Faith overtones in Occupy protests but leaders wary (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) ? Religions condemn greed. The "Occupy Wall Street" protests around the world condemn greed. So theoretically, religious leaders should find common ground with the rallies denouncing the inequalities of capitalism.

Some activist clergy have turned up at protest camps. Not long after Occupy Wall Street began in New York, some Christians arrived in Zuccotti Park with papier-mache statues of a golden calf, a Biblical symbol of idol worship.

But the hierarchies have kept their distance - or tried to - even though the protests have religious overtones with appeals to equality, charity and justice. When protesters camped at St Paul's Cathedral in London, its Church of England staff found itself torn between God and Mammon.

In the United States, Roman Catholic bishops are meeting this week without economic inequality on their agenda. The Jewish Week newspaper called the Occupy movement a "new third rail for the Jewish mainstream".

Some imams have joined the protests to speak about the advantages of Islamic finance, which bans interest and focuses on investing in the real economy. But the movement has not been a central issue for most large Muslim organizations.

Katherine Clark, from the Interfaith Center of New York, said people from many faiths supported the movement but "the denominations most active with the interfaith service we have been organizing are progressive Protestants."

An activist rabbi, who asked not to be named, said Jewish groups were mostly silent because the movement was undefined and had no detailed program. "It is too inchoate," he said.

ANGLICANS CHALLENGED

The diffuse nature of the protests, which have no central leadership or agreed list of demands, make them a difficult partner for established religion even if they seem to share some basic values.

The Church of England found that out the hard way when Occupy protesters camped in front of St Paul's Cathedral when they could not pitch tents closer to the London Stock Exchange.

The cathedral, closely linked to the financial community, shut its doors and considered clearing out the protesters.

The debate led two leading clerics to quit and prompted several Anglican bishops and other Christian denominations to criticize the cathedral for not showing more support.

"Church denominations very rarely criticize another church at all, let alone publicly," said Jonathan Bartley, co-director of the theological think tank Ekklesia in London.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, head of the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion, stepped in on the protesters' side and said Vatican proposals for sweeping reforms to the world economic system offered possible options.

After that, a think tank linked to St Paul's published a poll of London City workers showing most felt the gap between rich and poor was too wide in Britain and pay in the financial industry too high.

Despite this unusual support, Church leaders do not tend to be as anti-capitalist as the protesters, said Bartley. The majority think "capitalism is not just neutral but good because it generates wealth, but we need a nicer version of it," he added.

One of the few other churches to side with the protests was the Episcopal Church, the main Anglican denomination in the United States. Its Executive Council said on Oct 23 that the protest movement "bears faithful witness in the tradition of Jesus to the sinful inequities in society."

CATHOLICS, JEWS AND A HINDU MONK

The Vatican seemed to back the protests the next day when its Justice and Peace department said the financial crisis had exposed "selfishness, collective greed and hoarding of goods on a great scale" and condemned "the idolatry of the market".

It called for a global authority and a tax on financial transactions to promote ethical business practices and foster "an ethic of solidarity" between rich and poor countries.

While it won applause from more liberal Christians, the document upset conservative Catholics who stressed it did not come from Pope Benedict and questioned why it was issued.

Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Justice and Peace department, defended it as part of a long tradition of progressive social teaching in the Catholic Church. "We're just doing our job," he said.

He noted that Pope Benedict had made similar suggestions in his encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Love in Truth) in 2009.

Small groups of activist rabbis in New York and London have also supported the protests and some Jews have held religious services at Zuccotti Park. But Clark, who organizes interfaith services at the park, said Jewish leaders told her "they don't yet have a community stance on the OWS movement."

Media attention there has focused on charges from conservatives that the protesters were anti-Semitic, an allegation more liberal Jews have rejected as a smear.

Jewish Week said some activists thought some rabbis were wary of offending donors on Wall Street but it could not find evidence of any donors threatening to cut off funds.

Rasanath Das, a former investment banker who quit Wall Street in 2008 to become a Hindu monk, said he led meditation sessions at Zuccotti Park to help raise consciousness about the greed he says drives the financial industry.

He said more financial regulation might help, but as a practitioner of karma yoga -- the Hindu path of selfless service to the divine - he thought only a long-term change in human consciousness could solve the crisis.

"I keep my expectations low but at the same time I keep my enthusiasm high," the Mumbai-born monk said. "I've met so many people who want to make a change. To me, that's very inspiring."

(Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111115/ts_nm/us_protest_occupy_religion

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January trial sought for Golden Globes dispute (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? The organizers of the Golden Globe Awards are asking a federal judge to begin a trial to decide who owns the show's broadcast rights in early January when final preparations for the glitzy gala will be under way.

The request by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for a trial during the first week of January is opposed by the show's longtime producer, dick clark productions. In court filings, attorneys for the producer say holding the trial in early January will disrupt the Jan. 15 broadcast of the 2012 awards ceremony by NBC.

The association argues in a court filing Monday that the case needs to be resolved to remove any uncertainty about the broadcast future of the show, which honors top Hollywood stars from movies and television.

"Delay may mean that potential networks will fill their broadcasting slates, the overall market may depress further, and HFPA will suffer incalculable injury," the association's attorneys wrote.

The producer's attorneys, however, argue the upcoming show will suffer if the trial begins in January.

"A trial that commences only one week before the show is scheduled to air, and that would be ongoing on the actual air date, can be expected to negatively impact the show by focusing attention away from the awards ceremony and towards the parties' dispute," attorneys for dick clark productions wrote.

A conference with the judge who will hear the case is scheduled for Nov. 30, but he has already told both sides that a January trial will be difficult to coordinate because of other cases he is hearing.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association sued dick clark productions in November 2010 after the company negotiated an extension with NBC to broadcast the show until 2018.

The journalists' group argued the producers overstepped their authority and are asking a judge to invalidate the deal so they can negotiate with other networks.

