In lab, Pannexin1 restores tight binding of cells that is lost in cancer

Monday, January 30, 2012

First there is the tumor and then there's the horrible question of whether the cancerous cells will spread. Scientists increasingly believe that the structural properties of the tumor itself, such as how tightly the tumor cells are packed together, play a decisive role in the progression of the disease. In a new study, researchers show that the protein Pannexin1, known to have tumor-suppressive properties, plays an important role in keeping the cells within a tissue closely packed together, an effect that may be lost with cancer.

"In healthy tissues, the recently discovered protein Pannexin1 may be playing an important role in upholding the mechanical integrity of the tissue," said first author and Brown University M.D./Ph.D. student Brian Bao. "When we develop cancer, we lose Pannexin1 and we lose this integrity."

The results appeared in advance online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry on Jan. 20.

To conduct their research, the group at Brown University and the University of British Columbia employed a "3-D Petri dish" technology that allows investigators to watch closely how cells interact with each other, without scientists having to worry about additional interactions with surrounding scaffolding or the culture plate itself. How readily the cells form large multicellular structures therefore reflects their interactions with each other, not their in vitro surroundings.

Bao's advisor, Jeffrey Morgan, associate professor of medical science, developed the 3-D Petri dish technology. Morgan is the paper's senior author.

Cancer cells converge

Starting with rat "C6" glioma (brain tumor) cells that do not express Pannexin1, the researchers left some unaltered and engineered others to express Pannexin1. After putting the different cells into the 3-D Petri dishes and watching them interact for 24 hours, they saw that the Pannexin1 cells were able to form large multicellular tissues much faster and more tightly than the unaltered cancer cells.

To confirm that Pannexin1 was indeed causing these changes, Bao and his colleagues treated their samples with the drugs Probenecid and Carbenoxolone, which are well known inhibitors of Pannexin1. They saw that sure enough, the drugs negated Pannexin1's accelerating effect.

Then the team was ready to achieve the the study's main aim, Bao said, namely to determine how Pannexin1 was able to drive these cells to clump together faster and tighter. They found that Pannexin1 sets off a chain reaction involving the energy-carrying molecule ATP and specific receptors for it.

When all experiments were done, Bao, Morgan, and their collaborators had found that as soon as the cells touched each other, Pannexin1 channels were stimulated to open and release ATP. The ATP then bound to cell surface receptors, kicking off intracellular calcium waves that ultimately remodeled the network of a structural protein called actin. This remodeling increases the forces between the cells, driving them to bind together more tightly.

Figuring out that sequence, and Pannexin1's role in it, is perhaps the study's biggest contribution to cancer research, Bao said.

"Using their single-cell systems, others have been able to carefully study individual pieces of this cascade," he said. "We came from a different perspective. Because the strength of our assay is that we can look at gross multicellular behavior in 3-D, we could ask, 'Does this actually manifest into something tangible on the multicellular level?'"

Having gained this understanding of Pannexin1's role in the mechanics of tumors, Bao is now engaged in research to answer the obvious next questions: Does Pannexin1 affect the tumor's ability to spread and invade? When cancerous cells regain Pannexin1 expression, are they less likely to spread and leave the tumor?

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Brown University: http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau

Thanks to Brown University for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117181/In_lab__Pannexin__restores_tight_binding_of_cells_that_is_lost_in_cancer

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Can't find your keys? Your brain's out of sync

YOU'RE running late for work and you can't find your keys. What's really annoying is that in your frantic search, you pick up and move them without realising. This may be because the brain systems involved in the task are working at different speeds, with the system responsible for perception unable to keep pace.

So says Grayden Solman and his colleagues at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

To investigate how we search, Solman's team created a simple computer-based task that involved searching through a pile of coloured shapes on a computer screen. Volunteers were instructed to find a specific shape in a stack as quickly as possible, while the computer monitored their actions. "Between 10 and 20 per cent of the time, they would miss the object," says Solman, even though they picked it up. "We thought that was remarkably often."

To find out why, the team developed a number of further experiments. To check whether volunteers were just forgetting their target, they gave a new group a list of items to memorise before the search task, which they had to recall afterwards.

The idea was to fill each volunteer's "memory load", so that they were unable to hold any other information in their short-term memory. Although this was expected to have a negative effect on their performance at the search task, the extra load made no difference to the percentage of mistakes volunteers made.

To check that the volunteers were paying enough attention to the items they were moving, Solman's team created another task involving a stack of cards marked with shapes that only became visible while the card was being moved. Again, they were surprised to see the same level of error, says Solman.

Finally, the team analysed participants' mouse movements as they were carrying out a similar search task. They discovered that volunteers' movements were slower after they had moved and missed their target (Cognition, DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2011.12.006).

Solman's team propose that the system in the brain that deals with movement is running too quickly for the visual system to keep up. While you are rummaging around a messy house to find your keys, you might not be giving your visual system enough time to work out what each object is. Since time can be costly, sacrificing accuracy on occasion for speed might be beneficial overall, Solman thinks.

The slowing of mouse movements suggests that at some level the volunteers were aware that they had missed their target, a theory that is backed up by other studies that show people tend to slow down their actions after they have made a mistake, even if they don't consciously realise the mistake. Solman reckons this reflects the brain's "attempt to slow down the motor system", to allow the visual system to catch up and conscious perception to occur.

"What's really interesting is the notion that the motor and perceptual system are decoupled. They're both trying to help you find [your keys] but they're not coordinating," says Todd Horowitz, at Harvard University. "There are implications for social search, such as a doctor looking through an X-ray or [security] looking through luggage."

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Iran vows to stop "some" oil sales as inspectors visit (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Iran sent conflicting signals in a dispute with the West over its nuclear ambitions, vowing to stop oil exports soon to "some" countries but postponing a parliamentary debate on a proposed halt to crude sales to the European Union.

The Islamic Republic declared itself optimistic about a visit by U.N. nuclear experts that began Sunday but also warned the inspectors to be "professional" or see Tehran reducing cooperation with the world body on atomic matters.

Lawmakers have raised the possibility of turning the tables on the EU which will implement its own embargo on Iranian oil by July as it tightens sanctions on Tehran over the nuclear program.

