The indie pop band fun.will kick off the 2013 Toyota Concert Series on TODAY on May 24.
This summer, TODAY will once again put the rock in Rockefeller Plaza, bringing together the hottest hit-makers for its 18th annual summer concert series.
There?s no better way to officially kick off summer than with some fun -- the indie pop band fun., that is. On Friday, May 24, in their first-ever TODAY concert, the Grammy award winners will be turning ?Some Nights? into one great morning.
This year?s lineup also includes One Direction and Chris Brown, two veteran TODAY sensations who brought record-setting crowds in previous plaza performances. The 2013 series also features rock bands Maroon 5, Train and Fall Out Boy as well as singer-songwriters John Mayer, Michael Buble, Phillip Phillips and Ed Sheeran. In addition, boy bands New Kids on the Block, 98 Degrees, and Boyz II Men will join forces in one blow-out concert, and Lionel Richie will surely have the crowd "Dancing on the Ceiling." The concert series also brings bright country music stars to the morning show stage with The Band Perry, Hunter Hayes and Luke Bryan.
Here's a list of concerts scheduled to date. Tweet out your favorites using the hashtags below! All concerts are Friday performances unless otherwise noted.
MAY 24 FUN, #FunTODAY 31 NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK/ 98 DEGREES/ BOYZ II MEN, #NKOTBTODAY
JULY 5 JOHN MAYER, #JohnMayerTODAY 12 ED SHEERAN, #EdSheeranTODAY 19 FALL OUT BOY, #FallOutBoyTODAY 26 TRAIN, #TrainTODAY
AUGUST 2 THE BAND PERRY, #BandPerryTODAY 9 MICHAEL BUBLE, #BubleTODAY 16 LUKE BRYAN, #LukeBryanTODAY 23 ONE DIRECTION, #1DTODAY 30 CHRIS BROWN, #ChrisBrownTODAY
Additional performances may be announced throughout the season.
Fans and visitors are encouraged to come to the plaza for the live performances. Viewing is on a first-come, first-served basis outside TODAY's window-on-the-world studio, located at 49th Street and Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. Fans should arrive by 6 a.m. for best viewing.
Unethical advertising at launch of antidepressantsPublic release date: 2-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Shai Mulinari Shai.mulinari@genus.lu.se 46-737-343-316 Lund University
The new feature of the antidepressant drugs of the 1990s was that they had milder side-effects than their predecessors. Combined with aggressive marketing, this meant that annual sales in Sweden increased from just under EUR 18 million to over EUR 100 million in the space of just a few years.
Most countries have an established system for self-regulation of pharmaceuticals advertising. Sweden has been held up internationally as a good example. The Swedish pharmaceutical industry's trade organisation appoints an information examiner to monitor the marketing to ensure it doesn't violate established ethical guidelines. There is also a board appointed by the industry that deals with complaints. Misleading advertising usually results in a fine.
"The system of self-regulation was established in 1969 in Sweden, but this is the first academic study of how it really works", says Shai Mulinari, who is a researcher in both social sciences and biomedicine.
Together with a colleague, he has gone through all the advertising for antidepressants published in the professional journal for doctors, The Swedish Medical Journal, between 1994 and 2003. In the study, they found that 34 per cent of all adverts had been judged as misleading by the industry's self-regulation system.
"The figure should really have been even higher because we discovered that a large amount of misleading advertising had passed through the review process unnoticed. For example, many advertisements that were not picked up contained exaggerated claims about the effects of the drugs", said Shai Mulinari.
The fact that one third of all advertising failed the review process can, on the one hand, be regarded as a sign that the industry's self-regulation functions fairly well. On the other hand, in Shai Mulinari's view, the system can be perceived as toothless:
"The consequences of being convicted were marginal. In total, only 0.009 per cent of sales revenue went to fines for unethical marketing", he said.
Today, the level of the fines has been raised, but Shai Mulinari still believes there is reason to look more closely at how well the industry's self-regulation of advertising really works.
For example, according to the Lund University study it took an average of 15 weeks from the publication of the unethical advertising to the announcement of a verdict. During that time, the advertisement could in theory have been published in the journal 15 times. Another problem identified by the researchers was that only 12 per cent of the reports were initiated by doctors and only 8 per cent by the Medical Products Agency. In other cases, it was business competitors who reported one another or the reports were initiated by the industry's information examiner.
