Doctors should consider hepatitis C testing: panel












NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A government-backed panel advises doctors to “consider offering screening” for hepatitis C to adults born between 1945 and 1965, in a draft statement released today.


The recommendations, from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), are an update to the group’s 2004 statement, which recommended against screening people at average risk of hepatitis C. At the time, it also said there wasn’t enough evidence for or against screening high-risk adults, such as injection drug users.












“There were a lot of uncertainties in 2004,” said Dr. Albert Siu from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, who is co-vice chair of the task force.


“The evidence has increased over the years. The tests haven’t really changed, but there is more certainty in terms of the overall net benefit here,” he told Reuters Health.


Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called for hepatitis C testing for all baby boomers, who make up three-quarters of people in the United States with the infection.


The USPSTF now also recommends screening all high-risk adults, regardless of when they were born.


Hepatitis C is passed through blood. Along with drug users who share needles, people who had a blood transfusion or received an organ transplant before mandatory viral testing began in 1992 are also at increased risk of hepatitis C.


Between 1 and 2 percent of people in the U.S. have hepatitis C, which can cause cirrhosis and liver failure over many years. Among the baby boomer generation, that rate is between 3 and 4 percent.


In the new draft recommendations, the task force says there is enough evidence showing blood tests used to detect hepatitis C are accurate. However, there is no direct, long-term proof that screening ultimately reduces liver disease and death – in part because the harmful effects of hepatitis C progress slowly and it takes many years to see such results.


Siu said the screening process is safer than it used to be because fewer people are getting invasive liver biopsies to confirm positive blood tests. That helps tip the scale in favor of screening.


In addition, for many people with hepatitis C, treatment with anti-viral drugs – especially three-drug combinations including medications recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration – can decrease the amount of virus in the blood to an undetectable level, the USPSTF found.


Side effects of the newest drugs, known as boceprevir (Victrelis) and telaprevir (Incivek), include anemia and rashes. Those medications are added to a combination regimen of ribavirin and peginterferon alfa (also commonly known as Pegasys and Peg-Intron), which has been the standard of treatment since the early 2000s.


“In general, when we are talking about infectious diseases screening, (question) one is prevalence rate in the population and two is, are there any effective treatments?” said Dr. Lu-Yu Hwang, who has studied hepatitis C infection and transmission at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.


“Today… people are more optimistic for hepatitis C treatment than for hepatitis B or HIV. People believe there’s a good way you can get rid of the virus, and we do have a good number of people recovering from chronic infection,” Hwang, who is not part of the USPSTF, told Reuters Health.


Evidence reviews completed for the task force also suggest that for pregnant women with hepatitis C, delivering a baby via cesarean section or avoiding breastfeeding does not cut down on virus transmission. That suggests transmission may occur while a fetus is still in utero, Dr. Roger Chou and colleagues from Oregon Health & Science University in Portland said.


Hwang suggested screening could be useful for women who are considering becoming pregnant. Then if they are positive for hepatitis C, women can be treated and reduce their viral levels before there’s a risk of passing the virus on to the baby.


The reviews used by the USPSTF are published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The draft recommendations will be on the task force website (http://bit.ly/9e1DhW) and available for public comment between November 27 and December 24.


SOURCE: http://bit.ly/N0G6LY Annals of Internal Medicine, online November 26, 2012.


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Fox News Suddenly Loves Illegal Immigrants












Since the election, there’s been a noticeable change in how Fox News has been covering the delicate issue of illegal immigration. It started with Sean Hannity. On his radio program on Nov. 8, Hannity told listeners that he now supports a path to citizenship for some people living in the U.S. illegally. “We’ve got to get rid of the immigration issue altogether,” Hannity said. “You control the border first. You create a pathway for those people that are here; you don’t say you’ve got to go. And that is a position I’ve evolved on.”


If the “I’ve evolved” language sounds familiar, it’s because that’s what President Obama said when he told the public in May that he’d changed his mind and was now supporting gay marriage. “I’ve evolved” is the way people in Washington signal that they realize they’re out of touch and are now trying to lead from behind.












