1 Denture wearers warned about risk of excess zinc intake

Zinc is considered an essential mineral for the human body. However, excess zinc intake can be harmful/toxic.

Now, a new study has asked denture wearers to pay special attention to the amount of zinc they consume.

"If a patient wears dentures, it is essential that he or she follows the instructions and recommended dosages on the product label," said J.A. von Fraunhofer, co-author of the study.

"Many times, patients will overuse the adhesive and, although it happens rarely, they can ingest toxic levels of zinc, with adverse neurologic effects," he added.he optimal use of denture adhesive involves placing a thin film or a series of dots across the denture surface, which will ensure that a patient is not overusing the adhesive.

A single tube should last three to 10 weeks with daily use, although actual usage depends on the number of applications per day.An ill-fitting denture is one reason that a patient could be overusing adhesive," said Academy of General Dentistry spokesperson Manuel A. Cordero.

"With age, your mouth will continue to change as the bone under your denture shrinks or recedes. If the denture doesn't fit correctly, the patient tends to use more adhesive to try to get the denture to stay in place," he said.o maintain a proper fit over time, patients should be evaluated by a dentist every six months.Abusing denture adhesive could cause nausea, stomachache, and mouth irritation," said Cordero.

"Over time, toxic levels of zinc could cause a copper deficiency, which has been linked to neurological damage," he added.he study is published in the March/April 2011 issue of General Dentistry. (ANI)

Could this "new study" be a response/watering down of the following lawsuits?.....

Lawsuits blame denture adhesives for neurological damage

February 15, 2010

A Miami man in his 60s suddenly has trouble walking. A Colorado woman in her 40s starts losing the use of her legs. A Texas woman in her 20s feels tingling, then numbness that starts in her feet and crawls up to her thighs.

All three blame an unlikely suspect: denture adhesives.

A growing number of lawsuits are being filed against the manufacturers of popular products like Super Poligrip and Fixodent, alleging that the zinc in the adhesives is leading to serious neurological problems — and in one case, death. In Miami alone, more than 70 such cases have been filed, and although none is in Tampa Bay area courts, local prosthodontists say their denture-wearing patients are asking how they can protect themselves.

The suits claim that denture adhesive manufacturers GlaxoSmithKline (Super Poligrip) and Procter & Gamble (Fixodent) failed to adequately warn consumers that ingesting the high levels of zinc found in many of their products could be dangerous.

Full Story http://www.tampabay.com/news

0 400 Marines to join Kearsarge near Libya

The Pentagon is sending an additional 400 Marines to join the amphibious assault ship Kearsarge near North Africa in response to the unrest in Libya, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered the Kearsarge and the amphibious transport dock Ponce to move from the U.S. Central Command region into the Mediterranean Sea to provide the capability for evacuation or humanitarian aid.

“We are obviously looking at a lot of options and contingencies,” Gates said Tuesday at a Pentagon briefing.

amphibious assault ship Kearsarge

U.S. military officials are closely tracking the events in Libya, where armed rebels are clashing with military forces loyal to the Arab nation’s longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Gates downplayed the prospect of military action in Libya, noting that there is no clear support from the United Nations or a consensus among U.S. allies.

The Kearsarge deployed in August with an amphibious readiness group with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, but most of those Marines have deployed to Afghanistan. The 400 Marines will be coming from 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested officials were considering imposing a no-fly zone over Libya amid reports that Gadhafi was using his air force to bomb rebels.

“No option is off the table. That, of course, includes a no-fly zone,” Clinton said Monday after diplomatic meetings in Switzerland. “Gadhafi has lost the legitimacy to govern and it is time for him to go without further violence or delay.”

But military officials have downplayed the prospect of a no-fly zone.

Marine Gen. James Mattis, CENTCOM commander, told lawmakers during a previously scheduled hearing Tuesday that a no-fly zone would require a full-scale military operation to destroy the Libyan regime’s air defenses.

“No illusion here — it would be a military operation. It wouldn’t be just telling people not to fly airplanes,” Mattis told the Senate Armed Service Committee.

http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2011/03/military-marines-north-africa-030111w/

0 Fox News Lies About (apart from almost anything they report) "Violent Wisconsin Protests"

Fox News is at it again! Here's a clip form the O'Rielly show with reporter Mike Tobin. They are still lying and deceiving people! You've gotta see this. They spliced in a clip from some place else to make it seem as though there was a rowdy crowd in Madison Wisconsin. Look closely for the palm trees in the background (I have yet to see a palm tree in Madison). UNBELIEVABLE!! FOX NEWS LIES AGAIN!

