Much of the country's midsection will face severe storms and a high risk of tornadoes. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
By Erin McClam and John Newland, NBC News
Blizzard warnings were in effect Tuesday in Colorado, where the temperature plunged more than 50 degrees in less than 24 hours and the wind chill approached zero. Forecasters also expect hurricane-force blasts of frigid air in Utah and heavy snow in the Dakotas.
The culprit is a deep dip in the jet stream that swung west and pulled arctic air far into the country. As it collides with warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, strong storms and tornadoes are possible in the Great Plains and Texas.
?It?s just brutal to be outside,? said Eric Fisher, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel.
Full coverage from Weather.com
In Denver, the temperature plummeted from 71 degrees at 2 p.m. Monday to 16 degrees at 7 a.m. Tuesday, with a wind chill of 1. More than 300 flights had been canceled into and out of Denver since Monday night.
Forecasters said Denver could get as much as 11 inches of snow and South Dakota more than a foot, with snow stretching as far north and east as Minnesota and Nebraska. In Utah, wind gusts of 75 mph were possible, The Weather Channel reported.
The calendar may say spring, but April is the second-snowiest month of the year in Denver. The city has averaged 9 inches in April since 1882, second only to the 11.5 inches it gets in an average March, according to the National Weather Service.
Seth Wenig / AP
Kids including Branden Rivera, 9, spray each other with water from a drinking fountain while enjoying the warm weather in New York on Monday. Things may not be so pleasant later this week, as a massive storm system moves east.
The weather pattern threatened to bring damaging wind, large hail and perhaps tornadoes to parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa, and weaker storms later in the day in the Ohio Valley.
?We?re looking at the gamut today for severe weather,? Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth said.
As the system moves east, severe storms are possible Wednesday across a boomerang-shaped swath of the country from the Texas Gulf Coast north through Indiana and into western Pennsylvania.
Severe storms could move into Georgia, West Virginia and the Carolinas on Thursday.
This story was originally published on Tue Apr 9, 2013 4:59 AM EDT
CHICAGO (AP) ? Former Illinois state Rep. Robin Kelly, whose campaign received a $2 million boost from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, easily captured Tuesday's special election to replace former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.
The win for the Matteson Democrat was widely expected as the Chicago-area district, which Jackson represented from 1995 until late last year, has been a Democratic stronghold for roughly six decades. Kelly emerged from a crowded field in the February primary by focusing heavily on anti-gun efforts and was helped by ads from Bloomberg's super PAC.
Kelly, 56, vowed to become a leader in the federal fight for gun control legislation and echoed the promise after her win.
"I'll continue to speak about it in the district. I'll continue to be in touch with those who have lost their children. I'll speak out where I can in D.C.," she told The Associated Press before her victory speech in Matteson.
She easily won over Republican community activist Paul McKinley, three independent candidates and a Green Party candidate in the district that includes city neighborhoods, suburbs and rural areas.
Her win also marked the end of an era for voters who had supported Jackson at the polls with healthy majorities each election after he took office. The Chicago Democrat stepped down in November after a mysterious medical leave where full details were never disclosed to the public. He cited his health and acknowledged he was under federal investigation in his resignation letter.
Months later ? as campaigning to replace him ramped up ? he pleaded guilty to charges that he misspent $750,000 in campaign funds on everything from toilet paper to furs.
Jackson was the third congressman in the district to leave under an ethical cloud, and many voters said Tuesday that they were just ready for a change.
"It hurt my heart. I had him way up here on a pedestal," said Robert Pierson, a Dolton resident who cast a ballot for Kelly on Tuesday. "I hope this time we are going to get it right."
Other voters said it was Kelly's attention to anti-gun efforts that made her an attractive candidate. Guns became the top issue during the campaign ? particularly before the primary ? and ads from Bloomberg's PAC played up that Kelly supports an assault weapons ban. The television spots also targeted one of her primary opponents, former one-term U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson, who has received favorable ratings from the National Rifle Association.
Some voters, and certainly Kelly's political opponents, questioned the outside involvement. There were allegations of Kelly colluding with Bloomberg, which is prohibited. She dismissed those claims.
However, some voters said Tuesday they didn't mind Bloomberg's involvement, particularly on the issue of guns and violence. The election comes as Chicago has seen an uptick in murders.
"Mayor Bloomberg, he's for right," said 62-year-old suburban Chicago voter Ted Norwood, who cast a vote for Kelly. "He speaks for everybody."
