Changing cancer's environment to halt its spread

Public release date: 21-May-2013
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Contact: Keri Stedman
keri.stedman@childrens.harvard.edu
617-919-3110
Boston Children's Hospital

Study clarifies roles of anti-angiogenic proteins in discouraging metastasis and reveals potential anti-metastasis drug

Boston, Mass.By studying the roles two proteins, thrombospondin-1 and prosaposin, play in discouraging cancer metastasis, a trans-Atlantic research team has identified a five-amino acid fragment of prosaposin that significantly reduces metastatic spread in mouse models of prostate, breast and lung cancer. The findings suggest that a prosaposin-based drug could potentially block metastasis in a variety of cancers.

The study team, led by Randolph Watnick, PhD, at Boston Children's Hospital, Vivek Mittal, PhD, at Weill Cornell Medical College and Lars Akslen, MD, PhD, at the University of Bergen, released their findings in the May issue of the journal Cancer Discovery.

The main cause of cancer mortality is not the primary tumor itself, but rather its spreadmetastasisto other locations in the body and subsequent organ failure. Previous studies by Watnick, a member of Boston Children's Vascular Biology Program, and others have shown that tumors capable of metastasis release proteins that help prepare new homes in distant organs for their metastatic progeny.

Watnick's lab has also previously shown that tumors that cannot metastasize release prosaposin. This protein activates expression of a second protein called thrombospondin-1, a potent anti-angiogenic factor, in tissues where metastatic tumor cells could potentially take root. Thrombospondin-1 makes these otherwise-permissive tissues resistant to metastasis.

"In the past, we've struggled to determine the source of thrombospondin-1 production," Watnick says. "We knew it was coming from the tumor microenvironment, normal cells adjacent to the sites of potential metastasis, but we could not tell if those cells were native to the microenvironment or had been recruited from the bone marrow."

Using mouse models of breast, prostate and lung cancer, Watnick and his colleagues confirmed through bone marrow transplant and gene knockout experiments that both metastatic and non-metastatic tumors induce cells from the bone marrowspecifically, monocytes expressing the Gr1 surface markerto migrate to the lungs. However, non-metastatic tumors then trigger these monocytes to produce thrombospondin-1 by releasing prosaposin.

"Others have shown that tumors recruit monocytes to future metastatic sites, which help to set up a permissive environment for tumor cells to metastasize, " Watnick notes. "Our results suggest that non-metastatic tumors do the same thing, but instead of creating a permissive environment, the monocytes create a refractory environment by producing thrombospondin-1."

Watnick thinks this finding creates a window of therapeutic opportunity. "If we can trigger monocytes recruited by pro-metastatic tumors to produce thrombospondin-1 like those recruited by non-metastatic tumors, we will be able to hijack the mechanism by which tumors create metastasis-permissive sites to close the door on those sites."

Thrombospondin-1 itself, however, is too large to serve as a drug, and studies using shortened versions of the protein have not been promising. Watnick and his collaborators instead are focusing on prosaposin. To find the smallest part of prosaposin capable of activating thrombospondin-1, the team took an 80-amino acid region of prosaposin and whittled it down bit by bit until they isolated a five amino-acid peptide that could trigger thrombospondin-1 production as strongly as the full-length protein.

When administered in mouse models of metastatic cancer, this peptide significantly reduced metastasis compared to scrambled versions of the peptide (with the same amino acids but in different sequence), but only in mice with monocytes capable of producing thrombospondin-1.

Strikingly, Watnick and his collaborators also found that prostate cancer patients whose tumors expressed higher levels of prosaposin had significantly greater overall survival than patients whose tumors expressed low levels of prosaposin. Thus, with additional work, Watnick believes the prosaposin peptide could be the foundation for a tumor- and location-agnostic method of treating or preventing metastasis in patients with advanced cancers.

"The size of this peptide makes it ideal for drug development," Watnick says. "It's about as large as tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as Gleevec or Iressa, and could potentially be formulated in multiple ways for different types of cancer. I could also foresee using a therapeutic agent like this peptide as an adjuvant therapy, for example just as we now use chemotherapy or hormonal therapy for breast cancer."

Boston Children's Technology and Innovation Development Office (TIDO) has filed patent applications on these peptides, peptide derivatives and their uses. A start-up company is in the works.

###

The study was supported by the National Cancer Institute (grants R01CA135417 and U54CA143876), the Norwegian Cancer Society, the Norwegian Research Council, the Robert I. Goldman Foundation, the Elsa U. Pardee Foundation, the Boston Children's Hospital Technology Development Fund, the Government of Navarra, Spain, and the Navarra Chamber of Commerce.

Boston Children's Hospital is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. More than 1,100 scientists, including nine members of the National Academy of Sciences, 11 members of the Institute of Medicine and 11 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Boston Children's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Boston Children's today is a 395-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care grounded in the values of excellence in patient care and sensitivity to the complex needs and diversity of children and families. Boston Children's also is a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more information about research and clinical innovation at Boston Children's, visit: http://vectorblog.org/.

---

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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.

Public release date: 21-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Keri Stedman
keri.stedman@childrens.harvard.edu
617-919-3110
Boston Children's Hospital

Study clarifies roles of anti-angiogenic proteins in discouraging metastasis and reveals potential anti-metastasis drug

Boston, Mass.By studying the roles two proteins, thrombospondin-1 and prosaposin, play in discouraging cancer metastasis, a trans-Atlantic research team has identified a five-amino acid fragment of prosaposin that significantly reduces metastatic spread in mouse models of prostate, breast and lung cancer. The findings suggest that a prosaposin-based drug could potentially block metastasis in a variety of cancers.

The study team, led by Randolph Watnick, PhD, at Boston Children's Hospital, Vivek Mittal, PhD, at Weill Cornell Medical College and Lars Akslen, MD, PhD, at the University of Bergen, released their findings in the May issue of the journal Cancer Discovery.

The main cause of cancer mortality is not the primary tumor itself, but rather its spreadmetastasisto other locations in the body and subsequent organ failure. Previous studies by Watnick, a member of Boston Children's Vascular Biology Program, and others have shown that tumors capable of metastasis release proteins that help prepare new homes in distant organs for their metastatic progeny.

Watnick's lab has also previously shown that tumors that cannot metastasize release prosaposin. This protein activates expression of a second protein called thrombospondin-1, a potent anti-angiogenic factor, in tissues where metastatic tumor cells could potentially take root. Thrombospondin-1 makes these otherwise-permissive tissues resistant to metastasis.

"In the past, we've struggled to determine the source of thrombospondin-1 production," Watnick says. "We knew it was coming from the tumor microenvironment, normal cells adjacent to the sites of potential metastasis, but we could not tell if those cells were native to the microenvironment or had been recruited from the bone marrow."

