True story: During lunch today, Eva lost her ring somewhere in this sandwich.
NPR
True story: During lunch today, Eva lost her ring somewhere in this sandwich.
NPR
A food named for its size sets a certain expectation. When you order a McDonald's Quarter Pounder, or Taco Bell's Acre of Beans, you expect volume and satisfaction.
Could the Two Bagger from Lucky's Sandwich Co. here in Chicago, topped with corned beef, pastrami, cole slaw, french fries and cheese, promise even more?
Eva: Two Bags are the only clothes that fit me now.
Robert: Should I be worried they got the two bags out of the front seat pocket of an airplane?
Mike detects notes of pastrami, cole slaw and ring.
NPR
Mike detects notes of pastrami, cole slaw and ring.
NPR
Miles: There's nothing worse for marketing than naming your sandwich after the worst thing my dog can do on a walk.
Ian: Two Bagger is a good sandwich/name for a sequel to that Will Smith golf movie.
Seconds later, Robert's iPhone was covered in loose pastrami.
NPR
Seconds later, Robert's iPhone was covered in loose pastrami.
NPR
Mike: Yeah, and it's big enough they should offer a caddy to carry the Two Bagger. Then you just ask for different parts: a piece of pastrami, some slaw or a pitching wedge.
Miles: I think the fact that the sandwich doesn't actually fit in your mouth is nature's way of telling you "STOP IT."
NPR
The truth is in there.
NPR
Peter: If this were the only food source, then humans would evolve bigger mouths. We'd all look like Anne Hathaway.
Ian: There's something special about a sandwich wrapped in paper. These days, the kids wrap their sandwiches in email and it's just not the same.
Robert: That was paper?
[The verdict: a delicious sandwich, really enhanced by great, soft bread. The fries, though, are unnecessary, adding little more than a dynamic stretching workout for your jaw.]
State-sponsored freeway construction can be a pain for commuters whose daily routines are upended by constant building and maintenance, but roadwork can also be a source of unexpected archaeological discovery.
With the BART transit system on strike, people line up along the Embarcadero near the Ferry Building to catch a ferry to Oakland, Calif., during the afternoon commute Monday, Oct. 21, 2013, in San Francisco. Frustrated bay area commuters started the work week Monday facing gridlocked roadways and long lines for buses and ferries as a major transit strike entered its fourth day, increasing pressure on negotiators to reach a deal that resumes train service. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
With the BART transit system on strike, people line up along the Embarcadero near the Ferry Building to catch a ferry to Oakland, Calif., during the afternoon commute Monday, Oct. 21, 2013, in San Francisco. Frustrated bay area commuters started the work week Monday facing gridlocked roadways and long lines for buses and ferries as a major transit strike entered its fourth day, increasing pressure on negotiators to reach a deal that resumes train service. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
With the BART transit system on strike, people line up along the Embarcadero near the Ferry Building and walk to catch a ferry to Oakland, Calif., during the afternoon commute Monday, Oct. 21, 2013, in San Francisco. Frustrated San Francisco Bay Area commuters started the work week Monday facing gridlocked roadways and long lines for buses and ferries as a major transit strike entered its fourth day, increasing pressure on negotiators to reach a deal that resumes train service. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
With the BART transit system on strike, traffic slows on Interstate 80 leading to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge during the morning commute Monday, Oct. 21, 2013, in Berkeley, Calif. San Francisco Bay Area commuters started the new work week on Monday with gridlocked roadways and long lines for buses and ferries as a major transit strike entered its fourth day. At the same time, federal investigators were searching for clues to a weekend train crash that killed two workers. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
With the BART transit system on strike, traffic slows on Interstate 80 leading to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge during the morning commute Monday, Oct. 21, 2013, in Berkeley, Calif. San Francisco Bay Area commuters started the new work week on Monday with gridlocked roadways and long lines for buses and ferries as a major transit strike entered its fourth day. At the same time, federal investigators were searching for clues to a weekend train crash that killed two workers. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
A traffic sign on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge alerts motorists to expect delays because of the BART transit strike Monday, Oct. 21, 2013, in Oakland, Calif. Frustrated San Francisco Bay Area commuters started the work week on Monday with gridlocked roadways and long lines for buses and ferries as a major transit strike entered its fourth day. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A union official says the contract agreement that ended the San Francisco Bay Area commuter train strike is essentially the same as a deal that nearly came together right before the walk-off.
That's according Amalgamated Transit Union international president Larry Hanley, whose union represents train drivers and station agents of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system.
Hanley says the agreement contains the same economic package as last Thursday's near-deal.