0 Chaos as Anonymous attacks toilet paper, Sweden, itself

"Why in gods green earth are we attack [sic] a toilet paper company?" asked one Anonymous member this week on an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channel devoted to planning the group's operations.

The target in question was the website of Angel Soft toilet paper, owned by Georgia-Pacific, which is in turn owned by Koch Industries, which is controlled by the two Koch brothers, Charles and David, who have funneled their vast wealth into Tea Party and libertarian causes for years. The site stayed up.

Anonymous doesn't like the Kochs (the group is currently attempting to "Kochblock" them, without much success). Indeed, it doesn't like a lot of people. Anonymous "operations" have proliferated faster than a meme on 4chan, the imageboard from which Anonymous emerged years ago.

Consider the current (partial) list of targets:

Wisconsin's governor (for trying to revoke some collective bargaining rights of public unions) #opwisconsin
The Koch brothers, Koch Industries, and various holdings, especially if toilet-related (Quilted Northern was attacked over the weekend) #opkochblock
Major copyright holders #operationpayback
The Libyan government #oplibya
Bank of America #operationBOA
Egypt #opegypt
Security firm Palantir (a continuation of the #ophbgary work)
Westboro Baptist Church (hit hard after trolling Anonymous mercilessly)
Glenn Beck (though the idea has yet to gain much traction)
The government of Sweden (for prosecuting WikiLeaks' Julian Assange)

The list goes on… and on. But as the targets have spread, the effectiveness of the attacks on them appears to have diminished. Even when much of the Anonymous interest was on #opwisconsin over the weekend, the group's vaunted distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks could only take down right-wing strongholds like Americans for Prosperity, Koch Industries, and Club for Growth for short periods of time. Several targets, including the government of Sweden, appeared impervious.

A strength of Anonymous is the bottom-up nature of its targeting and planning; anyone who wants to start a new op simply starts one and tries to corral enough interest to execute it. But it also makes it hard to focus.

Last year, when unified behind Operation Payback (which targeted copyright holders, then WikiLeaks adversaries), Anonymous took down just about every site it targeted, including the RIAA, MPAA, US Copyright Office, MasterCard, Visa, and Swiss bank PostFinance. Even PayPal was affected enough that it called in the FBI.

This week, Angel Soft's double-ply comfort defeated the now-extremely-distributed denial of service attacks.

Even Anons are getting fed up. "We cannot afford to tackle every opponent that dares to confront us, or to corrupt our numerous societies," says one representative press release. (Such press releases can be authored by anyone and, as such, do not represent anything like an "official" Anonymous viewpoint.)

"Everyday, there are new operations," it continues. "Some even in the same exact topic. For the revolutions happening amongst our eastern brethren, there is an operation for each country. This does NOT help gain support. This does NOT make matters simpler. This will only cause more problems than solve them. Anonymous, we should work to consolidate our tactics."

Full Story:http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news

0 Unmanned spy drones and facial recognition cameras could soon be the norm

Unmanned spy drones, CCTV that recognises faces and cameras in the back of taxis could soon be the norm on the streets of Britain, the Home Office admitted yesterday

Ministers signalled that advances in technology meant there was nothing to stop such controversial surveillance measures becoming commonplace.

The warning came in proposals for a code of practice to better regulate the spread of CCTV amid fears there will be “unchecked proliferation” without it.

Christopher Graham, the Information Commissioner, said last year that Britain is heading towards becoming a surveillance state of unmanned spy drones, GPS tracking of employees and profiling through social networking sites.

Merseyside police drone

He said the relentless march of surveillance had seen snooping techniques "intensify and expand" at such a pace that regulators were struggling to keep up.

The Coalition Government has pledged to row back the surveillance state and restore civil liberties.

Proposals contained in the Protection of Freedoms Bill last month included giving the public the power to take councils to court if they can argue CCTV is being abused or is intrusive.
A consultation on plans for a code of conduct for those using CCTV was published yesterday which will be monitored by a new Security Camera Commissioner.
The document said CCTV is often only of “limited value” to police investigations because images can be poor or cameras badly positioned.
But it added that “modern digital technology is on the cusp of revolutionising the use of CCTV”.
It said features such as powerful zoom, 360 degree vision, facial recognition “are coming closer to being an established part of the CCTV landscape".
“New uses for systems, for example in taxis, are a natural part of industry growth”.
It added that while emerging technology such as remote unmanned airborne vehicles may not currently be widespread, “there is scope for their unchecked proliferation and attendant ricks if they are not considered within any overarching strategy”.

