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Perhaps unwittingly, the NFLPA didn't make a whole lot of friends among the franchise players in the league with last week's letter to commissioner Roger Goodell seeking an investigation of New Orleans' negotiations with "exclusive" franchise quarterback Drew Brees.
First reported by CBSSports.com, the letter suggests that the Saints haven't bargained in good faith, and that perhaps Brees has been a victim of his outspoken stance from last year's lockout. The problems are that the Saints have made Brees competitive offers that would make him one of the NFL's highest paid players, even if he hasn't signed them yet, and that there are other franchise players whose negotiations have gone far worse.
In essence, some of the franchise players or their representatives feel the NFLPA has granted Brees a kind of "favored nation" status. "Nothing against Drew, but he's kind of become [the union's] fair-haired boy," one franchise player noted. The agent for another of the franchise players said the NFLPA is treating the New Orleans quarterback "like some kind of a Messiah or something."
In fairness to Brees, it should be noted that he had nothing to do with the union's letter, as the NFLPA continues to grasp at straws, but his standing among some peers could be affected by it.
Of the 21 players designated as franchise free agents in the spring, six of them, beyond Brees, remain unsigned. This week, Jacksonville kicker Josh Scobee and agent Ken Harris said there haven't been any negotiations with Jaguars officials in months. Scobee allowed that the situation has been frustrating.
It's been more than a month since there were reports that Denver kicker Matt Prater was close to a deal with the Broncos, but, again, no deal.
Tailbacks Ray Rice and Matt Forte, wide receiver Dwayne Bowe and defensive end Cliff Avril are all without deals. Eight other franchise players have signed just one-year tenders.
So it would seem there's been a lack of progress on more than just the Brees front, yet the NFLPA has requested that Goodell look only into his case. Little wonder some of the other players with either no deals at all or just one-year tenders, are privately wondering why that is.
The latest round of the ongoing Apple v. Samsung court battle gives Apple the upper hand.
By Megan Riesz / June 29, 2012
A man uses Samsung Electronics' tablet Galaxy Tab 10.1 displayed for customers at the company's headquarters in Seoul. On June 26, A U.S. judge backed Apple Inc's request to stop Samsung Electronics selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the United States, giving the iPhone maker a significant win in the global smartphone and tablet patent wars.
Jo Yong-Hak/Reuters
Enlarge
A California judge ruled Thursday that Samsung can no longer sell its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the US, based on Apple?s claims that Samsung violated its iPad patents.
In the meantime, the US District Court of the Northern District of California will continue to inspect Apple?s patents and compare them to Samsung?s products, according to the Associated Press.?
So far, the Tab?s future doesn?t look promising ? presiding Judge Lucy Koh said Apple ?has established a strong case on the merits,? deeming the iPad and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 ?virtually indistinguishable.?
Indeed, the latest iPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 boast similar sleek industrial designs and functionalities. Both have been built to serve as work- and entertainment-friendly helpers as well as laptop rivals, and it doesn?t help that they?re almost the exact same shape and size (the iPad has a 9.7-inch screen, while the Galaxy Tab?s comes out at 10.1 inches).
Apple argues that ?the design and appearance of Samsung?s forthcoming products and packaging are directly relevant to Apple?s trademark, trade dress, and design claims,? court documents say.
By comparison, tablets like the Kindle Fire and the Nexus 7, which both cost $199, still tend to fall under the eReaders category. The iPad and the Galaxy Tab start at $499.
Judge Koh ordered Apple to post a $2,600,000 bond ?to secure payment of any damages sustained by defendant if it is later found to have been wrongfully enjoined.?
The two technology giants have been battling it out since April 2011, when Apple filed a suit alleging that ?Samsung?s Galaxy cell phones and computer tablets infringe Apple?s trade dress, trademarks, and design patents.?
With the release of Samsung?s Galaxy S III ? which some say is also similar to Apple?s slim iPhone 4S ? the war doesn?t look like it?ll be over anytime soon.
For?more tech news, follow us on?Twitter @venturenaut.
