Pap Test May Prove Useful at Detecting More Types of Cancer, Study Suggests

The Pap test, which has prevented countless deaths from cervical cancer, may eventually help to detect cancers of the uterus and ovaries as well, a new study suggests.

For the first time, researchers have found genetic material from uterine or ovarian cancers in Pap smears, meaning that it may become possible to detect three diseases with just one routine test.

But the research is early, years away from being used in medical practice, and there are caveats. The women studied were already known to have cancer, and while the Pap test found 100 percent of the uterine cancers, it detected only 41 percent of the ovarian cancers. And the approach has not yet been tried in women who appear healthy, to determine whether it can find early signs of uterine or ovarian cancer.

On the other hand, even a 41 percent detection rate would be better than the status quo in ovarian cancer, particularly if the detection extends to early stages. The disease is usually advanced by the time it is found, and survival rates are poor. About 22,280 new cases were expected in the United States in 2012, and 15,500 deaths. Improved tests are urgently needed.

Uterine cancer has a better prognosis, but still kills around 8,000 women a year in the United States.

These innovative applications of the Pap test are part of a new era in which advances in genetics are being applied to the detection of a wide variety of cancers or precancerous conditions. Scientists are learning to find minute bits of mutant DNA in tissue samples or bodily fluids that may signal the presence of hidden or incipient cancers.

Ideally, the new techniques would find the abnormalities early enough to cure the disease or even prevent it entirely. But it is too soon to tell.

“Is this the harbinger of things to come? I would answer yes,” said Dr. Bert Vogelstein, director of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics and Therapeutics at Johns Hopkins University, and a senior author of a report on the Pap test study published on Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine. He said the genomes of more than 50 types of tumors had been sequenced, and researchers were trying to take advantage of the information.

Similar studies are under way or are being considered to look for mutant DNA in blood, stool, urine and sputum, both to detect cancer and also to monitor the response to treatment in people known to have the disease.

But researchers warn that such tests, used for screening, can be a double-edged sword if they give false positive results that send patients down a rabbit hole of invasive tests and needless treatments. Even a test that finds only real cancers may be unable to tell aggressive, dangerous ones apart from indolent ones that might never do any harm, leaving patients to decide whether to watch and wait or to go through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation with all the associated risks and side effects.

“Will they start recovering mutations that are not cancer-related?” asked Dr. Christopher P. Crum, a professor at Harvard Medical School who was not involved in the research.

But he also called the study a “great proof of principle,” and said, “Any whisper of hope to women who suffer from endometrial or ovarian cancer would be most welcome.”

DNA testing is already performed on samples from Pap tests, to look for the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which causes cervical cancer. Dr. Vogelstein and his team decided to try DNA testing for cancer. They theorized that cells or DNA shed from cancers of the ovaries and the uterine lining, or endometrium, might reach the cervix and turn up in Pap smears.

The team picked common mutations found in these cancers, and looked for them in tumor samples from 24 women with endometrial cancer and 22 with ovarian cancer. All the cancers had one or more of the common mutations.

Then, the researchers performed Pap tests on the same women, and looked for the same DNA mutations in the Pap specimens. They found the mutations in 100 percent of the women with endometrial cancer, but in only 9 of the 22 with ovarian cancer. The test identified two of the four ovarian cancers that had been diagnosed at an early stage.

Finally, the team developed a test that would look simultaneously for cancer-associated mutations in 12 different genes in Pap samples. Used in a control sample of 14 healthy women, the test found no mutations — meaning no false-positive results.

Dr. Luis A. Diaz, the other senior author of the report and an associate professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins, called the research a step toward a screening test that at first blush appears very effective at detecting endometrial cancer, though obviously less so at finding ovarian cancer.

“Probably one of the most exciting features of this approach,” Dr. Diaz said, “is that we wanted a test that would seamlessly integrate with routine medical practice that could be utilized with the same test that women get every day all over the world, the Pap smear.”

But, he added: “We can’t say it’s ready for prime time. Like all good science, it needs to be validated.”

He and other members of the team said it might be possible to improve the detection rate for ovarian cancer by looking for more mutations and by changing the technique of performing Pap tests to increase the likelihood of capturing cells from the ovary. The change might involve timing the test to a certain point in a woman’s monthly cycle, using a longer brush to collect cells from deeper within the cervix or prescribing a drug that would raise the odds of cells being shed from the ovary.