Hanley says negotiators for BART backed off most of the changes to workplace rules they had demanded, and that led workers to walk off the job on Friday.
The contract deal reached on Monday allowed limited train service for Tuesday morning's commute. Hanley says a vote by the rank-and-file on that deal would come on Oct. 28 at the earliest.
NEW YORK (AP) — The end of the year looks busy for Carrie Underwood, and she couldn't be happier.
The six-time Grammy-winning singer will host the Country Music Association Awards for the sixth time. You can see her singing the opening on NBC's "Sunday Night Football." And for one night in December, she'll star in a live television version of "The Sound of Music."
The 30-year-old star told the Associated Press on the red carpet Tuesday night at the TJ Martell Foundation gala, where she was one of the night's honorees, that she is nervous doing something she's never done before. But then she realized, "None of us have. This is a live show on TV. So this is definitely a challenge for all of us."
She said the live singing and acting was like "going to a Broadway show, but you're in your living room."
"The Sound of Music" airs Dec. 5 on NBC with Underwood playing Maria alongside "True Blood" vampire Stephen Moyer. He portrays Captain von Trapp. Broadway veterans — and Tony winners — Audra McDonald, Laura Benanti and Christian Borle round out the cast as Mother Abbess, Elsa and Max.
While the Nashville, Tenn.-based Underwood is no stranger to performing before millions of people on live television — she won the fourth season of "American Idol" — she felt she needed more preparation, so she showed up in New York three weeks early.
"I wanted to be here and have all my lines memorized and everything and be ready for it. It's been really wonderful," Underwood said. "Audra and Laura are incredible. Stephen's great. It's nice to be surrounded by that much talent."
Before doing that show, the multiplatinum-selling artist returns to her hosting duties on the CMAs. She's nominated for three awards, including album of the year and song of the year. While she and co-host Brad Paisley have it down to a science, she doesn't see the experience as old hat.
"You never know what's going to happen with us hosting," Underwood joked.
She added: "I think being nominated — especially when hosting the CMAs — you just never know."
The CMAs take place Nov. 6 in Nashville.
Underwood also spoke about recording the opening number this season for "Sunday Night Football." She claims doing it was a no-brainer.
"It's a lot of fun. I grew up watching football. I'm from Oklahoma, it's what we do," she said with a big smile.
The conversation then turned to hockey and her husband Mike Fisher's team, the Nashville Predators.
"They got off to a little bit of rocky start, but definitely getting some momentum. I feel like my husband right now. I know what he feels like now. I feel there's some really great, new young talent," Underwood said.
And what about the team's star center?
"My hubby, he's been out for the past couple of games with a foot fracture thing. But he'll be back on the ice, ASAP. I hope he does, because that's the only way I get to see him, other than iChat."
____
Follow John Carucci at —http://www.twitter.com/jacarucci
HONG KONG (AP) — Police are investigating a second reported extortion attempt at the Hong Kong film set of the latest "Transformers" movie, authorities say. .
A government statement received overnight said a production company crew member was setting up on the roof of a building in Kowloon on Tuesday when four men "intimidated her and asked for money."
She called police, who arrested a 35-year-old man. He's being held pending further inquiries. The three others are still wanted. The case has been classified as blackmail and a police anti-triad unit is investigating.
Triads are Chinese organized crime gangs.
Police arrested two brothers last week after director Michael Bay was assaulted at another filming location. They allegedly demanded 100,000 Hong Kong dollars ($13,000).
"Transformers 4: Age of Extinction" is set for release in June 2014. It's partly set in Hong Kong, where filming involving stars including Mark Wahlberg has attracted attention.
Non-violent attempts at extortion involving location filming have been an occasional problem for Hollywood over the years. They usually involve residents disrupting filming by making noise or other means in an effort to prompt a payoff. In recent years, studios have been more diligent with compensation to residents in neighborhoods where films are shot.
NEW YORK (AP) — Bank of America Corp., accused of lying about the quality of mortgages it passed along to financial firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, was found liable for fraud on Wednesday in a civil case the government said captured the frenzied pursuit of profits at all costs just before the economy collapsed in 2008.
A Manhattan jury returned its verdict following a monthlong trial focusing on prime mortgages that Bank of America's Countrywide Financial unit completed in late 2007 and 2008. U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff said he would determine on Thursday when a penalty phase will begin.
The verdict was returned against Bank of America, Countrywide and a former executive, Rebecca Mairone.
Bank of America, which had denied there was fraud, said Wednesday it was evaluating its options for appeal.