British-Australian swimmer Penny Palfrey begins her bid to complete a record swim from Cuba to Florida, in Havana, Cuba, Friday, June 29, 2012. Palfrey aims to be the first woman to swim the Straits of Florida without the aid of a shark cage. Instead she's relying on equipment that surrounds her with an electrical field to deter the predators. (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes)
British-Australian swimmer Penny Palfrey begins her bid to complete a record swim from Cuba to Florida, in Havana, Cuba, Friday, June 29, 2012. Palfrey aims to be the first woman to swim the Straits of Florida without the aid of a shark cage. Instead she's relying on equipment that surrounds her with an electrical field to deter the predators. (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes)
British-Australian swimmer Penny Palfrey, begins her bid to complete a record swim from Cuba to Florida, in Havana, Cuba, Friday, June 29, 2012. Palfrey aims to be the first woman to swim the Straits of Florida without the aid of a shark cage. Instead she's relying on equipment that surrounds her with an electrical field to deter the predators.(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)(AP Photo/Franklin Reyes)
British-Australian swimmer Penny Palfrey says goodbye before beginning her bid to complete a record swim from Cuba to Florida, in Havana, Cuba, Friday, June 29, 2012. Palfrey aims to be the first woman to swim the Straits of Florida without the aid of a shark cage. Instead she's relying on equipment that surrounds her with an electrical field to deter the predators. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
British-Australian swimmer Penny Palfrey and her husband Chris rub creme on her body in preparation for her bid to complete a record swim from Cuba to Florida, in Havana, Cuba, Friday, June 29, 2012. Palfrey aims to be the first woman to swim the Straits of Florida without the aid of a shark cage. Instead she's relying on equipment that surrounds her with an electrical field to deter the predators. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
British-Australian swimmer Penny Palfrey smiles as she is flashed a thumbs up at the start of her bid to complete a record swim from Cuba to Florida, in Havana, Cuba, Friday, June 29, 2012. Palfrey aims to be the first woman to swim the Straits of Florida without the aid of a shark cage. Instead she's relying on equipment that surrounds her with an electrical field to deter the predators. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) ? A 49-year-old grandmother and veteran endurance swimmer scuttled her quest early Sunday to become the first woman to swim unaided from Cuba to the Florida Keys, unable to close the gap on the last 26 miles of a more than 100-mile ocean odyssey.
Penny Palfrey had fended off painful jellyfish stings while keeping an eye on hammerhead sharks as she attempted the crossing without a shark cage. But her support team said the tricky currents of the Florida Straits proved to be her biggest obstacle, thwarting her achingly close to her goal.
All told, the British-born Australian athlete had been swimming nearly 41 hours since plunging into balmy waters near Havana, Cuba, on Friday to start out. She was about three-quarters of the way into her swim when she gave up the effort about midnight, just 26 miles south of Florida's Key West.
Her crew tweeted few details early Sunday of the end of her quest but said: "Penny Palfrey had to be pulled out of the water ... due to a strong southeast current that made it impossible for her to continue her swim. Penny is presently on her escort boat being taken care of by her crew."
"She is fine," Andrea Woodburn, one of the team members, confirmed by telephone from Key West.
Wooburn said early Sunday that she had been in contact with the escort vessel during the night and it was unclear where it would head next. She had no immediate details on Palfrey's physical condition or the currents she had encountered.
The Straits are notorious for their fickle ocean currents, including the powerful Gulf Stream. But whether she encountered problems with the Gulf Stream or a side eddy of that current or some other were not immediately apparent.
At last report about 10 p.m. EDT Saturday (0200 GMT Sunday) ? roughly 39 hours into the swim ? Palfrey was 79 miles (127.13 kilometers) from her starting point at a marina in the Cuban capital, according to an online GPS tracking report. She was positioned about 28 miles (45.06 kilometers) south, southwest of Key West.
But two hours after the 10 p.m. Saturday report, it appeared based on GPS data that she had made difficult headway before scrapping her effort. GPS data released online suggested she had been averaging as much as 3 mph while swimming at her strongest Saturday, before her speed then slowed to 2 mph and less after sundown.
