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Saturday, May 11, 2013

In Israel, Women of the Wall hit raw nerve over religious clout in state life

Women seeking the right to worship as men do at Jerusalem?s Western Wall are hitting a raw nerve: the dynamic between religion and state.

The Women of the Wall, who don prayer shaws and accoutrements normally reserved for men, have been holding public prayer services for more than 25 years ? and have been arrested repeatedly in recent months for doing so. Today they entered Judaism?s holiest site for the first time since an April 24 court ruling determined that they were not contravening ?local custom? and were free to worship as they have been without fear of being arrested.

But while the feminist activists were protected by police, they couldn?t even reach the revered wall. Whole schools of ultra-Orthodox girls made a stand for tradition, packing the women?s section at the urging of their rabbis. The standoff is emblematic of a broader challenge to the outsized influence of Israel?s religious minority over everything from marriage to politics.

?To the extent that we focus on the Women of the Wall, we?re missing the larger picture,? says Uri Regev, a Reform rabbi and president of Hiddush, an organization that advocates for religious freedom and equality in Israel. ?Israel?s founding promise ... was freedom of religion and equality regardless of religion. That is a promise that still awaits its full realization.?

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Thanks to the growing size of Israel?s religious groups and their frequent role as kingmaker in the fragmented political scene, they have so far largely been able to ensure the predominance of their traditions and customs.

Now, however, they are facing ?signs of the crumbling of Orthodox control of Judaism and they don?t know what to do,? says Israeli parliamentarian Tamar Zandberg, a secular Jew from the social democratic party Meretz, standing a few yards away from a police barricade holding back crowds of shouting ultra-Orthodox men with top hats and sidecurls, and rows of women bowing their covered heads in prayer. ?This is the backlash.?

EXCLUDING WOMEN FROM THE PUBLIC SPHERE?

The Western Wall, or Kotel, is a powerful symbol of the tensions between religion and state ? including its impact on women?s rights, says Noa Sattath, director of the Israel Religious Action Center, which has represented Women of the Wall for 10 years.

?The attempt to exclude women from the public sphere begins here and it seeps into other areas of society,? she says. ?I?m happy that the ? ultra-Orthodox girls that are here can see how we worship, and I?m happy that they can pray, too.?

Lesley Sachs, director of Women of the Wall, agrees. ?I just love having them here,? she says, adding that it would be a victory if even one asked herself why it wasn?t OK for women to pray with prayer shawls and phylacteries, the leather bands that are wrapped around the forearms and are connected to a small box containing the divine commandments, worn on the forehead.

But such influence is just what some opponents are afraid of. An ultra-Orthodox woman who refuses to give her name but says she comes here every day to pray, says reformists are directly contradicting the Torah, or Hebrew scriptures, and encouraging others to do the same.

?The Kotel is the house of God, and at the house of God, you need to do what God says ? what is written in the Torah,? she says, holding up a little book with well-worn pages. ?We don?t go to their house and tell them what to do.?

The idea in Judaism is that men and women have different but complementary and equally valuable roles, says Leah Aharoni, an Orthodox woman who also opposes Women of the Wall. "We believe that in order to be a first-class, liberated, empowered woman does not require praying in a manner exactly the way men have prayed for the past 2,000 years."

?IT?S A PROVOCATION?

Women of the Wall has gained significant support in the US and Canada by focusing on women?s rights, but their detractors in Israel say they?re treading on respect for religion in the process ? and Israel isn?t doing enough to stop them.

Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency, which works closely with the Israeli government, has proposed to introduce an egalitarian area of worship at a separate area of the Western Wall, which Women of theWall initially seemed open to but have moved away from since the April court ruling.

Moshe Reich, a yeshiva student from Toronto at the protest this morning, compares the affect of the Women at the Wall services to walking into a Catholic church during mass and starting to laugh at the rituals or enter a mosque and start arguing.

?Imagine a church service ? and a guy comes and says, ?You idiot, what are you doing?? right in front of everybody,? he says. ?You would understand why these people, the real Christian guys, would be fuming.

?The analogy is not the same,? he adds, acknowledging that the Women at the Wall are not arguing or cursing with other worshipers. ?But the feeling is the same.?

With the Western Wall lying in the shadow of the Muslim holy sites where Israel police stop Jews from praying, some see the Israeli government as going to greater lengths to avoid offending Muslims than Orthodox Jews.

