Monday, 29 April 2013

Mother of bomb suspects found deeper spirituality

In this image taken from a video, an undated family photo provided by Patimat Suleimanova, the aunt of USA Boston bomb suspects, shows Anzor Tsarnaev left, Zubeidat Tsarnaev holding Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Anzor's brother Mukhammad Tsarnaev. Now known as the angry and grieving mother of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, Zubeidat Tsarnaev is drawing increased attention after federal officials say Russian authorities intercepted her phone calls, including one in which she vaguely discussed jihad with her elder son. In another, she was recorded talking to someone in southern Russia who is under FBI investigation in an unrelated case, U.S. officials said. (AP Photo/Patimat Suleimanova)

In this image taken from a video, an undated family photo provided by Patimat Suleimanova, the aunt of USA Boston bomb suspects, shows Anzor Tsarnaev left, Zubeidat Tsarnaev holding Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Anzor's brother Mukhammad Tsarnaev. Now known as the angry and grieving mother of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, Zubeidat Tsarnaev is drawing increased attention after federal officials say Russian authorities intercepted her phone calls, including one in which she vaguely discussed jihad with her elder son. In another, she was recorded talking to someone in southern Russia who is under FBI investigation in an unrelated case, U.S. officials said. (AP Photo/Patimat Suleimanova)

FILE - This April 25, 2013 file photo shows the mother of the two Boston bombing suspects, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, left, speaking at a news conference in Makhachkala, the southern Russian province of Dagestan. Two government officials tell The Associated Press that U.S. intelligence agencies added the Boston bombing suspects' mother to a federal terrorism database about 18 months before the attack. At right is her sister-in-law Maryam. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev, File)

BOSTON (AP) ? In photos of her as a younger woman, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva wears a low-cut blouse and has her hair teased like a 1980s rock star. After she arrived in the U.S. from Russia in 2002, she went to beauty school and did facials at a suburban day spa.

But in recent years, people noticed a change. She began wearing a hijab and cited conspiracy theories about 9/11 being a plot against Muslims.

Now known as the angry and grieving mother of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, Tsarnaeva is drawing increased attention after federal officials say Russian authorities intercepted her phone calls, including one in which she vaguely discussed jihad with her elder son. In another, she was recorded talking to someone in southern Russia who is under FBI investigation in an unrelated case, U.S. officials said.

Tsarnaeva insists there is no mystery. She's no terrorist, just someone who found a deeper spirituality. She insists her sons ? Tamerlan, who was killed in a gunfight with police, and Dzhokhar, who was wounded and captured ? are innocent.

"It's all lies and hypocrisy," she told The Associated Press in Dagestan. "I'm sick and tired of all this nonsense that they make up about me and my children. People know me as a regular person, and I've never been mixed up in any criminal intentions, especially any linked to terrorism."

Amid the scrutiny, Tsarnaeva and her ex-husband, Anzor Tsarnaev, say they have put off the idea of any trip to the U.S. to reclaim their elder son's body or try to visit Dzhokhar in jail. Tsarnaev told the AP on Sunday he was too ill to travel to the U.S. Tsarnaeva faces a 2012 shoplifting charge in a Boston suburb, though it was unclear whether that was a deterrent.

At a news conference in Dagestan with Anzor last week, Tsarnaeva appeared overwhelmed with grief one moment, defiant the next. "They already are talking about that we are terrorists, I am terrorist," she said. "They already want me, him and all of us to look (like) terrorists."

Tsarnaeva arrived in the U.S. in 2002, settling in a working-class section of Cambridge, Mass. With four children, Anzor and Zubeidat qualified for food stamps and were on and off public assistance benefits for years. The large family squeezed itself into a third-floor apartment.

Zubeidat took classes at the Catherine Hinds Institute of Esthetics, before becoming a state-licensed aesthetician. Anzor, who had studied law, fixed cars.

By some accounts, the family was tolerant.

Bethany Smith, a New Yorker who befriended Zubeidat's two daughters, said in an interview with Newsday that when she stayed with the family for a month in 2008 while she looked at colleges, she was welcomed even though she was Christian and had tattoos.

"I had nothing but love over there. They accepted me for who I was," Smith told the newspaper. "Their mother, Zubeidat, she considered me to be a part of the family. She called me her third daughter."

Zubeidat said she and Tamerlan began to turn more deeply into their Muslim faith about five years ago after being influenced by a family friend, named "Misha." The man, whose full name she didn't reveal, impressed her with a religious devotion that was far greater than her own, even though he was an ethnic Armenian who converted to Islam.

"I wasn't praying until he prayed in our house, so I just got really ashamed that I am not praying, being a Muslim, being born Muslim. I am not praying. Misha, who converted, was praying," she said.

By then, she had left her job at the day spa and was giving facials in her apartment. One client, Alyssa Kilzer, noticed the change when Tsarnaeva put on a head scarf before leaving the apartment.

"She had never worn a hijab while working at the spa previously, or inside the house, and I was really surprised," Kilzer wrote in a post on her blog. "She started to refuse to see boys that had gone through puberty, as she had consulted a religious figure and he had told her it was sacrilegious. She was often fasting."

Kilzer wrote that Tsarnaeva was a loving and supportive mother, and she felt sympathy for her plight after the April 15 bombings. But she stopped visiting the family's home for spa treatments in late 2011 or early 2012 when, during one session, she "started quoting a conspiracy theory, telling me that she thought 9/11 was purposefully created by the American government to make America hate Muslims."

"It's real," Tsarnaeva said, according to Kilzer. "My son knows all about it. You can read on the Internet."

In the spring of 2010, Zubeidat's eldest son got married in a ceremony at a Boston mosque that no one in the family had previously attended. Tamerlan and his wife, Katherine Russell, a Rhode Island native and convert from Christianity, now have a child who is about 3 years old.

Zubeidat married into a Chechen family but was an outsider. She is an Avar, from one of the dozens of ethnic groups in Dagestan. Her native village is now a hotbed of an ultraconservative strain of Islam known as Salafism or Wahabbism.

