France has done 'its duty' in Afghanistan: Hollande

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Prateek Katti: The Mechanical Underpinnings of Breast Cancer

I am Prateek S. Katti and my life goal is to make a significant contribution to the improvement of human health. I just graduated summa cum laude with Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology majors at the University of Massachusetts -- Amherst. For my honor's thesis, I investigated the mechanical underpinnings of breast cancer metastasis with the guidance of faculty and graduate students.

An interdisciplinary research effort spearheaded by Professor Alfred Crosby and Shelly Peyton of the University of Massachusetts -- Amherst bridges together cutting-edge work from the fields of Polymer Science, Chemical Engineering, and Biochemistry to generate a novel method to recapitulate the metastatic breast cancer tumor microenvironment in order to elucidate the role of mechanical cues present: stiffness and topography. This work is generously funded by the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), which aims to "support, promote, and produce state-of-the-art research and education in polymer materials." Breast cancer is one of the most common non-skin cancers, and is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths of U.S. women. Although the overall breast cancer death rate has dropped steadily since 2000 due to improvements in early detection and treatment, statistics compiled by the American Cancer Society estimate that there have been 57,650 in situ cases, 230,480 invasive cases and 39,520 deaths in 2011. In situ cases, where cancerous cells remain confined locally in the ducts, are of minimal danger as long as they are diagnosed and treated. Breast cancer metastasis, i.e. the invasion of cancerous cells to the lymph nodes or other locations outside the breast, is the primary mechanism by which breast cancer becomes lethal. The survival rate for women diagnosed with localized breast cancer is 98 percent (American Cancer Society, 2012). Identification of what underlies breast cancer metastasis is clearly relevant to finding solutions to this public health concern.

Traditionally, breast cancer research has been focused on gene expression changes occurring in tumor cells, and how these genetic alterations lead to metastasis. However, over the past two decades a consensus has gathered that intrinsic changes in the cell's mechanical and topographical microenvironment may also drive progression. We now know that breast cancer metastasis is associated with dynamic reorganization of the tumor microenvironment, the tissue's extracellular matrix (ECM). The ECM of healthy breast tissue is a dense, sheet-like mesh of randomly packed fibrillar glycoproteins, proteoglycans, and collagen fibers organized parallel to the epithelial-stromal interface. However during metastasis, protein bundles are re-oriented perpendicular to the tumor boundary. These topographic ECM changes are thought to facilitate cell movement out of the tumor. In addition to topographic changes, breast cancer metastasis is marked by stiffness changes. The ECM becomes denser, owing to increases in collagen mass as well.

These dynamic structural changes of the tumor microenvironment play a pivotal role in breast cancer metastasis. Here we describe a method to recapitulate the metastatic tumor microenvironment such that we may parse the roles of stiffness and topography during breast cancer metastasis. We pattern cell-adhesive, micron-spaced, quantum-dot (QD) lines onto soft hydrogel surfaces, seed them with breast cancer cells, and analyze cell response over a 12-hour time period via green florescence protein (GFP) cell tracking. We set out to observe how cell behavior changes according to changes in substrate patterning. We use poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) based hydrogels because their moduli are easily controlled. In specific, we use PEG- phosphorylcholine (PC) hydrogels in order to block protein adsorption and prevent cell adhesion to un-patterned gel surfaces. Cadmium selenide (CdSe) QDs containing biocompatible-polystyrene ligands were generously synthesized by Professor Todd Emrick's research group, in the Polymer Science & Engineering Department at UMass. We pattern lines by ultraviolet (UV) crosslinking QDs assembled into lines by stick-slip patterning. Stick-slip patterning permits tunable control of line spacing and width over a wide range of substrates -- our model allows us to explore cell response to an array of stiffness, topographies, and bulk moduli. Preliminary data shows promising results; we observe that cells adhere to our patterned substrates and some appear to be influenced by the lines. We have found cells that migrate along the lines, turn and move perpendicular to patterning, and re-turn to traverse along lines again. We look to refine and optimize our approach as we continue to explore this interesting system.

This work was made possible by guidance and support from graduate candidates Yujie Liu of Polymer Science & Engineering and Danielle Ryman of Molecular & Cellular Biology at UMass Amherst. This collaborative, interdisciplinary research directed by Professor Alfred J. Crosby and Professor Shelly Peyton of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, bridges together the fields of Polymer Science and Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Molecular & Cellular Biology. We gratefully acknowledge the generous funding provided by the National Science Foundation Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC).

