SHANGHAI (Reuters) ? Multinational companies operating in China are placing less importance on the world's second-biggest economy amid rising local competition and concern over intellectual property (IP) rights, a survey showed on Wednesday.
Close to half of 328 companies that took part in the survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said they had higher expectations for China following the 2008/09 global financial crisis, with 17 percent saying they expected it to become their top market within five years.
But those that saw China as "critical to global strategy" fell to 37 percent, from 53 percent in a similar survey in 2004.
"I think this represents a degree of caution," Laurel West, Asia director of industrial and management research at EIU, told a news conference. EIU is a sister company of The Economist magazine.
She said the reading was also a reflection of companies placing more focus on other emerging markets, such as Brazil, India, Indonesia and Vietnam, as well as concern over Chinese government policies.
Nearly half said they were concerned that they would have to give up IP in exchange for market access, while 46 percent said the regulatory environment would have a significant impact on their China strategy over the next five years.
The survey was conducted between late June and July on multinationals based in Europe, North America and Asia.
IP RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
China has been repeatedly criticized for widespread violations of IP rights, with copies of expensive brands of watches, bags and computer software still widely available.
An annual survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, which bills itself as the "voice of American business" in China, showed in January that 71 percent of respondents said enforcement of IP rights had stayed the same or deteriorated in 2010, up from 61 percent in 2009 and 64 percent in 2008.
In May, a survey by the European Union Chamber of Commerce showed a similar rise in corporate concern over IP protection, although 57 percent of respondents said China was of growing importance to their business, up from 40 percent in 2010.
The EIU survey also showed that only a quarter of larger multinational companies felt they had superior technology or stronger branding amid increasing competition for talent with local companies.
Of the 70 companies it surveyed that disclosed China revenue, the EIU said only 10 -- including Mead Johnson Nutrition Co (MJN.N), BHP Billiton Ltd (BHP.AX) (BLT.L), Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.N) -- had China sales that made up more than 20 percent of global income.
(Reporting by Kazunori Takada; Editing by Chris Lewis and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
In second paragraph corrects number of survey respondents to 328 not 238, and fixes spelling of Economist Intelligence Unit.
Penn geneticists help show bitter taste perception is not just about flavorsPublic release date: 6-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Evan Lerner elerner@upenn.edu 215-573-6604 University of Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA -- Long the bane of picky eaters everywhere, broccoli's taste is not just a matter of having a cultured palate; some people can easily taste a bitter compound in the vegetable that others have difficulty detecting. Now a team of Penn researchers has helped uncover the evolutionary history of one of the genes responsible for this trait. Beyond showing the ancient origins of the gene, the researchers discovered something unexpected: something other than taste must have driven its evolution.
The team was led by Penn researchers Sarah Tishkoff, a Penn Integrates Knowledge professor with appointments in the genetics department in Penn's Perelman School of Medicine and the biology department in the School of Arts and Sciences, and Michael C. Campbell, a postdoctoral fellow in the genetics department at the medical school, and included undergraduate and postdoctoral researchers from both the genetics and biology departments. The team included their collaborator Paul Breslin from the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia and Rutgers University and researchers from the Muse de L'Homme in France, the National Institutes of Health and several African universities and research institutes.
Their research was published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.
The researchers were interested in the gene TAS2R38, which codes for a bitter taste receptor protein with the same name. People with a certain version of that gene can taste a compound, phenylthiocarbamide, or PTC, which is chemically similar to naturally occurring bitter compounds, called glucosinolates, present in many foods, including cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts. These "tasters" find such foods to have a bitter taste that people with a different version can't detect. As a result, "nontasters" have been shown to consume fewer cruciferous vegetables.
Modern humans originated in Africa, and populations from that region have the highest levels of genetic diversity globally. Previous studies had looked at variations in the PTC-sensitivity gene, but none had ever studied a large sample of diverse African populations with different cultures, ethnicities or diets.
"Because there is more genetic variation in African populations, you're likely to see unique variants you may not see elsewhere," Tishkoff said. "Our study of variation at the TAS2R38 gene in Africa and correlations with taste perception and diet gives us a clue about the evolutionary history of the gene and how natural selection might be influencing the pattern of variation."
Genes that influence perception are of particular interest to geneticists because those genes are under strong evolutionary pressure; organisms with senses that are well adapted to their environment have better chances to survive and reproduce. PTC-sensitivity's potential impact on nutrition, or the ability to detect bitter-tasting toxins, would therefore make it an obvious target for natural selection.