After her primary win, Kelly received praise from Bloomberg and Vice President Joe Biden, and she recently received an endorsement from President Barack Obama, who noted her anti-gun efforts.
McKinley, 54, had portrayed himself as an anti-establishment candidate, blasting Chicago's machine politics. McKinley is an ex-convict who served prison time for robbery and other charges. On the campaign trail, he talked about his reintegration into society and how it made him a voice for inmates.
He said Tuesday that he wished Kelly good luck.
"The voters have voted, and she must work for the voters and not for the machine," he told the AP.
When Kelly heads to Washington she will face other challenges. She'll be taking over after Jackson, a nearly 17-year incumbent with a spot on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.
Despite Jackson's legal problems at the end of his career ? he was under a House Ethics Committee investigation for ties to ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich ? he brought home close to $1 billion in federal money to the district. He also had strong ties with community leaders and a family legacy. His wife was a former Chicago City Council member, and he's the son of civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Kelly said she's ready for the challenge and had already considered where to set up constituent offices in the district that overlaps with some of her old legislative district. Kelly served two terms as a representative in the Illinois House.
Voter turnout was low in several parts of the district. Tuesday's special election coincided with municipal elections ? not including Chicago, which elected its mayor and City Council in 2011. Early estimates for city precincts were roughly 8 percent with an anticipated 12 percent by day's end. Election officials said turnout was expected to be higher than the 2009 special election to replace Rahm Emanuel, who left Congress to be President Obama's chief of staff. In that year, roughly 10 percent of city voters went to the polls.
Turnout was higher in the suburbs, particularly areas with contested municipal elections.
Jackson, who has stayed out of the public eye since his medical leave last summer, appeared in federal court in February, where his wife Sandi Jackson also pleaded guilty. He faces up to 57 months ? more than four years ? in prison and a fine, under a plea deal with prosecutors.
___
Contact Sophia Tareen at https://www.twitter.com/sophiatareen .
T cell biology pioneer Allison wins first AACR honor for cancer immunologyPublic release date: 10-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Scott Merville smerville@mdanderson.org 713-792-0661 University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
Discoverer of drug to treat T cells, not tumors, receives inaugural AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology
WASHINGTON, D.C. The scientist whose discoveries led to the first drug approved for metastatic melanoma by "treating the immune system, not the cancer," also is the first to receive the AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology.
James Allison, Ph.D., professor and chair of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Department of Immunology, was honored today at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013 in Washington, D.C.
The American Association for Cancer Research and the Cancer Research Institute launched the award to recognize the increasing importance of immunology in cancer treatment and to honor Old, who died last year at 78 after a path-breaking career in immunology research and leadership.
"I'm delighted and honored to be given this award named for Lloyd Old, who is widely considered to be the father of cancer immunotherapy. I was fortunate in knowing Dr. Old as a mentor, but also as a close friend," Allison said.
"This new award by AACR and CRI recognizes individuals, but it's also gratifying recognition of the growing prominence of immune therapy and of our progress towards fulfilling Dr. Old's goal of unleashing the immune system against cancer," Allison said.
Antibody blocks inhibitor of T cell response
Allison's basic science discoveries about the immune system led to his identification and development of ipilimumab, known commercially as Yervoy, a monoclonal antibody that blocks a molecule on the surface of T cells that acts as a brake on the immune system.
About 23 percent of patients with late stage metastatic melanoma who took ipilimumab in clinical trials have lived for five years or longer, unheard of in stage 4 melanoma patients. The drug was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May 2011.
"Our goal is to accelerate the transition of new drugs and rational combinations based on mechanistic insight into the clinic," Allison said. "These approaches have proven effective in the treatment of melanoma and prostate cancer, and there is no reason that immunotherapy, since it targets the immune system and not the cancer cell, shouldn't be effective against a broad range of cancer types."
The drug has been used in more than 4,000 patients with a variety of cancers, including clinical trials for prostate, renal, lung and ovarian cancers.
The immune system routinely recognizes and destroys abnormal cells, but cancer cells manage to evade detection and attack. Old and colleagues believed that the immune system is ideally suited to wipe out cancer if those problems can be overcome, an unpopular view for decades.
Allison's discoveries in T cell biology built the foundation for him to identify and advance ipilimumab. T cells are lymphocytes, a white blood cell with receptors to recognize and bind to antigens, allowing the T cells to launch a customized attack on viruses, bacteria, abnormal cells and proteins.
Allison discovered:
The T cell antigen receptor used by T cells to bind to and recognize antigens.
