LIFE Plans to Implement cGMP

Recently, Life Technologies Corporation (LIFE) announced that it intends to enhance production of its genetic analysis products by investing $18 million for the expansion of its Pleasanton, Calif. facility. Life Technologies is planning to implement Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) capabilities at this facility to broaden its portfolio of molecular diagnostic products in order to meet increased demand.  The project is expected to take effect in the second quarter of 2013.

As of now, TaqMan assays, GeneArt and Ion AmpliSeq product lines are manufactured at the Pleasanton facility. In the first phase of the project, the company will convert 10,000 square feet of the facility to manufacture molecular probes and primers in compliance with the cGMP standards. Subsequently, the company plans to expand the facility by 30,000 square feet over a span of three years. The expanded facility will be used to produce regulatory-complaint material for qPCR workflows.

The products manufactured at the cGMP-certified facilities have to maintain a high standard of quality and control. As of now, LIFE manufactures a number of products including assays, various reagents, sera, cell culture media and instruments under the cGMP standards and ISO 9001/1348 certification, in nine facilities.
Currently, LIFE carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Over the last two years, LIFE has been focusing on creating an optimal portfolio of products through innovation and acquisitions. We are also encouraged by LIFE’s strategy to strengthen its presence in the high growth markets such as Latin America, the Middle East, China and India. Over the next few years, LIFE’s focus on developing industry-leading franchises in high-growth technology areas, applied markets and emerging geographies will be the key drivers of long-term growth.

Mother testifies to spare son's life in Ohio case

Seeking to have jurors spare her son's life, the mother of a triple killer who lured his victims with Craigslist job offers testified Wednesday that he had a troubled childhood and suffered physical and sexual abuse.

"I love Richard with all my heart," a teary-eyed Carol Beasley testified during the sentencing phase of the trial of her son, 53-year-old Richard Beasley. He was convicted last week of killing three men and wounding a fourth, all lured with offers of farmhand jobs in southeast Ohio in 2011.

The same jury must decide whether to recommend the death penalty. The other options are life in prison without the chance of parole or life with a chance for parole after 25 or 30 years.

Beasley's co-defendant, then 16 years old, was too young to face the death penalty. Brogan Rafferty was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole on his conviction last year.

In an opening statement, prosecutor Jonathan Baumoel said the "enormous" weight of Beasley's crimes should be considered in deciding on life or death.

The defense responded by calling witnesses to portray Beasley sympathetically in a bid to have the jury recommend prison as his punishment.

As his mother testified, Beasley slumped forward, his chin on his chest and his right hand covering his eyes.

She described a difficult childhood for her son, with a verbally and physically abusive stepfather whom Carol Beasley characterized as a mean drunk.

She testified that she learned only within the past year that her son had been sexually abused by neighborhood youngsters when he was a boy. She had known that the boys had forced him to remove his pants in a large drainage pipe but hadn't known about the abuse at the time, she said.

"I always felt there was much more than he told me," she testified. Her son apparently kept the abuse secret out of fear he would be held responsible for it, the mother said.

Her first husband neglected Richard and her, Carol Beasley testified, and her second husband broke dishes and a window while drinking and whipped Richard as a toddler. "Richard was very mistreated by him," she testified.

Carol Beasley testified that Richard and the couple's own two daughters would be put to bed early and sometimes were sent to relatives for the weekend to avoid contact with the father.

"Everybody was afraid when he came home," she said.
The defense also called a psychologist, John Fabian, who testified that Beasley suffers from depression, alcohol abuse, low self-esteem and a feeling of isolation, all possible results of a troubled, abusive childhood.

"These are all potential mitigating factors" in favor of leniency, Fabian testified.
Fabian said Beasley's issues should be considered in multi-generational terms involving him and his family life. "This is all his personality development," he said.

One of Beasley's victims was killed near Akron, and the others were shot at a southeast Ohio farm during bogus job interviews.

The slain men were Ralph Geiger, 56, of Akron; David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Va.; and Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon.

The survivor, Scott Davis, testified that he heard the click of a gun as he walked in front of Beasley at the reputed job site. Davis, who was shot in an arm, knocked the weapon aside, fled into the woods and tipped police.