But India, the world's fourth-largest oil consumer, said it would not take steps to cut petroleum imports from Iran despite U.S. and European sanctions against Tehran.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection delegation will try to advance efforts to resolve a row about the nuclear work which Iran says is purely civilian but the West suspects is aimed at seeking a nuclear weapon.

Tension with the West rose this month when Washington and the EU imposed the toughest sanctions yet in a drive to force Tehran to provide more information on its nuclear program. The measures take direct aim at the ability of OPEC's second biggest Oil exporter to sell its crude.

In a remark suggesting Iran would fight sanctions with sanctions, Iran's oil minister said the Islamic state would soon stop exporting crude to "some" countries.

Rostam Qasemi did not identify the countries but was speaking less than a week after the EU's 27 member states agreed to stop importing crude from Iran from July 1.

"Soon we will cut exporting oil to some countries," the state news agency IRNA quoted Qasemi as saying.

India, a major customer for Iranian crude, made clear it would not join the wider international efforts to put pressure on Tehran by cutting oil purchases.

"It is not possible for India to take any decision to reduce the imports from Iran drastically, because among the countries which can provide the requirement of the emerging economies, Iran is an important country amongst them," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters on a visit to the Unites States.

The United States wants buyers in Asia, Iran's biggest oil market, to cut imports to put further pressure on Tehran.

DISCUSSION POSTPONED

Iranian lawmakers had been due to debate a bill Sunday that could have cut off oil supplies to the EU in days, in a move calculated to hit ailing European economies before the EU-wide ban on took effect.

But Iranian MPs postponed discussing the measure.

"No such draft bill has yet been drawn up and nothing has been submitted to the parliament. What exists is a notion by the deputies which is being seriously pursued to bring it to a conclusive end," Emad Hosseini, spokesman for parliament's Energy Committee, told Mehr news agency.

Iranian officials say sanctions have had no impact on the country. "Iranian oil has its own market, even if we cut our exports to Europe," Oil Minister Qasemi said.

Another lawmaker said the bill would oblige the government to cut Iran's oil supplies to the EU for five to 15 years, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

By turning the sanctions back on the EU, lawmakers hope to deny the bloc a six-month window it had planned to give those of its members most dependent on Iranian oil - including some of the most economically fragile in southern Europe - to adapt.

NUCLEAR WATCHDOG

Before departing from Vienna, IAEA Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts said he hoped Iran would tackle the watchdog's concerns "regarding the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program."

Mehr quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying during a trip to Ethiopia: "We are very optimistic about the outcome of the IAEA delegation's visit to Iran ... Their questions will be answered during this visit."

"We have nothing to hide and Iran has no clandestine (nuclear) activities."

Striking a sterner tone, Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, warned the IAEA team to carry out a "logical, professional and technical" job or suffer the consequences.

"This visit is a test for the IAEA. The route for further cooperation will be open if the team carries out its duties professionally," said Larijani, state media reported.

"Otherwise, if the IAEA turns into a tool (for major powers to pressure Iran), then Iran will have no choice but to consider a new framework in its ties with the agency."

Iran's parliament has approved bills in the past to oblige the government to review its level of cooperation with the IAEA. However, Iran's top officials have always underlined the importance of preserving ties with the watchdog body.

The head of the state-run National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said late Saturday that the export embargo would hit European refiners, such as Italy's Eni, that are owed oil from Iran as part of long-standing buy-back contracts under which they take payment for past oilfield projects in crude.

The EU accounted for 25 percent of Iranian crude oil sales in the third quarter of 2011. However, analysts say the global oil market will not be overly disrupted if parliament votes for the bill that would turn off the oil tap for Europe.

Potentially more disruptive to the world oil market and global security is the risk of Iran's standoff with the West escalating into military conflict.

Iran has repeatedly said it could close the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane if sanctions succeed in preventing it from exporting crude, a move Washington said it would not tolerate.

(Additional reporting by Hashem Kalantari, Robin Pomeroy and Hossein Jaseb in Tehran, Svetlana Kovalyova in Milan and Fredrik Dahl in Vienna; Writing by Parisa Hafezi and Robin Pomeroy; Editing by William Maclean and David Stamp)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/wl_nm/us_iran

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Complete list of winners at 18th annual SAG Awards (AP)

A complete list of winners at Sunday's 18th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards:

MOVIES:

Actor: Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"

Actress: Viola Davis, "The Help"

Supporting actor: Christopher Plummer, "Beginners."

Supporting actress: Octavia Spencer, "The Help."

Cast: "The Help"

Stunt ensemble: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2."

___

TELEVISION:

Actor in a movie or miniseries: Paul Giamatti, "Too Big to Fail."

Actress in a movie or miniseries: Kate Winslet, "Mildred Pierce."

Actor in a drama series: Steve Buscemi, "Boardwalk Empire"

Actress in a drama series: Jessica Lange, "American Horror Story"

Actor in a comedy series: Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock."

Actress in a comedy series: Betty White, "Hot in Cleveland."

Drama series cast: "Boardwalk Empire"

Comedy series cast: "Modern Family."

Stunt ensemble: "Game of Thrones."

___

Life Achievement: Mary Tyler Moore

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_en_tv/us_sag_awards_list

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Syrian troops storm areas near capital of Damascus (AP)

BEIRUT ? In dozens of tanks and armored vehicles, Syrian troops stormed rebellious areas near the capital Sunday, shelling neighborhoods that have fallen under the control of army dissidents and clashing with fighters. At least 62 people were killed in violence nationwide, activists and residents said.

The widescale offensive near the capital suggested the regime is worried that military defectors could close in on Damascus, which has remained relatively quiet while most other Syrian cities descended into chaos after the uprising began in March.

The rising bloodshed added urgency to Arab and Western diplomatic efforts to end the 10-month conflict.

The violence has gradually approached the capital. In the past two weeks, army dissidents have become more visible, seizing several suburbs on the eastern edge of Damascus and setting up checkpoints where masked men wearing military attire and wielding assault rifles stop motorists and protect anti-regime protests.

Their presence so close to the capital is astonishing in tightly controlled Syria and suggests the Assad regime may either be losing control or setting up a trap for the fighters before going on the offensive.

