Could sleep make you less racist? - Daily Times

Imagine being able to 'unlearn' racism and gender prejudice during a short nap, Daily Mail reports.

That's what scientists claim can happen when simple noises are played while people sleep.

In a new study, researchers were able to significantly reduce prejudice in those who underwent the unique type of training while snoozing.

The findings confirm the idea that sleep provides an opportunity to access deep-rooted beliefs, such as prejudices, that we may not even know we have.

Xiaoqing Hu, who led the study at Northwestern University, said that even he was surprised by the results.

"The usual expectation is that a brief, one-time intervention is not strong enough to have a lasting influence," he said.

"It might be better to use repeated sessions and more extensive training. But our results show how learning, even this type of learning, depends on sleep."

Earlier studies by the Northwestern researchers have revealed memory reactivation during sleep.

Generally, participants first heard distinctive sounds during a learning session. A short period of sleep came next.

After people woke up, what they could remember was changed if learning-related sounds were presented during sleep.

"We call this Targeted Memory Reactivation, because the sounds played during sleep could produce relatively better memory for information cued during sleep compared to information not cued during sleep," said Ken Paller, senior author of the study and professor of psychology.

"For examplssse, we used this procedure to selectively improve spatial memory, such as learning the locations of a set of objects, and skill memory, like learning to play a melody on a keyboard."

The current study was designed to apply the same sort of procedure to counter-stereotype training. 

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Pfizer's Drug Delays Progression in Recurrent Breast Cancer - Bloomberg

Pfizer Inc.’s Ibrance more than doubled the time it took for tumors to come back or start growing again in women with advanced breast cancer who’d been previously treated, a result that could expand the drug’s use and delay chemotherapy for many patients.

Ibrance was approved to treat one of the deadliest forms of breast cancer by U.S. regulators in February, more than two months ahead of schedule. At the time it was approved as an initial therapeutic option for women with advanced ER-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer.

In a study of 521 patients whose advanced cancer came back or started growing again after initial treatment, those treated with Ibrance in combination with AstraZeneca Plc’s hormone therapy Faslodex went a median of 9.2 months until their cancer progressed, compared with 3.8 months in the arm that received Faslodex and a placebo.

“We now have information that indicates that Ibrance can substantially delay the time to tumor progression when used in the first-line or second-line setting,” Mace Rothenberg, chief medical officer of Pfizer’s cancer unit, said in a telephone interview.

In April, Pfizer announced it was stopping the trial early because of Ibrance’s effectiveness.

Hormone therapy is currently the standard of care for patients whose disease progresses after initial treatment. The study was funded by Pfizer and is being presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago.

New York-based Pfizer has estimated Ibrance could be a treatment option in as many as 23,000 women a year in the U.S. Pfizer charges $9,850 for a month’s supply of the drug before any discounts, and widening the drug’s use to women who relapse could add about 30,000 patients, according to the company.

The company will soon begin looking at Ibrance as a treatment for in head and neck and pancreatic cancers, Rothenberg said.

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Bengals' Devon Still asks for prayers for sick daughter - USA TODAY

AP 2:24 p.m. EDT May 30, 2015


(Photo: The Associated Press)



CINCINNATI (AP) — Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Devon Still is asking for prayers for his daughter, Leah, who's had a setback in her fight against cancer.

The 5-year-old girl went into a hospital on May 5 to start the process of getting a stem cell transplant. The 4-to-6-week process involves high doses of chemotherapy at the outset.

Still posted on social media late Friday that Leah "hit a pretty serious complication," with her liver affected by the chemotherapy.

"They caught it early so hopefully it gives the doctors a better chance of stopping it from getting aggressive," Still posted. "As you can imagine our minds are all over the place but we're going to try and remain positive!"

The girl was diagnosed with cancer a year ago. Doctors removed a tumor from her abdomen, and she started getting chemotherapy to kill cancer cells in her bone marrow. She's being treated on the East Coast, and the Bengals have supported Still's decision to miss organized offseason workouts in Cincinnati to be with her.

Still agreed to a one-year contract to stay with the Bengals in March.

His daughter's fight against cancer has gotten international attention. The Bengals donated $1.3 million from sales of Still's jersey to research and treatment of pediatric cancer. The donation was made during a Thursday night game at Paul Brown Stadium last season, with Leah and former Mount St. Joseph freshman basketball player Lauren Hill in attendance.

Still befriended Hill, who also raised money for cancer research. The 19-year-old basketball player died last month from an inoperable brain tumor.

___

Online: AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Paul vows to return to Capitol Hill on Sunday to block bill, end NSA spying - Fox News

Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul said Saturday that he intends to block last-ditch efforts Sunday to renew National Security Agency and other anti-terrorist and surveillance programs.

“I will force the expiration of the NSA illegal spy program,” Paul, also a 2016 presidential candidate, said. “I am ready and willing to start the debate on how we fight terrorism without giving up our liberty.”