Using mouse models of breast, prostate and lung cancer, Watnick and his colleagues confirmed through bone marrow transplant and gene knockout experiments that both metastatic and non-metastatic tumors induce cells from the bone marrowspecifically, monocytes expressing the Gr1 surface markerto migrate to the lungs. However, non-metastatic tumors then trigger these monocytes to produce thrombospondin-1 by releasing prosaposin.

"Others have shown that tumors recruit monocytes to future metastatic sites, which help to set up a permissive environment for tumor cells to metastasize, " Watnick notes. "Our results suggest that non-metastatic tumors do the same thing, but instead of creating a permissive environment, the monocytes create a refractory environment by producing thrombospondin-1."

Watnick thinks this finding creates a window of therapeutic opportunity. "If we can trigger monocytes recruited by pro-metastatic tumors to produce thrombospondin-1 like those recruited by non-metastatic tumors, we will be able to hijack the mechanism by which tumors create metastasis-permissive sites to close the door on those sites."

Thrombospondin-1 itself, however, is too large to serve as a drug, and studies using shortened versions of the protein have not been promising. Watnick and his collaborators instead are focusing on prosaposin. To find the smallest part of prosaposin capable of activating thrombospondin-1, the team took an 80-amino acid region of prosaposin and whittled it down bit by bit until they isolated a five amino-acid peptide that could trigger thrombospondin-1 production as strongly as the full-length protein.

When administered in mouse models of metastatic cancer, this peptide significantly reduced metastasis compared to scrambled versions of the peptide (with the same amino acids but in different sequence), but only in mice with monocytes capable of producing thrombospondin-1.

Strikingly, Watnick and his collaborators also found that prostate cancer patients whose tumors expressed higher levels of prosaposin had significantly greater overall survival than patients whose tumors expressed low levels of prosaposin. Thus, with additional work, Watnick believes the prosaposin peptide could be the foundation for a tumor- and location-agnostic method of treating or preventing metastasis in patients with advanced cancers.

"The size of this peptide makes it ideal for drug development," Watnick says. "It's about as large as tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as Gleevec or Iressa, and could potentially be formulated in multiple ways for different types of cancer. I could also foresee using a therapeutic agent like this peptide as an adjuvant therapy, for example just as we now use chemotherapy or hormonal therapy for breast cancer."

Boston Children's Technology and Innovation Development Office (TIDO) has filed patent applications on these peptides, peptide derivatives and their uses. A start-up company is in the works.

###

The study was supported by the National Cancer Institute (grants R01CA135417 and U54CA143876), the Norwegian Cancer Society, the Norwegian Research Council, the Robert I. Goldman Foundation, the Elsa U. Pardee Foundation, the Boston Children's Hospital Technology Development Fund, the Government of Navarra, Spain, and the Navarra Chamber of Commerce.

Boston Children's Hospital is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. More than 1,100 scientists, including nine members of the National Academy of Sciences, 11 members of the Institute of Medicine and 11 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Boston Children's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Boston Children's today is a 395-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care grounded in the values of excellence in patient care and sensitivity to the complex needs and diversity of children and families. Boston Children's also is a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more information about research and clinical innovation at Boston Children's, visit: http://vectorblog.org/.

---

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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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/bch-cce052113.php

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DFG establishes 11 new research training groups

Public release date: 22-May-2013
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Contact: Marco Finetti
marco.finetti@dfg.de
49-228-885-2230
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Topics range from labor productivity to power of interpretation and software infrastructures / first German-Israeli project / 39 million euros for 4.5 years

This news release is available in German.

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) is establishing 11 new Research Training Groups to further support early career researchers in Germany. This decision was made by the relevant Grants Committee in Bonn. Funding of approximately 39 million euros has been awarded to the new programmes for an initial period of four and a half years. In addition to the 11 new Research Training Groups, the Grants Committee approved the extension of six for another four and a half years. Research Training Groups offer doctoral researchers the chance to complete their theses in a structured research and qualification programme at a high academic level.

The topics covered by the new Research Training Groups range from labour productivity to conflicts of interpretational power and the dynamics of quantum systems. Others will study the development and mathematical analysis of new statistical methods, the challenges facing the realisation of human rights, and the modelling of software infrastructures.

Two of the new grants are International Research Training Groups (IRTGs). In addition to a German-American collaboration, the first German-Israeli cooperation has been established, bringing together researchers in the fields of criminology, law, politology and philosophy in Berlin and Jerusalem.

The new Research Training Groups
(in alphabetical order by host university)

The first German-Israeli Research Training Group will study the most pressing challenges facing the realisation of human rights. Named "Human Rights under Pressure Ethics, Law and Politics", the IRTG will consider human rights during times of crisis and emergency and in terms of their relationship to diversity and globalisation. The somewhat abstract concept of human rights will be given concrete meaning with the historical relationship between Germany and Israel and thus open up new insights, transcending purely national and traditional notions of human rights.

(Host University: Free University of Berlin, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Klaus Hoffmann-Holland; Partner University: the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel)

The economic structures of earlier cultures are of interest in the context of current debates on globalisation, economic crisis and the depletion of natural resources. These structures are the primary research interest of the RTG "Archaeology of Premodern Economic Areas". The group intends to study the structure, efficiency and dynamics of the economic systems and economic areas of premodern societies. The research team will begin with the premise that phases of economic prosperity contribute to the dynamic development and stability of early societies, whereas economic crisis can trigger phases of upheaval.

(Host Universities: University of Bonn, University of Cologne, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Michael Heinzelmann)

The RTG "RoSI: Role-Based Software Infrastructures for Consistently Context-Sensitive Systems" is concerned with the concept of role modelling in software development. In programming languages, data modelling and access control, roles have been used as a means of context modelling in individual cases but never consistently throughout the software development process. Hence, the aim of the group is to furnish evidence that roles can be modelled consistently. This will create opportunities for new and innovative software architectures, which are important for example in context-sensitive natural-energy-based computing and software for cyber-physical systems in the home, in transport and in manufacturing.

(Host University: Technical University of Dresden, Spokesperson: Professor Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Lehner)

The heart and blood vessels influence the function of other organs in the human body, such as the kidneys. Mechanical forces, oxygen availability and locally released signal molecules are all crucial factors which play an important role in modulating cell-cell communication, cell migration and cell-matrix interactions in the cardiovascular system. The German-American IRTG "Intra- and Interorgan Communication of the Cardiovascular System" intends to study the functional and molecular mechanisms of communication within and between the cells of the cardiovascular system as the basis for normal and pathologically altered cell and organ function.

