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Slashback: Cancer, Cats, ICANN 192

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the science-as-exciting-as-businesses-are-predictable dept.
Slashback tonight brings some corrections, clarifications, and updates to previous Slashdot stories, including the demystification of Australia's "Mystery Cat", the US Government backs Microsoft in their battle against Korea, RedHat joins the fun and decides to invest in India's economy, the ICANN community slams the VeriSign deal, and Clinical results from the cancer-killing virus trials - read on for details.

Australia's mystery cat demystified. Bitsy Boffin writes "Back in October Slashdot ran a story from the Herald Sun about the shooting of a mystery "Big Cat" in Australia. At the time the tail (the only part the hunter brought back) of said cat had been sent off for DNA testing. The Herald Sun reports the findings of those DNA tests which show that the mystery cat wasn't a leopard or jaguar, just a really, really big feral cat."

US backs Microsoft in Korean antitrust case. CODiNE writes "Stating that 'Korea's remedy goes beyond what is necessary or appropriate to protect consumers' the Justice Department's antitrust division rejects the recent Korean FTC ruling. 'Sound antitrust policy should protect competition, not competitors, and must avoid chilling innovation and competition even by "dominant" companies.'"

RedHat follows Indian investment trend. An anonymous reader writes "After several other companies have decided to invest in the Indian economy it looks like RedHat will be following suit. According to the article, RedHat plans on hiring about 300 people for an investment of about $20M."

ICANN community slams VeriSign deal. Rob writes to tell us that an overwhelming amount of the ICANN community recently took a stand against a proposed deal that would allow VeriSign to raise the price of .com domain names by up to 50%. VeriSign accused ICANN of illegally "regulating" its business. ICANN had previously blocked services VeriSign wanted to launch on the grounds that they would harm the stability of the internet.

Clinical results from cancer-killing virus. just___giver writes "Results from human clinical trials show that terminally ill patients with aggressive metastasized cancer are receiving benefit from the recently covered virus that kills cancer when it is administered intravenously. They still have higher doses to test in this ongoing study. This safe, naturally occurring, unmodified virus has a remarkable ability to infect and kill cancer cells, without affecting normal, healthy cells. Numerous other third party studies show that the Reovirus should be an important discovery in the treatment of 2/3 of all human cancers. It is patented, easy to manufacture in large quantities, and even increases the effectiveness of conventional chemo and radiation therapy. Numerous phase 2 studies are being planned for 2006." OncolyticsBiotech also has a short video describing the process.

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Slashback: Cancer, Cats, ICANN More

Slashback: Cancer, Cats, ICANN

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  • Also: Podcast beats out Lifehack, Rootkit (Score:3, Informative)

    by ackthpt ( 218170 ) * on Wednesday December 07, 2005 @07:00PM (#14206351) Homepage Journal

    In the ever hot battle to be included in the Oxford American Online Dictionary [oxfordreference.com] (login reqd.), Podcast [bbc.co.uk] beat out Lifehack and Rootkit (It will be added in 2006)

  • Oh Crap (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    A cheap, easy cure for cancer? No. It's Patented. It'll still be horribly expensive.
  • What guarantee is there that this virus won't end up mutating into something worse than the cancer it's supposed to fight?

  • Really, really big feral cat? (Score:5, Funny)

    by bhsx ( 458600 ) on Wednesday December 07, 2005 @07:09PM (#14206391)
    From the photos that were taken of the hunter with the catch, I find it hard to believe that a "domestic" style cat could ever get that large. It was huge! Damned, I better watch what I say around Shady. Come here Shady, OMG NO!

  • More Corrections (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 07, 2005 @07:10PM (#14206393)
    Slashdot posts a triplicate that linked to an article over a year old. [slashdot.org]

    A plagarist trolls slashdot so badly, they even get a story posted. [slashdot.org]

    Beatles-Beatles is a scammer that used slashdot to promote his own site. [slashdot.org]

    These are the real interesting stories that slashback neglected to tell you about.

    Feel free to add more updates here.

    • Slashdot posts a triplicate that linked to an article over a year old.

      How about you complain about the triplicate status when they figure out how to turn brain cells into a supercomputer. What with the quantum limits we are hitting in the silicon dept., where will we get our new computer power?

      Beatles-Beatles is a scammer that used slashdot to promote his own site.

      You mean "Slashdot is 'paying' beetles-beatles* with a link in exchange for some decent articles"?
    • Do not say the word Eatlesbay-Eatlesbay!

      Eatlesbay, for those who don't know, has a Eorgegay Arrisonhay website that's linked under his name. Basically, he sends stories of moderate interest to Slashdot, in hope that his Google rank will increase. Currently, his site is ranked 10th on a Google for [eorgegay arrisonhay]. Two factors contribute to this: first, having the site linked from Slashdot, and second, having the linking page reference Arrisonhay and the Eatlesbay. If you leave any words referencing the
  • and must avoid chilling innovation and competition even by "dominant" companies.'