The technique also needs to be tested in much larger groups of women, including healthy ones, to find out whether it works, particularly at finding cancers early enough to improve survival. And studies must also find out whether it generates false positive results, or identifies cancers that might not actually need to be treated.

Michael H. Melner, a program director in molecular genetics and biochemistry for the American Cancer Society, called the research “very promising,” in part because it is based on finding mutations.

“It tells you not just that cancer is there, but which mutation is there,” Dr. Melner said. “As we learn more and more about which mutations are associated with more or less severe forms of cancer, it’s more information, and possibly more diagnostic.”

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James M. Buchanan, Economic Scholar, Dies at 93

James M. Buchanan, a scholar and author whose analyses of economic and political decision-making won the 1986 Nobel in economic sciences and shaped a generation of conservative thinking about deficits, taxes and the size of government, died on Wednesday in Blacksburg, Va. He was 93.

Alex Tabarrok, the director of the Center for Study of Public Choice at George Mason University, which Mr. Buchanan founded, confirmed his death.

Dr. Buchanan, a professor emeritus at George Mason, in Fairfax, Va., was a leading proponent of public choice theory, which assumes that politicians and government officials, like everyone else, are motivated by self-interest — getting re-elected or gaining more power — and do not necessarily act in the public interest.

He argued that their actions could be analyzed, and even predicted, by applying the tools of economics to political science in ways that yield insights into the tendencies of governments to grow, increase spending, borrow money, run large deficits and let regulations proliferate.

The logic of self-interest was nothing new. Machiavelli’s 16th-century treatise “The Prince” detailed cynical rules of statecraft to extend political power. Thomas Hobbes, in his 17th-century book “Leviathan,” held that aggressive, self-serving acts were “natural” unless forbidden by law. Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations,” published in 1776, noted that people pursuing their own good also produced benefits for society at large.

But Dr. Buchanan contended that the pursuit of self-interest by modern politicians often led to harmful public results. Courting voters at election time, for example, legislators will approve tax cuts and spending increases for projects and entitlements favored by the electorate. This combination can lead to ever-rising deficits, public debt burdens and increasingly large governments to conduct the public’s business.

Indeed, he said, governments had grown so vast and complex that it was no longer possible for elected officials to make more than a fraction of the policy decisions that genuinely affect the people. Thus, he said, much discretionary power is actually held by civil functionaries who can manipulate priorities, impose barriers to entitlements and pressure legislators for rules and budgets favorable to their own interests.

Dr. Buchanan did not invent the theory of public choice, an idea whose origins are obscure but that arose in modern economics literature in the late 1940s. But from the 1950s onward, he became its leading proponent, spearheading a group of economists in Virginia that sought to change the nature of the political process, to bring it more into line with what the group considered the wishes of most Americans.

In lectures, articles and more than 30 books, Dr. Buchanan amplified on the theory of public choice and argued for smaller government, lower deficits and fewer regulations — a spectrum of policy objectives that were ascendant in the 1980s conservative agenda of President Ronald Reagan.

Over the years since Dr. Buchanan won the Nobel, much of what he predicted has played out. Government is bigger than ever. Tax revenue has fallen far short of public programs’ needs. Public and private borrowing has become a way of life. Politicians still act in their own interests while espousing the public good, and national deficits have soared into the trillions.

Dr. Buchanan partly blamed Keynesian economics for what he considered a decline in America’s fiscal discipline. John Maynard Keynes argued that budget deficits were not only unavoidable but in fiscal emergencies were even desirable as a means to increase spending, create jobs and cut unemployment. But that reasoning allowed politicians to rationalize deficits under many circumstances and over long periods, Dr. Buchanan contended.

In a commentary in The New York Times in March 2011, Tyler Cowen, an economics professor at George Mason, said his colleague Dr. Buchanan had accurately forecast that deficit spending for short-term gains would evolve into “a permanent disconnect” between government outlays and revenue.

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Under Obama, a Skew Toward Male Appointees

Pete Souza/The White House

President Obama met with senior advisers in the Oval Office to discuss the fiscal cliff negotiations in late December.

WASHINGTON — In an Oval Office meeting on Dec. 29, President Obama’s top advisers stood before him discussing the heated fiscal negotiations. A White House photo shows 10 of the aides. All are male.

In the days since, Mr. Obama has put together a national security team dominated by men, with Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts nominated to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton as the secretary of state, Chuck Hagel chosen to be the defense secretary and John O. Brennan nominated as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Given the leading contenders for other top jobs, including chief of staff and Treasury secretary, Mr. Obama’s second-term inner circle appears likely to be dominated by men.

