The Securities and Exchange Commission last week officially stopped one of the problems that created the financial crisis of 2008.
It was way too late to fix the problems that surfaced six years ago — the fact that it took this long and that the rules were adopted by a split vote of commissioners shows how hard real reform is — but the real question is whether it will stop the financial crisis of 2018, 2024 or whenever the next generational catastrophe hits.
If you’re an investor in money-market mutual funds — the focus of the new rules — you most likely won’t notice any change; as a taxpayer, the potential savings if these regulations work could be in the billions of dollars.
Until the market stress-tests the rules, however, all anyone can do is hope and assume potential problems are eased.
Money funds, which hold more than $2.5 trillion in assets, are supposed to be boring, pain-free investments, a safe place to park cash, which the funds invest in short-term debt instruments of the government and/or some companies. Shares are priced at a constant $1; any interest the fund earns that would otherwise raise the price gets shaved off and reinvested to keep the value stable. If the fund were to lose money — a situation that would typically result in the share price dropping — the fund sponsor typically steps in to make sure that the fund does not “break the buck.”
In 2008, the nation’s oldest and largest money fund, Reserve Primary, broke the buck in the wake of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. The $64 billion fund was stuck holding $785 million in Lehman paper; the news started a run of investors fleeing money funds, a dangerously destabilizing event for the entire economy.
Investors who stuck with Reserve Primary — and you can include my own mother in that group — ultimately lost about three cents on the dollar. That’s disheartening but not a big deal when you consider that the fund had paid well-above-average returns for years, meaning that most investors (again, my mother included) did better over the entire time they were in the failed Reserve fund than they would have done in an average bank savings account or certificate of deposit.
The rules changes were not so much about looking out for individual consumers as about curtailing global economic chaos; a smoothly functioning money-market system is, effectively, the foundation of the day-to-day markets.
In 2008, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury backstopped money funds, effectively providing the kind of deposit insurance that’s normally reserved only for bank deposits. That’s not a position the authorities ever want to be in again.
The SEC in 2010 adopted rules requiring greater transparency and forcing money funds to invest in more liquid assets with higher credit ratings and shorter maturities. Officials wanted more; the fund industry didn’t.
Fast-forward to last week, when the SEC’s 800-plus pages of new rules finally ended the threat of an event long-past, without guaranteeing that it can’t happen again.
The biggest step taken to prevent future crises is a “floating net asset value” requirement for institutional prime money funds. Instead of trading at a constant $1, if the fund’s underlying assets suffer a loss, it will show up in the share price, which they will now trade out four decimal places. This reduces what’s called “first-mover advantage,” which is why people rushed the exits in 2008, hoping to get out at $1 despite knowing their shares were worth a few pennies less.
“Government” or “retail” money funds — the ones ordinary investors use — aren’t covered by this provision; they’re keeping the stable $1 value.
The change you might see in your accounts, therefore, is “liquidity gates” and redemption fees.
In times of stress – when a fund’s weekly liquidity falls below certain key levels – a fund’s directors have the ability to halt redemption activity for up to 10 days, if that kind of relief is in the best interest of shareholders. The board also can impose a redemption fee of up to 2{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce}.
The reaction to the rules was as expected, with consumer advocates wishing they had somehow gotten more, while the fund companies felt they had done enough in 2010.
“All [regulators] really can do is prevent some of the dominos from falling,” said Peter Crane, president of Crane Data, which tracks the money fund business. “When you have an occurrence like 2008 when a gorilla knocks over the table, it’s questionable whether these changes will really work.”
For the time being, money fund yields are so low — average yields on retail accounts are about 0.02 percent, according to Crane — that investors are looking at roughly zero return while also taking virtually zero risk. Money funds are a convenient parking place for cash; potential troubles won’t surface until interest rates rise.
“We know the rules work for right now,” said Crane. “We’ll find out if they work for what’s next when they see what’s next.”
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Six-year-old medical marijuana user runs afoul of Health Canada rules
<p>Now six years old, Liam is registered to start Grade 1 in September at St. Michael school in Fitzroy Harbour, with the help of an educational assistant and full-time nurse.</p>
<p class=”p1″>On Wednesday, he was counting characters in a children’s book from the world of Teletubbies, and seemingly having a pretty good day. “I went to the park,” he said shyly. “I read a book.”</p>
<p class=”p1″>He suffered a small seizure while speaking to the Citizen.</p>
<p class=”p2″>Even though Liam is licensed to use medical marijuana, taking it in extracted oil form violates Health Canada’s new Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations, which came into effect April 1.</p>
<p>Under the regulations, the strains of marijuana that producers can sell are no longer restricted, making it easier to find strains high in CBD, the chemical that treats Liam’s condition the best, but low in THC, a psychoactive component associated with pain relief.</p>
<p>However, licensed producers can only sell dried marijuana. They can’t sell any derivative products, such as oils or foods made with marijuana.</p>
<p>The McKnights receive a boxed shipment of 150 grams of dried marijuana from Bedrocan, one of 13 licensed marijuana producers in Canada, each month. Turning it into the oil that Liam consumes — about a quarter of a cup each day — is not a straightforward task.</p>
<p>“Health Canada says Liam has to smoke it or he has to vaporize it,” said McKnight. “Those are our two options, that’s it. So although they give him a license, the form of delivery is ridiculous.”</p>
<p class=”p1″>The major problem with vaporizing it, McKnight said, is managing the dosage. They want to build up the CBD in his system and keep him stable. With vapour it’s instantaneous, the effects are immediate and you can’t keep track of amount of CBD entering system the way you can with oil that has had its chemical contents analyzed in a lab.</p>
<p>So, instead, they ship the dry buds to the Montreal-based Medical Cannabis Access Society, where it is processed and extracted into coconut oil. Then, it is shipped back to them. McKnight sends a sample of the batch to a laboratory in British Columbia that analyzes the oil’s CBD and THC content so she can give Liam precise doses.</p>
<p>Technically, this process goes against Health Canada regulations.</p>
<p>It is expensive, too. Cannabis is $7.50 per gram. Extraction costs money; shipping costs money; lab work costs money. Liam also undergoes occupational, physical, speech and listening therapy. He has a live-in caregiver, along with the full-time nurse.</p>
<p>“Financially, it’s draining,” said McKnight. “If we were getting an extraction from a licensed producer, it wouldn’t cost nearly this much. I don’t even know how long we’re going to be able to sustain this.”</p>
<p>Adam Greenblatt, the executive director of the cannabis access society, said he believes that as many as 60 or 70 per cent of medical marijuana users would use derivative products if they could legally buy them.</p>
<p>“There’s a huge need for these derivative products in the patient population, a huge desire in this new medical marijuana economy to produce and sell and standardize them,” he said, adding there could even be special prescriptions for these products. “It’s up to Health Canada to get with the times.”</p>
<p>Apart from oils, these include hashish, baked products such as brownies, capsules and tinctures, which are liquid suspensions of cannabis in alcohol or glycerine. Not everyone can vaporize or smoke cannabis.</p>