Residents of Damascus reported hearing clashes in the nearby suburbs, particularly at night, shattering the city's calm.

"The current battles taking place in and around Damascus may not yet lead to the unraveling of the regime, but the illusion of normalcy that the Assads have sought hard to maintain in the capital since the beginning of the revolution has surely unraveled," said Ammar Abdulhamid, a U.S.-based Syrian dissident.

"Once illusions unravel, reality soon follows," he wrote in his blog Sunday.

Soldiers riding some 50 tanks and dozens of armored vehicles stormed a belt of suburbs and villages on the eastern outskirts of Damascus known as al-Ghouta Sunday, a predominantly Sunni Muslim agricultural area where large anti-regime protests have been held.

Some of the fighting on Sunday was less than three miles (four kilometers) from Damascus, in Ein Tarma, making it the closest yet to the capital.

"There are heavy clashes going on in all of the Damascus suburbs," said Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, who relies on a network of activists on the ground. "Troops were able to enter some areas but are still facing stiff resistance in others."

The fighting using mortars and machine guns sent entire families fleeing, some of them on foot carrying bags of belongings, to the capital.

"The shelling and bullets have not stopped since yesterday," said a man who left his home in Ein Tarma with his family Sunday. "It's terrifying, there's no electricity or water, it's a real war," he said by telephone on condition of anonymity, for fear of reprisals.

The uprising against Assad, which began with largely peaceful demonstrations, has grown increasingly militarized recently as more frustrated protesters and army defectors have taken up arms.

In a bid to stamp out resistance in the capital's outskirts, the military has responded with a withering assault on a string of suburbs, leading to a spike in violence that has killed at least 150 people since Thursday.

The United Nations says at least 5,400 people have been killed in the 10 months of violence.

The U.N. is holding talks on a new resolution on Syria and next week will discuss an Arab League peace plan aimed at ending the crisis. But the initiatives face two major obstacles: Damascus' rejection of an Arab plan that it says impinges on its sovereignty, and Russia's willingness to use its U.N. Security Council veto to protect Syria from sanctions.

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby told reporters Sunday in Egypt that contacts were under way with China and Russia.

"I hope that their stand will be adjusted in line with the final drafting of the draft resolution," he told reporters before leaving for New York with Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim.

The two will seek U.N. support for the latest Arab plan to end Syria's crisis. The plan calls for a two-month transition to a unity government, with Assad giving his vice president full powers to work with the proposed government.

Because of the escalating violence, the Arab League on Saturday halted the work of its observer mission in Syria at least until the League's council can meet. Arab foreign ministers were to meet Sunday in Cairo to discuss the Syrian crisis in light of the suspension of the observers' work and Damascus' refusal to agree to the transition timetable, the League said.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said he was "concerned" about the League's decision to suspend its monitoring mission and called on Assad to "immediately stop the bloodshed." He spoke Sunday at an African Union summit in Addis Ababa.

While the international community scrambles to find a resolution to the crisis, the violence on the ground in Syria has continued unabated.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 27 civilians were killed Sunday in Syria, most of them in fighting in the Damascus suburbs and in the central city of Homs, a hotbed of anti-regime protests. Twenty-six soldiers and nine defectors were also killed, it said. The soldiers were killed in ambushes that targeted military vehicles near the capital and in the northern province of Idlib.

The Local Coordination Committees' activist network said 50 people were killed Sunday, including 13 who were killed in the suburbs of the capital and two defectors. That count excluded soldiers killed Sunday.

The differing counts could not be reconciled, and the reports could not be independently confirmed. Syrian authorities keep tight control on the media and have banned many foreign journalists from entering the country.

Syria's state-run news agency said "terrorists" detonated a roadside bomb by remote control near a bus carrying soldiers in the Damascus suburb of Sahnaya, killing six soldiers and wounding six others. Among those killed in the attack some 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of the capital were two first lieutenants, SANA said.

In Irbil, a Kurdish city in northern Iraq, about 200 members of Syria's Kurdish parties were holding two days of meetings to explore ways of supporting efforts to topple Assad.

Abdul-Baqi Youssef, a member of the Syrian Kurdish Union Party, said representatives of 11 Kurdish parties formed the Syrian Kurdish National Council that will coordinate anti-government activities with Syria's opposition.

Kurds make up 15 percent of Syria's 23 million people and have long complained of discrimination.

___

Associated Press writers Maamoun Youssef in Cairo; Yahya Barzanji in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq; and Luc van Kemenade in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_syria

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[OOC] The Enemy of My Enemy

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This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?The Enemy of My Enemy?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

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Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.

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Can I resurve the male muscle?

Tonks

Member for 0 years

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Could I snag the female theft?

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid.
?I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.?
?I guess I just prefer to see the dark side of things. The glass is always half empty. And cracked. And I just cut my lip on it. And chipped a tooth.?

Lux_Disraeli

Member for 1 years

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Is the Actress Character open? If so, may I please reserve her?

Edit Nevermind (:

Some say the world will end in Fire,
Some say in Ice,
From what I've tasted of desire,
I hold with those who favor Fire,
But if I had to Perish twice,
I think I know enough of Hate,
To say for Destruction Ice is also Great,
And would Suffice.
- Robert Frost.

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Member for 1 years

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Serra Automotive buys Genesee Valley Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram ...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Serra Automotive has added another dealership to its network with the purchase of Genesee Valley Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in Flint Township. The renamed Al Serra Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram will open at the Al Serra ...

Source: http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20120127/FREE/120129924/serra-automotive-buys-genesee-valley-chrysler-dodge-jeep-ram

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Romney rejects 'anti-immigrant' label by Gingrich (AP)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ? Mitt Romney is citing his family's arrival in the United States in rebutting a claim by rival Republican Newt Gingrich that he's "anti-immigrant."

The former Massachusetts governor forcefully rejected the label during Thursday night's debate, noting that his father was born in Mexico and his father-in-law in Wales. Romney says he wants to enforce laws so people who come to the U.S. illegally don't get to stay. He accuses the former House speaker of "over-the-top rhetoric."

Gingrich has been accusing Romney of sounding inhumane for suggesting that people in the country illegally will "self-deport."