The production company, however, claims it has rights to stage the Globes as long as the show airs on NBC, and that it was granted those rights "in perpetuity" because it restored the show's prominence after it was knocked from airwaves by a scandal in the early 1980s.

The Globes are one of Hollywood's highest-profile awards shows, attracting A-listers from television and movies for a gala that sometimes helps stars build momentum during Hollywood's awards season, which culminates with the Oscars.

Tens of millions of dollars are at stake for both sides.

A trial to settle the broadcast dispute had been scheduled for September but was abruptly canceled by a federal judge who said she could no longer hear the case. The two sides agreed to allow dick clark productions to work on the 2012 show, but settlement talks have been unsuccessful so far.

___

McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111115/ap_en_ot/us_golden_globes_lawsuit

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5 killer features on the Kindle Fire that you won?t find on the iPad (Yahoo! News)

Amazon's new tablet has more than a few tricks up its sleeve

Tuesday, Amazon will untie the bow on its long-anticipated iPad competitor, the?Kindle Fire. While no company to date has been able to make so much as a dent in Apple's iron grip on the tablet market, Amazon isn't your everyday manufacturer, and the Kindle Fire isn't your average tablet. Unlike Motorola, Samsung, HTC and every other major company to rush an iPad clone onto store shelves, Amazon took its time ? and perhaps most importantly, it opted to rethink what consumers might really need in a tablet, playing to the iPad's few weaknesses. Instead of rehashing the winning appeal of Apple's wonder slate, Amazon took its winning e-reader formula and applied it to a more tablet-like device. So what does the Amazon Kindle Fire have to offer that the ubiquitous iPad doesn't? Read on ? you might be surprised.

1. Unbeatable price
If Apple knows how to build a gadget to make it irresistible, Amazon knows how to price one. The iPad's universal appeal is no secret, but its starting price of $499 still leaves budget-minded buyers in the lurch. That's quite a chunk of change to throw down for what many consumers are sure to consider something of an experiment in computing ? and Amazon is well aware of that. At an astoundingly low $199, the Fire is less than half of the price of the?iPad 2, but that doesn't mean it's a sacrifice. From e-reading to casual gaming, the tablet has the computing chops to execute most common tablet computing activities with grace, all for a fraction of the iPad's price.

2. 7" screen size
The iPad created the mold when it comes to tablets, but the Kindle Fire might just break that in more ways than one ? literally. While we've come to accept 10" as the standard screen size for a slate device, that might just be because most iPad copycats mimic the iPad's good looks ? and its size. With the Kindle Fire, Amazon wants to prove that a 7" screen isn't too small ? and in fact, in terms of portability and keeping the price down, it might just be an advantage. The newest member of the Kindle family is lighter too ? at less than a pound (14.6 ounces), it's more portable than even the super svelte iPad 2. According to Amazon, the Kindle Fire is "small enough to fit in your purse and light enough to hold in just one hand" ? a distinction that makes a big difference, especially when it comes to e-reading.

The Kindle Fire has a lot to offer

3. Amazon?behind the wheel
Amazon is its own biggest asset. Apple boasts a wealth of software and hardware intended to work together seamlessly on its devices, but as the world's biggest online retailer, Amazon's got a whole wealth of resources right at its fingertips...and right at yours. The Kindle Fire is a clever little portal into Amazon's realm of online shopping, both for digital content and the kind of stuff you'd order and watch show up in the mail. And thanks to a heavily customized Android user interface, the Fire has Amazon's own app store, music, books, and marketplace front and center ? a boon if you're already plugged into the retailer's sprawling virtual empire.

Beyond its more tangible features, Amazon is a huge advantage for the Kindle Fire in terms of brand recognition. There are more Android tablets out there than you can shake a stick at these days, but Amazon's Kindle brand is a name consumers know and trust; the Kindle's success to date will tell you that much. While the Fire is built on top of Android, it's Amazon through and through ? and that's a good thing.

4. Unlimited cloud storage
Apple may have its iCloud syncing service and iTunes Match out of the gate, but Amazon's got something else sweet on offer. The web retail giant offers free cloud storage for anything you buy through the device, so filling up its 8GB of built-in storage isn't a concern at all. And now that Amazon's deep in the digital content game, that means any books, movies, music, and apps you buy on the Kindle Fire will be stored in the cloud and available for streaming or downloading over wifi. Amazon's cloud will both provide you a safety net should you lose your stored media, and free up your on-board storage for more good stuff.

5. Nonstop streaming
You might be more familiar with Amazon Prime as a speedy way to watch stuff you order online materialize at your doorstep, but the premium service also has a clever tie-in with the new tablet. You'll get a month of free Prime with the purchase of a Kindle Fire, which not only means free two-day shipping for most anything in Amazon's vast virtual catalog, but also unlimited streaming access to 10,000 movies and TV shows, as well as borrowed ebooks through the Kindle Lending Library. If you get hooked, you can subscribe for $79 annually and continue to spoil yourself.

What do you think? Will you be picking up Amazon's new wallet-friendly tablet, are you sticking with the iPad, or are you still not quite sure if you need a tablet at all?

This article originally appeared on Tecca

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20111115/tc_yblog_technews/5-killer-features-on-the-kindle-fire-that-you-wont-find-on-the-ipad

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NIH TRND program announces next round of drug development projects

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 15-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Geoffrey Spencer
spencerg@mail.nih.gov
301-451-8325
NIH/National Human Genome Research Institute

Researchers will begin drug development projects for rare and neglected diseases that include potential treatments for a musculoskeletal disorder, a cognitive dysfunction disorder, a virus that affects the central nervous system of newborns, a parasitic worm infection, a form of muscular dystrophy and a rare lung disease. The six new projects are part of the National Institutes of Health's Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases (TRND) program.

"These projects reinforce NIH's commitment to translational research and the need to accelerate potential new treatments that benefit patients with rare and neglected diseases," said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. "It is wonderful that TRND scientists and their collaborators can advance such promising projects that may have otherwise remained stalled due to a lack of scientific or fiscal resources."

