The China State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) has approved 3SBio's application to conduct the China arm of the multi-center Phase III trial of voclosporin.
Voclosporin is a new generation calcineurin inhibitor licensed from Isotechnika Pharma.
According to the approved protocol, the study will be a Phase III, randomized, multi-center, concentration-controlled comparison study on renal transplant patients.
The company expects to begin patient enrollment in the third quarter of 2012.
3SBio is a biotechnology company focused on researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing biopharmaceutical products primarily in China.
Just in case you missed out on some of the Android news today, now is the time to go ahead and get yourself fully caught up. Here on the blogs and in the Android Central Forums there is plenty to talk about. Have some questions? Need some help or just looking to chat Android? You know where to go, check out some of the threads below to get started.
Have you always wanted to earn money on the stock exchange and never really seem to discover the bravery to do so? True, the market is extraordinarily uncertain. It also has a tendency to plunge into plausibly complicated behaviours occasionally. It also takes real courage, smarts, and the will to take a position in the best securities dealing system to make your investments pay-off. I have used this system with major success during the past half a year. But what a lot of individuals have no idea is that the market shows these same relations between its trends and counter trends. I invest conservatively, but my largest gain so far ( on one currency cross ) was over $5000. And I used Fibonacci?s ?golden ratio? to find the right price levels at which to trade off.
If nevertheless, you plan to keep the stock for a longer time period like five years or longer, you are going to need to check the performance of the stock monthly to make sure that the company has not sustained substantial losses that would affect the value of your investment. How will they make cash from you? From monthly / quarterly account upkeep costs, commissions on each trade you make ( $9.99 usually ), account indolence charges and other concealed charges. I'm really not going to go much more deeply into the broker side f trading, what I'm talking about is Stockmarket Trading Software. Stockmarket dealing software has been about for years, generally utilized by banks and other finance establishments to forecast market fluctuations and future stock costs, it's been available to the common public recently. It is a very good idea to exploit these offers.
There are a lot of websites out there that permit you to employ a demo of their stockmarket dealing software. While you may not get to access all the features you'll get the majority of the fundamentals. You may also get to discover the truth for yourself the correct way to navigate that specific program. You can keep a record of your portfolio, sell and buy stocks, and take a close look at charts and graphs.
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The trials and difficulties of friendship, love and family, can nakiami leave her past in the past? Can her and her newfound friends stay together through life's troubles? or will they be torn apart and forced to go their separate ways?
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We've seen them holding hands and we've seen them embracing on the red carpet, but in Part 2 of her interview with Oprah Winfrey - airing this Sunday - Kim Kardashian admits verbally for the first time:
"I don't know why it took so long for us to kind of get together," Kardashian tells the ratings-challenged host, adding that she has no regrets over pretending to love marrying Kris Humphries. "I think I needed to go through all my experiences and some that he's gone through."
Kim also says the two have shared misery in common, with West's mother passing away in 2007 and Kim's dad dying of cancer in 2003.
"We've been friends for like six or seven years. So it's very comforting to have someone that knows everything about you, that respects you, understands [and] has gone through the similar things."
During the first part of Kim's interview with Oprah, she touched on the depression she experienced in the months following her divorce.