    "...and by 'chilling innovation' I mean producing actual software products rather than stealing them, buying their companies, or employing grossly underpaid engineers to copy them."
    • Yeah. The attitude of an American government division going so far as to condemn a decision by another government begins to explain why the antitrust suits brought against MS in the US don't seem to have done anything.

  • Patented Virus? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Mecdemort ( 930017 )
    How do you patent a naturally occuring virus?

  • I don't understand (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mr_zorg ( 259994 ) on Wednesday December 07, 2005 @07:15PM (#14206413)
    This safe, naturally occurring, unmodified virus... It is patented...

    I guess I really don't understand the purpose of a patent. If it is a naturally occurring, unmodified virus, why on Earth should you be able to patent it? But I suppose if they can patent the human genome...

    Or is it really the application of this virus as cancer therapy that's been patented?

  • Really cool info on the virus. I've always thought that they're a significantly underinvestigated and underestimated part of biology. Taking over, changing, and otherwise messing with cells in ways that we just can't otherwise do - and there are untold trillions of trillions of trillions of them at it every minute of the day. There's so much potential there for both beneficial and evil purposes, and such flexibility.

    But hey, real and significant news about a possible cure for many cancers gets relegated to
    • Viruses are interesting. I once read an article about bacteriophage [wikipedia.org] viruses - how in the Soviet Union they used them to treat bacterial infections instead of antibiotics. The Russian researcher said that if they didn't find a promising virus, they'd go down to the river, get a new bucket of water, and start looking again. This implies there are a lot of viruses out there to examine!

  • 2 out of 3 (Score:5, Insightful)

    by moosesocks ( 264553 ) on Wednesday December 07, 2005 @07:18PM (#14206429) Homepage
    It is patented, easy to manufacture in large quantities, and even increases the effectiveness of conventional chemo and radiation therapy.

    Well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

    But seriously. If it's 'naturally occuring' and easy to manufacture, how the hell do they have a patent on this? I'm a hardcore capitalist, but being as how this could be the holy grail of modern medicine, I think the government definitely needs to step in to make sure us mere mortals can afford it (no pun intended).
    • The patent isn't on the virus, but on the method of injecting the virus to treat cancer cells. I would argue, though, that the phage (viruses that typically infect and kill bacteria in a very targeted fashion) treatments used in Russia/Eastern Europe for bacterial infections might constitute prior art, at least in that part of the world. Articles have been written in various paper magazines about this, how Russian scientists, at least, actively pursue them, but because they're essentially unpatentable in th

  • Nothing to be seen here (Score:5, Funny)

    by Lars T. ( 470328 ) <Lars...Traeger@@@googlemail...com> on Wednesday December 07, 2005 @07:19PM (#14206435) Journal
    It's just a COUS.

  • Cancer (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Lord_Dweomer ( 648696 ) on Wednesday December 07, 2005 @07:21PM (#14206448) Homepage
    This is absolutely fantastic. And frankly, this is the sort of thing someone should be rewarded for. Not everybody gets to claim "I found a cure for cancer".

    However, I have to admit that I am a bit trouble by this being patented. It is naturally occuring, easy to create, etc. The only thing that could possibly complicate this is a greedy corporation who has the patent and wants to enforce it and make tons of money. So rather than use government and philanthropist and charity money to cure a LOT of cancer, this company will be making billions off of a potentially life saving natural drug.

    Now of course none of this has happened yet...but I won't be too surprised if it does.

    • > So rather than use government and philanthropist and charity money
      > to cure a LOT of cancer, this company will be making billions off
      > of a potentially life saving natural drug.

      About the only way for them to make billions is to cure a LOT of cancer.
      • No, they also can also increase demand artificially by restricting supply. Also, instead of just charging a little and curing LOTS of cancer, they could just charge an insane amount and not cure as much.

    • Re:Cancer (Score:3, Interesting)

      by mc6809e ( 214243 )
      The only thing that could possibly complicate this is a greedy corporation who has the patent and wants to enforce it and make tons of money. So rather than use government and philanthropist and charity money to cure a LOT of cancer, this company will be making billions off of a potentially life saving natural drug.

      Any company that finds a way to cure 2/3rd of cancers deserves to be rich.

      Jeez. We make young men that can hit or throw or catch a ball instant millionaires, yet complain that someone might get r
      • Since National Security and Public Health are such amazingly important issues for governments, I'm just going to cut and paste a previous comment of mine:

        All together now: "Intellectual Property"* is a privilege, not a right.

        Your patent does not make you a unique and beautiful snowflake. The gov't does not usually invalidate patents outright. More often than not, they force you into a compulsory licensing scheme.

