While it may seem far-fetched that Apple would consider following BlackBerry Messenger's footsteps and bring some of its apps to Android, it turns out that such a move isn't out of the question. "We have no religious issue with porting an Apple app to Android," said Cook in response to whether iCloud should branch out to other platforms. "If it made sense for us to do that, we would do that. You could apply that to every area of Apple." That's far from a guarantee that we'll see apps coded by Cupertino turn up on Google's mobile OS, but it certainly introduces a possibility that would seem uncharacteristic of the company.
LONDON (Reuters) - Investors seized on clear pledges of policy support from Japanese and European central banks on Tuesday to drive world shares higher, sending the yen down sharply against the dollar and boosting oil prices.
That put Wall Street on course for a higher open when trading resumes after Monday's Memorial Day holiday, reversing the trend that saw all three major stock indexes end last week in negative territory.
Heightened expectations the U.S. central bank could soon taper its stimulus programme unleashed turbulence across the markets last week, leaving it to central banks in Japan and Europe to reassure investors their liquidity taps remain open.
"There is still some nervousness, but investors are also feeling that equities are the best asset class," Keith Bowman, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown,
Equity markets around the world hit their highest levels in many years this month due to the cheap funding from the Fed and other central banks. But the comments by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke suggesting a U.S. recovery could bring a shift in policy have made investors question prospects for further gains.
"We have had a significant move higher and now it's time for taking stock and deciding whether we continue to go higher or we are due a correction," Michael Hewson, senior market analyst at CMC Markets said.
The question is being asked most about the Japanese market, where the Nikkei stock index had reached a 5-1/2-year high before dropping 7.3 percent last Thursday - its largest one-day loss since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The Nikkei steadied on Tuesday, ending 1.2 percent higher after long-serving board member Ryuzo Miyao said the Bank of Japan would fine-tune market operations to ensure its unprecedented easing campaign is not derailed.
European Central Bank officials also weighed in to help ease investor's nerves, sending the broad FTSE Eurofirst 300 index up 1.25 percent by midday, its best day in a month.
ECB Executive Board member Peter Praet said the bank could still cut interest rates further to stimulate the economy if needed. His comment echoed that of ECB Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen on Monday who said the loose policy would stay as long as necessary.
Tuesday's rebound took Germany's DAX up 1.2 percent to near recent record highs. In London, the FTSE 100 index was up 1.6 percent, led by banking stocks.
MSCI's world equity index had risen 0.4 percent by mid-morning, reversing four days of losses.
SAFETY ABANDONED
The dollar rose 1.0 percent to 102.00 yen, up more than a full yen from a two-week low of 100.66 hit on Friday. While against the Swiss franc, another currency seen as a safe haven, the dollar up 0.5 percent to 0.9675 francs.
"The yen and Swiss franc have dropped noticeably this morning, essentially because risk assets seem to be stabilising," said Societe Generale currency strategist Alvin Tan.
The euro was little changed at $1.2940 against the dollar, trading well within its recent range of $1.28-1.32.
Investors also turned away from German government bonds though the talk of future ECB rate cuts lent support. The yield on the 10-year bond was flat at 1.43 percent.
The rally in equity markets and signs of rising Middle East tension lifted oil prices sharply. U.S. crude futures gained 0.8 percent to $94.78 a barrel and Brent rose 1.5 percent to $104.16 a barrel.
"Oil has made gains today on the back of friendly equity markets," said Carsten Fritsch, senior oil analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
(Additional reporting by Atul Prakash and Anooja Debnath. Editing by Catherine Evans, John Stonestreet, Ron Askew)
May 28, 2013 ? Some people seem to pick up a second language with relative ease, while others have a much more difficult time. Now, a new study suggests that learning to understand and read a second language may be driven, at least in part, by our ability to pick up on statistical regularities.
The study is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Some research suggests that learning a second language draws on capacities that are language-specific, while other research suggests that it reflects a more general capacity for learning patterns. According to psychological scientist and lead researcher Ram Frost of Hebrew University, the data from the new study clearly point to the latter:
"These new results suggest that learning a second language is determined to a large extent by an individual ability that is not at all linguistic," says Frost.
In the study, Frost and colleagues used three different tasks to measure how well American students in an overseas program picked up on the structure of words and sounds in Hebrew. The students were tested once in the first semester and again in the second semester.
The students also completed a task that measured their ability to pick up on statistical patterns in visual stimuli. The participants watched a stream of complex shapes that were presented one at a time. Unbeknownst to the participants, the 24 shapes were organized into 8 triplets -- the order of the triplets was randomized, though the shapes within each triplet always appeared in the same sequence. After viewing the stream of shapes, the students were tested to see whether they implicitly picked up the statistical regularities of the shape sequences.