In this aerial photo, waters from an overflowing nearby creek inundate homes in the Irving Park neighborhood of Duluth, Minn., Wednesday afternoon, June 20, 2012. Residents evacuated their homes and animals escaped from pens at a zoo as floods fed by a steady torrential downpour struck northeastern Minnesota, inundating the city of Duluth, officials said Wednesday. (AP Photo/The Duluth News-Tribune, Bob King)
In this aerial photo, waters from an overflowing nearby creek inundate homes in the Irving Park neighborhood of Duluth, Minn., Wednesday afternoon, June 20, 2012. Residents evacuated their homes and animals escaped from pens at a zoo as floods fed by a steady torrential downpour struck northeastern Minnesota, inundating the city of Duluth, officials said Wednesday. (AP Photo/The Duluth News-Tribune, Bob King)
In this aerial photo, floodwaters surround the Burning Tree Plaza shopping area in Duluth, Minn., Wednesday afternoon, June 20, 2012. Residents evacuated their homes and animals escaped from pens at a zoo as floods fed by a steady torrential downpour struck northeastern Minnesota, inundating the city of Duluth, officials said Wednesday. (AP Photo/The Duluth News-Tribune, Bob King)
In this photo provided by Ellie Burcar, a seal that escaped from the Lake Superior Zoo lies on Grand Avenue in Duluth, Minn. around 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 20, 2012. Some animals escaped from their pens at the zoo as floods fed by a steady torrential downpour struck northeastern Minnesota, inundating the city of Duluth, officials said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Ellie Burcar)
Water flowing from Miller Creek fills the backyards of several homes on West Second Street in Duluth, Minn. after record rainfall hit the area on Wednesday June, 20, 2012. Most areas received seven to 10 inches of rain in the past 24 hours.(AP Photo/The Duluth News-Tribune, Clint Austin)
Carl Carlson III, left, and Connie Strong, right, help evacuate Jan Martin from her home in the Lincoln Park neighborhood after record rainfall hit the Duluth, Minn., area Wednesday June, 20, 2012. Most areas received seven to 10 inches of rain in the past 24 hours. Martin remarked that she has lived in the neighborhood for 69 years and has never seen Miller Creek this high. (AP Photo/The Duluth News-Tribune, Clint Austin)
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) ? Exhausted and depressed, Michelle Henry sat in a Red Cross shelter, filling out paperwork and worried about what she'll find when she is able to return to her flooded Fond du Lac home.
Henry, her boyfriend and their two kids were among the 250 residents told to evacuate their neighborhood Wednesday after the heaviest rains in more than a century fell on Duluth and the surrounding area, washing out roads, flooding a local zoo and prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency.
"It's hard," Henry, 26, said Wednesday night after her family walked into the shelter carrying a pile of pillows and blankets. "It's not fun. We were soaked, but other than that, we're OK. ... I'm more worried about the pictures and stuff we can't replace ? the baby pictures, baby books."
She hoped she'd be allowed to return to her home to assess the damage on Thursday, when Gov. Mark Dayton also planned to tour the deluged northeastern Minnesota city.
National Weather Service meteorologist Kevin Kraujalis said 7.2 inches of rain fell on Duluth on Tuesday and Wednesday, breaking the two-day record of nearly 6.7 inches set on July 20-21, 1909.
An 8-year-old boy who was swept about six blocks through a culvert in Duluth suffered some scrapes and bruises: A "miracle out of this whole disaster," Louis County Undersheriff Dave Phillips said.
The heavy rains also sent workers at the Lake Superior Zoo scrambling before dawn to find animals that escaped from their enclosures in the flood. Workers safely recovered two seals and a polar bear, but about a dozen animals from the barnyard exhibit perished under water.
"It's completely devastating," said lead zookeeper Maicie Sykes.
Furniture from zoo exhibits lay scattered about the zoo, and water marks showed flooding that reached as high as 14 feet off the ground in places, said Peter Pruett, the zoo's director of animal management.
Pruett learned of the disaster with an early morning phone call alerting him to a seal on a city street. He went to the scene and found the harbor seal, Feisty, corralled by three police cars. Pruett got a piece of plywood and nudged Feisty along, about a half a block, back to the zoo.
As he was walking with Feisty, he knew her escape could mean trouble, "because if the seal's out, the polar bear very well could be out too," he said.
Zoo employees were called in and began searching for animals in the darkness. One employee found the lions and tigers were still in their exhibits ? a relief. But Berlin, the polar bear, wasn't in sight.
"A dangerous animal is out and it's the middle of the night, and you cross your fingers and you pray to whomever you want to pray to that she's still there and not terrorizing some other place," Pruett said.
Thankfully, a zookeeper spotted the bear about 5 a.m. atop the rock wall that encloses her exhibit. The zoo vet and a police officer approached her in a squad car, enabling the vet to safely shoot her with a tranquilizer gun.
He said Berlin was groggy and dirty from her ordeal a few hours later but otherwise OK.
After the bear was subdued, zoo officials got a call that Vivian, the other harbor seal, was about a half mile away on a trail. Officials picked her up safely too.
The zoo was closed Wednesday and will stay closed until officials determine all the pathways, bridges and other amenities were safe. It will take some time to assess the damage, Pruett said.
