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Wednesday, 2 May 2012
It’s the year of the woman, right? That’s why we decided to put together our list of 10 of the most powerful, most influential, most watched women in politics. Who made our list? Hillary Clinton? Sarah Palin? MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow? Watch to see the women we chose and tell us if they would be on your top ten influential women list!
BP profit falls as Gulf spill costs still weigh
LONDON (Reuters) - BP Plc
Europe's second-largest oil company by market value said on Tuesday output would continue to decline in the second quarter, helping send its shares down 3.6 percent to 429.3 pence by 0924 GMT against a 0.2 percent drop in the STOXX Europe 600 Oil and Gas index <.sxep>.
The shares are down 8.9 percent so far this year, against a 1.8 percent average drop among its industry peers.
Analysts at Citigroup said they had doubts about BP's ability to increase output, keep a lid on costs and maintain its interest in key assets where it has had disputes with partners.
The financial headwinds also mean BP will struggle to raise its dividend to the level it was at before the spill, when it was slashed, analysts at brokerage Bernstein said in a note.
BP unveiled plans to sell a number of mature fields in the Gulf but a spokesman denied the company was making a more general pullback from the region, saying the disposals reflected a new strategy of churning assets more quickly and focusing on larger, younger projects.
The London-based group added it would have to spend more than earlier expected to clean up America's worst-ever offshore oil spill, although this was offset by a drop in the expected cost of paying out claims after the company agreed a settlement with impacted individuals and businesses.
BP said its replacement cost (RC) net profit fell to $4.93 billion in the first quarter, compared with $5.61 billion in the same period last year. The drop was also driven by weaker refining results.
Stripping out one-off items such as the profit on asset sales, the result was down 13 percent to $4.80 billion, below an average forecast of $5.10 billion from a Reuters poll of nine analysts.
"There is little in the numbers for the bulls," analysts at Nomura said in a note to clients.
TOUGH CONDITIONS
BP said oil and gas production, excluding its Russian joint venture TNK-BP, was down 6 percent at 2.45 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).
Citigroup said production costs had also risen, due to measures BP has taken to address safety concerns following the Gulf of Mexico blowout which killed 11 and led to the spill.
Further output drops are seen in the second quarter, while the sale of the Gulf of Mexico fields on the block, which include Holstein and Marlin, will cut another 50,000 boepd.
BP pumped around 260,000 boepd in the Gulf last year, down from around 400,000 boepd before the spill.
Delays in securing drilling permits - a problem across the industry following a moratorium in 2010 - have contributed to the fall in output. But BP says business is gradually returning to normal in the Gulf.
Chief Executive Bob Dudley, who took over in the wake of the Gulf spill, has pursued a strategy that analysts have described as "shrink to grow", selling old fields more quickly than the group did in the past and focusing investment on new projects.
However, not all analysts are convinced BP will be able to generate new leads quickly enough to replace the assets being sold. Investors are also worried about the continuing legal uncertainty facing the group because of the spill.
The Department of Justice is investigating possible criminal and civil charges against BP that could lead to fines of more than $20 billion, although BP says it expects fines of only around $3.5 billion.
Last month BP reached a proposed settlement to resolve economic, property and medical claims by more than 100,000 individuals and businesses.
Though BP estimated the deal would cost it $7.8 billion, the company was able to reduce its provision for likely costs of compensating victims and, after deducting the increased cost of shoreline cleanup, BP took a $24 million credit in the quarter's earnings.
BP also raised speculation that it could sell its 50 percent share in TNK-BP, after it published the results of the unit separately, one dealer said. The company has had reputed disagreements with its oligarch partners in TNK-BP.
The spokesman said the new reporting practice was simply to increase transparency, while one analyst said it didn't make sense for BP to sell when the interest was throwing off a lot of cash.
BP's 13 percent drop in underlying profit compares with a 16 rise at Royal Dutch Shell Plc
Brent crude prices averaged $118.60 per barrel last quarter, up from $105.43 in the same period a year before.
RC earnings strip out unrealized gains or losses related to changes in the value of inventories, and as such are comparable with net income under U.S. accounting rules.
(Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford and David Holmes)
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Video: Obama laughs it up at Correspondents' Dinner
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Vitamin D supplements may protect against viral infections during the winter
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Public release date: 30-Apr-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Cody Mooneyhan
cmooneyhan@faseb.org
301-634-7104
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
New research published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that the older population could benefit from vitamin D supplementation in autumn and winter to protect against viral infections
Vitamin D may be known as the sunshine vitamin, but a new research report appearing in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology shows that it is more than that. According to the report, insufficient levels of vitamin D are related to a deficiency in our innate immune defenses that protect us from infections, neoplasias or autoimmune diseases. Since vitamin D levels decrease during autumn and winter when days are shorter and sunlight is relatively weak, this may explain why people are more prone to viral infection during these times. It also suggests that vitamin D supplementation, especially in older populations, could strengthen people's innate immunity against viral infections.
"There are numerous studies showing the benefits of maintaining adequate Vitamin D levels. As more and more research into Vitamin D is conducted, we are learning that it is extremely important for human health. Our study is no different, and vitamin D supplements should be considered one of many tools that might help when conventional therapies are not enough," said Victor Manuel Martinez-Taboada, M.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Division of Rheumatology at the Hospital Universitario "Marque's de Valdecilla," Facultad de Medicina at the Unversidad de Cantabria, in Santander, Spain.
