Obama: “modestly optimistic” fiscal cliff deal can be reached

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HSBC to refund forgotten ATM cash

27 December 2012 Last updated at 08:40 ET

High Street bank HSBC is to join RBS in refunding customers who forget to take their cash from ATMs following withdrawals.

HSBC said it would automatically refund money left in cash machines since May 2005, although the process would not be immediate.

Notes are sucked back into a machine if the user fails to take the cash within 30 seconds.

This could occur, a bank spokesman said, if customers had been distracted.

The bank has paper receipts that allow it to work out whether people have missed out.

Both HSBC and RBS changed their policies in January 2011 so notes that failed to be collected were automatically refunded to an account.

Previously customers had to claim the money back when they realised they had failed to collect the cash.

Now the banks are working with the UK Payments Council, which oversees payments strategy, to install a system that automatically refunds those who lost money for as far back as records allow.

Customers who believed that they had lost out did not need to do anything, but would see their accounts credited in due course, a spokesman said, regardless of which institution they banked with.

However, there was a very small minority of cardholders who would still need to claim, he added.

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China tightening controls on Internet

BEIJING (AP) — China‘s new communist leaders are increasing already tight controls on Internet use and electronic publishing following a spate of embarrassing online reports about official abuses.

The measures suggest China’s new leader, Xi Jinping, and others who took power in November share their predecessors’ anxiety about the Internet’s potential to spread opposition to one-party rule and their insistence on controlling information despite promises of more economic reforms.

“They are still very paranoid about the potentially destabilizing effect of the Internet,” said Willy Lam, a politics specialist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “They are on the point of losing a monopoly on information, but they still are very eager to control the dissemination of views.”

This week, China’s legislature took up a measure to require Internet users to register their real names, a move that would curtail the Web’s status as a freewheeling forum to complain, often anonymously, about corruption and official abuses. The legislature scheduled a news conference Friday to discuss the measure, suggesting it was expected to be approved.

That comes amid reports Beijing might be disrupting use of software that allows Web surfers to see sites abroad that are blocked by its extensive Internet filters. At the same time, regulators have proposed rules that would bar foreign companies from distributing books, news, music and other material online in China.

Beijing promotes Internet use for business and education but bans material deemed subversive or obscene and blocks access to foreign websites run by human rights and Tibet activists and some news outlets. Controls were tightened after social media played a role in protests that brought down governments in Egypt and Tunisia.

In a reminder of the Web’s role as a political forum, a group of 70 prominent Chinese scholars and lawyers circulated an online petition this week appealing for free speech, independent courts and for the ruling party to encourage private enterprise.

Xi and others on the party’s ruling seven-member Standing Committee have tried to promote an image of themselves as men of the people who care about China’s poor majority. They have promised to press ahead with market-oriented reforms and to support entrepreneurs but have given no sign of support for political reform.

Communist leaders who see the Internet as a source of economic growth and better-paid jobs were slow to enforce the same level of control they impose on movies, books and other media, apparently for fear of hurting fledgling entertainment, shopping and other online businesses.

Until recently, Web surfers could post comments online or on microblog services without leaving their names.

That gave ordinary Chinese a unique opportunity to express themselves to a public audience in a society where newspapers, television and other media are state-controlled. The most popular microblog services say they have more than 300 million users and some users have millions of followers reading their comments.

The Internet also has given the public an unusual opportunity to publicize accusations of official misconduct.

A local party official in China’s southwest was fired in November after scenes from a videotape of him having sex with a young woman spread quickly on the Internet. Screenshots were uploaded by a former journalist in Beijing, Zhu Ruifeng, to his Hong Kong website, an online clearing house for corruption allegations.

Some industry analysts suggest allowing Web surfers in a controlled setting to vent helps communist leaders stay abreast of public sentiment in their fast-changing society. Still, microblog services and online bulletin boards are required to employ censors to enforce content restrictions. Researchers say they delete millions of postings a day.

The government says the latest Internet regulation before the National People’s Congress is aimed at protecting Web surfers’ personal information and cracking down on abuses such as junk e-mail. It would require users to report their real names to Internet service and telecom providers.