"We filled up like a bathtub, and it should not have been that way," he said. "Everything was going so fast. You have a plan, but your plan doesn't take into account the biblical proportions."
Don Ness, Duluth's mayor, said it may take time for the damage to become fully apparent. He said the volume of rain in a short period puts a tremendous amount of stress on sewer and road systems.
"We're concerned about washouts and sinkholes, and they'll likely show themselves in the coming days. ... The water is rushing so hard that we're concerned about the integrity of the roadbeds being washed out," he said.
___
Associated Press writers Steve Karnowski and Jeff Baenen in Minneapolis, and Gretchen Ehlke in Milwaukee contributed to this report.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Kids hear it from their elders all the time: "Use your words." In the case of Aaron Sorkin, that childhood lesson clearly stuck.
As the awards-laden writer of TV's "The West Wing" and such films as "The Social Network" and "Moneyball," Sorkin uses well-chosen words by the carload to propel his story-telling with insight and wit.
You don't look to Sorkin for car chases, pyrotechnics or other spectacle. It's his words ? playful, brainy, heartfelt and often fired out in hot-potato exchanges ? that do the heavy lifting. Yet make it look easy.
Now, having worked his verbal magic on the nation's capital (in "The West Wing"), sports talk ("Sports Night") and the backstage world of TV comedy ("Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip"), Sorkin has turned his attention to television news.
"I consider it a valentine," he says. It's also an entertaining exercise in tough love.
"The Newsroom," which premieres on HBO Sunday at 10 p.m. EDT, centers on Will McAvoy (played by Jeff Daniels), a cable-news star who, in middle age, is coasting with his so-so nightly newscast, happy to avoid making waves with hard-hitting stories or controversial reports. Why not? He gets good ratings. He's "the Jay Leno of news anchors," one critic sniffs ? popular because he doesn't bother anyone.
That's about to change. Much to Will's surprise, the newly hired executive producer for his broadcast, "News Night," turns out to be MacKenzie McHale. She's a hotshot TV journalist with whom Will was romantically involved before a painful breakup years ago that still has him brooding ? and dead-set against working with her again.
Played by Emily Mortimer ("Hugo," ''Shutter Island"), MacKenzie has been brought in to light a fire under Will.
"We're going to do a GOOD news show," she tells him, "AND make it popular at the same time."
"That is impossible!" Will growls.
Is it? Time will tell during the upcoming season's 10 episodes. But even by the end of the premiere, Will ? however gruff and in a snit over MacKenzie's return ? has taken baby steps toward the light.
While Will is poised to be reinvigorated as the TV journalist he was always meant to be, "The Newsroom" already has reinvigorated Jeff Daniels.
First noted for his performance as Debra Winger's cheating husband in the 1983 "Terms of Endearment," he has since made dozens of films, from "Dumb and Dumber" to "The Squid and the Whale."
But the past few years, "I was completely bored with the business and the roles I was getting," he says during a recent interview.
"The Newsroom" marks a career renaissance for Daniels, who, as Will, makes an art of impatience and impolitic truth-telling, often while displaying a wry curl of the mouth or a world-weary roll of the eyes.
Daniels calls Will "the role of a lifetime." And citing the talent on "The Newsroom" both in front of and behind the camera, Daniels calls it "the best gig I've had since 'Purple Rose' with Woody." (That would be "The Purple Rose of Cairo," the enchanting comedy-fantasy written and directed by Woody Allen that reached theaters way back in 1985.) "I never would have thought that, at 57, I'd get this. Then Aaron came long."
Besides Daniels, the splendid cast channeling Sorkin's words includes Alison Pill, John Gallagher, Jr., Dev Patel, Thomas Sadoski and Olivia Munn. And in a delightful role, Sam Waterston ("Law & Order") plays the pleasantly pickled news division president, Charlie Skinner, who, despite his potent liquid diet, is fashioning an extreme makeover for "News Night" ? and for Will in particular ? to reach their full potential.
But it won't come easy.
"With everyone reaching unrealistically high, they're gonna fall on banana peels a lot," Sorkin warns during a recent interview. And he doesn't just mean metaphorically: In the premiere, one of the characters comedically stumbles and another takes a pratfall. "Their idealism does crash into reality."