The Republican candidates want to appear tough on illegal immigration but not uncompassionate when it comes to long-standing families with deep ties to the United States.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_debate_anti_immigrant

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How Brands Can Manage Facebook Comment Overload (Mashable)

Jason Keath is the CEO of Social Fresh, the leading social media education company for marketers. He works with industry leading brands, agencies and vendors to produce social media conferences and online social media training programs. Follow him on Twitter Facebook.

[More from Mashable: 7 Ways to Follow ?The Hunger Games? Movie on Social Media]

Comscore released data in December 2011 that showed Facebook is virtually synonymous with social media. Worldwide, people spend three out of every four minutes of their total social networking time on Facebook.

Check out the recent comment counts on nearly any major Facebook brand Page -- the numbers get big very quickly. Disney's image of Happy, the dwarf from Snow White earned over?1,600 comments at the time of publication. Coca-Cola asked fans whether they have ice-cold Cokes in their fridges --?2,170+ comments.

[More from Mashable: Revealed: The FBI Wants to Monitor Social Media]

And these are just single posts. Add in all other posts, as well as wall comments, and brands quickly face a huge?amount?of fan?commentary to respond to ? for better and worse.

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Thousands of Comments Per Hour

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"We have seen many times examples from our customer base when the brand is receiving hundreds or thousands of comments per hour," said Joe Ciarallo, VP of communications at?Buddy Media.

After Facebook announced a new advertising system in 2007,?Pages became significant customer conversation hubs for many big brands. Simultaneously, the logistics of managing such a volume of fan interaction had to evolve as well. A brand no longer scrolled through its Facebook Wall, responding and moderating only once or twice a day. Many brands today are forced to manage their Facebook Pages 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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Lessons Learned From Lowe's

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In early December?Lowe's pulled its advertising from reality TV show American Muslim, due to customer complaints. Once the 24-hour news stations got wind of the move, other customers expressed their anger. Soon, the crossfire found its way to Lowe's Facebook Page.

One post on Lowe's Page received 28,000 comments in just a few hours.?Many comments were hateful, racist or profane. Lowe's would normally delete these types of comments, moderate its fans, and keep its fan voice intact, but the company simply could not handle the scale of comments in such a short?amount?of time.

Brad Walters, social media director for Lowe's Home Improvement explained the situation. "[We] received thousands of comments from many sides of the issue. Lowe?s allowed the debate to continue on the company?s social media sites, removing only the most hateful and, in some cases violent, posts that clearly violate company policy."

But Lowe's did not have a solution to the scale of comments it received in such a short period of time. The company deleted the original post, and the 28,000+ comments along with it. "While we appreciate the desire to discuss previous advertising, the focus of our social channels are helping our customers with their home improvement needs," said Walters.

The good news is there are services out there that have worked with Facebook to make these situations more manageable. And best practices are emerging. Director of community programming at LiveWorld, Mark Wiliams, says, "We actually see things like the Lowe's event quite frequently. We work closely with our clients to establish a both a staffing plan and review/escalation process for peak events."

Let's review a few key steps that your company can take to prepare itself for these large-scale waves of Facebook commenting.

---

1. Declare Your Rules.

---

Establish clear commenting guidelines?for your Facebook Page. When you do need to enforce these rules, publicly available guidelines will help subdue any arguments by fans and and minimize second-guessing by page admins.

"Almost all of our customers have set guidelines in place for moderation?It's extremely important to have the basics in place," said?Ciarallo.

---

2. Do Not Delete All Negative Comments.

---

Make sure your rules reflect your brand values and culture, but avoid a broad-brushed removal of fans' negative commentary. "It may be tempting to delete the negativity, but it's much more important to be transparent and respond swiftly," said?Reggie Bradford,?founder and CEO of Vitrue.

---

3. Enforce Your Rules.

---

If you do not moderate Wall comments that violate your policy, you create a double standard and a false expectation for your fans. When a future situation arises and you have to delete a comment, your public guidelines will not be as helpful.

---

4. Practice Worst Case Scenarios.

---

Training is important. If possible, employ a community manager or staff of social media professionals that can?regularly respond to your Facebook community.?When a PR crisis spreads to Facebook, your core team is going to need backup; train additional staff to help as needed.

Use the Lowe's example as a model. What would it take for your organization to moderate 28,000 comments in a few hours? How many people would you need to manage it? What training would those people need? What if the crisis happens outside of normal working hours?

---

5. Get Professional Help.

---

You may find that your organization is more prepared because it has enlisted outside help that specializes in this type of Facebook comment management. Facebook software vendors like Buddy Media and Vitrue, as well as social moderation services like?LiveWorld and ICUC use a combination of technology and manpower to manage these situations. A single moderator can handle 500-1,000 comments per hour, according to Williams.

These services can provide better 24-hour moderation support, and can train specific staff to reflect your company's guidelines and brand voice. When you have five employees moderating the same thread of comments of Facebook, each individual reviewing the same content at the same time, workflow overlaps and productivity decreases. Software like LiveWorld's allows a "separation?of workflow" that prevents moderators from tackling the same post at the same time.

If your brand invests staff and budget into a Facebook presence and the associated community, your followers may choose to speak out periodically in ways that require response or moderation. Therefore, be prepared.

"Brands should never let volume of comments effect their ability to moderate their communities," says Ciarallo. "One of the biggest reasons brands devote budget and resources for both people and technology is to make sure they are well prepared for any situation, like the one Lowe's found themselves in."

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, MHjerpe

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20120126/tc_mashable/how_brands_can_manage_facebook_comment_overload

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Stocks open up on Fed, earnings, data (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Wall Street rose modestly on Thursday on a combination of an extended easy monetary policy from the Federal Reserve, strong earnings from Caterpillar Inc and 3M Corp, as well as solid U.S. economic data.

The Fed's statement on Wednesday that it would keep interest rates near zero at least until the end of 2014 lifted stocks and commodities globally as investors bet more money would be driven into risk assets. European stock indexes gained, crude oil futures rose sharply, and copper advanced for a second day.

New orders for U.S. manufactured goods rose more than expected in December, while underlying trends continued to point to improving labor market conditions even as new U.S. claims for unemployment benefits rose last week.