Beasley, who returned to Ohio from Texas in 2004 after serving several years in prison on a burglary conviction, testified that he met with Davis and Davis had pulled a gun in retaliation for Beasley serving as a police informant.

Defiant teen gets life sentences in Ohio shooting

Wearing a T-shirt with "killer" scrawled across it, a teenager cursed and gestured obscenely as he was

given three life sentences Tuesday for shooting to death three students in an Ohio high school cafeteria.

T.J. Lane, 18, had pleaded guilty last month to shooting at students in February 2012 at Chardon High

School, east of Cleveland. Investigators have said he admitted to the shooting but said he didn't know why

he did it.

Before the case went to adult court last year, a juvenile court judge ruled that Lane was mentally

competent to stand trial despite evidence he suffers from hallucinations, psychosis and fantasies.

Lane was defiant during the sentencing, smiling and smirking throughout, including while four relatives of

victims spoke.

After he came in, he calmly unbuttoned his blue dress shirt to reveal the T-shirt reading "killer," which

the prosecutor noted was similar to one he wore during the shooting.

At one point, he swiveled around in his chair toward the gallery where his own family members and those of

the slain teenagers were sitting and spoke suddenly, surprising even his lawyer.

"The hand that pulled the trigger that killed your sons now masturbates to the memory," he said, then

cursed at and raised his middle finger toward the victims' relatives.

A statement released later to local media by the court on the judge's behalf said that he wasn't aware of

the shirt and that if he had noticed it he would have halted the proceedings and ordered Lane to wear

proper attire.

A student who was wounded in the rampage dismissed Lane's outburst.

"He said it like a scared little boy and couldn't talk slow enough that anyone could understand him," said

Nate Mueller, who was nicked in the ear in the shooting.

Dina Parmertor, mother of victim Daniel, called Lane "a pathetic excuse for a human being" and wished upon

him "an extremely, slow torturous death." She said she has nightmares and her family has been physically

sick over the crimes.

"From now on, he will only be a killer," she said, as Lane's smile widened. "I want him to feel my anger

toward him."

Prosecutors say Lane took a .22-caliber pistol and a knife to the school and fired 10 shots at a group of

students in the cafeteria. Daniel Parmertor and Demetrius Hewlin, both 16, and Russell King Jr., 17, were

killed.

Lane was at Chardon waiting for a bus to the alternative school he attended, for students who haven't done

well in traditional settings.

Six days before the rampage, Lane had sent a text message to his sister, who attended Chardon High school,

and mentioned a school shooting, Geauga County Prosecutor James Flaiz disclosed after the sentencing. He

gave no details about what the message said.

"The way the text message was phrased to his sister, I'm not sure she would have taken it as anything. I

think only when you look at it in retrospect does it really have the impact that it does now," Flaiz said.

Lane's sister, Sadie, was in the cafeteria the day of the shooting, and said outside the snow-swept

courthouse that the brother she saw in court wasn't the one she remembers. She asked for prayers for her

family.

"It may be hard for some to understand, but I love my brother and hope that whatever the sentencing in life

takes him in the future, that he can touch others' lives in a positive way from the point of view that only

he can give," she said.

She spoke and left the courthouse before Flaiz addressed reporters.

Flaiz said he has a theory about the motive but wouldn't discuss it until he has a chance to meet with the

families of victims and answer their questions.

Lane's courtroom behavior came as a surprise, he added.

"I am totally disgusted by that," Flaiz said. "What he did today is consistent with what we thought of him

all along."

One of Lane's defense attorneys, Ian Friedman, also said he was caught off-guard by the comments. The

defense had signaled earlier that Lane wouldn't speak in court and didn't want anyone to speak for him.

Lane had pleaded guilty last month to three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated

murder and one count of felonious assault.

Life imprisonment without parole was the maximum sentence Lane faced. He wasn't eligible for the death

penalty because he was 17 at the time of the shootings. Relatives of the slain students indicated earlier

they wanted Lane to get the maximum sentence.

In addition to three life sentences without chance of parole, Geauga County Common Pleas Judge David Fuhry

also gave Lane sentences totaling 37 additional years for attempted murder and felonious assault and using

a weapon in the crimes.

Life Time Fitness In Bad Shape After Weak Quarterly Results

Life Time Fitness (LTM) pre-announced a bad quarter and gave a weak outlook for 2013 sending the stock from 52-week highs to 52-week lows.