The Libertarian-minded Paul led a filibuster-like effort over the Memorial Day weekend that helped block legislation to extend federal surveillance efforts but suggested upon leaving the Senate chambers that he might reconsider.

“It depends,” he said. “Sometimes things change as deadlines approach.”

Barring a last-minute deal in Congress, three post-Sept. 11 surveillance laws used against spies and terrorists will expire when Sunday turns into Monday.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has called back the upper chamber for a rare Sunday session to decide on whether to accept a House-passed bill that extends the programs. Congress would then send the measure to President Obama to sign before midnight.

The House’s USA Freedom Act passed overwhelmingly in the Republican-controlled chamber but fell three votes short of the 60 needed to proceed in the Senate. And efforts in the upper chamber to extend the current law also have failed.

Much of the debate has focuses on the National Security Agency's collection of Americans' telephone calling records, authorized under one of the expiring provisions, Section 215 of the Patriot Act.

Independent evaluations have cast doubt on that program's importance, and even law enforcement officials say in private that losing this ability would not carry severe consequences.

Yet the fight over those records has jeopardized other surveillance programs that have broad, bipartisan support and could fall victim to congressional gridlock.

The FBI uses Section 215 to collect other business records tied to specific terrorism investigations.

 A separate section in the post-9/11 Patriot Act allows the FBI to eavesdrop, via wiretaps, on suspected terrorists or spies who discard phones to dodge surveillance. A third provision, targeting "lone wolf" attackers, has never been used and thus may not be missed if it lapses.

If the Freedom Act becomes law, the business-records provision and the roving-wiretap authority would return immediately. The NSA would resume collecting American telephone records for a six-month period while shifting to a system of searching phone company records case by case.

If no agreement is reached, all the provisions will expire.

A third possibility is a temporary extension of current law while lawmakers work out a deal, but House members have expressed opposition.

“I have fought for several years now to end the illegal spying of the NSA on ordinary Americans,” Paul also said in a statement released Saturday. “Let me be clear: I acknowledge the need for a robust intelligence agency and for a vigilant national security. I believe we must fight terrorism. …  But we do not need to give up who we are to defeat them.”

Failure to pass the legislation would mean new barriers for the government in domestic, national-security investigations, at a time when intelligence officials say the threat at home is growing.

Government and law enforcement officials, including Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, have said in recent days that letting the wiretap and business records provisions expire would undercut the FBI's ability to investigate terrorism and espionage.

Lynch said it would mean "a serious lapse in our ability to protect the American people." Clapper said in a statement Friday that prompt passage by the Senate of the House bill "is the best way to minimize any possible disruption of our ability to protect the American people."

And President Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday to accuse opponents of hijacking the debate for political reasons. "Terrorists like al Qaeda and ISIL aren't suddenly going to stop plotting against us at midnight tomorrow, and we shouldn't surrender the tools that help keep us safe," he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

Civil liberties activists say the pre-Sept. 11 law gives the FBI enough authority to do its job. To bolster their case, they cite a newly released and heavily blacked out report by the Justice Department's internal watchdog that examined the FBI's use up to 2009 of business record collection under Section 215.

"The government has numerous other tools, including administrative and grand jury subpoenas, which would enable it to gather necessary information," in terrorism investigations, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement.

Section 215 allows the FBI to serve a secret order requiring a business to hand over records relevant to a terrorism or espionage investigation. The FBI uses the authority "fewer than 200 times a year," Director James Comey said last week.

The inspector general's report said it was used in "investigations of groups comprised of unknown members and to obtain information in bulk concerning persons who are not the subjects of or associated with an authorized FBI investigation."

But from 2007 to 2009, the report said, none of that material had cracked a specific terrorism case.

The report analyzed several cases, but most of the details are blacked out. In some cases, the FBI agent pronounced the 215 authority "useful" or "effective," but the context and detail were censored.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Carter vows US will continue, even step up operations over disputed South ... - Fox News

Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Saturday urged China to stop trying to convert artificial reefs in the South China Sea into a military airfield but also made clear the U.S. has no intentions of ending air-and-sea operation in that region.

Carter made his comment at an international security conference filled with Asia-Pacific leaders and also said the United States has been flying and operating ships in the region for decades and opposes “any further militarization” of the disputed lands.

He also said the reclamation project is out of step with international rules and that turning underwater land into airfields won’t expand Beijing’s sovereignty.

A Chinese military officer in the crowd immediately slammed Carter’s comments as “groundless and not constructive.”

Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who also is attending the Singapore conference, said he agreed with Carter's assertion that America will continue flights and operations near the building projects, but "now we want to see it translated into action."

He also told reporters that the U.S. needs to recognize that China will continue its activities in the South China Sea until it perceives that the costs of doing so outweigh the benefits.

Defense Department officials said they discovered several weeks ago that China had put two large artillery vehicles on one of the islands, inciting fears that the reefs will be for military purposes.