?If I move my lips or ? if I bow, I?ll get arrested, because they think it will offend the Muslims,? says Jeremy Rossman, an Orthodox Jew studying in Jerusalem.

?For some reason, the Israeli government can?t understand that in the same way you don?t disrespect Islam by going to the mosque, you don?t disrespect Orthodox Judaism,? says Yaakov, a ruddy-cheeked yeshiva student standing nearby who didn?t want to give his last name. ?It?s a provocation.?

AN ?EXISTENTIAL THREAT? TO ISRAEL

To some, the saddest part is seeing Jews battling each other at the place where they are supposed to be worshiping the divine.

?It?s very disturbing when we see other Jews fighting over the desire to pray at the Kotel,? says Joseph Shamash, who moved here from Los Angeles and is wearing phylacteries.

Jacob Weiss, a corporate attorney who came straight off a 5 a.m. flight from London to accompany his wife, who supports the Women of the Wall, says even he was heckled on the way in.

?One guy told me, ?Take off your kippa. You don?t belong here,?? he says. Another yelled, ?You?re going to die for your sins.?

Mr. Weiss, who has lived here for 33 years and whose five children have served in Israel?s military, says such insults don?t bother him personally. But on a societal level, he says the same baseless hatred between Jews that rabbis blamed for the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D. is playing out again.

?To me," he says, "the only existential threat in the state of Israel isn?t Iran or Syria, it?s this.?

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State Dep't sought to change Libya talking points

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Senior State Department officials pressed for changes in the talking points that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice used after the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya last September, expressing concerns that Congress might criticize the Obama administration for ignoring warnings of a growing threat in Benghazi.

An interim report by Republicans on five House committees last month had detailed how the talking points were changed, days after the Sept. 11 attack and in the heat of the 2012 presidential campaign. New details about the political concerns and the names of the administration officials who wrote emails concerning the talking points emerged on Friday.

The White House has insisted that it made only stylistic changes to the intelligence agency talking points in which Rice suggested that protests over an anti-Islamic video set off the attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Before the presidential election, the administration said Rice's talking points were based on the best intelligence assessments available in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

But the report and the new details Friday suggest a greater degree of White House and State Department involvement.

The latest developments are certain to add fuel to the politically charged debate over Benghazi. Republicans have suggested that the Obama administration sought to play down the possibility of terrorism during the campaign and has misled the country. A senior administration official reiterated Friday that the talking points were based on intelligence assessments and developed during an interagency process, which included the CIA, officials from the Director of National Intelligence, State Department, FBI and the Justice Department.

The official commented only on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation

Last Sept. 14, two days before Rice's appearance, the CIA's initial draft of the talking points referred to Islamic extremists taking part in the attack in Benghazi, possible links to Islamic extremist group Ansar al-Sharia, a CIA assessment of threats from extremists linked to al-Qaida and a mention of five previous attacks against foreign interests in Benghazi.

A congressional official who reviewed 100 pages of emails and the 12 pages of talking points said former State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland expressed concerns about the talking points, writing that they "could be abused by members of Congress to beat the State Department for not paying attention to agency warnings so why would we want to seed the Hill."

The reference to al-Sharia was deleted, but Nuland wrote later that night, "these don't resolve all my issues and those of my building leadership, they are consulting with NSS," a reference to the National Security staff within the White House.

A meeting of senior officials was convened on Saturday morning after the attack to work on the talking points and they included officials from the White House, State Department and CIA.

Deleted from the final talking points were mention of al-Qaida, the experience of fighters in Libya and Islamic extremists, according to the congressional official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly about the emails that have not been released.

___

AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-10-US-Benghazi-Investigation/id-636c99a38ffd4125bc17e8ec1f2cf42f

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Britain, Russia agree need for transitional Syrian government

By Denis Dyomkin

SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Russia and Britain agreed on Friday to work towards a transitional government in Syria, despite acknowledging differences in their approach to the Middle Eastern country's civil war.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi that they had agreed "that as permanent members of the U.N. we must help drive this process".

He said international efforts envisaged "not just bringing the regime and opposition together at one negotiating table, but Britain, Russia, America and other countries helping shape a transitional government that all Syrians can trust to protect them."

Russia has been under pressure to cooperate more with Western powers at the United Nations Security Council on ending the bloodshed.