"It's a combo package," said Jim Paulsen, chief investment officer at Wells Capital Management. "It's certainly being bolstered here by a few not only good earnings reports but some blowouts ... the underlying tone is this constant stream of better-than-expected economic reports."

Caterpillar Inc's (CAT.N) jump in quarterly earnings far exceeded Wall Street expectations on Thursday as it reported increased global demand for construction machinery and mining equipment. The stock rose 3 percent to $112.27.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) gained 47.49 points, or 0.37 percent, to 12,804.45. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) rose 3.58 points, or 0.27 percent, to 1,329.64. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) added 7.99 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2,826.30.

The Fed's move comes at a busy period during U.S. earnings season. By Wednesday 57 percent of companies have beat analysts' forecasts compared to 70 percent in past quarters at a comparable stage in the earnings season.

Greece was still a wildcard for markets as its leaders resumed tortuous negotiations on a debt swap with private creditors in Athens on Thursday. All eyes on the European Central Bank after International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said public-sector holders of Greek debt may also need to take losses.

3M Co (MMM.N), a conglomerate with operations throughout the economy, reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on Thursday as demand from industrial and transport markets offset weak sales to makers of consumer electronics. The shares rose 1 percent to $87.38.

The S&P 500 is up more than 23 percent from lows in October as investors welcome signs that the U.S. economy is improving and credit conditions in Europe are easing after the bloc's central bank moved to boost liquidity in the financial system.

AT&T Inc (T.N) posted a massive, $6.7 billion quarterly loss on a break-up fee for its failed T-Mobile USA merger and a pension-related charge on top of costly subsidies for smartphones. The shares fell 1 percent to $29.90.

Amgen Inc (AMGN.O), the world's largest biotechnology company, said it would pay more than $1 billion to buy Micromet Inc (MITI.O), a deal that would give it access to the company's novel cancer treatment technology.

Micromet's shares jumped 32 percent to $10.92 and were the most heavily traded on Nasdaq.

(Editing by Padraic Cassidy)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks

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Soldiers overthrow Papua New Guinea defense chief (AP)

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea ? Rebel soldiers have staged an apparently bloodless mutiny in the Papua New Guinea capital on Thursday and installed a new military leader, a news agency and Australian officials reported.

The new crisis comes during a turbulent period in the South Pacific's most populous island nation, where two political leaders claim to be the rightful prime minister. Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported that the rebel troops are loyal to ousted prime minister Sir Michael Somare, but it is unclear whether the mutiny amounts to an attempted coup.

Between 12 and 20 soldiers overpowered guards at the Taurama Barracks in Port Moresby before dawn, ABC reported, citing an unnamed senior source in the Papua New Guinea defense force.

The rebel soldiers then moved to the military headquarters at Murray Barracks and placed the head of the Papua New Guinea Defense Force, Brigadier General Francis Agwi, under house arrest.

Papua New Guinea's former defense attache to Indonesia, Colonel Safa, has declared himself defense chief, ABC reported. There have been no reports of bloodshed.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which has the largest diplomatic mission of any country in Port Moresby, confirmed that the defense chief had been overthrown.

"We are concerned about these developments overnight in Port Moresby," the department said in a statement, without detailing those developments.

"We urge that the situation be resolved as soon as possible, and that the PNGDF chain of command is restored," it added.

New Guinea's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill had told Australia ? Papua New Guinea's former colonial master and main provider of foreign aid ? that "authorities were taking steps to manage the situation," the department said.

O'Neill had yet to publicly comment on the situation, his office told The Associated Press.

A reporter at the Papua New Guinea's leading Post-Courier newspaper told the AP that the newspaper is still trying to figure out exactly what has taken place.

There has been a power struggle going on for months in Papua New Guinea between Somare and O'Neill.

Last month, the country's Supreme Court and Governor-General Sir Michael Ogio backed Somare, who the court ruled was illegally removed as prime minister while getting medical treatment outside the country.

But Ogio changed his mind days later, saying bad legal advice had led him to incorrectly reinstate Somare as prime minister.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_as/as_papua_new_guinea_mutiny

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Apple juggernaut gets little investor respect

FILE - In this March 25, 2011 file photo, customers wait outside the Apple store in Munich before the start of sales of the iPad2. Apple has again surpassed Exxon Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, as the most valuable U.S. company after a huge fiscal first quarter. (AP Photo/dapd, Lukas Barth, File)

FILE - In this March 25, 2011 file photo, customers wait outside the Apple store in Munich before the start of sales of the iPad2. Apple has again surpassed Exxon Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, as the most valuable U.S. company after a huge fiscal first quarter. (AP Photo/dapd, Lukas Barth, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Apple is worth $415 billion, putting it neck and neck with Exxon Mobil as the world's most valuable company. But by standard Wall Street measures, its stock is a bargain.

Why aren't investors giving the company full credit for its enormous profits and staggering growth?

There's a big discrepancy between Apple's earnings and its stock price, and it became even more glaring on Tuesday, when the company reported results for its latest quarter. The well-managed launch of the iPhone 4S and the ever growing popularity of Apple products around the world conspired to send earnings and sales zooming past analyst estimates.

Apple's sales were $46.3 billion in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, up 73 percent from a year ago. That's more than twice the revenue of its old nemesis, Microsoft Corp.

Net income grew 118 percent to $13.06 billion. That's more than Google Inc.'s revenue for the quarter.

Investors cheered ?sort of. Apple's stock rose 6 percent Wednesday, hitting a new all-time high of $454.45.

But analysts who do the math find that, based on the earnings expected this year, the stock should be trading much higher. Before the earnings report, 45 Wall Street analysts who follow the company believed, on average, that Apple should be worth about $556 per share. After the report, the analysts rushed to raise their estimates, some as high as $650.

That means Apple shares trade at a discount of 25 percent to 50 percent compared to its projected earnings for the coming year.

"This isn't supposed to be happening to a company of this size," said David Rolfe, chief investment officer at Wedgewood Partners Inc., manages a $150 million fund where Apple is the largest component. "In our collective investment experience, none of us have ever seen this before."

There are two main reasons for the missing hundred-dollar bills in Apple's stock price.