Congress created the TRND program to facilitate the development of new drugs for rare and neglected diseases. TRND bridges the wide gap in expertise and resources that often exists between basic research discoveries and the development and testing of new drugs in human subjects. As it develops new treatments, TRND also conducts research aimed at improving the drug development process. In contrast to conventional drug development efforts, TRND will publish successes and failures so that the broader drug development community can benefit from the work done.

To develop new medicines, TRND establishes partnerships with academic, government, biopharmaceutical and patient advocacy groups. TRND and its collaborators focus on the optimization and pre-clinical development of new drugs, as needed, advancing them from Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigational, new-drug approval to first, in-human clinical trials.

Typically, the success rate for such projects is low, with 80 to 90 percent of projects failing in the pre-clinical phase and never making it to clinical trials. This stage of drug development is called the "Valley of Death."

TRND began five pilot projects to establish the proof-of-principle and operating protocols for the program soon after it was established in 2009. Those projects include potential treatments for the neurodegenerative disease Niemann-Pick type C, the neuromuscular disorder hereditary inclusion body myopathy, the blood disorder sickle cell disease, a rare blood cancer known as chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and the parasitic worm diseases schistosomiasis and hookworm. The chronic lymphocytic leukemia and the sickle cell disease projects have recently received investigational new drug approval from the FDA and are in clinical trials.

Earlier this year, TRND approved its first four drug development projects from its initial solicitation. They focus on potential new treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a degenerative muscle disorder; fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited form of cognitive and developmental disabilities; cryptococcal meningitis, an infectious fungal disease; and core binding factor leukemia, a rare blood and bone marrow cancer.

"TRND selects projects based on their potential to move forward into human trials and transform patient care in diseases for which there is little or no therapy," said Christopher P. Austin, M.D., scientific director of the NIH Center for Translational Therapeutics, which oversees TRND and is administered by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). "While such projects are high-risk, the scientific opportunities and medical needs are compelling. After rigorous scientific review, the new projects were selected to maximize the chance of success and to teach us important generalizable lessons about rare and neglected disease drug development."

The latest TRND projects, approved by the advisory council of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) on behalf of NIH, and the collaborating principal investigators are:

An inhibitor compound for treatment of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva.
Kenneth D. Bloch, M.D., William T. G. Morton Professor of Anesthesia
Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva is a rare inherited disorder where muscle and connective tissue such as tendons and ligaments are gradually replaced by bone. The compound under development has shown efficacy in a mouse disease model.

Novel therapy for treatment of creatine transporter deficiency.
Rick Hawkins, Chief Executive Officer
Lumos Pharma, Inc., Austin, Texas.

Creatine transporter deficiency occurs from a mutation in a creatine transporter gene that prevents the transport of sufficient levels of creatine to the brain and results in cognitive function disorder. The lead compound has been evaluated in mice with creatine transporter deficiency and resulted in improved brain metabolism and cognitive function.

A compound for treatment of neonatal herpes simplex virus.
David W. Kimberlin, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics
The University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Neonatal herpes simplex virus is an infection transmitted from mother to child during childbirth. In preliminary studies, the candidate compound that will be advanced by this group shows anti-herpetic activity and can penetrate the central nervous system. This compound has received longstanding development support by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, including funding of the current clinical trial that will collaborate closely with TRND.

Development of a deuterium-modified compound for treatment of Schistosomiasis.
Julie F. Liu, Ph.D., Director, Research Management
CoNCERT Pharmaceuticals Inc., Lexington, Mass.

Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by parasitic Schistosoma worms that afflicts more than 200 million people worldwide. The disease can cause severe anemia, diarrhea, internal bleeding and/or organ damage. Neglected diseases are conditions that inflict severe health burdens on the world's poorest people. This project aims to produce compounds that retain the positive anti-parasitic effects of the current treatment, praziquantel, which stuns and kills the worms while enabling lower and less frequent doses with potential for improved tolerability. This may allow broader access of a therapeutic to affected patients.

A drug candidate for treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Peter Sazani, Ph.D., Executive Director of Preclinical Development
AVI BioPharma, Bothell, Wash.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is an inherited, rapidly progressive form of muscular dystrophy affecting approximately 1 in 3,500 male births worldwide. This collaboration aims to develop a compound that would treat a sub-group of patients with a specific mutation responsible for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The team will also investigate the general utility of this innovative treatment platform technology.

A pharmacological therapy for treatment of autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis.
Bruce C. Trapnell, M.D., Francis R. Luther Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center-Research Foundation, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis is a rare lung disease characterized by the build-up of a grainy material in the air sacs of the lungs that causes breathing difficulties and can result in respiratory failure in rare cases. The protein therapeutic that is the subject of this collaboration will be developed as an inhaled therapy.

TRND has established data-driven milestones for each project to track progress and allow projects which do not achieve milestones in the established timeframe to be terminated, thus allowing other promising candidates to enter the program. A project would be terminated, for example, if the new treatment fails to show effectiveness in animal models, demonstrates toxicity in preclinical testing, or is found not to have the needed bioavailability, the amount of drug absorbed by the body.

"The goal of TRND is to work closely with project partners to achieve scientific milestones that we hope will produce badly needed treatments for underserved patient populations." said NHGRI's John McKew Ph.D., chief of NCTT's Therapeutic Development Branch and director of TRND.

Under TRND's collaborative operational model, project partners do not receive grants. Instead, the partners form joint project teams with TRND and receive in-kind support from TRND drug development scientists, laboratory and contract resources.

The potential treatments are developed and modified as needed to take them through the many steps of the preclinical development process. For projects which fail to progress beyond a milestone and are terminated, efforts will be made to understand the reasons for failure, to improve our understanding of the drug development process and thus improve its efficiency. TRND projects are taken only to the point in development at which they can attract outside funding; beyond this point the partner takes the project through the remainder of clinical development and regulatory approval process.

###

TRND projects are applied for via a solicitation process. The next solicitation will open in the spring of 2012. Updated information about solicitations and project information is available at http://nctt.nih.gov/TRND.

