Body clocks linked to osteoarthritis

June 11, 2013 ? Scheduled exercise, regular meals and the periodic warming and cooling of joints could be used to relieve the symptoms of osteoarthritis according to scientists at The University of Manchester. Their research may also help explain why older people are more prone to developing this common joint disorder.

The team in the Faculty of Life Sciences has established for the first time that cartilage cells have a functioning body clock that switches on and off genes controlling tissue function. The rhythm of the cartilage clock perhaps goes some way to explain why osteoarthritis sufferers find the symptoms of the disease worse at certain times of the day.

When Dr Qing-Jun Meng and his team studied cartilage tissue in older mice they found that the tissue?s body clock was 40% weaker than in younger mice. This suggested that clock deterioration could contribute to an increased risk of developing osteoarthritis in later life. The researchers then looked at cartilage cells affected by damage similar to osteoarthritis and found that components of the body clock are altered during the early stages of the disease.??

Following these discoveries the researchers tested what would happen to cartilage tissue in mice and human cartilage cells if they imposed an artificial rhythm mimicking daily changes of body temperature. By raising the temperature by two degrees at 12 hour intervals they found that after three applications the body clock in the cells had been reset and was working in a more robust state. This change lasted for between five and seven days even after the temperature cycles were removed. Further study may show the change continues for longer.

Dr Meng says: ?By imposing a rhythm to boost the internal rhythm in cartilage, our data suggests the aged cartilage clock might be re-tuned. This could be done using systemic approaches such as scheduled exercise, restricted meal times or by targeting the joint itself with scheduled warming and cooling. We believe imposing a rhythm could have a significant impact on the future management of joint diseases and with further study it could relieve sufferers? symptoms.??

This ground breaking research also suggests that taking drug treatments for joint diseases according to the cartilage clock time could increase their effectiveness, which would allow a lower dosage and consequently reduce side effects.

Dr Meng, a Medical Research Council (MRC) Fellow, has been studying body clocks for a number of years: "Mounting evidence suggests that disruption to body clocks by changes like shift work or jet lag contribute to a number of conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and mood disorders. Our next step is to test our theory that body clock disruption also contributes to osteoarthritis."

The research has been published in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism. Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disorder, affecting around 6 million people in the UK. However, the mechanisms behind the disease are poorly understood and treatment options are limited.?

Professor Ray Boot-Handford from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Matrix Research, which is based at the university, has been studying cartilage and osteoarthritis for more than 20 years. He worked with Dr Meng on this research and says: ?Osteoarthritis is a complex disease caused by multiple factors, although it?s well known that one of the major risk factors is aging. Our findings that the cartilage cells show circadian rhythm and that this rhythm is weakened with age is exciting and may help explain how osteoarthritis develops as we get older. Future research will directly examine the link between cartilage clock changes and osteoarthritis and highlight potential new avenues for treating this disease.??

One of the key aspects of this research was the identification of the rhythmic genes that are expressed in cartilage tissue. The scientists found that 615 genes, or 4% of the genes in cartilage, were time-dependently expressed with peaks every 24 hours. They also found that many of the genes have previously been linked to osteoarthritis.

Nicole Gossan worked on the study as part of her PhD. She says: ?This research has been incredible to work on. It is the first to show a functioning clock in mouse and human cartilage cells and identify its genome-wide targets. Disruption of these targets during ageing could seriously impact joint health and we are the first to establish a link between clock disruption and osteoarthritis.??

Dr Meng and his team have now been awarded an MRC grant of half a million pounds to establish the causal relationship between clock disruptions and the onset and severity of osteoarthritis as well as identifying novel therapeutic targets. This will include the targeting of clocks by imposing an artificial rhythm as well as the timed delivery of drugs. It?s hoped the research will ultimately lead to better treatments for osteoarthritis.?

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/YDXTPkc0pXI/130611204534.htm

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BLOG: June Storms Into Delaware Valley With Extreme Weather

By: Steven Strouss

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) ? June has stormed into the Delaware Valley with a Tropical Storm, record rainfall and a tornado which touched down just yesterday in Newark, DE.? Since the beginning of the month, the region has experienced its most extreme weather since Hurricane Sandy slammed into our coastline last October.