(Host University: University of Dsseldorf, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Axel Gdecke; Partner University: University of Virginia, USA)

In philosophy and sociology, the uncertainty of human experience is referred to as contingency. The RTG "Precaution, Prevision, Prediction: Managing Contingency" will study the problem of contingency from a historical perspective and pose the question of how it can be managed through action. The focus will be on human beings and their current behaviour in the face of an uncertain future. The group's approach is fundamentally different from previous analyses of contingency: the focus is not on perceptions about the future but on the actors' actions in relation to future. In this way the team intends to define the plurality of horizons of possibility in society.

(Host University: University of Duisburg-Essen, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Stefan Brakensiek)

Nanotechnology offers ways of structuring materials at the smallest level and thus of achieving new properties and functionalities. However, this requires modern forms of nanocharacterisation and the development of new and advanced in situ procedures. This is the area of study of the RTG "In situ Microscopy with Electrons, X-rays and Scanning Probes". In situ methods make it possible to study the formation, stability and mechanical integrity of nanostructures at the nanoscopic and microscopic levels and understand relationships between structure and functionality.

(Host University: University of Erlangen-Nrnberg, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Erdmann Spiecker)

Far-reaching changes are taking place in statistics as a result of the ever-growing and ever more complex datasets available in applications for example in meteorology and high-frequency trading on the stock markets. The RTG "Statistical Modelling of Complex Systems and Processes Advanced Nonparametric Approaches" seeks to develop and mathematically analyse new statistical methods. The aim of the group, based at the universities of Heidelberg and Mannheim, is to give doctoral researchers a modern mathematical basis for front-line research in theoretical statistics.

(Host Universities: University of Heidelberg, University of Mannheim, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Enno Mammen)

In an economic system there is a direct link between labour productivity and standard of living. This becomes all the more pertinent when we consider the ageing population and the increase in the number of years spent in education and training. The RTG "Microeconomic Determinants of Labour Productivity" will analyse the determining factors affecting labour productivity at a microeconomic level, taking into account both individual decisions and the role of incentive systems, innovations and the organisation of labour. In particular, the group will analyse heterogeneity in labour productivity in order to reach conclusions for employees, businesses and policymakers.

(Host University: LMU Munich, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Carsten Eckel)

The RTG "Combinatorial Structures in Geometry" seeks to establish closer links between algebra, analysis, topology and stochastics by looking at the central topic which gives the group its name. By bridging the gaps between these different areas at the interface between theoretical and applied mathematics and informatics, the group intends to develop new methods and gain new insights. The RTG also intends to counter overspecialisation on the part of its members in their respective fields.

(Host University: University of Osnabrck, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Matthias Reitzner)

How does interpretation power emerge, "function" and disintegrate? The RTG "Power of Interpretation. Religion and Belief Systems in Conflicts of Interpretational Power" will study these questions in the context of religion and other (philosophical or ideological) belief systems. The project seeks to analyse significant constellations and conflicts that arise around the power to explain, interpret, and define meaning in both contemporary and historical contexts. Particularly in today's pluralised societies, established interpretational power is becoming increasingly precarious as seen, for example, in clerical crises. It is at these points that conflicts arise, and an interpretation's claim of recognition and validity needs rationalisation.

(Host University: University of Rostock, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Philipp Stoellger)

The applications of the laws of quantum mechanics are becoming more common in science and technology than ever before. For example, neither magnetic resonance imaging nor photovoltaics would be possible without quantum mechanics. Although the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics are known as general mathematical equations, these are often very hard to solve in specific cases. Hence, basic quantum phenomena which occur in applications often cannot be correctly described mathematically. The RTG "Spectral Theory and Dynamics of Quantum Systems" intends to address this problem. The group will advance the mathematical level in order to make better qualitative insights available to allied disciplines.

(Host Universities: University of Stuttgart, University of Tbingen, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Marcel Griesemer)

###

Further Information

Further information will also be provided by the spokespersons of the Research Training Groups.

Contact at the DFG Head Office:

Sabine Mnkemller, Research Careers Division
Tel. +49 228 885-2737, Sabine.Moenkemoeller@dfg.de

More details about the funding programme and current Research Training Groups are available at: http://www.dfg.de/gk/en/

---

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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.

Public release date: 22-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Marco Finetti
marco.finetti@dfg.de
49-228-885-2230
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Topics range from labor productivity to power of interpretation and software infrastructures / first German-Israeli project / 39 million euros for 4.5 years

This news release is available in German.

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) is establishing 11 new Research Training Groups to further support early career researchers in Germany. This decision was made by the relevant Grants Committee in Bonn. Funding of approximately 39 million euros has been awarded to the new programmes for an initial period of four and a half years. In addition to the 11 new Research Training Groups, the Grants Committee approved the extension of six for another four and a half years. Research Training Groups offer doctoral researchers the chance to complete their theses in a structured research and qualification programme at a high academic level.

The topics covered by the new Research Training Groups range from labour productivity to conflicts of interpretational power and the dynamics of quantum systems. Others will study the development and mathematical analysis of new statistical methods, the challenges facing the realisation of human rights, and the modelling of software infrastructures.

Two of the new grants are International Research Training Groups (IRTGs). In addition to a German-American collaboration, the first German-Israeli cooperation has been established, bringing together researchers in the fields of criminology, law, politology and philosophy in Berlin and Jerusalem.

The new Research Training Groups
(in alphabetical order by host university)

The first German-Israeli Research Training Group will study the most pressing challenges facing the realisation of human rights. Named "Human Rights under Pressure Ethics, Law and Politics", the IRTG will consider human rights during times of crisis and emergency and in terms of their relationship to diversity and globalisation. The somewhat abstract concept of human rights will be given concrete meaning with the historical relationship between Germany and Israel and thus open up new insights, transcending purely national and traditional notions of human rights.

(Host University: Free University of Berlin, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Klaus Hoffmann-Holland; Partner University: the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel)

The economic structures of earlier cultures are of interest in the context of current debates on globalisation, economic crisis and the depletion of natural resources. These structures are the primary research interest of the RTG "Archaeology of Premodern Economic Areas". The group intends to study the structure, efficiency and dynamics of the economic systems and economic areas of premodern societies. The research team will begin with the premise that phases of economic prosperity contribute to the dynamic development and stability of early societies, whereas economic crisis can trigger phases of upheaval.