It is unclear whether religious differences fueled tension in their family. Anzor and Zubeidat divorced in 2011.

About the same time, there was a brief FBI investigation into Tamerlan Tsarnaev, prompted by a tip from Russia's security service.

The vague warning from the Russians was that Tamerlan, an amateur boxer in the U.S., was a follower of radical Islam who had changed drastically since 2010. That led the FBI to interview Tamerlan at the family's home in Cambridge. Officials ultimately placed his name, and his mother's name, on various watch lists, but the inquiry was closed in late spring of 2011.

After the bombings, Russian authorities told U.S. investigators they had secretly recorded a phone conversation in which Zubeidat had vaguely discussed jihad with Tamerlan. The Russians also recorded Zubeidat talking to someone in southern Russia who is under FBI investigation in an unrelated case, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation with reporters.

The conversations are significant because, had they been revealed earlier, they might have been enough evidence for the FBI to initiate a more thorough investigation of the Tsarnaev family.

Anzor's brother, Ruslan Tsarni, told the AP from his home in Maryland that he believed his former sister-in-law had a "big-time influence" on her older son's growing embrace of his Muslim faith and decision to quit boxing and school.

While Tamerlan was living in Russia for six months in 2012, Zubeidat, who had remained in the U.S., was arrested at a shopping mall in the suburb of Natick, Mass., and accused of trying to shoplift $1,624 worth of women's clothing from a department store.

She failed to appear in court to answer the charges that fall, and instead left the country.

___

Seddon reported from Makhachkala, Russia. Associated Press writers Eileen Sullivan and Matt Apuzzo contributed to this report from Washington.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-28-Boston%20Marathon-Suspects'%20Mother/id-2828699e2d4240a797ddb521530b55d4

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Friday, 26 April 2013

Father of Boston bomb suspects to travel to U.S.

MAKHACHKALA, Russia (Reuters) - The father of two men suspected of carrying out the Boston bombings said on Thursday he would travel from Russia to the United States to bury his elder son.

"I am going to the United States. I want to say that I am going there to see my son, to bury the older one. I don't have any bad intentions. I don't plan to blow up anything," Anzor Tsarnaev told a news conference in Makhachkala, the capital of the restive region of Dagestan.

Banging the table as he spoke, he said: "I am not angry at anyone. I want to go find out the truth."

U.S. police say his two sons, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, planted and detonated two pressure-cooker bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, killing three people and injuring 264.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a shootout with police four days later, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was wounded and captured after a manhunt. He is in a fair condition in hospital, U.S. officials have said.

Anzor Tsarnaev said he would leave for the Unites States as soon as possible but had not yet bought a ticket.

His wife, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, told the news conference she was also thinking of travelling to the United States but had not yet decided whether to go.

(Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel, writing by Elizabeth Piper, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/father-boston-bomb-suspects-travel-u-121945019.html

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Wednesday, 10 April 2013

Francis Crick Letter to Son May Fetch $2 Million in Auction

"Jim Watson and I have probably made a most important discovery."

That's the humble start to the seven-page handwritten letter ? signed "lots of love, Daddy" ? written by British scientist Francis Crick to his 12-year-old son on March 19, 1953, explaining that he and James Watson had unraveled the double-helix structure of DNA that contains the instructions for life.

Those pages and, separately, the Nobel medal Crick was awarded for the discovery almost a decade later, are among the Crick-related mementos up for auction this week in New York. The items are set to fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, much of which will go toward science.

The letter, valued at $1-2 million, will be sold by Christie's on Wednesday (April 10) at 1:30 p.m. ET. It was a tricky item to appraise because Christie's has had few precedents in terms of 20th-century documents that are this important in the history of science, explained Francis Wahlgren, international head of rare books and manuscripts for the auction house. [See Images of the Francis Crick Letter]

Wahlgren told LiveScience the Crick letter was considered comparable to a letter Albert Einstein wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, warning about the potential of nuclear weapons. Christie's sold that letter in 2002 for just over $2 million. Wahlgren added that several buyers, mostly private, have expressed interest in the Crick letter.

Written in blue ink on pale blue stationary, the note contains diagrams that outline the scientists' theory of how "des-oxy-ribose-nucleic-acid (read it carefully)" replicated, with the double helix and its base-pair rungs splitting to create templates for new strands.

"In other words we think we have found the basic copying mechanism by which life comes from life," Crick wrote to his son, Michael, who was at a boarding school at the time.

As legend has it, when Watson and Crick made their discovery on Feb. 28, 1953, Crick announced inside a local Cambridge pub called the Eagle, "We have discovered the secret of life." Their findings wouldn't be published in the journal Nature until two months later, and the note to Michael is likely one of the first written explanations of the discovery.

"As far as we know this is the first public description of these ideas that have become the keystone of molecular biology and which have spawned a whole new industry and generations of follow on discovery," Michael Crick wrote in Christie's catalogue.

Half of the proceeds from the sale of the "secret of life" letter will go to benefit the Salk Institute in California, where Francis Crick studied consciousness later in his career.

The Christie's auction will also include one of Crick's notebooks, expected to sell for $4,000-$6,000, and a drawing of Crick made by his wife, Odile Crick, an artist who drew the double helix for her husband and Watson, which could go for $8,000-$12,000.

Meanwhile, on Thursday (April 11) Heritage Auctions will sell the Nobel medal, struck in 23-carat gold, that Crick received in 1962, alongside Watson and Maurice Wilkins.

Heritage has valued the medal and diploma at $500,000. As of Tuesday evening, the bid on the items was at $280,000. That auction will also include Crick's award check with his endorsement on the back, the scientist's lab coat, his gardening logs, nautical journals and books.

Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook& Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/francis-crick-letter-son-may-fetch-2-million-233748573.html

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Testimony expected on casinos in Texas

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Casino and racetrack supporters made their case Wednesday for allowing Texans to vote on a constitutional amendment to expand gambling, promising billions in new revenues and thousands of jobs.

But the biennial push to allow casinos in Texas still faces an uphill battle with some conservatives insisting that Texas remain one of only 10 states that ban such facilities. The Republican Party of Texas platform also opposes any expansion of gambling and calls for the repeal of the Texas State Lottery.

Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, said the constitutional amendment he introduced is designed to bring together casino operators, racetrack owners and American Indian tribes that have worked against each other in the past while addressing the concerns of those who oppose all gambling.

Carona said he thinks Texas voters should get a chance to vote on the measure, which would limit the locations of 21 casinos.

"I'm Southern Baptists and I don't gamble, but I like to go to Las Vegas for the shows," Carona said, emphasizing the tourism possibilities. "We put everything into the constitutional amendment so that the only way we can change it is if the people of Texas come back and Texans voted again on the issue."

The proposal would allow one casino each in Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio with three additional casinos along the coast. Three racetracks in Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston could operate casinos, and nine small race tracks could apply for licenses to operate casinos or slot machines.

The three federally recognized American Indian tribes in Texas would also each have a casino license. The amendment would only allow two casinos per county and no more than three in a major metropolitan area.

The state would tax gambling revenue at 20 percent, unless the operator invested more than $1 billion, and then the rate would be 15 percent. At least 85 percent of tax revenue would go to reduce property taxes, the city and county would get 5 percent each, and the remaining 5 percent would be spent to prosecute gambling-related crime and help people with gambling addictions.

Supporters say their market research indicates Texas residents spend almost $3 billion in Oklahoma, Louisiana and New Mexico visiting casinos, and that the Chickasaw tribe has built the second largest casino complex in the nation just across the Red River to serve the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

They told the Senate Business and Commerce Committee on Wednesday that spending on convention centers and casinos could bring $8.5 billion in economic growth and 75,000 jobs to Texas.

Andy Abboud, representing the Las Vegas Sands Corp., said his company would invest in "integrated resorts" that generate revenue from conventions, dining and shopping in addition to gambling. He said the company's resorts dedicate less than 3 percent of total floor space to casinos, which serve as one of many amenities to convention goers.

"It's what they can do at the end of the day that makes a convention successful," said Abboud, who added that only 39 percent of his company's revenue in Las Vegas is from gambling. "Texas is one of the last great opportunities left in the world."

Most horse breeders have moved out of the state because Texas only offers $20 million in purses a year, while Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma offer $210 million, said Andrea Young, president of Sam Houston Race Park, a horse track in Houston.

"Texas tracks need casino gambling for one reason, in order to compete with tracks in adjacent states," she said.

But others said lawmakers should not be persuaded by the promise of new hotels and convention centers.

"You didn't hear one person talking about the games," said Rob Kohler, representing the Christian Life Commission, which opposes gambling.

Melinda Fredricks, vice chairwoman of the Republican Party of Texas, read from party platform, "We oppose the expansion of legalized gambling and encourage the repeal of the Texas State Lottery." She said any attempt to allow voters to decide the issue was "a veiled attempt to pass the buck."

The conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation issued a statement saying that the proposed limit on the number of casino licenses was anti-competitive and warned against the hidden social and legal costs of gambling.

Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, also warned that while he supported the measure, he knew some Democrats would oppose the measure because of possible negative economic and social consequences.

Carona promised to work with all groups to craft a better version of the resolution. It needs a two-thirds majority in the Senate and House before it can go before voters.

___

Senate Joint Resolution 64: http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=83R&Bill=SJR64

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/testimony-expected-casinos-texas-180329026.html

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Americans want congressional lawmakers to return part of pay (Washington Bureau)

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I Hope She Goes Straight to Hell (Balloon Juice)

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Tuesday, 9 April 2013

Rwanda?s Genocide Not Forgotten (Voice Of America)

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13 people killed in shooting spree in Serbia

Serbian police officers guard a house in village of Velika Ivanca, Serbia, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. A 60-year-old man gunned down 13 people, including a baby, in a house-to-house rampage in a quiet village on Tuesday before trying to kill himself and his wife, police and hospital officials said. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Serbian police officers guard a house in village of Velika Ivanca, Serbia, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. A 60-year-old man gunned down 13 people, including a baby, in a house-to-house rampage in a quiet village on Tuesday before trying to kill himself and his wife, police and hospital officials said. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

A police tape is seen on the road near a house in village of Velika Ivanca, Serbia, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. A 60-year-old man gunned down 13 people, including a baby, in a house-to-house rampage in a quiet village on Tuesday before trying to kill himself and his wife, police and hospital officials said. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Police officers guard a house in village of Velika Ivanca, Serbia, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. A 60-year-old man gunned down 13 people, including a baby, in a house-to-house rampage in a quiet village on Tuesday before trying to kill himself and his wife, police and hospital officials said. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Serbian police officers guard a house in village of Velika Ivanca, Serbia, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. A 60-year-old man gunned down 13 people, including a baby, in a house-to-house rampage in a quiet village on Tuesday before trying to kill himself and his wife, police and hospital officials said. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

An ambulance arrives in the village of Velika Ivanca, Serbia, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. A 60-year-old man gunned down 13 people, including a baby, in a house-to-house rampage in the quiet village on Tuesday before trying to kill himself and his wife, police and hospital officials said. Belgrade emergency hospital spokeswoman Nada Macura said the man, identified only as Ljubisa B., used a handgun in the shooting spree at five houses. The dead included six women. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

(AP) ? A 60-year-old veteran gunned down 13 people in Serbia, including his mother, his son and a two-year-old cousin, in a pre-dawn house-to-house rampage Tuesday before shooting himself and his wife, police and hospital officials said.

The man, identified as Ljubisa Bogdanovic, used a handgun in the shooting spree at five houses in Velika Ivanca, a village 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of Belgrade, emergency hospital spokeswoman Nada Macura said.

Twelve people were killed immediately between 5 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. and one person died in a Belgrade hospital, Serbian police chief Milorad Veljovic said. The man and his wife were both severely injured by the shootings and another person was also injured, Macura said.

"We were all caught by surprise," Veljovic told reporters. "Most of the victims were shot while they were asleep."

He said the motive for the killings was unclear.

Media reports said the suspect had a license for the handgun. Although such shootings are relatively rare in Serbia, weapons are readily available, mostly from the 1990s wars in the Balkans.