The main ruling party newspaper, People’s Daily, has called in recent weeks for tighter Internet controls, saying rumors spread online have harmed the public. In one case, it said stories about a chemical plant explosion resulted in the deaths of four people in a car accident as they fled the area.

Proposed rules released this month by the General Administration of Press and Publications would bar Chinese-foreign joint ventures from publishing books, music, movies and other material online in China. Publishers would be required to locate their servers in China and have a Chinese citizen as their local legal representative.

That is in line with rules that already bar most foreign access to China’s media market, but the decision to group the restrictions together and publicize them might indicate official attitudes are hardening.

That comes after the party was rattled by foreign news reports about official wealth and misconduct.

In June, Bloomberg News reported that Xi’s extended family has amassed assets totaling $ 376 million, though it said none was traced to Xi. The government has blocked access to Bloomberg’s website since then.

In October, The New York Times reported that Premier Wen Jiabao’s relatives had amassed $ 2.7 billion since he rose to national office in 2002. Access to the Times’ Chinese-language site has been blocked since then.

Previous efforts to tighten controls have struggled with technical challenges in a country with more than 500 million Internet users.

Microblog operators such as Sina Corp. and Tencent Ltd. were ordered in late 2011 to confirm users’ names but have yet to finish the daunting task.

Web surfers can circumvent government filters by using virtual private networks — software that encrypts Web traffic and is used by companies to transfer financial data and other sensitive information. But VPN users say disruptions that began in 2011 are increasing, suggesting Chinese regulators are trying to block encrypted traffic.

Curbs on access to foreign sites have prompted complaints by companies and Chinese scientists and other researchers.

In July, the American Chamber of Commerce in China said 74 percent of companies that responded to a survey said unstable Internet access “impedes their ability to do business.”

Chinese leaders “realize there are detrimental impacts on business, especially foreign business, but they have counted the cost and think it is still worthwhile,” said Lam. “There is no compromise about the political imperative of controlling the Internet.”

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750,000 Android apps invade OS X thanks to BlueStacks App Player

Earlier this year, BlueStacks App Player made headlines by allowing Android apps run on Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows 8 platform. The company announced on Thursday its App Player is now available in beta form for free on Mac, giving OS X users access to 750,000 Android apps normally reserved for smartphones and tablets.

[More from BGR: Google names 12 best Android apps of 2012]

BlueStacks uses patent-pending virtualization software called “Layercake” to allow Android apps to run on other platforms. It works virtually the same as running Windows within OS X using software such as Parallels or VMWare. The Windows 8 version of BlueStacks has been out since March and has been installed on more than 5 million PCs, which is a good sign that people want to run mobile apps on their computers.

[More from BGR: Samsung looks to address its biggest weakness in 2013]

BGR tested BlueStacks on a mid-2011 MacBook Air running OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and found performance to be hit or miss. Android apps can be searched and it will list which app stores to download them from, but sometimes apps won’t install properly because of missing code, especially from the Google Play store. Downloading apps from the Amazon (AMZN) Appstore seems to be a better bet, though. If it’s any consolation, Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja are perfectly playable.

BlueStacks works as mostly advertised, but honestly, why bother running Android apps on your Mac? A mouse or trackpad isn’t a better substitute for a touchscreen. But if you must do so, it’s reassuring to know BlueStacks is available.

This article was originally published by BGR

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It’s husband No. 3 for actress Kate Winslet

NEW YORK (AP) — Kate Winslet has tied the knot again.

The Oscar-winning actress wed Ned Rocknroll in New York earlier this month. The private ceremony was attended by Winslet‘s two children as well as a few friends and family members, her representative said Thursday.

It is the third marriage for the 37-year-old Winslet. She was previously married to film directors Jim Threapleton and Sam Mendes.

The 34-year-old Rocknroll, who was born Abel Smith, is a nephew of billionaire Virgin Group founder Richard Branson.

The couple had been engaged since last summer.

Winslet won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in the 2008 film “The Reader.”