T cells require a second signal to launch an immune response after they've bound to an antigen. B7 molecules on presenting cells must engage a surface molecule called CD28 on the T cell.
An immune-inhibiting molecule called CTLA-4 inhibits activated T cells to protect normal tissue from attack. CTLA-4 apparently also protects cancer cells from attack.
Ipilimumab is an antibody that blocks CTLA-4's docking station on T cells.
Allison was chair of the immunology program and director of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Immunotherapy at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He started at MD Anderson on Nov. 1. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, as well as a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology was established to recognize an active scientist whose outstanding and innovative research in cancer immunology has had a far-reaching impact on the cancer field. CRI is the world's only nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to harnessing the immune system's power to conquer cancer.
Old was scientific director of CRI for 40 years and also a researcher at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in New York.
The AACR also announced the electronic launch of its newest journal, Cancer Immunology Research, which will publish original articles on major advances in cancer immunology. A print preview issue was distributed at the annual meeting.
###
AACR is the world's first and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. AACR membership includes more than 34,000 laboratory, translational and clinical researchers; population scientists; other health care professionals; and cancer advocates in more than 90 countries. About 18,000 people attended the 2013 annual meeting.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
T cell biology pioneer Allison wins first AACR honor for cancer immunologyPublic release date: 10-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Scott Merville smerville@mdanderson.org 713-792-0661 University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
Discoverer of drug to treat T cells, not tumors, receives inaugural AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology
WASHINGTON, D.C. The scientist whose discoveries led to the first drug approved for metastatic melanoma by "treating the immune system, not the cancer," also is the first to receive the AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology.
James Allison, Ph.D., professor and chair of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Department of Immunology, was honored today at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013 in Washington, D.C.
The American Association for Cancer Research and the Cancer Research Institute launched the award to recognize the increasing importance of immunology in cancer treatment and to honor Old, who died last year at 78 after a path-breaking career in immunology research and leadership.
"I'm delighted and honored to be given this award named for Lloyd Old, who is widely considered to be the father of cancer immunotherapy. I was fortunate in knowing Dr. Old as a mentor, but also as a close friend," Allison said.
"This new award by AACR and CRI recognizes individuals, but it's also gratifying recognition of the growing prominence of immune therapy and of our progress towards fulfilling Dr. Old's goal of unleashing the immune system against cancer," Allison said.
Antibody blocks inhibitor of T cell response
Allison's basic science discoveries about the immune system led to his identification and development of ipilimumab, known commercially as Yervoy, a monoclonal antibody that blocks a molecule on the surface of T cells that acts as a brake on the immune system.
About 23 percent of patients with late stage metastatic melanoma who took ipilimumab in clinical trials have lived for five years or longer, unheard of in stage 4 melanoma patients. The drug was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May 2011.
"Our goal is to accelerate the transition of new drugs and rational combinations based on mechanistic insight into the clinic," Allison said. "These approaches have proven effective in the treatment of melanoma and prostate cancer, and there is no reason that immunotherapy, since it targets the immune system and not the cancer cell, shouldn't be effective against a broad range of cancer types."
The drug has been used in more than 4,000 patients with a variety of cancers, including clinical trials for prostate, renal, lung and ovarian cancers.
The immune system routinely recognizes and destroys abnormal cells, but cancer cells manage to evade detection and attack. Old and colleagues believed that the immune system is ideally suited to wipe out cancer if those problems can be overcome, an unpopular view for decades.
Allison's discoveries in T cell biology built the foundation for him to identify and advance ipilimumab. T cells are lymphocytes, a white blood cell with receptors to recognize and bind to antigens, allowing the T cells to launch a customized attack on viruses, bacteria, abnormal cells and proteins.
Allison discovered:
The T cell antigen receptor used by T cells to bind to and recognize antigens.
T cells require a second signal to launch an immune response after they've bound to an antigen. B7 molecules on presenting cells must engage a surface molecule called CD28 on the T cell.
An immune-inhibiting molecule called CTLA-4 inhibits activated T cells to protect normal tissue from attack. CTLA-4 apparently also protects cancer cells from attack.
Ipilimumab is an antibody that blocks CTLA-4's docking station on T cells.
Allison was chair of the immunology program and director of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Immunotherapy at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He started at MD Anderson on Nov. 1. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, as well as a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology was established to recognize an active scientist whose outstanding and innovative research in cancer immunology has had a far-reaching impact on the cancer field. CRI is the world's only nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to harnessing the immune system's power to conquer cancer.
Old was scientific director of CRI for 40 years and also a researcher at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in New York.