Will's hard-bitten idealism finds its voice in a stirring monologue in the episode's first scene. Appearing on a panel in front of scores of college students, he is sandwiched between a pair of high-octane pundits ? one conservative, one liberal ? who are bellowing past him at each other.
He is jolted out of his disapproving silence only after a fresh-faced co-ed asks him to explain "in one sentence or less" what it is that makes America the greatest country in the world.
"It's NOT the greatest country in the world ? not anymore," he blurts out, reducing the crowd to a horrified hush. After a blistering rant, he sums up bitterly, "We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending."
Will has had a rude awakening: The country is in a mess ? polarized, misdirected and stalled ? and the media share the blame.
Back in the newsroom a few weeks later, he encounters the just-hired MacKenzie. But the tensions between them (professional and sexual, each as fun for viewers to witness as the other) quickly take a backseat to a huge breaking story that day: the BP oil spill. "The Newsroom" begins in April 2010.
Setting the series in the recent past is Sorkin's way of framing actual news events to underpin his narrative while allowing a scripted drama to keep pace.
"Besides," notes Sorkin, "it's always fun when the audience knows more than the characters do. And it gives you a chance to revisit the news with 20-20 hindsight."
As Will and the "News Night" staff tease out early details of the catastrophe, a rousing debate about business, politics and the public interest is triggered in the form of Sorkin's dialogue.
Sorkin insists his mission with the show isn't pushing any single agenda.
"I'm not qualified to do that," he insists. "The characters on the show express opinions, but one opinion is expressed so it can create a point of friction with another opinion."
The 51-year-old Sorkin explains that he comes from a family of lawyers and future lawyers, where the dinner table rang with spirited debate, where "anyone who used one word when they could have used 10 wasn't trying hard enough," he says with a smile. "I love the sound of dialogue. It sounds like music to me. And I wanted to imitate that sound with my characters."
Conveniently, every character in a Sorkin script is, in his or her own way, silver-tongued, ironic and accessorized with a Mensa-worthy stash of cultural allusions: Referring to MacKenzie in an approving aside, Will cracks, "I just offered her the most humiliating contract since Antonio got a loan from Shylock. She took it. I don't know what that is, but I LIKE it!"
Sorkin describes his style as "aspirational writing. I'm less interested in the difference between good and bad, than in the difference between good and great. As with Tom Cruise in 'A Few Good Men' or Michael Douglas in 'An American President,'" he goes on, pointing to a pair of his hit films, "I like taking good guys who are getting by with charm and high IQ and who then, for whatever reason, are forced to be better. And be great."
And do it with all the right words.
___
Online:
http://www.hbo.com
___
EDITOR'S NOTE ? Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at fmoore(at)ap.org and at http://www.twitter.com/tvfrazier
DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) -Tensions are creeping into the French camp at the European Championship, with the players involved in a "heated" bust-up following the team's 2-0 loss to Sweden.
France, which was hit by internal strife at the 2010 World Cup, capitulated against the Swedes on Tuesday and would have lost more heavily if goalkeeper Hugo Lloris had not made several saves.
Although the defeat did not prevent France from advancing to a quarterfinal against Spain, the manner of it exasperated coach Laurent Blanc and senior players like Florent Malouda.
"Yes, it got a bit heated, but then everyone had a cold shower," Blanc said Wednesday. "It shows that there was a bit of electricity. I hope there will be against Spain, because we'll need it."
Malouda chose not to speak to the media after the defeat as he was afraid of what he might say. He is France's most experienced player and was part of the World Cup squad that shocked a nation by going on strike at training two years ago after Nicolas Anelka was sent home.
"What I saw (against Sweden) awoke some demons in me and I didn't want to express myself," Malouda said. "Because in the heat of the moment there was the risk of launching rockets and missiles. There are some things to sort out and sometimes you can really hurt someone with a comment that you make."
But with tempers frayed and pride dented after a shambolic performance against a Sweden team with nothing to play for, some of the players could no longer hold back when they got to the sanctuary of the dressing room.
"Sometimes you need to aim a few bursts of gunfire at each other," Malouda said. "We said quite a few things to each other afterward in the dressing room."
Center half Laurent Koscielny, who will replace the suspended Philippe Mexes against Spain, confirmed that an argument took place.