Residents said the man first killed his son before leaving the house and then began shooting his neighbors. They expressed shock, describing the suspect as a nice quiet man.

"He knocked on the doors and as they were opened he just fired a shot," said resident Radovan Radosavljevic. "He was a good neighbor and anyone would open their doors to him. I don't know what happened."

Neighbors said an entire five-member family was shot dead in one house, including the small boy who was the suspected killer's cousin.

Milovan Kostadinovic, another neighbor, said the suspect was caught by police while on the way to his house.

"If they didn't stop him, he would have wiped us all out," Kostadinovic said, standing in front of his two-story, red tile- roofed house ? one of a dozen modest homes that make up the village, located on a lush green hill covered with fruit trees. "He shot himself when police stopped him."

The suspect had lost his job last year and fought as a Serb soldier in the war in Croatia in 1992, the police chief said. Villagers said Bogdanovic fought in Vukovar, the eastern Croatian town that was destroyed in a massive Serbian-led army offensive ? the scene of the worst bloodshed during Croatia's 1991-95 war for independence.

Macura, the hospital spokeswoman, said the shooter had no known history of mental illness. Stanica Kostadinovic, another neighbor, said the man's father had hanged himself when he was a young boy and his uncle had a history of mental illness.

Doctors said later Tuesday that the suspect's condition was critical but his wife was able to communicate with hospital staff.

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said Tuesday the killings showed that the government must pay more attention to gun control laws and other social problems facing the Balkan nation, which is still reeling from the 1990s wars.

Police blocked off the village while forensic teams and investigators in white protective robes took evidence from homes where the shootings took place.

Serbia's last big shooting spree occurred in 2007, when a 39-year-old man gunned down nine people and injured two others in the eastern village of Jabukovac.

__

Sabina Niksic contributed from Bosnia.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-09-Serbia-Shooting%20Spree/id-f1cafb710bd24c9ea7fa2e22ad1e99bf

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Monday, 8 April 2013

ACMG releases statement on noninvasive prenatal screening

ACMG releases statement on noninvasive prenatal screening [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 8-Apr-2013
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Contact: Kathy Ridgely Beal
kbeal@acmg.net
301-238-4582
American College of Medical Genetics

The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) has just released an important new policy statement on 'Noninvasive Prenatal Screening for Fetal Aneuploidy'

The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) has just released an important new Policy Statement on "Noninvasive Prenatal Screening for Fetal Aneuploidy." The Statement can be found in the Publications section of the ACMG website at http://www.acmg.net and will soon be published in the peer-reviewed medical journal, Genetics in Medicine.

As background, in recent decades there have been many changes and improvements in prenatal genetic screening and diagnosis. The risk, however, of testing with specimens obtained by invasive procedures such as amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS) has led to the search for new methods using mother's blood specimens obtained noninvasively. The most recent advances in genomics and genomic technologies have resulted in such noninvasive prenatal screenings (NIPS). The acronym NIPS is used to emphasize the screening nature (false positives and false negatives do occur) of tests currently on the market.

The new ACMG Statement on Noninvasive Prenatal Screening addresses:

  • The current limitations of NIPS
  • The advantages of NIPS compared with current screening approaches
  • Pretest and posttest genetic counseling
  • The reporting of results by laboratories performing NIPS
  • Oversight of analytical and bioinformatic components by testing of the laboratories performing NIPS

The Statement says that while studies are promising and demonstrate high sensitivity with low false-positive rates, there are limitations to NIPS, "NIPS for fetal aneuploidy has arrived; however, as with most new technologies, there is room for refinement." The report strongly states that positive results should be followed-up with an invasive diagnostic test before any decision is made regarding pregnancy termination.

Lead author of the ACMG Statement Anthony R. Gregg, MD, FACOG, FACMG and high- risk pregnancy physician said, "Obstetric care providers must become familiar with the advantages and disadvantages of the use of this approach. Clinicians should provide patients with both pretest and posttest counseling with the goal of avoiding patient harm or confusion - I can't stress this enough."

Gregg added, "Most of the companies that are developing these tests have referred to it as NIPDiagnosis or NIPTest. In our view, it is NOT a diagnostic test such as chorionic villus sampling [CVS] or amniocentesis; hence, we coined the term Noninvasive Prenatal SCREENING (NIPS)."

NIPS was initially validated for Down syndrome screening and has been applied to other trisomies including 13 and 18 with sex chromosomes being added now.

ACMG Medical Director Barry Thompson, MD, FACMG, another author of the Statement added, "NIPS is now one of many approaches available to women who desire Down syndrome screening. Unlike other methods, it is minimally invasive in that it only requires a blood sample from the pregnant mother rather than the more invasive amniocentesis or CVS that have associated risks of miscarriage."

"NIPS is a very accurate screening test, " said Michael S. Watson, PhD, Executive Director of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. However, it is well known that the cells originate from 'extraembryonic tissues' around the fetus so aneuploidy status may not always be identical to the genetics of the fetus. The advantages include that the detection rate is higher, the negative predictive value is greater, and the false positive rate is lower, than any other current screening approaches for Down syndrome. It must be followed up, however, by a diagnostic test since NIPS is a screening test."

"Finally, NIPS does not replace a first trimester ultrasound (12-14 weeks); rather, it complements it," Watson added.

###

About the ACMG

Founded in 1991, the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics advances the practice of medical genetics and genomics by providing education, resources and a voice for more than 1600 biochemical, clinical, cytogenetic, medical and molecular geneticists, genetic counselors and other healthcare professionals committed to the practice of medical genetics. ACMG's activities include the development of laboratory and practice standards and guidelines, advocating for quality genetic services in healthcare and in public health, and promoting the development of methods to diagnose, treat and prevent genetic disease. ACMG's website offers a variety of resources including Policy Statements, Practice Guidelines, Educational Resources, and a Find a Geneticist tool. The educational and public health programs of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics are dependent upon charitable gifts from corporations, foundations, and individuals.