During the first week of June, Tropical Storm Andrea quickly formed and spun up the East coast dumping as much as five inches of rain in spots. Our area was hit hard on Friday by Andrea?s relentless downpours and gusty winds. The storm proved to be a problem before the storm ever arrived. Flight delays snarled passengers for hours from New York State to Florida and power outages were counted in the thousands up and down the U.S. East coast.

In our suburbs, the Brandywine, Chester and?Neshaminy creeks among others could not handle all the runoff from Andrea?s rains and quickly overflowed their banks. ?Poor drainage areas and low lying streets were closed off due to flooding and traveling on the roads became a traffic nightmare for some, as they head home, on?Friday afternoon. Before all was said and done, Andrea dumped over three-and-a-half inches at the Philadelphia airport, which set a new record for daily rainfall on June 7^th.

The flood waters barely had time to recede before another significant storm hit our area on Monday. A strong area of low pressure barreled out of the Midwest with enhanced moisture and drenched our area once again with several inches of rain. Flood Watches were posted for the second time in less than three days and as expected the susceptible waterways spilled out of their banks when the rain began. Rain from Monday?s storms totaled 2.1 inches in Philadelphia and that was enough to break another daily record that stood for over one hundred years. The last time it rained so much on June 10^th was back in 1903 when 2.08 inches of rain fell on the city.

The extra force of Monday?s storms even led to the season?s first confirmed tornado and 10-20 homes near Newark, Delaware sustained EF0 damage. Winds in the tornado were estimated to be 80 mph and this was enough to topple large trees and send debris flying for miles though the air. Several people in the?Robscott Manor neighborhood had to abandon their homes yesterday but thankfully there were no injuries or fatalities.

Since the beginning of the month, we have received 6.79 inches?of rain at the Philadelphia International Airport, currently making it the 10^th wettest June of all-time (with over a half of the month still to go).? Rainfall is already 5.57 inches?above the normal, and the record for the month of June stands at 10.06 inches?set back in 1938.? If we continue on our current rainfall pace, it is highly likely that we will drown this record for good.

Before we get too comfortable with a break in the action today and tomorrow, our eyes are now turned to another large scale event expected on Thursday. The Storm Prediction Center has already placed part of the region in an enhanced risk for severe weather (primarily Philadelphia and south) and multiple weather models are indicating very heavy rain and strong thunderstorms. Any?thunderstorm could?contain damaging wind and hail and there is?even the threat of an isolated weak tornado. No matter what exactly occurs Thursday, it is looking more and more?concerning that the area will have to sustain another deluge from Mother Nature and this time the streets, creeks and rivers?are even more vulnerable to flooding.

The heaviest rain is expected Thursday afternoon and evening before the front crosses the region and moves out to sea. Residual showers are forecasted on Friday before high pressure moves in and finally gives us sunshine for the weekend.

Source: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/06/11/blog-june-storms-into-delaware-valley-with-extreme-weather/

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Issa Says Washington Directed IRS Targeting Out of Cincinnati

irs WASHINGTON - The IRS agents in Cincinnati who were involved in the targeting of conservative groups were "being directly ordered from Washington," Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said today, and he accused the White House of lying about the involvement of IRS headquarter officials in the scandal, calling White House Press Secretary Jay Carney a "paid liar."

"The administration is still - their paid liar, their spokesperson, picture behind - he's still making up things about what happens and calling this local rogue," Issa said on CNN's "State of the Union." "The reason that Lois Lerner tried to take the Fifth [Amendment when called to testify before Congress] is not because there's a rogue in Cincinnati, it's because this is a problem that was coordinated in all likelihood right out of Washington headquarters And we're getting to proving it.

"The administration is still trying to say there's a few rogue agents in Cincinnati, when in fact the indication is they were directly being ordered from Washington," he said.

Investigators from two House committees - Oversight and Government Reform and Ways and Means - are questioning IRS workers from the Cincinnati office, and Issa said these interviews provide evidence that the orders stemmed from Washington.

