contrast, a tissue that is quickly replaced such as muscle tissue is unable to 'remember' the bomb pulse because its building blocks have been renewed numerous times since the high level of carbon-14 at the time of the bomb pulse.
Fact box: About the group behind the discovery
The AMS 14C Dating Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, is headed by Associate Professor Jan Heinemeier, who has many years of experience using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) to measure carbon-14 concentrations. The centre has previously shown that the lens in the eye is permanent, by means of the same method used to observe the low renewal rate of the Achilles tendon. Read more here.
Professor Michael Kjr is head of the group of researchers at the Institute of Sports Medicine Copenhagen (ISMC), the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery M81, Bispebjerg Hospital, and the Centre for Healthy Aging, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. The group consists of a research department that mainly focuses on tendon tissue, and a sports clinic that treats patients with different sports injuries. Read more here.
The project receives financial support from the Danish Council for Independent Research | Medical Sciences (FSS) and the Danish Rheumatism Association. Senior Scientist Katja Heinemeier was the main applicant.
For more information, please contact
Senior Researcher Katja Heinemeier, University of Copenhagen
+45 2855 6602
katjaheinemeier@gmail.com
Associate Professor Jan Heinemeier, Aarhus University
+45 2338 2318
jh@phys.au.dk
Professor Michael Kjr, University of Copenhagen
+45 3531 6089
michaelkjaer@sund.ku.dk
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Posted On : February 13, 2013 3:08 PM | Posted By : Webmaster Related Categories: England
The Church of England has today warmly welcomed the passing of the Scrap Metal Dealers Bill, which cleared its final legislative hurdle in the House of Lords on February 12 and now goes forward for Royal Assent.?
The Chair of the Church of England?s Cathedral and Church Buildings Council, Mrs Anne Sloman, OBE, said: ?
?This has been a long battle. We are absolutely delighted that this two year campaign, led by the CofE?s Cathedrals and Church Buildings Council, will now become law. We are thankful that the deleterious and misery making unregulated trade in scrap metal might now be brought to an end through proper regulation leading to a reduction in crime for communities across the country.?
?I am grateful for the number of organisations and individuals whose hard work has led to the successful passage of this Bill, not least the Bishop of London, Lord Faulkner of Worcester and the Second Church Estates Commissioner Sir Tony Baldry MP.??
The Bill, introduced to the House of Commons as a Private Members Bill by Richard Ottaway MP and to the Lords by Baroness Browning, will introduce effective regulation of the Scrap Metal Trade and finally ends anonymous access to cash for scrap metal.?
In March 2011 a report to the Home Office from the Church Buildings Council called for new regulation of scrap yards to regulate the trade effectively and take away the incentive for metal theft. The regulation called for has been given in the Act, consolidating cashless trading, a licensing system, a national register of scrap yards and compulsory taking of identification at the point of sale. The police will have powers of entry to enforce the new regulations and to close yards where illegal activity is suspected.??
More information from?
Steve Jenkins???????????????????????????????????? Church of England Communications Office Church House Great Smith Street London SW1P 3AZ ? Direct Dial Telephone: 020 7898 1326 Out-of-hours Telephone: 07774 800212
In yet another blow to the Orlando Magic during a largely dismal season for the franchise, the NBA suspended small forward Hedo Turkoglu on Wednesday for 20 games without pay for testing positive for methenolone, an anabolic steroid.
Turkoglu said the drug test stemmed from a medication he took over the summer when he was in Turkey. He said he received the medication from his personal trainer to treat a shoulder injury and didn?t check with Magic medical staff to make sure the medication was safe.
?I?m sorry,? Turkoglu said. ?I want to apologize [to] the DeVos family, the Magic organization, my teammates and, most important, all my fans here and all around the world and back home. This is a situation I never wanted to be in.?
Turkoglu said the league tested him in December, and Magic general manager Rob Hennigan said team officials were told by Turkoglu about the positive test a week ago.
Hennigan said he believed Turkoglu ?unknowingly? took the substance.
?Clearly, Hedo made a mistake,? Hennigan added. ?He knows he made a mistake. He?s owning it. It?s certainly a disappointing circumstance for us, but I personally feel very confident in the amount of diligence we use to inform our players as to what can and cannot be taken.?
Turkoglu became the second Magic player since 2009 to be suspended by the NBA for violating the league?s anti-drug policy.
During the 2009 postseason, Rashard Lewis twice tested positive for an elevated testosterone level and was suspended for the first 10 games of the 2009-10 regular season.
Lewis said he took an over-the-counter supplement that he didn't realize contained a banned substance called dehydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA.
In the league?s anti-drug policy, DHEA and methenolone each fall under a list of banned substances classified as ?steroids, performance-enhancing drugs and masking agents? (or SPEDs).