Britain is the one of the most watched countries in the world with more than four million public or privately owned CCTV cameras – one for every 14 people. Police have admitted that, in some cases, only one crime is solved for every 1,000 cameras.
Under the proposed code, police forces and councils who want to set up CCTV systems will have to be open and clear about what they will be used for and why.
West Midlands Police apologised last year over a controversial CCTV scheme which saw more than 200 surveillance cameras installed in two largely Muslim neighbourhoods.
The code may also say how long data, including images from automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, should be retained.
James Brokenshire, the crime prevention minister, said: "CCTV and ANPR systems play a vital role in the prevention and detection of crime.
"However it is important they are used in a way that does not invade law-abiding people's privacy or undermine the public's confidence in them.
"That's why we are establishing this code and that's why we are asking the public what they think should be in it."
Daniel Hamilton, director of campaign group Big Brother Watch, said the move was "a step in the right direction".

0 Student sues FBI for planting GPS on his car

An Egyptian-American college student who says he has never done anything that should raise the attention of U.S. law enforcement officials is suing the FBI for secretly putting a GPS tracking device on his car.

Twenty-year-old Yasir Afifi says a mechanic doing an oil change in October discovered the device stuck under his car with magnets. His friend posted pictures online to see if anyone could identify it. Afifi says two days later, FBI agents showed up outside his apartment in San Jose, California, and demanded their property back.

Afifi's lawsuit filed Wednesday claims the FBI violated his civil rights by putting the device on his car without a warrant. Afifi, an American by birth, says he suspects he was targeted because he is a young man of Egyptian descent who calls frequently overseas.

It seems the FBI was tracking Afifi's movements, taking advantage of a controversial August 2010 U.S. court ruling in favor of warrantless GPS.

According to Wired.com, Afifi cooperated with the officials in October, maintaining that he not done anything to provoke the FBI's attention. The FBI wouldn't say much about the device or about their visit to Afifi's apartment.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/02/national/main20038456.shtml

0 The American Dream

0 Pope lifts blame for Christ's death

POPE Benedict XVI exonerates the Jewish people as a whole from responsibility for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in a new book due to be published this month, prompting praise from Jewish groups.

The pope wrote that the condemnations of Jesus Christ came from the "aristocracy of the temple" in Jerusalem and from the "masses" who acclaimed Barabbas instead of Jesus - not from "the Jewish people as a whole".

Extracts from the book, the second volume of a biography of Jesus Christ, were published by the Vatican's official Osservatore Romano daily today.

The World Jewish Congress in a statement praised the pope "for unequivocally rejecting the argument that the Jewish people can be held responsible".

Congress head Ronald Lauder said: "2,000 years after the event it really was high time that the head of the Catholic Church made a clear statement on this."

"It sets an important marker against anti-Semitism in the Church," he said.

"Jews suffered from brutal persecution and anti-Semitism because Christians held them collectively responsible for the killing of Jesus Christ, even though he was himself a Jew and was crucified by the Roman rulers," he added.

Marco Politi, a Vatican expert at Italian daily Il Fatto, said the pope's words were "a positive signal for the Jewish people, showing that Benedict XVI absolutely does not consider the gospels as a basis for any anti-Judaism".

Tensions between Judaism and Catholicism have been high for centuries because of Catholic blame of the Jews for Christ's death.

A Vatican Council in the 1960s that exonerated the Jews failed to end tensions, which have resurfaced in recent years under Benedict's papacy.

In 2007, the pope reinstated a "prayer for the conversion of Jews".

The following year he infuriated the Jewish community with a decision to lift the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop, Richard Williamson.

There have also been Vatican moves to sanctify World War II-era pope Pius XII, whose public silence on the Holocaust has been widely criticised.

0 Novavax (NVAX) Surges Higher After HHS Contract For New Flu Vaccine Technology

Shares of tiny flu vaccine technology company Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX) are jumping in after-hours trading Monday after being awarded a significant contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The HHS awarded a total of $215 million in contracts for development of new types of vaccine and new ways to make flu vaccine known as next-generation recombinant influenza vaccine. One on the contracts went to Novavax, while the other went to VaxInnate.