"My gut tells me that too many people knew that this wrongdoing was going on before the election, and at least by some sort of convenient benign neglect allowed it to go on through the election, allowed these groups, these conservative groups, these, if you will, not friends of the president to be disenfranchised through an election," he said. "Now, I'm not making any allegations as to motive, that they set out to do it. But certainly, people knew it was happening."

Congress is scheduled to hold a series of hearings this week on the IRS' targeting of conservative groups. On Monday, J. Russell George, the Treasury Department's Inspector General, and IRS Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel are expected to testify before a House Appropriations subcommittee on the progress the IRS is making in addressing the controversial practices that came to light last month. Representatives of conservative organizations that were targeted by the IRS are scheduled to appear Tuesday before the House Ways and Means committee.

On Thursday, the House Oversight Committee, which Issa chairs, has a hearing scheduled for questioning about excessive spending at IRS conferences. The hearing comes nearly a week after the release of a video showing IRS officials line dancing to the "Cupid Shuffle" at a 2010 agency conference in California.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/issa-says-washington-directed-irs-targeting-cincinnati-171609146--abc-news-politics.html

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Terms & Conditions: Aereo toes a legal line but that's its problem ...

Launched in 2012, New York-based Aereo allows subscribers to access over-the-air broadcast television (the kind you get for free with an antenna) over the Internet. But it does this without the permission of network broadcasters, like Fox and CBS, a consortium of which has sued the company for copyright infringement ? a battle the broadcasters have so far lost.

The reason Aereo manages to not break strict U.S. copyright law is thanks to a so-called loophole that the company ingeniously exploited: Each customer pays $8 or $12 a month ? not for the content, but to ?rent? an individual antenna and DVR box, which can be accessed by many Internet connected devices. Because Aereo is only providing ?private performances? of the broadcasts, it falls on the right side of the law. Were it to allow multiple customers to access broadcast TV channels captured by the same antenna and recorded on a single DVR box, that would constitute a ?public performance,? which is illegal without permission from the broadcasters. Needless to say, Aereo is riding a fine legal line ? so what exactly are you getting yourself into if you sign up for its service? Let?s find out.

Terms of Use

Aereo?s Terms of Use explains in plain English exactly what it?s policies and rules are, which is great. But, as you might imagine, it?s a hulking document, and that means almost nobody?s going to read it. The company would do well by its users to provide a summary of the key provisions ? so here are some suggestions.

Hard and soft

The company kicks things off by explaining, as mentioned above, that the service it provides is access to an antenna and DVR box via an Internet connection ? not for the content itself. In other words, you are paying for use of the hardware, not the ?soft? content that it accesses and records.

Home sweet home

Currently available in New York City and, as of May, Boston, Aereo has plans to expand to a total of 22 cities across the US, including Philadelphia, Atlanta, Austin, and Denver, by the end of the year. Now, you might be thinking, ?If I can access the content over the Internet, why can?t I just sign up and watch shows broadcast from New York or anywhere else?? Indeed, such at thing is technically possible. Unfortunately, that would be against the rules.

Aereo strictly forbids subscribers from accessing any content that is not broadcast by networks in their specific area. You are required to provide a home address when you register for your account, and signing up with a fake address is completely against Aereo?s ToU. So is sharing your account with someone outside of Aereo?s service areas. (See a list of eligible zip codes here.)

Always a cost

As mentioned, Aereo has two separate plans: $8 a month gets you access to live TV and 20 hours of recording space on a DVR box; $12 a month expands your recording time to 60 hours. You are, of course, also responsible for the cost of your Internet service, or mobile data service.

Aereo sometimes offers users a free trial. This is only available once to each household, so don?t think you can get away with just having your roommates sign up as soon as your free trial is over ? that?d be against the ToU.

The company makes clear in its ToU that it may change its prices at any time (as it did last month), and all payments for service are non-refundable.

Sorry, Android

At the moment, Aereo supports all major Web browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, and Internet Explorer), as well as iPhones and iPads, AppleTV, and Roku boxes. That?s right ? no Android. But fear not. The company says Android devices will be supported ?soon.? (Whatever that means.)

Intellectual property, serious business

A large portion of Aereo?s ToU concerns intellectual property, both that of content providers and Aereo itself. Of course, it makes clear that ?Aereo does not own the copyrights or any other intellectual property rights in any broadcast television programming that you choose to view using the Equipment. Aereo provides only the Equipment that allows you to choose to view such programming.?