"We were below par on every level," Koscielny said. "When we got back to the dressing room we knew we hadn't performed as we should have done and some things were said ... things that will stay between us."
Malouda thinks part of the problem might be that some players seem more concerned with their own performances than helping the team.
"Balance is fragile, and when you start thinking you're at the Euro to shine individually then the wheels can start to come off," he said. "You pay very dearly for every error at a Euro. There are personal objectives and there are collective objectives."
France has worked hard to rebuild its image since Blanc replaced the unpopular Raymond Domenech after the World Cup, but Malouda has raised concerns that a casual attitude could be returning - and he wants it stamped out.
"The evening before in training everyone had that feeling. Blanc stopped the training and he said there was nonchalance creeping in. It was like we weren't preparing for this match to win it," Malouda said. "We're not here to take a stroll in our flip flops. We're here to play matches and win them. In terms of commitment you can't drop below a certain level. If we go back to our old ways, we go backward."
Malouda fears the French could get thrashed by Spain if they don't improve their attitude.
"It's at times like these that you really need a discussion between the players. Because if we don't sort things out before Saturday, with the opponent we have coming up, the bill could be expensive," he said. "Knowing the position we were in two years ago and the work that we've done to come back ... the fact we gave up everything and played like a team that was just turning up to have fun was shocking."
More worrying was the fact that Blanc saw the complacency coming, yet was still powerless to stop it.
"You feel certain things on the eve of a match, and we felt all day during training that they were easing up a bit," Blanc said. "I don't know if it's because we're a young team, because some players aren't that young. We'll have to bounce back quickly."
Blanc also chastised the negligent attitude of his players for failing to thank France's traveling fans for their support.
"We should have gone over and applauded them (after the game)," he said. "It was a horrible night for us and for those watching."
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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FILE This Monday April 16, 2012 file photo provided by LOCOG shows an aerial view of the Olympic Park showing the London 2012 Olympic Stadium, foreground and the Aquatics Center, white building at left. London will be the social media Olympics. For all the history and tradition associated with London, a very modern-day phenomemon will play a prominent role at the upcoming Summer Games. Tweet this: These will be the first Olympics told in 140 characters or less. The London Games will be the most tweeted, micro-blogged, liked and tagged in history, with fans offered a never before seen insider's view of what many are calling the social media Olympics, or the "socialympics." (AP Photo/Anthony Charlton/LOCOG)
FILE This Monday April 16, 2012 file photo provided by LOCOG shows an aerial view of the Olympic Park showing the London 2012 Olympic Stadium, foreground and the Aquatics Center, white building at left. London will be the social media Olympics. For all the history and tradition associated with London, a very modern-day phenomemon will play a prominent role at the upcoming Summer Games. Tweet this: These will be the first Olympics told in 140 characters or less. The London Games will be the most tweeted, micro-blogged, liked and tagged in history, with fans offered a never before seen insider's view of what many are calling the social media Olympics, or the "socialympics." (AP Photo/Anthony Charlton/LOCOG)
LONDON (AP) ? Tweet this: The London Games will be the first Olympics told in 140 characters or less.
The London Games will be the most tweeted, liked and tagged in history, with fans offered a never before seen insider's view of what many are calling the social media Olympics, or the "socialympics."
Hash tags, (at) signs and "like" symbols will be as prevalent as national flags, Olympic pins and medal ceremonies. Some athletes may spend more time on Twitter and Facebook than the playing field.
Mobile phones have become smarter, laptops lighter and tablet devices a must-have for technology lovers ? meaning social-savvy fans, whether watching on television or inside the Olympic stadium itself, will be almost constantly online.
Organizers expect more tweets, Facebook posts, videos and photos to be shared from London than any other sports event in history. The 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver offered just a small glimpse of what's to come.
"Vancouver was just the first snowflake," said Alex Hout, the International Olympic Committee's head of social media. "This is going to be a big snowball."
Twitter is already braced for a surge of traffic. Launched in 2006, it has become a key outlet for sports fans to trade messages during live events.
Users sent 13,684 tweets per second during a Champions League soccer match between Barcelona and Chelsea in April, a record volume of tweets for a sporting event ? busier even than the 2012 Super Bowl. Chances are good that will be one of the records broken in London.