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ACMG releases statement on noninvasive prenatal screening [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 8-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Kathy Ridgely Beal
kbeal@acmg.net
301-238-4582
American College of Medical Genetics

The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) has just released an important new policy statement on 'Noninvasive Prenatal Screening for Fetal Aneuploidy'

The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) has just released an important new Policy Statement on "Noninvasive Prenatal Screening for Fetal Aneuploidy." The Statement can be found in the Publications section of the ACMG website at http://www.acmg.net and will soon be published in the peer-reviewed medical journal, Genetics in Medicine.

As background, in recent decades there have been many changes and improvements in prenatal genetic screening and diagnosis. The risk, however, of testing with specimens obtained by invasive procedures such as amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS) has led to the search for new methods using mother's blood specimens obtained noninvasively. The most recent advances in genomics and genomic technologies have resulted in such noninvasive prenatal screenings (NIPS). The acronym NIPS is used to emphasize the screening nature (false positives and false negatives do occur) of tests currently on the market.

The new ACMG Statement on Noninvasive Prenatal Screening addresses:

  • The current limitations of NIPS
  • The advantages of NIPS compared with current screening approaches
  • Pretest and posttest genetic counseling
  • The reporting of results by laboratories performing NIPS
  • Oversight of analytical and bioinformatic components by testing of the laboratories performing NIPS

The Statement says that while studies are promising and demonstrate high sensitivity with low false-positive rates, there are limitations to NIPS, "NIPS for fetal aneuploidy has arrived; however, as with most new technologies, there is room for refinement." The report strongly states that positive results should be followed-up with an invasive diagnostic test before any decision is made regarding pregnancy termination.

Lead author of the ACMG Statement Anthony R. Gregg, MD, FACOG, FACMG and high- risk pregnancy physician said, "Obstetric care providers must become familiar with the advantages and disadvantages of the use of this approach. Clinicians should provide patients with both pretest and posttest counseling with the goal of avoiding patient harm or confusion - I can't stress this enough."

Gregg added, "Most of the companies that are developing these tests have referred to it as NIPDiagnosis or NIPTest. In our view, it is NOT a diagnostic test such as chorionic villus sampling [CVS] or amniocentesis; hence, we coined the term Noninvasive Prenatal SCREENING (NIPS)."

NIPS was initially validated for Down syndrome screening and has been applied to other trisomies including 13 and 18 with sex chromosomes being added now.

ACMG Medical Director Barry Thompson, MD, FACMG, another author of the Statement added, "NIPS is now one of many approaches available to women who desire Down syndrome screening. Unlike other methods, it is minimally invasive in that it only requires a blood sample from the pregnant mother rather than the more invasive amniocentesis or CVS that have associated risks of miscarriage."

"NIPS is a very accurate screening test, " said Michael S. Watson, PhD, Executive Director of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. However, it is well known that the cells originate from 'extraembryonic tissues' around the fetus so aneuploidy status may not always be identical to the genetics of the fetus. The advantages include that the detection rate is higher, the negative predictive value is greater, and the false positive rate is lower, than any other current screening approaches for Down syndrome. It must be followed up, however, by a diagnostic test since NIPS is a screening test."

"Finally, NIPS does not replace a first trimester ultrasound (12-14 weeks); rather, it complements it," Watson added.

###

About the ACMG

Founded in 1991, the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics advances the practice of medical genetics and genomics by providing education, resources and a voice for more than 1600 biochemical, clinical, cytogenetic, medical and molecular geneticists, genetic counselors and other healthcare professionals committed to the practice of medical genetics. ACMG's activities include the development of laboratory and practice standards and guidelines, advocating for quality genetic services in healthcare and in public health, and promoting the development of methods to diagnose, treat and prevent genetic disease. ACMG's website offers a variety of resources including Policy Statements, Practice Guidelines, Educational Resources, and a Find a Geneticist tool. The educational and public health programs of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics are dependent upon charitable gifts from corporations, foundations, and individuals.


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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/acom-ars040813.php

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Schumer sees deal this week on immigration

(AP) ? Sen. Chuck Schumer said Sunday he's hoping for a bipartisan deal by the end of this week on a sweeping immigration bill to secure the border and allow eventual citizenship to the estimated 11 million people living here illegally.

"All of us have said that there will be no agreement until the eight of us agree to a big, specific bill, but hopefully we can get that done by the end of the week," said Schumer, D-N.Y., who's leading efforts by eight senators to craft the legislation. "That's what we're on track to do."

Schumer spoke on CBS' "Face the Nation" alongside Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., another leader of the immigration talks, who suggested there could be a tough road ahead for the contentious legislation.

"There will be a great deal of unhappiness about this proposal because everybody didn't get what they wanted," McCain said. "There are entrenched positions on both sides of this issue as far as business and labor."

A deal on immigration is a top second-term priority for President Barack Obama, and his senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said Sunday that the bill being developed in the Senate is completely consistent Obama's approach ? even though the Senate plan would tie border security to a path to citizenship in a manner Obama administration officials have criticized.

Pfeiffer didn't answer directly when asked on "Fox News Sunday" whether Obama would sign legislation making a path to citizenship contingent on first securing the border, as negotiators in the Senate are doing. But he suggested Obama was supportive of the Senate plan.

"What they are looking at and what has been talked about in the Gang of Eight proposal is 100 percent consistent with what the president is doing so we feel very good about it," Pfeiffer said. "And they are looking at it in the right way."

Obama has stressed that a path to citizenship should not have major hurdles in front of it, and some immigration advocates believe that's what a requirement for a secure border would amount to. Obama's Homeland Security secretary, Janet Napolitano, has rejected the argument that border security must be achieved before a comprehensive immigration package or any pathway to legalized status can be done.

But Republicans involved in the Senate negotiations have made clear that border security is a must for them before those living here illegally can be allowed to move toward citizenship.

"We are going to secure that border and it will be tied to a pathway to citizenship or there will be no deal," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., another negotiator on the bill, said Sunday.