<p>Greenblatt makes cannabis brownies for his own father, Michael Greenblatt, 65, who has suffered from multiple sclerosis for nearly 30 years and uses medical marijuana to help alleviate his systems. Because of the MS and asthma, his lungs are too weak to handle smoking or vaporizing marijuana.</p>
<p>Greenblatt helps the McKnight family, along with five or six others, to process dried cannabis into oils to treat Dravet syndrome. But he said there is a huge range of uses for products such as these.</p>
<p>Along with epilepsy and MS sufferers, a growing number of cancer patients use cannabis extracts as treatment. Children and elderly patients, especially, would benefit from an option that does not require inhaling smoke or vapour, Greenblatt said.</p>
<p>“It would be cheaper for producers to be able to make it themselves and sell it that way,” he said. “From an economic and business perspective, it makes sense.”</p>
<p>Isaac Oommen, who works at British Columbia’s Compassion Club Society, a cannabis advocacy organization, said that of their roughly 9,700 members, at least 30 per cent use derivative products such as edibles, oils or tinctures.</p>
<p>He said about 60 per cent of incoming members are patients over the age of 65, and among them, at least 80 or 90 per cent are interested in using those types of products.</p>
<p>In 2012, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that people should be allowed to make their own oils, butters, baked goods and lotions using cannabis, and that designated producers should be able to provide patients with the same.</p>
<p>But the new regulations that came into effect in April mean the case is going back to court.</p>
<p>If the court ruling is found to still stand up under the new regulations, the government would be essentially forced to rewrite those rules, said Greenblatt. But, “These are expensive court battles when really they should just give up the fight,” he said.</p>
<p>For McKnight, who runs a <a href=”https://www.facebook.com/groups/liamsjourney/” target=”_blank”>Facebook page</a> to raise awareness about Liam’s condition, it’s a matter of common sense.</p>
<p>“I really hope that somebody at Health Canada or somebody in this government just finally stands up and says, ‘OK, this is ridiculous. We need to help these kids.’”</p>
<p>Health Canada did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.</p>
<div class=”byline-dates”>Published on: July 16, 2014Last Updated: July 16, 2014 7:37 PM EDT</div>
<div class=”byline-dates”>Marie-Danielle Smith</div>
- Published in Blog
Loopy vertical farm proposed for Singapore
93{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce} of food consumed in Singapore is imported; only 2{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce} of its land is arable. Designboom shows a loopy scheme from Foward Thinking Architecture, part of Spanish architects JAPA
© Forward thinking Architecture via Designboom
From Designboom:
The looping constructs will allow maximum amounts of sunlight to grow crops such as spinach, lettuce, broccoli, and cabbage year-round. By shaping them in a vertical as opposed to horizontal fashion, regular activities that occur along the shorelines remain uninterrupted and are actually enhanced by visuals of the individually exposed layers that house hydroponic and aquaponic instruments. In addition, rotating racks on each floor improve the mechanisms while adding to the skyline of Singapore.
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Alibaba Said to Plan U.S. IPO After H.K. Talks Break Down
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is moving toward an initial public offering in the U.S. after talks for a Hong Kong listing broke down following management’s proposal to keep control in a share sale, according to two people familiar with the matter.
China’s largest e-commerce company is seeking U.S. law firms to help with an IPO and hasn’t hired banks yet, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the process is private. Alibaba, which investment banks value at as much as $120 billion, is likely to choose to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, another person said.
Alibaba founder Jack Ma and partners want to control the Hangzhou-based company after the listing by effectively creating two groups of shareholders, with one group able to nominate a majority of board members. To protect the interests of ordinary shareholders, Hong Kong’s exchange prohibits IPOs with different classes of shares, a structure that has been used by companies from Facebook Inc. (FB) to Manchester United Plc (MANU) in their U.S. initial offerings.
“Jack Ma really insisted on the partnership structure,” said Billy Leung, an analyst at RHB Research Institute Sdn. in Hong Kong. “If you give it to them then you give it to everyone. Alibaba has been waiting for so long, they just said let’s go to the U.S.”
Photographer: Nelson Ching/Bloomberg
‘Emotional Arguments’
Losing the Alibaba IPO would be a blow to Hong Kong, which hasn’t hosted a first-time share sale of more than $4 billion since October 2010. The exchange is the fourth biggest equity market in the world, with companies trading there worth a combined $3.4 trillion in market value, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“We need to look objectively at the issues and not be swayed by emotional arguments or be distracted by specific circumstances of any given company or issue,” Charles Li, CEO of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd., said in a blog post today. He didn’t name Alibaba.
While the Nasdaq Stock Market dominated technology listings in the past, winning everything from Intel Corp. to Facebook, the New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE, has established itself as a challenger in the most recent wave of offerings. Since mid-2011, LinkedIn Corp., Pandora Media Inc. and Yelp Inc. have listed there, and Twitter Inc. is also leaning toward the NYSE, a person with knowledge of the matter said this week.
Alibaba declined to comment in an e-mail today. Lorraine Chan, a spokeswoman for Hong Kong Exchanges, declined to comment, citing a company policy against discussing individual cases. NYSE Euronext (NYX) spokesman Rich Adamonis also declined to comment on Alibaba’s IPO plans as did William Briganti at Nasdaq OMX Group Inc.
Photographer: Nelson Ching/Bloomberg
Partnership Control
Alibaba may appoint underwriters by the end of this year, one of the people familiar said. While a final decision hasn’t been made, the company may use a partnership structure similar to what it proposed in Hong Kong, the person said.
For weeks, Alibaba and the Hong Kong exchange discussed the proposal to let partners control most board nominations. That would let Ma, a former English teacher who owns 7.4 percent of the stock, and his managers run the company without worrying about being pushed out by an activist investor with a different strategy, a person familiar with the matter said last month.
The company had 28 partners as of Sept. 10, Ma said in an e-mail to employees this month. They include co-founder Joseph Tsai and Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Lu.
Investor Rights
Under Alibaba’s partnership proposal, all shareholders would still vote on the proposed directors with partners being able to nominate an alternate if shareholders reject a candidate, the person familiar with Alibaba’s thinking said.
No other investor rights would be changed, the person said. Deals involving company executives, major expenses and compensation would be voted on by all shareholders, according to the person.
“This is not a mere profit sharing mechanism, nor is it a vehicle of power to exert greater control over the company,” Ma said in the Sept. 10 e-mail.
Hong Kong’s bourse doesn’t allow share classes with different voting rights, as exchanges in the U.S. do. Under Hong Kong’s listing rules, new applicants must not include shares whose voting power doesn’t bear a “reasonable relationship” to the equity interest.
Manchester United
The dual-class structure helped Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google Inc. co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin keep control of their companies after they went public. Manchester United, the English soccer club, also considered a share sale in Hong Kong before eventually settling on the U.S., where Class B shares owned by the Glazer family carry 10 votes apiece versus one vote each for the Class A shares sold in the IPO.