"It could be the 100-meter final or something unexpected," said Lewis Wiltshire, Twitter U.K.'s head of sport.
At the last Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008, Twitter had about 6 million users and Facebook 100 million. Today, the figure is 140 million for Twitter and 900 million for Facebook.
"In Sydney (2000) there was hardly any fast Internet, in Athens (2004) there were hardly any smartphones, in Beijing hardly anyone had social networks," said Jackie-Brock Doyle, communications director of London organizing committee LOCOG. "That's all changed. Here, everyone has all that and will be consuming the games in a different way."
Later this month, at trials in Calgary for Canada's Olympic track and field team, athletes will even wear Twitter handles on their bibs ? encouraging fans to send messages of support as they race.
Sponsors have also taken their Olympic campaigns online. Coca-Cola, Cadbury, Visa and BP are among those using Facebook to reach younger consumers. Samsung is even offering to paint the faces of Internet users with their national flag ? virtually, of course.
"They key difference from four years ago is that now almost everyone has a smartphone, which means everyone can participate in real time," said Adam Vincenzini, an expert at Paratus Communications, a London-based PR and social media marketing agency. "You used to have to be sitting at your desk to access various social media platforms. Now you can have your phone or tablet on your lap while you watch, whether that's at the pub or the stadium."
The IOC, with 760,000 Twitter followers and 2.8 million on Facebook, will host live chats from inside the Olympic village with athletes, allowing the public to pose questions using social media accounts. It has already created an online portal, called the Athletes' Hub, which will collate posts from their Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Under IOC rules, athletes and accredited personnel are free to post, blog and tweet "provided that it is not for commercial and/or advertising purposes" and does not ambush official Olympic sponsors and broadcasters. Social media posts should be written in a "first-person, diary-type format."
What about spectators using their phones and iPads to take photos and video?
"There is no problem with photo sharing," Hout said. "We encourage it. But monetizing is not allowed."
"People are allowed to film. They're allowed to do that on their phones," he said. "The thing that we ask is that content is not uploaded to public sites."
The reason is to protect the exclusivity of the broadcasters who shell out big money for the rights. NBC, for example, paid more than $1 billion for the U.S. rights to the London Games.
"We encourage the use of social media. We encourage athletes to engage and to connect," Hout said. "There are some rules to follow, there's no question about it. But we don't police the fans, we don't police the athletes. We don't do that. What we do is we engage."
Facebook launched an Olympic page on Monday that groups teams, sports, athletes, broadcasters and in one place. The site has pages dedicated to specific Olympic sports and links to Facebook sites for 60 national teams and 200 athletes, including Michael Phelps, LeBron James and David Beckham.
LOCOG also plans to announce new Olympic tie-ups with Twitter and Google.
But London Olympic organizers have drawn up strict rules for their employees and the 70,000 Olympic volunteers. They have been told not to share their location, any images of scenes in areas that are off limits to the public, or details about athletes, celebrities or dignitaries who they find themselves in contact with.
"We are not stopping people from using social sites," Brock-Doyle said. "We say there are lots of things about your job ? procedures, places you'll be and do ? that remain confidential. There are elements of your job you can't share with wider groups of people."
Athletes, too, will need to navigate the social media world carefully.
Australian swimmers Nick D'Arcy and Kenrick Monk have already been punished after posting photos of themselves on Facebook in which they cradled pump-action shotguns and a pistol in a U.S. gun shop.
The Australian Olympic Committee ordered them to remove the photos immediately. The swimmers have been banned from using social media for a month starting July 15 and will be sent home the day the Olympic swimming program finishes.
The British Olympic Association has offered advice to its own athletes, suggesting that "a few smiley faces and LOL's (online speak for laugh out loud) will make you seem more approachable and encourage more people to talk and ask you questions." What not to do: "Don't get into disputes with your audience."
British swimmer Rebecca Adlington, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a leading medal contender in London, has spoken out about abuse she has received about her physical appearance from some users on social media sites. She has already blocked the worst offenders from being able to contact her, but insists she won't stop using Twitter, where she trades dozens of messages a day with more than 50,000 followers.
"I'm insecure about the way I look and people's comments do hurt me," Adlington said in a message posted on Twitter.
While some athletes prefer to tune out from social media to concentrate on their competition, others embrace the opportunity to interact with their fans.