The National Human Genome Research Institute is part of the National Institutes of Health. For more about NHGRI, visit www.genome.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) "The Nation's Medical Research Agency" includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 15-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Geoffrey Spencer
spencerg@mail.nih.gov
301-451-8325
NIH/National Human Genome Research Institute

Researchers will begin drug development projects for rare and neglected diseases that include potential treatments for a musculoskeletal disorder, a cognitive dysfunction disorder, a virus that affects the central nervous system of newborns, a parasitic worm infection, a form of muscular dystrophy and a rare lung disease. The six new projects are part of the National Institutes of Health's Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases (TRND) program.

"These projects reinforce NIH's commitment to translational research and the need to accelerate potential new treatments that benefit patients with rare and neglected diseases," said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. "It is wonderful that TRND scientists and their collaborators can advance such promising projects that may have otherwise remained stalled due to a lack of scientific or fiscal resources."

Congress created the TRND program to facilitate the development of new drugs for rare and neglected diseases. TRND bridges the wide gap in expertise and resources that often exists between basic research discoveries and the development and testing of new drugs in human subjects. As it develops new treatments, TRND also conducts research aimed at improving the drug development process. In contrast to conventional drug development efforts, TRND will publish successes and failures so that the broader drug development community can benefit from the work done.

To develop new medicines, TRND establishes partnerships with academic, government, biopharmaceutical and patient advocacy groups. TRND and its collaborators focus on the optimization and pre-clinical development of new drugs, as needed, advancing them from Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigational, new-drug approval to first, in-human clinical trials.

Typically, the success rate for such projects is low, with 80 to 90 percent of projects failing in the pre-clinical phase and never making it to clinical trials. This stage of drug development is called the "Valley of Death."

TRND began five pilot projects to establish the proof-of-principle and operating protocols for the program soon after it was established in 2009. Those projects include potential treatments for the neurodegenerative disease Niemann-Pick type C, the neuromuscular disorder hereditary inclusion body myopathy, the blood disorder sickle cell disease, a rare blood cancer known as chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and the parasitic worm diseases schistosomiasis and hookworm. The chronic lymphocytic leukemia and the sickle cell disease projects have recently received investigational new drug approval from the FDA and are in clinical trials.

Earlier this year, TRND approved its first four drug development projects from its initial solicitation. They focus on potential new treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a degenerative muscle disorder; fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited form of cognitive and developmental disabilities; cryptococcal meningitis, an infectious fungal disease; and core binding factor leukemia, a rare blood and bone marrow cancer.

"TRND selects projects based on their potential to move forward into human trials and transform patient care in diseases for which there is little or no therapy," said Christopher P. Austin, M.D., scientific director of the NIH Center for Translational Therapeutics, which oversees TRND and is administered by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). "While such projects are high-risk, the scientific opportunities and medical needs are compelling. After rigorous scientific review, the new projects were selected to maximize the chance of success and to teach us important generalizable lessons about rare and neglected disease drug development."

The latest TRND projects, approved by the advisory council of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) on behalf of NIH, and the collaborating principal investigators are:

An inhibitor compound for treatment of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva.
Kenneth D. Bloch, M.D., William T. G. Morton Professor of Anesthesia
Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva is a rare inherited disorder where muscle and connective tissue such as tendons and ligaments are gradually replaced by bone. The compound under development has shown efficacy in a mouse disease model.

Novel therapy for treatment of creatine transporter deficiency.
Rick Hawkins, Chief Executive Officer
Lumos Pharma, Inc., Austin, Texas.

Creatine transporter deficiency occurs from a mutation in a creatine transporter gene that prevents the transport of sufficient levels of creatine to the brain and results in cognitive function disorder. The lead compound has been evaluated in mice with creatine transporter deficiency and resulted in improved brain metabolism and cognitive function.

A compound for treatment of neonatal herpes simplex virus.
David W. Kimberlin, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics
The University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Neonatal herpes simplex virus is an infection transmitted from mother to child during childbirth. In preliminary studies, the candidate compound that will be advanced by this group shows anti-herpetic activity and can penetrate the central nervous system. This compound has received longstanding development support by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, including funding of the current clinical trial that will collaborate closely with TRND.

Development of a deuterium-modified compound for treatment of Schistosomiasis.
Julie F. Liu, Ph.D., Director, Research Management
CoNCERT Pharmaceuticals Inc., Lexington, Mass.

Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by parasitic Schistosoma worms that afflicts more than 200 million people worldwide. The disease can cause severe anemia, diarrhea, internal bleeding and/or organ damage. Neglected diseases are conditions that inflict severe health burdens on the world's poorest people. This project aims to produce compounds that retain the positive anti-parasitic effects of the current treatment, praziquantel, which stuns and kills the worms while enabling lower and less frequent doses with potential for improved tolerability. This may allow broader access of a therapeutic to affected patients.

A drug candidate for treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Peter Sazani, Ph.D., Executive Director of Preclinical Development
AVI BioPharma, Bothell, Wash.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is an inherited, rapidly progressive form of muscular dystrophy affecting approximately 1 in 3,500 male births worldwide. This collaboration aims to develop a compound that would treat a sub-group of patients with a specific mutation responsible for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The team will also investigate the general utility of this innovative treatment platform technology.

A pharmacological therapy for treatment of autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis.
Bruce C. Trapnell, M.D., Francis R. Luther Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center-Research Foundation, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis is a rare lung disease characterized by the build-up of a grainy material in the air sacs of the lungs that causes breathing difficulties and can result in respiratory failure in rare cases. The protein therapeutic that is the subject of this collaboration will be developed as an inhaled therapy.

TRND has established data-driven milestones for each project to track progress and allow projects which do not achieve milestones in the established timeframe to be terminated, thus allowing other promising candidates to enter the program. A project would be terminated, for example, if the new treatment fails to show effectiveness in animal models, demonstrates toxicity in preclinical testing, or is found not to have the needed bioavailability, the amount of drug absorbed by the body.