Graham also suggested that disagreement over a new low-skilled worker program could still be hanging up an overall immigration deal ? even after an agreement a week ago between the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The hard-won deal between labor and business would ultimately allow up to 200,000 workers a year into the U.S. to fill jobs in construction, hospitality, nursing homes and other areas where employers now say they have a difficult time hiring Americans or legally bringing in foreign workers. Even after the deal was struck, some industries, such as construction, continued to voice complaints about the terms.

Without offering details, Graham said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that negotiators were revisiting the low-skilled worker deal. But he issued a statement a short time later saying he was confident the agreement would hold.

Graham sounded optimistic overall, predicting the bill would pass the 100-member Senate with 70 votes in favor. Senators believe an overwhelming bipartisan vote is needed in the Democratic-led Senate to ensure a chance of success in the Republican-controlled House. Floor action could start in the Senate in May, Schumer said.

Meanwhile two lawmakers involved in writing a bipartisan immigration bill in the House, Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., sounded optimistic that they, too, would have a deal soon that could be reconciled with the Senate agreement.

"I am very, very optimistic that the House of Representatives is going to have a plan that is going to be able to go to a conference with the Senate in which we're going to be able to resolve this," Gutierrez said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union".

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-04-07-Immigration/id-dde02a8041e444c6ae5adb348dda5a02

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Baby shower event helps mothers in need

FOND DU LAC - People in the Fox Valley lent a helping hand to expectant mothers in need today.

The first "Community Baby Shower - Fill The Truck Event" took place in Fond Du Lac.

Leadership Team B.A.B.Y. organized the event to collect baby items for families in the county.

People were asked to donate items like diapers, wipes, clothing, and formula.

The event also included a brat fry and other activities to raise money for the cause. ?

Organizers say it feels good to help people in the community.

"It's been great. As people have been pulling up, and we're putting stuff in the trucks, knowing how many people we're going to impact and help in our community is just a great feeling," said Melody Masteller.

Team B.A.B.Y. partnered with the Fond Du Lac Family Resource Center for the event.

The center will be a distribution point for the items collected today.

Organizers say they plan to make this an annual event.

Source: http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/news/local/fox_cities/baby-shower-event-helps-mothers-in-need

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Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh lures tourists with sun, sand and cheap deals

Yasmina Muslemany/ NBC News

Mother and children take a stroll on Sharm El Sheikh's sandy beach.

By Charlene Gubash, Producer, NBC News

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt ? While Islamists and liberals struggle for Egypt?s post-revolution identity in Cairo, Sharm el-Sheikh, the crown jewel of the country?s Red Sea resort towns, might as well be a world away.

Before the revolution, the Sinai Peninsula was one of Egypt?s biggest tourism draws, but businesses have suffered as tourists have stayed away while the country has been perceived as unstable and unsafe.

That is slowly changing due to alluring vacation packages, offering much cheaper rates than those before the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak.

Now, sun seekers are slowly returning?to Sharm?s soft sand beaches, where women often sunbathe topless while sipping on icy cocktails.??

Front row beach chairs were hard to come by during a recent holiday weekend with hotels at full occupancy. ?

Cheap ticket to paradise
Flying in, the purplish ridges of the Sinai Mountains give way to sandy beaches and?the shimmering turquoise sea dotted with coral reefs. ?

Sharm was, and remains, a Mecca for divers and snorkelers. It has stunningly colored coral reefs teeming with 1,200 species of marine life, a protected marine park and world renowned dive sites.??

Sharm?s peaceful Naama Bay was a typically international scene over a recent weekend. Friends and families chatted away in Russian, Italian, German, melodic Lebanese Arabic and English as children played in the sea and bikini-clad women strolled along the beach.?

?We were looking for a holiday, not too far away, with guaranteed weather. We have been sitting at the pool and the beach, doing yoga and Pilates, and snorkeling,? said Debby Ramdeo, a Londoner who was sharing a lounge chair with her mother.?

Yasmina Muslemany/NBC News

Hotel recreation staff lead tourists in an aerobics class on Naama Bay beach in the South Sinai resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh.

She and her parents paid $922 each for a 10-day vacation, including airfare, hotel and meals.??

?The weather is fantastic!? smiled Ramdeo. ?In the U.K., it's just 36 degrees Fahrenheit.?

Sarah Binns, a 32-year-old training manager from Brighton, England also came for the sun.?

?It is the closest place we can go at this time of year that is hot,? said Binns, sun bathing next to her friend. ?I was here four years ago and it?s pretty much the same,? she added.?

Binns and her friend Kathleen Gann, a 28-year-old retailer also from the U.K., chose Sharm over Dubai because of the cost and the variety of activities ranging from camel riding to parasailing over the bay. They each paid $900 for one week, including airfare and a Marriott hotel stay with meals included.

Gann, who was on her fourth visit to Sharm, said she felt safe because the U.K. had lifted an earlier advisory against tourism to the South Sinai.??It?s good value for money over Dubai,? she said. ?

One of the few veiled women on the beach, Nadia Hassan, played backgammon with her mother in the shade of an umbrella.?

Hassan, a 36-year-old Jordanian housewife, lives in Cairo. She fled the pollution, pressure and politics of the capital for the beach.??

?It?s relaxing.?Everything in Sharm is good. Everybody is free to look the way they want and act the way they want. People are kind, friendly and welcoming.?

Yasmina Muslemany/NBC News

Trainer gives children an introductory dive lesson in Naama Bay in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Business improving
At Camel Dive, one of the town?s oldest dive centers and hotels, things are looking up. Marketing manager Clare Mucklow, 40, noted slow but steady improvement.?

?On a peak holiday, we can fill the resort. We haven?t had to change our prices and we are, normally, 60 to 70 percent full,? said Mucklow. ??

?The type of guests has changed.?We still have repeat guests who have gone diving in Sharm before, but we have lost people who are coming to learn diving.? He blamed reports in the European media for driving away first-time visitors.

Mahmoud Bassiouny, the front desk manager at the popular Movenpick Jollie-Ville Resort, said, ?It?s not the same as before [the revolution].? But he added the hotel was running at 80 percent occupancy.