"It is important that doctors and the Medical Products Agency report impropriety, otherwise all responsibility is placed on the industry", said Shai Mulinari, who thinks the review process for the pharmaceutical industry's marketing is discussed far too little in Sweden compared with many other countries.
###
Article in PLOS ONE: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0062609
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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.
Unethical advertising at launch of antidepressantsPublic release date: 2-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Shai Mulinari Shai.mulinari@genus.lu.se 46-737-343-316 Lund University
The new feature of the antidepressant drugs of the 1990s was that they had milder side-effects than their predecessors. Combined with aggressive marketing, this meant that annual sales in Sweden increased from just under EUR 18 million to over EUR 100 million in the space of just a few years.
Most countries have an established system for self-regulation of pharmaceuticals advertising. Sweden has been held up internationally as a good example. The Swedish pharmaceutical industry's trade organisation appoints an information examiner to monitor the marketing to ensure it doesn't violate established ethical guidelines. There is also a board appointed by the industry that deals with complaints. Misleading advertising usually results in a fine.
"The system of self-regulation was established in 1969 in Sweden, but this is the first academic study of how it really works", says Shai Mulinari, who is a researcher in both social sciences and biomedicine.
Together with a colleague, he has gone through all the advertising for antidepressants published in the professional journal for doctors, The Swedish Medical Journal, between 1994 and 2003. In the study, they found that 34 per cent of all adverts had been judged as misleading by the industry's self-regulation system.
"The figure should really have been even higher because we discovered that a large amount of misleading advertising had passed through the review process unnoticed. For example, many advertisements that were not picked up contained exaggerated claims about the effects of the drugs", said Shai Mulinari.
The fact that one third of all advertising failed the review process can, on the one hand, be regarded as a sign that the industry's self-regulation functions fairly well. On the other hand, in Shai Mulinari's view, the system can be perceived as toothless:
"The consequences of being convicted were marginal. In total, only 0.009 per cent of sales revenue went to fines for unethical marketing", he said.
Today, the level of the fines has been raised, but Shai Mulinari still believes there is reason to look more closely at how well the industry's self-regulation of advertising really works.
For example, according to the Lund University study it took an average of 15 weeks from the publication of the unethical advertising to the announcement of a verdict. During that time, the advertisement could in theory have been published in the journal 15 times. Another problem identified by the researchers was that only 12 per cent of the reports were initiated by doctors and only 8 per cent by the Medical Products Agency. In other cases, it was business competitors who reported one another or the reports were initiated by the industry's information examiner.
"It is important that doctors and the Medical Products Agency report impropriety, otherwise all responsibility is placed on the industry", said Shai Mulinari, who thinks the review process for the pharmaceutical industry's marketing is discussed far too little in Sweden compared with many other countries.
###
Article in PLOS ONE: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0062609
[ | 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.
LONDON (Reuters) - Three British soldiers have been killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, Britain's Defence Ministry said on Wednesday, in the deadliest single attack on the British military there in more than a year.
Nine Afghans were also killed in Tuesday's explosion that hit the soldiers' vehicle while it was on a routine patrol in Nahr-e Saraj district in the southern province of Helmand.
Another six British soldiers were wounded in the blast, which occurred two days after the Islamist Taliban movement launched its spring offensive, saying it would target foreign military bases and diplomatic areas.
"We have paid a very high price for the work we're doing in Afghanistan," Prime Minister David Cameron said in a morning interview on ITV television.
"It is important work because it's vital that country doesn't again become a haven for terrorists, terrorists that can threaten us here in the UK."
The three British soldiers were the first to be killed by an attack while travelling in a Mastiff, an armored vehicle designed to withstand roadside bombs and sent to Afghanistan after a debate about whether previous equipment was adequate.
"Their deaths come as a great loss to all those serving in Task Force Helmand," said Major Richard Morgan, a spokesman for the task force. Their families have been informed.
A total of 444 British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since Britain's military involvement there began in October 2001, including six this year.
British troops are handing over security operations to Afghan forces and are due to end combat operations in Afghanistan by the end of next year.
(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
(Reuters) - Allergan Inc said approval of its Darpin eye drug could be delayed up to two years, providing a new boost to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc whose successful treatment, Eylea, stands to gain from a lack of new competition.
