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SUNDAY, Jan. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified three new genomic regions they believe are linked with breast cancer that may help explain why some women develop the disease.

All three newly identified areas "contain interesting genes that open up new avenues for biological and clinical research," said researcher Douglas Easton, a professor of genetic epidemiology at the University of Cambridge in England.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, with about 1 million new cases annually worldwide and more than 400,000 deaths a year.

Scientists conducting genome-wide association studies -- research that looks at the association between genetic factors and disease to pinpoint possible causes -- had already identified 22 breast cancer susceptibility loci. Locus is the physical location of a gene or DNA sequence on a chromosome.

"The three [newly identified] loci take the number of common susceptibility loci from 22 to 25," said Easton.

However, the three new susceptibility loci might explain only about 0.7 percent of the familial risks of breast cancer, bringing the total contribution to about 9 percent, the researchers said.

Michael Melner, scientific program director for the American Cancer Society, said this current research adds some important new clues to existing evidence, but he agreed that the number of cases likely associated with these three variants is probably low.

"So the total impact in terms of patients would be fairly small," Melner said.

The study is published online Jan. 22 in Nature Genetics.

To find the new clues, Easton's team worked with genetic information on about 57,000 breast cancer patients and 58,000 healthy women obtained from two genome-wide association studies.

The investigators zeroed in on 72 different single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A SNP -- pronounced "snip" -- is a change in which a single base in the DNA differs from the usual base. The human genome has millions of SNPs, some linked with disease, while others are normal variations.

The researchers focused on three SNPs -- on chromosomes 12p11, 12q24 and 21q21.

Easton's team found that the variant on the 12p11 chromosome is linked with both estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer (which needs estrogen to grow) and estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer. The other two variants are only linked with ER-positive cancers, they said.

One of the newly identified variants is in an area with a gene that has a role in the development of mammary glands and bones. Easton said it was already known that mammary gland development in puberty is an important period in terms of determining later cancer risk. "But these are the first susceptibility genes to be shown to be involved in this process," he said.

One of the other SNPs is in an area that can affect estrogen receptor signaling, the researchers found.

Melner, noting some of the research is "fine tuning" of other work, said in his view the new understanding of the signaling pathways and their genetic links is the most important finding.

"When you delineate a pathway, you bring up new potential targets for therapy," he said. "The more targets you have, you open up the potential for having multiple drugs and attacking a cancer more easily, without it becoming more resistant."

Overall, Melner added, the results underscore the complexity of the different mechanisms involved in breast cancer development.

More information

For more about the genetics of breast cancer, visit the American Cancer Society.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/biotech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120123/hl_hsn/newgeneticcluestobreastcancer

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NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Verizon Communications may miss analyst expectations for 2012 earnings after posting disappointing fourth quarter results as it was hurt by hefty subsidies for the Apple Inc iPhone.

Verizon shares fell 1.7 percent as investors questioned whether the company is overvalued in comparison to its rival AT&T Inc.

The day before its earnings report Verizon shares were trading at 15 times Wall Street estimates for 2012 earnings compared with AT&T's multiple of just over 12. At that valuation Pacific Crest analyst Steve Clement said investors would have liked a better quarterly report and a more aggressive earnings forecast from Verizon.

Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo told analysts on a conference call that he was still comfortable with an earnings growth forecast he had issued in January 2011, implying a target earnings per share range of $2.42 to $2.55 for this year.

This would imply a mid-point of just below $2.50 earnings per share, which would be below analyst expectations for $2.52, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company also reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $2.02 billion, or 71 cents per share, compared with a profit of $2.64 billion, or 93 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding a $3.4-billion pension-related charge, its 52 cents earnings per share still missed Wall Street expectations for 53 cents per share according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Since Shammo had already warned of higher pension costs for in December, Piper Jaffray analyst Christopher Larsen said investors should not have been surprised by the charge.

But he said Verizon's high valuation have may exacerbated their disappointment over the penny miss on adjusted earnings.

"It's possible that people had baked in expectations for something larger," said Larsen who described the results overall as "reasonably in line" with his expectations.

The Verizon Wireless venture with Vodafone Group Plc reported 1.2 million net new subscribers in line with the expectations of many on Wall Street. Out of six analysts contacted by Reuters, four expected 1.2 million subscribers.

Verizon Wireless' earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) dropped to 42.2 percent of service revenue compared with an EBITDA margin of 47.8 percent in the third quarter.

Shammo had warned in December that smartphone sales would weigh on profits because Verizon subsidizes the cost of every smartphone in order to encourage consumers to sign up for 2-year contracts. The executive said Tuesday that the wireless margin should improve in 2012 but did not give any specific targets.

Since smartphones help subscriber and revenue growth, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Chris King said it was an investment that Verizon needed to make.

"Margins were light but, they activated a hell of a lot of smartphones," King said.

The percentage of Verizon Wireless customers using smartphones rose to 44 percent in the fourth quarter from 39 percent in the third quarter, the company said.

Revenue rose to $28.4 billion from $26.4 billion in the year-ago quarter and compared with analyst expectations for $28.39 billion according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Verizon shares fell 2.2 percent or 85 cents to $37.55 in morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange where AT&T was down 1.2 percent at $30.04.