However, the Pentagon will not release photos to support its contention that the vehicles were there.

One senior defense official told The Associated Press that the U.S. is considering more military flights and patrols closer to the projects in the South China Sea, to emphasize reclaimed lands are not China’s territorial waters. Officials are also looking at ways to adjust military exercises in the region to increase U.S. presence if needed.

One possibility would be for U.S. ships to travel within 12 miles of the artificial islands, to further make the point that they are not sovereign Chinese land. McCain said it would be a critical mistake to recognize any 12-mile zone around the reclamation projects.

The U.S. has been flying surveillance aircraft in the region, prompting China to file a formal protest.

China’s behavior in the South China Sea has become a sore point in relations with the U.S., even as President Obama and China’s President Xi Jinping have worked to deepen cooperation in other areas, such as climate change.

Pentagon spokesman Brent Colburn said the U.S. was aware of the artillery but declined to provide any other details.

Defense officials described the weapons as self-propelled artillery vehicles and said they posed no threat to the U.S. or American territories.

While Carter did not refer directly to the weapons in his speech, he told the audience that now is the time for a diplomatic solution to the territorial disputes because "we all know there is no military solution."

"Turning an underwater rock into an airfield simply does not afford the rights of sovereignty or permit restrictions on international air or maritime transit," Carter told the audience at the International Institute for Strategic Studies summit.

China’s actions have been “reasonable and justified,” said Senior Col. Zhao Xiaozhuo, deputy director of the Center on China-America Defense Relations at the People’s Liberation Army’s Academy of Military Science.

Zhao challenged Carter, asking whether America’s criticism of China and its military reconnaissance activities in the South China Sea “help to resolve the disputes” and maintain peace and stability in the region.

Although Carter directed most of his criticism toward China, he urged other nations who are doing smaller land reclamation projects to stop.

Carter is set to meet with one of those countries, Vietnam, during his 11-day tour across Asia. Others are Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.

Asked about images of weapons on the islands, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she was "not aware of the situation you mention."

She also scolded Carter, saying the U.S. should be “rational and calm and stop making any provocative remarks, because such remarks not only do not help ease the controversies in the South China Sea, but they also will aggravate the regional peace and stability."

Carter responded saying the U.S. is concerned about “the prospect of further militarization, as well as the potential for these activities to increase the risk of miscalculation or conflict.” Carter also maintained the U.S. “has every right to be involved and be concerned.”

But while Carter stood in China's backyard and added to the persistent drumbeat of U.S. opposition to Beijing's activities, he did little to give Asia-Pacific nations a glimpse into what America is willing to do to achieve a solution.

Carter said the U.S. will continue to sail, fly and operate in the region, and warned that the Pentagon will be sending its "best platforms and people" to the Asia-Pacific. Those would include, he said, new high-tech submarines, surveillance aircraft, the stealth destroyer and new aircraft carrier-based early-warning aircraft.

U.S. and other regional officials have expressed concerns about the island building, including worries that it may be a prelude to navigation restrictions or the enforcement of a possible air defense identification zone over the South China Sea. China declared such a zone over disputed Japanese-held islands in the East China Sea in 2013.

China has said the islands are its territory and that the buildings and other infrastructure are for public service use and to support fishermen.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Hastert's post-Congress life one of political withdrawal and chasing cash - Washington Post

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Bengals' Devon Still asks for prayers for sick daughter - USA TODAY

AP 2:24 p.m. EDT May 30, 2015


(Photo: The Associated Press)



CINCINNATI (AP) — Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Devon Still is asking for prayers for his daughter, Leah, who's had a setback in her fight against cancer.

The 5-year-old girl went into a hospital on May 5 to start the process of getting a stem cell transplant. The 4-to-6-week process involves high doses of chemotherapy at the outset.

Still posted on social media late Friday that Leah "hit a pretty serious complication," with her liver affected by the chemotherapy.

"They caught it early so hopefully it gives the doctors a better chance of stopping it from getting aggressive," Still posted. "As you can imagine our minds are all over the place but we're going to try and remain positive!"

The girl was diagnosed with cancer a year ago. Doctors removed a tumor from her abdomen, and she started getting chemotherapy to kill cancer cells in her bone marrow. She's being treated on the East Coast, and the Bengals have supported Still's decision to miss organized offseason workouts in Cincinnati to be with her.

Still agreed to a one-year contract to stay with the Bengals in March.

His daughter's fight against cancer has gotten international attention. The Bengals donated $1.3 million from sales of Still's jersey to research and treatment of pediatric cancer. The donation was made during a Thursday night game at Paul Brown Stadium last season, with Leah and former Mount St. Joseph freshman basketball player Lauren Hill in attendance.

Still befriended Hill, who also raised money for cancer research. The 19-year-old basketball player died last month from an inoperable brain tumor.

___

Online: AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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