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Thursday, April 16, 2026
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Qiagen Earns U.S. Approval

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On Friday U.S. health regulators approved Qiagen NV’s gene-testing kit to identify those colorectal cancer patients most likely to benefit from Amgen Inc’s drug, Vectibix.

Not only this the Food and Drug Administration also expanded the approval of Vectibix to allow its use as an initial, treatment for colon cancer in combination with the widely used FOLFOX chemotherapy regimen.

This approval is third U.S. approval for a Qiagen companion diagnostic for use in blend with a specific drug.

Gene-testing and extension approval, could floor the way for increased use of Vectibix, which has been largely a dissatisfaction for Amgen.

It means the drug can be used earlier in the disease and would be accompanied by diagnostic to help doctors locate patients that would best respond to the medicine.

Last year 33% of total sales were from the U.S only. Amgen had $126 M sales from U.S market and in the same year the total sales was $389 M.

QIAGEN N.V. is a Netherlands-based holding company, is the leading global provider of Sample & Assay Technologies that are used to transform biological materials into valuable molecular information. Sample technologies are used to isolate and process DNA, RNA and proteins from biological samples such as blood or tissue.

Disrupted Circadian Rhythms May Lead to Inflammatory Disease(s)

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According to a latest study, the disturbed circadian rhythms along with a diet comprise of high fat and sugar contributes in many harmful conditions specially the inflammatory bowel disease. The study conducted in laboratory on mice.

“Circadian rhythms, which impose a 24-hour cycle on our bodies, are different from sleep patterns, adding that sleep is a consequence of circadian rhythms”, according to Robin M. Voigt, PhD, assistant professor at Rush Medical College and first author of the study.

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Experiment:

A known experience for disruption of inborn circadian rhythms is done on male mice, they had their cycles of exposure to light and dark shifted on a weekly basis. Few mice fed standard food and others high-fat, high-sugar diet

Observation:

Researchers found that the micro biota of the mice with disrupted circadian rhythms were significantly different from that of the control group if they ate high-fat, high-sugar food.
Mice that ate the high-fat, high-sugar diet, and had circadian-rhythm disruptions, had higher concentrations of bacteria that are known to promote inflammation than any of the other mice in the study.
Mice that ate the high-fat, high-sugar diet displayed changes in the makeup of the microorganisms in their guts, regardless of circadian status.
Upsetting the circadian rhythms of the mice fed standard food did not significantly affect the micro biota in their intestines.
Result:

The disturbed circadian rhythms along with a diet comprise of high fat and sugar contributes in inflammatory bowel disease.

While circadian rhythm disturbance may be common among some, the research suggests that it may be contributing to a host of diseases that may be prevented by regulating things such as sleep/wake patterns and times of eating to help prevent circadian rhythm disruption. Including prebiotics or probiotics in the diet can also help normalize the effects of circadian rhythm disruption on the intestinal micro biota to reduce the presence of inflammation.

Try it for free – Amazon’s New Targeted Campaign

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“Try it for absolutely free” and it is a TV streaming box. You might not heard this technique of promotion especially for electronic goods before but this is a new offer by the Amazon targeted rigorously for a particular group.

An unusual promotion by Amazon, allows customers to try a product at home before buying it. Although the “try-before-you-buy” marketing strategy is prevail in many other industries but for this segment it is something new, neither Amazon tried it before for any product.

How it works – The promotion is for Amazon’s product “Fire TV”. If you get the email, Amazon will ship a Fire TV to you without charging your credit card, which has to be on file with your Amazon account. If you like it and keep it past the 30-day window, Amazon will bill you the $100 for the device. If you send it back, you won’t see any harm on your credit card statement. Well it is hard to interpret who the audience for this email is; it is being sent to customers both with and without Prime subscriptions. If other than targeted customer visit the site by using their own credentials, the system determine whether they are eligible or not and the eligibility criteria is not known.

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For me it is a “More Customer Oriented” form of 30-days return offer. The salient difference with this program is that customers won’t get charged up-front, but rather are paying at the end of the trial period.

It is an innovation in traditional marketing techniques also safeguards the company interest by avoiding bad debts and providing enhanced customer experience.

Deployment on counter-narcotics operations- HMS Argyll

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A wide range of jobs in order to backup British luxuries internationally will be commenced by the “Royal Navy frigate”, which includes association with counter-narcotics effort in the West Africa region. More ever, she will also provide comfort to UK terrains and associates all-over the world.

Royal Navy Type 45 Destroyer HMS Daring

During tasks she must have to use her full skills which includes ending or finding suspicious crafts, examining for vessels with the help of her powerful radar and then hurling her helicopter for searching and also stop suspect vessels if required.

A 10-man tough United States Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment having state agreement to board suspicious pitchers in the zone embarked during the counter narcotics operations. Consuming the US seamen on panel is distinctive of the multi-national nature of the competition towards drugs.