This is mainly to cover its rear from the broadcasters that keep suing the company. For users, you need only know that you are not allowed to share you Aereo with non-subscribers, nor are you allowed to use Aereo for any ?commercial purposes,? like showing a baseball game in your bar or restaurant.

There?s also a bunch of blather about not violating Aereo?s copyright or trademarks (forbidden), or ?reverse engineering? Aereo?s service to start your own company. So, you know, don?t do that.

Legal limits

You must be at least 18-years-old to sign up for Aereo, according to the ToU. And users of an Aereo account who are under 18 must be ?under the direct supervision? or a parent or guardian. It is the parents? fault if any kids manage to watch TV without their permission, says Aereo, because broadcast TV is so scandalous that it might, you know, damage them, or something.

Socialize

Aereo?s Privacy Policy is not particularly remarkable; the company collects limited personal information, and really only shares it with third parties that are necessary to operate its business (like credit-card processors). So we?re not going to get into this area too much this time.

There is, however, one thing you should know about. Aereo allows users to link their accounts to Twitter and Facebook, as well as email providers like Google and Yahoo. When you link an account, there are a couple of things to know.

First, whatever content you post on your social networks are subject to the terms and policies of that social network, not just Aereo. (Obviously.) Second, linking your social media accounts grants Aereo ?an irrevocable perpetual license to use, reproduce, edit, create derivative works from, distribute, display, copy, transmit or otherwise use in any way, commercially or otherwise, any material that you post to any social networking site in connection with Aereo.? That potentially means your tweets could end up in an Aereo ad, or something of that nature. This shouldn?t be a big deal, but keep that in mind.

Beware the guillotine

Last but not least, we have my absolutely favorite??(/sarcasm)?provision, the account auto-delete. As with most other companies, Aereo reserves the right to cancel your account at any time, for any reason, or for no reason at all. And remember, if this happens, you don?t get a refund. Just remember that before you go sharing your Aereo login with someone outside of a service area ? you could both be out of luck in the blink of an eye.

Source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/terms-conditions-aereo-toes-a-legal-line-but-thats-its-problem-not-yours/

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Lawyer: NCAA actions affected entire PSU community

BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) ? From former players to faculty members, a mini-cross section of the Penn State community has partnered with the late head coach Joe Paterno's family in suing the NCAA to overturn the landmark sanctions against the school for the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

While the Paternos are the headliners among the plaintiffs in the civil suit filed Thursday in Centre County court, 19 others with ties to Penn State are also seeking a jury trial to reverse what they call the NCAA's swift and unlawful punishment of the storied football program.

Paul Kelly, an attorney representing trustees, faculty, and former players and coaches, said the action related to the impact on "the entire Penn State community."

"I would say the overwhelming majority of the complaints and the facts really relate to ... due process, and the fairness and actions of the NCAA," Kelly said in a phone interview. "It's much broader than (the Paterno family's claims) and I hope people realize that."

Therefore, Kelly said, his clients had no other choice but to turn to the courts "since the NCAA acted in an area in which it had no authority, failed to follow its own rules, forcibly imposed an onerous result on innocent parties" and refused to recognize appeal efforts.

In Irving, Texas, NCAA president Mark Emmert ? named as a defendant in the lawsuit ? said he had not reviewed the filing and declined comment Thursday on individual cases. He spoke to reporters after addressing Big 12 Conference presidents and athletic directors during their spring meeting.

"We have a number of lawsuits out there around a number of cases ... I'm perfectly fine to have an opportunity for us to state our case and have it heard in a court of law, then we'll let a legal system do its work," he said. "Again, I'm always happy for the NCAA and for college athletics to make its case because I think it's got a pretty powerful case for what it is and what it does."

The 40-page filing culminated months of rumors about whether the Paterno family and others would enter the already complex web of litigation over the sanctions. Most notably, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA.

Penn State itself is not a party in the latest suit. The university Wednesday said it remained committed to fully complying with the sanctions levied last July, including a four-year bowl ban, steep scholarship cuts and a $60 million fine.