“They can go to the U.S. and accept the U.S. environment with more stringent reporting requirements and a class action litigation system and benefit from the dual-class voting structure,” said David Webb, founder of local governance watchdog Webb-site.com and a former director of the exchange.
Ma started Alibaba in his Hangzhou apartment in 1999 with two dozen items for sale, and the company’s expansion mirrors China’s emergence as an economic superpower. The company now has 24,000 employees and generates about 70 percent of package deliveries in China. Customers bought at least 1 trillion yuan ($163 billion) of goods via Alibaba last year.
That success has made Ma, 49, one of China’s richest people with an estimated net worth of $3.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
There is still room for growth. China has 591 million Internet users, greater than the population of any other country except India, and McKinsey & Co. estimates China’s Internet retail market will triple to $395 billion from 2011 to 2015.
Alibaba’s Valuation
In a July 17 report, Evercore Group LLC estimated an Alibaba IPO could value the company at $120 billion, based on a forecast that operating profit could reach $7.1 billion in 2014. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on July 22 put Alibaba’s value at about $105 billion.
At $120 billion, Alibaba would be the third-biggest Internet company behind Google (GOOG) and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) based on market capitalization.
Alibaba could raise about HK$100 billion ($12.9 billion) in an initial sale, Ernst & Young LLP said June 28. That would make it the world’s biggest IPO since Facebook raised $16 billion in May of last year, and Hong Kong’s largest since AIA Group Ltd. (1299)’s $20 billion sale in October 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The IPO of Facebook valued the company at $104 billion, and the shares lost as much as half their value in the first few months of trading before starting to recover.
Yahoo, SoftBank
Alibaba is considering a more conservative valuation than Facebook for its IPO, a person with knowledge of the matter said earlier this year.
Alibaba’s profit in the latest quarter tripled from a year earlier to $669 million, Yahoo! Inc. said in July. Facebook earned $217 million in the same period and Tencent posted net income of 4.04 billion yuan.
Japan’s SoftBank Corp. (9984) owns about 37 percent of Alibaba and Yahoo about 24 percent, the companies said separately in July. Hiroe Kotera, a Tokyo-based spokeswoman for SoftBank, declined to comment today about Alibaba’s IPO plan.
After starting as a business-to-business marketplace on Alibaba.com, where companies trade anything from shoelaces to steel, the company has morphed into a more consumer-focused operation. Its most popular platforms include Taobao Marketplace, which links individual buyers and sellers, and Tmall.com, which connects consumers to companies such as Microsoft Corp., Procter & Gamble Co. and Japanese clothing chain Uniqlo.
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Some tips on improving your online presence
Job seekers in today’s increasingly competitive economy are highly encouraged to take the time to create the right online presence. Here are some expert tips:
— Register your domain name in as many variants as you can find and as early as you can — even using likely misspellings. That will give you control over any searches in your name.
— Write a blog on Tumblr and map your domain name on it. When you blog, do it as if you’re at the local pub, not in a sequestered room.
— Register for as many profiles on as many sites as you can so that, as you grow your career, you can dominate as much of the first page as possible to develop your Klout score.
— Use About.me to create landing pages.
— A LinkedIn account is a must, but you can go the extra step and get a LinkedIn vanity name, so your name comes up in your profile’s URL. It’s a way to show attention to detail.
— Go through your previous online posts and delete anything irrelevant, frivolous or controversial.
— Don’t misrepresent yourself.
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Wonkbook: Washington’s legal marijuana policy experiment
1. Top story: Washington state’s experiment with legal recreational marijuana begins
Sales of recreational marijuana begin in Washington state. “Washington’s experiment with licensed, legal recreational marijuana began tentatively in a handful of places around the state on Tuesday, with limited supplies…but with great enthusiasm and hoopla in the places where the sales occurred.Where the experiment will lead after the novelty wears off remains deeply uncertain….Possessing marijuana in small amounts and consuming it at home has been legal in Washington for almost two years now…and local law enforcement agencies had mostly backed off enforcing marijuana laws before that. It had not, however, been legal to sell it for recreational purposes until Tuesday.” Kirk Johnson in The New York Times.
Explainer: How the recreational marijuana system in Washington state works. Katy Steinmetz in Time Magazine.
Chart: Where you can maybe buy recreational marijuana. German Lopez in Vox.
Slight problem: There’s a shortage of legal pot. “Although some of Denver’s marijuana shops ran out of product when they opened in January, the kind of shortages expected in Washington are above and beyond….The contrast speaks to just how varied different states’ experiences might be as they strive to legalize marijuana for recreational and medical purposes….Strangely enough, the lack of regulations on the medical marijuana system, which isn’t going through a shortage, could be the saving grace for Washington’s pot enthusiasts. Because the system is so unregulated, many of Washington’s marijuana users already have access to the drug through friends and medical dispensaries….The shortage might only affect curious newcomers and tourists.” German Lopez in Vox.
Interview: Why illegal/unlicensed pot dealers are freaking out. Matt Berman in National Journal.
Lessons from Colorado: A pot learning curve. “The two states have been under scrutiny as they embark on test cases in legalization, watched closely by everyone from legalization critics to advocates pushing legal marijuana in other states, including Oregon and Alaska. Observers are keeping tabs both on how smoothly the rollout goes, as well as looking to the differences in the two states’ approaches….The area of legalization under the most scrutiny in Colorado is the sale of ‘edibles.’…In response to Colorado’s experiences, Washington last month issued some new rules governing the packaging, labeling, and sale of edibles, and it has yet to issue a license for a kitchen to produce such products.” Amanda Paulson in The Christian Science Monitor.
Explainer: 7 differences between Colorado and Washington state’s recreational-marijuana systems. Trevor Hughes in USA Today.
It takes a lot to protect a pot shop. “To protect the people working, the pot and the profits, several layers of security are needed, he said. ‘You can’t cut in from above. You can’t tunnel in from below,’ said Davis, pointing to a maze of circuits on the ceiling. ‘The system will pick you up before you ever manage to get inside.’ Davis also has 14 high-definition, infrared cameras always rolling. Bullet-resistant glass is part of a demolition-resistant wall that customers first see after they walk through the front door. The facility is outfitted with motion sensors, heavy-duty locks and alarms.This, plus panic buttons for the workers, are what’s necessary to deal with cannabis in an all-cash environment, he said.” Natalie Swaby in KING-TV.
What’s the pot-shop experience like? “Seattle’s first pot shop, in an industrial district south of downtown, is no Starbucks. It’s on a busy six-lane road on which trucks frequently rumble by, and it has no off-street parking. The store’s name is in small print above the mailbox. Under state rules, cannabis can’t be displayed in windows and the stores can’t be near schools, playgrounds, libraries, or parks. Inside, glass jewelry cases once used in a Sears (SHLD) department store display pipes and bongs. The bright lights and wood laminate flooring call to mind an optometrist’s shop in a mall, except for the cash machine next to the register. There’s no place to comfortably sit; pot can’t be consumed on the premises.” Peter Robison in Bloomberg Businessweek.