Turkoglu, who will turn 34 years old in March, did not provide details about the substance he took ? whether it was injected or whether he took it orally ? or how many times he took it, even though he was asked those specific questions during a news conference at Amway Center.
NBA players are subject to four random tests each season and to two random tests each offseason. Anyone who tests positive for SPEDs for the first time receives an automatic 20-game suspension and is required to enter the league?s SPEDs program.
Turkoglu has missed most of this season because he fractured his left hand in the Magic?s season-opener.
He also had missed the team?s previous three games.
At the time, team officials said Turkoglu missed the first two games because he had flu-like symptoms and missed Sunday?s win over the Portland Trail Blazers because he had a sore back.
?For sure, he missed the game because of the flu and the back soreness,? Hennigan said Wednesday. ?It had no connection or correlation to what we?re learning today.?
In 11 games this season, Turkoglu is averaging 17.2 minutes, 2.9 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 turnovers per game. It?s the least productive season of his 13-year NBA career ? a career that includes several superb playoff performances during the Magic?s run to the 2009 NBA Finals.
?I feel bad for him,? teammate J.J. Redick said. ?I trust Turk. I?ve known him a long time, so if he says it was an accident, I believe him.?
But Redick also said players have to be careful these days.
?There?s some stuff at Whole Foods that I don?t put in my body,? he said. ?They have DHEA supplements there. They have all sorts of supplements there. . . . There?s a million things we?re not allowed to take, and he took responsibility for it. It?s his fault. You have to do your due diligence before you put anything in your body.?
Turkoglu is earning approximately $11.8 million this season, and his suspension will cost him about $2.15 million in lost salary.
?You just have to do better research, I guess, when you take some stuff for your body,? Turkoglu said.
?That?s the only mistake I made. Like I said, I only took stuff for my shoulder and I was feeling better after I took [it], and that was it. It wasn?t something that I came back all jacked-up and [had] a great body and I?m flying off the roof and dunking all the balls. It wasn?t just something that helped [make] my performance better.?
Given his age, Turkoglu likely doesn't fit into the team's long-term plans.
The 2013-14 season is the final year of Turkoglu's contract, and only about $6 million of his scheduled salary of $12 million is guaranteed, according to the website ShamSports.com.
?I think we?re going to get through this step,? Hennigan said. ?We?ll worry about the summer when the summer comes. Contracts are what they are. We need to make decisions about a lot of different things in the summer, and certainly Hedo?s situation will be one of them.?
jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.
Sony Mobile's top marketing guy, Steve Walker, resigns effective at the end of March
Sony Mobile's global marketing head, Steve Walker, is hanging up his slogans and taglines at the end of March, but not before he helps Sony market what essentially ?
Feb. 13, 2013 ? New room-temperature process could lead to less expensive solar cells and other electronic devices.
Silicon, the material of high-tech devices from computer chips to solar cells, requires a surface coating before use in these applications. The coating "passivates" the material, tying up loose atomic bonds to prevent oxidation that would ruin its electrical properties. But this passivation process consumes a lot of heat and energy, making it costly and limiting the kinds of materials that can be added to the devices.
Now a team of MIT researchers has found a way to passivate silicon at room temperature, which could be a significant boon to solar-cell production and other silicon-based technologies.
The research, by graduate student Rong Yang and engineering professors Karen Gleason and Tonio Buonassisi, was recently published online in the journal Advanced Materials.
Typically, silicon surfaces are passivated with a coating of silicon nitride, which requires heating a device to 400 degrees Celsius, explains Gleason, the Alexander and I. Michael Kasser Professor of Chemical Engineering. By contrast, the process Gleason's team uses decomposes organic vapors over wires heated to 300 C, but the silicon itself never goes above 20 C -- room temperature. Heating those wires requires much less power than illuminating an ordinary light bulb, so the energy costs of the process are quite low.
Conventional silicon-nitride passivation "is one of the more expensive parts, and one of the more finicky parts, in the processing" of silicon for solar cells and other uses, says Buonassisi, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, "so replacing part of silicon nitride's functionality with a simplified, robust organic layer has the potential to be a big win."
Essential process
Passivation is essential: Without it, silicon's surface is oxidized as soon as it's exposed to air, impeding its performance as a solar cell. "It would oxidize within minutes," Yang says. By contrast, the MIT team has tested silicon chips with the new polymer coating in place for more than 200 hours, observing no degradation at all in performance. "The electrical properties did not change," she says.
The low temperature of the silicon chip in this process means that it could be combined with other materials, such as organic compounds or polymers, that would be destroyed by the higher temperature of the conventional coating process. This could enable new applications of silicon chips -- for example, as biosensors following bonding with compounds that react with specific biological molecules. "People have grafted DNA and protein antibodies to silicon," Yang notes.