        OMG ITS COMPULSORY!!!111

        Calm down. Some governments won't even bother to

  • This safe, naturally occurring, unmodified virus [...] an important discovery in the treatment of 2/3 of all human cancers [...] is patented [...]

    Seems there's something very wrong about this...

    http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/document s/appxl_35_U_S_C_101.htm [uspto.gov]

    http://www.european-patent-office.org/legal/epc/e/ ar52.html [european-p...office.org]
    http://www.european-patent-office.org/legal/epc/e/ ar53.html [european-p...office.org]

    • Seems there's something very wrong about this...
      Nope. The links spell it out clearly(well at least the uspto one). They patented a process not a virus. Do some freaking research.

      • This safe, naturally occurring, unmodified virus [...] an important discovery in the treatment of 2/3 of all human cancers [...] is patented [...]

        Seems there's something very wrong about this...

        Nope. The links spell it out clearly(well at least the uspto one). They patented a process not a virus.

        Then TFA (as quoted above) is wrong.

        Do some freaking research.

        Then please do follow your own advice and compare the provisions: One is wide and vague so strange things happen [uspto.gov], the other one says (e.g. in article 5

  • Sound antitrust policy should protect competition, not competitors, and must avoid chilling innovation and competition even by "dominant" companies.'"

    OK, I suppose they are arguing against helping specific competitors vs encumbering the company such that it cannot provent competition (without chilling their ability to compete?). That almost makes sense, but we have to keep in mind that specific competitors were harmed. And since when is microsoft a "dominant" company, with the quotes?
  • Numerous other third party studies show that the Reovirus should be an important discovery in the treatment of 2/3 of all human cancers.

    I'm not one of the people always yelling about advertisements maquerading as stories. (Either it's interesting or it isn't.) But I would be astonished if this ludicrous overhyping of a moderately interesting Phase I result from a small-cap biotech isn't being submitted by someone with a financial interest in the stock.

    Results like this are daily occurrences, and if this s

  • Terminology... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by stienman ( 51024 ) <.adavis. .at. .ubasics.com.> on Wednesday December 07, 2005 @07:27PM (#14206493) Homepage Journal

    RedHat follows Indian investment trend

    Is that what people are calling outsourcing now?

    -Adam
  • Even McDonalds is investing in India now.(100 million dollars approx)
    Article [rediff.com]

    So all you guys hoping that you can get a job at McDonalds asking "Do you want fries with that"... think again;);););).
    • Correct-o-mundo.

      Baltimore (MD) area McDonalds restaurants trialed the use of "remote" drive-through order takers (located in Wisconsin) this last summer. Reason? - not enough Baltimore area youths were willing to work at McDonalds for what they were willing to pay. This seems to be a more and more frequent refrain from USA employers, used as a justification to either offshore outsource OR hire illegal aliens.

      BTW, the Wisconsin connection for trials of offshore outsourcing has been used in the past -- 28 U

  • For USA citizens... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    ...who wonder why you have a reputation for being arrogant, this is a perfect example. Your government has "rejected" a decision by a Korean court about Korean law. An American company has said that the Korean court didn't "properly apply" Korean law. Perhaps it escaped your attention, but if South Korea want laws to work in a certain way, it's not your place to say whether that is okay or not. Other countries don't need your approval if they want to enforce their own laws in their own terroritory.

    • ...who wonder why you have a reputation for being arrogant, this is a perfect example. Your government has "rejected" a decision by a Korean court about Korean law. An American company has said that the Korean court didn't "properly apply" Korean law. Perhaps it escaped your attention, but if South Korea want laws to work in a certain way, it's not your place to say whether that is okay or not. Other countries don't need your approval if they want to enforce their own laws in their own terroritory.

      Though I
    • And the US can withdraw its military which is presently helping protect South Korea from North Korea. The US is well within its rights to complain when one of its corporations or citizens is mistreated.
    • Meanwhile, Australia gripes about some Australian crook getting executed in Singapore.

      I see business as usual, all around the world.

  • Patenting virii (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Locke2005 ( 849178 ) on Wednesday December 07, 2005 @07:46PM (#14206582)
    This safe, naturally occurring, unmodified virus... is patented Can't God or Darwin or somebody claim prior art on this? Pardon me while I file a patent on EVERY existing genome... I'll own EVERYTHING!

  • Bruce McDonald: get back to work! (Score:4, Funny)

    by ChaosDiscord ( 4913 ) * on Wednesday December 07, 2005 @07:50PM (#14206617) Homepage Journal
    "Korea's remedy goes beyond what is necessary or appropriate to protect consumers, as it requires the removal of products that consumers may prefer," J. Bruce McDonald, deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department's antitrust division, said in a statement.

    Ummm, Bruce, could I see you in my office for a minute? Great.