Moscow has supported President Bashar al-Assad's government and supplied it with weapons, but agreed with the United States this week to help bring the warring sides together for an international conference on ending the bloodshed.

"We have a common interest in the quickest end to the violence and the initiation of a peace process, and the preservation of Syria as a territorially whole sovereign state," Putin said after the talks.

"On the initiative of the British prime minister, we discussed possible options for positive developments of this process and about a number of possible joint steps," Putin added, He gave no details the proposed steps.

(Writing by Jason Bush, editing by Timothy Heritage)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/britain-russia-agree-transitional-syrian-government-150044163.html

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Obituaries 05-09-2013 | Chelsea Record ? Chelsea Massachusetts ...

Richard Clayman, Esq.

Attorney

Richard I. Clayman of Revere, formerly of Chelsea, died on May 1.

The founder of the Law Firm of Clayman and Dodge in Chelsea, he was the beloved husband of Deborah A. (Bradley) Clayman; devoted and loving father of Katie Clayman Huggard and her husband, Josh of Swampscott and Erica Colombo of Boston; loving son of the late Arthur Clayman and Anne Novack Clayman; dear brother of Steven G. Clayman and his wife, Nancy of Boston.? He is also survived by many extended family, friends, nieces, nephews and colleagues. Services were held at the Temple Emmanuel, Chelsea. Burial followed at Woodlawn Cemetery, Everett. In lieu of flowers, remembrances in Richard?s memory may be made to the Chelsea Jewish Nursing Home 17 Lafayette Ave Chelsea, MA 02150 and/or the Jack Satter House 420 Revere Beach Blvd, Revere, MA 02151. Visit www.torffuneralservice.com for guest book.

Deborah ?Debby? Racki

Bar Manager and Member of the French Club

Deborah ?Debby? (Vannelli) Racki, a longtime Chelsea resident, she passed away suddenly on May 5 at the Whidden Memorial Hospital in Everett following a long and courageous battle with overwhelming illness. She was 65 years old. Born in Boston, she was the daughter of the late Anthony and Dorothea (Foss) Vannelli. She attended local schools and was a graduate of St. Rose High School. She worked for many years tending bar at the Chelsea Walk Pub and most recently worked as the bar manager at the French Club. Debby also worked at the Boston Garden until her illness.

Devoted to her friends and family, she was affectionately known as ?Ma? to many who knew her and she was an active member of the French Club.

She was the former wife of Richard Racki; devoted mother of Roberta and Brian Racki, Nicole and Anthony Pasco, Mindy Curry and Shelly Pasco; dear sister of Leonora Cataldo and Vivian Cash; cherished grandmother of Ottavia, Stephanie, Mario, Linda, Yassmina and Sophia and adored great grandmother of Giovanni.

Her Funeral Services will be conducted in the Frank A. Welsh & Sons Funeral Home, 718 Broadway, Chelsea today, Thursday, May 9 at 10:30 a.m. Services will conclude with Interment at New Calvary Cemetery, Roslindale. Relatives and friends are most kindly invited to attend.? Funeral Home fully handicap accessible, ample parking opposite Funeral Home. For directions or to send expressions of sympathy, please visit www.WelshFuneralHome.com. Funeral Arrangements entrusted to the care and direction of the Frank A. Welsh and Sons Funeral Home.

Dr. Gerald Sowsy

Retired Dentist

Dr. Gerald Sowsy of Revere, formerly of Chestnut Hill and Sunapee, NH, passed away on April 29. He was 84 years old.

Dr. Sowsy was born in Boston and raised in Chelsea. He graduated from the New Preparatory School, Cambridge in 1946, from Harvard University, Class of 1950 and the University of Pennsylvania School of Dentistry, Class of 1955. Dr. Sowsy, who had his own dental practice in Newton Center for many years, was a Captain in the United States Air Force following the Korean War. He was also a member of the Alpha and Omega Dental Society and the Massachusetts Dental Society.

The beloved husband of Shirley (Hoffman) Sowsy for 62 years, he was the devoted father of Gail Katz and her husband, Dr. Steven Katz, Craig Sowsy and his wife, Amy and Marjorie Boyle and her husband, Terence; the loving son of the late Henry and Lena Sowsy;? the dear brother of Dr. Paul Sowsy and his wife, Sabina and the loving grandfather of Tracey, Michael, Allison, Bradley, Colin and Caitlin. He is also survived by many loving nieces and nephews.