HMS ARGYLL ATLANTIC BOUND

“We have provided a most effective counter narcotics capability during this period and when you consider the other roles we have undertaken during our seven-month deployment, Argyll has really showcased the capability and flexibility of a Royal Navy warship.”

iPhone 6 Release Date, Specification and Price

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The rumor of iPhone 6 is on its peak and Apple has announced nothing officially but for sure something more innovative and catchy is coming soon from Apple. The suspense created by Apple and its lovers is highly buzzed since 2013 till date. From various resources I have compiled the possible specs of iPhone 6.

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Specifications:

4.8 inch iPhone 6 and retain its current 1136×640 pixel resolution.
It is also possible that two variants of the iPhone 6 with different screen sizes would launch.
Pre-installed IOS 8 platform (Apple Inc. will supposedly launch its latest IOS during the WWDC).
Built-in NFC chip.
128 GB internal storage capacity.
Sapphire screen
Heart rate Ear pods
Expandable storage
Higher megapixel camera than 5S
Wireless charging
A8 processor and flexible screen.
Price Point:

Apple typically releases its new models at the same price as the old ones. If that holds true we’d expect the price of iPhone 6 in between £529 to £699.

Release date:

If we analyze the trend from the first release we observe that the iPhone first generation was launched in June 2007, iPhone 3G in July 2008, iPhone 3GS was rolled over in June 2009, iPhone 4 in June 2010, iPhone 4S in October 2011, iPhone 5 in September 2012 and the iPhone5S/5C was launched in September 2013. These dates suggests a month-a-head trend so we can predict that Apple Inc. release the iPhone 6 somewhere in September/October 2014.

Samsung Galaxy S5 Prime – Fantasy or Reality

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Samsung Galaxy S5 has unquestionably been the most expected device for this year and had a large amount of rumors whirling around it. Some of those rumors did come to execution; however there were many got dumped down the drain where all unfulfilled rumors ultimately go.

The rumor mill is throbbing now with new rumors which make it seem that Samsung is readying a premium edition of the Galaxy S5, which is doing rounds as the Samsung Galaxy S5 Prime, which will boast of some of these aforementioned rumors such as a quad-HD display, a metal body and a powerful Snapdragon 805 chipset as confirmed specs.

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just to recall our memories, Samsung’s Galaxy S5 it’s the fifth recapitulation in Samsung’s iconic and wildly successful Galaxy series of Android smartphones. The device was announced at the Mobile World Congress earlier this year, with a global release expected by 11th of April. Being a flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S5 offers top-of-line specifications includes;

Quad-band 2G and 3G connectivity, availability of LTE is market-dependent.
5.1 inch super-AMOLED display which offers a 1080p full-HD resolution at ~432 ppi resolution.
A quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset.
16 mega pixels primary camera with optical image stabilization option.
2 MP secondary camera which record 1080p videos @ 30 fps.
2800 mAh battery, which allegedly gives up to 21 hours talk time.
Boasts of dust and water proof capabilities.
One can imagine the advanced form of Galaxy S5 just by considering one step ahead of above features. However, the mythological Galaxy S5 Prime has been rumored to make an advent in due course and carry along every high-end spec under the sun. We will definitely keep you updated accordingly.

The Never-Before-Seen Meteor Shower to Delight Your Weekend

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The free show above all the holiday weekend activities is waiting for you. The never-before-seen meteor shower could view this weekend.

Beginning Friday night and last into Saturday morning, The May Camelopardlids are expected to streak through the sky.

The meteors are a result of the Earth plunging through the dust of comet 209P/LINEAR, which was exposed in 2004 and dates back to the 1800s. The Earth has never before passed through the comet’s dust.

Scientist is not sure how big the sky show will be, but it gives delighted feelings to the sky-watchers.

Meteor FireBall Break-up September 21. 1994

According to them, the best viewing time on the West Coast will be between 11 p.m. Friday and 1 a.m. Saturday. The moon will not be a factor: It’s a waning crescent, and it won’t rise until 3:20 a.m.

NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office lead Bill Cooke gives his statement that, “Some forecasters have predicted a meteor storm of more than 200 meters per hour. We have no idea what the comet was doing in the 1800s. The parent comet doesn’t appear to be very active now, so there could be a great show, or there could be little activity.”

GM Recalls Another Batch of 2.4 M Vehicles

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“I am not an angel,’ I asserted; ‘and I will not be one till I die” Charlotte Bronte. But when it comes to the industry you can’t afford a single mistake, otherwise you can’t survive. Same is happening with the vehicle giant General Motors. Because of security flaws General Motors is recalling its 2.42 million vehicles to fix four separate safety flaws.