From the White House down the ranks, the Obama administration has compiled a broad appointment record that has significantly exceeded the Bush administration’s in terms of appointing women but has done no better than the Clinton administration’s, according to an analysis of personnel data by The New York Times. About 43 percent of Mr. Obama’s appointees have been women, about the same proportion as in the Clinton administration, but up from the roughly one-third appointed by George W. Bush.

The skew was widespread: male appointees under Mr. Obama outnumbered female appointees at 11 of the 15 federal departments, for instance. It occurred at all levels of government service, from the highest-level advisers on down. In some cases, the skew was also deep. At the Departments of Justice, Defense, Veterans Affairs and Energy, male appointees outnumbered female appointees by about two to one.

“We’re not only getting better than previous administrations, but we also want to get better ourselves as well,” Nancy D. Hogan, assistant to the president and director of presidential personnel, said in response to the Times analysis. “The president puts a premium on making his team representative of the American people.”

The White House itself employs almost exactly the same number of men and women, and administration officials said they hoped to even out the ratio across the government and help ensure that future Democratic administrations have a diverse and deep bench of candidates for high-level jobs. Mr. Obama does have a number of women in his closest circle of advisers, including Valerie A. Jarrett, a senior adviser, and Mrs. Clinton. But in the White House, there are 6 women with top-rank salaries, compared with 14 men, according to a 2012 report to Congress.

Interviews with current and former members of the administration, both men and women, suggested that there was no single reason for the discrepancy, and several repeatedly spoke of the administration’s internal commitment to diversity and gender equity.

But several said that the “pipeline” of candidates appeared to be one problem. They said it seemed that more men than women were put forward or put their names forward for jobs. In part, that might be a result of the persistence of historical discrepancies: men have traditionally dominated fields of government service like finance, security and defense.

The Obama administration has helped reverse that trend by putting women in top policy-making jobs in traditionally male-dominated fields, officials said. “It makes a huge difference when you have women who are leaders,” said Celeste A. Wallander, who until July served as a deputy assistant defense secretary. “They tend to have networks of excellent women they can call on. It’s who knows whom, who worked with whom. You tend to have a palette of options, and you chose from whom you know. Those can also be gender-skewed.”

In many areas of government, the Obama administration has brought the gender ratio much closer to even than the Bush administration. At the Treasury Department, which has a longstanding reputation as a boys’ club, men made up about 57 percent of appointees, down from 64 percent during the Bush administration as of 2008 and 60 percent in the Clinton administration as of 2000. Moreover, women now hold some of the top policy-making jobs in the Treasury Department, including Lael Brainard, the country’s top financial diplomat, and Mary J. Miller, the under secretary for domestic finance.

Kitty Bennett, Derek Willis and Sarah Cohen contributed research.

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James Franco Does His Best Justin Bieber

We realize there’s only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:  

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Remember when Justin Bieber was struggling for relevance and James Franco was the super serious, super educated actor destined for greatness? Well, Franco clearly doesn’t want you to:

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So what do you do when someone gets their dream wedding ruined by a doomed hot-air balloon ride? Well, if you’re the Today show, you make a macabre Wedding Crashers joke: 

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Here’s perhaps one of the better arguments against that trillion-dollar coin, courtesy of Homer Simpson and company:

And this guy seems pretty down on the squandered opulence of cruise ships:

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Bill Taylor to be awarded John A. Bonner Medal

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Visual effects supervisor Bill Taylor is being honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The academy says Taylor will be awarded the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation at the Scientific and Technical Awards banquet Feb. 9 at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

The John A. Bonner Medal is named in honor of the late director of special projects at Warner Hollywood Studios. It's awarded for outstanding service and dedication in upholding the high standards of the motion picture academy.

Taylor's visual effects credits include such films as "Lawless," ''Public Enemies," ''Milk" and "Bruce Almighty."

Portions of the Scientific and Technical Awards presentations will be included in the Academy Awards broadcast on Feb. 24.

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Gaps Seen in Therapy for Suicidal Teenagers

Most adolescents who plan or attempt suicide have already gotten at least some mental health treatment, raising questions about the effectiveness of current approaches to helping troubled teenagers, according to the largest in-depth analysis to date of suicidal behaviors in American teenagers.

The study in the journal JAMA Psychiatry found that 55 percent of suicidal teenagers had received some therapy before they thought about suicide, planned it or tried to kill themselves, contradicting the widely held belief that suicide is due in part to a lack of access to treatment.