One is Apple's policy of hoarding the cash it makes, like a dragon resting on a pile of gold. It doesn't share any with investors through dividends or buybacks, like many other companies do. The policy is all the more striking when you consider the size of the cash pile: $97.6 billion. That's enough for a $100 special dividend for every Apple share.

For years, analysts have been pressing Apple for a plan to do something with the cash. The company's standard response has been that the cash gives it flexibility to buy other companies and strike long-term supply deals.

But on a post-report conference call with analysts on Tuesday, chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer hinted that a change might be in the air, saying the board is in "active" discussions about what to do with the cash.

"I'd be surprised if there wasn't a dividend by the end of calendar-2012," said Michael Walkley, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity.

The dividend would be important, not so much because it would directly reward shareholders, he said, but because it might vastly expand the number of investment funds that would be allowed to buy Apple stock.

Growth-oriented funds already own a lot of Apple shares, and can't stomach any more. Apple has "run out of room," in the words of analyst Toni Sacconaghi at Sanford Bernstein.

Meanwhile, value-oriented funds have rules against buying companies that don't pay dividends, and own few Apple shares, he said. He, too, thinks it's likely that Apple will institute a dividend, which would raise the stock price by broadening the range of funds that will own Apple.

The other main reason for the low stock price appears to be that Apple has grown so big, so fast. Investors and analysts have refused to believe that a company of that size can grow at an annual rate of 73 percent, like it did in the latest quarter.

Wall Street analysts have been "woefully conservative on Apple," Rolfe said. "The mantra has been: Hey, a company this size just cannot keep growing at these unbelievable rates."

Scott Sutherland, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan, does believe Apple's earnings growth will slow. But even if today's breakneck pace can't hold up, and growth moderates to 21 percent per year, the shares are still worth $585, he said.

There's no sign of growth slowing this year, however. Apple is expected to launch the iPad 3 in a few months, and perhaps a TV set some time this year. This summer, analysts expect an iPhone with a new look and the ability to use Verizon Wireless' and AT&T Inc.'s new high-speed "LTE" data networks. That would be the biggest iPhone launch in years, Sutherland said.

"It will crush the iPhone 4S launch," he said.

___

Peter Svensson can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/petersvensson

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-25-US-Apple-Investors/id-19c1144dcd65455db8f5ed83d9183456

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Video: The Bathtub Mystery, Part 8

Dateline NBC

'Dateline NBC,' the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime, premiered in 1992. Since then, it has been pioneering a new approach to primetime news programming. The multi-night franchise, supplemented by frequent specials, allows NBC to consistently and comprehensively present the highest-quality reporting, investigative features, breaking news coverage and newsmaker profiles.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/vp/46058381#46058381

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Charges drag down J&J 4Q profit, but sales rebound (AP)

A slew of charges for recalls, product liability, litigation and an acquisition dragged Johnson & Johnson's fourth-quarter profit down to barely a tenth of what the health care giant made a year ago, and some recalled products won't be back till year's end. But higher sales overseas boosted revenue enough to end an unprecedented two-year decline.

After an embarrassing series of product recalls and other problems overshadowed the past two years, the maker of Tylenol, prescription drugs and medical devices managed to beat Wall Street's forecast for adjusted profit and came in just below its revenue forecast.

The New Brunswick, N.J.-based company said Tuesday that net income was $218 million, or 8 cents per share, down from $1.94 billion, or 70 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding charges totaling $2.9 billion, net income was $3.13 billion, or $1.13 per share.

Revenue rose 4 percent to $16.26 billion, up from $15.64 billion in 2010's fourth quarter.

Analysts on average expected earnings per share of $1.09 and revenue of $16.28 billion.

"In the last five years, we've never felt better about our business coming out of one year and going into the next," CEO Bill Weldon told analysts during a conference call.

But he said he doesn't expect significant improvement this year in macroeconomic conditions, with escalating government pricing pressures in the U.S. and Europe and slower growth in the emerging markets that medical product makers are targeting as their best chance for expansion.

Weldon said the slump in elective surgeries, due to unemployed and uninsured people delaying them, continues. That affects sales of J&J's artificial joints and surgical implements and supplies.

"You can only put off procedures for so long," he added.

Revenue fell 3.4 percent in the U.S., to $6.99 billion, but jumped 10.2 percent in foreign countries, to $9.27 billion. The U.S. decline was mostly due to an 8 percent drop in sales of prescription drugs, as two big sellers ? the powerful antibiotic Levaquin and Concerta for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ? got generic competition late last spring.

Revenue rose 2.7 percent to $6.49 billion for medical devices, and 6.7 percent to $6.09 billion for prescription drugs. Consumer product sales edged up 1.6 percent to $3.67 billion.

Analysts were not impressed.

Erik Gordon, an analyst and professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, called the results "mediocre," adding that they were "saved, as has become typical for big pharma, by non-U.S. sales."

He said the "slow pace of consumer product sales trying to recover from" more than two dozen recalls of products due to quality problems is disappointing.

Since September 2009, J&J has recalled a host of prescription and nonprescription medicines, as well as replacement hip joints, contact lenses and diabetes test strips. Among the recalls were tens of millions of bottles of children's and adult Tylenol and Motrin, Benadryl, Zyrtec, Rolaids and Simply Sleep pills. The prescription drug recalls have included HIV medicine Prezista and epilepsy pill Topamax.

Reasons for the recalls have ranged from contamination with metal shards and glass particles, to nauseating odors and inaccurate levels of active drug ingredients.

Weldon said in an interview that J&J has eliminated some low-volume products made by its McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit and should have most of the others back by the middle of the year, with the rest returning by year's end.

Analyst Steve Brozak of WBB Securities called the results lackluster. Like Gordon, he's concerned about profit margins declining due to multiple factors, including the costs of factory upgrades and litigation related to product recalls and increasing pricing pressures from government health programs.

Excluding one-time items, J&J's operating margin fell 2 full percentage points for the year, to 24.9 percent, and dropped to 20.3 percent in the fourth quarter. Chief Financial Officer Dominic Caruso said he expects that will almost bounce back in 2012, when he expects earnings of $5.05 to $5.15 per share, excluding special items, and revenue of about $68 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $5.20 per share and revenue of $68.45 billion, according to FactSet.