For Hannity it’s a dramatic about-face. During the 2012 primary election, the GOP was the party of “self-deportation,” a term Mitt Romney coined. Romney was drawing on earlier comments by Hannity, who has called deportation the only solution for the 11 million-plus people living in the country illegally. Hannity described the Dream Act, which offers an opportunity of citizenship to young people who came to the U.S. before they were 16, finished high school, and have no criminal record, “an amnesty nightmare.” In his view at the time, even those illegal immigrants who served in the military didn’t deserve citizenship rights.


The day after Hannity announced his change of heart, Fox (NWSA) ran this news segment:


The following week, Fox provided extensive and generally positive coverage of Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s speech at the Washington Ideas Forum. Rubio appealed to his party to come up with a sensible plan for the illegal aliens living in the U.S., saying, “It’s really hard to get people to listen to you on economic growth, on tax rates, on health care if they think you want to deport your grandmother.”


Appearing on Fox on Sunday, Arizona Senator John McCain added to the chorus. He called on the GOP to heed the lessons of the election, in which minorities provided the margin of victory for Obama in key states. “I think we have to have a bigger tent,” McCain said. “Obviously, we have to do immigration reform.”


McCain has a keen interest in keeping the discussion alive: Back in 2007, he and Senator Ted Kennedy brought an immigration-reform package to Congress. That bill, which was pushed by President George W. Bush and included a path to citizenship, was derailed in part by talking heads such as Hannity. Any attempts by McCain & Co. to get traction for a renewed effort at immigration reform would benefit from a friendly reception on Fox News. It looks like they’ve got it.


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Dog days in Cuba: from shih tzus to schnauzers












HAVANA (AP) — The Cuban capital has played host to political summits and art festivals, ballet tributes and international baseball competitions. Now dog lovers are getting their chance to take center stage.


Hundreds of people from all over Cuba and several other countries came to a scruffy field near Revolution Plaza this past week to preen and fuss over the shih tzus, beagles, schnauzers and cocker spaniels that are the annual Fall Canine Expo’s star attractions. There were even about a dozen bichon habaneros, a mid-sized dog bred on the island since the 17th century.












As dog lovers talked shop, the merely curious strolled the field, checking out the more than 50 breeds on display while carefully dodging the prodigious output of so many dogs.


The four-day competition, which ended Sunday, included competitions in several breeding categories, and judges were flown in from Nicaragua, Colombia and Mexico.


“This is a small, poor country, but Cubans love dogs,” said Miguel Calvo, the president of Cuba’s dog federation, which organized the show. “We make a great effort to breed purebred animals of quality.”


Winners don’t receive any trophy or prize money, but that doesn’t mean the competition is any less fierce.


Anabel Perez, owner of a cocker spaniel named Lisamineli after the U.S. actress, spent more than half an hour coifing the dog’s hair in preparation for the competition, while the owner of a shih tzu named Tiguer meticulously brushed his coat nearby.


“I’m a hairdresser for humans,” explained Tiguer’s owner, Miguel Lopez. “So it’s easy for me. I like shih tzus because they are a lot of work to keep well groomed.”


Latin America News Headlines – Yahoo! News


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Nokia imaging chief to quit












HELSINKI (Reuters) – Nokia‘s long-time imaging chief Damian Dinning has decided to leave the loss-making cellphone maker at the end of this month, the company said in a statement.


The strong imaging capabilities of the new Lumia smartphone models are a key sales argument for the former market leader, which has been burning through cash while losing share in both high-end smartphones and cheaper handsets.












Nokia’s Chief Executive Stephen Elop has replaced most of the top management since he joined in late 2010 and Dinnig is the latest of several executives to leave.


Dinning did not want to move to Finland as part of the phonemakers’ effort to concentrate operations and will join Jaguar Land Rover to head innovations in the field of connected cars, he said on Nokia’s imaging fan site PureViewclub.com.


(Reporting By Tarmo Virki, editing by William Hardy)


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Vampires foil Tooth Fairy, Santa to claim box office win












(Reuters) – Teen vampire film “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2″ continued to take a bite out of the domestic box office, drawing $ 64 million in ticket sales over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend to finish ahead of James Bond film “Skyfall.”