By looking at the TAS2R38 gene in 611 Africans from 57 diverse ethnic populations with distinct diets (for example, Pygmy hunter-gatherers and Maasai pastoralists), as well as in 132 non-Africans, the researchers showed that Africans had more variation than non-Africans, including several never-before-seen rare mutations.
The researchers also tested the correlation between genetic variation at this gene and levels of PTC tasting ability in 463 Africans, another first-of-its-kind study. In an experiment that was challenging to carry out across a wide swath of the African continent, participants sampled successively concentrated solutions of PTC and water until they were able to detect the bitter taste. When correlated with the participants' genetic data, the study revealed that Africans have a broader range of PTC taste sensitivity than typically seen outside of Africa, and that relatively new rare mutations also decrease an individual's ability to taste PTC.
Comparing different African populations confirmed that the PTC-sensitivity gene is millions of years old, meaning it predates the evolution of modern humans and likely existed in the common ancestor of modern humans and Neanderthals.
The study also revealed something surprising: local diet did not have an effect on the evolution of any of the PTC-sensitivity gene variants.
"Although we typically see a lot of genetic variation among diverse African populations, the frequency of TAS2R38 variants is fairly similar across different ethnicities, cultures and diets," Campbell said. "This is suggestive that variation at this gene serves some other function beyond oral sensory perception."
This counter-intuitive discovery is in line with other recent studies, which found receptors similar to TAS2R38 in the lungs, upper airways and gut. If the variations of the TAS2R38 gene have had a heretofore-undiscovered impact on breathing or digesting, alongside tasting, the former traits might be the true focus of natural selection.
"Why are we 'tasting' in our guts or in our lungs? There must be something else," Tishkoff said, "that these taste receptors are doing, and it must be a pretty important physiological process, otherwise these variants wouldn't be maintained."
"We now believe the chemical senses play key sentinel roles at points of entry to the body like the mouth, airways and gastro-intestinal tract," Breslin said. "It is possible that, in addition to detecting bitter-tasting thyroid toxins, products of this gene help to defend against ubiquitous pan-African threats, such as inhaling injurious compounds or growing undesirable bacteria in airway mucus or intestines."
###
In addition to Tishkoff and Campbell, the research was conducted by postdoctoral fellows Alessia Ranciaro and Jibril B. Hirbo, both of the genetics department in Penn's Perelman School of Medicine; undergraduate student Daniel Zinshteyn of the biology department in the School of Arts and Sciences; Breslin; Alain Froment of the Muse de L'Homme; Sabah Omar of Kenya Medical Research Institute; Jean-Marie Bodo of Cameroon's Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation; Thomas Nyambo and Godfrey Lema of Tanzania's Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences; and Dennis Drayna of the NIH's National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and a David and Lucile Packard Career Award.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Penn geneticists help show bitter taste perception is not just about flavorsPublic release date: 6-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Evan Lerner elerner@upenn.edu 215-573-6604 University of Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA -- Long the bane of picky eaters everywhere, broccoli's taste is not just a matter of having a cultured palate; some people can easily taste a bitter compound in the vegetable that others have difficulty detecting. Now a team of Penn researchers has helped uncover the evolutionary history of one of the genes responsible for this trait. Beyond showing the ancient origins of the gene, the researchers discovered something unexpected: something other than taste must have driven its evolution.
The team was led by Penn researchers Sarah Tishkoff, a Penn Integrates Knowledge professor with appointments in the genetics department in Penn's Perelman School of Medicine and the biology department in the School of Arts and Sciences, and Michael C. Campbell, a postdoctoral fellow in the genetics department at the medical school, and included undergraduate and postdoctoral researchers from both the genetics and biology departments. The team included their collaborator Paul Breslin from the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia and Rutgers University and researchers from the Muse de L'Homme in France, the National Institutes of Health and several African universities and research institutes.
Their research was published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.
The researchers were interested in the gene TAS2R38, which codes for a bitter taste receptor protein with the same name. People with a certain version of that gene can taste a compound, phenylthiocarbamide, or PTC, which is chemically similar to naturally occurring bitter compounds, called glucosinolates, present in many foods, including cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts. These "tasters" find such foods to have a bitter taste that people with a different version can't detect. As a result, "nontasters" have been shown to consume fewer cruciferous vegetables.
Modern humans originated in Africa, and populations from that region have the highest levels of genetic diversity globally. Previous studies had looked at variations in the PTC-sensitivity gene, but none had ever studied a large sample of diverse African populations with different cultures, ethnicities or diets.