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State’s first flu death is Tulsa County resident

A Tulsa County resident between the ages of 19 and 64 is the first person in Oklahoma to die from the flu this season.

Since Sept. 30 there have been 24 hospitalizations due to flu reported in Tulsa County, the most for any county in the state.

Oklahoma County has reported 10, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

There have been 75 flu hospitalizations throughout the state. Twenty-one of those were reported last week. The age range with the most hospitalizations was 65 and older with 28. Children under 4 accounted for 20 cases, according to the department.

Nationally 1,013 people have been hospitalized and eight children have died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Flu activity has been increasing, particularly in the south central and southeastern regions of the county. Oklahoma reported regional flu activity last week while 29 states had widespread activity, according to the CDC.

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U.S. retailers scramble after lackluster holiday sales

(Reuters) – The 2012 holiday season may have been the worst for retailers since the 2008 financial crisis, with sales growth far below expectations, forcing many to offer massive post-Christmas discounts in hopes of shedding excess inventory.

While chains like Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Gap Inc are thought to have done well, analysts expect much less from the likes of book seller Barnes & Noble Inc and department store chain J. C. Penney Co Inc.

Shares of retailers dropped sharply on Wednesday, helping drag broader indexes lower, as investors realized they were likely to be disappointed when companies start to report results in a few weeks’ time.

“The broad brush was Christmas wasn’t all that merry for retailers, and you have to ask what those margins look like if the top line didn’t meet their expectations,” said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group.

Growth was always expected to slow this season, though an improving employment picture and rising home values had helped mitigate the worst fears. But then Superstorm Sandy hit the East Coast in late October, mild weather blunted sales of winter clothing and rising concern about the “fiscal cliff” became more of a reality, dragging down already-pessimistic forecasts.

The latest sign of trouble came from MasterCard Advisors Spending Pulse, which reported holiday-related sales rose 0.7 percent from October 28 through December 24, compared with a 2 percent increase last year.

The preliminary estimate from SpendingPulse was in line with other estimates showing weak growth during the holiday season, when retailers can book about 30 percent of annual sales – and in many cases, half of their profit.

“It has been a very uneven industry performance, probably at least for the last year, and that certainly continued into the holiday season,” said Michael Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers, in an interview with Reuters Insider.

The latest holiday season could end up the weakest since 2008, during the last recession, when sales actually declined. The National Retail Federation had previously predicted 4.1 percent sales growth this year, versus a 5.6 percent increase a year earlier.

Markets reacted sharply to the gloomy outlook.

The S&P retail index closed down 1.7 percent, and 14 of the top 20 decliners in the broader S&P 500 were retailers or consumer brands.

INVENTORY CRUSH

To be sure, the actual percentage change in holiday sales can differ substantially, depending on which group is calculating the figure. SpendingPulse and the National Retail Federation, for example, look at different categories, which can cause some variation in their forecasts.

Regardless of how bad the figure is, one concern for retailers is that soft sales will mean an excess of inventory that will force some to slash prices.

The day after Christmas, retailers were using deep discounts to lure shoppers. Among other brands, Barnes & Noble offered 50 percent discounts in stores via email promotions on Wednesday, while Ann Inc had half-off at its Loft stores, and Macy’s Inc’s Bloomingdale’s promoted discounts of up to 75 percent in some cases.

At a Target store in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood, most shoppers seemed to be spending more on groceries, toys and small gifts than on gadgets or clothes.

Despite discounts of 50 percent, there were few takers for Jason Wu glass ornaments, Oscar de la Renta canvas totes and other designer goods launched under the mass merchant’s tie-up with upscale chain Neiman Marcus.

Even in a good year, retailers would have offered discounts to lure customers, but some suggest a weak year has now forced their hands.

“Retailers are no longer chasing sales, they are chasing inventory management. That means the discounts that they would have liked to be at 50-60 (percent) off have climbed to 75 to even 80 (percent) off,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at The NPD Group.

