Archive for February, 2007
Oil hits nearly $61 a barrel
Price is year’s highest, as gasoline, heating oil reserves drop, Iran tension rises
The Associated Press
NEW YORK - Oil climbed to just short of $61 a barrel Thursday, the highest closing price this year, after the government reported surprisingly large drops in gasoline and heating oil inventories.
Tension between Western powers and Iran have also boosted energy prices the past two days; the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog reported Thursday that Iran is still refusing to end its nuclear program.
“It’s a great excuse to buy today,” said James Cordier, president of Liberty Trading Group in Tampa, Fla. The U.N. report was hardly a surprise, and Cordier pointed out that it doesn’t change the fundamental supply-and-demand picture right now. But against the backdrop of lower petroleum product inventories, hedge fund money pouring into commodities, and the upcoming driving season, traders saw it as a buying opportunity.
Giving the energy markets an additional lift, stock indexes around the world, including those in Australia and South Korea, have been hitting all-time peaks. “Global expansion means global energy demand,” Cordier said. “We probably haven’t seen the likes of what we’re going to see in 2007.”
Light, sweet crude for April delivery rose 88 cents to settle at $60.95 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after spiking as high as $61.25. It was the first time crude traded above the $61 mark since Dec. 29, and its highest closing price since it finished at $61.05 on that date. Crude has risen nearly 5 percent in two days.
Demand drives up price
Analysts said the rally has largely been driven by demand for petroleum products. Gasoline futures surged 5.01 cents to $1.75 a gallon on Thursday, and heating oil futures rose 4.34 cents to $1.73 a gallonU.S. crude inventories climbed by 3.7 million barrels to 327.6 million barrels in the week ending Feb. 16, the Energy Information Administration said Thursday. But what stoked the market’s advance were gasoline inventories falling by 3.1 million barrels to 222.1 million barrels, and distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, dropping by 5 million barrels to 128.3 million barrels. Analysts were expecting, on average, a modest rise in crude oil and gasoline inventories and a smaller drop in distillates.
Most of the distillate drop was caused by high demand for heating oil supplies, sparked by record-breaking chilly weather and snow storms in the Northeast and Midwest regions of the United States. Distillate fuel demand was nearly 10 percent higher in the past four weeks than it was over the same period last year, the EIA said.
Supplies remain relatively ample — U.S. crude, gasoline and heating oil stockpiles are at or above the average range for this time of year, the EIA said.
Even so, the energy markets were kept on edge about the possibility of supply disruptions after the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed on Thursday that Iran is still enriching uranium. The country’s refusal to halt its nuclear program could trigger harsh U.N. sanctions.
Not only is Iran the second-largest exporter in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, it is also located along the Strait of Hormuz, a channel that sees about 90 percent of global oil exports flow through it, the Energy Department says.
“It’s little difficult to determine right now if we’re on a path towards war or resolution at this point,” Fimat USA analyst John Kilduff said, noting that Iranian officials have “gone back and forth” on whether they would use oil supplies as a negotiating tool.
February 24th, 2007
Crabtree Farms Begins Community Supported Agriculture Program
Crabtree Farms has added a Community Supported Agriculture Program, or CSA. A CSA enables the community to directly support local farms and sustain a local food supply. There are only three CSA’s in the Chattanooga area.
Once established, most CSA’s throughout the nation have waiting lists. This exhibits the growing interest in securing consistent fresh produce from local growers, officials said. The number of CSA programs in the U.S. in 1990 was around 50, and is now over 1,000.
Crabtree Farms’ FOOD, Fresh Organic Options in Dining, Program makes it easy and more affordable, to eat organic, local, healthy food. Participants will get quality USDA certified organic produce consistently and affordably. For around $25 a week, CSA members will receive weekly portions of the harvest from Crabtree’s Urban Farm produce grown here in Chattanooga.
The CSA season lasts 29 weeks and begins May 5 through Nov. 10. Each weekly box will contain enough feed at least two to three people with farm fresh food. The box will be filled with six to eight different products according to availability.
The introductory meeting and sign up session will be on Saturday, March 17, at 1:30 p.m. at Crabtree Farms Urban Farm, ½ mile off the Rossville Blvd. South exit on I-24 (1000 E. 30th St.