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Why Laser Cellulite Reduction Works More Effectively than Other ...

Many treatments are advertised for cellulite ? creams, dietary supplements, liposuction, massages, wraps, mesotherapy or injecting drugs into the affected tissue, and so on. However, none of these live up to their claims and at the most, offer only temporary results. Luckily, new cellulite laser treatment provides the solution for women who are determined to get rid of that pesky dimpled skin. Read on to know why laser cellulite reduction with Cynosure?s exclusive Cellulaze? laser technology works more effectively than other treatments.

Exclusive Laser Technology that Targets the Root Cause of Cellulite

Several factors such as aging, hormones, genetics and weight gain cause changes in the anatomy of skin tissue which leads to the appearance of cellulite.

The thighs and buttocks are the areas that are usually affected. Cellulite occurs when connective tissue bands or septae under the skin become rigid and pulls down, making the fat cells to push upwards and resulting in the cottage cheese look.

Till now, treatments have focused only on the skin?s surface. That?s why they?re ineffective. Cellulaze and its exclusive SideLaze technology treat all three components of cellulite - the fibrous septae bands, the fat deposits and lax skin.

Effects of Cellulaze Treatment

Only a Cellulaze trained physician is qualified to perform the procedure using Cynosure?s exclusive laser workstation. The plastic surgeon uses the powerful SideLaze3D? Cellulaze bidirectional laser fiber to attack cellulite at it source. Just one treatment:

  • Levels out bumps of fat
  • Reduces the dimpled effect by snipping the fibrous bands that pull down on the skin
  • Stimulate collagen production to improve skin thickness and elasticity

The appearance of cellulite improves in just one session. The procedure lasts about 1-1.5 hours and is performed under local anesthesia. So patients can go home the same day. Bruising and swelling are minimal. The results get even better over time. Patients have reported about 25% increase in skin thickness and about 29% increase in skin elasticity after one year.

Getting the Best Results for Your Cellulite Removal Surgery

It is thus clear why laser cellulite reduction works more effectively than other treatments. However, if you want to ensure the best results, you need to find the right surgeon. As with other types of cosmetic surgery, cellulite reduction treatment would be effective only if you are in the right hands. So locate a trained and experienced Cellulaze physician who offers treatment in an AAAASF-accredited plastic surgery. If you don?t live in the area where the practice is located, see if you can set up a virtual consultation. If you have excess body fat you want removed, explore the option of combining liposuction with your cellulite treatment.

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Asia stocks mixed after G8 vague on Europe fix

BANGKOK (AP) ? Bargain-hunting helped Asian stock markets edge upward Monday, but gains were limited as investors remained unconvinced that the world's major economies nailed a solution to the European debt crisis following a summit in Washington.

Markets posted only muted gains as traders were kept on edge by worries about the economic future of Greece and whether it would exit the 17-country euro currency union.

A weekend summit in Washington among leaders of the world's most powerful nations provided little in the way of encouragement for investors already nervous about slowing growth in China and fears that turmoil in Europe could hit key export industries.

Leaders of the G-8 countries issued a statement calling for both painful cutbacks and growth-promoting measures to deal with a crisis that threatens the global economy. But actual steps were left up to individual countries to take.

"We saw a very weak statement out of the G-8," said Andrew Sullivan, principal sales trader at Piper Jaffray in Hong Kong. "They probably have gone as far as they can, but the market isn't interested in statements. It's interested in action."

He said the next major market-moving event was likely to be on June 17, when Greeks elect a new government.

At stake is a multibillion euro bailout that Greece urgently needs to stay solvent. International lenders have threatened to cancel the package if Greece fails to follow through on its austerity plans.

But austerity has proven wildly unpopular among voters and led to the downfall of the prior government. Any new government that fails to enact sharp spending cuts risks being cut off from financial help that could hurtle Greece into default and toward a messy exit from the euro.

In any event, sharp selling among key Asian indexes last week presented bargain-hunting opportunities. Japan's Nikkei 225 index came off four-month lows to rise 0.3 percent at 8,636.89. Nishimatsu Construction Co. added 3.9 percent and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. rose 1.4 percent. Camera and medical equipment maker Olympus Corp. rose 1.7 percent.