The AACR also announced the electronic launch of its newest journal, Cancer Immunology Research, which will publish original articles on major advances in cancer immunology. A print preview issue was distributed at the annual meeting.
###
AACR is the world's first and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. AACR membership includes more than 34,000 laboratory, translational and clinical researchers; population scientists; other health care professionals; and cancer advocates in more than 90 countries. About 18,000 people attended the 2013 annual meeting.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
Traditionally, healthcare managers -- whether they be health plans, care organizations, brokers or employers -- have struggled to get their members to engage with their wellness programs and heath tools. Founded in 2009, Denver-based startup, WellTok, has been on a mission to help health plan providers boost engagement by providing a suite of Web and mobile social media-based solutions. Through a social health management platform, the startup is essentially looking to help health plans "consumerize" their services, leveraging the ease-of-use, accessibility and social and mobile functionality now inherent to so many consumer-facing products to improve the user experience of their health plans.
Apr. 8, 2013 ? An exploding star observed in 1604 by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler held a greater fraction of heavy elements than the sun, according to an analysis of X-ray observations from the Japan-led Suzaku satellite. The findings will help astronomers better understand the diversity of type Ia supernovae, an important class of stellar explosion used in probing the distant universe.
"The composition of the star, its environment, and the mechanism of the explosion may vary considerably among type Ia supernovae," said Sangwook Park, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Texas at Arlington. "By better understanding them, we can fine-tune our knowledge of the universe beyond our galaxy and improve cosmological models that depend on those measurements."
The best way to explore the star's makeup is to perform a kind of post-mortem examination on the shell of hot, rapidly expanding gas produced by the explosion. By identifying specific chemical signatures in the supernova remnant, astronomers can obtain a clearer picture of the composition of the star before it blew up.
"Kepler's supernova is one of the most recent type Ia explosions known in our galaxy, so it represents an essential link to improving our knowledge of these events," said Carles Badenes, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh.
Using the Suzaku satellite's X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS), the astronomers observed the remnant of Kepler's supernova in 2009 and 2011. With a total effective XIS exposure of more than two weeks, the X-ray spectrum reveals several faint emission features from highly ionized chromium, manganese and nickel in addition to a bright emission line from iron. The detection of all four elements was crucial for understanding the original star.
"Suzaku's XIS instrument is uniquely suited to this type of study thanks to its excellent energy resolution, high sensitivity and low background noise," said team member Koji Mori, an associate professor of applied physics at the University of Miyazaki, Japan.
Cosmologists regard type Ia supernovae as "standard candles" because they release similar amounts of energy. By comparing this standard to the observed peak brightness of a type Ia supernova, astronomers can pin down its distance. Their similarity stems from the fact that the exploding star is always a compact stellar remnant known as a white dwarf.
Although a white dwarf star is perfectly stable on its own, pair it with another white dwarf or a normal star and the situation eventually may turn volatile. The normal star may transfer gas onto the white dwarf, where it gradually accumulates. Or the orbits of binary white dwarfs may shrink until the two objects merge.
Either way, once a white dwarf begins tipping the scales at around 1.4 times the sun's mass, a supernova soon follows. Somewhere within the white dwarf, carbon nuclei begin merging together, forming heavier elements and releasing a vast amount of energy. This wave of nuclear fusion rapidly propagates throughout the star, ultimately shattering it in a brilliant explosion that can be detected billions of light-years away.
Astronomers can track some details of the white dwarf's composition by determining the abundance of certain trace elements, such as manganese, that formed during the explosion. Specifically, the ratio of manganese to chromium produced by the explosion turns out to be sensitive to the presence of a neutron-rich version of neon, called neon-22. Establishing the star's neon-22 content gives scientists a guide to the abundance of all other elements heavier than helium, which astronomers call "metals."
The findings provide strong evidence that the original white dwarf possessed roughly three times the amount of metals found in the sun. Progressive stellar generations seed interstellar gas with increasing proportions of metals. The remnant, which lies about 23,000 light-years away toward the constellation Ophiuchus, lies much closer to our galaxy's crowded central region than the sun does. There, star formation was probably more rapid and efficient. As a result, the star that blazed forth as Kepler's supernova likely formed out of material that already was enriched with a higher fraction of metals.
Park, Badenes, Mori and their colleagues discuss the findings in a paper scheduled for publication in the April 10 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters and now available online.
While the Suzaku results do not directly address which type of binary system triggered the supernova, they indicate that the white dwarf was probably no more than a billion years old when it exploded, or less than a quarter of the sun's current age.