The findings, based on interviews with a nationwide sample of more than 6,000 teenagers and at least one parent of each, linked suicidal behavior to complex combinations of mood disorders like depression and behavior problems that include attention-deficit and eating disorders, as well as alcohol and drug abuse.

The study found that about one in eight teenagers had persistent suicidal thoughts at some point, and about a third of them had made a suicide attempt, usually within a year of having the idea.

Previous studies have had similar findings, based on smaller, regional samples. But the new study is the first to suggest, in a large nationwide sample, that access to treatment does not make a big difference.

The study suggests that effective treatment for severely suicidal teenagers must address not just mood disorders, but also behavior problems that can lead to impulsive acts, experts said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,386 people between the ages of 13 and 18 committed suicide in 2010, the latest year for which numbers are available.

“I think one of the take-aways here is that treatment for depression may be necessary but not sufficient to prevent kids from attempting suicide,” said Dr. David Brent, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, who was not involved in the study. “We simply do not have empirically validated treatments for recurrent suicidal behavior.”

The report said nothing about whether the therapies given were state of the art, or carefully done, said Matt Nock, a professor of psychology at Harvard and the lead author; and it is possible that some of the treatments prevented suicide attempts. “But it’s telling us we’ve got a long way to go to do this right,” Dr. Nock said. His co-authors included Ronald C. Kessler of Harvard, and researchers from Boston University and Children’s Hospital Boston.

Margaret McConnell, a consultant in Alexandria, Va., said that her daughter Alice, who killed herself in 2006, at the age of 17, was getting treatment at the time. “I think there might have been some carelessness in the way the treatment was done,” Ms. McConnell said, “and I was trusting a 17-year-old to manage her own medication; we found out after we lost her that she wasn’t taking it regularly.”

In the study, researchers surveyed 6,483 adolescents from the ages of 13 to 18 and found that 9 percent of male teenagers and 15 percent of female teenagers experienced some stretch of having persistent suicidal thoughts. Among girls, 5 percent made suicide plans and 6 percent made at least one attempt (some were unplanned).

Among boys, 3 percent made plans and 2 percent carried out attempts – which tended to be more lethal than girls’ attempts.

(Suicidal thinking or behavior was virtually unheard-of before age 10.)

Over all, about one-third of teenagers with persistent suicidal thoughts went on to make an attempt to take their own lives.

Almost all of the suicidal adolescents in the study qualified for some psychiatric diagnosis, whether depression, phobias, or generalized anxiety disorder. Those with an added behavior problem – attention-deficit disorder, substance abuse, explosive anger – were more likely to act on thoughts of self-harm, the study found.

Doctors have tested a range of therapies to prevent or reduce recurrent suicidal behaviors, with mixed success. Medications can ease depression, but in some cases can increase suicidal thinking. Talk therapy can contain some behavior problems, but not all.

One approach, called dialectical behavior therapy, has proved effective in reducing hospitalizations and attempts in people with so-called borderline personality disorder, who are highly prone to self-harm, among others.

But suicidal teenagers who have a mixture of mood and behavior issues are difficult to reach. In one 2011 study, researchers at George Mason University reduced suicide attempts, hospitalizations, drinking and drug use among suicidal adolescent substance abusers. The study found that a combination of intensive treatments – talk therapy for mood problems, family-based therapy for behavior issues and patient-led reduction in drug use – was more effective that regular therapies.

“But that’s just one study, and it’s small,” Dr. Brent said. “We can treat components of the overall problem, but that’s about all.”

Ms. McConnell said that her daughter’s depression seemed mild and that there was no warning that she would take her life. “I think therapy does help a lot of people, if it’s handled right,” she said.

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Shares Fall Again as Investors Remain Wary

Stocks fell Tuesday, retreating further from last week’s rally after the federal budget deal, as companies started to report quarterly results.

In the wake of a 4.3 percent increase in the two sessions around the close of the budget negotiations, the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index has fallen, with investors finding few catalysts to extend the rally that took the index to five-year highs.

“We had a brief respite, courtesy of what happened on the fiscal cliff deal and the flip of the calendar with new money coming into the market,” said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Ala.

Stock in AT&T fell 1.7 percent to $34.35, making it one of the biggest drags on the S.& P. 500, after the company said it sold more than 10 million smartphones in the quarter.

The figure beat the same quarter in 2011, but meant increased costs for AT&T. Wireless service providers like AT&T pay large subsidies to handset makers so that they can offer discounts to customers who commit to two-year contracts.