The most recent quarter excluded $0.07 per share due to the effects of Super Storm Sandy. The company faced a street estimate of $0.66 but guided estimates to between $0.60-$0.63, and also took down guidance for 2013.

Life Time operates sports and athletic, professional fitness, family recreation, and spa centers. As of February 28 it operated 105 centers under the Life Time Fitness and Life Time Athletic brands in the United States and Canada. Life Time Fitness, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Chanhassen, Minnesota.

One look at a price chart of LTM and you can see why guiding lower can really hurt a stock. The most recent quarter will go down as a beat, with the company topping the refined Zacks Consensus Estimate by $0.01 about three weeks after LTM warned that it would not meet Wall Street expectations.

The December 2011 quarter saw a similar problem, but this time it was a just a straight miss. LTM reported earnings of $0.48 when the Zacks Consensus was calling for $0.55 for a 12.7% negative earnings surprise. Seems the New Years Resolutions aren’t being kept.

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Estimates for LTM have been declining of late. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2013 for LTM stood at $3.19 as of September 2012. The consensus has since dropped to $2.90 in January 2013 and now stands at $2.89. Similarly, estimates for 2014 have moved from $3.57 in September 2012 to their current level of $3.26.

Following the big drop in share price, the valuation for LTM has become more reasonable. The trailing twelve months P/E multiple of 16x is less than the industry average of 29x. The forward earnings multiple of 15x is much closer to the 22x industry average, but still trading at a discount. Price to book and price to sales multiples for LTM are pretty much in line with the industry averages.

The three- month chart below shows the stock doing the Wall Street equivalent of “pulling a muscle.” With the stock close to 52-week highs before the pre-announcement, a one day drop of 10 points put the stock much closer the its 52-week lows. Since that time, the stock has increased small amount, but the expectations for the future seem to get weaker and weaker.

Brian Bolan is a stock strategist for Zacks.com. He is the editor in charge of the Zacks Home Run Investor service, a buy and hold service where he recommends the stocks in the portfolio. Brian is also the editor of Follow The Money Trader a trading service that tracks institutional money flows and looks for great stock picks from that data.

Life on ancient Mars? What you need to know

Mars was capable of supporting microbial life in the distant past, scientists announced Tuesday.

They reached this conclusion after studying the latest observations from NASA's Curiosity rover, which just analyzed the first-ever sample collected from the interior of a Red Planet rock.

Here are answers to a few basic questions about Curiosity's discovery, and what it means about the Red Planet's past and the rover's future.

What exactly did Curiosity find?
Last month, Curiosity drilled 2.5 inches into a rock on a Martian outcrop that mission scientists have dubbed "John Klein." [The Search for Life on Mars (Photo Timeline)]

The rover's onboard Chemistry & Mineralogy (CheMin) and Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instruments found some of the chemical ingredients for life in the collected powder, including sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon. The mix of compounds also suggests that the area may have contained chemical energy sources for potential Red Planet microbes, researchers said.

'If this water [discovered on Mars] was around and you had been on the planet, you would have been able to drink it.'
In addition, the sample contains clay minerals, indicating that the rock was exposed to a benign aqueous environment — such as a neutral-pH lake, for example — billions of years ago.

To be clear, Curiosity found no evidence that life has ever existed on the Red Planet. But its results suggest that the John Klein site could have supported microbes long ago, if they ever evolved on Mars or were transported there.

So what? Didn't we already know that ancient Mars was wet?
Scientists have known for years that water flowed or pooled on the surface of Mars in the ancient past. But there's more to habitability than the mere existence of liquid water.

For primitive microbial life to survive, a site must also have the right chemical makeup and a potential energy source, researchers say. And all of these ingredients were apparently present at John Klein.

Doesn't the right chemical makeup include organic compounds? Did Curiosity find any of those?
The SAM instrument can detect complex organics — the carbon-containing building blocks of life as we know it — and Curiosity is looking for these molecules on Mars, but it hasn't found anything conclusive yet.

The rover did detect two simple chlorinated organics at John Klein, as it did in a scoop of soil at another site called Rocknest late last year. There's no sign of complicated, long-chain organics such as amino acids yet, however.