"The goal of TRND is to work closely with project partners to achieve scientific milestones that we hope will produce badly needed treatments for underserved patient populations." said NHGRI's John McKew Ph.D., chief of NCTT's Therapeutic Development Branch and director of TRND.

Under TRND's collaborative operational model, project partners do not receive grants. Instead, the partners form joint project teams with TRND and receive in-kind support from TRND drug development scientists, laboratory and contract resources.

The potential treatments are developed and modified as needed to take them through the many steps of the preclinical development process. For projects which fail to progress beyond a milestone and are terminated, efforts will be made to understand the reasons for failure, to improve our understanding of the drug development process and thus improve its efficiency. TRND projects are taken only to the point in development at which they can attract outside funding; beyond this point the partner takes the project through the remainder of clinical development and regulatory approval process.

###

TRND projects are applied for via a solicitation process. The next solicitation will open in the spring of 2012. Updated information about solicitations and project information is available at http://nctt.nih.gov/TRND.

The National Human Genome Research Institute is part of the National Institutes of Health. For more about NHGRI, visit www.genome.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) "The Nation's Medical Research Agency" includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/nhgr-ntp111411.php

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Yemen's Saleh says ready to step down in 90 days (Reuters)

SANAA (Reuters) ? Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said on Monday he was ready to step down within 90 days of reaching a deal on a formal process for implementing a Gulf initiative aimed at ending the nine-month-old crisis in his country.

Saleh, who has so far refused to sign the accord proposed by the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council in April, told France's Channel 24 television in an interview that he had given his deputy, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, authority to negotiate a deal with the opposition.

Asked when he would leave office, Saleh said: "When an agreement on the Gulf initiative is reached, and when it is signed, and (it is agreed) on the operational mechanism and when elections are held, the president will leave."

Asked if there was a time frame for his departure, he said: "It is defined. It is within 90 days (of an agreement)."

"I have 33 years of experience in power and I know the difficulties, I know the negatives and positives. The one who clings to power is mad," he said.

An opposition official said on Sunday that Saleh was trying to thwart a mission by U.N. envoy Jamal Benomar to implement the U.N.-backed Gulf initiative, by insisting on staying in office until new elections are held.

"Saleh wants to preserve all his powers until the election of a new president and that is rejected by the opposition and because of this the U.N. envoy's mission is going to fail," said the official, who declined to be identified.

Benomar urged all Yemeni factions on Monday to reach an agreement "to save the Yemeni people from the sufferings of the current crisis," the Yemeni Defense Ministry's website said.

"I am in nearly daily contact with all political sides in Yemen and efforts are continuing to reach a peaceful end to the crisis," he added.

Under an "operational mechanism" proposed by Benomar, Saleh would step down immediately, triggering the formation of a national unity government ahead of early presidential elections. A body would be set up to restructure the armed forces.

Saleh said he had no objection to restructuring the armed forces, which split after the protests against his rule began in February. "Restructuring the army, I have no problem with that. The army belongs to the homeland and is not a personal property," he said.

Saleh also slammed the Arab Spring protests, calling the demonstrations "Arab anarchy."

He said support for these protests had come from a "small and weightless state" -- an apparent reference to Qatar, a wealthy Gulf Arab state and home to the Al Jazeera satellite TV channel, which gave sympathetic coverage to the Arab Spring uprisings, particularly those in Libya and Syria.

(Reporting by Sami Aboudi in Dubai and Mohammed Ghobari in Sanaa; editing by Tim Pearce)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111114/wl_nm/us_yemen_saleh

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Facebook for iPhone bugs: Pictures showing up wrong

On the current version of Facebook for iPhone and iPad, whenever I tap on a picture someone uploaded, it either brings up a totally different picture, or when I flip over to comments, they don’t match the comments that go with that specific picture. It’s incredibly annoying if you...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/V1yGTgQ8Bz0/story01.htm

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PFT: Falcons back Smith's 4th-down gamble

New York Giants v San Francisco 49ersGetty Images

Through 10 Sundays, the two conferences couldn?t be any more different.? The best teams in the NFC are obvious; in the AFC, the proposition changes on a weekly basis.

So let?s take the current temperature of the entire league by looking at the 10 story lines that caught our attention on Sunday.

Or at least the ones that caught my attention.

1.? Jim Harbaugh needs to teach John a thing or two.

It?s impossible to know whether the 49ers would have won their third through ninth games if they hadn?t lost to the Cowboys in Week Two.? Safety Donte Whitner recently pointed to the blown lead against Dallas as the biggest moment of the year for the Niners, propelling them to their string of seven straight wins, and counting.

Along the way, the 49ers have had plenty of chances to lay something other than a golden egg.? But stubbornly obsessive head coach Jim Harbaugh won?t let his team have a letdown.

And John Harbaugh would be smart to ask his brother how in the heck he does it.

John?s Ravens follow big wins with flat performances, losing winnable games after signature victories.? Beat the Steelers?? Lose in Nashville.? Beat the Texans?? Lose in Jacksonville.? Beat the Steelers again?? Lose in Seattle, um, ville.

Though I?ve previously blamed the inability to avoid playing down to the level of the competition on linebacker Ray Lewis, given that he?s the guy who has assumed the responsibility for ensuring that the dogs are indeed in the house, the head coach is responsible for finding ways to get grown men to take care of their business.

Yes, the Seahawks are hard to beat at home.? But when Jim Harbaugh goes there on Christmas Eve, a week after facing (and perhaps beating) the Steelers, he?ll likely make the locals feel like the unsuspecting residents of Whoville.

2.? Despite down year, DeSean?s absence hurt the Eagles.

Some Philly fans likely shrugged at the decision to deactivate receiver DeSean Jackson.? Since he?s having a down year and given that he primarily runs one route (i.e., deep), the Eagles had the weapons to win without him.

They didn?t.