Australia's S&P/ASX rose 0.2 percent to 4,055.90 as improving commodities prices helped its sizable resource sector. Energy Resources of Australia jumped 4.4 percent and BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company, added 2 percent.

Mainland China's Shanghai Composite Index was 0.3 percent higher at 2,351.06. Benchmarks in Taiwan and India also rose. Singapore was mostly flat.

But Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.3 percent at 18,893.53. Indonesia, Thailand and New Zealand benchmarks also fell.

Shares of Hong Kong-listed Alibaba.com Ltd. rose 0.2 percent a day after Yahoo Inc. announced it will sell back half of its 40 percent stake in the Chinese e-commerce group. Rising gold prices helped boost Hong Kong-listed Zijin Mining Group 3.7 percent.

Benchmark oil for June delivery was up 43 cents to $91.91 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.08 to settle at $91.48 in New York on Friday.

In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.2782 from $1.2737 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose to 79.21 yen from 79.08 yen.

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Whispers in the Loggia: On Communications Day, "Silence and Word"

As we draw near to World Communications Day 2012, I would like to share with you some reflections concerning an aspect of the human process of communication which, despite its importance, is often overlooked and which, at the present time, it would seem especially necessary to recall. It concerns the relationship between silence and word: two aspects of communication which need to be kept in balance, to alternate and to be integrated with one another if authentic dialogue and deep closeness between people are to be achieved. When word and silence become mutually exclusive, communication breaks down, either because it gives rise to confusion or because, on the contrary, it creates an atmosphere of coldness; when they complement one another, however, communication acquires value and meaning.

Silence is an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist. In silence, we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves; ideas come to birth and acquire depth; we understand with greater clarity what it is we want to say and what we expect from others; and we choose how to express ourselves. By remaining silent we allow the other person to speak, to express him or herself; and we avoid being tied simply to our own words and ideas without them being adequately tested. In this way, space is created for mutual listening, and deeper human relationships become possible. It is often in silence, for example, that we observe the most authentic communication taking place between people who are in love: gestures, facial expressions and body language are signs by which they reveal themselves to each other. Joy, anxiety, and suffering can all be communicated in silence ? indeed it provides them with a particularly powerful mode of expression. Silence, then, gives rise to even more active communication, requiring sensitivity and a capacity to listen that often makes manifest the true measure and nature of the relationships involved. When messages and information are plentiful, silence becomes essential if we are to distinguish what is important from what is insignificant or secondary. Deeper reflection helps us to discover the links between events that at first sight seem unconnected, to make evaluations, to analyze messages; this makes it possible to share thoughtful and relevant opinions, giving rise to an authentic body of shared knowledge. For this to happen, it is necessary to develop an appropriate environment, a kind of ?eco-system? that maintains a just equilibrium between silence, words, images and sounds.

The process of communication nowadays is largely fuelled by questions in search of answers. Search engines and social networks have become the starting point of communication for many people who are seeking advice, ideas, information and answers. In our time, the internet is becoming ever more a forum for questions and answers ? indeed, people today are frequently bombarded with answers to questions they have never asked and to needs of which they were unaware. If we are to recognize and focus upon the truly important questions, then silence is a precious commodity that enables us to exercise proper discernment in the face of the surcharge of stimuli and data that we receive. Amid the complexity and diversity of the world of communications, however, many people find themselves confronted with the ultimate questions of human existence: Who am I? What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope? It is important to affirm those who ask these questions, and to open up the possibility of a profound dialogue, by means of words and interchange, but also through the call to silent reflection, something that is often more eloquent than a hasty answer and permits seekers to reach into the depths of their being and open themselves to the path towards knowledge that God has inscribed in human hearts.

Ultimately, this constant flow of questions demonstrates the restlessness of human beings, ceaselessly searching for truths, of greater or lesser import, that can offer meaning and hope to their lives. Men and women cannot rest content with a superficial and unquestioning exchange of skeptical opinions and experiences of life ? all of us are in search of truth and we share this profound yearning today more than ever: "When people exchange information, they are already sharing themselves, their view of the world, their hopes, their ideals" (Message for the 2011 World Day of Communications).