Shares of Allergan, which makes wrinkle treatment Botox, fell 13.1 percent after the company said mid-stage trial results of Darpin did not warrant an immediate move into far larger late-stage trials. Regeneron shares closed up 10.3 percent.
If eventually approved, Darpin would also compete with Roche Holding AG's, Lucentis, to treat age-related macular degeneration - the most common form of blindness in the elderly.
Adnan Butt, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, said Darpin's delay was "great news" for Regeneron. He noted that Wall Street had feared the Allergan drug might have a superior clinical profile to Eylea.
"This gives Eylea even more time to become entrenched as the drug to beat," Butt said.
He estimates that each year of Darpin delay will translate into an upside of about $15 to $20 for Regeneron shares, now trading at about $240.
Eylea, which was approved in November 2011, had sales last year of $838 million. Regeneron expects 2013 Eylea sales of $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion. Company officials would not comment on the setback for Allergan's drug.
Regeneron is expected to report first quarter results on Friday and could update its sales projections.
Allergan Chief Executive David Pyott said on a conference call that a mid-stage trial of Darpin showed some product differentiation over Lucentis, but did not support directly moving to late-stage development.
The company now plans to perform additional mid-stage trials to assess Darpin, which will delay its potential approval by one to two years.
"There was a rush to ascribe a lot of value to Darpin and our view is that this is still very much an unproven asset with limited data," Piper Jaffray analyst David Amsellem said.
"The earliest it could get to market now is likely 2019," Amsellem said. "If you couple that with the setback of the hair loss product, the late-stage pipeline for Allergan right now is really quite thin."
A mid-stage trial of Allergan's hair loss treatment Bimatoprost Scalp also failed to provide sufficient efficacy to proceed to a late-stage study, further weighing on company shares.
ROOM TO GROW
Regeneron in the past two years has vaulted seemingly out of nowhere to become one of the world's biggest biotechnology companies, thanks largely to Eylea.
The company has repeatedly raised its sales forecasts for the drug, which is injected into the eye, as it steadily steals market share from Lucentis.
Some specialty pharmacies also use Roche's Avastin cancer drug, which works the same way as Lucentis, but is far less expensive, when divided into smaller portions for treating macular degeneration.
Roche has said that dividing Avastin through a procedure not closely monitored by health regulators, called compounding, could compromise its sterility.
Regeneron Chief Executive Leonard Schleifer said in a recent interview that sales of Eylea could jump sharply if potential rivals stumble, or if U.S. regulators clamp down on the compounding of Avastin for eye use.
Moreover, he said some analysts believe Eylea sales could swell if it is approved for a new indication called diabetic macular edema now in late-stage trials. Lucentis is already approved for the condition.
"So Eylea is a growth story unto itself, with lots of room to still grow," Schleifer said.
Allergan on Wednesday also posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by strong sales of Botox.
Net income for the first quarter fell to $12.5 million, or 4 cents per share, due to a loss of $259 million from discontinued operations. Profit was $229.8 million, or 74 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding special items, Allergan earned 98 cents per share. Analysts were expecting 96 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Global company sales rose 8 percent to $1.46 billion, above Wall Street's average estimate of $1.44 billion.
Sales of Botox, which is also approved for treating migraine headaches, overactive bladder and underarm sweating, rose 15 percent to $457.9 million.
Allergan said it now expects 2013 adjusted earnings of $4.70 to $4.76 per share, compared with its prior outlook of $4.75 to $4.83 a share.
The company forecast a second-quarter profit of $1.18 to $1.20 per share, below analysts' average estimate of $1.22 a share. The new forecasts reflect the impact of its MAP Pharmaceuticals acquisition earlier this year.
Allergan shares fell $14.88 to $98.67 on the New York Stock Exchange, while Regeneron shares rose $25.15 to $237.29.
(Reporting by Esha Dey in Bangalore and Bill Berkrot in New York; Editing by Michele Gershberg, Sreejiraj Eluvangal, Carol Bishopric and Andre Grenon)
1 May 2013Last updated at 02:48 ETBy Jason PalmerScience and technology reporter, BBC News
A next-generation material first earmarked for use in electronics has proven itself a capable clean-up agent for polluted waters.