"The jury's decision concerned a single Countrywide program that lasted several months and ended before Bank of America's acquisition of the company," spokesman Lawrence Grayson said by email.
Mairone's lawyer Marc Mukasey called her "a model of honesty, integrity and ethics."
"She never engaged in any fraud because there was no fraud," he said.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the companies and Mairone were "liable for making disastrously bad loans and systematically removing quality checks in favor of (Bank of America and Countrywide's) balance."
"In a rush to feed at the trough of easy mortgage money on the eve of the financial crisis, Bank of America purchased Countrywide, thinking it had gobbled up a cash cow," he said in a statement. "That profit, however, was built on fraud, as the jury unanimously found."
The trial related to mortgages the government said were sold at break-neck speed without regard to quality as the economy headed into a tailspin.
The government had accused the financial institutions of urging workers to churn out loans, accept fudged applications and hide ballooning defaults.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jaimie Nawaday, in her closing argument, said the case was about "greed and lies."
"It is about people at Countrywide saying to each other that their loan quality is in the ditch, while telling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that their loans are investment quality," she said.
Fannie and Freddie, which packaged loans into securities and sold them to investors, were effectively nationalized in 2008 when they nearly collapsed from mortgage losses.
Government lawyers said Countrywide tried to churn out more mortgage loans through a program called the Hustle, shorthand for high-speed swim lane, which operated under the motto, "Loans Move Forward, Never Backward."
The government said the program eliminated checks meant to ensure mortgages were made to borrowers unlikely to default.
"The Hustle is all about speed, lightning speed and volume and never about quality," Nawaday told jurors.
Bank of America lawyer Brendan V. Sullivan Jr. said in closings there was no fraud.
"We have been dragged down the rabbit hole into Alice in Wonderland," he said.
He defended the company's practices, saying there was a "vigorous quality control program" that included 20 workers in India who studied mortgage files through the night for flaws.
Contact: Stephanie Desmon sdesmon1@jhmi.edu 410-955-8665 Johns Hopkins Medicine
Currently, disease usually found too late to save lives
Reporting on a small preliminary study, Johns Hopkins researchers say a simple blood test based on detection of tiny epigenetic alterations may reveal the earliest signs of pancreatic cancer, a disease that is nearly always fatal because it isn't usually discovered until it has spread to other parts of the body.
The findings of their research, if confirmed, they say, could be an important step in reducing mortality from the cancer, which has an overall five-year survival rate of less than 5 percent and has seen few improvements in survival over the last three decades.
"We have mammograms to screen for breast cancer and colonoscopies for colon cancer but we have had nothing to help us screen for pancreatic cancer," says Nita Ahuja, M.D., an associate professor of surgery, oncology and urology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and leader of the study described online this month in the journal Clinical Cancer Research. "While far from perfect, we think we have found an early detection marker for pancreatic cancer that may allow us to locate and attack the disease at a much earlier stage than we usually do."
For their study, Ahuja and her colleagues were able to identify two genes, BNC1 and ADAMTS1, which together were detectable in 81 percent of blood samples from 42 people with early-stage pancreatic cancer, but not in patients without the disease or in patients with a history of pancreatitis, a risk factor for pancreatic cancer. By contrast, the commonly used PSA antigen test for prostate cancer only picks up about 20 percent of prostate cancers.
Ahuja and her colleagues found that in pancreatic cancer cells, it appears that chemical alterations to BNC1 and ADAMTS1 -- epigenetic modifications that alter the way the genes function without changing the underlying DNA sequence -- silence the genes and prevent them from making their protein product, the role of which is not well-understood. These alterations are caused by the addition of a methyl group to the DNA.
Using a very sensitive method called Methylation on Beads (MOB) developed by Jeff Tza-Huei Wang, Ph.D., a professor at the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the researchers were able to single out, in the blood, even the smallest strands of DNA of those two genes with their added methyl groups. The technique uses nanoparticle magnets to latch on to the few molecules being shed by the tumors, which are enough to signal the presence of pancreatic cancer in the body, the researchers found.
Specifically, researchers say, they found BNC1 and ADAMTS1 in 97 percent of tissues from early-stage invasive pancreatic cancers. Surgery is the best chance for survival in pancreatic cancer, because radiation and chemotherapy are not very effective against it. The smaller the cancer -- the earlier it is detected -- the more likely surgery will be successful and the patient will survive.