After the game, running back LeSean McCoy confirmed that the Eagles missed DeSean.? ?With the type of player he is, he plays a big role for this offense,? McCoy said, via comments distributed by the team.? ?Any player that says we didn?t miss him is not being honest.?

Quarterback Mike Vick agreed.? ?Anytime you [don't] have one of your premier players, one of your go-to guys, it does, yeah it does,? Vick said, via comments distributed by the team.? ?But we have to respect the decisions that are made.? We wish it never had to come to that, but it is what it is and you still have to go out and win the football game.?

Per a league source, Vick privately expressed after the game that his 128-yard passing effort resulted from an inability to find a rhythm early.? So can any of that be blamed on the absence of Jackson, given that he wasn?t exactly having a Pro Bowl season?

To quote one of the most famous residents of Philadelphia, ?Absolutely.?

In the West Coast offense, a receiver who can run fast in a straight line and pull both a corner and a safety deep helps open up the various underneath routes for guys like Jeremy Maclin, Brent Celek, Jason Avant, and Riley Cooper.? Even if Jackson doesn?t catch a single pass, his presence helps fuel the overall passing game by creating passing lanes for his teammate, and for his quarterback.

What else can explain the curious career of Todd Stinkston?

For DeSean and the Eagles, the long-term relationship took a major hit on Sunday based not on what he would have done with the ball in his hand, but based on what his presence would have meant for the ability of his teammates to get the ball into theirs.

3.? Schedule makers stick it to the Jets.

This year?s Thursday night schedule omits a quirk that had worked to the disadvantage of past teams operating on a short week.? In the past, road teams in a Thursday nighter sometimes played a road game the preceding Sunday, requiring them to travel home and then travel to another city between the end of the Sunday game and the start of the Thursday contest.

This year, every Thursday road team will have played at home the prior Sunday.? (Ideally, every home team on a Thursday would play on the road the prior Sunday, balancing out the time lost to travel on a short week.? But we?ll fight our windmills one at a time.)? The Jets, for example, played at home in Week 10 before going to Denver on Thursday night to kick off Week 11.

But the Jets still got shafted by the league office.

By playing a Sunday night game that ended close to midnight in New York, the Jets have eight hours less to recover and refocus than they would have had if the game had begun at 1:00 p.m. ET.? Though it may not seem like much, every minute counts when there are only 92 hours between the end of one game and the start of another.

Though the flexing dynamic can?t completely erase this possibility, Sunday night games should be scheduled with sensitivity to the Thursday night schedule, and decisions to slide games to Sunday night should take into account whether either of the teams in the late Sunday game will have to hit the road for another one only four days later.

4.? Deja vu for Kolb.

Last year, a concussion for Kevin Kolb in Week One opened the door for Mike Vick in Philly.? Though Kolb was assured by coach Andy Reid that Vick wouldn?t keep the job, Reid thereafter decided to stick with the hot hand ? which eventually resulted in the Eagles giving Kolb the cold shoulder.

Now that he?s the quarterback of the present and future (supposedly) in Arizona, another injury has allowed another quarterback to go on another hot streak, and it could be another long year on the bench for Kolb.

Peter King of Sports Illustrated said during Sunday?s edition of Football Night in America that John Skelton will get at least another start, as the Cardinals try to topple the 8-1 49ers.? While it may be difficult if not impossible for Skelton?s redbirds to beat San Fran at Candlestick Park, the fact that Skelton has led the Cards to a 2-0 record after a 1-6 start under Kolb can?t be disregarded.

The key figure in all of this could be receiver Larry Fitzgerald.? Though the trade for Kolb surely helped Fitz decide to sign a long-term deal in lieu of hitting the market in 2012 (the Cardinals had no ability under his prior contract to use any tags to hold him in place), it hadn?t been clicking for Kolb and Fitzgerald, prompting Fitzgerald to recently complain about the absence of a high-end receiver who could absorb some of the attention.

On Sunday, operating against a defense that features Nnamdi Asomugha, Asante Samuel, and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Fitzgerald had seven catches for 146 yards and two touchdowns.? (He arguably had a third score late in the game, but coach Ken Whisenhunt opted not to challenge the ruling that Fitzgerald was touched before sliding across the goal line.)

Though it?s not Fitz?s style to make power plays, the powers-that-be in Arizona are smart enough to know that keeping their key player happy is one of the team?s top priorities.? And if Skelton, despite throwing more than a few ugly passes that looked more like volleyball serves, can deliver victory and energize Fitzgerald, Kolb will get extra time to recover from a stubborn case of turf toe.

In fact, team doctors may give the front of the foot an extra twist or two every time they examine it.

5.? Mike Smith makes a contract extension decision.

Some agree with the decision by Falcons coach Mike Smith to roll the dice on fourth and short from his own 29 in overtime.? Some don?t.? Regardless of whether Smith is compared to the genius Bill Belichick circa 2009 or the jester Barry Switzer circa 1995, the move took a lot of guts.? (Actually, Switzer had the last laugh in 1995; the Cowboys rebounded from that blown game against the Eagles to win the Super Bowl.)

It took the kind of guts that become much easier to muster when a guy has received a contract extension.

And that?s likely one of the reasons why Smith felt sufficiently comfortable to do it.? Signed to a new three-year extension in February, Smith has the kind of security that lets him take the kind of chances that would be hard for a lame duck to take.

Maybe Smith would have done the same thing if he was seven games from becoming a coaching free agent.? The point for now is that a guy who believes the front office believes in him will be more likely to take a big risk.

That said, Smith now has to persuade the locker room that he opted not to punt not because he lacks belief in his defense, especially since Smith explained after the game that the move was motivated by a fear that the Saints would put together a game-winning drive on its next possession.? Though that can be regarded as respect for the New Orleans offense, it also could be viewed as a diss of the Dirty Birds? D.

6.? Glimmer of hope for Tebow.

Lost in the laughable stat line for the Broncos (55 runs, eight passes) is the significance of the 56-yard, on-the-money touchdown pass from quarterback Tim Tebow to receiver Eric Decker.