But such molecules are not necessary for life to thrive, Curiosity scientists said. Here on Earth, many microbes do just fine by incorporating inorganic carbon — such as that contained in carbon dioxide — into their metabolic processes. And SAM did detect carbon dioxide in the John Klein sample.

"That's what we're real excited about," Curiosity chief scientist John Grotzinger, of Caltech in Pasadena, told reporters Tuesday.

How sure is the Curiosity team about all of this?
Pretty sure. Scientists typically are careful people loath to go out on a limb about their findings (with good reason, as their colleagues will quickly snap that limb in two if it's not sturdy enough). But there was no hemming and hawing about John Klein's long-ago habitability.

"We have found a habitable environment that is so benign and supportive of life that probably — if this water was around and you had been on the planet, you would have been able to drink it," Grotzinger said.

Does this mean life could survive on Mars today?
Curiosity's new results don't really speak to this issue, instead shedding light on Mars as it existed three billion years ago or so.

The Red Planet is much drier and colder today, making it considerably less hospitable to life as we know it. However, some researchers think Mars may still be capable of supporting microbial life, perhaps in damp, protected pockets underground.

Is Curiosity's mission over now? Hasn't it done what it set out to do?
Curiosity's main goal was to determine if the area around its landing site — Mars' huge Gale Crater — has ever been capable of supporting microbial life. And the 1-ton rover has indeed checked that box, just seven months after touching down.

However, the Curiosity team has no plans to quit now. They want to keep searching for signs of complex organics and investigate other sites, to gain a better understanding of how the Gale Crater area has changed over time. The John Klein site is not even the rover's final destination; at some point, Curiosity will turn its wheels toward interesting deposits at the base of Mount Sharp, the mysterious 3-mile-high (5 kilometers) mountain that rises from Gale Crater's center.

Scientists continue to stress that Curiosity's mission is discovery-driven, meaning they'll shape their plans around whatever the robot finds as it rolls across the Martian surface.

"Mars has written its autobiography in the rocks of Gale Crater, and we've just started deciphering that story," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program at the agency's headquarters in Washington.

Why some places are bigger on life insurance

A Bankrate survey of life insurance statistics found that the three states with the highest marriage rates -- Utah, Idaho and Wyoming -- are not the top states for life insurance coverage. We identified the life insurance leaders by dividing the numbers of life insurance policies in force in each state by population.
However, factors other than marriage rates probably have a bigger impact on life insurance coverage, says Lisa Gardner, associate professor of statistics and insurance at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. She outlines her thoughts in the interview below.

We compared the latest insurance industry statistics with the U.S. census data on marriage and found that the top states for tying the knot -- Utah, Idaho and Wyoming -- are not the top states for life insurance. In your opinion, why is this?

I prefer using measures that include benefits payable or premium volume because they reflect the economic significance of life insurance. So I want to raise the question of whether you are using the right measures to consider the importance of life insurance.

Let's consider how differences in policy benefit amounts could affect the number of policies sold. In the South and, to a lesser extent, the Midwest, a form of low-face-amount life insurance called industrial life insurance was very popular during part of the last century. Also called debit policies, these policies were sold door-to-door and required a small weekly or monthly premium payment to remain in force. The policies provided an affordable option for many lower-income folks who might not otherwise be able to afford life insurance. The face amounts varied but were typically low. (Less than $10,000 was normal.)

In order to get enough coverage, a policy owner might need to purchase more than one policy. In fact, it was not unusual for a policy owner to have more than one debit policy. Hence, one might observe higher-than-normal numbers of policies in force per capita in the states where industrial life insurance was widely sold. That does not mean that life insurance is more economically important in these locations. One can own, say, two low-death-benefit policies, (such as) $5,000 death benefits, and have considerably less protection than if one owns a single $50,000 death-benefit policy.

What it means is that benefit amounts help explain how many policies get sold. Industrial life insurance policies were not sold much, if at all, in places like Wyoming, Utah and Idaho. They were sold widely in the South and Midwest.

Besides differences in face amounts, another reason why states might have different numbers of policies in force per capita is because of population per square mile. The states of Idaho, Utah and Wyoming are very large states, among the 15 largest in the country. They are also among the 10 least densely populated. If a person wants to make a living selling (a) life insurance product, it is a very good idea to live around other people, and lots of them.