Gangnam style
As night fell on a recent evening, tourists drifted onto the faux cobbled streets of Naama Bay. Small restaurants beckoned at every turn with glassed cases displaying the catch of the day on ice.?

Nightclubs jockeyed for customers with different attractions: men in long white gowns doing poor impressions of the ?Gangnam Style? dance, whirling dervishes twirling to Arabic music and fire dancers juggling flames scarily close to awe-struck patrons. ?

While Egyptians continue to do battle in Cairo over the shape of the country?s future, Sharm, an oasis of fun, acceptance and beauty, carries on.

Related:

Egypt branded more dangerous for tourists than Yemen

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653387/s/2a6be9c4/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A40C0A70C1760A25230Eegypts0Esharm0Eel0Esheikh0Elures0Etourists0Ewith0Esun0Esand0Eand0Echeap0Edeals0Dlite/story01.htm

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Sunday, 7 April 2013

U.S. delays missile test to avoid stoking North Korea tensions

By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has decided to delay a long-planned missile test scheduled for next week out of California "to avoid any misperception or miscalculation," given tensions with North Korea, a senior U.S. defense official said on Saturday.

The unusual precaution by the United States follows a barrage of hostile rhetoric from North Korea - including the threat of open war - that has created jitters in South Korea's financial markets.

It also came after reports in the South that Pyongyang, under its 30-year-old leader, Kim Jong-un, had moved two medium-range missiles to a location on its east coast.

The White House said on Friday it would "not be surprised" if the North staged another missile test. At the same time, officials have said there are no signs Pyongyang is gearing up for war, such as large-scale troop movements.

The U.S. decision will delay a test of the Minuteman III intercontinental missile, which had been scheduled for next week out of Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

"This is the logical, prudent and responsible course of action to take," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. official said the test had been unconnected to "anything related to North Korea" and added that another test launch could be expected next month. The United States remained fully prepared to respond to any North Korean threat, the official said.

Analysts are looking anxiously ahead to April 15, the birthday of Kim Il-sung, North Korea's founder and the grandfather of its current leader, Kim Jong-un. The anniversary is a time of mass celebrations, nationalist fervor and occasional demonstrations of military prowess.

EMBASSIES STAYING PUT

North Korean authorities have told diplomatic missions they could not guarantee their safety from next Wednesday - after declaring that conflict was inevitable amid joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises due to last until the end of the month.

Still, staff at embassies in North Korea appeared to be remaining in place on Saturday despite the appeal.

Most countries saw the appeal to the missions as little more than strident rhetoric after weeks of threats by North Korea to launch a nuclear strike on the United States and declarations of war against the South.

But Russia said it was "seriously studying" the request.

A South Korean government official expressed bewilderment.

"It's hard to define what is its real intention," said the official, who asked not to be identified. "But it (North Korea) might have intensified these threats to strengthen the regime internally or to respond to the international community."

The United States is walking a difficult line, seeking to assure allies it will defend them in a crisis while trying to avoid further escalating tensions.

Initially, Washington used the drills with South Korea as an opportunity to demonstrate that commitment, including flying two B-2 stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in March. The Pentagon also announced new or expanded missile defense systems in Alaska and Guam.

But the officials have told Reuters the United States will likely be less public about the drills in April, perhaps giving North Korea space to wind down its rhetoric. The latest decision to delay the U.S. missile test was also described as a prudent step.

"This test ... has been delayed to avoid any misperception or miscalculation in light of recent tensions on the Korean peninsula," the official said.

Shares in South Korea slid on Friday, but analysts said much of the decline was linked to the Bank of Japan's monetary easing policies and one analyst said further major falls were unlikely.

Most Korea watchers believe Kim is a rational actor who understands his military is no match for Seoul and its U.S. ally and that straying too far from historic North Korean practices could jeopardize his own political survival.

(Additional reporting by Jane Chung in Seoul,; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-delays-missile-test-avoid-stoking-north-korea-001315660.html

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Only weeks after amputation, combat vet swoops slopes with Sochi dreams

U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs

Carlos Figueroa monoskis in Aspen Snowmass on Thursday as part of a VA sports clinic for disabled veterans.

By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor

An Iraq war veteran who yearns to snowboard next March at the Sochi Paralympics recently told a priest he would give his left leg to compete for his country. And then, he did.

Six weeks ago, retired Army Sgt. Carlos Figueroa allowed a surgeon to amputate below his left knee ? 10 years after an IED blast rendered the limb nearly useless. The decision was surprisingly simple, he said, because it sliced away a decade of mounting pain. Yet he also acknowledged: ?I did give it up because I want to get into the Paralympics.?

?When I went in, my doctor asked me: ?What?s your biggest goal?? I told him: ?Be on my board within three months.? He just said, ?Dude, most people aren?t walking within three months,? ? Figueroa recalled.?

Walking will come. What he can do ? already ? is carve down a mountain, the lone place Figueroa, 34, feels at peace: ?Up there, I?m no different from anybody. No PTSD. I?m at my happiest.? On Thursday, Figueroa beamed while manhandling an Aspen, Colo., slope atop a monoski at a sports clinic for disabled veterans. As a familiar, cool breeze brushed his face, he also dreamed?about racing in Russia.


?My love for snowboarding is about loss, the loss of what I had in the military, where you?re used to being on the move, on patrols, on raids. That?s how I treat my races. The moment that gate drops, it?s like the door opening on a raid. I go full blast. I?m able to get something back that I felt was taken away. That rush. I love it.?

U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs

"Up there, I'm no different from anybody. No PTSD. I'm at my happiest," said Carlos Figueroa of the feeling of carving down slopes.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have borne a bittersweet byproduct: scores of American Paralympic hopefuls. The Sochi Paralympics, to be held just after the 2014 Winter Games in that city, marks the inaugural Paralympic snowboarding event for disabled athletes. The U.S. men?s Paralympic snowboarding squad will consist of five members.

'Slim chance'
Figueroa (and those close to him) knows he?s the longest of long shots. His own coach, Mike Shea, estimates he took two years to, literally, make the leap from his own leg amputation to landing jumps. The raw nerve endings in an amputated limb must become desensitized to the harsh pounding. When the board hits the snow, the stump pushes into the prosthetic leg, ?sending chills up your spine,? Shea said. ?It doesn?t feel good.?