February 22nd, 2007
High growth seen for blow-molded packaging producers
Author: RP news wires
Prospects for vigorous growth in consumer blow-molded packaging are currently very favorable. According to Mastio, a St. Joseph, Mo., consulting firm specializing in research and market trends in the plastics industry, this market will grow at an annual average rate of 6.1 percent through 2008, reaching 8.6 billion pounds of resin consumed by the end of that year.
A corresponding report, distributed by Bharat Book Bureau during 2006, predicts that U.S. plastic container demand is expected to exceed 200 billion units in 2010, consuming nearly 15 billion pounds of plastic resins. The study attributes a significant share of that upward progress to dramatic increases in consumer demand for single serve containers.
In the processing equipment market, these facts have contributed to optimism reflected by the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI) which, in November 2006, announced that it expects U.S. shipments of packaging machinery to grow at a cumulative annual rate of 2.8 percent over the next three years, reaching $6.26 billion by 2008.
Charles Yuska, president and CEO of Arlington, Va.-based PMMI, states: “Packaging machinery end-users are replacing older machines with new models with more advanced technology and innovative designs to increase production speeds and reduce labor costs.”
The demand for small single-serve containers for food, milk, juice, nutritional drinks and liquid yogurts is one of the fastest-growing market segments for plastic bottles, not only in the United States but also on a global basis. The trend is driven by many popular applications including these few: school milk programs conversion from paper to plastic, new package developments targeted at the convenience and health food markets, and changing economical factors and consumer habits in Latin American and Asian countries.
February 22nd, 2007
Alt-medicine practitioners look for shield
Amanda Battaglia - The Daily Iowan
What stands in the way of regular physical activity? Time? Energy? Work? School? Family? Finances? Sounds like a priority issue. Many of us are pressed for time. Many struggle with stress coupled with gray, rainy Seattle winter days sucking energy right out of us. Most of us work, some with school on top of it. Many have family obligations and struggle to make ends meet. And we all have priorities. The key is making physical activity a priority.
You are not alone. About 40 percent of the population is sedentary, with only 20 percent meeting minimum recommended activity levels for cardiovascular health. Have you started and stopped an exercise program, sometimes repeatedly? More than 50 percent of individuals who begin an exercise program quit within six months.
Here are some ways to bring better physical activity into your life:
Be realistic. Set realistic short- and long-term goals.
Reward yourself when you reach those goals.
Build on success. Start a program in which specific goals are attainable, then build on those.
Find a partner to motivate you on days you don’t feel like doing anything.
Create variety and change your routine.
Focus on all the benefits of adding a regular activity routine into your life.
Find an activity you will enjoy.People ask, “What is the best exercise I can do?” The correct response: “Whichever one you will do!” Remember any activity is better than no activity. Your body and mind will thank you for it.
Tiffany Reiss, Ph.D.; School of Nutrition & Exercise Science, Bastyr University
Bastyr is a non-profit, private university offering graduate and undergraduate degrees, with a multidisciplinary curriculum in science-based natural medicine. The university’s Seattle teaching clinic, Bastyr Center for Natural Health, is the Northwest’s largest natural medicine clinic.
February 22nd, 2007
PERTH, Australia (AP): Mining ministers from Asia-Pacific countries ended a meeting Wednesday with an agreement to explore free trade in metals and minerals.
Australia’s Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane, the meeting’s host, said ministers at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, also known as APEC, agreed after a three-day meeting in this west coast city to examine what effects freeing up trade in minerals and metals would have on the sector.
“We discussed regulatory frameworks and agreed they should not be unduly prescriptive, but should strive to establish performance goals and outcomes,” Macfarlane said in a statement.
The study will also explore practical ways to increase trade and investment opportunities among the 21 APEC members.
“We have taken the first step to achieving a long term vision of an APEC free trade agreement,” Macfarlane told reporters. “This would dwarf every other FTA ever written.”
APEC members include some of the biggest mineral producers — Australia, Canada, Chile, Peru and the United States — as well as some of the most voracious consumers of commodities, such as China and Japan.
Macfarlane said the mining ministers’ meeting also adopted a set of nonbinding principles for the industry, including pursuing policies that enhanced sustainable production, trade and consumption of minerals and metals.
Mining ministers and senior officials met in Perth for the first in a series of ministerial meetings that will culminate in an APEC national leaders’ summit in Sydney in September.