(Host Universities: University of Bonn, University of Cologne, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Michael Heinzelmann)

The RTG "RoSI: Role-Based Software Infrastructures for Consistently Context-Sensitive Systems" is concerned with the concept of role modelling in software development. In programming languages, data modelling and access control, roles have been used as a means of context modelling in individual cases but never consistently throughout the software development process. Hence, the aim of the group is to furnish evidence that roles can be modelled consistently. This will create opportunities for new and innovative software architectures, which are important for example in context-sensitive natural-energy-based computing and software for cyber-physical systems in the home, in transport and in manufacturing.

(Host University: Technical University of Dresden, Spokesperson: Professor Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Lehner)

The heart and blood vessels influence the function of other organs in the human body, such as the kidneys. Mechanical forces, oxygen availability and locally released signal molecules are all crucial factors which play an important role in modulating cell-cell communication, cell migration and cell-matrix interactions in the cardiovascular system. The German-American IRTG "Intra- and Interorgan Communication of the Cardiovascular System" intends to study the functional and molecular mechanisms of communication within and between the cells of the cardiovascular system as the basis for normal and pathologically altered cell and organ function.

(Host University: University of Dsseldorf, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Axel Gdecke; Partner University: University of Virginia, USA)

In philosophy and sociology, the uncertainty of human experience is referred to as contingency. The RTG "Precaution, Prevision, Prediction: Managing Contingency" will study the problem of contingency from a historical perspective and pose the question of how it can be managed through action. The focus will be on human beings and their current behaviour in the face of an uncertain future. The group's approach is fundamentally different from previous analyses of contingency: the focus is not on perceptions about the future but on the actors' actions in relation to future. In this way the team intends to define the plurality of horizons of possibility in society.

(Host University: University of Duisburg-Essen, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Stefan Brakensiek)

Nanotechnology offers ways of structuring materials at the smallest level and thus of achieving new properties and functionalities. However, this requires modern forms of nanocharacterisation and the development of new and advanced in situ procedures. This is the area of study of the RTG "In situ Microscopy with Electrons, X-rays and Scanning Probes". In situ methods make it possible to study the formation, stability and mechanical integrity of nanostructures at the nanoscopic and microscopic levels and understand relationships between structure and functionality.

(Host University: University of Erlangen-Nrnberg, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Erdmann Spiecker)

Far-reaching changes are taking place in statistics as a result of the ever-growing and ever more complex datasets available in applications for example in meteorology and high-frequency trading on the stock markets. The RTG "Statistical Modelling of Complex Systems and Processes Advanced Nonparametric Approaches" seeks to develop and mathematically analyse new statistical methods. The aim of the group, based at the universities of Heidelberg and Mannheim, is to give doctoral researchers a modern mathematical basis for front-line research in theoretical statistics.

(Host Universities: University of Heidelberg, University of Mannheim, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Enno Mammen)

In an economic system there is a direct link between labour productivity and standard of living. This becomes all the more pertinent when we consider the ageing population and the increase in the number of years spent in education and training. The RTG "Microeconomic Determinants of Labour Productivity" will analyse the determining factors affecting labour productivity at a microeconomic level, taking into account both individual decisions and the role of incentive systems, innovations and the organisation of labour. In particular, the group will analyse heterogeneity in labour productivity in order to reach conclusions for employees, businesses and policymakers.

(Host University: LMU Munich, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Carsten Eckel)

The RTG "Combinatorial Structures in Geometry" seeks to establish closer links between algebra, analysis, topology and stochastics by looking at the central topic which gives the group its name. By bridging the gaps between these different areas at the interface between theoretical and applied mathematics and informatics, the group intends to develop new methods and gain new insights. The RTG also intends to counter overspecialisation on the part of its members in their respective fields.

(Host University: University of Osnabrck, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Matthias Reitzner)

How does interpretation power emerge, "function" and disintegrate? The RTG "Power of Interpretation. Religion and Belief Systems in Conflicts of Interpretational Power" will study these questions in the context of religion and other (philosophical or ideological) belief systems. The project seeks to analyse significant constellations and conflicts that arise around the power to explain, interpret, and define meaning in both contemporary and historical contexts. Particularly in today's pluralised societies, established interpretational power is becoming increasingly precarious as seen, for example, in clerical crises. It is at these points that conflicts arise, and an interpretation's claim of recognition and validity needs rationalisation.

(Host University: University of Rostock, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Philipp Stoellger)

The applications of the laws of quantum mechanics are becoming more common in science and technology than ever before. For example, neither magnetic resonance imaging nor photovoltaics would be possible without quantum mechanics. Although the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics are known as general mathematical equations, these are often very hard to solve in specific cases. Hence, basic quantum phenomena which occur in applications often cannot be correctly described mathematically. The RTG "Spectral Theory and Dynamics of Quantum Systems" intends to address this problem. The group will advance the mathematical level in order to make better qualitative insights available to allied disciplines.

(Host Universities: University of Stuttgart, University of Tbingen, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Marcel Griesemer)

###

Further Information

Further information will also be provided by the spokespersons of the Research Training Groups.

Contact at the DFG Head Office:

Sabine Mnkemller, Research Careers Division
Tel. +49 228 885-2737, Sabine.Moenkemoeller@dfg.de

More details about the funding programme and current Research Training Groups are available at: http://www.dfg.de/gk/en/

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/df-de1052213.php

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Trout hits for cycle, drives in 5, Angels rout M's

Los Angeles Angels' Josh Hamilton (32) hits a two-run home run against Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Aaron Harang, right, in the first inning during a baseball game Tuesday, May 21, 2013 in Anaheim. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

Los Angeles Angels' Josh Hamilton (32) hits a two-run home run against Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Aaron Harang, right, in the first inning during a baseball game Tuesday, May 21, 2013 in Anaheim. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

Los Angeles Angels' Albert Pujols, right, yells out to third base coach Dino Ebel, left, after rounding third to score on a two-run home run by Angels' Josh Hamilton in the first inning against the Seattle Mariners during a baseball game Tuesday, May 21, 2013 in Anaheim. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

Los Angeles Angels' Mike Trout, second from left, congratulates Angels' Howie Kendrick (47) for hitting a two-run home run in the fourth inning against the Seattle Mariners during a baseball game Tuesday, May 21, 2013 in Anaheim. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

Seattle Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager (15) lets out a scream after third base umpire Gerry Davis, right, called Los Angeles Angels' Mike Trout, center, safe after a tag, for a triple, in the fourth inning during a baseball game Tuesday, May 21, 2013 in Anaheim. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

Los Angeles Angels' Josh Hamilton, right, slides under the tag of Seattle Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager, left, for a triple in the fourth inning during a baseball game Tuesday, May 21, 2013 in Anaheim. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) ? Mike Trout even surprised himself in adding to his growing list of impressive big league achievements.