Apart from Tebow showing uncharacteristic, based on past performances, accuracy on the throw, Tebow delivered the ball without his characteristic catapult-style throwing motion.? The ball come out high and tight and it showed that the thousands of reps spent trying to reverse his muscle memory could be starting to work.? Though it doesn?t mean he?ll never revert to that looping Leftwich launcher, it?s a sign that, in time, Tebow has the potential to become a better passer.

And if he can become a better passer, he?ll become an unprecedented run-pass threat.

7.? Reid still needs to fear getting fired.

Three years ago, with his back pressed firmly against the wall following a dreadful performance in Baltimore that included the benching of Donovan McNabb, Eagles coach Andy Reid got it together on a short week, blasting the Cardinals on Thanksgiving night, 48-20.

With the Cardinals back in town after another sluggish, postseason-jeopardizing performance by the Eagles, the table was set for Reid to lead another late climb out of an unexpected hole.? Indeed, as the Giants faced the prospect of losing in San Fran (and the Giants did), a win would have given the Eagles a chance next Sunday night to close the NFC East gap down to one game.

In the days before what became a deflating defeat, a report surfaced that Reid basically will remain the head coach of the Eagles for as long as he wants to remain the head coach of the Eagles.

But is that really the smart approach?? Though it?s always wise to consider whether a new coach would make the situation better or worse, every football coach needs to fear the ultimate accountability that comes from chronic failure.

Without any real danger of being fired, Reid can continue to repeat the same old sound bites after every loss.

?[T]he way this team played is my responsibility,? Reid said Sunday.? ?We have to make sure we get it corrected.?

But what if it doesn?t?? There?s no ?or else? if owner Jeffrey Lurie isn?t willing to hold Reid responsible for failing to ever ?get it corrected.?

And since there?s no way to hold Lurie responsible for failing to address the fact that his head coach is failing to correct the team?s problems, Eagles fans simply have to deal with it.

Unless Eagles fans are willing to cast their vote of no-confidence by closing their wallets and turning off their televisions.

8.? Niners may not want the top seed.

With the 49ers knocking down every opponent placed in front of them, but for Week Two against the Cowboys, a slip-up by the 8-0 Packers could open the door for Jim Harbaugh?s team to twist the road to the Super Bowl through San Francisco.

But do the 49ers really want to be the top seed?

Though Harbaugh will never entertain the possibility that anything good could come from aiming for anything less than the best possible outcome to the regular season, the 49ers match up better with the Packers in the elements.? With Green Bay relying on a finesse passing game and with the 49ers cobbling together the championship formula of running the ball and stopping the run, facing the defending champs on frozen tundra makes more sense than playing them on the relatively pristine playing surface in the home stadium where Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers dreamed of playing as a boy.

Plus, it?ll be easier for Harbaugh to weld a chip to his players? shoulders if they enter Lambeau Field as the clear underdogs, and it?ll be far more memorable if the renewal of the playoff rivalry features an ?Owens!? Owens!? He caught it!? He caught it!? moment on Green Bay?s home turf.

9.? It doesn?t take many dots to connect Jon Gruden to D.C.

It?s impossible to know whether Redskins coach Mike Shanahan is in trouble without having access to the thought processes of owner Daniel Snyder.? But we?ve seen the manifestations of his mind in the past, with no coach other than Joe Gibbs lasting more than two seasons during Snyder?s time as owner ? and with Snyder pursuing Shanahan for nearly a year behind the back of former head coach Jim Zorn.

So it?s more than fair to wonder what Snyder may be doing behind Shanahan?s back as Shanahan approaches the non-Gibbs witching hour for Redskins head coaches with a 3-6 record and five straight losses.

If Snyder has fallen out of love with Shanahan, Snyder could be turning his attention to Jon Gruden.? With G.M. Bruce Allen having worked directly with Gruden both in Oakland and in Tampa, Snyder has direct access to a guy who knows what makes Gruden tick.

Given that Gruden won a Super Bowl with a quarterback that the Redskins discarded, Snyder easily could talk himself into thinking that Gruden?s single Lombardi with Brad Johnson carries greater weight than Shanahan?s back-to-back rides on the coattails of John Elway.

Throw in the fact that Philly fans will be clamoring for the Eagles to bring Gruden back to town for an assignment one level higher than offensive coordinator, and Snyder may decide that if he?s ever going to get Gruden, the time to move is now.

Either way, Shanahan has to be wondering if Snyder is currently doing what Snyder was doing when wooing Shanahan.

10.? Pay the man, Houston edition.

We?ve heard plenty this year about guys who want new contracts.? In Houston, we?re not hearing much about a guy who?ll be a restricted free agent after the season.

A year after leading the league in rushing only a year after joining the Texans as an undrafted free agent, and only two months after it appeared that a hamstring injury would relegate him to one-hit wonder status, Arian Foster looks every bit as good as he was last season.? Despite missing two games, he has 740 yards rushing, and 445 yards receiving.

He?s doing it all while getting paid the minimum salary for a third-year player.

Likely motivated by a keen awareness of the fungible nature of running backs, Foster didn?t hold out despite being an exclusive-rights free agent, which means that even though he couldn?t have signed with another team, he could have stayed away without being subject to fines or other penalties for violating his contract.

Unlike Chris Johnson, Foster showed up.? Unlike Peyton Hillis and DeSean Jackson, Foster isn?t pouting or moping or missing meetings or disappearing on a treatment day to get married.? Foster is simply lining up and doing his job, and if the Texans don?t take care of him soon, teammates will begin to wonder whether the organization is unwilling to reward the men who truly deserve it.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/14/falcons-players-stats-back-up-mike-smiths-decision/related/

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Clean energy: Costs rising for California consumers

Clean energy got a boost from a 2006 California law mandating it. But some clean energy projects are so expensive, they'll raise consumers' utility bills for decades.