Quotable: “It’s the quality. It’s like a candy store, like chocolates. You can never get enough.” — Deborah Greene, a customer at a new recreational-pot shop in Wash. state. Maria L. La Ganga in Los Angeles Times.
Whose pot is better: Washington’s or Colorado’s? It’s hard to say. “Retailers in Washington braced for long lines and high demand. The same happened when Colorado legalized recreational sales Jan. 1, and tens of thousands of buyers got the chance to pick from a wide variety of strains, from Blue Dream to AK-47 and Facewreck. Those names represent known genetic strains of marijuana plant — think Macintosh and Granny Smith apples — that are cultivated the world over. But even though the genetics are the same, how the plants are grown makes an enormous difference, experts say. That makes it all but impossible to make consistent comparisons.” Trevor Hughes in USA Today.
Explainer: A guide for recreational-marijuana shoppers. Trevor Hughes in USA Today.
Cuomo signs bill legalizing medical pot in N.Y. state. “The measure, which passed both houses of the legislature during the final moments of the legislative session, in June, is significantly more restrictive than other medical-marijuana laws in the nation.” Erica Orden in The Wall Street Journal.
Other legal reads:
Odd couple — Cory Booker, Rand Paul — team up on sentencing reform bill. Ed O’Keefe in The Washington Post.
Mob-busting tool used against online crime. Andrew Grossman in The Wall Street Journal.
Top opinion
PORTER: Blueprints for taming the climate crisis. “It offers a sobering conclusion. We might be able to pull it off. But it will take an overhaul of the way we use energy, and a huge investment in the development and deployment of new energy technologies. Significantly, it calls for an entirely different approach to international diplomacy on the issue of how to combat climate change….But despite these risks, the report offers a promising new path to overcome the decades-old logjam of climate change negotiations. For the first time, when we say we can stop the climate from heating we will more or less know what we are talking about.” Eduardo Porter in The New York Times.
McARDLE: Who’s the real Hobby Lobby bully? “I think…Hobby Lobby and Little Sisters of the Poor are obviously correct — they are being forced by the government to buy something that they don’t want to buy….If it weren’t for state power, the Little Sisters of the Poor would be happily not facilitating the birth-control purchases of its employees; the Barack Obama administration has attempted to force them to do otherwise….All this is old ground. The interesting question is why people on the other side view ceasing the coercion as itself coercive while arguing that the original law did not, in fact, force anyone to violate their religious beliefs.” Megan McArdle in Bloomberg View.
CHAIT: GOP after the apocalypse. “The reformicons’ retreat from Ryan-style apocalypticism is not only a shrewd tonal shift, but also a welcome — albeit unacknowledged — recognition that the party’s doomsaying has not come to pass, and that the American way of life will indeed survive Obama’s reforms. Indeed, the success of Obama’s domestic agenda may create more space for a conservative counteroffensive, in the way that Reaganism opened political room for Bill Clinton. Whether or not the reformicons ever compose a workable domestic agenda, they have come to recognize that they cannot run a presidential campaign promising to rescue America from fire and rubble visible only to themselves.” Jonathan Chait in New York Magazine.
KRUGMAN: Conservative delusions about inflation. “Confronted with a conflict between evidence and what they want to believe for political and/or religious reasons, many people reject the evidence. And knowing more about the issues widens the divide, because the well informed have a clearer view of which evidence they need to reject to sustain their belief system….I found myself thinking about the similar state of affairs when it comes to economics….And if you look at the internal dynamics of the Republican Party, it’s obvious that the currency-debasement, return-to-gold faction has been gaining strength even as its predictions keep failing. Can anything reverse this descent into dogma? A few conservative intellectuals have been trying to persuade their movement to embrace monetary activism, but they’re ever more marginalized.” Paul Krugman in The New York Times.
EDSALL: How much do our genes influence our political beliefs? “It’s been a key question of American politics since at least 1968: Why do so many poor, working-class and lower-middle-class whites — many of them dependent for survival on government programs — vote for Republicans? The debate over the motives of conservative low-income white voters remains unresolved, but two recent research papers suggest that the hurdles facing Democrats in carrying this segment of the electorate may prove difficult to overcome.” Thomas B. Edsall in The New York Times.
WEISER: Sharing the leverage. “In their new book House of Debt, economists Atif Mian and Amir Sufi connect the vast increase in consumer debt with the Great Recession and slow-motion recovery. But rather than sing a requiem for a half-century of proxy Keynesianism…they shout hosannas for even more debt….Complex and opaque debt structures enable politicians and crony capitalists to disguise high leverage while spinning the predictable blowups as black swan events. If a consumer debt hangover is hindering the economy, as Mian and Sufi plausibly argue, then the government should be encouraging writedowns in exchange for the elimination of future guarantees and other hidden debt subsidies. Borrowers and lenders, not taxpayers, should bear the risk.” Jay Weiser in National Review.
Animals interlude: Looks like Grumpy Cat has some company. “Purrmanently sad cat” looks adorably sad all the time.
2. Obama’s requests emergency-funding to deal with the migrant crisis
Obama’s border migrant-crisis funding request faces tough path on Capitol Hill. “Hours after the Obama administration requested $3.7 billion in emergency funding to address the current child immigration crisis at the southern border, few on Capitol Hill were predicting speedy passage — if at all — of legislation to provide Obama with the money he has requested. Instead, the conventional wisdom on the Hill among both Democrats and Republicans is the same as it has been for any number of issues this year — from minimum wage, to unemployment extension, to any number of jobs bills: probably not going to happen.” Wesley Lowery in The Washington Post.
Chart: A breakdown of the White House’s request. The Washington Post.
Border help for HHS, amid a potential new public-health crisis. “Those funds will help HHS provide ‘appropriate care’ for the children, who are mostly coming from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras….HHS is one of the agencies responsible for caring for the children, a little-known task that could prove arduous as the number of unaccompanied kids continues to surge. The department’s Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) program handled about 6,000 to 8,000 children a year between 2003 and 2011 while they were readied for deportation or took their cases to court. But a new wave of immigrants from Central America means the workload could soar to 90,000 unaccompanied kids this fiscal year and 127,000 in 2015, advocates told The Hill.” Ferdous Al-Faruque in The Hill.
U.N. urges U.S. to treat migrant children as refugees. “People who enter the U.S. and nearby countries illegally from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras should not be forced to return home and should be treated as refugees, a U.N. agency says. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says people from those countries are subject to persecution….The call from the U.N. echoes statements made in the spring, when the refugee agency released ‘Children on the Run,’ a report that cited interviews with migrant children who had crossed international borders to flee violence. This week, the U.S. and its neighbors will hold meetings in Nicaragua to discuss ‘updating a 30-year-old declaration regarding the obligations nations have to aid refugees,’ the AP says.” Bill Chappell in NPR.
