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Recall news: Smoked roundscad, chicken fillets

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The following recalls have been announced:

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ANGELINA BRAND SMOKED ROUNDSCAD

DETAILS: Arko Foods International of Los Angeles is recalling 8-ounce packs of Angelina Brand Smoked Roundscad.

WHY: It has the potential to be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium that causes botulism, a life-threatening illness. Consumers are warned not to consume the product even if it does not look or smell spoiled.

INCIDENTS: None reported.

HOW MANY: An undisclosed amount distributed in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Washington, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Texas, Maryland, Virginia, Florida and the Virgin Islands through retail stores, supermarkets and wholesale distributors from 2009 to January 2011.

FOR MORE: Contact the company at 323-257-1888 Monday to Friday noon to 9 p.m. EDT.

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CHICKEN BREAST FILLETS

DETAILS: Wayne Farms of Decatur, Ala., is recalling 10-pound cases of Thumann's "The Deli Best" Fully Cook Breaded Italian Style Chicken Breast W/Rib Meat, Dutch Quality House Breaded Fully Cook Breaded Italian Style Chicken Breast W/Rib Meat, and non-branded Breaded Fully Cook Breaded Italian Style Chicken Breast W/Rib Meat.

WHY: They contain an undeclared allergen, egg, which is not noted on the label.

INCIDENTS: None reported.

HOW MANY: 53,210 pounds of 7-ounce chicken fillets produced between Aug. 3, 2010, and Nov. 13, 2010, and shipped for foodservice use nationwide and to distribution centers in New Jersey and Massachusetts.

FOR MORE: Call the company's director of marketing and communications at 678-450-3092.

Lacko topples Querrey at ATP Tour SAP Open

SAN JOSE, California (AFP) – Slovakia's Lukas Lacko toppled third-seeded American Sam Querrey 7-6 (8/6), 6-3, one of three first-round upsets of seeded players in the ATP Tour SAP Open.

Earlier on Tuesday, big-serving Milos Raonic of Canada ousted fourth-seeded Belgian Xavier Malisse 6-3, 6-4, and Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis dispatched sixth-seeded Benjamin Becker of Germany 6-3, 7-6 (7/2).

Eighth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan bucked the trend, defeating Czech Jan Hajek 6-1, 7-6 (8/6).

Querrey, 23, won four titles last year but has now lost all three of his matches in 2011.

Since reaching the fourth round at last year's US Open the 23-year-old is 1-8.

Lacko, whose prior best victory came against world number 24 Ivan Ljubicic at Zagreb last year, next faces former US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili.

Del Potro is playing his first tournament in the United States since his 2009 US Open triumph.

He endured a nightmare 2010, starting the year as number five in the world before wrist problems saw him have season-ending surgery in May.

By the time he returned to competition at the Sydney International in January his ranking had slumped to 258th.

The defeats for Malisse and Becker left no seeded players in their quarter of the draw.

That could open up an opportunity for James Blake, who is playing in his first tournament in four months after battling knee and shoulder injuries.

Blake will take on Raonic in the second round on Wednesday.

Raonic, a 20-year-old who rode his powerful serve to the round of 16 at the Australian Open as a qualifier, fired 20 aces against Malisse to set up his match with Blake.

"It was a good win," said Raonic, who posted his fourth top-50 victory of the season. "He returns well. He has been playing well this year. I've been playing well also, so I focused on making sure I take care of my serve and stay on top of that... I was serving really well so it was putting a bit more pressure on his service game not to get down too early."

Asian shares fall after China rate rise; dollar eases

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Asian shares fell on Wednesday after China's latest interest rate rise, but government bond yields rose and the dollar and Swiss franc eased as investors bet Beijing's policy tightening would not derail hopes of a sustained economic recovery.

Developed equity markets outperformed emerging ones, continuing a rotation of funds that has been in place since the start of the year, although some analysts predicted strong Asian growth would reverse the trend eventually.

U.S. S&P 500 futures fell 0.3 percent and financial spreadbetters were calling major European markets to open flat-to-lower. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) notched a seventh straight day of gains, rising 0.6 percent, as surprisingly strong sales by McDonald's (MCD.N) boosted optimism about consumer spending.

Technical indicators show the average is overbought after a strong run-up that began in September, leaving U.S. markets prone to a pullback or a correction.

China raised interest rates by 25 basis points late on Tuesday, its second increase in just over six weeks. The timing was a surprise, coming on the final day of the Lunar New Year holiday, but investors had been expecting further tightening from Beijing to rein in stubbornly high inflation.

"Chinese policymakers' efforts to rein in overheating pressures are now seen in a relatively more positive light by global investors in that they will help slow growth to a more sustainable pace, while other engines of growth in the region begin to rev up," said Samarjit Shankar, analyst at BNY Mellon.

Japan's Nikkei (.N225) hit a 9-month high before retreating to close down 0.2 percent as bank shares were hit by profit-taking, but Australia's benchmark index (.AXJO) rose 0.3 percent and New Zealand shares also gained. (.T) (.AX)

MSCI's index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) fell 0.8 percent, weighed down by a 1.2 percent decline in South Korean stocks (.KS11), with market players citing weakness in firms such as Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) that are most exposed to China and a stronger won.