Services were held. Donations in Dr. Sowsy?s memory may be made to the Autism Society of America, 47 Walnut St., Wellesley Hills, MA 02481 or to the Kaplan Family Hospice House, 78 Liberty St. Danvers, MA 01923

Marie ?Tina? Pegnato

Retired Medical Transcriber Who Also Worked at Chelsea City Hall

Marie ?Tina? (Tabbi) Pegnato, a retired Medical Transcriber, passed away peacefully with her family at her bedside on May 1 at the Chelsea Jewish Nursing Home where she had been receiving supportive care for the last several years.? She was 93 years old.

Born in Boston?s North End, the beloved daughter of the late Francesco and Carmella Tabbi, she was raised in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood and received her formal education in Boston Public Schools.? In 1944, she married Dominic J. Pegnato and settled in Chelsea where together they raised their family of two sons, two daughters and her younger sister.?? She was predeceased by her husband in 1981.

Tina worked outside of her home at Chelsea City Hall, initially in the Mayor?s Office under then Mayor Alfred Voke and later for other departments at City Hall.? She continued working for a short time at the Chelsea Welfare Office and TJ Walsh Woodworking in Chelsea.? She completed her career as a Medical Transcriber in the Records Dept. at the Chelsea Soldiers Home before taking her full retirement.

She was a past member of Our Lady of Grace Socialites, The Catholic Ladies Auxiliary at St Rose Church and the Sons of Italy in Chelsea.

In addition to her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by her younger sister, Rosemarie Palladino, her brothers Philip, Tony and Frank Tabbi and Tony?s wife, Helen. She is survived by her beloved children and their spouses; Dominic J. Pegnato Jr. and his wife, Pat, Camille Pegnato-Junk and her husband, Jerry, all of Chelsea, Marie Bruno and her husband, Michael of Melrose and Frank Pegnato and his wife, Drusella of Salem.? She was the cherished grandmother of Michael Pegnato and his wife, Stephanie, Dominic Pegnato, III and his wife, Sheri, Kim Pegnato-Marecki and her husband, Andrew, Michael Bruno, Christina Bruno, Peter Bruno, John and Danielle Pegnato; adored great-grandmother of Max Pegnato and Mia Marecki; dear sister of Josephine Sargent and her husband, Fred, and Phyllis Tabbi, all of Stoughton, Joseph Tabbi and his wife, Pat of New Hampshire; dear sister in law of Albert Palladino of Chelsea,? Sherri Tabbi of Canton and Connie Tabbi of California and is also survived by many loving nieces and nephews.

Funeral arrangements were by the Frank A. Welsh & Sons Funeral Home, Chelsea.? Burial was at Woodlawn Cemetery, Everett.? Should friends desire, contributions in her memory may be made to the St. Jude?s Children?s Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105 www.StJude.org For directions or to send expressions of sympathy, please visit www.WelshFuneralHome.com

Estelle Andrews

Retired Telephone Operator

Estelle P. (Boc) Andrews, a retired telephone operator, passed away on April 6 at Kindred Harborlights Nursing and Rehabilitation in South Boston. She was 83 years old.

Born in Chelsea, she was the daughter of the late Walter and Josephine (Pawleczyk) Boc. She was raised in Chelsea, attended local schools and was a Chelsea resident for the early part of her life. She relocated with her family to Dorchester where she has lived for more than 40 years.

She worked as a telephone operator for New England Telephone and Telegraph until her retirement. In her retirement years, she spent winters with her husband in Port Charlotte, Florida where she was a member of the South West Polka Boosters in Cape Coral, Florida.

She was the beloved wife of the late Stanley Andrews who died in 2003; devoted mother of Jeffrey Andrews of Revere; dear sister of Stanley Boc of North Weymouth and the late Ben and William Boc, Sophie Lehan, Wanda Dykas and Josephine Gorman.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at St. Stanislaus Church, Chelsea and services concluded with interment at Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden. Funeral Arrangements were entrusted to the care and direction of the Anthony Memorial Funeral Home.