Saving energy
The energy used in manufacturing silicon solar cells is a critical concern because every bit of cost savings helps to make them more competitive with other sources of electricity. The lower temperatures could significantly reduce manufacturing costs, the MIT researchers say.
The new process also has an added benefit, providing an anti-reflective coating that improves a solar cell's overall efficiency, the team says.
Both the conventional process and the new process take place in a vacuum chamber. Liquid reactants evaporate, then adsorb and react on the surface. The adsorption step is much the same as mist forming on a cold bathroom window after you take a shower.
The process can easily be scaled to the size of conventional solar cells, Gleason says. Additionally, the materials involved are all commercially available, so implementing the new method for commercial production could be a relatively quick process.
Buonassisi describes lowering the cost of manufacturing equipment, including that used to apply the passivating and antireflection coating, as "one of the three steps that's needed to drive down the price of solar modules to widespread grid competitiveness." (The other two are improvements in efficiency and reducing the amount of materials used.) The next step for his team is to scale up the process from laboratory-scale to production levels that could lead to commercialization, he says.
The challenge in making this advance, he explains, was found at the atomic level -- specifically, at the interface between the organic coating material and the silicon, to ensure that the two bonded solidly. Tests have shown that the process this team developed has solved that challenge, Buonassisi says. While the team used one specific polymer for the coating, the process could be replicated using other organic materials.
The research was supported by the Italian energy company Eni S.p.A., under the Eni-MIT Alliance Solar Frontiers Program.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The original article was written by David L. Chandler.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Rong Yang, Tonio Buonassisi, Karen K. Gleason. Organic Vapor Passivation of Silicon at Room Temperature. Advanced Materials, 2013; DOI: 10.1002/adma.201204382
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Environmental advocates filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against a small town in Broome County, N.Y., whose board of supervisors has blocked discussion of fracking at public meetings.
The Natural Resources Defense Council and Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy argue that the board of the town of Sanford violated citizens? right to free speech when it voted unanimously last September to block any further discussion of the controversial natural gas extraction technique during the public comment sections of town board meetings. (See the video above.)
?This resolution unlawfully bars plaintiffs? members from speaking at Town Board meetings about a matter of substantial public interest that has generated significant political activity,? the suit, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, states. It asks the court to declare the ban unconstitutional and to prevent the board from enforcing its vote.
Sanford, with a population of about 2,400, sits atop a section of the gas-rich Marcellus Shale that extends across the border into Pennsylvania.
While New York State officials deliberate over whether to lift a statewide moratorium on fracking for natural gas, some communities, including Sanford, have leased substantial amounts of land to gas companies in anticipation that the ban will be lifted. Some residents have fought moves to allow fracking in the area.
Kate Sinding, a lawyer with the resoruce defense council, said that to her knowledge, no other town in New York state had formally acted to cut off discussion of fracking. ?I believe it?s a unique situation,? she said.
According to the lawsuit, the town leased land to XTO Energy 2008 and later issued a permit allowing the company to use a road to enable it to withdraw water for use in natural gas extraction. Sanford?s town board also approved a resolution calling on the New York Legislature to ?stand aside? in the fracking debate and allow state officials to issue permits allowing fracking, the suit noted.
The township supervisor, Dewey Decker, did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Around two-thirds of the land in the town has been leased to the gas industry, according to Melissa Bishop, a resident who opposes fracking and the town?s vote to stop discussion on the subject. She accused the board of failing to allow the democratic process to unfold on matters of public interest.
?It?s outrageous,? Ms. Bishop said in an interview. ?They really didn?t think it was necessary for public input to be part of their job.?
Ms. Bishop, 63, said she retired to Sanford because of its natural beauty and that she feared that its character would be destroyed if the gas industry is permitted to begin operations there. ?Fracking threatens to destroy everything that is good and beautiful about this area,? she said.
Critics say that horizontal hydraulic fracturing, which involves injecting vast amounts of water and chemicals into underground shale formations to release natural gas, risks contaminating groundwater and surface water.
The industry counters that there is no evidence that fracking contaminates water. It also points out that the technology has led to a boom in production that generates jobs and that has reduced reliance on coal, a dirtier fuel that produces more carbon dioxide emissions.
Viacom-owned kids network Nickelodeon is launching a branded TV Everywhere iPad app.
By Cory Hopkins
As a church?the challenge has been set before us to memorize a chapter in the book of James?are you up for it?? I?took on?chapter 5?if you choose that chapter, start in the middle and work backwards.? The first?few verses are a tongue twister and it?s discouraging!? It?s easier to get some success under your belt and then tackle the rest.? Here?s a good life lesson: do hard things.??it?s worth the work!? The easy way will probably not help you to?grow and become all that God has for you!? P.S.? Our Kid?s pastors are encouraging all the?K-5th graders to memorize James 1.? I?m pretty confident that the kids will be amazing at?it!!!
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 15-Feb-2013
Share ]