J&J said analysts likely had not updated their forecast to account for the recent surge of the dollar against the euro, which the company said will cut earnings per share by about 13 cents.

For the full year, J&J reported net income of $9.67 billion, or $3.49 per share, down from $13.33 billion, or $4.78 per share, in 2010. Revenue rose 5.6 percent to $65.03 billion, from $61.59 billion in 2010.

Shares of the company closed unchanged at $65.

___

Linda A. Johnson can be followed at http://twitter.com/LindaJ_onPharma

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_johnson___johnson

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Memo scandal witness refuses to travel to Pakistan

Akram Sheikh, lawyer of Mansoor Ijaz addressing a news conference outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The chief witness in a secret memo scandal Mansoor Ijaz threatens to bring down the president will not travel to Pakistan to testify, claiming the government has set a trap to prevent him from leaving, his lawyer said Monday. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash)

Akram Sheikh, lawyer of Mansoor Ijaz addressing a news conference outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The chief witness in a secret memo scandal Mansoor Ijaz threatens to bring down the president will not travel to Pakistan to testify, claiming the government has set a trap to prevent him from leaving, his lawyer said Monday. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash)

Akram Sheikh, lawyer of Mansoor Ijaz addresses a news conference outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The chief witness in a secret memo scandal Mansoor Ijaz threatens to bring down the president will not travel to Pakistan to testify, claiming the government has set a trap to prevent him from leaving, his lawyer said Monday. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash)

ISLAMABAD (AP) ? The chief witness in a secret memo scandal that threatens to bring down the president will not travel to Pakistan to testify, claiming the government has set a trap to prevent him from leaving, his lawyer said Monday.

Mansoor Ijaz offered to record his testimony and submit it to a Supreme Court commission that is investigating the scandal, said lawyer Akram Sheikh. Ijaz, a U.S. businessman of Pakistani origin, was scheduled to travel to Pakistan to appear before the commission on Tuesday but had bickered with the government over who would guarantee his safety.

Ijaz has accused the Pakistani government of orchestrating a memo, which he delivered to the U.S. last year, asking Washington to help stop a supposed military coup following the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden. The Pakistani government has denied any involvement.

The army was outraged by the memo and denied it ever intended to carry out a coup. It successfully pushed the Supreme Court to investigate against the wishes of the government, which said the matter was already being probed by the parliament.

Ijaz has claimed the Supreme Court commission ordered the military to guarantee his security while in Pakistan, but the government has said the job was the responsibility of the Interior Ministry. Interior Minister Rehman Malik has warned Ijaz could be prevented from leaving the country if requested by the parliamentary committee probing the scandal.

"It seems like a well-orchestrated trap to hold Mansoor Ijaz indefinitely in Pakistan," said Sheikh, his lawyer.

Ijaz has accused the former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S., Husain Haqqani, of crafting the memo with the support of President Asif Ali Zardari. Both men have denied any connection to the memo, although Haqqani resigned in the wake of the scandal. The Supreme Court has prevented the former envoy from leaving the country while it is investigating the scandal.

Some observers have questioned Ijaz's credibility. Those questions increased last week after a music video surfaced in which Ijaz acted as a commentator for a female wrestling match in which both women eventually ripped off their bikinis. Ijaz claimed he didn't know there would be nudity in the video.

One of the reasons the memo scandal has generated so much controversy is the rampant anti-American sentiment in Pakistan. The memo offered to replace Pakistan's national security leadership with people favorable to the U.S. in return for help from Washington in stopping the supposed coup.

The U.S. has provided Pakistan with billions of dollars over the past decade to help fight the Taliban and al-Qaida, but relations have always been defined by a lack of trust.

The raid that killed bin Laden in Pakistani garrison town heightened mistrust between the two countries. Pakistan was outraged it was not told about the operation beforehand, and U.S. officials questioned how bin Laden was able to live near Pakistan's equivalent of West Point for years.

The relationship deteriorated further at the end of last year when American airstrikes accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at two posts along the Afghan border. Pakistan retaliated by closing its border crossings to supplies meant for NATO troops in Afghanistan and kicking the U.S. out of a base used by American drones.

Drone strikes have been a source of tension between the two countries because they are widely perceived in Pakistan as mostly killing civilians, a claim denied by the U.S. The U.S. held off on carrying out drone attacks in Pakistan for over six weeks after the 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed on Nov. 26.

But the strikes have since resumed. A U.S. drone fired missiles at a house and a vehicle in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing four alleged militants in an attack that could signal the program is again picking up steam.

The U.S. had recommenced strikes on Jan. 10, when missiles hit a house in the North Waziristan tribal area in an attack that American officials said killed a key al-Qaida operations planner, Aslam Awan. The U.S. carried out another attack two days later.

Monday's strike in North Waziristan's Deegan village was the third since the attacks resumed. Initial reports indicated the alleged militants killed were foreigners, said Pakistani intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The U.S. refuses to speak publicly about the CIA-run drone program in Pakistan, but American officials have said privately that the strikes have killed many senior Taliban and al-Qaida commanders.

Although Pakistan is widely believed to have supported the strikes in the past, that cooperation has become strained as the relationship between the two countries has deteriorated.

____

Associated Press writer Rasool Dawar contributed to this report from Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-23-AS-Pakistan/id-b9976ff9a57449628767080c6ab9d192

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Windows Phone Android iPhone Market Share - Business Insider

Windows Phone will surpass iPhone in market share in 2015, according to research firm iSuppli.

iSuppli attributes the giant increase in market share over the next few years "largely" to the introduction of the Nokia Lumia 900, which Nokia launched at CES last week in Las Vegas.

In 2015, Android will lead the two runners up by a very hefty margin with 58.1% market share.?

iSuppli joins Gartner and IDC, which made the same prediction last year (in April, and in March, respectively).

See below for the chart from iSuppli, via WMPowerUser:

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/windows-phone-iphone-android-market-share-2012-1

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White House to Chris Dodd and the MPAA- ?Eat a Bag of Salted Dicks? (Balloon Juice)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/189097221?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Russian Mars Probe Crash Sets Off Confusion, Conspiracy Theories (SPACE.com)

When an ill-fated Russian Mars probe fell to Earth over the weekend, the spacecraft's untimely demise set off a flurry of conflicting media reports and conspiracy theories.