February 22nd, 2007
Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine Accepted for Coverage in MEDLINE
By: PR Newswire
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, February 21 /PRNewswire/ — Elsevier (LSE: REL , NYSE: ENL), the world’s leading scientific, technical and medical publisher has announced that its journal, Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine has been selected for inclusion in MEDLINE(R). Maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine(R), MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online) is the premier bibliographic database containing approximately 13 million references to journal articles in life sciences with a concentration on biomedicine.
Nanomedicine: NBM Editor-in-Chief, Chiming Wei, MD, PhD, Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, commented, “The entire Editorial Board and I are extremely pleased that Nanomedicine: NBM is being added to the MEDLINE journal collection so soon after its launch in March 2005 in recognition of its scientific merit and contribution to the field. Inclusion in this prominent database will help investigators throughout the world more easily locate articles published in Nanomedicine: NBM.
Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine (www.nanomedjournal.org), the Official Journal of the American Academy of Nanomedicine (AANM), is an international, peer-reviewed journal published quarterly. Nanomedicine: NBM publishes basic, clinical and engineering research in the innovative field of nanomedicine. Article categories include diagnostic, experimental, clinical, engineering, pharmacological and basic nanomedicine. Nanomedicine: NBM provides the latest information in this rapidly developing field, covering both research advancements and clinical applications. The Journal publishes original clinical and investigative studies, state-of-the-art papers, reports on new equipment and techniques, review articles and more.
Nanomedicine, an offshoot of nanotechnology, refers to highly specific medical intervention at the molecular scale for curing disease or repairing damaged tissues, such as bone, muscle or nerve. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, too small to be seen with a conventional lab microscope. It is at this size scale - about 100 nanometers or less - that biological molecules and structures inside living cells operate.
The National Library of Medicine MEDLINE selection process is managed by an advisory committee, the Literature Selection Technical Review Committee, composed of authorities knowledgeable in the field of biomedicine, such as physicians, researchers, educators, editors, health science librarians and historians, to review and recommend the journal titles NLM should index. With inclusion in MEDLINE, citations, abstracts and indexing terms for articles published in Nanomedicine: NBM will be available online in the U.S. and throughout the world back to Volume 1/Issue 1. MEDLINE is searchable for free using PubMed at http://pubmed.gov.
Elsevier, a world-leading medical and scientific publisher, brings the full support of its global organization to the journal. It is recognized for its numerous long-standing and successful society-publishing partnerships, as well as excellence in all aspects of the publishing process. ScienceDirect (www.sciencedirect.com), Elsevier’s world-class electronic platform with over 16 million users, provides online access to the full text of Nanomedicine: NBM to institutional subscribers. Members of the affiliated society and individual subscribers are able to access the journal via www.nanomedjournal.org.
February 22nd, 2007
By Michael Seabaugh, February 21, 2007
About this time of year, when the dewy-eyed hope of our new year’s resolutions start fading into cynicism, we need a new dose of hope. As your eagle-eyed health columnist, I can provide. There is plenty of optimistic news coming our way for improving your healthspan. Here are a few that have caught my eye.
A toast to Alzheimer’s with a glass of red
In what is being hailed as a “breakthrough study,” the good folks at Mount Sinai School of Medicine are putting the finishing touches on the stellar reputation of red wine as a health drink. Add Alzheimer’s prevention to the long list health benefits. Red wine is rich in polyphenols, the anti-oxidant compounds that have already been shown in prior studies to break up the plaque build up in the brain that is widely seen as the culprit in Alzheimer’s. In the study presented at the most recent meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, the wine imbibing mice went on a binge for seven months and ended up with a reduced concentration of the beta-amyloid plaque in the brain as compared to the more sober mice.
By the way, cabernet sauvignon was singled out as being particularly beneficial. At least it wasn’t merlot.
Niacin in training in the fight against aging
Research coming out of the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia has found that a component of niacin (also known as vitamin B3), shows great promise for slowing down the aging process. The B3 component can activate an enzyme called sirtuin which has been shown to extend the lives of different kinds of organisms. In a prepared statement, senior study author Ronen Mamorstein said, “Our findings suggest a new avenue for designing sirtuin-activating drugs. The jury is still out as to whether a drug of this kind might result in longer life in humans, but I’m equally excited by the possibility that such interventions might help counteract age-related health problems like obesity and Type 2 diabetes.”
Where there is hope there’s a way. Stay tuned on this one.