"Because there is more genetic variation in African populations, you're likely to see unique variants you may not see elsewhere," Tishkoff said. "Our study of variation at the TAS2R38 gene in Africa and correlations with taste perception and diet gives us a clue about the evolutionary history of the gene and how natural selection might be influencing the pattern of variation."
Genes that influence perception are of particular interest to geneticists because those genes are under strong evolutionary pressure; organisms with senses that are well adapted to their environment have better chances to survive and reproduce. PTC-sensitivity's potential impact on nutrition, or the ability to detect bitter-tasting toxins, would therefore make it an obvious target for natural selection.
By looking at the TAS2R38 gene in 611 Africans from 57 diverse ethnic populations with distinct diets (for example, Pygmy hunter-gatherers and Maasai pastoralists), as well as in 132 non-Africans, the researchers showed that Africans had more variation than non-Africans, including several never-before-seen rare mutations.
The researchers also tested the correlation between genetic variation at this gene and levels of PTC tasting ability in 463 Africans, another first-of-its-kind study. In an experiment that was challenging to carry out across a wide swath of the African continent, participants sampled successively concentrated solutions of PTC and water until they were able to detect the bitter taste. When correlated with the participants' genetic data, the study revealed that Africans have a broader range of PTC taste sensitivity than typically seen outside of Africa, and that relatively new rare mutations also decrease an individual's ability to taste PTC.
Comparing different African populations confirmed that the PTC-sensitivity gene is millions of years old, meaning it predates the evolution of modern humans and likely existed in the common ancestor of modern humans and Neanderthals.
The study also revealed something surprising: local diet did not have an effect on the evolution of any of the PTC-sensitivity gene variants.
"Although we typically see a lot of genetic variation among diverse African populations, the frequency of TAS2R38 variants is fairly similar across different ethnicities, cultures and diets," Campbell said. "This is suggestive that variation at this gene serves some other function beyond oral sensory perception."
This counter-intuitive discovery is in line with other recent studies, which found receptors similar to TAS2R38 in the lungs, upper airways and gut. If the variations of the TAS2R38 gene have had a heretofore-undiscovered impact on breathing or digesting, alongside tasting, the former traits might be the true focus of natural selection.
"Why are we 'tasting' in our guts or in our lungs? There must be something else," Tishkoff said, "that these taste receptors are doing, and it must be a pretty important physiological process, otherwise these variants wouldn't be maintained."
"We now believe the chemical senses play key sentinel roles at points of entry to the body like the mouth, airways and gastro-intestinal tract," Breslin said. "It is possible that, in addition to detecting bitter-tasting thyroid toxins, products of this gene help to defend against ubiquitous pan-African threats, such as inhaling injurious compounds or growing undesirable bacteria in airway mucus or intestines."
###
In addition to Tishkoff and Campbell, the research was conducted by postdoctoral fellows Alessia Ranciaro and Jibril B. Hirbo, both of the genetics department in Penn's Perelman School of Medicine; undergraduate student Daniel Zinshteyn of the biology department in the School of Arts and Sciences; Breslin; Alain Froment of the Muse de L'Homme; Sabah Omar of Kenya Medical Research Institute; Jean-Marie Bodo of Cameroon's Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation; Thomas Nyambo and Godfrey Lema of Tanzania's Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences; and Dennis Drayna of the NIH's National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and a David and Lucile Packard Career Award.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Hollywood star Tom Cruise poses in front of the landmark Taj Mahal in Agra, India, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. Cruise is in the country on a promotional tour of his new film "Mission: Impossible_ Ghost Protocol. (AP Photo/ Manish Swarup)
Hollywood star Tom Cruise poses in front of the landmark Taj Mahal in Agra, India, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. Cruise is in the country on a promotional tour of his new film "Mission: Impossible_ Ghost Protocol. (AP Photo/ Manish Swarup)
Hollywood star Tom Cruise poses in front of the landmark Taj Mahal in Agra, India, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. (AP Photo/ Manish Swarup)
Hollywood star Tom Cruise, right, poses in front of the landmark Taj Mahal along with co-star Anil Kapoor in Agra, India, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. Cruise is in the country on a promotional tour of his new film "Mission: Impossible_Ghost Protocol." (AP Photo/ Manish Swarup)
Hollywood star Tom Cruise poses in front of the landmark Taj Mahal in Agra, India, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. Cruise is in the country on a promotional tour of his new film "Mission: Impossible_Ghost Protocol." (AP Photo/ Manish Swarup)
Hollywood star Tom Cruise, center right, and co-star Anil Kapoor take a tour of the landmark Taj Mahal in Agra, India, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. Cruise is in the country on a promotional tour of his new film "Mission: Impossible_Ghost Protocol." (AP Photo/ Manish Swarup)
NEW DELHI (AP) ? Hollywood star Tom Cruise says his visit to India this week follows a lifelong desire to see the country.