Trout hit for the cycle and drove in five runs, Josh Hamilton celebrated his 32nd birthday with a homer and a triple his first two times up, and Howie Kendrick also went deep in the Los Angeles Angels' 12-0 rout of the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.

Trout, last season's AL rookie of the year and MVP runner-up, became the youngest AL player to hit for the cycle and third youngest in the major leagues since 1930. He's also the sixth player in Angels history to complete the cycle and the first to do it since Chone Figgins on Sept. 16, 2006, at Texas.

"It was one of those nights," Trout said. "I didn't really think about it until about the eighth inning. And when I got on deck, I started feeling it a little bit. To be honest, I thought Josh was going to hit for the cycle after his those first two at-bats. I wasn't thinking about myself."

After taking a called third strike his first time up, Trout reached on an infield single in the third inning, hit an RBI triple in the fourth and added a three-run double in the sixth before homering in the eighth on a 2-0 pitch from Lucas Luetge.

"At 2-0, I think I was swinging at anything," Trout said. "It was in the back of my mind, trying to hit a home run. I just barreled it up and it went out. It feels great."

Jerome Williams (3-1) scattered six hits over eight innings, struck out six and walked two while helping send the Mariners to their season-high fifth straight loss. The right-hander got one more run of support as he did in his three-previous starts this season combined.

Aaron Harang (1-5) lasted only 3 1-2 innings in his first outing since May 7, giving up seven runs and nine hits ? seven of them for extra bases. The 35-year-old right-hander, who missed his previous turn in the rotation because of stiffness in his lower back, has yet to go more than six innings in any of his six starts with the Mariners.

"About the only good thing that came out of tonight was the fact that the back wasn't an issue," Harang said.

The Angels grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first. Erick Aybar led off with a double, Albert Pujols singled him home, and Hamilton drove a 3-2 pitch to left-center for his sixth homer. In the three previous games Hamilton played on his birthday in the major leagues, he did not have an RBI in 12 at-bats.

Los Angeles extended the margin to 7-0 in the fourth, scoring four runs on five extra-base hits. Hamilton legged out his second triple of the season leading off and Kendrick drove the next pitch to right-center for his seventh home run, one fewer than he had last year. Alberto Callaspo followed with a double, Aybar drove him in with a two-out double, and Trout chased Harang with his triple to right-center.

"We saw him do a lot of these things last year as a leadoff guy, and now he's hitting in the two spot," Kendrick said. "He's a great player and he has the ability do some of the things he's done ? especially being a five-tool player like he is."

Luetge followed Danny Farquhar out of the Seattle bullpen during the Angels' four-run sixth, giving up Trout's three-run double on his first pitch. Pujols got an RBI single two pitcher later to give the Angels an 11-0 cushion.

The Mariners threatened in the third before Kyle Seager grounded into an inning-ending double play with runners at first and second. At the time, Seager had the most at-bats by any AL player who hadn't grounded into one (168).

The game marked the return to Angel Stadium of Mariners first baseman/DH Kendrys Morales, following the December trade that sent the switch-hitter to Seattle for starting pitcher Jason Vargas. He was one for 4 with a ground-rule double and two strikeouts.

NOTES: Aybar left for a pinch-hitter in the sixth due to soreness in his right knee. ... Angels LHP Sean Burnett was reinstated from the disabled list, bolstering an injury-ravaged bullpen that is still waiting for Ryan Madson and Kevin Jepsen to come off the DL while rookies Robert Coello and Dane De La Rosa fill the void. RHP Ryan Brasier, another rookie reliever, was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake to clear a roster spot for Burnett ? who missed 22 games because of irritation in his forearm. ... Mariners SS Brendan Ryan, 0 for 14 lifetime against Williams, got the night off. ... Harang's next start will be his 300th in the majors. ... Angels ace Jered Weaver, sidelined since April 8 because of a broken bone in his non-pitching arm, is scheduled to throw in an extended spring training game at the team's Arizona complex on Wednesday and may not need a minor league rehab assignment. "There's only so much you can get done in minor league rehab starts," manager Mike Scioscia said. "We definitely want to control this and get him into a five-inning look with 75 to 80 pitches, and we can accomplish that down there. I think that where he lines up after that is going to be contingent on how he feels coming out of it."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-05-22-BBA-Mariners-Angels/id-6beead2f8baa47239896bca29f346327

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Radio Rymatica Online/Internet Radio/Podcast/Music Videos ...

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.radiorymatica.com/2013/05/new-york-city-model-castings-bookings.html

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Join the Engadget HD Podcast live on Ustream at 8:30PM ET

It's Monday, and you know what that means; another Engadget HD Podcast. We hope you will join us live when the Engadget HD podcast starts recording at 8:30PM. If you'll be joining us, be sure to go ahead and get ready by reviewing the list of topics after the break, then you'll be ready to participate in the live chat.

Filed under: HD

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/20/join-the-engadget-hd-podcast-live-on-ustream-at-8-30pm-et/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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ESPN cutting workforce, 'smartly managing costs'

NEW YORK (AP) ? ESPN is cutting its workforce, the latest Disney division to reduce staff.

"We are implementing changes across the company to enhance our continued growth while smartly managing costs," the sports media giant said in a statement Tuesday. "While difficult, we are confident that it will make us more competitive, innovative and productive."

The company would not say how many jobs are being eliminated, but they include unfilled positions. ESPN has about 7,000 employees worldwide, with about 4,000 at its headquarters in Bristol, Conn. The vast majority work behind the scenes.

In April, Disney laid off about 150 people at LucasArts, the video-game making division of Lucasfilm, four months after acquiring the company behind "Star Wars" for $4.06 billion. Disney also laid off about the same number at the movie studio in April to cope with the decline in DVD sales as consumer habits shift to digital forms of home entertainment.

Still, Disney has been on a roll financially, beating or matching earnings per share estimates for the last eight quarters. After it reported a 32 percent gain in net income for its fiscal second-quarter earnings two weeks ago, more than a dozen Wall Street analysts raised their price targets on Disney stock to an average of nearly $72. Shares of The Walt Disney Co. were down 2 cents at $66.10 in midday trading Tuesday.

Fees from distributors for ESPN grew faster than expected in the latest quarter, while ad growth came in below expectations because of smaller audience numbers.

ESPN also has seen costs increase with skyrocketing prices for the broadcasting rights to live sports. For instance, the 12-year deal announced in November to televise the new college football playoff system will be worth about $470 million annually. The current four-year contract to air the Sugar, Orange and Fiesta bowls along with the BCS title game is worth about $125 million per year.

Live sports have become increasingly valuable in an age of fractured audiences and DVRs. That drives up rights fees, but also makes the programming more appealing to advertisers and allows ESPN to try to charge more from cable and satellite operators.