To make this discovery, the researchers compared the changes in the blood levels of vitamin D among three groups of healthy subjects: young (age range: 20-30), middle (age range: 31-59), and elderly (age range: 60-86). They found decreased levels of vitamin D with aging, prompting researchers to compare whether such changes kept any relationship with toll-like receptor (TLR) expression measured on lymphocytes and monocytes and function after in vitro stimulation with specific ligands for each of the nine human TLRs and measurement of effector molecules, such as proinflammatory cytokines. Specifically, they found that the TRL most affected by a vitamin D insufficiency is TLR7, which regulates the immune response against viruses. Finally, scientists studied whether there was any difference in the three age groups depending on the season of the year since it is well known that a limited sun exposure during darker winter months is related with vitamin D deficiency.
"Any school teacher will tell you that people tend to be sicker during the winter than any other time of the year," said John Wherry, Ph.D., Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology. "There have been numerous studies showing several environmental factors during winter months may allow viruses to spread easier. This study shows that sunlight, or more precisely the lack of vitamin D, could have a role in the seasonally higher rates of infection. More extensive studies must be conducted for this link to be conclusive, but since vitamin D supplements are inexpensive and generally safe, this is a really exciting discovery."
###
The Journal of Leukocyte Biology publishes peer-reviewed manuscripts on original investigatins focusing on the cellular and molecular biology of leukocytes and on the origins, the developmental biology, biochemistry and functions of granulocytes, lymphocytes, mononuclear phagocytes and other cells involved in host defense and inflammation. The Journal of Leukocyte Biology is published by the Society for Leukocyte Biology.
Details: Lorena Alvarez-Rodriguez, Marcos Lopez-Hoyos, Maite Garcia-Unzueta, Jose Antonio Amado, Pedro Muoz Cacho, and Victor Manuel Martinez-Taboada. Age and low levels of circulating vitamin D are associated with impaired innate immune function. J Leukoc Biol May 2012 91:829-838; doi:10.1189/jlb.1011523 ; http://www.jleukbio.org/content/91/5/829.abstract
[ | 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.
Public release date: 30-Apr-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Cody Mooneyhan
cmooneyhan@faseb.org
301-634-7104
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
New research published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that the older population could benefit from vitamin D supplementation in autumn and winter to protect against viral infections
Vitamin D may be known as the sunshine vitamin, but a new research report appearing in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology shows that it is more than that. According to the report, insufficient levels of vitamin D are related to a deficiency in our innate immune defenses that protect us from infections, neoplasias or autoimmune diseases. Since vitamin D levels decrease during autumn and winter when days are shorter and sunlight is relatively weak, this may explain why people are more prone to viral infection during these times. It also suggests that vitamin D supplementation, especially in older populations, could strengthen people's innate immunity against viral infections.
"There are numerous studies showing the benefits of maintaining adequate Vitamin D levels. As more and more research into Vitamin D is conducted, we are learning that it is extremely important for human health. Our study is no different, and vitamin D supplements should be considered one of many tools that might help when conventional therapies are not enough," said Victor Manuel Martinez-Taboada, M.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Division of Rheumatology at the Hospital Universitario "Marque's de Valdecilla," Facultad de Medicina at the Unversidad de Cantabria, in Santander, Spain.
To make this discovery, the researchers compared the changes in the blood levels of vitamin D among three groups of healthy subjects: young (age range: 20-30), middle (age range: 31-59), and elderly (age range: 60-86). They found decreased levels of vitamin D with aging, prompting researchers to compare whether such changes kept any relationship with toll-like receptor (TLR) expression measured on lymphocytes and monocytes and function after in vitro stimulation with specific ligands for each of the nine human TLRs and measurement of effector molecules, such as proinflammatory cytokines. Specifically, they found that the TRL most affected by a vitamin D insufficiency is TLR7, which regulates the immune response against viruses. Finally, scientists studied whether there was any difference in the three age groups depending on the season of the year since it is well known that a limited sun exposure during darker winter months is related with vitamin D deficiency.
"Any school teacher will tell you that people tend to be sicker during the winter than any other time of the year," said John Wherry, Ph.D., Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology. "There have been numerous studies showing several environmental factors during winter months may allow viruses to spread easier. This study shows that sunlight, or more precisely the lack of vitamin D, could have a role in the seasonally higher rates of infection. More extensive studies must be conducted for this link to be conclusive, but since vitamin D supplements are inexpensive and generally safe, this is a really exciting discovery."
###
The Journal of Leukocyte Biology publishes peer-reviewed manuscripts on original investigatins focusing on the cellular and molecular biology of leukocytes and on the origins, the developmental biology, biochemistry and functions of granulocytes, lymphocytes, mononuclear phagocytes and other cells involved in host defense and inflammation. The Journal of Leukocyte Biology is published by the Society for Leukocyte Biology.
Details: Lorena Alvarez-Rodriguez, Marcos Lopez-Hoyos, Maite Garcia-Unzueta, Jose Antonio Amado, Pedro Muoz Cacho, and Victor Manuel Martinez-Taboada. Age and low levels of circulating vitamin D are associated with impaired innate immune function. J Leukoc Biol May 2012 91:829-838; doi:10.1189/jlb.1011523 ; http://www.jleukbio.org/content/91/5/829.abstract
[ | 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.
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Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Temperature Rising: Clouds? Effect on Climate Change Is Last Bastion for Dissenters
[unable to retrieve full-text content]In recent years, climate change skeptics have seized on one last argument that cannot be so readily dismissed. Their theory is that clouds will save us.
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