The Associated Press left messages Thursday for a spokesman for former FBI director Louis Freeh. His scathing report for the university on the scandal concluded that Paterno and three school officials conspired to conceal allegations Sandusky, a retired defensive coordinator.

Those conclusions have been strongly denied by Paterno's family and the officials. The lawsuit blasts Freeh's report as an "unreliable rush to injustice," and that the NCAA improperly relied on the findings instead of conducting its own investigation.

Acting with uncharacteristic speed, the NCAA delivered its punishment less than two weeks after Freeh's findings were issued.

"The road may be long and the fight will be tough, but in the end, we will do right for Penn State," the trustees, faculty members, and ex-coaches and players in the case wrote in a letter Thursday to other former players explaining the action.

"Everyone involved deserves fairness, due process, truth and a just outcome ? and this is our cause," they wrote.

Besides the Paterno family, Paterno's son, Jay Paterno, is listed separately as a plaintiff ? as one of two former assistant coaches ? along with Bill Kenney.

The other 18 plaintiffs are:

?Trustees Ryan McCombie, Anthony Lubrano, Adam Taliaferro, Peter Khoury and Al Clemens. McCombie, Lubrano and Taliaferro weren't on the board in November 2011, when the board fired Paterno ?a decision that still irks many alumni and former players. Taliaferro is also a former player who gained notoriety for his recovery from a severe spinal cord injury during a game in 2000.

McCombie, in a letter Wednesday to trustees chair Keith Masser explaining his position, said the Penn State case was an example of how the NCAA was an "out-of-control monopoly" that uses its power to threaten and bully members.

Khoury is a graduate student and a gubernatorial appointee to the board in October 2011, a month before the scandal hit. Clemens was on the board in 1998 and 2001, during which Freeh said Paterno and the school officials covered up allegations against Sandusky.

?Faculty members Peter Bordi, Terry Engelder, Spencer Niles and John O'Donnell. The faculty has suffered "collateral damage" from the sanctions, Kelly said, due to the trickle-down impact of the scandal. He included attracting and recruiting faculty and top-flight students, and pay raises as areas that might be affected.

?Former players Anthony Adams, Gerald Cadogan, Shamar Finney, Justin Kurpeikis, Rich Gardner, Josh Gaines, Patrick Mauti, Anwar Phillips and Michael Robinson. Each played between 1998 and 2011 ? the years during which the NCAA vacated 111 wins under Paterno as part of the sanctions. That resulted in Paterno no longer holding the record for major college victories.

Of the group, Robinson might be the most notable as an NFL fullback with the Seattle Seahawks.

Besides the NCAA and Emmert, the lawsuit names Oregon State president Edward Ray, the former chair off the NCAA's executive committee, as a defendant.

Sandusky's arrest in November 2011 ignited one of the worst scandals in the history of college athletics.

"We talk about transparency and getting to the bottom of it," Kelly said. "We talk about that for the victims as well. In my view, the victims haven't had the opportunity to have this matter fully reviewed."

Sandusky was sentenced to at least 30 years in prison in October following his conviction last summer on dozens of counts of child sex abuse covering allegations on and off campus.

___

AP Sports Writer Stephen Hawkins in Irving, Texas contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lawyer-ncaa-actions-affected-entire-psu-community-210840871.html

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China official PMI to show minimal growth in May

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's slowing factory sector may have barely grown in May amid lackluster local and foreign demand, a Reuters poll showed, adding to fears that the world's second-largest economy is losing steam.

The median forecast of 10 economists polled by Reuters showed China's official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) likely retreated to 50.1 in May from April's 50.6 to hover a whisker above the 50-point threshold.

A reading above 50 indicates expanding activity while a reading below that level points to a contraction. The report will be released on Saturday morning.

Evidence has mounted in recent weeks that the economy is fast losing growth momentum as sluggish domestic demand fail to make up for lethargic export sales, dampening hopes for a China economic revival this year.

And there are considerable risks that the PMI could miss even conservative forecasts, especially after last week's dismal preliminary PMI reading.

"Overall, the economy seems to be slowing so a drop below 50 in the PMI is likely," said Zhang Zhiwei, a Nomura economist in Hong Kong who forecast the PMI would fall to 49.