He said while touring the iconic, white-marble Taj Mahal mausoleum in Agra that he is "very excited" about being in the country for a fan screening of his latest action-thriller, "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol," days ahead of its world premiere on Wednesday.
Cruise joins Bollywood star Anil Kapoor for the red-carpet screening Sunday in Mumbai. The film sees Cruise reprise his role as secret agent Ethan Hunt, while Kapoor plays an Indian business tycoon.
Cruise told Press Trust of India on Saturday, "I wanted to come to India my whole life, so I am very excited."
When an energized U.S. delegation arrived in Copenhagen for world climate talks two years ago, environmentalists were encouraged by its willingness to tackle global warming.
In the months before Copenhagen, the House of Representatives had passed climate change legislation, and the new Obama administration had crafted an agreement with the auto industry to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the main contributor to global warming.
But now, halfway through a two-week round of climate talks in Durban, South Africa, that excitement has disappeared. Weakened by reversals in Congress and the ailing economy as a presidential election looms, the U.S. delegation has staked out a position that has confused and frustrated environmentalists and other nations.
Doubts have arisen about Washington's willingness to cut emissions more substantially and its commitment to follow through on helping developing countries already battling climate change, people at the talks said.
The U.S. has shown up "empty-handed, with questions about whether it will be able to meet the emissions-reduction pledge President Obama put forward before Copenhagen," said Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
"The question now is whether the U.S. will facilitate progress or block it," said David Waskow, climate change program director at Oxfam America.
The administration and some allies have pushed back against the mounting criticism, pointing to new rules the U.S. adopted to cut auto emissions and progress at last year's climate talks in Cancun, Mexico, to aid developing countries.
"The United States is committed to meeting the climate challenge," said Todd Stern, U.S. special envoy for climate change. "Thanks in significant part to U.S. leadership, the Cancun agreements reached last year included commitments for the first time from all major economies, developed and developing alike, and principles for a system of transparency so that all countries can see whether others are meeting their commitments. There is, of course, much more to be done, but we have made an important start."
As representatives from the nations of the world began meeting last week in Durban at the 17th United Nations Climate Change Conference, they were confronted with increasingly dire news.
Global temperatures in the last decade were the hottest ever recorded, and greenhouse gas emissions are at their highest levels, according to a report by the World Meteorological Organization. Without more aggressive efforts to reduce emissions, the world will miss the chance to keep the global average temperature from rising to more dangerous levels, the International Energy Agency recently said.
Many countries and environmentalists contend that the incremental, voluntary efforts championed by the U.S., China and other big emitters of greenhouse gases have proved inadequate in slowing climate change.
On Wednesday, the chief executives of 16 major environmental groups sent U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton a blunt letter asking that the United States abandon its negotiating positions.
"America risks being viewed not as a global leader on climate change but as a major obstacle to progress," said the letter, whose signatories include the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife and the Environmental Defense Fund. "U.S. positions on two major issues ? the mandate for future negotiations and climate finance ? threaten to impede in Durban the global cooperation so desperately needed to address the threat of climate change."
Environmentalists and developing nations are pushing to begin talks that would eventually lead to the ratification of a legally binding worldwide agreement.
The only such agreement so far, the Kyoto Protocol, which was adopted in 1997 and went into effect in 2005, will expire at the end of next year. The protocol's participants committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 5.2% below 1990 levels. The U.S. did not ratify the accord. The European Union did. EU members and many other nations would like to see the protocol extended as countries work to establish another agreement that would go past 2020.
The U.S. has a history of playing hardball at climate talks. But this time, participants are dismayed that the Obama administration insists on preconditions to negotiations for a legally binding agreement that major emitters such as China and India are unlikely to accept. For instance, Washington seeks unconditional commitments from developing countries to reduce emissions to certain levels, when it remains unclear whether they will get the financial or technological support to do so.
"I think the Americans are nervous that the Republicans are watching what they say and do," Meyer said from Durban. "They are being very careful so that their position can't be distorted and used against the president on this issue. That's perhaps why they're being more hard line."
Under a nonbinding accord reached in Copenhagen, participants agreed to cut emissions based on voluntary targets in order to keep the global average temperature from rising 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2020. That temperature has risen almost 1 degree Celsius so far.