    Bruce, I appreciate your enthusiam. I really do. It's really great. But, you know, there is a lot of work to do in the office. Stuff related to US antitrust law. It'd be really great if you could spend more time worrying about enforcing our laws and judgements, and less worrying about Korea. 'Cuz, umm, that's what the taxpayers are kinda paying ya for. We on the same page here? Great. Well, back to it then.

    • Re:Bruce McDonald: get back to work! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by $RANDOMLUSER ( 804576 ) on Wednesday December 07, 2005 @08:07PM (#14206704)
      "But sir, Microsoft donated eleventy zillion dollars to your re-election campaing. And Bill and Melinda had you on their yacht."
      "Really?"
      "Yeah."
      "Bruce, you're doin' a heckuva job!"
    • Except that anti-trust laws can be used as a less controversial form of protectionism. South Korea has lots of state subsidized industries, and protectionist policies that the United States looks the other way on.

      In diplomacy, the U.S. can't just come out and say "You go after our companies, we will go after your companies - and since the balance of trade is in your favor, you have more to lose than us." So when Bruce comes forward and says what he said, he is in diplomatic language warning South Korea that
  • From the article: "...it is extraordinary that Australia has a mutated cat that can grow to the size of a leopard."

    So it's a little big. Feh. I won't be impressed until we have mutant cats that can shoot lasers out of their eyes, or sprout wings, or that can freeze the water out of the air or something like that.

    The... X-Cats!

  • For what it's worth, my wife and I were biking in a state park in central Florida about 5 years ago and encountered some sort of feline creature, tan colored, about the size of a large dog, almost waist high. We turned around and hastened in the opposite direction.

    We inquired at the nature center. The ranger assured us that there was no such animal endemic to the region. We have no idea what it was we saw.

    I'm curious about this. I wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience in Florida or elsewhere.
    • Um, google for "florida panther".

      Now, maybe that ranger was clueless or maybe by "the region" he meant central Florida -- the Florida panther's range is more southwestern Florida -- but it's not like the critters couldn't walk from A to B if they had a mind to.

      If that is what you saw, consider yourself lucky to have seen it. (There probably wasn't much risk to you -- if the behaviour is anything like the mountain lions around these parts (Colorado), it'd leave two adults on bikes alone. A kid or a dog on
  • That is truely big. Honestly, I dont think any one would believe they could get that big unless someone saw it for them selves.

    This is basicly a ferral demostic cat big enough to eat a human!!!
  • OK, RedHat is gettting 300 programmers for $20 million "over several years" or "in the next 2 to 3 years".

    IBM is getting 3000 programmers for $1.7 billion "over 4 years".

    So for 10 times as many programs for 2 times as many years, IBM is paying 85 times as much money (as opposed to 20 times).

    Someone at IBM needs to figure out why it's costing them 4.25 times as much for the same thing RedHat is buying... IBM appears to be paying ~$142,000 per job per year, whicle RedHat is only paying ~33,500 per job per yea

  • comments on cancer (Score:2, Informative)

    by jbloggs ( 535329 )
    I sent the link to my friend who's a cancer researcher, and this was his response:

    good concept, but i don't think that it is a real solution for all cancers. while the concept of viral delivery is what most gene therapeutics aims for, selectivity is often a problem. it is interesting that this company uses reovirus to administer 2-aminopurine to cells to inhibit the ras pathway, which is often upregulated in cancer cells. the other problem is that this technique absolutely cannot be used on immunocomprom
    • Good points, but are the limiting cases (AIDS and other immunocompromised) a large majority of cancer victims? Probably not.

      i think that using this therapy alone may be a way of selecting for cancers which do not depend completely on the activated ras pathway for propagation.

      At least cancer cells do not get propagated outside of the patients' bodies, unlike drug-resistant bacteria etc., so this could be a slight red herring. Yes, I know and realize (my dad has a very low-grade non-acute lymphoma that is bar
      • Oops, I should add that my dad isn't being treated, basically for one of the reasons stated by the GP. Attempting to treat now could skew his body into unintentionally accentuating the growth of the acute bad cells. Until his blood cell counts change dramatically (indicating it's changing to an acute phase), this is the rational approach...

  • The exact blurb in the article summary was posted on the yahoo finance message board for ONCY, see here [yahoo.com]. The post asks for people to spread the word. When accused of attempting to pump the stock, he replies Well the last time I got published it added a few million to the market cap. here [yahoo.com].

    There are also some funny comments asking what kind of editor would post a review like that... well of course slashdot would!

    • slashdot has been getting trolled and spamvertised a lot recently.

      Is it the holiday season?

      I realize that catching a blurb posted on a yahoo board is a long shot, but seriously, how much effort does it take to sit and deny all but a dozen or two articles per day? Can't they take the rest of their free time and do some basic editorial work?

      I know everyone gives the eds a lot of crap, but it's patently obvious that /. quality goes up and down. And I think we're headed downhill again.

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