Earlier Saturday, however, Palfrey's crew reported she had been swimming steady and strong in calm, tepid ocean waters that were virtually ideal for the attempt at the record books. She also had reported no physical complaints other than the jellyfish stings more than halfway into the swim.
Palfrey had sought to become the first woman to swim from Cuba to the Keys without the aid of a shark cage. Instead she had been relying on equipment that surrounded her with an electrical field to deter the predators. Her support team consisted of more than a dozen navigators, handlers and medical personnel escorting her on the 44-foot (13-meter) catamaran Sealuver.
She said she spotted a few hammerhead sharks and her crew said they delighted in dolphin pods spotted on the ocean.
After Palfrey set off Friday from Cuba, a member of her crew was tweeting to fans regularly and her webpage was updated with her location every 10 minutes or so based on data from a GPS device she wore. The daunting effort has been commonly reported as a 103-mile (166-kilometer) swim, however the GPS coordinates suggest it is more like 107 miles (172 kilometer).
She faced numerous challenges, including the prospect of physical and mental fatigue and fending off dehydration, hypothermia and potentially dangerous marine life.
At the rate she had been swimming, it had been estimated the crossing would have taken more than 56 hours to complete ? with arrival sometime Sunday in the Keys if she had kept going.
Australian Susie Maroney made the crossing in 1997 at age 22, but with a shark cage. American Diana Nyad made two unsuccessful cageless attempts last year on either side of her 62nd birthday, but had to call them off due to a debilitating asthma attack and painful Portuguese man o' war stings. She has announced plans to try again this summer.
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Specialized MRI scans assess value of anti-cancer chemotherapy long before tumors shown to shrinkPublic release date: 27-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David March dmarch1@jhmi.edu 410-955-1534 Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Faster assay for targeted chemotherapy's success against deadly liver cancer saves lives, and could speed lifesaving switch to alternative drug therapies for well-known pancreatic cancer
Studies on some 55 U.S. men and women with potentially deadly liver or pancreatic cancers show that specialized MRI scans can tell within a month whether highly toxic chemotherapy is working and killing tumor cells long before tumors actually shrink or fail to shrink.
Using special software and MRI scanners, imaging experts at Johns Hopkins developed their new assay, known as a volumetric functional MRI scan, by exploiting the physiological differences in water movement and absorption inside cancer cells that are dying and those that are not.
The studies are believed to be the first to show that the diagnostic imaging procedure buys patients many months to well over a year of life, by figuring out who might benefit from repeat or higher-dose chemotherapy,
The paired scans, which take only minutes to perform, can detect the movement of water molecules inside tumor cells; and software performs the mathematical analysis needed to calculate the imaged tumor cells' so-called apparent diffusion coefficient. Living tumor cells showing a low coefficient, as water absorption in and out of the cells is tightly controlled, and dying cells the goal of chemotherapy have a relatively high coefficient, because the tumor cells' membranes have lost the ability to restrict water movement. The software used in the scans was developed at Johns Hopkins and at Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, which manufactures the scanners.
"Our latest volumetric functional MRI scans could help people with aggressive cancers, and little time to spare on failed treatments, know as quickly as possible if their treatment is working and when they need to consider other treatment options. And without having to wait for months to actually see tumor shrinkage," says study senior investigator and radiologist Ihab Kamel, M.D., Ph.D.
Results from the first of two studies to be published in the same July 1 issue of the journal Radiology show that the high-precision, 3-D images, taken shortly before and one month after a form of chemotherapy called transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, could assess the treatment's impact against a rare and advanced form of liver bile duct cancer, known as cholangiocarcinoma. The study involved 29 men and women aged 29 to 82, all undergoing treatment at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Among the key findings in the first study was that 22 people, whose functional MRI scans showed increases in apparent diffusion coefficient scores of over 45 percent, lived at least 10 months longer, while some 17 with coefficient score increases over 60 percent, lived at least 17 months longer.
Kamel, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology, says that cholangiocarcinoma is often diagnosed at such an advanced stage that patients only have on average six months to live. "By the time our patients become jaundiced, start turning yellow from bile buildup and seek medical help, it's almost too late," he says. "They have no time to waste on failed treatments."