Good news for menopausal women seeking options
In the upcoming issue of Menopause, a scientific advisory panel convened by the American Menopause Society will issue an important new position statement on hormone therapy (HT). It eases the position on whether women should take hormones to lessen menopausal symptoms.
Dr. Wulf Utian, director of the Menopause Society, said in a statement made to Heartwire: “For women with severe menopausal symptoms, within a few years of their last period, hormone therapy shouldn’t be as scary as it has been made out to be.”
In the same interview, he pointed out that older women, who are still experiencing troubling menopausal symptoms, need to consider whether to resume HT more carefully, as they are “at a higher absolute risk for cancer and heart disease.” Recommendations are that women who wish to use HT start out on the lowest possible dose and only increase gradually until symptoms abate. As to the problems associated with HT, Dr. Utian noted that both breast cancer and heart attacks are rare, although the risk for stroke is slightly higher in older women.
First non-prescription diet pill approved by the FDA
For all of us whose metabolisms have slowed to snail’s pace and yet are intent on weighing what we did in college, this may be at least convenient news. Alli, the first FDA approved over-the-counter med is coming to town. It is a lower dose version of Xenical, which works by blocking the absorption of fat and its attendant calories. Alli is safe and can help dieters lose up to 16 pounds. You have to be willing to put up with flatulence and greasy stools. But what price health and beauty, right?
And finally, a novel way to live longer
Mice who were genetically engineered to have lower body temperatures lived the equivalent of eight years longer in human years. How this might be applicable to humans is still being looked at. For now, I think it might be advisable to find ways to chill out.
February 22nd, 2007
Online Victims: Internet behaviors make targets of some kids
About one in five youngsters reports encountering at least one instance of unwanted sexual solicitation or harassment online in the past year, a national telephone survey finds. Internet-safety programs that typically urge children to avoid posting personal information online ignore other behaviors that the new results suggest lead to such victimization.
Sharing one’s name, contact information, and other personal data on the Internet didn’t increase the chances of experiencing online victimization, according to a team led by psychologist Michele L. Ybarra of Internet Solutions for Kids, a nonprofit research organization in Irvine, Calif. Among 1,497 children and teenagers interviewed, 831 acknowledged having disclosed personal information online, the researchers say. Furthermore, one in three children reported having online friends who had never been met in person.
The vast majority of online targets of sexual solicitation or harassment had engaged in four or more troubling behaviors when using the Internet, Ybarra’s group reports in the February Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. These online acts included making contact with people in a variety of venues, talking about sex with unknown people, putting unknown people on one’s buddy list, making rude or nasty comments to someone else, and intentionally visiting X-rated sites.
Almost half the time, risky online behaviors occurred while youngsters used the Internet in the company of friends or peers, Ybarra’s group notes.
Online victims also reported excessive rates of other problems in their daily lives, including physical and sexual abuse, severe conflict with parents, and being a target of bullying at school.
Although no one has studied the effectiveness of various strategies to prevent online victimization of youth, the researchers recommend that parents and clinicians “arm [children] with the tools to reduce the risk that some of their behaviors may entail.” For instance, adults might tell children that they can discontinue any online relationship at any time by changing one’s log-in name or by blocking another person from entering one’s Web social-network site.
Ybarra and her coworkers conducted random telephone interviews with 10-to 17-year-olds between March 2 and June 11, 2005. The sample contained about equal numbers of boys and girls. Three-quarters of the participants identified themselves as white.
Interviewers asked each youngster to estimate how often in the past year he or she had engaged in any of nine online behaviors that have raised concerns about safety. Interviewers also asked children whether they had encountered unwanted online sexual requests or harassment, such as being threatened or embarrassed by someone else posting or sending messages about them for other people to see.
The new data underscore that “the ways children put themselves at risk in the virtual world appear to mirror the ways they do in the real one,” remarks pediatrician Dimitri A. Christakis of the University of Washington in Seattle.
Bruce Bower
Source:science news
February 10th, 2007
Industrial supplies trade expands in Yakima Valley
Brian Guernsey, general manager of a new Fastenal Industrial and Construction Supplies on Lincoln Avenue in Yakima, works in the store Monday.
Tacoma Screw Products and Fastenal have battled for years to be the supplier of screws and fasteners for manufacturing companies throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Now the two longtime rivals have moved into the Yakima Valley to vie for business from the area’s construction, agriculture and public works industries.