This week’s cold, snowy weather on the heels of a warm start to December could spur people to use the gift cards they received or their remaining discretionary income to buy everything from jackets to snow blowers, said Evan Gold, senior vice president of client services at Planalytics, which tracks weather for businesses including retailers.

In December, he said, “people are out spending anyway, weather can trigger what you purchase, not if you purchase, but what you purchase.”

SANDY AND CLIFF

A variety of factors were thought to be at fault for the weak season, starting with Superstorm Sandy, which depressed sales in the U.S. Northeast in late October and early November.

Sales recovered in the second part of November, with early hours and promotions helping drive traffic during the “Black Friday” weekend after Thanksgiving, analysts said.

But there was a deep lull in early December as a winter storm in parts of the United States may have limited sales, said Michael McNamara, vice president of research and analysis at MasterCard SpendingPulse.

On top of that, there were fears that taxes will rise in the new year if Washington cannot negotiate a solution to the end-of-year “fiscal cliff” dilemma.

A recent Ipsos poll for Reuters found that only 17 percent of shoppers were spending less due to cliff fears, though analysts said the damage was still done.

“The government usually does not have a role in holidays but this year they did. They got right in the midst of it, the timing couldn’t have been any worse,” NPD’s Cohen said.

BRIGHT SPOTS

One bright spot has been online sales, which continue to grow at a faster pace.

On Christmas Day, online sales jumped 22.4 percent, outpacing the 16.4 percent increase in 2011, according to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, which tracks more than 1 million e-commerce transactions a day from 500 U.S. retailers.

Whether online or off, some of the winning retailers were expected to be Wal-Mart, which attracted shoppers with early deals on the night of Thanksgiving and kept its focus on value, and apparel chains like the Gap, whose bright sweaters were successful, according to analysts.

Toys sold well, and hot items that were harder to find later in the season included certain Mattel Inc Barbie dolls and LeapFrog Enterprises Inc’s LeapPad2 tablet computer, according to B. Riley Caris analyst Linda Bolton Weiser.

For retailers that have struggled, analysts said all hope was not lost. Many have fiscal quarters that end in January, so they still have time to benefit from a post-Christmas rebound. Because Christmas fell on a Tuesday, some said they could even see a boost this week from people who have extra time off.

“There’s still a little bit more time to go until the holiday season is officially over,” Morningstar analyst Peter Wahlstrom said.

Wal-Mart shares ended down 0.8 percent at $ 67.99 on Wednesday, while Macy’s shares were down 1.1 percent at $ 37.11, Barnes & Noble shares were down 3.5 percent at $ 14.49, Amazon.com Inc shares ended 3.9 percent lower at $ 248.63, and Ann Inc shares lost 5.1 percent to close at $ 32.06.

(Reporting by Brad Dorfman, Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Jessica Wohl in Chicago; additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak and Dhanya Skariachan in New York; writing by Ben Berkowitz; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Matthew Lewis)

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Mint, otro Linux para quienes quieren explorar el mundo fuera de Windows

Una de las grandes virtudes de Linux (un sistema operativo libre para PC y otros dispositivos) es la cantidad innumerable de versiones disponibles. Estas distribuciones, además, son en su enorme mayoría de uso gratis, y representan una buena alternativa para los que no desean invertir en una licencia de Windows o quieren explorar -sin gastar- alternativas para la computadora hogareña.

Hemos recomendado en varias ocasiones opciones sencillas de usar e instalar que tienen herramientas iguales o muy similares a las que pueden encontrarse en Windows, destacando la ductilidad de las distribuciones disponibles y cómo hacer para probarlas sin complicarse demasiado , usando un CD regrabable o un pendrive, para no afectar el Windows instalado en la computadora.

En los últimos años fue Ubuntu el que más hizo para facilitarle el trabajo a los neófitos que venían de Windows, automatizando y simplificando procesos de instalación, creando un sitio amigable, sumando instrucciones de instalación y uso en lenguaje no técnico e incluso haciendo acuerdo para preinstalarlo en equipos de marca , pero la elección de la interfaz de usuario Unity (algo rígida) le hizo perder adeptos.