The second study, also at Johns Hopkins, tested the scans on 26 men and women, ages 37 to 79, with islet cell carcinoma, a well-known pancreatic cancer. Researchers analyzed some 215 tumorous lesions in these people, scanning shortly before and one month after the same initial treatment for their cancer.
Kamel says physicians have more treatment options with islet cell carcinoma and can switch people from chemoembolization to chemotherapy with either drug Sunitinib or Everolimus.
Results in the second study showed that for 78 tumors, which responded well to chemotherapy, functional MRI scans produced apparent diffusion coefficient score increases averaging at least 70 percent, while in the 137 tumors for which treatment was not a success, increases in coefficient measures averaged less than 40 percent. Treatment was considered successful if tumor shrinkage continued for at least six months.
"Our analysis shows how to clearly define and demarcate between patients whose tumors are responding to treatment and those who are not," says Kamel. This is very important, he adds, because in islet cell carcinoma, some patients' cancer symptoms, such as headaches, ulcers, pain and diarrhea, can be masked by the liver's hormone production. The disappearance or absence of symptoms is not a reliable indicator of treatment success.
Larger studies already planned will measure how well the apparent diffusion coefficients for each kind of combination chemotherapy predict survival and how much time remains to switch treatment plans.
In transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, interventional radiologists thread an ultrathin catheter through an abdominal artery directly to the main arteries feeding the liver tumor. Drug-eluting beads are delivered to and released directly inside the tumor to kill it by cutting off its blood supply. The roughly half-hour procedure carries a slight risk of bleeding or damage to the blood vessels, while the toxic drug treatment can permanently damage otherwise healthy liver tissue. Most patients are discharged from the hospital within a day, and many are able to resume physical activity and work.
The Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation estimates that some 2,500 people are newly diagnosed each year with the bile duct cancer, most in the moderate to advanced stages of disease.
Studies have estimated that islet cell carcinomas account for at least 1.3 percent of the 44,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer in the United States each year.
###
Funding support for both studies was provided by Siemens Healthcare, of Princeton, N.J., the manufacturer of the MRI scanners used in the study.
Other Hopkins researchers, besides Kamel, involved in these studies were Vivek Gowdra Halappa, M.D.; Susanne Bonekamp, D.V.M., Ph.D.; Celia Corona-Villalobos; Li, Zhen; Margaret Mensa, B.S.N.; Diane Reyes; John Eng, M.D.; Timothy Pawlik, M.D., M.P.H.; Nikhil Bhagat, M.D.; Hong Lai, Ph.D., M.P.H.; and Jean-Francois Geschwind, M.D.
For additional information, go to:
http://www.hopkinsradiology.org/MRI/Faculty/Kamel
http://radiology.rsna.org/
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Specialized MRI scans assess value of anti-cancer chemotherapy long before tumors shown to shrinkPublic release date: 27-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David March dmarch1@jhmi.edu 410-955-1534 Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Faster assay for targeted chemotherapy's success against deadly liver cancer saves lives, and could speed lifesaving switch to alternative drug therapies for well-known pancreatic cancer
Studies on some 55 U.S. men and women with potentially deadly liver or pancreatic cancers show that specialized MRI scans can tell within a month whether highly toxic chemotherapy is working and killing tumor cells long before tumors actually shrink or fail to shrink.
Using special software and MRI scanners, imaging experts at Johns Hopkins developed their new assay, known as a volumetric functional MRI scan, by exploiting the physiological differences in water movement and absorption inside cancer cells that are dying and those that are not.
The studies are believed to be the first to show that the diagnostic imaging procedure buys patients many months to well over a year of life, by figuring out who might benefit from repeat or higher-dose chemotherapy,
The paired scans, which take only minutes to perform, can detect the movement of water molecules inside tumor cells; and software performs the mathematical analysis needed to calculate the imaged tumor cells' so-called apparent diffusion coefficient. Living tumor cells showing a low coefficient, as water absorption in and out of the cells is tightly controlled, and dying cells the goal of chemotherapy have a relatively high coefficient, because the tumor cells' membranes have lost the ability to restrict water movement. The software used in the scans was developed at Johns Hopkins and at Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, which manufactures the scanners.