Obama will visit Perry, but not the border. What will they discuss? “President Barack Obama will meet Texas Governor Rick Perry on Wednesday to discuss a surge of Latin American young people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border that has put the two leaders at odds with each other. Perry’s office welcomed the meeting, to take place in Dallas on the governor’s turf, in a Tuesday statement that said they would discuss the humanitarian and national security crises along the southern border….But the White House said he would not visit the border, a sign that officials do not see a political upside.” Mark Felsenthal and Jon Hershkovitz in Reuters.
Other immigration reads:
Mark Zuckerberg’s immigration push hits brick wall. Jessica Meyers in Politico.
ALDEBOT-GREEN: America’s young refugees. “The president’s solution to change the law governing the processing of unaccompanied youth would be a disaster, particularly for youth who have valid immigration claims. For now, the White House has decided to separate its emergency funding request from these contentious policy changes in order to more carefully consider the competing needs of respecting due process and speeding up removal. This is a good and prudent start to setting better policy in a trying context. No doubt the United States is now facing a refugee crisis within its borders. Yet the administration should not bow to pressure simply to gain political cover. Rather, it should advance policies based on the principle that unaccompanied youth migration is a humanitarian crisis.” Scarlett Aldebot-Green in Foreign Policy.
Wonky caffeine interlude: What does it take to make a decent cup of coffee in space?
3. Improving your experience with your doctor
What are drug companies paying your doctor? You can find out soon. “The financial ties, which naturally raise conflict-of-interest concerns, aren’t always clear, but that’s about to change because of a lesser-known Obamacare provision. Some of the major drugmakers have been reporting some information about financial relationships with care providers — some voluntarily, some as the result of litigation — but a comprehensive nationwide effort is about to launch this summer, and the federal government is now looking to bring even greater transparency. Drug and device companies will now have to report to the government payments to doctors and teaching hospitals of at least $10 (or $100 over the year), and the Medicare agency will soon post the reports in a public database.” Jason Millman in The Washington Post.
Long wait times have become the norm. “One small consolation of our high-priced health care system — our $2.7 trillion collective medical bill — has been the notion that at least we get medical attention quickly. Americans look down on national health systems like Canada’s and Britain’s because of their notorious waiting lists. In recent weeks, the Veterans Affairs hospitals have been pilloried for long patient wait times, with top officials losing their jobs. Yet there is emerging evidence that lengthy waits to get a doctor’s appointment have become the norm in many parts of American medicine, particularly for general doctors but also for specialists. And that includes patients with private insurance as well as those with Medicaid or Medicare.” Elisabeth Rosenthal in The New York Times.
Doctors may soon be paid for not making you wait. “More doctor pay is being tied to patient satisfaction metrics, another sign health care may be coming more consumer-friendly, according to a new national analysis of physician compensation. Already, doctors and hospitals increasingly have more of their pay tied to health outcomes and related clinical measures as medical care moves toward value-based compensation rather than fees for service. But momentum is slowly building for physicians to also be measured on how quickly phone calls are returned to how long a patient sits in a physician office waiting area as part of ‘patient satisfaction metrics’ insurers are working into contracts with medical-care providers.” Bruce Japsen in Forbes.
Preventive services differ between primary care docs and OB/GYNs. “The services women receive during annual preventive care visits may partially depend on what type of doctor they see, suggests a new report. Women who saw primary care doctors for their annual checkup tended to receive a broader range of services, compared to those who saw obstetrician/gynecologists (OB/GYNs), researchers found.” Reuters.
Explainer: 4 medical tests that are awkward, embarrassing, and unnecessary. Sarah Kliff in Vox.
Other health care reads:
Smallpox vials found in storage room of NIH facility. Lena H. Sun and Brady Dennis in The Washington Post.
Without federal action, states move on long-term care. Michael Ollove in Pew Stateline.
U.S. Democrats aim to turn contraception into campaign drive. David Morgan in Reuters.
Food science interlude: The chemistry of why meat browns on the grill, or not.
4. Signs of promise on highway funding, Ex-Im Bank reauthorization
First, highway stopgap funding. “House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) on Tuesday proposed a transfer of almost $20 billion from the general tax fund to help sustain transportation funding until next April….Without the transfer, federal officials have warned that money for the nation’s major transportation projects would begin to slow after Aug. 1 as the Highway Trust Fund dwindled. Separately, senators said Tuesday that they are nearing an agreement on a plan to replenish the highway fund. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sen. Thomas Carper (D-Del.)…declined to specify the parameters of their emerging plan.” Ed O’Keefe and Ashley Halsey III in The Washington Post.
Primary source:
Need to get up to speed? See our previous coverage of this issue.
There’s one problem, though: Can negotiations get done in time? “The plan by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, a Michigan Republican, would offset its costs by letting employers delay contributions to their employee pension plans, which raises corporate taxable income in a boon for the U.S. Treasury. It also would boost customs user fees and transfer $1 billion from a federal leaking underground storage trust fund. The proposal diverges from a plan in the Senate, complicating the ability to forestall a slowdown in disbursements from the highway trust to states next month.” Laura Litvan in Bloomberg.
And Ex-Im Bank renewal could be part of government funding bill. “High-level discussions between the two chambers are in their infancy….But there are forces in both chambers pushing to renew the Export-Import Bank and pass an extension of the Highway Trust Fund before the election. The House will go first, and plans to extend the Highway Trust Fund sometime in the next two weeks, keeping the program funded until early 2015, Republican sources said. That would give Congress more time to debate a more permanent solution….Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is considering attaching a short-term reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank to a continuing resolution that would keep the government funded past Sept. 30.” John Bresnahan and Jake Sherman in Politico.
S&P issues warns on potential downgrades if Ex-Im renewal falls short. “Political infighting regarding renewal of the charter of a U.S. agency that provides customers of big American corporations with loans for their wares is beginning to have an effect on investor thinking. Standard & Poor’s Monday cautioned Boeing, the largest beneficiary by far of the Export-Import Bank, could face a weakening long-term credit rating should the bank lose its charter.” Greg Morcroft in International Business Times.
Democrats: The party of big business? Not so fast. “Democrats are seeing a new opportunity to rebuild frayed relations with business groups, whose traditional alliance with the Republican Party has been strained by tea-party opposition to rewriting immigration laws, a renewal of the Export-Import Bank and the pursuit of other business priorities….But Democratic outreach faces a big obstacle: Many business leaders, despite their frustrations with the GOP, have a hard time seeing a home in the Democratic Party, with its history of supporting tax increases and government regulation….Business groups in Washington find themselves in a tricky political situation, with anticorporate sentiment on the rise among elements of both parties.” Janet Hook in The Wall Street Journal.
Dancing interlude: Watch Tom Hanks dance to “This Is How We Do It” by Montell Jordan.