While announcing cuts Tuesday, ESPN will still be expanding in other areas. Earlier this month, it revealed that it was forming a network with the Southeastern Conference. The new network will launch in August 2014 under a 20-year agreement.

In August 2011, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced that ESPN would receive millions of dollars in state tax breaks with the construction of a digital technology building and the addition of at least 200 jobs over five years.

ESPN received a 10-year, $17.5 million state loan to build the digital center.

Network spokesman Mike Soltys said the construction project was not affected by Tuesday's cuts.

"Notwithstanding these changes, we remain on track to reach the increase in jobs that are set out in the goals in the 'First Five' program," he said.

Andrew Doba, a spokesman for the governor's office, confirmed that ESPN was on track to meet its hiring goals.

"The state does have claw-back measures in place if a company fails to meet its target, but we have no reason to believe that they will be needed in this case," he said.

___

Associated Press Writer Pat Eaton-Robb and AP Business Writer Stephen Singer in Hartford, Conn., and AP Business Writer Ryan Nakashima in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-05-21-ESPN-Layoffs/id-47c4eb06c0474e6e8ee6110b77298116

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Join the Engadget HD Podcast live on Ustream at 8:30PM ET

It's Monday, and you know what that means; another Engadget HD Podcast. We hope you will join us live when the Engadget HD podcast starts recording at 8:30PM. If you'll be joining us, be sure to go ahead and get ready by reviewing the list of topics after the break, then you'll be ready to participate in the live chat.

Filed under: HD

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/20/join-the-engadget-hd-podcast-live-on-ustream-at-8-30pm-et/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Xbox One controller vs. Xbox 360 controller, fight!

"If it ain't broke don't fix it" is as useful a phrase as it is folksy, and though the Xbox One is a complete reinvention compared to the Xbox 360, the controller is in many ways little changed. It's a bit more rounded, a bit softer to the touch and features redesigned shoulder buttons with their own discrete rumble controllers. The D-Pad is revised, the analog sticks has more texture and the battery backpack is no longer quite as pronounced. In other words, we think it's going to be great. Check out our gallery of comparison shots in the gallery below!

Gallery: Xbox 360 vs. Xbox One controller

Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft

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Actavis to buy Warner Chilcott in $8.5 billion deal

LYON, France (Reuters) - A British father living in France has admitted to killing his two children by slitting their throats, blaming a rocky divorce from his wife, prosecutors said on Sunday. Police arrested the 48-year-old unemployed man on Saturday after the bodies of his 5-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son were found at his apartment in a suburb of the eastern city of Lyon. "He offered explanations linked to the children's custody," an official from the Lyon prosecutor's office told Reuters. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/actavis-buy-warner-chilcott-8-5-billion-deal-112018951.html

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Childhood ADHD Linked to Obesity in Adulthood

Increased risk of adult obesity is one of the long-term consequences facing children with ADHD, even if their diagnostic symptoms fade

By Tara Haelle

Image: NIMH

• 

  Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...

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Identification and treatment issues surrounding attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are challenging enough. Now research is shedding light on long-term outcomes for people with ADHD. A May 20 study in Pediatrics reports that men who had ADHD in childhood are twice as likely to be obese in middle age, even if they no longer exhibit symptoms of ADHD.

ADHD is a mental disorder characterized by hyperactivity, impulsivity, inattention and inability to focus. It affects approximately 6.8 percent of U.S. children ages 3 to 17 in any given year, according to a recent report by the CDC. Medications used to treat ADHD, such as Ritalin (methylphenidate) or Adderall (dextroamphetamine and amphetamine), are stimulants that can suppress appetite; however, a couple recent retrospective studies have pointed to a possible increased risk for obesity among adults diagnosed with ADHD as children.

The new 33-year prospective study started with 207 healthy middle-class white boys from New York City between 6 and 12 years old, who had been diagnosed with ADHD. When the cohort reached an average age of 18, another 178 healthy boys without ADHD were recruited for comparison. At the most recent follow-up when the participants were an average age of 41, a total of 222 men remained in the study.

A troubling pattern emerged: A comparison of the men?s self-reported height and weight revealed that twice as many men with childhood ADHD were obese than those without childhood ADHD. The average body mass index (BMI) of the men with childhood ADHD was 30.1 and 41.4 percent were obese, whereas those without the condition as kids reported an average BMI of 27.6 and an obesity rate of 21.6 percent. The association held even after the researchers controlled for socioeconomic status, depression, anxiety and substance abuse disorders.

The results have implications for parents currently raising kids with ADHD. ?Many parents are concerned that their children may not be gaining as much weight as they should because [ADHD] medications can decrease appetite in the short run, but these results would lead me to be much less worried about that now,? says corresponding author F. Xavier Castellanos of the Phyllis Green and Randolph Cowen Institute of Pediatric Neuroscience at NYU Langone Medical Center. ?It helps us to realize that over the long run, the potential risks of obesity, of overeating and of dysregulation, are a more prominent long-term concern.?

The study is case-controlled, which means researchers identified participants (cases) with the condition and then matched them to a control population to compare outcomes and look for risk factor differences. Therefore, it cannot prove causation because it?s observational. Only a randomized, controlled trial could show that obesity is caused by ADHD, but it?s impossible to randomize participants to have ADHD, both because it?s unethical and because researchers do not know precisely what causes ADHD. Possible causes could include genetics, nutrition, environmental factors or brain injuries.

These findings, however, are similar to results in other studies that have found links between ADHD and obesity. The previous studies, however, were retrospective (relying on participants? recall), did not focus exclusively on ADHD (included other conduct disorders) or compared only men with adult ADHD to men with remitted childhood ADHD, rather than to controls without ADHD. This prospective study is the most long-term and the first to focus exclusively on adult obesity rates in men with childhood ADHD compared to men without childhood ADHD. Its findings therefore contribute to the growing evidence base for an association between obesity and childhood ADHD.?

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=eec22cd884c4f69f4ac4fa50b83db6f9

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Yahoo to Buy Tumblr For $1.1 Billion

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/yahoo-to-buy-tumblr-for-11-dollars-billion/

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Hezbollah suffers big losses in Syria battle: activists

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Dominic Evans

AMMAN (Reuters) - About 30 Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and 20 Syrian soldiers and militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been killed in the fiercest fighting this year in the rebel stronghold of Qusair, Syrian activists said on Monday.

If confirmed, the Hezbollah toll from Sunday's battles in Qusair near the Lebanese border would highlight a deepening intervention in Syria by the guerrilla group set up by Iran in the 1980s to fight Israeli occupation troops in south Lebanon.