Then there?s the calendar. If Figueroa is indeed back on his board by autumn, he?ll have a limited number of sanctioned races ? beginning in January 2014 ? to rack up enough points to rank among the top five American men. And the U.S. Paralympic snowboarders, including Shea, compose the world?s deepest talent pool in that sport. The roster likely will be named in February.

?It?s a slim chance, a super, super small window,? Figueroa said, ?but we?re still going to push.?

He needs only a sliver of possibility to kindle his hope ? or better yet, someone telling him he can?t. He certainly doesn?t need two legs.

The Feb. 15 amputation came 10 years after a bomb detonated beneath his armored vehicle, ejecting him through an open roof hatch. A decade spent lugging a useless left limb (with no heel), suffering increasing back and knee pain, instantly convinced him to say ?Let?s do it,? when an orthopedic surgeon in San Diego suggested, ?Let?s cut.? He was done, he said, wasting another day ?in a bubble? due to his injury, calling the operation ?liberating.?

'Go fast and have fun'
Nobody who has heard that account is betting against Figueroa.

?With any military athlete, you can definitely see that sense of pride and determination above and beyond what you see with other athletes. Part of it is just a chance to represent their county again,? said Kevin Jardine, high performance director of Parlaympic alpine skiing and snowboarding for the U.S. Olympic Committee. ?They?re willing to sacrifice a lot.?

Added Shea, who lost his leg in a 2002 wake-boarding accident: ?Anything you tell Carlos, he?ll get it done. He always seems to find a way. He has no fear up there. He has passion. And I?ve learned from him the smiling gets you a long way in life.?

This week at the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in Aspen, organized by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Figueroa has been tempted to grab a board and shred. This is his fourth year attending. As a testament to his disregard for other people?s timelines, he couldn?t even stand on a snowboard four years ago due to his injury, yet he competed in a World Cup event for disabled snowboarders not long after that.

Until his prosthetic leg arrives, he?ll stick to monoskiing, during which he sits in a ?bucket? atop one ski, using his arms to hold smaller, balancing skis.

?The first run, I took it slow. After that, I opened it up,? Figueroa said. ?I just want to go fast and have fun.?

When the instructor noticed his raw speed, he warned Figueroa: ?You do realize if you go down, you may peel off half your face.?

Figueroa simply grinned: ?That?s alright.?

On the 10th anniversary of the war in Iraq, a special group of people in Vail, Colo., are also marking the tenth anniversary of their unique program designed to help war amputees regain independence through skiing. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports.

Related:?

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653387/s/2a686853/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A40C0A60C175898670Eonly0Eweeks0Eafter0Eamputation0Ecombat0Evet0Eswoops0Eslopes0Ewith0Esochi0Edreams0Dlite/story01.htm

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[iPhone] Add effects, text, frames, and filters to photos with BeFunky Photo Editor

mzl.cdssggjw.320x480-75Have you ever been to one of those fro-yo bars with the unlimited toppings? No matter how old you are, it?s always fun to go in there and pile topping after topping on top of your cup of frozen yogurt. BeFunky Photo Editor is like the camera app equivalent of the fro-yo bar: you can just keep piling effect after effect after effect onto your photos. But unlike the over-the-top creations from the fro-yo sundae bar, this app won?t turn your stomach after five minutes.

What is it and what does it do

Main Functionality

BeFunky Photo Editor allows users to pile an unlimited number of cool effects, text, frames, and filters onto your photos. You can also check out the photos that other users have made public.

Pros

  • Doesn?t require an account to use or share photos
  • Pictures can be either public or private
  • Huge gallery of photos from others that you can browse (including galleries of tattoo art, LOL-worthy pics, cars, sports, and more)
  • Over 29 free photo effects included (more available via in-app purchase)
  • Crop, straighten, rotate, sharpen, and add vignetting to any photo
  • Simultaneously save to the BeFunky Gallery, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, and your Camera Roll
  • Edit photos from your camera roll, or brand new images you take with your camera

Cons

  • Additional frame and effects packs will set you back 99 cents
  • App can be a bit laggy and unresponsive when scrolling through image galleries
  • UI is serviceable, but a bit clunky outside of the actual photo editor

Discussion

mzl.cpjgetpn.320x480-75BeFunky offers a ton of different editing tools, effects, and text tools to personalize your photos. You can also import photos from other photo editor apps to layer even more effects on an already-altered photo.

I feel like the photo editor UI is far superior to the laggy UI you?ll make use of when scanning the galleries. The app never outright crashed on me, but it was extremely slow and laggy when I was browsing the work of others.

I do like that you can make pretty much full use of the app without having to sign-up for a BeFunky account: there?s nothing worse than a photo app that won?t let you try out the service until you fill out a boring form. The only thing you can?t do without an account is share images with the BeFunky community: however, you can still export to your camera roll or post on Facebook, tumblr, Twitter, or Flickr.

I think that the filters themselves are pretty excellent. There is a great diversity of little add-ons that can make your photos really pop, and having the ability to add colored text is also smart. You can pile on a ton of little touches to get just the right look for your photos, and there?s a slider bar for the filters that lets you customize things even further.

Conclusion and download link

If you feel limited by some of the other photo editing apps on the App Store, BeFunky lets you pile on tons of effects, text, frames, and other elements to make a one-of-a-kind creation that you can keep private or share with friends. Whether you are looking for an app with a sense of community or a simple tool for editing your personal photos, this app is right for you.

Price: Free

Version reviewed: 3.5.1

Requires iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, iOS version 4.3 or later

Download size:?38.3 MB

BeFunky Photo Editor on Apple App Store

About the author: Tucker View all posts by Tucker

I'm a iPad and iPhone junkie who loves trying new apps and quality mobile games. When I'm not composing app reviews, I'm probably running, baking, checking Twitter obsessively, or writing short fiction.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dottechdotorg/~3/VK8_JkniuuA/

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