Una de las alternativas que venía creciendo en popularidad era Linux Mint (gratis), y los últimos números de DistroWatch , un sitio que lista las diferentes distribuciones y su popularidad, lo dan como el rey de 2012. Mint usa a Ubuntu como base, por lo que aprovecha algunas de sus herramientas (como la que permite instalarlo dentro de Windows para poder usarlo sin afectar la instalación original) y viene con una gran cantidad de componentes multimedia preinstalados, para facilitar la reproducción de audio y video, entre otras cosas (las distribuciones más “puras” suelen evitar esto para promover el uso de estándares libres de audio y video).

Hace poco más de un mes Linux Mint liberó su versión más reciente, Nadia 14, que incluye dos entornos de escritorio que resultarán muy agradables para quienes no se sienten cómodos con Unity, porque mantienen el esquema tradicional de Windows y Gnome 2.x: una barra de herramientas en la parte inferior de la pantalla, ventanas con los botones de control a la derecha, etcétera.

Linux Mint 14 tiene dos versiones: MATE (basado en Gnome 2.x, y cuyo nombre está inspirado en la yerba mate) y Cinnamon (canela, en inglés) de aspecto similar pero con algunos detalles visuales más atractivos: menús de notificaciones más sofisticados, escritorios virtuales persistentes, miniaturas en el administrador de ventanas y más.

cómo instalarlo

Cualquiera de ellas se puede meter en un pendrive o disco externo y correr desde allí o, si se quiere, instalarlas en la PC, junto con Windows (es compatible con Windows 8) o en una partición nueva. Alcanza con descargar el archivo ISO de instalación (hay uno para MATE y otro para Cinnamon). Ese archivo (900 MB, aproximadamente) se puede grabar en un DVD con una aplicación para quemar imágenes de disco: en Windows está el freeware CDBurnerXP , por ejemplo. Con el disco en la lectora, al encender al PC debería cargar primero Mint antes que Windows (si no, habrá que cambiar una configuración en el BIOS). Podremos usarlo como si estuviera instalado en la PC y luego, si queremos, instalarlo en el disco rígido de nuestra computadora, cuidando de hacerlo en una partición vacía o dentro de Windows.

Otra opción es instalarlo en una memoria USB (de 2 GB o más de capacidad). Para eso hay que usar la aplicación Image Writer (gratis, hay que cliquear donde dice win32diskimager-binary.zip para descargar el archivo). Luego habrá que cambiar la extensión del archivo de .ISO a .IMG para que Image Writer reconozca el archivo y pueda copiarlo en el pendrive (atención que borrará todo lo que está allí).

Si al prender la PC con el pendrive conectado no lo reconoce, habrá que cambiar el orden de carga de sistemas operativos, una opción que suele aparecer apenas se prende la PC (y que no estará disponible si la computadora es muy vieja) para ordenarle que cargue primero el contenido de la memoria USB.

Para quienes estén pensando en probar una distribución de Linux y buscan reducir el “choque cultural” con una interfaz de usuario que sea parecida -pero no idéntica- a la del Windows tradicional, y que además sea sencillo de usar, tienen en Linux Mint 14 Nadia una opción muy atractiva.

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Natalie Portman, Kristen Stewart most bankable Hollywood stars

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Actresses Natalie Portman and Kristen Stewart are Hollywood’s most bankable stars and provide studios with the highest average returns for their films, according to Forbes.com.

Academy award winner Portman topped the list of best actors for the buck, providing about $ 42.70 for every dollar she earns.

“Black Swan,” for which she won her best actress Oscar, was produced for an estimated $ 13 million and earned $ 329 million in global box office sales.

“We estimate that for every dollar Portman is paid by the studios, she returns $ 42.70. Compare that to Eddie Murphy, our most overpaid star, who returns $ 2.30 for every dollar he gets paid,” Forbes.com said.

“Twilight” star Stewart was not far behind, bringing in $ 40.60. She also topped the Forbes list of highest-earning actresses with an estimated $ 34.5 million in salary in 2012.