After opening with a massive $ 141.1 million last weekend, the finale of the “Twilight” franchise brought in a holiday swarm of fans to see teen favorites Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, pushing “Breaking Dawn” to $ 227 million in total domestic ticket sales.












“Skyfall,” starring Daniel Craig in the 23rd installment of the James Bond franchise, finished second, collecting $ 51 million in weekend ticket sales in the United States and Canada, according to studio estimates compiled by the box office division of Hollywood.com.


“Lincoln,” Steven Spielberg’s historical film on the last days of President Abraham Lincoln, grabbed third with $ 34.1 million over the Wednesday-through-Sunday period.


Making its debut in fourth place with $ 32.6 million was the animated film “Rise of the Guardians,” featuring the voices of Chris Pine and Alec Baldwin as the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus and other childhood favorites who save the world.


“Life of Pi,” based on Yann Martel’s 2001 best-seller about a boy who survives on a raft with a tiger after his ship sinks, collected $ 30.15 million for a strong fifth-place finish.


“Rise of the Guardians,” produced by Dreamworks Animation for roughly $ 145 million, had been projected by distributor Paramount Pictures to gross $ 35 million in its first five days, according to Box Office Mojo.


Based on “The Guardians of Childhood” book series by children’s author William Joyce, the film will be the last Paramount will release for Dreamworks, whose films will be distributed next year by News Corp’s Fox studio.


Anne Globe, Dreamworks’ chief marketing officer, pointed to “the great parent reactions we’ve seen” to the film, and noting it was among the few choices for families through the end of year, said the studio was “hoping for very long legs through the holidays.”


The Ang Li film “Life of Pi,” on the other hand, performed stronger than expected. “We clearly exceeded our pre-release expectations,” said Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution for 20th Century Fox.


“We’re seeing word of mouth in action, and a remarkably balanced demographic,” including strong ticket sales among those under 25, he said, adding “Many felt it was impossible to film, but Ang Li pulled it off.”


The remake of the 1984 Cold War film “Red Dawn,” finished seventh with $ 22 million in sales, behind animated feature “Wreck It Ralph”‘s $ 23 million take.


“Red Dawn” arrived at movie theaters four years after it was shot by MGM, but was delayed when the studio filed for bankruptcy in 2010. Last year, MGM decided to digitally alter the villains in the movie, inserting North Koreans instead of Chinese, after Hollywood began courting Chinese companies to help finance its films.


Propelled by the vampires, secret agents, presidents and nursery school favorites, Hollywood ticket sales totaled $ 290 million for the holiday weekend, beating the holiday weekend high mark of $ 273 million recorded in 2009. Hollywood studios often release their biggest holiday films on Wednesday to take advantage of school breaks the day before Thanksgiving.


The continued rush of fans to see teen favorites Pattinson, Stewart and Lautner pushed the “Twilight” installment to $ 227 million in total domestic ticket sales, making it the year’s sixth-largest, according to figures compiled by Box Office Mojo.


“Skyfall” with $ 221.7 million is just behind at number seven, while the year’s box office champ remains “Marvel’s The Avengers,” which has taken in $ 623 million to date.


(Reporting By Ronald Grover)


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Detecting Cancer…With a Cellphone?












Smartphone technology is often seen as much of nuisance as it is a convenience, but having that kind of communicative power at our fingertips has a surprising advantage; it’s serving as a bridge, bringing  healthcare to third world countries that had previously been too remote and too costly to reach.


The Kilimanjaro Cervical Screening Project is spearheading one use of smartphone technology in a way that’s surprisingly simple, but could end up saving thousands of women’s lives.












Armed with screening kits, treatment tools and cellphones, teams of non-physician medical workers will visit remote locations in rural Tanzania to screen women for cervical cancer. Instead of the swab method used in the typical Pap smear, workers will use their cellphones to photograph a patient’s cervix, text the image to a physician and then receive back a diagnosis and treatment recommendation.


But can it really be that simple? Dr. Karen Yeates of Queen’s University, who is the lead investigator of the project, told CNN, “That’s the beauty of it — for early grade cancers, those will be able to be treated right in the field, right in the rural area.”


According to the World Health Organization (WHO), rates of cervical cancer in Africa are up to ten times those in developed countries, and among those diagnosed, about 50,000 women die from it annually.