"Letting people know what I'm eating, how I'm sleeping, what the venues are like ? people want to know what we're going through," U.S. gymnast Jonathan Horton said. "They want to know what it's like going through the experience and what we're up to."
All in 140 characters.
___
Follow Stephen Wilson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/stevewilsonap
Follow David Stringer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/david_stringer
___
AP Sports Writer Nancy Armour in Chicago contributed.
Scientific meeting at Virginia Tech will make more than $2 million economic impactPublic release date: 18-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Susan Steeves ssteeves@vt.edu 540-231-5224 Virginia Tech
More than 1,500 scientists will descend on Virginia Tech beginning June 24 bringing with them not just cutting edge research information but also an economic boost to the Blacksburg area in excess of $2 million.
The World Polymer Conference, MACRO 2012, is one of the largest conferences ever held in Blacksburg with 13 simultaneous sessions daily during the six-day meeting. It's all about large molecules macromolecules that are having a huge impact on such diverse areas as delivering drugs more accurately to cells and finding better alternative energy storage. Faculty members in Virginia Tech's Macromolecules and Interfaces Institute, which initiated the proposal to host the conference at the university, are some of the world leaders in this research field.
"When people think of polymers, they usually think of plastic packaging, but what scientists are studying now extends beyond plastics and focuses on improving the quality and quantity of our lives," said Tim Long, one of the conference organizers and a professor and associate dean of the Virginia Tech College of Science . "Through international collaborations, researchers are finding ways to use polymers for energy, health and the environment to create a safer and healthier world."
Scientific collaborations will be clearly in evidence at the conference with attendees being from 52 countries, 60 percent coming from outside the United States. With most of those coming to the meeting from outside of the Southwest Virginia area, hotels, restaurants, entertainment, and local transportation will experience increased business.
Experts in the Virginia Tech Office of Economic Development estimate that the amount spent locally for rooms, food, and transportation will be about $1.8 million. The total expenditures in the regional economy will be close to $2.5 million when such things as conference registration fees, subsidies for graduate students to attend, meals, and refreshment breaks are added into the impact.
Attendees will be flying into Roanoke Regional Airport (ROA), Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), and Charlotte/Douglas International Airport (CLT), from which meeting organizers have arranged shuttle service to Blacksburg. They will be staying both on the Virginia Tech campus and in a number of local hotels. In addition to the scientists from many institutions and industries, more than 500 students will participate in the conference.
The meeting is the 44th edition of the congress of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. For the conference, which is titled "Enabling Technologies for a Safe, Sustainable, Healthy World," there will be about 775 oral presentations and 475 poster presentations. Twelve plenary speakers from prestigious research institutions around the world will be speaking.
They include Nobel laureate Robert H. Grubbs, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2005. His talk will be "Controlled Synthesis of Functional Polymers." Grubbs also will be at the Science Museum of Roanoke on Tuesday evening, June 26, for a short presentation and to meet with the public.
The banquet speaker will be Robert J. Lang, one of the world's foremost origami artists, who has pioneered computational origami. Before becoming an artist, Lang used his training in applied physics when he worked at NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Spectra Diode Laboratories, and JDS Uniphase. Now he works full time as an artist and origami consultant but remains active in the world of physics with various projects.
The president of Japan's Society of Polymer Science, Kazunori Kataoka, will present "Medical Innovation through Polymer ChemistrySupramolecular Structures of Block Copolymers as Smart Nanodevices for Gene and Drug Delivery." Kataoka is a professor in the Department of Materials Engineering at the University of Tokyo. His current research focuses on nanobiotechnology, specifically for gene and drug delivery.
"Investigation of polymers is an exquisite example of interdisciplinary research that brings together many departments on campus and with universities worldwide," said Long. "This integrated scientific approach that attempts to solve recyclability, drug delivery, solar cells, energy storage, non-petroleum energy, and much more shows the power of international collaboration to benefit everyone."