Fourth-quarter profits are expected to beat the previous quarter’s lackluster results, but analysts’ estimates are down sharply from October. Quarterly earnings are expected to grow by 2.7 percent from a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The Dow dropped 55.44 points, or 0.41 percent, to close at 13,328.85. The S.& P. 500 fell 4.74 points, or 0.32 percent, to 1,457.15. The Nasdaq composite index lost 7.01 points, or 0.23 percent, to 3,091.81.

“The stark reality of uncertainty with regard to earnings, plus the negotiations on the debt ceiling, are there, and that doesn’t give investors a lot of reason to take bets on the long side,” Mr. Hellwig said.

With AT&T’s fall, the S.& P. telecom services index was the worst performer of the 10 major S.& P. sectors, down 2.7 percent.

Stock in Sears Holdings fell 6.4 percent to $40.16 a day after the company said the chairman, Edward Lampert, would become chief executive after Louis D’Ambrosio steps down because of a relative’s health. Markets declined as some of the first earnings to be reported were weak.

The Treasury’s benchmark 10-year note rose 11/32, to 97 28/32, and the yield fell to 1.86 percent from 1.90 percent late Monday.

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Goal-Line Stands Shape Notre Dame Season

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Stopping Stanford's Stepfan Taylor (33) inside the 1-yard line in overtime was one of the biggest plays of the season for the Notre Dame defense.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Two series. Those are what defined Notre Dame’s defense in this season of resurgence, as the Irish fought to an undefeated regular season and the Bowl Championship Series national title game against Alabama on Monday night.

Two series with that Notre Dame defense backed up near its goal line, protecting a single-digit lead. Two series in which a pair of opponents ran straight ahead, up the middle, close enough to the end zone to measure by feet, or inches. Two series that clinched two victories in the final minutes.

For all the reasons Notre Dame arrived back at the national championship — reasons like Coach Brian Kelly, quarterback Everett Golson and linebacker Manti Te’o — none proved as important or overlooked as the work the defense did when it was backed up near the end zone. Notre Dame stopped Stanford there in overtime, inside the 1-yard line. The Irish also turned back Southern California at the 1-yard-line in their regular-season finale.

Had either of those teams gained that single yard, Notre Dame’s magical season would have ended in a series of almosts: almost undefeated, almost bound for the B.C.S. title game.

Instead, Notre Dame highlighted the art of the goal-line stand, a sequence among the most straightforward and difficult in football. It did so, according to the defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, because of the consistency of its approach.

“The goal-line stands are a function of players knowing clearly exactly what to do, playing with whole heart, whole body, whole mind,” Diaco said. “No situation will be too much for us to take on, and no place on the field will we get discouraged, no matter where the ball is placed.”

That mentality carried Notre Dame through so many close games this season. It made the difference between a good team and a great one. It was a mind-set, Te’o said, that the Irish lacked in recent seasons.

Notre Dame’s ability to stop offenses near the end zone, combined with Alabama’s ability to score once its offense closed in, provided an important subplot before the title game. The Crimson Tide scored roughly 8 times out of every 10 times they advanced inside an opponent’s 20-yard line. The Fighting Irish allowed opponents inside the 20 only 33 times, and in those instances, they yielded a scant eight touchdowns.

This led Alabama players and coaches to laud the Notre Dame defense throughout the week before the championship game. The offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier labeled the Fighting Irish’s front seven the best the Crimson Tide would see this season. Receiver Kevin Norwood even paid Notre Dame the ultimate compliment.

“They’re like an SEC defense,” he said, referring to Alabama’s league, the Southeastern Conference, known for its tough, physical, stout defenses.

For as long as teams have played football, the goal-line stand has proved to be a game-changer, a brute-force sequence, man against man, power against power, strength against strength, greatly shifting momentum from a team that is about to score to a team that refuses to yield points.

There is little technical artistry involved, the focus instead on simple concepts and difficult execution. Defensive linemen must get underneath the pads of their offensive counterparts, gain leverage and push the offense backward. This is known as setting a new line of scrimmage. Linebackers must fill the gaps behind the linemen. Cornerbacks must cover receivers, should an offense pass, or pinch inside from the edge, wary of a running back leaping over the pile.

The defense cannot expect officials to call many penalties that close, in crucial moments. The sheer mass of bodies in such a confined space makes that difficult, as do the stakes involved.