5. The NSA just had another bad day
Long read: Meet the Muslim-American leaders the FBI, NSA have been spying on. “Among the Americans on the list are individuals long accused of terrorist activity, including Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, who were killed in a 2011 drone strike in Yemen. But a three-month investigation by The Intercept…reveals that in practice, the system for authorizing NSA surveillance affords the government wide latitude in spying on U.S. citizens. The five Americans whose email accounts were monitored by the NSA and FBI have all led highly public, outwardly exemplary lives. All five vehemently deny any involvement in terrorism or espionage, and none advocates violent jihad or is known to have been implicated in any crime.” By Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain in The Intercept.
The government has asked Verizon for information 190,000 times, and it’s only July. “Verizon’s just published its second-ever transparency report, showing that in the first six months of 2014, the company received nearly 149,000 requests for customer data from the government. That’s fewer than the 160,000 times that federal, state and local law enforcement asked Verizon for information on its customers during a similar period in 2013. For the first time, Verizon’s described (albeit in pretty general terms) the number of Americans affected by each request. Of the more than 72,000 requests that came in the form of a subpoena during the first half of the year, 90 percent targeted three or fewer customers, according to the company.” Brian Fung in The Washington Post.
Senate panel advances cybersecurity information-sharing bill, but privacy advocates fear it would give more power to NSA. “The legislation includes provisions aimed at protecting privacy, such as requiring that companies that share information first strip out personally identifiable data (such as names, addresses, and Social Security numbers) of known Americans. But the privacy groups are still worried that the legislation could encourage a company such as Google to turn over vast batches of emails or other private data to the government. The information would go first to the Homeland Security Department, but could then be shared with the NSA or other intelligence agencies.” Brendan Sasso in National Journal.
Primary source: Financial services industry backs Senate bill.
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Canadian stock market plunges over telecom selloff
TORONTO, July 7 (Xinhua) — Canada’s main stock market Monday tumbled over telecom shares selloff, after the federal government announced that it plans to offer more market access for new wireless entrants.
Toronto Stock Exchange’s benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 42.03 points, or 0.28 percent to 15,172.93 points, as the losses in telecom and energy sectors overpowered the gains driven by the mining sectors.
The mining sector rose 1.61 percent after First Quantum Minerals Ltd. surged 3.63 percent to 25.95 Canadian dollars (about 24.30 U.S. dollars) and the Info-tech sector gained 0.80 percent with Canada’s smartphone BlackBerry jumping 5.63 percent to 12.01 Canadian dollars. However, the market was weighed when telecom closed down 0.99 percent, leading the losers after Canada’s Industry Minister James Moore announced on Monday that the government is to release more valuable spectrum to strengthen competition in Canada’s wireless industry, and the government will again tailor the next auction of the AWS-3 wireless spectrum, which is ideal for delivering fast, reliable service to Canadians on the latest smartphones, tablets and mobile devices.
The shares of major communication giants lost ground over the announcement. Rogers Communications Inc. declined 1.53 percent to 42.36 Canadian dollars, Telus dived 1.63 percent to 39.28 Canadian dollars, and Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. was also down 0.32 percent to 30.80 Canadian dollars.
The energy sector decreased 0.92 percent as the global crude oil price went down. Encana Corp. vapored 2.5 percent to 23.8 Canadian dollars and Surge Energy Inc. dived 2.92 percent to 7.64 Canadian dollars per share.
Another loser, Industrials, fell 0.76 percent with Air Canada down 1.99 percent to 9.85 Canadian dollars.
The real estate stock Canadian Apartment Properties increased 1. 06 percent to 22.90 Canadian dollars apiece as Statistics Canada Monday released the data showing that Canada’s municipalities issued building permits worth 6.9 billion Canadian dollars in May, up 13.8 percent from April.
On the currency front, the Canadian dollar Monday closed lower to 0.9366 U.S. dollar from 0.9384 U.S. dollar on last Friday.
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Cannabis and Cannabinoids
Cannabinoids are a group of 21-carbon–containing terpenophenolic compounds produced uniquely by Cannabis species (e.g., Cannabis sativa L.) .[1,2] These plant-derived compounds may be referred to as phytocannabinoids. Although delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the primary psychoactive ingredient, other known compounds with biologic activity are cannabinol, cannabidiol (CBD), cannabichromene, cannabigerol, tetrahydrocannabivarin, and delta-8-THC. CBD, in particular, is thought to have significant analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity without the psychoactive effect (high) of delta-9-THC.
One study in mice and rats suggested that cannabinoids may have a protective effect against the development of certain types of tumors.[3] During this 2-year study, groups of mice and rats were given various doses of THC by gavage. A dose-related decrease in the incidence of hepatic adenoma tumors and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was observed in the mice. Decreased incidences of benign tumors (polyps and adenomas) in other organs (mammary gland, uterus, pituitary, testis, and pancreas) were also noted in the rats. In another study, delta-9-THC, delta-8-THC, and cannabinol were found to inhibit the growth of Lewis lung adenocarcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo .[4] In addition, other tumors have been shown to be sensitive to cannabinoid-induced growth inhibition.[5–8]
Cannabinoids may cause antitumor effects by various mechanisms, including induction of cell death, inhibition of cell growth, and inhibition of tumor angiogenesis invasion and metastasis.[9–12] Two reviews summarize the molecular mechanisms of action of cannabinoids as antitumor agents.[13,14] Cannabinoids appear to kill tumor cells but do not affect their nontransformed counterparts and may even protect them from cell death. These compounds have been shown to induce apoptosis in glioma cells in culture and induce regression of glioma tumors in mice and rats. Cannabinoids protect normal glial cells of astroglial and oligodendroglial lineages from apoptosis mediated by the CB1 receptor.[15]
The effects of delta-9-THC and a synthetic agonist of the CB2 receptor were investigated in HCC.[16] Both agents reduced the viability of HCC cells in vitro and demonstrated antitumor effects in HCC subcutaneous xenografts in nude mice. The investigations documented that the anti-HCC effects are mediated by way of the CB2 receptor. Similar to findings in glioma cells, the cannabinoids were shown to trigger cell death through stimulation of an endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway that activates autophagy and promotes apoptosis. Other investigations have confirmed that CB1 and CB2 receptors may be potential targets in non-small cell lung carcinoma [17] and breast cancer.[18]
An in vitro study of the effect of CBD on programmed cell death in breast cancer cell lines found that CBD induced programmed cell death, independent of the CB1, CB2, or vanilloid receptors. CBD inhibited the survival of both estrogen receptor–positive and estrogen receptor–negative breast cancer cell lines, inducing apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner while having little effect on nontumorigenic, mammary cells.[19]
CBD has also been demonstrated to exert a chemopreventive effect in a mouse model of colon cancer.[20] In the experimental system, azoxymethane increased premalignant and malignant lesions in the mouse colon. Animals treated with azoxymethane and CBD concurrently were protected from developing premalignant and malignant lesions. In in vitro experiments involving colorectal cancer cell lines, the investigators found that CBD protected DNA from oxidative damage, increased endocannabinoid levels, and reduced cell proliferation. In a subsequent study, the investigators found that the antiproliferative effect of CBD was counteracted by selective CB1 but not CB2 receptor antagonists, suggesting an involvement of CB1 receptors.[21]
Another investigation into the antitumor effects of CBD examined the role of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1).[12] ICAM-1 expression has been reported to be negatively correlated with cancer metastasis. In lung cancer cell lines, CBD upregulated ICAM-1, leading to decreased cancer cell invasiveness.