The data revealed a strong association between statistical learning and language learning: Students who were high performers on the shapes task tended to pick up the most Hebrew over the two semesters.
"It's surprising that a short 15-minute test involving the perception of visual shapes could predict to such a large extent which of the students who came to study Hebrew would finish the year with a better grasp of the language," says Frost.
According to the researchers, establishing a link between second language acquisition and a general capacity for statistical learning may have broad implications.
"This finding points to the possibility that a unified and universal principle of statistical learning can quantitatively explain a wide range of cognitive processes across domains, whether they are linguistic or nonlinguistic," they conclude.
This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (159/10) and by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (RO1 HD 067364 and PO1HD 01994).
Resolvins are molecules naturally produced by the body from omega-3 fatty acids a process that can be jumpstarted by common aspirin. In a new study, published in The FASEB Journal, researchers at Karolinska Institutet describe how resolvins could protect against the cognitive impairment that often affects recovery of surgical and critically ill patients. The study adds new knowledge on how peripheral surgery affects the brain and neuronal function contributing to the processes of cognitive decline.
Hospitalization for surgery or critical illness can lead to cognitive dysfunction in some patients, especially the elderly. This is often reported as inattention, disorganized thinking, altered consciousness and prolonged disruptions in learning and memory functions. The mechanisms whereby surgery and/or anesthesia may lead to cognitive impairment remain unclear, but the researchers behind the current study have previously demonstrated that inflammation and release of pro-inflammatory molecules, like cytokines, play an important role in causing brain inflammation and cognitive decline after surgery.
Today there is no effective treatment for postoperative cognitive dysfunctions. However, the results now presented in The FASEB Journal suggest that it is possible to prevent and treat this condition by turning off and 'resolving' the inflammation that underlies surgery-induced cognitive decline. In the current preclinical study, treatment with a single dose of aspirin-triggered resolvin D1 (AT-RvD1), a substance from the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), protected the brain from memory dysfunction after surgery.
The treatment also had an effect on neuronal function when given 24 hours after surgery. In their study, the researchers also further describe how surgery affects brain function in general, contributing to processes of neuroinflammation and memory impairment.
"We report a novel role for AT-RvD1 in restoring memory dysfunction after surgery", says Dr. Niccol Terrando, Assistant Professor at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, who lead the study. "It was remarkable that AT-RvD1 displayed such unexpected effects on the central nervous system when administered at very low doses in the systemic circulation using this surgical model."
"Aspirin works as an anti-inflammatory by lowering the levels of prostaglandins and thromboxanes but in the presence of essential omega-3 fatty acids can also increases the body's own production of various lipid mediators, including resolvins like AT-RvD1, which promote resolution of inflammatory processes", says Professor Lars I Eriksson, head of the research group behind these findings at the Section of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at Karolinska Institutet. "These molecules, aside from reversing inflammation, also promote healing and tissue regeneration that are of relevance to patient safety and recovery. We hope to apply these therapies to prevent cognitive decline in at-risk surgical patients by translating our findings into patient care."
###
The study was supported by grants from the Swedish Research Council, Thorsten Sderberg Foundation and European Society of Anesthesiology (ESA), amongst others.
Publication: 'Aspirin-triggered resolvin D1 prevents surgery-induced cognitive decline', Niccol Terrando, Marta Gmez-Galn, Ting Yang, Mattias Carlstrm, Daniel Gustavsson, Ralph Harding, Maria Lindskog, and Lars I Eriksson, The FASEB Journal, online 24 May 2013, doi:10.1096/fj.13-230276, Vol. 27 September 2013.
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Aspirin triggered resolvin protects against cognitive decline after surgeryPublic release date: 28-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Resolvins are molecules naturally produced by the body from omega-3 fatty acids a process that can be jumpstarted by common aspirin. In a new study, published in The FASEB Journal, researchers at Karolinska Institutet describe how resolvins could protect against the cognitive impairment that often affects recovery of surgical and critically ill patients. The study adds new knowledge on how peripheral surgery affects the brain and neuronal function contributing to the processes of cognitive decline.
Hospitalization for surgery or critical illness can lead to cognitive dysfunction in some patients, especially the elderly. This is often reported as inattention, disorganized thinking, altered consciousness and prolonged disruptions in learning and memory functions. The mechanisms whereby surgery and/or anesthesia may lead to cognitive impairment remain unclear, but the researchers behind the current study have previously demonstrated that inflammation and release of pro-inflammatory molecules, like cytokines, play an important role in causing brain inflammation and cognitive decline after surgery.