“It’s fight or flight,” Notre Dame safety Zeke Motta said. “You have to make this stop. There’s no other option. You dream of situations like this your whole life.”

Like Notre Dame’s moment against Stanford in October. The Irish led, 20-13, after they scored first in overtime. Stanford drove to the 4-yard line. Four times the Cardinal handed the ball to Stepfan Taylor. Four times Notre Dame stopped him short, although in the final instance, Taylor inched so close to the end zone that many think he actually scored.

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Year-end Wii U sales steady, says Nintendo chief

KYOTO (Reuters) – Nintendo Co Ltd‘s year-end sales of its Wii U games console were steady, though not as strong as when its Wii predecessor was first launched, the Japanese game maker’s top executive told Reuters on Monday.

The company, which grew from making playing cards in the late 19th century into the blockbuster Super Mario video game series, is pinning its hopes on the Wii U after posting a first operating loss last year, as gamers ditch console games to play on smartphones and tablets.

“At the end of the Christmas season, it wasn’t as though stores in the U.S. had no Wii U left in stock, as it was when Wii was first sold in that popular boom. But sales are not bad, and I feel it’s selling steadily,” Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said in an interview.

Iwata gave no details on sales or forecasts, but said Nintendo needed to focus on developing attractive software for its 3DS handheld device to draw new users, and increase Wii U sales as it battles competition from popular mobile devices. The Wii U carries video content from Netflix Inc and Hulu, and has a dedicated social gaming network called Miiverse, which allows users to interact and share games tips.

Nintendo said in October it aimed to sell 5.5 million Wii U devices by end-March. Wii U, the successor to the blockbuster Wii machine, went on sale in the United States on November 18. The company later said it sold more than 400,000 of the video game consoles in the first week.

Nintendo sold 638,339 Wii U consoles in Japan between December 8 and 30, according to data from game magazine publisher Enterbrain. The company has sold nearly 100 million of the original Wii units since its launch in 2006.

Rival Microsoft Corp sold more than 750,000 of its Xbox 360 console during the Black Friday week in November – one of the busiest U.S. consumer shopping periods of the year, beating sales of both Sony Corp’s

DOUBLE CHALLENGE

Iwata acknowledged the challenge of producing two Wii U models at the same time, as most customers wanted the premium package, which sold out quickly in many places, while there was a glut of the slightly cheaper Wii U model on store shelves.

“It was the first time Nintendo released two models of the game console at the same time … and I believe there was a challenge with balancing this. Specifically, inventory levels for the premium, deluxe package was unbalanced as many people wanted that version and couldn’t find it,” he said.

Iwata noted a weaker yen would have little impact on Nintendo’s profits this fiscal year, but would positively impact its foreign denominated assets.

Nintendo’s Osaka-listed shares earlier ended down nearly 2.1 percent on Monday at 8,980 yen, and have fallen 15 percent since the Wii U was launched.

(Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

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'Mary Poppins' to close on Broadway in the spring

NEW YORK (AP) — "Mary Poppins" is closing up its big umbrella on Broadway.

An official close to the show's producers said Monday that the 6-year-old musical will end performances in March at the New Amsterdam Theatre and eventually be replaced by a musical adapted from the film "Aladdin."

The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak before the official announcement. The New York Post first reported the news, citing an anonymous source. A Disney representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"Mary Poppins," co-produced by Disney and Cameron Mackintosh, is based both on the children's books by P.L. Travers and the 1964 movie starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. It tells the story of the world's most practically perfect nanny in Edwardian London.

With a big cast, lavish sets and stunts that include Mary flying with her umbrella and Bert the chimney sweep tap dancing upside-down, the show was a hit after opening in 2006, two years after debuting in London.

The show is part of Disney Theatrical Productions' five big Broadway hits from seven attempts since 1994 — a profitable list that includes "The Lion King" and the more recent "Newsies." That's way above the 3-in-10 average recoupment of most Broadway shows. "Mary Poppins" routinely grosses over $1 million every week despite the presence of touring versions.

When it closes, it will have been performed 2,619 times and have been seen by more than 4 million people. It recouped its initial Broadway investment within a year, and has gone on to be among the top 10 grossing shows for the past six years and top five for attendance. It will rank as the 22nd longest-running show in Broadway history.

Its soon-to-be vacant home at the New Amsterdam Theatre will be taken by the musical "Aladdin," which has melodies by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice — the same team who created the animated film version that starred Robin Williams. The musical, with a book by Chad Beguelin, had its premiere in Seattle in summer 2011.

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