In an in vivo model using severe combined immunodeficient mice, subcutaneous tumors were generated by inoculating the animals with cells from human non-small cell lung carcinoma cell lines.[22] Tumor growth was inhibited by 60{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce} in THC-treated mice compared with vehicle-treated control mice. Tumor specimens revealed that THC had antiangiogenic and antiproliferative effects. However, research with immunocompetent murine tumor models has demonstrated immunosuppression and enhanced tumor growth in mice treated with THC.[23,24]
In addition, both plant-derived and endogenous cannabinoids have been studied for anti-inflammatory effects. A mouse study demonstrated that endogenous cannabinoid system signaling is likely to provide intrinsic protection against colonic inflammation.[25] As a result, a hypothesis that phytocannabinoids and endocannabinoids may be useful in the risk reduction and treatment of colorectal cancer has been developed.[26–29]
CBD may also enhance uptake of cytotoxic drugs into malignant cells. Activation of the transient receptor potential vanilloid type 2 (TRPV2) has been shown to inhibit proliferation of human glioblastoma multiforme cells and overcome resistance to the chemotherapy agent carmustine.[30] In an in vitro model, CBD increased TRPV2 activation and increased uptake of cytotoxic drugs, leading to apoptosis of glioma cells without affecting normal human astrocytes. This suggests that coadministration of CBD with cytotoxic agents may increase drug uptake and potentiate cell death in human glioma cells.
Many animal studies have previously demonstrated that delta-9-THC and other cannabinoids have a stimulatory effect on appetite and increase food intake. It is believed that the endogenous cannabinoid system may serve as a regulator of feeding behavior. The endogenous cannabinoid anandamide potently enhances appetite in mice.[31] Moreover, CB1 receptors in the hypothalamus may be involved in the motivational or reward aspects of eating.[32]
Understanding the mechanism of cannabinoid-induced analgesia has been increased through the study of cannabinoid receptors, endocannabinoids, and synthetic agonists and antagonists. The CB1 receptor is found in both the central nervous system (CNS) and in peripheral nerve terminals. Similar to opioid receptors, increased levels of the CB1 receptor are found in regions of the brain that regulate nociceptive processing.[33] CB2 receptors, located predominantly in peripheral tissue, exist at very low levels in the CNS. With the development of receptor-specific antagonists, additional information about the roles of the receptors and endogenous cannabinoids in the modulation of pain has been obtained.[34,35]
Cannabinoids may also contribute to pain modulation through an anti-inflammatory mechanism; a CB2 effect with cannabinoids acting on mast cell receptors to attenuate the release of inflammatory agents, such as histamine and serotonin, and on keratinocytes to enhance the release of analgesic opioids has been described.[36–38] One study reported that the efficacy of synthetic CB1- and CB2-receptor agonists were comparable with the efficacy of morphine in a murine model of tumor pain.[39]
- Adams IB, Martin BR: Cannabis: pharmacology and toxicology in animals and humans. Addiction 91 (11): 1585-614, 1996. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Grotenhermen F, Russo E, eds.: Cannabis and Cannabinoids: Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutic Potential. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press, 2002.
- National Toxicology Program: NTP toxicology and carcinogenesis studies of 1-trans-delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (CAS No. 1972-08-3) in F344 rats and B6C3F1 mice (gavage studies). Natl Toxicol Program Tech Rep Ser 446 (): 1-317, 1996. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Bifulco M, Laezza C, Pisanti S, et al.: Cannabinoids and cancer: pros and cons of an antitumour strategy. Br J Pharmacol 148 (2): 123-35, 2006. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Sánchez C, de Ceballos ML, Gomez del Pulgar T, et al.: Inhibition of glioma growth in vivo by selective activation of the CB(2) cannabinoid receptor. Cancer Res 61 (15): 5784-9, 2001. [PUBMED Abstract]
- McKallip RJ, Lombard C, Fisher M, et al.: Targeting CB2 cannabinoid receptors as a novel therapy to treat malignant lymphoblastic disease. Blood 100 (2): 627-34, 2002. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Casanova ML, Blázquez C, Martínez-Palacio J, et al.: Inhibition of skin tumor growth and angiogenesis in vivo by activation of cannabinoid receptors. J Clin Invest 111 (1): 43-50, 2003. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Blázquez C, González-Feria L, Alvarez L, et al.: Cannabinoids inhibit the vascular endothelial growth factor pathway in gliomas. Cancer Res 64 (16): 5617-23, 2004. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Guzmán M: Cannabinoids: potential anticancer agents. Nat Rev Cancer 3 (10): 745-55, 2003. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Blázquez C, Casanova ML, Planas A, et al.: Inhibition of tumor angiogenesis by cannabinoids. FASEB J 17 (3): 529-31, 2003. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Vaccani A, Massi P, Colombo A, et al.: Cannabidiol inhibits human glioma cell migration through a cannabinoid receptor-independent mechanism. Br J Pharmacol 144 (8): 1032-6, 2005. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Ramer R, Bublitz K, Freimuth N, et al.: Cannabidiol inhibits lung cancer cell invasion and metastasis via intercellular adhesion molecule-1. FASEB J 26 (4): 1535-48, 2012. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Velasco G, Sánchez C, Guzmán M: Towards the use of cannabinoids as antitumour agents. Nat Rev Cancer 12 (6): 436-44, 2012. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Cridge BJ, Rosengren RJ: Critical appraisal of the potential use of cannabinoids in cancer management. Cancer Manag Res 5: 301-13, 2013. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Torres S, Lorente M, Rodríguez-Fornés F, et al.: A combined preclinical therapy of cannabinoids and temozolomide against glioma. Mol Cancer Ther 10 (1): 90-103, 2011. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Vara D, Salazar M, Olea-Herrero N, et al.: Anti-tumoral action of cannabinoids on hepatocellular carcinoma: role of AMPK-dependent activation of autophagy. Cell Death Differ 18 (7): 1099-111, 2011. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Preet A, Qamri Z, Nasser MW, et al.: Cannabinoid receptors, CB1 and CB2, as novel targets for inhibition of non-small cell lung cancer growth and metastasis. Cancer Prev Res (Phila) 4 (1): 65-75, 2011. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Nasser MW, Qamri Z, Deol YS, et al.: Crosstalk between chemokine receptor CXCR4 and cannabinoid receptor CB2 in modulating breast cancer growth and invasion. PLoS One 6 (9): e23901, 2011. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Shrivastava A, Kuzontkoski PM, Groopman JE, et al.: Cannabidiol induces programmed cell death in breast cancer cells by coordinating the cross-talk between apoptosis and autophagy. Mol Cancer Ther 10 (7): 1161-72, 2011. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Aviello G, Romano B, Borrelli F, et al.: Chemopreventive effect of the non-psychotropic phytocannabinoid cannabidiol on experimental colon cancer. J Mol Med (Berl) 90 (8): 925-34, 2012. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Romano B, Borrelli F, Pagano E, et al.: Inhibition of colon carcinogenesis by a standardized Cannabis sativa extract with high content of cannabidiol. Phytomedicine 21 (5): 631-9, 2014. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Preet A, Ganju RK, Groopman JE: Delta9-Tetrahydrocannabinol inhibits epithelial growth factor-induced lung cancer cell migration in vitro as well as its growth and metastasis in vivo. Oncogene 27 (3): 339-46, 2008. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Zhu LX, Sharma S, Stolina M, et al.: Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol inhibits antitumor immunity by a CB2 receptor-mediated, cytokine-dependent pathway. J Immunol 165 (1): 373-80, 2000. [PUBMED Abstract]