Attention should be paid to the various types of websites, applications and social networks which can help people today to find time for reflection and authentic questioning, as well as making space for silence and occasions for prayer, meditation or sharing of the word of God. In concise phrases, often no longer than a verse from the Bible, profound thoughts can be communicated, as long as those taking part in the conversation do not neglect to cultivate their own inner lives. It is hardly surprising that different religious traditions consider solitude and silence as privileged states which help people to rediscover themselves and that Truth which gives meaning to all things. The God of biblical revelation speaks also without words: "As the Cross of Christ demonstrates, God also speaks by his silence. The silence of God, the experience of the distance of the almighty Father, is a decisive stage in the earthly journey of the Son of God, the incarnate Word ?. God?s silence prolongs his earlier words. In these moments of darkness, he speaks through the mystery of his silence" (Verbum Domini, 21). The eloquence of God?s love, lived to the point of the supreme gift, speaks in the silence of the Cross. After Christ?s death there is a great silence over the earth, and on Holy Saturday, when "the King sleeps and God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages" (cf. Office of Readings, Holy Saturday), God?s voice resounds, filled with love for humanity.

If God speaks to us even in silence, we in turn discover in silence the possibility of speaking with God and about God. "We need that silence which becomes contemplation, which introduces us into God?s silence and brings us to the point where the Word, the redeeming Word, is born" (Homily, Eucharistic Celebration with Members of the International Theological Commission, 6 October 2006). In speaking of God?s grandeur, our language will always prove inadequate and must make space for silent contemplation. Out of such contemplation springs forth, with all its inner power, the urgent sense of mission, the compelling obligation "to communicate that which we have seen and heard" so that all may be in communion with God (1 Jn 1:3). Silent contemplation immerses us in the source of that Love who directs us towards our neighbours so that we may feel their suffering and offer them the light of Christ, his message of life and his saving gift of the fullness of love.

In silent contemplation, then, the eternal Word, through whom the world was created, becomes ever more powerfully present and we become aware of the plan of salvation that God is accomplishing throughout our history by word and deed. As the Second Vatican Council reminds us, divine revelation is fulfilled by "deeds and words having an inner unity: the deeds wrought by God in the history of salvation manifest and confirm the teaching and realities signified by the words, while the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the mystery contained in them" (Dei Verbum, 2). This plan of salvation culminates in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the mediator and the fullness of all revelation. He has made known to us the true face of God the Father and by his Cross and Resurrection has brought us from the slavery of sin and death to the freedom of the children of God. The fundamental question of the meaning of human existence finds in the mystery of Christ an answer capable of bringing peace to the restless human heart. The Church?s mission springs from this mystery; and it is this mystery which impels Christians to become heralds of hope and salvation, witnesses of that love which promotes human dignity and builds justice and peace.

Word and silence: learning to communicate is learning to listen and contemplate as well as speak. This is especially important for those engaged in the task of evangelization: both silence and word are essential elements, integral to the Church?s work of communication for the sake of a renewed proclamation of Christ in today?s world. To Mary, whose silence "listens to the Word and causes it to blossom" (Private Prayer at the Holy House, Loreto, 1 September 2007), I entrust all the work of evangelization which the Church undertakes through the means of social communication.

From the Vatican, 24 January 2012, Feast of Saint Francis de Sales

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

-30-

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Breathing Smog While Pregnant May Worsen Asthma in Offspring

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World leaders set to tackle Afghanistan's future

CHICAGO (AP) ? World leaders weary of war will tackle Afghanistan's post-conflict future ? from funding for security forces to upcoming elections ? when the NATO summit opens Sunday.

President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai will huddle on the sidelines of the summit or an hour-long meeting. Their talks are expected to focus on planning for Afghanistan's 2014 elections, as well as the prospect of a political settlement with the Taliban, a senior Obama administration official said.

Karzai has said repeatedly he will step down from power when his term ends in 2014, paving the way for new elections. NATO's scheduled end of the war was built around those plans, with foreign forces staying until the 2014 election but exiting the country by 2015.

Obama and Karzai will discuss ways to ensure that political rivals can compete fairly in the run-up to the election, as well as ways to reduce fraud and support the winner who emerges, the official said.

Past Afghan elections were riddled with irregularities, and the U.S. applied heavy pressure to Karzai to schedule a second round of voting during the last presidential contest in 2009. The runoff was never held because Karzai's challenger pulled out in protest of what he claimed was an impossible level of corruption.

The election chapter opened a rift between the U.S. and Karzai, who suspected that the Obama administration wanted to replace him.

The Obama administration has mostly repaired its relationship with Karzai, but mistrust remains on both sides.