General Motors publicized five separate recalls that totaled 3 million vehicles in last week. General Motors says it now plans to take a $400 million charge against first-quarter earnings for the costs of the recalls double the $200 million it had forecast after the five recalls announced on 16 May.

Including today’s recall General Motors has announced total 29 recalls in United States only for this year. Fewer than 100 vehicles are involved in two recalls.

The vehicles include:

The recall includes vehicles of year 2004 to 2014.

2009-2014 model years of the Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, and GMC Acadia.
2004-2008 model years of the Chevrolet Malibu. Cadillac Escalades, Chevrolet Silverado pickups.
GMC Sierras from the 2015 model year.
The Deadly Defects:

Flaw in how the passenger-side front air bag is connected to the dashboard that could cause the bag to inflate improperly in a crash.
Front safety lap belt cables can wear out due to people moving while wearing the belts. GM told dealers they can’t sell new or used versions of the vehicles until they are repaired.
Flaw in transmission shift cable that can wear and fail to indicate the correct gear. That’s the fault linked to the 18 crashes.
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Total 224 were sold out of the cars having security flaws and General Motors sent warning letters about the security condition of the cars to the owners.

Losses Due to the Defects:

The ignition switch fault is linked to 46 accidents and caused 12 deaths. Accidents involved many injuries and death in the U.S. and one fatal crash in Canada.
There have been 18 crashes due to one of the problems in the latest recall, GM says, but no fatalities.

Xiaomi – “The Apple of China”

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The craziness of Chinese towards the tech world, specially their addiction of smart phones turned the China into the biggest mobile market of World over night. Xiaomi the standout local smart phone market leads the market segment overnight and sells more phones in China than Apple. “The Apple of China” is coined for the Xiaomi.

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According to a research firm IDC, tablets haven’t quite taken off in China and Apple still led the market with a 28 percent share during the second quarter last year by selling just 1.48 million units, the 10% of all of Apple’s iPad sales during the period, according to the data compiled by Bloomberg.

Xiaomi at the very right time entering the tab’s market and unveiled its first tablet in Beijing yesterday. According to Mr. Jenny Lee, who is an early investor in Xiaomi and a Shanghai-based managing director at GGV Capital, “Chinese are starting to adopt tablets over PCs, particularly in offices. Xiaomi will have to chase Apple and Samsung, the market leaders in tablets globally and in China. That’s a race Xiaomi is all-too-familiar with”.

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The Global ambitions of Xiaomi have not yet materialized and its success at home town China has not interpreted to other markets yet. Only 3% of Xiaomi’s sales are out of the China and rest of the Xiaomi’s smartphones have been sold in China. Hugo Barra, a vice president at Xiaomi responsible for international expansion stated that, “The new Mi Pad tablets will be available in China starting next month, and will eventually be offered in other markets, including Southeast Asia, India and Latin America”.

The doubts are not very big that Xiaomi could repeat its smartphone success in tablets.

For Online Spying US Justice Department Charged Chinese Military Hackers

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Marking the first ever charges of this kind by the US against any other state, today the Justice Department of US announced the accusation of five Chinese military hackers for online spying against US nuclear power US steel, nuclear power and solar companies.

The five conspired are involved in hacking of major US companies like U.S. Steel, Westinghouse, Alcoa, Allegheny Technologies, the United Steel Workers Union and U.S. subsidiaries of SolarWorld, a German company and steal trade secrets that gives competitive advantage to Chinese state-owned companies. The Chinese hackers break into the computers of these companies and get information for the Chinese rival companies.

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According to FBI there are still many unknown cases that need to unearth and resolve for the sake of economy. In a press release FBI Director James B. Comey stated that, “For too long, the Chinese government has blatantly sought to use cyber espionage to obtain economic advantage for its state-owned industries. The indictment announced today is an important step. But there are many more victims, and there is much more to be done.”

For years the US Government and other chief security researchers have been tracking the plunders of Chinese hackers on U.S. companies. The re-owned Ugly Gorilla, famous for the invasions at hundreds of organizations in the last decade, is also found in the case of US companies.

The indictment included the five officers’ names, their unit, their photographs and the building in Shanghai where they worked. But there was little prospect of them ever being brought to justice in the U.S., officials said. Instead, the indictment seemed to be envisioned to send a message to Chinese leaders, who have deprived of that the People’s Liberation Army, is betrothed in economic spying and have challenged the U.S. to provide proof.

In response the Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin said that, “Well today, we are providing proof. For the first time, we are exposing the faces and names behind the keyboards in Shanghai used to steal from American businesses”.

Carlin further said,” This indictment describes, with particularity, specific actions on specific days by specific actors to use their computers to steal information from across our economy,”

The Chinese officers identified as Wang Dong, Sun Kailiang, Wen Xinyu, Huang Zhenyu, and Gu Chunhui were officers in Unit 61398 of the Third Department of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and wanted by FBI since long.

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