- McKallip RJ, Nagarkatti M, Nagarkatti PS: Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol enhances breast cancer growth and metastasis by suppression of the antitumor immune response. J Immunol 174 (6): 3281-9, 2005. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Massa F, Marsicano G, Hermann H, et al.: The endogenous cannabinoid system protects against colonic inflammation. J Clin Invest 113 (8): 1202-9, 2004. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Patsos HA, Hicks DJ, Greenhough A, et al.: Cannabinoids and cancer: potential for colorectal cancer therapy. Biochem Soc Trans 33 (Pt 4): 712-4, 2005. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Liu WM, Fowler DW, Dalgleish AG: Cannabis-derived substances in cancer therapy–an emerging anti-inflammatory role for the cannabinoids. Curr Clin Pharmacol 5 (4): 281-7, 2010. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Malfitano AM, Ciaglia E, Gangemi G, et al.: Update on the endocannabinoid system as an anticancer target. Expert Opin Ther Targets 15 (3): 297-308, 2011. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Sarfaraz S, Adhami VM, Syed DN, et al.: Cannabinoids for cancer treatment: progress and promise. Cancer Res 68 (2): 339-42, 2008. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Nabissi M, Morelli MB, Santoni M, et al.: Triggering of the TRPV2 channel by cannabidiol sensitizes glioblastoma cells to cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents. Carcinogenesis 34 (1): 48-57, 2013. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Mechoulam R, Berry EM, Avraham Y, et al.: Endocannabinoids, feeding and suckling–from our perspective. Int J Obes (Lond) 30 (Suppl 1): S24-8, 2006. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Fride E, Bregman T, Kirkham TC: Endocannabinoids and food intake: newborn suckling and appetite regulation in adulthood. Exp Biol Med (Maywood) 230 (4): 225-34, 2005. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Walker JM, Hohmann AG, Martin WJ, et al.: The neurobiology of cannabinoid analgesia. Life Sci 65 (6-7): 665-73, 1999. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Meng ID, Manning BH, Martin WJ, et al.: An analgesia circuit activated by cannabinoids. Nature 395 (6700): 381-3, 1998. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Walker JM, Huang SM, Strangman NM, et al.: Pain modulation by release of the endogenous cannabinoid anandamide. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 96 (21): 12198-203, 1999. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Facci L, Dal Toso R, Romanello S, et al.: Mast cells express a peripheral cannabinoid receptor with differential sensitivity to anandamide and palmitoylethanolamide. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 92 (8): 3376-80, 1995. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Ibrahim MM, Porreca F, Lai J, et al.: CB2 cannabinoid receptor activation produces antinociception by stimulating peripheral release of endogenous opioids. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 102 (8): 3093-8, 2005. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Richardson JD, Kilo S, Hargreaves KM: Cannabinoids reduce hyperalgesia and inflammation via interaction with peripheral CB1 receptors. Pain 75 (1): 111-9, 1998. [PUBMED Abstract]
- Khasabova IA, Gielissen J, Chandiramani A, et al.: CB1 and CB2 receptor agonists promote analgesia through synergy in a murine model of tumor pain. Behav Pharmacol 22 (5-6): 607-16, 2011. [PUBMED Abstract]
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Modest Gain for TSX to close strong week
Industrials and telecoms led the way to a minor advance Friday on the Toronto stock market at the end of a positive week. Canada’s main stock market closed at another record high as the S&P/TSX composite index rose 7.85 points to 15,214.96. Trading was much lighter than usual with U.S. markets closed for the Independence Day holiday. The Canadian dollar edged down US0.15¢ to US93.84¢.
The Toronto market racked up a solid weekly gain of 120.71 points, or 0.8{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce}, led by mining and financial stocks after U.S. jobs data for June, released Thursday, came in far higher than expected. The report also increased optimism that the U.S. economy will rebound significantly after shrinking in the first quarter.
The Dow Jones industrial average finished the week up 1.28{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce} and closed above the 17,000-mark for the first time.
The strong U.S. jobs data is the latest piece of data to show the world’s biggest economy continues to improve steadily. Also helping stocks are solid corporate earnings and continued support from central banks. Traders are now focused on the start of U.S. second-quarter earnings reports for reassurance about how the economy performed in the April-June period. Heavyweights reporting next week include Alcoa Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co.
At the same time, analysts note expectations for the quarter are rather modest.
“OK, but not spectacular,” said Bob Gorman, chief portfolio strategist at TD Waterhouse, in describing them. “Firms have been lowering expectations, so that may bring some of the very strong sentiment down to Earth a bit.”
The industrials sector was the biggest percentage advancer, up 0.6{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce}. Telecoms also provided lift, ahead 0.42{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce}.
Commodity prices were mixed in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange with August bullion US70¢ higher late Friday afternoon at US$1,321.30 an ounce. The gold sector gained 0.15{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce}.
The base metals sector was the biggest decliner, down 0.55{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce} while September copper was off US1¢ at US$3.27 a pound.
The energy sector declined 0.36{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce} as August crude moved US29¢ lower to US$103.77 a barrel. On the corporate front, Lassonde Industries Inc. is acquiring U.S. branded juice company Apple & Eve LLC for US$150-million in a bid to strengthen its presence in the United States. Lassonde shares ran ahead $9.14, or 8.32{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce}, to $119.
Shaw Media is making plans to launch a national TV news channel called Global News 1. In filings to the Canadian Radiotelevision and Telecommunications Commission, the media division of Shaw Communications Inc., which operates Global Television, says it wants to launch a “hybrid local/national” English-language news channel. Shaw shares were 16¢ lower at $27.62.
Several cars in a Canadian National Railway Co. freight train have derailed northwest of Edmonton. Two of the five cars were carrying crude oil. There were no injuries and no fire when the cars left the tracks early Friday morning. CN shares were up 42¢ to $70.02.
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