Ahuja says the practical value of any blood test for cancer markers depends critically on its sensitivity, meaning the proportion of tumors it detects, and its specificity, meaning how many of the positive results are false alarms. The specificity of this new pair of markers is 85 percent, meaning 15 percent would be false alarms. Ahuja says she hopes further research will help refine the test, possibly by adding another gene or two, in order to go over 90 percent in both sensitivity and specificity.
Ahuja also cautions that her team still needs to duplicate the results in a larger sample of tumors, but is encouraged by the results so far. She says she doesn't envision the blood test as a means of screening the general population, the way mammograms and colonoscopies are used to find early breast and colon cancers. Instead, she imagines it would be best used in people at high risk for developing the disease, such as those with a family history of pancreatic cancer, a previous case of pancreatitis, long-term smokers or people with the BRCA gene mutations, which are linked to breast, ovarian and pancreatic cancers.
"You have to optimize your medical resources," says Ahuja, who hopes a commercial blood test might one day only cost $50.
She also notes that once BNC1 and ADAMTS1 are identified in a patient's blood, further tests will be needed to locate an actual cancer.
People who test positive will likely undergo CT scanning and/or endoscopic ultrasound tests -- whereby a tube is placed down the throat into the stomach to image the pancreas -- to search for the cancer. Surgery to remove it would presumably have a better chance of curing the disease owing to its small size and early stage.
###
The research is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute (K23CA127141, U54CA151838, RO1CA155305, P30CA006973, T32CA126607 and CA058184) and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (R01 ES011858), the American College of Surgeons/Society of University Surgeons Career Development Award, the Lustgarten Foundation, the Miriam & Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation and the National R&D program through the Dongnam Institute of Radiological & Medical Sciences funded by the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.
Other Johns Hopkins researchers involved in the study include Joo Mi Yi, Ph.D.; Angela A. Guzzetta, M.D.; Vasudev J. Bailey, Ph.D.; Stephanie R. Downing, M.D.; Katherine B. Chiappinelli, Ph.D.; Brian P. Keeley; Alejandro Stark, M.S.E.; Alexander Herrera, M.S.; Chistopher Wolfgang, M.D., Ph.D.; Emmanouil P. Pappou, M.D., Ph.D.; Christine A. Iacobuzio-Donahue, M.D., Ph.D.; Michael G. Goggins, M.B.B.Ch., M.D.; James G. Herman, M.D.; and Stephen B. Baylin, M.D.
Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM), headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, is a $6.7 billion integrated global health enterprise and one of the leading health care systems in the United States. JHM unites physicians and scientists of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with the organizations, health professionals and facilities of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System. JHM's vision, "Together, we will deliver the promise of medicine," is supported by its mission to improve the health of the community and the world by setting the standard of excellence in medical education, research and clinical care. Diverse and inclusive, JHM educates medical students, scientists, health care professionals and the public; conducts biomedical research; and provides patient-centered medicine to prevent, diagnose and treat human illness. JHM operates six academic and community hospitals, four suburban health care and surgery centers, and more than 30 primary health care outpatient sites. The Johns Hopkins Hospital, opened in 1889, was ranked number one in the nation for 21 years in a row by U.S. News & World Report.
Media Contacts:
Stephanie Desmon
410-955-8665 sdesmon1@jhmi.edu
Helen Jones
410-502-9422 hjones49@jhmi.edu
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A simple test may catch early pancreatic cancer
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
23-Oct-2013
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Contact: Stephanie Desmon sdesmon1@jhmi.edu 410-955-8665 Johns Hopkins Medicine
Currently, disease usually found too late to save lives
Reporting on a small preliminary study, Johns Hopkins researchers say a simple blood test based on detection of tiny epigenetic alterations may reveal the earliest signs of pancreatic cancer, a disease that is nearly always fatal because it isn't usually discovered until it has spread to other parts of the body.
The findings of their research, if confirmed, they say, could be an important step in reducing mortality from the cancer, which has an overall five-year survival rate of less than 5 percent and has seen few improvements in survival over the last three decades.
"We have mammograms to screen for breast cancer and colonoscopies for colon cancer but we have had nothing to help us screen for pancreatic cancer," says Nita Ahuja, M.D., an associate professor of surgery, oncology and urology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and leader of the study described online this month in the journal Clinical Cancer Research. "While far from perfect, we think we have found an early detection marker for pancreatic cancer that may allow us to locate and attack the disease at a much earlier stage than we usually do."
For their study, Ahuja and her colleagues were able to identify two genes, BNC1 and ADAMTS1, which together were detectable in 81 percent of blood samples from 42 people with early-stage pancreatic cancer, but not in patients without the disease or in patients with a history of pancreatitis, a risk factor for pancreatic cancer. By contrast, the commonly used PSA antigen test for prostate cancer only picks up about 20 percent of prostate cancers.