They also are looking to grab a larger share of a nationwide $75 billion to $100 billion industrial supply market.
Tacoma Screw Products will have its first Eastern Washington store in Yakima at 711 E. R St. The company purchased the property from Chinook Business Park in October. The 61-year-old Tacoma company already has several Yakima Valley customers, and executives decided to open a Yakima facility after several months of talking to city and county officials. It has been interviewing applicants for seven sales positions and expects to open by early April.
“We are in expansion mode. We are looking for communities that are growing and that have the kind of customers that we traditionally serve,” said John Wolfe, Tacoma Screw Products’ executive adviser. “And Yakima fits very nicely into that model.”
Meanwhile, Fastenal Industrial and Construction Supplies, a Winona, Minn.-based company with more than 2,000 locations worldwide, has supplied fasteners and other hardware in the Yakima Valley for several years. It’s been in Union Gap for about five years and opened a second location in Sunnyside.
Its new Yakima store, at 516 W. Lincoln Ave., will serve customers from Yakima to Cle Elum.
“We want to be out there next to the customer,” said Robert Brown, Fastenal’s district manager who oversees 11 stores in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. “We want to help them grow. If they grow, our business will grow.”
Manufacturing’s recent economic rebound has provided the industrial-supply trade with new business, said John Buckley, executive vice president of the Industrial Supply Association, a trade organization.
Although the industry supplier’s customer base is smaller than it was during manufacturing’s heyday, many companies are expanding, increasing the need for such suppliers as Tacoma Screw Products and Fastenal, he said.
And they are working to keep that customer base. Both firms agree that good customer service will separate successful industrial suppliers from the rest.
Brown, Fastenal’s district manager, said the company offers several services, including one that helps customers maintain inventory and reduce supply costs.
“In the nation, that whole (industrial supply) market is huge — nobody has a large portion of that pie and the main reason is that there’s a diverse amount of suppliers,” Brown said.
One of Tacoma Screw Products’ services is maintaining a complete product inventory at all its facilities. No matter how specialized the part, Tacoma Screw will have it in stock, Wolfe said.
“If a customer has a very expensive piece of machinery and they need that fastener, it’s not good customer service that we can have it for them in three days,” he said. “We want it in the back room, so they can get the equipment fixed and back in operation.”
And that’s good news for Yakima Valley’s industries, such as construction, which has experienced rapid growth last year.
Often contractors need a specialized part and have to order it elsewhere, said Brian McGuire, central district manager for Associated General Contractors of Washington.
Getting the part locally will save time, he said
“I think there’s a need for a variety of industrial-type fasteners,” McGuire said. “It’s good for the contractors to have more choices.”
By MAI HOANG
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
Source:Google News
February 10th, 2007
Amsterdam, The Netherlands– Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG, AEX:PHI) today announced the sale of its Philips Optical Media & Technology (OM&T) activities to Moser Baer India Ltd. for an undisclosed amount. OM&T develops DVD and Blu-Ray related technology for the optical disk industry. The sale of OM&T is part of Philips’ program to divest certain components businesses, which have to that end been placed in its Corporate Investments portfolio. This transaction represents another step Philips is taking to focus on its Healthcare, Lifestyle and Technology activities supported by the strength of the company’s brand.
For more information, please contact:
Arent Jan HesselinkPhilips Corporate Comunications
Tel +31 20 59 77415
email arentjan.hesselink@philips.com
About Royal Philips Electronics
Royal Philips Electronics of the
Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is a global leader in healthcare, lifestyle and technology, delivering products, services and solutions through the brand promise of “sense and simplicity”. Headquartered in the
Netherlands, Philips employs approximately 121,700 employees in more than 60 countries worldwide. With sales of EUR 27.0 billion in 2006, the company is a market leader in medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring systems, energy efficient lighting solutions, personal care and home appliances, as well as consumer electronics. News from Philips is located at
www.philips.com/newscenter.
Forward-looking statements
This release may contain certain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of Philips and certain of the plans and objectives of Philips with respect to these items. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the OM&T employs approximately 50 people in
Eindhoven and had turnover in 2006 of approximately EUR 10 million. The transfer of ownership to Moser Baer is effectuated retroactively from January 1, 2007.
Source:www.newscenter.philips.com
February 10th, 2007
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Oil hits nearly $61 a barrel