Though cervical cancer has very low mortality rates in developed countries like the U.S., that’s generally due to regular screenings which catch the disease in its earliest and most treatable incarnations. However, in countries like Tanzania, women in remote villages obviously don’t have access to those types of preventative measures. Subsequently, the WHO estimates that by the time most African women are diagnosed with the disease, they’ve already advanced into its latest fatal stages. But regular screenings could put a stop to that. 


In addition to addressing reproductive healthcare, cellphones are as of late becoming facilitators of cardiac care in developing countries as well. Earlier this year, high school student Catherine Wong discovered how to turn her cellphone into a portable ECG machine, bringing heart monitoring capabilities to the most remote locations with results that could be beamed to doctors no matter how far away.


The Kilimanjaro Cervical Screening Project is gaining some notoriety because it’s recently become one of the 68 finalists in Canada’s Grand Challenges, a fund awarded to medical innovators who’ve invented new systems or products to bring healthcare to the poorest parts of the world. As a finalist, the Kilimanjaro Project has been granted $ 100,000, allowing it to begin its initial trials.


So much of good healthcare rests on the early detection of illness and now that geography and cost aren’t the impediments they once were, patients in developing countries have real opportunities to survive illnesses once believed to be fatal. 


Do you expect that “mobile healthcare” may eventually become the standard method of care in countries like the U.S. as well? Let us know what you think about it in the Comments.


Related Stories on TakePart:


• Student Athletes Shouldn’t Be Dying


• That Figures: Life-Saving CPR                   


• Cardiac Arrest? An iPhone App Might Save Your Life



A Bay Area native, Andri Antoniades previously worked as a fashion industry journalist and medical writer.  In addition to reporting the weekend news on TakePart, she volunteers as a web editor for locally-based nonprofits and works as a freelance feature writer for TimeOutLA.com. Email Andri | @andritweets | TakePart.com


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Catalan election weakens bid for independence from Spain












BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) – Separatists in Spain’s Catalonia won regional elections on Sunday but failed to get the resounding mandate they need to push convincingly for a referendum on independence.


Catalan President Artur Mas, who has implemented unpopular spending cuts in an economic crisis, had called an early election to test support for his new drive for independence for Catalonia, a wealthy region in northeastern Spain.












Voters handed almost two thirds of the 135-seat local parliament to four different Catalan separatist parties that all want to hold a referendum on secession from Spain.


But they punished the main separatist group, Mas’s Convergence and Union alliance, or CiU, cutting back its seats to 50 from 62. That will make it difficult for Mas to lead a united drive to hold a referendum in defiance of the constitution and the central government in Madrid.


“Mas clearly made a mistake. He promoted a separatist agenda and the people have told him they want other people to carry out his agenda,” said Jose Ignacio Torreblanca, head of the European Council on Foreign Relations’ Madrid office.


The result will come as a relief for Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who is battling a deep recession and 25 percent unemployment while he struggles to cut high borrowing costs by convincing investors of Spain’s fiscal and political stability.


Mas, surrounded by supporters chanting “independence, independence”, said he would still try to carry out the referendum but added that, “it is more complex, but there is no need to give up on the process.”


Resurgent Catalan separatism had become a major headache for Rajoy, threatening to provoke a constitutional crisis over the legality of a referendum just as he is trying to concentrate on a possible international bailout for troubled Spain.


Frustration over the Spanish tax system, under which Catalonia shares some of its tax revenue with the rest of the country, has revived a long-dormant secessionist spirit in Catalonia. Catalans believe if they could invest more of their taxes at home their economy would prosper.


Mas had tried to ride the separatist wave after hundreds of thousands demonstrated in the streets in September, demanding independence for their region, which has its own language and sees itself as distinct from the rest of Spain.


In a speech to supporters on Sunday night, Mas recognized that he had lost ground and though CiU is still the largest group in Catalan‘s parliament, he said would need the support of another party to govern and to continue pushing through tough economic measures.


“We’ve fallen well short of the majority we had. We’ve been ruling for two years under very tough circumstances,” he said.


Traditional separatists the Republican Left, or ERC, won the second biggest presence in the Catalan parliament, with 21 seats. The Socialists took 20 seats. And Rajoy’s center-right People’s Party won 19.