"There are also seasonal factors. There is usually a big drop in the PMI in May."

A flash private PMI survey released last week by HSBC showed China's manufacturing sector shrank for the first time in seven months in May as new orders fell, an unexpectedly poor outcome that caused a rout in global financial markets.

The data spurred banks to downgrade their initial rosy forecasts for a 2013 China economic recovery to predict instead that annual growth could decelerate from last year, and perhaps even miss Beijing's 7.5 percent target.

The IMF and OECD have also slashed their forecasts. The IMF this week cut its 2013 economic growth estimate for China to 7.75 percent from 8 percent, citing a struggling world economy and abysmal exports growth.

The OECD slashed its China 2013 economic growth forecast this week to 7.8 percent from a previous 8.5 percent, attributing its move to tepid domestic demand.

FORECASTS

Nomura 49.0

ING Financial Markets 49.6

Hwabao Trust 49.7

Peking First Advisory 50.0

Daiwa Capital Markets 50.1

Industrial Bank 50.1

Rising Securities 50.1

Zheshang Securities 50.1

Haitong Securities 50.2

Shanghai Securities 50.4

Standard Chartered 50.5

-------------------------------------------

Median 50.1

High 50.5

Low 49.0

Prior 50.6

No. of forecasts 11

(Reporting by Koh Gui Qing; Editing by Kim Coghill)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-official-pmi-show-minimal-growth-may-073819393.html

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Alarm grows as Iraqi forces fail to stem violence

Civilians inspect the site of a parked car bomb attack near a popular restaurant in the Ur neighborhood in northern Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, May 30, 2013. A series of morning bomb explosions in Baghdad and the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Thursday, killed and wounded dozens of people, police said, in the latest eruption of violence rattling the country. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Civilians inspect the site of a parked car bomb attack near a popular restaurant in the Ur neighborhood in northern Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, May 30, 2013. A series of morning bomb explosions in Baghdad and the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Thursday, killed and wounded dozens of people, police said, in the latest eruption of violence rattling the country. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Baghdad municipality workers clean up while restaurant staff react in front of their destroyed restaurant after a parked car bomb exploded near a popular restaurant in the Ur neighborhood in northern Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, May 30, 2013. A series of bomb explosions in Baghdad and the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Thursday killed and wounded dozens in the latest eruption of violence rattling the country, officials said. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Workers inspect their destroyed restaurant after a parked car bomb exploded near a popular restaurant in the Ur neighborhood in northern Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, May 30, 2013. A series of bomb explosions in Baghdad and the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Thursday killed and wounded dozens in the latest eruption of violence rattling the country, officials said.(AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Iraqis gather at the scene of a bomb attack in the commercial area of Karradah in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, May 30, 2013. A series of morning bomb explosions in Baghdad and the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Thursday, killed and wounded dozens of people, police said, in the latest eruption of violence rattling the country. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Security forces inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in the commercial area of Karradah in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, May 30, 2013. A series of morning bomb explosions in Baghdad and the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Thursday, killed and wounded dozens of people, police said, in the latest eruption of violence rattling the country. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Officials in Iraq are growing increasingly concerned over an unabated spike in violence that claimed at least another 33 lives on Thursday and is reviving fears of a return to widespread sectarian fighting.

Authorities announced plans to impose a sweeping ban on many cars across the Iraqi capital starting early Friday in an apparent effort to thwart car bombings, as the United Nations envoy to Iraq warned that "systemic violence is ready to explode."

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, meanwhile, was shown on state television visiting security checkpoints around Baghdad the previous night as part of a three-hour inspection tour, underscoring the government's efforts to show it is acting to curtail the bloodshed.

Iraqi security forces are struggling to contain the country's most relentless round of violence since the 2011 U.S. military withdrawal.

The rise in violence follows months of protests against the Shiite-led government by Iraq's Sunni minority, many of whom feel they've been marginalized and unfairly treated since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Tensions escalated sharply last month after a deadly crackdown by security forces on a Sunni protest camp.

Sunni militants, including al-Qaida, have long targeted Iraq's Shiite majority and government security forces. But Sunni mosques and other targets have also been struck over the past several weeks, raising the possibility that Shiite militias are also growing more active.