The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy, said Obama and Karzai also plan a lengthy discussion of prospects for a political settlement or peace pact between Karzai's government and the Taliban-led insurgency. The Taliban pulled out of U.S.-led talks in March, but separate talks among Afghan and other contacts continue, the U.S. official said.

The official said Obama would press his view that political reconciliation is essential to the country's future security.

The national security-focused NATO summit caps an extraordinary weekend of international summitry. Obama and the leaders of the world's leading industrial nations convened at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, for two days of talks focused in large part on Europe's economic crisis.

Both the G-8 and NATO summits were originally scheduled to be held in Chicago, but the White House abruptly announced this spring that the G-8 would be moved to Camp David. Officials said the move was aimed at facilitating a more intimate discussion among the leaders at the smaller summit.

Joining Obama and many of the G-8 leaders in Chicago are the heads of NATO alliance nations and other countries with a stake in the Afghan war.

Prominent among those nations is Pakistan. Tensions between the U.S. and Pakistan have been running high following several incidents, including the U.S. raid in Pakistan that led to the death of Osama bin Laden and a U.S. airstrike that killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers.

Both countries have been seeking to restore normal relations. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari's acceptance of an invitation to attend the NATO summit was seen as an indication that his country would reopen key roads used to supply NATO fighting forces in Afghanistan, a key U.S. demand.

However, White House officials have indicated that Obama and Zardari will not hold a separate bilateral meeting until the supply route issue is resolved.

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Chinese activist who fled house arrest lands in US

Blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangcheng arrives at Washington Square Village on the campus of New York University, Saturday, May 19, 2012, in New York. Chen escaped from his village in April and was given sanctuary inside the U.S. Embassy after seven years of prison and house arrest. He is planning to study law at NYU. But before that, he says he is planning to spend time recuperating. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)

Blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangcheng arrives at Washington Square Village on the campus of New York University, Saturday, May 19, 2012, in New York. Chen escaped from his village in April and was given sanctuary inside the U.S. Embassy after seven years of prison and house arrest. He is planning to study law at NYU. But before that, he says he is planning to spend time recuperating. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)

Blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangcheng arrives at Washington Square Village on the campus of New York University, Saturday, May 19, 2012, in New York. Chen escaped from his village in April and was given sanctuary inside the U.S. Embassy after seven years of prison and house arrest. He is planning to study law at NYU. But before that, he says he is planning to spend time recuperating. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)

Blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangcheng arrives at Washington Square Village on the campus of New York University, Saturday, May 19, 2012, in New York. Chen escaped from his village in April and was given sanctuary inside the U.S. Embassy after seven years of prison and house arrest. He is planning to study law at NYU. But before that, he says he is planning to spend time recuperating. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)

Blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangcheng, center, arrives at Washington Square Village on the campus of New York University, Saturday, May 19, 2012 in New York. Chen escaped from his village in April and was given sanctuary inside the U.S. Embassy after seven years of prison and house arrest. He is planning to study law at NYU. But before that, he says he is planning to spend time recuperating. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)

Blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangcheng, center, arrives at Washington Square Village on the campus of New York University, Saturday, May 19, 2012 in New York. Chen escaped from his village in April and was given sanctuary inside the U.S. Embassy after seven years of prison and house arrest. He is planning to study law at NYU. But before that, he says he is planning to spend time recuperating. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)

(AP) ? A blind Chinese legal activist who was suddenly allowed to leave the country arrived in the United State on Saturday, ending a nearly monthlong diplomatic tussle that had tested U.S.-China relations.

Chen Guangcheng had been hurriedly taken from a hospital hours earlier and put on a plane for the U.S. after Chinese authorities suddenly told him to pack and prepare to leave. He arrived Saturday evening at Newark Liberty International Airport and was whisked to New York City, where he will be staying.

Dressed in a white shirt and khaki pants and using crutches, his right leg in a cast, Chen was greeted with cheers when he arrived at the apartment in Manhattan's Greenwich Village where he will live with his family. The complex houses faculty and graduate students of New York University, where Chen is expected to attend law school.

"For the past seven years, I have never had a day's rest," he said through a translator, "so I have come here for a bit of recuperation for body and in spirit."

Chen urged the crowd to fight against injustice, and thanked the U.S. and Chinese governments, along with the embassies of Switzerland, Canada and France.