Boron nitride, or "white graphene", is similar to its namesake: sheets of atoms laid out like a chain-link fence.
A report in Nature Communications shows the material can preferentially soak up organic pollutants such as industrial chemicals or engine oil.
However, it is easier to clean and re-use than other such "nanomaterials".
The family of these materials includes much-touted, carbon-based members such as graphene and nanotubes, and are notable in part for their surface area-to-weight ratio.
That allows them to take up an incredible amount for their size, making them attractive for the clean-up of pollutants.
The new work suggests that a preparation of boron nitride could outperform many nanomaterials and more traditional approaches.
A team from the Institute for Frontier Materials at Deakin University in Australia and the Pierre and Marie Curie University in France started by making porous boron nitride "nanosheets" - wavy, single-atom layers of the material with holes in them.
These porous sheets, which together form a coarse white powder, vastly outperformed sheets that did not have the pores, and commercially available chunks of boron nitride that is not made up of the tiny sheets.
The porous version exhibited high "selective absorption and adsorption" - preferentially picking up organic pollutants and dyes out of water.
The powder soaked up as much as 33 times its own weight in the chemical ethylene glycol and 29 times its own weight of engine oil. Even still, the saturated powder floats on water.
The pollutants could then be driven out of the nooks and crannies of the material by heating it in a commercial furnace, or by simply igniting it - a trick that other, more established materials could only survive a few times before becoming completely clogged up.
"All these features make these porous nanosheets suitable for a wide range of applications in water purification and treatment," the authors wrote.
Francesco Stellacci of EPFL in Switzerland called the work "an excellent paper in a booming field".
"The data reported are indeed excellent and impressive," he told BBC News. "The key question is if this is the material that at the end will be used for remediation."
Prof Stellacci said that a market for such materials does not yet exist, and boron nitride's striking clean-up powers may or may not be enough to establish it as a leading contender, even among nanomaterials.
"I think that at the end it will not be performance that will determine the final material used, but more costs and scalability. I really hope that one of these materials, and maybe this one, will make it," he said.
STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko was unlawfully held in detention before she was tried and sentenced to jail in 2011, the European Court of Human Rights said on Tuesday in a verdict that may add to Western complaints to Kiev over her fate.
The French-based rights court dismissed allegations by Tymoshenko that she was subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment, but ruled the pre-trial detention order was an unjustified restriction of her freedom at that time.
The ruling stated: "The Court held in particular, that Ms Tymoshenko's pre-trial detention had been arbitrary, that the lawfulness of her detention had not been properly reviewed and, that she had no possibility to seek compensation for her unlawful deprivation of liberty".
Tymoshenko, 52, was twice prime minister before losing a close presidential race in 2010 to Viktor Yanukovich, whose 2004 bid for the post was thwarted by the Orange Revolution, a wave of pro-democracy protests she had helped lead.
She was tried and sentenced in October 2011 to seven years jail for abuse of office in relation to her role in a gas deal with Russia that saddled Ukraine with exorbitant energy costs.
The European Union suspended work on free trade and broader cooperation pacts with Kiev over the case and EU ministers said this week the accords were being stymied in particular due to "selective justice", a term used by the West to convey concern about prosecution of rival politicians.
Tymoshenko's lawyer denounced what he called Ukraine's "pure, concentrated political prosecution" of Tymoshenko.
Ukraine had been found wanting by Europe's highest court on human rights issues and should now release her, said lawyer Serguei Vlasenko.
The European Court of Human Rights verdict can be appealed if Ukraine wishes to do so in the next three months but in any case it did not include an order to pay damages because Tymoshenko had not sought compensation.
Since last May, Tymoshenko, 52, has been receiving treatment for back trouble in a state-run hospital in the city of Kharkiv.
President Yanukovich has said he cannot order her release because Tymoshenko is also due to be tried in a separate case on tax evasion and embezzlement charges and she is being investigated also in a murder case. She has denied all charges against her.
The European rights court is also looking into complaints by Tymoshenko about the 2011 trial and sentence, but said it would rule on part side of the case at a later date.
(Reporting by Gilbert Reilhac in Strasbourg and Olzhas Auyezov in Kiev; Writing by Brian Love; Editing by Jon Hemming)
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