Life insurance is a voluntary policy, meaning that there are no state laws that require one to purchase it or something similar (unlike, say, auto liability insurance). When approached, most people will not want to talk about life insurance. Of those who do, few will actually purchase a policy. In a place like Wyoming, a state with fewer than 600,000 people spread out over almost 100,000 square miles, one might have to drive a lot of miles to make a living as a life insurance agent. Thus, I would expect fewer policies to be sold in Wyoming simply because it is harder to find people to insure.

The prospects for selling life insurance seem a little more hopeful in Idaho and Utah, with a few more densely populated urban areas found in each, and of course, with Salt Lake City dominating the population of Utah. Still, one has to consider whether a lower number of life insurance agents per capita helps explain lower numbers of policies sold per capita in these states as opposed to some others.

A state might have a lower number of life insurance policies in force simply because more lives are insured under group term insurance contracts, often offered by employers. Nearly 40 percent of the life insurance in force in the U.S. is through group term insurance, often provided by employers. A single contract between an employer (the policy owner) and an insurance company may cover hundreds, if not thousands, of employees' lives. Sometimes the dependents of employees, like their spouses and children, are covered under these contracts, too.

So a single contract does not equate to coverage for a single life but instead to coverage for many lives. States where group term insurance covers more lives will likely have lower policy counts, everything else the same. That doesn't mean that life insurance is less important in that state. But it does help explain why more policies may be in force in some states than others.

Average household sizes could also explain differences in the number of policies in force. Utahans have larger-than-average household sizes because they tend to have more children. Minors usually don't buy life insurance, and so it would make sense that where minors are more prevalent, fewer policies get sold, everything else (being) the same.

So I have offered four possible explanations as to why the number of policies sold per capita might vary among the states, including some explanations that are specific to the states of Idaho, Utah and Wyoming. There are also other possible explanations, too, that I (won't get into) now.

Your finding that the three states with the highest marriage rates do not have the highest number of policies in force probably speaks more to differences in marketing systems (influenced by incomes and geography) than it does to anything having to do with marriage. It also seems possible that differences in group term coverage rates and average household size (the last item for Utah only) affect policy counts per capita.
Besides being the states with the highest marriage rates, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming are also the states with the youngest median ages at which women first marry. Do you believe that young married couples should not worry about life insurance until later in their lives?

No. Life insurance provides money when the insured dies. There are many reasons why a young spouse might need this money, including to pay for burial expenses, living expenses and the costs of raising children, for example.

In the state of Utah, couples not only get married at a younger age than the norm, but they also start having children at younger ages than the norm and have larger families. Because they have not been in the workforce for many years, they haven't had much time to build up a nest egg to provide for (their) loved ones when they die.
So many young married couples in these states really do need a product like life insurance or a rich relative who is going to give their survivors a lot of money when they die.

Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi are the top three states with the highest policies-to-population ratio. Why is life insurance more popular in the South than in the rest of the states?

I think the debit insurance system helps explain part of the differences, as does population density. I also think savings rates probably have something to do with it. Median incomes in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi are much, much lower than those in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. This means that the share of folks with significant savings in the three Southern states mentioned is probably a good bit smaller than the share of people with significant savings in the three Western states noted. Life insurance death benefits are a substitute for savings. If a person has enough money saved to provide for their loved ones, then some say they don't need life insurance.

Another theory is that Southerners value their families more than others. I have lived in Wyoming and I have lived in Georgia, and I was raised in Iowa. I do not believe that family is any more or less important to anyone simply because of the state in which they were raised. Taking care of your loved ones is a value held all over this country. In the right circumstances, life insurance can help you do just that.

Life Time Fitness to Present at UBS Global Consumer Conference March 13

Life Time Fitness, Inc. (LTM), The Healthy Way of Life Company, today announced that Michael Robinson, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will present at the UBS Global Consumer Conference in Boston on March 13. John Heller, senior director of investor relations, also will attend on behalf of the Company.

The Conference will be held March 12 through 14, 2013, at the Ritz Carlton, Boston Common hotel. The Life Time presentation will occur on March 13th at 1:30 p.m. ET. A webcast of the presentation may be accessed via the Company's Investor Relations section of its website at lifetimefitness.com. A replay will be available through Wednesday, April 12, 2013.