"After much turbulence, I have come out of Shandong," he said, referring to the Chinese province where he was under house arrest. The U.S. has granted him partial citizenship rights, he said.

Chen gave a short statement, which was greeted by cheers in Mandarin and English, but did not take questions from reporters.

The departure of Chen, his wife and two children to the United States marked the conclusion of nearly a month of uncertainty and years of mistreatment by local authorities for the self-taught activist.

After seven years of prison and house arrest, Chen made a daring escape from his rural village in April and was given sanctuary inside the U.S. Embassy, triggering a diplomatic standoff over his fate. With Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Beijing for annual high-level discussions, officials struck a deal that let Chen walk free, only to see him have second thoughts. That forced new negotiations that led to an agreement to send him to the U.S. to study law, a goal of his, at New York University.

"Thousands of thoughts are surging to my mind," Chen said before he left China. His concerns, he said, included whether authorities would retaliate for his negotiated departure by punishing his relatives left behind. It also was unclear whether the government will allow him to return.

In New York, he said China had promised him protection of his rights as a citizen there.

"I am very gratified to see that the Chinese government has been dealing with the situation with restraint and calm, and I hope to see that they continue to open discourse and earn the respect and trust of the people."

Chen's expected attendance at New York University comes from his association with Jerome Cohen, a law professor there who advised Chen while he was in the U.S. Embassy. The two met when Chen came to the United States on a State Department program in 2003, and Cohen has been staunch advocate for him since.

"I'm very happy at the news that he's on his way and I look forward to welcoming him and his family tonight and to working with him on his course of study," Cohen said.

Before he left China, Chen asked his supporters and others in the activist community for their understanding of his desire to leave the front lines of the rights struggle in China.

"I am requesting a leave of absence, and I hope that they will understand," he said.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland praised the quiet negotiations that freed him.

"We also express our appreciation for the manner in which we were able to resolve this matter and to support Mr. Chen's desire to study in the U.S. and pursue his goals," Nuland said in a statement.

The White House also said it was pleased with the outcome of negotiations.

China's Foreign Ministry said it had no comment. The government's news agency, Xinhua, issued a brief report saying that Chen "has applied for study in the United States via normal channels in line with the law."

Chen's supporters welcomed his departure. "This is great progress," said U.S.-based rights activist Bob Fu. "It's a victory for freedom fighters."

The 40-year-old Chen is emblematic of a new breed of activists that the Communist Party finds threatening. Often from rural and working-class families, these "rights defenders," as they are called, are unlike the students and intellectuals from the elite academies and major cities of previous democracy movements and thus could potentially appeal to ordinary Chinese.

Chen gained recognition for crusading for the disabled and for farmers' rights and fighting against forced abortions in his rural community. That angered local officials, who seemed to wage a personal vendetta against him, convicting him in 2006 on what his supporters say were fabricated charges and then holding him for the past 20 months in illegal house arrest.

Even with the backstage negotiations, Chen's departure came hastily. Chen spent the last 2 1/2 weeks in a hospital for the foot he broke escaping house arrest. Only on Wednesday did Chinese authorities help him complete the paperwork needed for his passport.

Chen said by telephone Saturday that he was informed at the hospital just before noon to pack his bags to leave. Officials did not give him and his family passports or inform them of their flight details until after they got to the airport.

Seeming ambivalent, Chen said that he was "not happy" about leaving and that he had a lot on his mind, including worries about retaliation against his extended family back home. His nephew, Chen Kegui, is accused of attempted murder after he allegedly used a kitchen knife to attack officials who stormed his house after discovering Chen Guangcheng was missing.

"I hope that the government will fulfill the promises it made to me, all of its promises," Chen said. Such promises included launching an investigation into abuses against him and his family in Shandong province, he said before the phone call was cut off.

Much as Chen has said he wants return to China, it remains uncertain whether the Chinese government would bar him, as they have done with many exiled activists.

"Chen's departure for the U.S. does not and should not in any way mark a 'mission accomplished' moment for the U.S. government," said Phelim Kine, a senior Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The harder, longer-term part is ensuring his right under international law to return to China when he sees fit."

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Associated Press Writers Didi Tang, Gillian Wong and Charles Hutzler in Beijing, Andrew Duffelmeyer in Newark, N.J., and Matthew Lee in Washington, and videojournalist Annie Ho in Beijing contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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