"Our latest volumetric functional MRI scans could help people with aggressive cancers, and little time to spare on failed treatments, know as quickly as possible if their treatment is working and when they need to consider other treatment options. And without having to wait for months to actually see tumor shrinkage," says study senior investigator and radiologist Ihab Kamel, M.D., Ph.D.
Results from the first of two studies to be published in the same July 1 issue of the journal Radiology show that the high-precision, 3-D images, taken shortly before and one month after a form of chemotherapy called transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, could assess the treatment's impact against a rare and advanced form of liver bile duct cancer, known as cholangiocarcinoma. The study involved 29 men and women aged 29 to 82, all undergoing treatment at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Among the key findings in the first study was that 22 people, whose functional MRI scans showed increases in apparent diffusion coefficient scores of over 45 percent, lived at least 10 months longer, while some 17 with coefficient score increases over 60 percent, lived at least 17 months longer.
Kamel, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology, says that cholangiocarcinoma is often diagnosed at such an advanced stage that patients only have on average six months to live. "By the time our patients become jaundiced, start turning yellow from bile buildup and seek medical help, it's almost too late," he says. "They have no time to waste on failed treatments."
The second study, also at Johns Hopkins, tested the scans on 26 men and women, ages 37 to 79, with islet cell carcinoma, a well-known pancreatic cancer. Researchers analyzed some 215 tumorous lesions in these people, scanning shortly before and one month after the same initial treatment for their cancer.
Kamel says physicians have more treatment options with islet cell carcinoma and can switch people from chemoembolization to chemotherapy with either drug Sunitinib or Everolimus.
Results in the second study showed that for 78 tumors, which responded well to chemotherapy, functional MRI scans produced apparent diffusion coefficient score increases averaging at least 70 percent, while in the 137 tumors for which treatment was not a success, increases in coefficient measures averaged less than 40 percent. Treatment was considered successful if tumor shrinkage continued for at least six months.
"Our analysis shows how to clearly define and demarcate between patients whose tumors are responding to treatment and those who are not," says Kamel. This is very important, he adds, because in islet cell carcinoma, some patients' cancer symptoms, such as headaches, ulcers, pain and diarrhea, can be masked by the liver's hormone production. The disappearance or absence of symptoms is not a reliable indicator of treatment success.
Larger studies already planned will measure how well the apparent diffusion coefficients for each kind of combination chemotherapy predict survival and how much time remains to switch treatment plans.
In transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, interventional radiologists thread an ultrathin catheter through an abdominal artery directly to the main arteries feeding the liver tumor. Drug-eluting beads are delivered to and released directly inside the tumor to kill it by cutting off its blood supply. The roughly half-hour procedure carries a slight risk of bleeding or damage to the blood vessels, while the toxic drug treatment can permanently damage otherwise healthy liver tissue. Most patients are discharged from the hospital within a day, and many are able to resume physical activity and work.
The Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation estimates that some 2,500 people are newly diagnosed each year with the bile duct cancer, most in the moderate to advanced stages of disease.
Studies have estimated that islet cell carcinomas account for at least 1.3 percent of the 44,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer in the United States each year.
###
Funding support for both studies was provided by Siemens Healthcare, of Princeton, N.J., the manufacturer of the MRI scanners used in the study.
Other Hopkins researchers, besides Kamel, involved in these studies were Vivek Gowdra Halappa, M.D.; Susanne Bonekamp, D.V.M., Ph.D.; Celia Corona-Villalobos; Li, Zhen; Margaret Mensa, B.S.N.; Diane Reyes; John Eng, M.D.; Timothy Pawlik, M.D., M.P.H.; Nikhil Bhagat, M.D.; Hong Lai, Ph.D., M.P.H.; and Jean-Francois Geschwind, M.D.
For additional information, go to:
http://www.hopkinsradiology.org/MRI/Faculty/Kamel
http://radiology.rsna.org/
[ | 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.
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Public release date: 27-Jun-2012
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