Source: http://www.chelsearecord.com/2013/05/09/obituaries-05-09-2013/

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Friday, May 10, 2013

Watch Live: Hearing on Benghazi response

His voice choked to a hoarse whisper, a former top diplomat in Libya walked lawmakers Wednesday step by step through the harrowing Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, and the moment he learned the extremists had killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Stevens had gone missing and was thought to be in a hospital held by extremists hostile to the United States, Gregory Hicks, the former deputy chief of mission in Libya, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday.

At 3 a.m., according to Hicks, Libya?s prime minister called. ?I think it's the saddest phone call I've ever had in my life,? Hicks said softly but clearly. ?He told me that Ambassador Stevens had passed away. I immediately telephoned Washington that news afterwards.?

Hick?s recollections were not the only emotional moment in the early part of the hearing. Eric Nordstrom, a former regional security officer in Libya, teared up and his voice broke as he told the packed committee room that he wants the full story to come out. "It matters," he said. "It matters."

Lawmakers holding the contentious session listened quietly. But in the opening moments of the hearing, they had wasted no time before trading partisan barbs?accusing each other of dark political motives, bad faith and just plain making stuff up.

Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, the committee chairman, started the session?the first to get testimony from an eyewitness on the ground in Libya?by describing the administration?s version of the events as ?their facts.? Issa accused the State Department and the White House of refusing to provide witnesses and documents to his committee.

Issa said he had invited the authors of the State Department-commissioned independent probe into the tragedy, retired diplomat Tom Pickering and retired Adm. Mike Mullen, to testify and that they refused.

Issa vowed to ?make certain that our government learns the proper lessons? from the deaths of Stevens and three other Americans, and ensure that ?the right people are held accountable.?

Rep. Elijah Cummings, the panel?s top Democrat, used his opening statement to offer a rebuttal of what he denounced as ?irresponsible allegations? that the administration withheld military assets that might have made a difference. He accused Issa of suggesting a high-level ?conspiracy? grouping top military officers who have testified that the Pentagon did everything it could.

?I am not questioning the motives of the witnesses,? Cummings said. ?I am questioning the motives of those who want to use their statements for political purposes.?

The hotly anticipated hearing, which drew an army of reporters to the hearing room, was unlikely to shift the partisan battle lines on Benghazi. But it was expected to tackle some thorny questions. All sides agree that heavily armed assailants stormed the U.S. facility in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012, and, in two separate attacks hours apart, killed Stevens and the three other Americans.

But did President Barack Obama?s administration do everything it could to save Americans? Did senior aides try to cover up findings that the strike was the work of terrorists? Should former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, widely expected to be a presidential contender in 2016, pay a price? Or is this a Republican fishing expedition unfairly using the tragic death of four Americans for political gain?

In addition to Hicks and Nordstrom, the committee has heard from Mark Thompson, the State Department?s acting deputy assistant secretary for counterterrorism.

Republicans have waged an aggressive media campaign over the past week?releasing snippets of testimony and interview transcripts coupled with predictions that the hearing will offer blockbuster revelations.

But there?s cause for skepticism, and not just because GOP lawmakers seem to make these kinds of predictions regularly.

First, the independent investigation commissioned by the State Department has already delivered a blistering indictment of how top officials mishandled repeated warnings about extremist threats in Benghazi. That particular "system failure" has amply been documented.

Second, charges that the Obama administration could have deployed military assets that might have made a difference have been explored in previous hearings?and dismissed by the Pentagon.

Hicks will reportedly testify that the military opted against sending a second special forces rescue team while the fighting raged. It's not clear that the team would have arrived in time to make a difference?and administration officials say there were "Black Hawk Down"-style concerns about dropping more Americans into an uncertain conflict.

Still, Republicans argue, the people who made the decision about the deployment couldn't have known the gesture would be futile.

The "after" part, though, has gotten progressively more interesting.

Republicans have charged that the Obama administration misled Americans by suggesting the Benghazi assault was tied to anger in the Muslim world over an Internet video denigrating Islam that was getting significant media attention at the time. The administration, Republicans insist, wrongly portrayed the attack as a demonstration that had gotten out of hand rather than an act of terrorism. Why? To protect Obama's re-election campaign claim that al-Qaida was on the run.

The flap took U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice?who took the claim of an unruly demonstration turned deadly to Sunday news shows?out of the running to succeed Clinton as secretary of state. The White House has repeatedly dismissed GOP attention to Rice's TV appearances as an "obsession" over "talking points" on Sunday shows. (Does that mean that if Obama misspoke in his State of the Union, the White House would shrug it off as "canned comments to Beltway insiders"?)