Three other parties, including two that want a referendum on independence, split the remaining 25 seats. ECFR’s Torreblanca said the Catalan elections were similar to those around Europe in that economic woes have benefited marginal political groups, while larger, traditional parties have lost ground.


MAS MADE BIG BET


Mas’s bet on separatism may have helped out the big winner of Sunday’s election, the Republican Left, which more than doubled its seats in the Catalan parliament to 21 from 10,


“He talked about it so much that he ended up helping the only party that has always been for independence, which is the Republican Left,” said political analyst Ismael Crespo at the Ortega y Gasset research institute.


A legal referendum would require a change to the constitution, and Spain’s main parties in the national parliament, the Socialists and Rajoy’s People’s Party, have shown no appetite for that.


Mas’s CiU had traditionally been a pro-business moderate nationalist party that fought for more autonomy and self-governance for Catalonia without breaking away from Spain.


Mas broke with that tradition in September when he made a big bet on a referendum.


Catalonia, with 7.5 million people, is more populous than Denmark. Its economy is almost as big as Portugal’s and it generates one fifth of Spanish gross domestic product.


After a decade of overspending during Spain’s real estate boom, Catalonia and most of the country’s other regions are struggling to pay state workers and meet debt payments. Unemployment has soared and spending on hospitals and schools has been cut.


Mas was one of the first Spanish leaders to embark on harsh austerity measures after Catalonia’s public deficit soared and the regional government was shunned by debt markets.


Josep Freixas, 37 and unemployed, voted for CiU but recognized the party had lost seats “because people have been really affected by the spending cuts and by the crisis.”


At CiU headquarters on Sunday night Freixas carried a rolled up pro-independence flag – a single star against yellow and red stripes – that has become a symbol of the separatist movement.


Turnout was very high in the election, 68 percent, 10 percentage points higher than in the previous vote two years ago.


Many Catalans are angry that Rajoy has refused to negotiate a new tax deal with their largely self-governing region. Annually, an estimated 16 billion euros ($ 21 billion) in taxes paid in Catalonia, about 8 percent of its economic output, is not returned to the region.


Home to car factories and banks and birthplace of surrealist painter Salvador Dali and architect Antoni Gaudi, the region also has one of the world’s most successful football clubs, FC Barcelona.


Wary that separatism could spread to the Basque Country and beyond, Rajoy said this week that the Catalan election was more important than general elections.


(The story corrects billion to million in 20th paragraph.)


(Editing by Myra MacDonald and Sandra Maler)


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Israel successfully tests missile defense system












JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel successfully tested its newest missile defense system Sunday, the military said, a step toward making the third leg of what Israel calls its “multilayer missile defense” operational.


The “David’s Sling” system is designed to stop mid-range missiles. It successfully passed its test, shooting down its first missile in a drill Sunday in southern Israel, the military said.












The system is designed to intercept projectiles with ranges of up to 300 kilometers (180 miles).


Israel has also deployed Arrow systems for longer-range threats from Iran. The Iron Dome protects against short-range rockets fired by militants in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. Iron Dome shot down hundreds of rockets from Gaza in this month’s round of fighting.


Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the success of Iron Dome highlighted the “immense importance” of such systems.


“David’s Sling,” also known “Magic Wand,” is developed by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and U.S.-based Raytheon Co. and is primarily designed to counter the large arsenal of Hezbollah rockets in Lebanon.


The military said the program, which is on schedule for deployment in 2014, would “provide an additional layer of defense against ballistic missiles.”


The next generation of the Arrow, now in the development stage, is set to be deployed in 2016. Called the Arrow 3, it is designed to strike its target outside the atmosphere, intercepting missiles closer to their launch sites. Together, the two Arrow systems would provide two chances to strike down incoming missiles.


Israel also uses U.S.-made Patriot missile defense batteries against mid-range missiles, though these failed to hit any of the 39 Scud missiles fired at Israel from Iraq In the first Gulf War 20 years ago. Manufacturers say the Patriot system has been improved since then.