Novavax contracts totals $97 million over the first three years, which can be extended for an additional two years, for a total contract value of $179.1 million.

Novavax is to develop new technology to produce vaccines using insect cells to express influenza proteins and create virus-like particles that stimulate a strong immune response in humans.

These next-generation recombinant influenza vaccines were supported in early stages by the National Institutes of Health and will complement currently available and other new influenza vaccines. Today’s contracts for advanced development are supported by the HHS Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.

After rising 11% at the very end of the trading session today, shares of Novavax are up another 11% after-hours.

http://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News

0 Liberated Libya Rejects US Intervention - TRNN EXCLUSIVE

0 Airstrikes in Libya did not take place - Russian military

0 Facebook To Share Users' Home Addresses, Phone Numbers With External Sites

Facebook will be moving forward with a controversial plan to give third-party developers and external websites the ability to access users' home addresses and cellphone numbers in the face of criticism from privacy experts, users, and even congressmen.

Facebook quietly announced the new policy in a note posted to its Developer Blog in January. It suspended promising that it would be "re-enabling this improved feature in the next few weeks." the feature just three days later following user outcry, while

In response to a letter penned by Representatives Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) expressing concern over the new functionality, Facebook reaffirmed that it will be allowing third parties to request access to users' addresses and phone numbers.

Facebook noted that it is considering implementing controls that would more explicitly highlight the personal nature of the information being transmitted to applications and explained it is "actively considering" whether to restrict users under 18 years old from sharing their contact information with third-party developers.

"We expect that, once the feature is re-enabled, Facebook will again permit users to authorize applications to obtain their contact information," Facebook's Marne Levine, vice president of global public policy, wrote in the letter to Reps. Markey and Barton. "[H]owever, we are currently evaluating methods to further enhance user control in this area."

Facebook has attempted to tread a fine line with regard to privacy issues even as it has continuously pushed users to share more information, both on Facebook and beyond the social network.

The plan to open up users' address and phone numbers to third-party sites and services marks the latest frontier in Facebook's often controversy-fraught efforts to encourage users to be more liberal in sharing their data and online activity.

Even if the revamped feature were to include improved notifications and protections for minors, privacy experts warn the feature could imperil users' personal information and increase their risk of being targeted by scams, spam, and identity thieves.

Though Facebook prohibits applications from selling users' information or sharing it with advertisers and data brokers, malicious, rogue apps spreading phishing scams and other ruses are not uncommon on the social network. With just a few errant clicks, an unsuspecting user could potentially hand over her home address to a scammer peddling diet cures or free iPads in an effort to compile credit card data and other personal information.

"[Scammers] might be able to impersonate you if they had your phone number," said Norman Sadeh-Koniecpol, a professor at the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science. "They're saying, 'Please give us your phone number,' but they're not telling you whether they'll share it or whether they'll sell it or use if for malicious purposes. In fact, you don't know who you're dealing with."

Full Story : http://www.huffingtonpost.com

0 New Fund Provides Stake in Twitter for JPMorgan

Chris Sacca is known in Silicon Valley for his Western-style button-down shirts and his early investments in start-up companies like Twitter.

Chris Sacca provided JPMorgan Chase with a way to invest in Twitter.

But for big institutional investors, Mr. Sacca, 35, is becoming known as an important gatekeeper in meeting the demand for the private shares of fast-growing Internet companies.

His fund has already bought about $400 million worth of shares of Twitter over a number of months, giving it a stake of roughly 9 percent and implying a valuation of $4.2 billion to $4.5 billion for the microblogging site.

JPMorgan Chase and its Digital Growth Fund, a new $1.2 billion vehicle, is a major investor in Mr. Sacca’s fund, and it will indirectly own shares of Twitter as a result. JPMorgan is not directly negotiating with Twitter to acquire a stake in the company, said three people close to the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because details of the deal were private.

Mr. Sacca has raised more than $1 billion for his fund, two of those people said. The investment fund, which opened last summer, is not yet closed and will have other institutional investors as well, these people said.

The JPMorgan investment in Mr. Sacca’s fund was reported on Monday by the technology news site TechCrunch. JPMorgan declined to comment.

Full Story :http://nytimes.com

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