As it happens, the administration knew the Benghazi assault was terrorism from the start, even though its public message changed several times.

But the real problem with the Republican claim that the administration tried to cover up the terrorist nature of the Benghazi assault is that Obama himself called it terrorism in a Rose Garden appearance shortly after the assault. There, the president tied Benghazi in with the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and said the country would never bow in the face of "acts of terror."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/benghazi-hearing-promises-partisan-fireworks-144356871.html

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Halladay to have shoulder surgery, eyes '13 return

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? For Roy Halladay, arthroscopic surgery on his troublesome throwing shoulder became the best-case scenario when he had prepared himself for the worst ? a career-ending injury that would force his retirement when he's far from ready.

Halladay will undergo a procedure in his right shoulder to repair a partially torn rotator cuff and remove a bone spur. He also has some fraying of the labrum.

"I think we did all the right things," Halladay said. "Now I feel I have something to grasp onto, something to move forward with. I don't feel as lost as before. I feel like there's some answers."

He is relieved he won't need reconstructive surgery at this stage.

On the 15-day disabled list since Monday because of inflammation in his throwing shoulder, the two-time Cy Young Award winner met with Dr. Lewis Yocum in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Halladay hadn't decided on which doctor will but said he expects to have surgery next week to give himself the best chance of returning this season.

"They're going to go in and clean up the bone spur, clean up the rotator cuff and the labrum, try and keep that as unevasive as possible," Halladay said in the dugout Wednesday before the Phillies played the San Francisco Giants.

"From what I understand, if they go in and see during surgery what they saw on the exams, I have a chance to come back and pitch this year ? I have a good chance to come back and pitch this year. Hopefully be a lot more effective."

The 35-year-old right-hander has experienced little pain, but his location and velocity have been the pitcher's biggest concern. He is 2-4 with an 8.65 ERA in seven starts this season after missing nearly two months last year because of a strained back muscle. Halladay allowed nine runs in 2 1-3 innings of a 14-2 defeat to Miami on Sunday for his second straight loss and second outing in a row of less than four innings ? third in all this year.

"They said my range of motion will be better, my location will be better, hopefully the velocity will be better," Halladay said. "They said the cause is a bone spur; the rotator cuff kept rubbing over it. Over time, it gradually created more and more of a tear. They want to get that cleaned up and get that out of there."

Even if he returns this year, Halladay figures to miss a substantial part of the season in his contract year. He is earning $20 million this season.

Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr., said he won't rule out re-signing Halladay for 2014, though he said it was too early to think that far into the future. Whether Halladay could become a reliable bullpen option has not been addressed, though Halladay reiterated he wants to start.

"Who wouldn't want Roy Halladay around?" Amaro said.

Halladay said he might have considered retirement had doctors told him he couldn't come back at full strength and regained his former top form.

"He said in certain cases it's been three months, but we really don't have a timetable," Halladay said of Yocum's prognosis. "I think the timetable is going to come once they go in and confirm that, hey, what we saw on the X-rays is exactly what we saw when we went in there. They were definitely optimistic that I would be back this year."

He also underwent an exam in which dye is injected into the injured area before scans are taken in the MRI tube.

Whenever he is able to pitch again, Halladay still hopes he gets a chance for a World Series ring.

"You want to go out strong ? ideally, you want to go out a world champion," he said. "Some of those things aren't in your your control. I have no regrets at any point over my career. If things don't work out and they do end on a sour note, I'm not going to look at it that way. I really don't think that's going to be the case."

Amaro said the Phillies will call up right-hander Tyler Cloyd from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to take Halladay's turn in the rotation Friday at Arizona.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/halladay-shoulder-surgery-eyes-13-return-181241687.html

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Monday, April 22, 2013

Metastasis stem cells in the blood of breast cancer patients discovered

Apr. 22, 2013 ? Individual cancer cells that break away from the original tumor and circulate through the blood stream are considered responsible for the development of metastases. These dreaded secondary tumors are the main cause of cancer-related deaths. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) detectable in a patient's blood are associated with a poorer prognosis. However, up until now, experimental evidence was lacking as to whether the "stem cell" of metastasis is found among CTCs.