“Stewart was able to earn a ton over the last three years and offer a healthy return thanks to ‘Twilight,’” according to Forbes.com. “Even though she was paid $ 25 million to star in the last two films, she was clearly worth the money.”

Forbes.com analyzed salaries, estimated box office grosses from the actor’s last three films over the previous three years to calculate the studio’s return on investment. The most bankable stars tended to be featured in the most profitable films.

Stewart’s two co-stars in the “Twilight” films were also good investments for the studio. Robert Pattinson came in fourth with a return of $ 31.70 and Taylor Lautner was No. 6, making $ 29.50 for the studio for every dollar he was paid.

(This story was refiled to correct spelling of Kristen)

(Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

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Some cancer docs say their income tied to treatments

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A survey of cancer doctors finds that some believe they get paid more when they administer their patients’ chemotherapy and other drugs, raising concerns about conflict of interest and the potential for overtreatment.

Researchers found that oncologists, surgeons and other cancer specialists who get paid based on the number of services they provide were seven times more likely to say their pay increases when they oversee their patients’ chemotherapy treatments, compared to doctors who are paid a flat rate or salary.

“I think there is evidence out there that doctors are very responsive to financial incentives… So I think some patients should realize that doctors who are prescribing chemotherapy may be benefiting financially,” said Dr. Nancy Keating from Boston’s Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the study’s senior author.

According to Keating and her colleagues, who published their study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology on Wednesday, some cancer doctors offer chemotherapy and other therapies in their offices.

Indeed, the researchers note, previous studies have found that as much as 65 percent of an oncologist office’s income typically comes from administering treatments. The rest comes from evaluating and managing patients’ cancers.

There are some advantages to patients in getting treatments at their doctors’ offices, such as not having to travel to a hospital, but some observers worry the practice gives doctors incentive to prescribe more chemotherapy or more expensive drugs because they’ll make more money.

In the last decade, the U.S. government tried to reduce the profit margin doctors were able to make by administering chemotherapy to their patients, but Keating told Reuters Health that didn’t solve the problem.

“I think there is some evidence out there that doctors just started prescribing more profitable drugs. So this is still an issue,” she said.

While the study could not determine whether patients received any unnecessary treatments, the researchers wanted to see whether doctors believe their pay is tied to their ability to give patients chemotherapy.

The researchers used a survey from 2005 through mid-2007 of 480 oncologists, who treated patients from across the country.

Overall, most participants said their income would be unaffected by prescribing chemotherapy or other drugs, or by referring patients to other specialists or hospices.

But 27 percent of the doctors said their pay would increase based on how much chemotherapy they administered and 25 percent said they’d get paid more if they administered more growth factors, such as so-called hormonal drugs, that regulate cell growth.

Doctors who were in some way paid based on how many services they provide – known as fee for service – were about seven times more likely to say their incomes would increase if they administered more chemotherapy or growth factors, compared to doctors who got a flat salary.

Doctors who had their own practices or were part of a smaller oncology group were about nine times more likely to say their income would increase if they administered their patients’ chemotherapy, compared to those who worked in a hospital.

“It really is pretty substantial differences. And often, I don’t think people pay that much attention to where their doctor works, but I think it does make a difference,” Keating said.

But Dr. Yu-Ning Wong of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia cautions that the new study only looks at whether the doctors believed their pay would increase if they could administer chemotherapy or other treatments.

“It didn’t say it actually did,” said Wong, who wrote a commentary accompanying the study.

She also told Reuters Health that she would not want cancer patients thinking they are receiving unnecessary care or treatments based on this study.

Still, Keating and her fellow researchers say, there needs to be a new way to pay doctors “to counter or eliminate these incentives to decrease unnecessary care and ensure that health care resources are used most effectively.”

Until then, Keating said patients should feel free to ask doctors whether they’ll benefit financially from their treatments.

“It’s certainly something I would want to know,” she said. “But I agree it’s not an easy thing to ask, but I do think it’s something to be aware of and I think it’s a fair question to ask.”

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/gPtMdm Journal of Clinical Oncology, online December 26, 2012.

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