"The Chinese rate hike had been expected for some time," said Lee Sun-yeb, a market analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp in Seoul. "However, investors are reacting to it by offloading issues that are sensitive to forex swings and Chinese demand."

Chinese shares also fell, with the mainland market (.SSEC) down 1 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng (.HSI) off 0.6 percent.

Japan has been Asia's best performing market so far this year as healthier corporate profits and worries about building inflationary pressures have encouraged investors to switch money from fast-growing emerging markets -- last year's star performers -- to developed market equities.

"I expect developed markets to outperform for a few months but Asia and emerging markets should come back with a vengeance in the second-half of the year," said Khiem Do, chairman of the Asia multi-asset team at Barings Asset Management in Hong Kong.

While monetary policy in the rich world remains ultra-loose, central banks in emerging markets, especially in Asia, have been tightening policy to rein in inflation fueled by rising commodity and energy prices and strong domestic growth.

Indonesia raised rates last week and South Korea is expected to announce a back-to-back rate increase on Friday, while central banks in India and Brazil both hiked last month.

Traders said markets were positioned for more rate hikes in China and Indonesia, but some others such as India and Korea are beginning to look attractive from a fixed income perspective as markets may be bracing for a lot more rate increases than what may be ultimately delivered.

INFLATION STILL IN FOCUS

The Swiss franc, seen as a safe-haven currency, fell across the board on Wednesday and the dollar index (.DXY), which measures the U.S. currency against a basket of major currencies, slipped 0.1 percent.

Foreign exchange strategists said China's rate rise could support Asian currencies by underscoring policymakers determination to keep a lid on inflation.

"The recent moves by China will give more room for other Asian countries to raise rates and regional equity markets will react negatively to this," said Wilfred Sit, Head of Asia Pacific Investment Strategy, Mirae Asset Global Investments (HK) Limited. "Other more freely floating Asian currencies will continue to appreciate."

Increased investor appetite for riskier assets was evident in the bond market, with the five-year Japanese government bond yield climbing to a 15-month high and 10-year U.S. Treasury yields at a 9-month high, continuing a global trend of rising yields on government debt on expectations of an improving economy.

"The market seems to want to price in a rate hike by the Federal Reserve," said a trader at a Japanese bank.

Gold, often seen as an inflation hedge, was little changed around $1,363 an ounce, after rising around 1 percent in the previous session.

U.S. crude oil futures rose 44 cents to $87.38 a barrel after U.S. data showed an unexpected drawdown in stocks.

News of China's rate hike hit commodities markets in London and New York initially, but prices soon rebounded as investors felt the size of the increase was not enough to stifle China's voracious demand for raw materials.

(Additional reporting by Vikram Subhedar, Jongwoo Cheon and Saikat Chatterjee; Editing by Kim Coghill)

Drug cuts relapse rate of C. diff infection

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A new antibiotic has been shown to cut the rate of relapse by almost half of infections of the C. difficile bacterium, a growing scourge in hospitals worldwide, a study published Wednesday indicates.

The researchers examined a drug called Fidaxomicin, made by Optimer Pharmaceuticals of San Diego, and compared it to the antibiotic vancomycin, the only treatment against the infection approved in the United States and Canada.

By following 629 subjects over two years in a randomized study in which patients received one of the two treatments, those who took Fidaxomicin saw a 45 percent reduction in recurrences.

"Anybody who knows C. difficile recognizes that recurrences are the major problem with this disease," said Mark Miller of the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, a co-author of the study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"Anything that can reduce the recurrence rate, especially as dramatically as Fidaxomicin, is a very important milestone in the treatment of C. difficile."

C. difficile, which can cause anything from mild diarrhea to deadly colon inflammation, tends to afflict people in hospitals or long-term care facilities and can take hold after a patient has been on antibiotics.

Cases have been mounting in the past decade and 20 to 30 percent of patients who suffer from it once will get it again. Recurrent C diff is particularly hard to treat.

"There wasn't much interest in C. difficile for many years, because it wasn't considered a serious disease," said Miller.

"However, over the past decade the bacterium has mutated into something much more serious that has caused epidemics worldwide. It is particularly notorious for recurrences."

Fidaxomicin works by targeting bacteria inside the intestine and is minimally absorbed in the blood stream, so it kills the C. diff "without affecting the beneficial flora in the human gut which help stave off recurrences," the study said.

Cornell hits 16 3-pointers to beat Brown 91-79

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Drew Ferry scored 20 points and Cornell hit 16 3-pointers to defeat Brown 91-79 on Saturday night for the Big Red's first Ivy League victory of the season.

Ferry led six players in double figures for Cornell (5-15, 1-5), which shot 49.1 percent from the field (28 of 57) and 47.1 percent from long range (16 of 34).

The game was tied seven times and there were 17 lead changes.

The Big Red led 43-33 with 3:08 left in the first half before a 9-0 Bears run made it 43-42 at the break.

Brown led 54-50 in the second half, then Cornell used a 20-7 run to pull away. After Brown got to 78-74 with 3:17 left, the Big Red had a 10-0 spurt.

Chris Wroblewski and Johnathan Gray scored 13 points apiece, while Errick Peck and Max Groebe added 11 each and Mark Coury had 10 points and nine rebounds.

Tucker Halpern led the Bears (8-12, 1-5) with 26 points and nine boards.