###
The College of Science at Virginia Tech gives students a comprehensive foundation in the scientific method. Outstanding faculty members teach courses and conduct research in biological sciences, chemistry, economics, geosciences, mathematics, physics, psychology, and statistics. The college offers programs in cutting-edge areas including, among others, those in energy and the environment, developmental science across the lifespan, infectious diseases, computational science, nanoscience, and neuroscience. The College of Science is dedicated to fostering a research-intensive environment that promotes scientific inquiry and outreach.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
Scientific meeting at Virginia Tech will make more than $2 million economic impactPublic release date: 18-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Susan Steeves ssteeves@vt.edu 540-231-5224 Virginia Tech
More than 1,500 scientists will descend on Virginia Tech beginning June 24 bringing with them not just cutting edge research information but also an economic boost to the Blacksburg area in excess of $2 million.
The World Polymer Conference, MACRO 2012, is one of the largest conferences ever held in Blacksburg with 13 simultaneous sessions daily during the six-day meeting. It's all about large molecules macromolecules that are having a huge impact on such diverse areas as delivering drugs more accurately to cells and finding better alternative energy storage. Faculty members in Virginia Tech's Macromolecules and Interfaces Institute, which initiated the proposal to host the conference at the university, are some of the world leaders in this research field.
"When people think of polymers, they usually think of plastic packaging, but what scientists are studying now extends beyond plastics and focuses on improving the quality and quantity of our lives," said Tim Long, one of the conference organizers and a professor and associate dean of the Virginia Tech College of Science . "Through international collaborations, researchers are finding ways to use polymers for energy, health and the environment to create a safer and healthier world."
Scientific collaborations will be clearly in evidence at the conference with attendees being from 52 countries, 60 percent coming from outside the United States. With most of those coming to the meeting from outside of the Southwest Virginia area, hotels, restaurants, entertainment, and local transportation will experience increased business.
Experts in the Virginia Tech Office of Economic Development estimate that the amount spent locally for rooms, food, and transportation will be about $1.8 million. The total expenditures in the regional economy will be close to $2.5 million when such things as conference registration fees, subsidies for graduate students to attend, meals, and refreshment breaks are added into the impact.
Attendees will be flying into Roanoke Regional Airport (ROA), Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), and Charlotte/Douglas International Airport (CLT), from which meeting organizers have arranged shuttle service to Blacksburg. They will be staying both on the Virginia Tech campus and in a number of local hotels. In addition to the scientists from many institutions and industries, more than 500 students will participate in the conference.
The meeting is the 44th edition of the congress of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. For the conference, which is titled "Enabling Technologies for a Safe, Sustainable, Healthy World," there will be about 775 oral presentations and 475 poster presentations. Twelve plenary speakers from prestigious research institutions around the world will be speaking.
They include Nobel laureate Robert H. Grubbs, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2005. His talk will be "Controlled Synthesis of Functional Polymers." Grubbs also will be at the Science Museum of Roanoke on Tuesday evening, June 26, for a short presentation and to meet with the public.
The banquet speaker will be Robert J. Lang, one of the world's foremost origami artists, who has pioneered computational origami. Before becoming an artist, Lang used his training in applied physics when he worked at NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Spectra Diode Laboratories, and JDS Uniphase. Now he works full time as an artist and origami consultant but remains active in the world of physics with various projects.
The president of Japan's Society of Polymer Science, Kazunori Kataoka, will present "Medical Innovation through Polymer ChemistrySupramolecular Structures of Block Copolymers as Smart Nanodevices for Gene and Drug Delivery." Kataoka is a professor in the Department of Materials Engineering at the University of Tokyo. His current research focuses on nanobiotechnology, specifically for gene and drug delivery.
"Investigation of polymers is an exquisite example of interdisciplinary research that brings together many departments on campus and with universities worldwide," said Long. "This integrated scientific approach that attempts to solve recyclability, drug delivery, solar cells, energy storage, non-petroleum energy, and much more shows the power of international collaboration to benefit everyone."
###
The College of Science at Virginia Tech gives students a comprehensive foundation in the scientific method. Outstanding faculty members teach courses and conduct research in biological sciences, chemistry, economics, geosciences, mathematics, physics, psychology, and statistics. The college offers programs in cutting-edge areas including, among others, those in energy and the environment, developmental science across the lifespan, infectious diseases, computational science, nanoscience, and neuroscience. The College of Science is dedicated to fostering a research-intensive environment that promotes scientific inquiry and outreach.
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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.
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Public release date: 18-Jun-2012
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