Middle East News Headlines – Yahoo! News


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HP says products may have been sold to Syria by others












(Reuters) – Hewlett Packard Co said in a letter made public on Friday that its products could have been delivered to Syria through resellers or distributors, but the world’s largest PC maker affirmed it did not sell directly to the country.


The letter was a response to a request from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission‘s Office of Global Security Risk that asked whether HP’s products were sold in countries where they would be subject to U.S. sanctions.












“We are aware of November 2011 news reports that your equipment was installed by the Italian company, Area SpA, in Syria as part of a nationwide surveillance and tracking system designed to monitor people in that country,” the SEC wrote in its request.


“Please describe to us the nature, duration, and extent of your past, current, and anticipated contacts with Syria and Iran, whether through subsidiaries, distributors, resellers, vendors, retailers, or other direct or indirect arrangements.”


In a letter dated October 9, HP said it had not authorized the sale of products to Syria.


Instead, HP said the Italian surveillance company had likely obtained its products from an HP partner that was unaware of their ultimate destination.


In another October 9 letter to the agency, HP said it ended its contract with Area SpA in April.


Calls to HP seeking further comment were unanswered as were calls to Area SpA.


HP’s overseas subsidiaries ended sales of printers and related supplies to third-party distributors and resellers with customers in Iran in early 2009, the company wrote.


But because its products are often sold by others through indirect channels without its knowledge or consent “it is always possible that products may be diverted to Iran or Syria after being sold to channel partners, such as distributors and resellers,” HP said.


Reuters has documented how banned computer equipment from U.S. companies has made its way to Iran’s largest telecommunications company through China-based ZTE.


Networking equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc has since cut its ties to ZTE.


HP said in both letters that it would continue to work with ZTE, but it had conducted an internal investigation relating to an alleged sale of its products to MTN Irancell, Iran’s second largest mobile carrier.


The company was also asked about EDS – an IT outsourcing company that HP bought in 2008 – and any activity in Iran, Syria and Sudan.


HP said it had the same policy regarding Sudan as it did on sales to Iran or Syria.


HP is eager to avoid more negative publicity after surprising the market on Tuesday with an $ 8.8 billion write-down on its $ 11.1 billion acquisition of software group Autonomy, accusing the British company of improper accounting to inflate sales.


Autonomy has denied any wrongdoing.


(Reporting by Nicola Leske in New York. Editing by Leslie Gevirtz and Andre Grenon)


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Vampires, 007 may set record Thanksgiving sales












LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The teen vampire movie “Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2″ continued to lure huge audiences, siphoning off $ 12.8 million in Wednesday night showings in what could fuel a record box office haul for the five-day Thanksgiving Day holiday.


The final film in the “Twilight” series, collected $ 141.3 million last weekend for the industry’s eighth largest opening weekend. On Wednesday it combined with the Daniel CraigJames Bond” film “Skyfall” to lead a slate of films that generated $ 44.3 million in total U.S. and Canadian ticket sales for the day, according to unofficial data from Hollywood.com’s box office division.












That’s 20 percent ahead of last year’s take for the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and, if the pace holds, would put Hollywood on a path to a $ 278 million holiday weekend, according to Hollywood.com estimates. The 2009 holiday weekend record of $ 273 million included “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” and the football flick, “The Blind Side.”


Hollywood traditionally opens its largest Thanksgiving weekend films on Wednesday, when schools are closed before the Thursday holiday.


“Skyfall,” the 23rd film in the “James Bond” series about the exploits of a British spy, collected $ 7.4 million in Wednesday showings.


Dreamworks Animation’s “Rise of the Guardians,” featuring the voices of Chris Pine and Alec Baldwin in a story about the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and other childhood characters that save the world, opened with $ 4.85 million in Wednesday sales.


“Twilight” and “Skyfall” each easily appear headed to more than $ 200 million in box office sales. “Skyfall,” released by Sony Pictures in association with MGM, has generated more than $ 178 million so far in domestic ticket sales through Wednesday, already making it the 10th biggest selling film of 2012.


“Twilight,” starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, has totaled $ 175.5 million through Wednesday in the U.S. and Canada, according to the Hollywood.com unofficial tally. It was released by Lionsgate Entertainment.


(Reporting By Ronald Grover; Editing by Sandra Maler)


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