"Theories indicate that the star's age and metal content affect the peak luminosity of type Ia supernovae," Park explained. "Younger stars likely produce brighter explosions than older ones, which is why understanding the spread of ages among type Ia supernovae is so important."
In 2011, astrophysicists from the United States and Australia won the Nobel Prize in physics for the discovery that the expansion of the universe is picking up speed, a conclusion based on measurements of type Ia supernovae. An enigmatic force called dark energy appears to be responsible for this acceleration, and understanding its nature is now a top science goal. Recent findings by the European Space Agency's Planck satellite reveal that dark energy makes up 68 percent of the universe.
Launched on July 10, 2005, Suzaku was developed at the Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), which is part of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), in collaboration with NASA and other Japanese and U.S. institutions.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Sangwook Park, Carles Badenes, Koji Mori, Ryohei Kaida, Eduardo Bravo, Andrew Schenck, Kristoffer A. Eriksen, John P. Hughes, Patrick O. Slane, David N. Burrows, Jae-Joon Lee. A SUPER-SOLAR METALLICITY FOR THE PROGENITOR OF KEPLER'S SUPERNOVA. The Astrophysical Journal, 2013; 767 (1): L10 DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/767/1/L10
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Posted on
04/8/2013 by
Tamara Lytle
| Washington Watch | Comments
Bulletin Today | Personal Health | Politics Print
President Obama first nominated Marilyn Tavenner to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) almost 2-1/2 years ago. She?s been running the agency, the federal government?s largest, as acting administrator for more than a year. CMS has a $820 billion budget, oversees health insurance for 100 million Americans and is charged with implementing the health care law.
Related: Sequester Fallout: Where Will Medicare Patients Get Chemo?
On April 9, the Senate Finance Committee will hold her confirmation hearing.
Here are five things you should know about Tavenner.
She started out as a nurse. Her first post was in intensive care at Johnson-Wills Hospital in Richmond, Va.
She has a collaborative managerial style. ?I think one of the things that is so critical about how nurses view the world,? she said in an interview with Nurse.com, ?is that you are looking at how do you get everybody involved in the process, whether it?s family, whether it?s staff.? She encourages discussion from all sides, but once a decision is made, she said, ?We all move forward together.? That doesn?t sound like someone anxious to shake things up.
Her proudest accomplishment: improved electronic record-keeping. Tavenner told the Washington Post?s Sarah Kliff: ?? over the last few years we?ve passed the hump on IT adoption by hospitals, so we?re seeing much higher numbers and much more sophisticated use of technology. We?re seeing doctors come on board.?
She sees hope for slowing increases in health care costs. Tavenner says it?s not just a temporary blip from the recession. ?[S]ome of the changes we?re doing, whether payment reduction or delivery system reform, I think we?re seeing all of those coming together in a way that?s making a permanent difference.?
She?s the best chance for confirmation in years. The position has been a?political football in the battle over Obama?s health care reform. (There?s been no permanent head of the agency since 2006.)?But it can?t hurt that on Feb. 13 House Republican Leader Eric Cantor Tweeted, ?Marilyn Tavenner is eminently qualified to be Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.?
?
Also of Interest
?
See the AARP home page for deals, savings tips, trivia and more
?
Tagged: health care reform, Marilyn Tavenner, medicaid, Medicare, tamara lytle, Washington Watch??? Share via: Facebook
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talks to reporters traveling abroad with him shortly after finding out their aircraft had a mechanical problem before take off Saturday, April 6, 2013, at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. A backup aircraft was brought in to replace the plane. (AP Photo/Paul J. Richards, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talks to reporters traveling abroad with him shortly after finding out their aircraft had a mechanical problem before take off Saturday, April 6, 2013, at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. A backup aircraft was brought in to replace the plane. (AP Photo/Paul J. Richards, Pool)
ISTANBUL (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Turkish leaders Sunday to speedily restore full diplomatic relations with Israel, two American allies the U.S. sees as anchors of stability in a Middle East wracked by Syria's civil war, Arab Spring political upheavals and the potential threat posed by Iran's nuclear program.
Turkey, however, demanded that Israel end all "embargoes" against the Palestinians first.
In Istanbul on the first leg of a 10-day overseas trip, Kerry met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu with the aim of firming up the rapprochement between Turkey and Israel that President Barack Obama kick-started during a visit to the Jewish state last month.
Kerry met later Sunday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan before traveling on to Israel.