Ahuja and her colleagues found that in pancreatic cancer cells, it appears that chemical alterations to BNC1 and ADAMTS1 -- epigenetic modifications that alter the way the genes function without changing the underlying DNA sequence -- silence the genes and prevent them from making their protein product, the role of which is not well-understood. These alterations are caused by the addition of a methyl group to the DNA.
Using a very sensitive method called Methylation on Beads (MOB) developed by Jeff Tza-Huei Wang, Ph.D., a professor at the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the researchers were able to single out, in the blood, even the smallest strands of DNA of those two genes with their added methyl groups. The technique uses nanoparticle magnets to latch on to the few molecules being shed by the tumors, which are enough to signal the presence of pancreatic cancer in the body, the researchers found.
Specifically, researchers say, they found BNC1 and ADAMTS1 in 97 percent of tissues from early-stage invasive pancreatic cancers. Surgery is the best chance for survival in pancreatic cancer, because radiation and chemotherapy are not very effective against it. The smaller the cancer -- the earlier it is detected -- the more likely surgery will be successful and the patient will survive.
Ahuja says the practical value of any blood test for cancer markers depends critically on its sensitivity, meaning the proportion of tumors it detects, and its specificity, meaning how many of the positive results are false alarms. The specificity of this new pair of markers is 85 percent, meaning 15 percent would be false alarms. Ahuja says she hopes further research will help refine the test, possibly by adding another gene or two, in order to go over 90 percent in both sensitivity and specificity.
Ahuja also cautions that her team still needs to duplicate the results in a larger sample of tumors, but is encouraged by the results so far. She says she doesn't envision the blood test as a means of screening the general population, the way mammograms and colonoscopies are used to find early breast and colon cancers. Instead, she imagines it would be best used in people at high risk for developing the disease, such as those with a family history of pancreatic cancer, a previous case of pancreatitis, long-term smokers or people with the BRCA gene mutations, which are linked to breast, ovarian and pancreatic cancers.
"You have to optimize your medical resources," says Ahuja, who hopes a commercial blood test might one day only cost $50.
She also notes that once BNC1 and ADAMTS1 are identified in a patient's blood, further tests will be needed to locate an actual cancer.
People who test positive will likely undergo CT scanning and/or endoscopic ultrasound tests -- whereby a tube is placed down the throat into the stomach to image the pancreas -- to search for the cancer. Surgery to remove it would presumably have a better chance of curing the disease owing to its small size and early stage.
###
The research is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute (K23CA127141, U54CA151838, RO1CA155305, P30CA006973, T32CA126607 and CA058184) and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (R01 ES011858), the American College of Surgeons/Society of University Surgeons Career Development Award, the Lustgarten Foundation, the Miriam & Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation and the National R&D program through the Dongnam Institute of Radiological & Medical Sciences funded by the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.
Other Johns Hopkins researchers involved in the study include Joo Mi Yi, Ph.D.; Angela A. Guzzetta, M.D.; Vasudev J. Bailey, Ph.D.; Stephanie R. Downing, M.D.; Katherine B. Chiappinelli, Ph.D.; Brian P. Keeley; Alejandro Stark, M.S.E.; Alexander Herrera, M.S.; Chistopher Wolfgang, M.D., Ph.D.; Emmanouil P. Pappou, M.D., Ph.D.; Christine A. Iacobuzio-Donahue, M.D., Ph.D.; Michael G. Goggins, M.B.B.Ch., M.D.; James G. Herman, M.D.; and Stephen B. Baylin, M.D.
Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM), headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, is a $6.7 billion integrated global health enterprise and one of the leading health care systems in the United States. JHM unites physicians and scientists of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with the organizations, health professionals and facilities of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System. JHM's vision, "Together, we will deliver the promise of medicine," is supported by its mission to improve the health of the community and the world by setting the standard of excellence in medical education, research and clinical care. Diverse and inclusive, JHM educates medical students, scientists, health care professionals and the public; conducts biomedical research; and provides patient-centered medicine to prevent, diagnose and treat human illness. JHM operates six academic and community hospitals, four suburban health care and surgery centers, and more than 30 primary health care outpatient sites. The Johns Hopkins Hospital, opened in 1889, was ranked number one in the nation for 21 years in a row by U.S. News & World Report.
Media Contacts:
Stephanie Desmon
410-955-8665 sdesmon1@jhmi.edu
Helen Jones
410-502-9422 hjones49@jhmi.edu
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| 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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