Several members of the security forces were killed in Thursday's bombings. The attacks also included an assassination attempt by a suicide bomber targeting a provincial governor in the country's Sunni-dominated west.

"These daily patterns of car bomb attacks ... in Baghdad and some other cities (are) really unacceptable for the people of Iraq, who have suffered so much," Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Thursday.

"It's the government's responsibility to redouble its efforts, to revise its security plans, to contain this wave, to prevent it from sliding into sectarian conflict and war," he added. "That should not happen again."

The spike in violence, which has gained momentum since the middle of the month, is raising worries that Iraq is heading back toward the widespread sectarian bloodletting that spiked in 2006 and 2007 and pushed the country to the brink of civil war.

More than 500 people have been killed in May. The month before was Iraq's deadliest since June 2008, according to a United Nations tally that put April's death toll at more than 700.

"Iraq is a reactor that's overheating and there's little coolant available," said Ramzy Mardini, an analyst at the Beirut-based Iraq Institute for Strategic Studies. "Iraq's nascent politics is not equipped to sustain the current dangerous levels of internal and external pressure. There needs to be an off-ramp to relieve some of the pressure."

The vehicle ban coming into effect Friday applies to cars bearing temporary black license plates. Those plates are common in post-war Iraq, where for years it was difficult to obtain new ones. They are typically on older-model vehicles and are more difficult to trace, and authorities say they are frequently used in car bombings.

Most of Thursday's blasts erupted in Baghdad.

Car bombs killed four in the northeastern Shiite neighborhood of Binouq, and three died in a bombing at a market selling spare car parts in central Baghdad, according to police. In Baghdad's eastern Shiite Ur neighborhood, a parked car bomb went off next to an army patrol, killing four and wounding 17, police said.

Police officials also said that a roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol in the largely Shiite central commercial district of Karradah, killing three people there. That explosion shattered glass on several storefronts and left the stricken police unit's modified Ford pickup truck charred and mangled.

"What have these innocent people done to deserve this?" asked witness Sinan Ali. "So many people were hurt. Who is responsible?"

In Baghdad's northern Shiite neighborhood of Shaab, a car bomb exploded in a commercial area, killing six civilians and wounding 17 others.

In the largely Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah in the capital's north, a car bomb struck near a military convoy, killing three people, including two soldiers, according to police. Another 14 people were wounded in that attack.

A bomb hidden on a minibus killed three and maimed eight in the eastern mixed Sunni-Shiite New Baghdad neighborhood. And a police patrol was struck in the southern neighborhood of Saydiyah, wounding six.

Hospital officials confirmed the casualties.

In Anbar province, the provincial governor escaped an assassination attempt when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into his convoy, his deputy Dhari Arkan said. The governor escaped unharmed, but four of his guards were wounded.

Anbar is a vast Sunni-dominated province west of Baghdad that for months has been the center of protests against the Shiite-led government.

In the former insurgent stronghold city of Mosul, about 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, a suicide bomber attacked a federal police checkpoint, killing three people, according to police.

And to the west of Mosul, a suicide attacker drove his explosives-packed car into a security checkpoint, killing two members of the security forces and two civilians, according to a police officer and a doctor. Eight other people were wounded in the attacks in the town of Tal Afar, they added.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to talk to the media.

The United Nations envoy to Iraq, Martin Kobler, urged Iraqi leaders to do more to "pull the country out of this mayhem."

"Systemic violence is ready to explode at any moment," he said in a statement.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks but blame for many of the attacks is likely to fall on al-Qaida's Iraq arm, which frequently carries out bombings against civilians and security forces in an effort to undermine faith in the Shiite-led government.

Other militant groups have also grown more active in recent months, including the Army of the Men of the Naqshabandi Order, which has ties to members of Saddam Hussein's now-outlawed Baath party.

The attacks began hours after bomb blasts tore through two Baghdad neighborhoods Wednesday evening, killing at least 30, including several members of a wedding party in the mixed Sunni-Shiite Jihad neighborhood.

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Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Sinan Salaheddin contributed to this story.

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Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-05-31-Iraq/id-ee5ad4e4704346e0b6e7c7a1d1c6df3b

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