(Reporting By Sinead Carew; Editing by Derek Caney)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120124/wr_nm/us_verizon

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In this Dec. 19, 2012 file photo, Jeffrey Lacker, President, Richmond Federal Reserve, speaks during the Charlotte Chamber's Economic Outlook Conference in Charlotte, N.C. As the Fed's policy committee meets for the first time this year, its roster of voting members is rotating slightly, as it does each year. And its new makeup suggests fewer members would oppose further steps to boost the economy. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 6, 2007 file photo, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart speaks at an Atlanta Press Club luncheon, in Atlanta, Ga. As the Fed's policy committee meets for the first time in 2012, its roster of voting members is rotating slightly, as it does each year. And its new makeup suggests fewer members would oppose further steps to boost the economy.(AP Photo/Gene Blythe, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? If Chairman Ben Bernanke decides the economy needs more help from the Federal Reserve this year, he probably won't face as much resistance as he did last year.

Call it the changing of the guard.

As the Fed's policy committee meets for the first time this year, its roster of voting members is rotating slightly, as it does each year. And its new makeup suggests fewer members would oppose further steps to boost the economy.

Twice last year, Fed action to try to further lower long-term interest rates drew three dissenting votes out of 10. It was the most dissents in nearly 20 years. The "no" votes came from three regional Fed bank presidents who worried that additional moves to try to reduce long-term rates could fan inflation.

A fourth regional bank president twice dissented last year for the opposite reason: He wanted to go further to help the economy.

All four dissenters have lost their votes on the Fed's policymaking committee.

Replacing them are: Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Richmond regional Fed bank; John Williams of the San Francisco Fed; Sandra Pianalto of the Cleveland Fed; and Dennis Lockhart of the Atlanta Fed.

Should Bernanke push a new bond-buying program, only Lacker is seen as a probable dissent.

Lacker is viewed as the most "hawkish" of the new voting members, Williams the most "dovish." Hawks tend to be most concerned that super-low interest rates could ignite inflation. Doves put a higher priority on boosting the economy and reducing unemployment.

Pianalto and Lockhart are seen as centrists unlikely to break from the majority view.

In the past, the Fed has bought bonds to try to drive down long-term interest rates, encourage borrowing and spending and lift stock prices. The goal is to increase economic growth and hiring.

In December, Lacker told reporters he was "hard-pressed to see the rationale" for any further Fed efforts to increase growth.

Yet overall within the Fed this year, "I think there will be a little less militancy and a little more willingness to move forward with the chairman," predicts Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial.

That said, few economists expect the Fed to pursue more bond purchases soon, unless a European recession were to shrink U.S. economic growth and threaten the gains the economy has made in recent months.

"Bernanke will have the votes to pursue an easier credit policy if he needs to do so, but I just don't think the Fed will go further unless Europe goes bad," said David Wyss, former chief economist at Standard & Poor's. "Things in the U.S. economy are beginning to look better ? not great, but better."

Bernanke already starts the year with a base of support within the Fed. The policy committee normally comprises 12 voting members:

? Seven Fed governors in Washington.

? The president of the New York Fed.

? Four of the 11 other regional bank presidents, who serve one-year rotating terms. This group is where dissents typically come from.

The seven governors, including the chairman, always have a vote. So does the New York Fed's president. All these members traditionally back the chairman.

On the Fed's board, two of the seven seats are vacant, even though President Barack Obama has nominated replacements for them: Jeremy Stein, a Harvard economics professor who is a Democrat, and Jerome Powell, a Treasury official in the George H.W. Bush administration who is a Republican.

Twinning a Democrat and a Republican was an Obama effort to win Senate confirmation for both. But Senate Republicans have threatened to hold up those nominations because of Obama's use of a recess appointment to install Richard Cordray as the first head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Even if the board seats remain vacant, Bernanke will continue to command unanimous support on the board.

No announcements of further action to try to lift the economy through bond purchases are expected when the Fed's meeting ends Wednesday. Most analysts think Fed members want to put off such a step to see if the economy can extend the gains it's made in recent months.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, said he thinks further bond buying is likely this year only if Europe's financial crisis destabilized U.S. financial markets and threatened the U.S. economy.

"Further bond buying will depend on two things: that the economy continues to struggle and that concerns about deflation rise," Zandi said.

Deflation is a prolonged drop in wages, prices and the value of assets like stocks and houses. The country last suffered serious deflation during the 1930s.

Zandi said he felt more bond buying isn't probable this year because he is forecasting the economy will perform better.

"My outlook is for an economy that is still soft but not struggling," Zandi said.

Hiring has picked up. Factories are busier. Gasoline prices are well off their highs. The depressed housing industry appears a little healthier. And stocks have reached their highest point since summer.

The stronger job growth has raised hopes more jobs will soon accelerate income and spending. The result could be what economists call a "virtuous cycle," in which businesses respond to growing demand by hiring even more.

Should that happen, the Fed might decide that further steps to energize the economy aren't necessary.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-24-US-Fed-New-Voters/id-c0aabe624fef4ffeab97fd5e32be409c

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