Today there is no effective treatment for postoperative cognitive dysfunctions. However, the results now presented in The FASEB Journal suggest that it is possible to prevent and treat this condition by turning off and 'resolving' the inflammation that underlies surgery-induced cognitive decline. In the current preclinical study, treatment with a single dose of aspirin-triggered resolvin D1 (AT-RvD1), a substance from the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), protected the brain from memory dysfunction after surgery.
The treatment also had an effect on neuronal function when given 24 hours after surgery. In their study, the researchers also further describe how surgery affects brain function in general, contributing to processes of neuroinflammation and memory impairment.
"We report a novel role for AT-RvD1 in restoring memory dysfunction after surgery", says Dr. Niccol Terrando, Assistant Professor at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, who lead the study. "It was remarkable that AT-RvD1 displayed such unexpected effects on the central nervous system when administered at very low doses in the systemic circulation using this surgical model."
"Aspirin works as an anti-inflammatory by lowering the levels of prostaglandins and thromboxanes but in the presence of essential omega-3 fatty acids can also increases the body's own production of various lipid mediators, including resolvins like AT-RvD1, which promote resolution of inflammatory processes", says Professor Lars I Eriksson, head of the research group behind these findings at the Section of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at Karolinska Institutet. "These molecules, aside from reversing inflammation, also promote healing and tissue regeneration that are of relevance to patient safety and recovery. We hope to apply these therapies to prevent cognitive decline in at-risk surgical patients by translating our findings into patient care."
###
The study was supported by grants from the Swedish Research Council, Thorsten Sderberg Foundation and European Society of Anesthesiology (ESA), amongst others.
Publication: 'Aspirin-triggered resolvin D1 prevents surgery-induced cognitive decline', Niccol Terrando, Marta Gmez-Galn, Ting Yang, Mattias Carlstrm, Daniel Gustavsson, Ralph Harding, Maria Lindskog, and Lars I Eriksson, The FASEB Journal, online 24 May 2013, doi:10.1096/fj.13-230276, Vol. 27 September 2013.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Most cord organizers I’ve seen are made of Velcro or plastic or even fabric, but very few of them are made of leather. ?The Cord Taco 5-Pack from the This is Ground shop on Etsy has five leather cord organizers for the price of a single leather organizer from some companies. ?Each Taco is a [...]
LONDON (Reuters) - The government said on Tuesday it had secured billions of pounds of spending cuts at government ministries, but still faces an uphill struggle to agree further reductions equivalent to 80 percent of its 11.5 billion pound target.
Battling to reduce a big public deficit, chancellor George Osborne said seven government departments had agreed to cut between 8 and 10 percent from their 2015/16 budgets as part of a government spending review due to be announced on June 26.
But finding the remaining cuts of around 9 billion pounds is likely to strain relations within a Conservative party already divided over Britain's membership of the European Union and gay marriage as ministers try to defend their own budgets.
Britain's Conservative-led government is cutting spending to try to rein in a 114.2 billion pound budget deficit in the face of calls from the International Monetary Fund to spend more now to fund investment and avoid crimping a nascent economic recovery.
Osborne said he had managed to get government departments such as the ministry of justice and the department of energy to agree to the spending cuts ahead of the deadline and that he thought talks to find more reductions were going "pretty well".
"I don't think anyone was expecting me to turn up at the end of May and say I've already agreed seven departments and the actual date when I've got to announce the whole thing is at the end of June," he said in an interview with the BBC.
Osborne on Tuesday ruled out further cuts to a welfare budget that has already undergone a radical overhaul and is a politically-sensitive topic for the left-leaning Liberal Democrats who are the junior partner in a coalition government.
Earlier this year, the government introduced a raft of new welfare cuts, prompting senior Liberal Democrats to try and block any further measures.
RINGFENCED BUDGETS
A decision to protect the education, health and international development budgets from cuts has put other ministers under more pressure to find savings.
Among those departments yet to declare how they will find the savings required are those with some of the biggest budgets such as defence, business and the home office (interior ministry), as well as the body that funds local governments.
Following the killing of a British soldier in London at the hands of two suspected Islamist militants, interior minister Theresa May has said the budget for counter-terrorism police spending should be protected.
Defence secretary Philip Hammond has also publicly resisted a reduction to his 34 billion pound budget, saying significant further cuts would erode Britain's military capability.
The opposition Labour party has been openly critical of the government's austerity strategy and condemned the scale of the cuts the government is targeting.
"(Osborne) seems set to spend the next two years sticking to policies that are badly failing on living standards, growth and even deficit reduction," said Chris Leslie, Labour's spokesman on financial affairs.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas and Andrew Osborn; Writing by William James and William Schomberg; Editing by Catherine Evans)
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Public release date: 28-May-2013
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