Some environmental analysts are more sympathetic to the Obama administration's position.
"This obsession with a legally binding treaty is an obstacle for countries achieving targets they have committed to," said Paul Bledsoe, a former spokesman for the White House Climate Change Task Force under President Clinton. "What we need is national will to reach stated goals."
MIAMI (AP) ? All-Star closer Heath Bell has agreed to a $27 million, three-year contract with the Miami Marlins, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press
The person spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because the deal had not yet been announced. The agreement,.which is subject to a physical, is the first free-agent deal for the Marlins since they began courtships last month with several top players. The deal was first reported by ESPN.
Bell had more than 40 saves each of the past three seasons for the San Diego Padres. This year he had 43 in 48 chances with a 2.44 ERA.
The Marlins are uncertain of the availability of their closer this year, Leo Nunez. He's on the restricted list after he admitted to playing under an assumed name.
Nunez, whose real name is Juan Oviedo, had 36 saves in 42 chances this year with a 4.06 ERA.
The Marlins' move into a new ballpark next year has improved their financial outlook, allowing them to become more active in free agency. They've courted slugger Albert Pujols, shortstop Jose Reyes and left-handers Mark Buehrle and C.J. Wilson, and they're interested in Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes.
Pujols remains a long shot, but the Marlins have high hopes of signing at least a couple of the others as they prepare to move into a new ballpark.
The burly Bell was an All-Star for the third consecutive season this year, and made his appearance in the game memorable by sliding onto the infield grass before he took the ball to pitch. He'll be reunited in Miami with former Padres relievers Ryan Webb and Edward Mujica, who joined the Marlins a year ago.
___
AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.
RICHMOND, Va. ? Doctors expect two formerly conjoined toddlers from the Dominican Republic to return home by Christmas after recovering from separation surgery in Virginia.
Maria and Teresa Tapia underwent complicated, nearly daylong surgery on Nov. 8 at the Children's Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University. In a series of procedures, the surgical team divided the twins' liver, pancreas and other shared organ systems and reconstructed their abdominal walls.
"They are enjoying life now that they're separated," said their mother, Lisandra Sanatis. "They enjoy seeing themselves as individuals."
While they're getting accustomed to exploring their surroundings separately, they still stay near each other and hold hands when they walk.
After being in Richmond for several months now, Sanatis says she and her daughters are more than ready to leave the confines of the hospital and are anxious to return to their family in their native country.
"We're missing our family, and the girls miss their little brother, Lisander," Sanatis said.
They also haven't acquired a taste for American fare ? including hospital meals ? preferring instead to get takeout Dominican food, including the traditional beans and rice and other dishes.
Well-wishers have extended their support, including Rocio Castanos, a friend of the Dominican first lady who popped in Thursday for a visit on the twins' last full day in the hospital. Castanos, who lives in Richmond, brought each girl a stuffed animal and offered to cook them some sancocho, a traditional Dominican soup.
Dr. David Lanning, a surgeon and head of the medical team that is caring for the 20-month-old girls, says both children have been recovering well.
Maria, the smaller of the two, weighs about 19 pounds, and Teresa weighs about 26 pounds. Lanning expects the disparity in their weight, caused by the configuration of their small intestines and blood flow from the liver, to gradually even out.
Maria's pancreas is slow to produce digestive enzymes, but she is taking replacement enzymes. Teresa is undergoing treatment on the incision where the girls were separated.
The toddlers were scheduled to leave the hospital Friday. They will remain in Richmond while they undergo outpatient therapy to relearn walking and otherwise reorient their movements now that they're no longer attached.
___
Zinie Chen Sampson can be reached on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/zinie.
Half a century after Northwest Airlines Flight 4422 slammed into the side of 4,950-meter Mount Sanford in eastern Alaska's Wrangell Mountains, killing all 30 men on board, commercial pilots Kevin McGregor and Marc Millican found the wreckage embedded in a glacier. After searching fruitlessly for the debris from the air, McGregor and Millican undertook several arduous treks on foot on the glacier.Watch this slide show to see some of the photos McGregor took during the climbs, and hear him talk about the quest to find the wreckage of NW 4422.
McGregor and Millican faced such dangers as sudden snowfall, grizzly bears and hidden crevasses in the remote backcountry. On one of their visits to the site after locating the wreckage, they found a severed human arm complete with its hand embedded in the ice. Read about the scientific challenge of identifying the remains in "Arm in the Ice" by Colleen Fitzpatrick (preview) in the December 2011 issue of Scientific American.
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Public release date: 6-Dec-2011
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