"We were convinced that only very few of the various circulating tumor cells are capable of forming a secondary tumor in a different organ, because many patients do not develop metastases even though they have cancer cells circulating through their blood," says Prof. Andreas Trumpp, a stem cell expert. Trumpp is head of DKFZ's Division of Stem Cells and Cancer and director of the Heidelberg Institute for Stem Cell Technology and Experimental Medicine (HI-STEM) at DKFZ. "Metastasis is a complex process and cancer cells need to have very specific properties for it. Our hypothesis was that the characteristics of cancer stem cells, which are resistant to therapy and very mobile, are best suited," says Trumpp.

Ir?ne Baccelli from Trumpp's team developed a transplantation test for experimental detection of metastasis-initiating cells. In collaboration with Prof. Andreas Schneeweiss from the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg along with colleagues from the Institute of Tumor Biology in Hamburg and the Institute of Pathology of Heidelberg University Hospitals, the researchers analyzed the blood of more than 350 breast cancer patients. Using specific surface molecules, Baccelli isolated circulating tumor cells from the blood and directly transplanted them into the bone marrow of mice with defective immune systems. "Bone marrow is a perfect niche for tumor sells to colonize," Trumpp explains. After more than one hundred transplantations, metastases actually started forming in the bones, lungs and livers of some of the animals.

This proved that CTCs do contain metastasis stem cells -- even though apparently with a low frequency. What characterizes these cells? To characterize their molecular properties, the researchers analyzed the surface molecules of those CTCs where the cell transplantation had led to metastases.

Three molecules characterize the metastasis stem cell

In a systematic screening process, Baccelli first isolated cells carrying a typical protein of breast cancer stem cells (CD44) on their surface from the CTCs. This protein helps the cell to settle in bone marrow. Next, the researchers screened this cell population for specific surface markers which help the cells to survive in foreign tissue. These include, for example, a signaling molecule that protects from attacks by the immune system (CD47) and a surface receptor that enhances the cells' migratory and invasive capabilities (MET).

Using a cell sorter, the researchers were then able to isolate those CTCs which exhibit all three characteristics (CD44, CD47, MET) at once. Another round of transplantation tests showed that these really were the cells from which the metastases originated.

Depending on the patient, cells exhibiting all three surface molecules ("triple-positive" cells) made up between 0.6 and 33 percent of all CTCs. "It is interesting that only cells with the stem cell marker CD44 carry the combination of the other two surface molecules," said Ir?ne Baccelli. "It looks like the triple-positive cells are a specialized subtype of breast cancer stem cells circulating in the blood."

Triple-positive cells as prognostic biomarkers

Are the triple-positive cells a more precise biomarker of breast cancer progression than the number of CTCs alone? In a small patient group, the researchers observed that as the disease advances, the number of triple-positive cells increases, but the total number of CTCs does not. In addition, patients with very high numbers of triple-positive cells had particularly high numbers of metastases and a much poorer prognosis than women in whom only few of these metastasis-inducing cells were detected. "On the whole, triple-positive cells seem to have a substantially higher biological relevance for disease progression than previously studied CTCs," Andreas Schneeweiss explains. The researchers plan to confirm these new results in a large study.

Andreas Trumpp considers it good news that the two proteins CD47 and MET are the ones characterizing metastasis-initiating cells. Therapeutic antibodies targeting CD47 to inhibit its functions are already being developed. A substance inhibiting the activity of the MET receptor has already been approved and shows good effectiveness for treating a certain type of lung cancer. The substance may also help breast cancer patients with detectable metastasis-inducing cells. "The triple-positive cells we have found turn out to be not only a promising biomarker of disease progression in breast cancer but also a prospect for potential new therapeutic approaches for treating advanced breast cancer," says Andreas Trumpp.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Ir?ne Baccelli, Andreas Schneeweiss, Sabine Riethdorf, Albrecht Stenzinger, Anja Schillert, Vanessa Vogel, Corinna Klein, Massimo Saini, Tobias B?uerle, Markus Wallwiener, Tim Holland-Letz, Thomas H?fner, Martin Sprick, Martina Scharpff, Frederik Marm?, Hans Peter Sinn, Klaus Pantel, Wilko Weichert, Andreas Trumpp. Identification of a population of blood circulating tumor cells from breast cancer patients that initiates metastasis in a xenograft assay. Nature Biotechnology, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nbt.2576

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/95xlx2nhOLU/130422101258.htm

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