The reported Hezbollah losses also reflect the extent to which the Syrian conflict is turning into a proxy war between Shi'ite Iran and U.S.-aligned Gulf Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which back Assad's mostly Sunni foes.

Western countries and Russia, an ally of Damascus, back opposing sides in this regional free-for-all which is also sucking in Israel. Three times this year Israeli planes have bombed presumed Iranian arms stocks destined for Hezbollah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country was "preparing for every scenario" in Syria and held out the prospect of more Israeli strikes inside Syria to stop Hezbollah and other opponents of Israel getting advanced weapons.

Israel has not confirmed or denied reports by Western and Israeli intelligence sources that its raids targeted Iranian missiles stored near Damascus that it believed were awaiting delivery to Hezbollah, which fought a war with Israel in 2006.

FOG OF WAR

Syrian opposition sources and state media gave widely differing accounts of Sunday's ferocious clashes in Qusair, long used by rebels as a supply route from the nearby Lebanese border to the provincial capital Homs. Hezbollah has not commented.

The air and tank assault on the strategic town of 30,000 people appeared to be part of a campaign by Assad's forces to consolidate their grip on Damascus and secure links between the capital and government strongholds in the Alawite coastal heartland via the contested central city of Homs.

The government campaign has coincided with efforts by the United States and Russia, despite their differences on Syria, to organize peace talks to end a conflict now in its third year in which more than 80,000 people have been killed.

A total of 100 combatants from both sides were killed in Sunday's offensive, according to opposition sources, including the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Troops have already retaken several villages around Qusair and have attacked increasingly isolated rebel units in Homs.

"If Qusair falls, God forbid, the opposition in Homs city will be in grave danger," said an activist who called himself Abu Jaafar al-Mugharbil.

State news agency SANA said the army had "restored security and stability to most Qusair neighborhoods" and was "chasing the remnants of the terrorists in the northern district".

However, opposition activists said rebels in Qusair, about 10 km (six miles) from the Lebanese border, had pushed back most of the attacking forces to their original positions in the east of the town and to the south on Sunday, destroying at least four Syrian army tanks and five light Hezbollah vehicles.

The Western-backed leadership of the Free Syrian Army, the loose umbrella group trying to oversee hundreds of disparate rebel brigades, said the Qusair fighters had thwarted Hezbollah with military operations it dubbed "Walls of Death".

Syrian government restrictions on access for independent media make it hard to verify such videos and accounts.

"NO DIALOGUE WITH TERRORISTS"

The fighting raged as Western nations seek to step up pressure on Assad - Britain and France want the European Union to allow arms deliveries to rebels - while preparing for the peace talks brokered by Russia and the United States next month.

Assad has scorned the idea that the conference expected to convene in Geneva could end a war that is fuelling instability and deepening Sunni-Shi'ite rifts across the Middle East.

"They think a political conference will halt terrorists in the country. That is unrealistic," he told the Argentine newspaper Clarin, in reference to Syria's mainly Sunni rebels.

Assad ruled out "dialogue with terrorists", but it was not clear from his remarks whether he would agree to send delegates to a conference that may falter before it starts due to disagreements between its two main sponsors and their allies.

The fractured Syrian opposition is to discuss the proposed peace conference at a meeting due to start in Istanbul on Thursday, during which it will also appoint a new leadership.

Attacks by troops and militias loyal to Assad, who inherited power in Syria from his father in 2000, have put rebels under pressure in several of their strongholds in recent weeks.

Assad, from Syria's minority Alawite sect, has been battling an uprising which began with peaceful protests in March 2011. His violent response eventually prompted rebels to take up arms.

Hezbollah has supported Assad throughout the crisis but for months denied reports it was fighting alongside Assad's troops.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the Hezbollah casualties on Sunday at 23 dead and more than 70 wounded, while 48 rebel fighters and four civilians were also killed.

Tareq Murei, an activist in Qusair, said six more people were killed on Monday as Syrian army artillery and Hezbollah rocket launchers bombarded rebel-held parts of the town.

Video footage purportedly showed a Syrian tank on fire at a street corner in the town. In another video a warplane was shown flying over the town amid the sound of explosions.

Lebanese security sources said at least 12 Hezbollah fighters were killed in Qusair on Sunday. Seven were to be buried in the Lebanese town of Baalbek and nearby villages on Monday.

(Writing by Dominic Evans,; Editing by Samia Nakhoul and Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hezbollah-suffers-big-losses-syria-battle-activists-132000073.html

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Ravensword: Shadowlands makes the leap from iOS to the Mac

RPG fans may be interested to know that the iOS open-world RPG game, Ravensword: Shadowlands, has now made the jump from iOS and is available to play on your Mac. Crescent Moon Games has made the title available to download from the Mac App Store, priced at $12.99. Mobile Nations' own gaming editor, Simon Sage, is a fan of the iOS version:

"If you've ever wanted some rough approximation of the Elder Scrolls games on your iPad, now you have it. Ravensword: Shadowlands is an open world role-playing game with classic progression, strong storyline, and tons of monsters to slay. Shadowlands is a sequel to two-year-old game, and as you can imagine the graphics are significantly improved. Camera shake, dynamic lighting, and well-executed lip syncing with the occasional voice acting the game has to offer. Delightfully absent are any signs of in-app purchases, and the soundtrack is great to boot. Fantasy fans should definitely check out Ravensword: Shadowlands."

By all accounts, the Mac version contains all the same goodness as its iOS counterpart, with some Mac specific enhancements such as realtime shadows and high resolution textures. Grab it now from the Mac App Store, and be sure to tell us what you think of it in the comments. How does it compare to the iOS version?

• $12.99 - Download Now

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/Lba3ligCFYY/story01.htm

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Police call fatal NYC shooting a hate crime

NEW YORK (AP) ? A gunman used homophobic slurs before firing a fatal shot point-blank into a man's face on a Manhattan street alive with a weekend midnight crowd, a killing New York's police commissioner called an "anti-gay" hate crime.

Before opening fire early Saturday, the gunman confronted the victim and his companion in Greenwich Village and asked if they "want to die here," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

The shooting follows a series of recent bias attacks on gay men in New York, but this was the first deadly one.

About 15 minutes before the bloodshed, the gunman was seen urinating outside an upscale restaurant a few blocks from the Stonewall Inn, a birthplace of the gay rights movement, according to Kelly. He then went inside the restaurant and asked if someone was going to call the police about him.

Police said the gunman, identified later as 33-year-old Elliot Morales, told both the bartender and the manager, "if you do call the police, I'll shoot you" and opened his sweatshirt to reveal a shoulder holster with a revolver and made anti-gay remarks, Kelly said.