"We would like to see this relationship that is important to stability in the Middle East and critical to the peace process ... get back on track in its full measure," Kerry told reporters at a joint news conference with Davutoglu. He said that meant promises of "compensation be fulfilled, ambassadors be returned and full relations be embraced."
The two nations were once close partners, but the relationship plummeted in 2010 after an Israeli raid on a flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip. Eight Turks and a Turkish-American died.
Before leaving Israel two weeks ago, Obama arranged a telephone conversation between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Erdogan. Netanyahu apologized for the incident, and compensation talks are expected to begin this week.
But Davutoglu suggested that full normalization of ties would probably take some time.
"There is an offense that has been committed and there needs to be accountability," Davutoglu said. He signaled that Turkey would pursue a "careful" advance toward a complete restoration of relations, with compensation and an end to Israeli trade restrictions on the Gaza Strip as the stumbling blocks.
"All of the embargoes should be eliminated once and for all," he said, speaking through an interpreter.
Fixing the Turkish-Israeli relationship has been a long-sought goal of the Obama administration, and the U.S. desperately wants significant progress by the time Erdogan visits the White House in mid-May.
The Turks have reveled somewhat in what they view as a diplomatic victory, with billboards in Ankara celebrating Netanyahu's apology and praising Erdogan for bringing pride to his country. Perhaps seeking to buffer his leverage further, Erdogan signaled shortly after the call that he was in no hurry to finalize the deal and pledged to visit the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory soon.
From a U.S. strategic sense, cooperation between the American allies has only become more important as Syria's two-year conflict has grown ever deadlier. More than 70,000 people have died in the war, according to the United Nations, but the U.S. fears it could get even worse ? by spilling into neighboring countries or through chemical weapons being used. Both potential scenarios have prompted intense contingency planning among Washington and its regional partners, Israel and Turkey included.
Kerry, who noted his twice-weekly telephone chats with Davutoglu, spoke of shared U.S. and Turkish efforts to support Syria's opposition coalition. The opposition has suffered from poor coordination between its political leadership and the military factions leading the fight against the Assad regime, and from intense infighting among those who seek to guide the amorphous movement's overall strategy.
Turkey has gone further than the U.S. in its assistance, accepting some 180,000 Syrians as refugees and sending advanced weaponry to rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad. The U.S. is only providing non-lethal aid to the rebels in the form of meals, medical kits and training.
Kerry praised Turkey for its generosity toward refugees and commitment to keeping its borders open, an issue of growing U.S. concern as the outflow of Syrians stretches the capacities of neighboring countries to accommodate them.
"The United States and Turkey will continue cooperating toward the shared goal of a peaceful transition in Syria," he said.
Although given short shrift at the news conference, a U.S. official stressed ahead of Kerry's meetings that he would also urge the Turks to remain cautious over the contentious issue of Iraqi oil.
Turkey wants to import oil directly from Iraq's autonomous Kurds in the north, a step that would enrage the central government in Baghdad and one the U.S. opposes. Washington doesn't want the riches of Iraq to bring the country back to sectarian warfare and has urged that any export arrangement get the Iraqi government's blessing.
The secretary of state is flying later Sunday to Israel, his third trip there in the span of two weeks. He'll meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Sunday night, followed by Netanyahu and other senior Israeli and Palestinian officials Monday as part of a fresh American bid to unlock the long-stalled Middle East peace process.
Conversations in Israel will also cover shared U.S. and Israeli concerns over Iran's nuclear program. The U.S. and other world powers met the Islamic republic in Kazakhstan for another round of negotiations, but no breakthrough was announced on a proposed deal that would see international sanctions on Iran eased if Tehran convinces the world it is not trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Kerry said the "door is still open" for a negotiated agreement, but that the onus was on the Iranians.
"If you have a peaceful program for nuclear power, as a number of nations do, it's not hard to prove that," he said. "They have chosen not to live up to the international requirements and standards with respect to verification of their program."
The other stops on his trip are Britain, South Korea, China and Japan. He returns to Washington on April 15.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u1N9vLKAUCEHyGRK72obWTt7xGcR00RUVLm730YUcSyK1GVBC2SFc4x-F70rspAdusHSygQ1zVGL-kPZGsw62Sr0BPu9-lB7105j9D900=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 10-Apr-2013
Share ] 
Traditionally, healthcare managers -- whether they be health plans, care organizations, brokers or employers -- have struggled to get their members to engage with their wellness programs and heath tools. Founded in 2009, Denver-based startup, 
On April 9, the Senate Finance Committee will hold her confirmation hearing.