Dozens of renewable energy plants being built to meet California's tough global warming laws, including a major Spanish-owned solar plant in the Mojave Desert, are so overpriced they will increase consumers' energy bills for decades, according to the independent watchdog arm of the state's s utility regulator.

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California's 2006 landmark climate law has driven demand for solar and wind power and spurred renewable energy development both in-state and in neighboring states. The law seeks to reduce California's release of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020, and the state has set goals to have one-third of its electricity derived from renewable sources by then.

The push for renewable energy has created huge financial incentives for utilities ? including both federal loan guarantees and state?subsidies?? and power companies have rushed to sew up power generation contracts needed to meet California's new, tough standards.

The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday approved a request to build the Abengoa solar thermal project in the vast expanses of the Mojave, despite one commissioner's objections that the project was at least $1.25 billion over market price. When completed, the plant would generate enough power for about 54,000 homes.

Yet the commission's internal consumer advocacy unit, the Division of Ratepayer Advocates, said the deal is one of dozens of overpriced contracts rubber-stamped by the commission in recent years, giving away too much to utilities and hurting consumers.

"We're in good shape for supporting renewables. It's not like we have to take every high-priced contract that comes in the door," said Joe Como, the division's acting director. "In the long run, this harms the state's efforts to achieve greenhouse gas reductions because it will result in unnecessarily higher rates and people are going to get rate shock."

Earlier this year, the watchdog unit estimated that 59 percent of the renewable energy contracts that the commission approved in recent years were above market value, according to the commission's own pricing benchmark for when the contracts were signed. The contracts involved a variety of utilities and developers.

Commission President Michael Peevey, who pushed to approve the Abengoa contract with no modifications, said the Mojave solar plant's benefits could not be measured by cost alone. Peevey said the project would help the state meet its 33 percent mandate by 2020.

The project's decades-old technology ? use of mirrors to capture the sun's heat and power steam turbines to generate electricity ? is still efficient and effective, Peevey said.

"The West Mojave region has been identified as a prime location for renewable energy," Peevey said in the commission's meeting Thursday. "Forcing PG&E and Mojave Solar to modify their signed contract puts in jeopardy Mojave's $1.2 billion (U.S. Department of Energy) loan guarantee."

DOE completed Abengoa's loan guarantee in a rush of approvals before the Sept. 30 deadline for the controversial loan program that has come under scrutiny after the bankruptcy of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, which received a half-billion dollars in federal loans.

Under a power purchase agreement with Abengoa, Northern California's largest utility Pacific Gas & Electric Co. will buy 250 megawatts worth of solar thermal power generated by the Spanish-owned plant over 25 years.

The exact amount PG&E will pay Abengoa and the costs directly passed on to customers remain confidential.

Commission energy staff estimated in 2009 that by 2020 consumers' rates statewide would go up by 28 percent overall. They attributed about one-third of that price hike as being due to renewables being phased in to meet the state's requirements.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/7vO49FztBbY/Clean-energy-Costs-rising-for-California-consumers

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Marchers protest burned cars in NYC Jewish enclave (AP)

NEW YORK ? Peaceful marchers sent a clear message Sunday to vandals who torched cars and scrawled Nazi swastikas in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Brooklyn where Woody Allen was raised: Don't repeat the kind of attacks that once led to the Holocaust.

About 100 Midwood residents joined elected officials for the walk past four public benches from which 16 swastikas had been removed after the pre-dawn attack Friday.

"It was horrible," said Ascher Scheiner, 17, a student at a local yeshiva ? a Jewish religious high school. "My friend woke me up and said he heard a loud explosion."

On Ocean Parkway, three parked cars ? a BMW, a Lexus and a Jaguar ? had been set ablaze. In addition, the letters "KKK" were spray-painted on a van and anti-Semitic messages were scrawled on a sidewalk.

State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a Democrat who represents the area, said authorities told him they believe rags were soaked in gasoline, placed under the cars and lit.

"I've never seen this level of violence here, in my 29 years representing this area," Hikind told The Associated Press. "This goes beyond the pale ? blowing up cars in the middle of the Jewish community."

Hikind, who lives in the neighborhood, then rushed off Sunday to see his 90-year-old mother, an Auschwitz survivor. He said he walks past the benches with her on their way to Sabbath services.

"All I could think about was my mother sitting on a bench with a swastika," he said.

Police made no arrests as of Sunday afternoon. The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating.

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said dozens of empty beer bottles were found at the scene. He said they would be tested for fingerprints and DNA samples.

Police in the 66th Precinct bolstered patrols in the neighborhood ? especially the scene of the attack.

The marchers carried an Israeli flag and were led by Hikind, state Sen. Eric Adams, Rabbi Chaim Gruber, New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel and other community leaders.

"There was a time when vandals used magic markers to express hate; now they're using gasoline," Adams said.

Protesters noted the attack occurred one day after the 73rd anniversary of Kristallnacht in Nazi Germany on Nov. 9-10, 1938, when synagogues were set on fire and the windows of Jewish-owned shops were broken.

"I am the child of a Holocaust survivor, and this makes me uncomfortable," said Judy Pfeffer, 62, a retired city education department employee who lives blocks away. "Even then, it was just vandalism. But it led to the Holocaust."

Sunday's march included about 25 people from the Occupy Wall Street movement in Manhattan, which put out a statement condemning the vandalism.

The mix of people who showed up for the march "shows that we stand together against hatred. And it makes residents here feel better," Hikind said.

Midwood ? a quiet, middle-class neighborhood about 45 minutes by subway from Manhattan ? was predominantly Jewish until new immigrants began arriving in the 1980s from the Caribbean, South America, Eastern Europe and Asia. Allen, the famed filmmaker, grew up in Midwood, as did U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer condemned the vandalism during an unrelated event on Sunday.

"It's disgraceful and they should throw the book at the people who did it," Schumer said. "Sometimes (vandals) think they're pranks, sometimes they're more malicious than that. Either way they cause great harm."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111113/ap_on_re_us/us_cars_torched

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