Russia's Phobos-Grunt space probe suffered a debilitating malfunction shortly after its November 2011 launch, which stranded it in low-Earth orbit for more than two months before it succumbed to gravitational forces and plummeted through the atmosphere on Jan. 15.

The $165 million spacecraft reportedly broke apart over the Pacific Ocean, but inconsistent reports soon surfaced, which sparked different theories about where the probe had landed, and what had caused it to malfunction in the first place.

The Russian Federal Space Agency is notorious for closely controlling any information released, but part of the issue is the tricky nature of calculating re-entry predictions for dead satellites and other pieces of orbital debris.

"Predicting an impact point is problematic because it involves fundamental factors that cannot be noted in advance and cannot be measured in real time, such as atmospheric density," space consultant James Oberg, a former NASA space shuttle mission control engineer, told SPACE.com. "These can only be averaged or guessed, sometimes even after re-entry. These known unknowns are more than enough to throw off any kind of prediction by thousands of kilometers." [Photos: Russia's Phobos-Grunt Mission to Mars Moon]

A curious case

Still, the Phobos-Grunt saga was shrouded in mystery long before it crashed back to Earth. The cause of the spacecraft's malfunction has not yet been determined, and claims ranging from accidental radar interference to outright sabotage have been reported by Russian news outlets.?

Russian space officials suggested that strong emissions from an American radar station on an island in the Pacific Ocean could have accidentally interfered with Phobos-Grunt, reported the Russian news agency Ria Novosti.

But, these claims were later dismissed by a Russian scientist who was involved with the development of Phobos-Grunt. Alexander Zakharov, a scientist at the Russian Academy of Science Space Research Institute, told Ria Novosti that the radar theory is "far-fetched," and suggested instead that issues with the spacecraft itself were likely to blame.

American experts were also quick to write off the idea that a U.S. radar station could have been the source of the spacecraft's demise ? accidental or otherwise.

"I do not see any evidence that supports the suggestion that the United States somehow played a role in the failure of Phobos-Grunt," Brian Weeden, an orbital debris expert at the Secure World Foundation in Washington, D.C., told SPACE.com in an email. "I have examined the claims made about the U.S. tracking radar on the South Pacific potentially interfering with Phobos-Grunt and they are without any credibility whatsoever."

Following Phobos-Grunt's fall from space, the Russian Federal Space Agency released an official statement confirming that the spacecraft had landed in the Pacific Ocean. But, the agency admitted this impact zone was based on orbital predictions, and they lacked tracking or visual data.

This fueled speculation that the spacecraft had overshot its predicted landing zone and broke apart elsewhere along its orbital track, such as over Argentina or Brazil. [6 Biggest Spacecraft to Fall Uncontrolled From Space]

"You're never quite sure," said Emmet Fletcher, Space Surveillance and Tracking Manager at the European Space Agency (ESA). "Eyewitness accounts are good, so if someone sees it coming in and takes a picture, that can tell you about where it lands. But, if you're fortunate and it lands in the ocean, which is where we like things to go, there shouldn't be anyone there. So, if something lands in the South Pacific, you won't have anyone there to observe it."

Tracking a falling spacecraft

Fletcher is part of ESA's Space Situational Awareness team which monitors space junk and operates a network of tracking stations. Fletcher could not comment specifically on Phobos-Grunt, but he has worked on coordinated international efforts to deal with spacecraft and orbital debris that has re-entered the atmosphere.

"It's all a learning experience," Fletcher said. "There are lessons learned and conclusions about what we can do better. A lot of work is being done to standardize data."

Right now, different agencies and organizations have different methods for calculating re-entry predictions. This has advantages and disadvantages, Fletcher said, but ultimately, a more standardized approach could help foster more efficient cooperation between entities.

But the story of Phobos-Grunt doesn't end there.

In a recent development, the U.S. military appeared to have removed links to Phobos-Grunt tracking data on a public website that ordinarily details such events.

Information about the doomed Russian probe's re-entry was removed from Space Track, a website operated by U.S. Strategic Command. The military also did not publish any confirmation of the probe's fall, which breaks with standard protocol.

This handling of the data seemed unusual, said Weeden, a former U.S. Air Force officer, who once also directed the Joint Space Operations Center's orbital analyst training program.

"[T]he final re-entry prediction data is still missing from the U.S. military's website where they normally publish the information," Weeden said. "I do not really have any idea why they would withhold this information for Phobos-Grunt. They have published the full re-entry prediction data on three other space objects so far this year, and they are continuing to publish re-entry predictions as normal for the next object, Cosmos 2176, which is a Russian Kompass-2 satellite that is due to re-enter in the next several days. "

Falling spacecraft and human error

But Friday evening (Jan. 20), a spokesperson from U.S. Strategic Command told SPACE.com that data was not, in fact, removed from the Space Track website. Rather, a human error had accidentally misfiled the information.

"All actions taken during the Phobos-Grunt re-entry were designed to improve international data sharing on this event," Julie Ziegenhorn, Deputy Chief of Public Affairs at U.S. Strategic Command, said in an email statement. "Unfortunately, shortly after the re-entry event, there was human error that led to all Phobos-Grunt entries on spacetrack.org being misfiled into the year 2011 data, which made it difficult for customers to access the information. Shortly after the error was discovered, the information was re-posted to the site and is accessible at this time."

Still, experts are hoping that more precise information about Phobos-Grunt's impact zone will be released, but it's unclear which agencies will make their reports available to the public. ESA plans to release a final report on Phobos-Grunt, but officials are currently still waiting for "additional data from non-ESA sources," agency spokesperson Andreas Schepers said in an email.

The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft was designed to collect soil samples from the Mars moon Phobos and return them to Earth in 2014. The botched mission is one of several space failures that plagued the Russian Federal Space Agency over the past year.

"It was one of the boldest cavalry charges, and they said it was a cavalry charge to restore Russia's honor in space," Oberg said. "But, cavalry charges can also wind up disastrously, so the use of that metaphor was particularly apt."

You can follow SPACE.com staff writer Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/space/20120122/sc_space/russianmarsprobecrashsetsoffconfusionconspiracytheories

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