Morales has a previous arrest for attempted murder in 1998, police said. Details of that arrest weren't immediately clear.

Out on the street minutes later, the gunman and two others approached the 32-year-old victim, identified by police as Harlem resident Marc Carson, and a companion on Sixth Avenue. One of the three men yelled out, "What are you, gay wrestlers?" according to Kelly.

The two men stopped, turned and, according to Kelly, said to the group taunting them, "What did you say?" ? then kept walking.

"There were no words that would aggravate the situation spoken by the victims here," the commissioner said. "This fully looks to be a hate crime, a bias crime."

Two of the men kept following the victim and his companion, Kelly said, adding that witnesses saw the pair approach from behind while repeating anti-gay slurs.

The gunman asked the men if they were together and when he got an affirmative answer, Kelly said, "we believe that the perpetrator says to the victim, 'Do you want to die here?'"

That's when suspect produced the revolver and fired one shot into Carson's cheek, Kelly said.

The gunman fled to 3rd Street, where an officer who had heard a description on his radio spotted him and ordered him to stop, Kelly said. The suspected gunman threw his revolver to the ground and was arrested on the edge of the New York University campus.

Police found the mortally wounded victim on the pavement. He was pronounced dead at Beth Israel Hospital.

Authorities said they could not immediately identify Morales because he was carrying forged identification. But investigators learned his name after the forged ID was submitted to the department's Facial Recognition Unit.

Of the other recent New York bias attacks on gay men, one was reported last week on nearby Christopher Street, where a 35-year-old man told police he was beaten up and heard anti-gay words after leaving a bar.

On May 10, two men trying to enter a billiards hall on West 32nd Street were approached and beaten by a group shouting homophobic slurs, police said.

And on May 5, a man and his partner were beaten near Madison Square Garden after a group of men wearing Knicks shirts hurled anti-gay slurs at them.

The commissioner said Saturday that police were looking into possible links between the incidents.

Multiple lawmakers have condemned the violence.

"I am horrified to learn that last night, a gay man was murdered in my district after being chased out of a Greenwich Village restaurant and assailed by homophobic slurs," New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said. "I stand with all New Yorkers in condemning this attack."

The Democratic mayoral candidate said there was a time in New York when hate crimes were common ? when two people of the same gender could not walk down the street arm in arm without fear of violence and harassment.

But "we refuse to go back to that time," she said. "This kind of shocking and senseless violence, so deeply rooted in hate, has no place in a city whose greatest strength will always be its diversity."

New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman, a Democrat whose district includes Manhattan's West Side, called on New Yorkers "to unite against hate and gun violence."

And State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick declared that "New York is not open for bigotry."

The New York City Anti-Violence Project plans to gather on Friday night for what it calls a "Community Safety Night."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-call-fatal-nyc-shooting-hate-crime-175502430.html

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Sweden wins world hockey title

STOCKHOLM (AP) ? Sweden became the first home team to win the world hockey championships in 27 years, beating Switzerland 5-1 on Sunday for its ninth title.

Vancouver Canucks star Henrik Sedin had two goals and an assist, and Buffalo Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth made 26 saves to help Sweden become the first team to win the title on home ice since the Soviet Union in 1986. Switzerland earned its first medal in 60 years.

Simon Hjalmarrson, Philadelphia's Erik Gustafsson and Dallas' Loui Eriksson also scored for Sweden. Romas Josi had the lone goal for Switzerland.

In the third-place game, the United States beat Finland 3-2 in a shootout for its first medal in nine years. Montreal's Alex Galchenyuk scored consecutive goals in the shootout for the Americans, and Nashville's Craig Smith and Colorado's Paul Stastny had first-period goals.

John Gibson, a 19-year-old goalie for the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League, made 36 saves.

Phoenix's Lauri Korpikoski scored twice in the third period for Finland.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sweden-wins-world-hockey-title-210542310.html

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Wyo. student who threatened to rape self on Facebook was convicted of assault

The 28-year-old University of Wyoming student who allegedly threatened herself with rape in a Facebook hoax in April was convicted of aggravated assault in 2005 after she brandished a gun at an employer who fired her.

Meg Lanker-Simons, now a newly-minted UW graduate, was charged with interference with a police investigation after she allegedly posted on an anonymous Facebook forum that she wanted to engage in angry sexual intercourse ? with someone named ?Meg Lanker Simons.?

The posting on UW Crushes read:

?I want to hatefuck Meg Lanker Simons so hard. That chick runs her liberal mouth all the time and doesn?t care who knows it. I think its so hot and makes me angry. One night with me and shes gonna be a good Republican bitch.?

It turns out that the April 24 incident isn?t the strident leftist?s first rodeo in Wyoming?s criminal system. As the Laramie Boomerang reports, Lanker-Simons had an aggravated assault conviction in 2005 as the result of a bizarre gun-brandishing incident.

After Lanker-Simons was fired from a radio station in the fall of 2005, she returned and pulled a Glock 22 .40 caliber handgun from her purse. She waved the semi-automatic pistol around. She pointed it at the man who sacked her. He testified that he was ?in fear for his life,? notes the Boomerang.

The radio station was evacuated. Police caught Lanker-Simons as she tried to flee the scene in her vehicle. They held her at gunpoint.

In July 2006, Lanker-Simons ? then known as Meghan Michelena ? was sentenced to six years of probation. Her term of probation was subject to a number of conditions. She had to undergo counseling, complete community service, pay fines and apologize to her victims. She was also prevented from owning any guns.

The alleged Facebook hoax brought national attention to the Cowboy State?s flagship college. Initially, the administration stood firmly behind Lanker-Simons. ?No student should have to deal with such threatening language,? said one sternly-worded official statement. A school official also denounced ?rape culture,? according to KOWB.

Concerned fellow feminists also threw a rally for Lanker-Simons ? complete with all manner of signs condemning rape threats ? before police concluded that Lanker-Simons herself was behind the threats.

This month, Lanker-Simons participated in the University of Wyoming?s commencement ceremonies despite the charges against her. She graduated with a bachelor?s degree in psychology.

Lanker-Simons is also a blogger and a local radio host.

In 2010, Lanker-Simons and Bill Ayers sued the University of Wyoming after school officials decided to cancel a speech by Ayers, a former Weather Underground radical and mentor to President Obama. Also in 2010, her husband, Andrew Simons, ran a failed Democratic campaign for Wyoming secretary of state.

According to the Boomerang, the interference charge is a misdemeanor punishable by a prison sentence up to a year and a fine up to $1,000.

Follow Eric on Twitter?and send education-related story tips to?erico@dailycaller.com.
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wyo-student-threatened-rape-self-facebook-convicted-assault-174802295.html

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