Air shows cancelled: Automatic sequester budget cuts mean an end to the 2013 season for the Navy's Blue Angels and the Air Force's Thunderbirds. The real losers may be local economies benefitting from air shows.
By Brad Knickerbocker,?Staff writer / April 28, 2013
The U.S. Navy Blue Angels perform at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland last year. The Navy has cancelled the remaining 2013 performances of its Flight Demonstration Squadron. The Air Force Thunderbirds have cancelled the rest of their shows for the year as well.
Stelios Varias/REUTERS
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Travelers across the US are pleased that furloughs for air traffic controllers have been cancelled. Aside from the usual delays for weather and maintenance problems, that means fewer hours trapped on the tarmac or looking for places to charge smart phones in airport terminals.
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But there?s another group of frequent flyers who?ve been grounded by across-the-board budget cuts due to the sequester: Navy and Air Force flight demonstration teams, those aerial hotshots whose main purpose is to enhance public relations, attract new recruits, and reflect patriotism with what?s been bumper-stickered as ?The Sound of Freedom.?
There are plenty of other air shows around the country, such as the ?Vidalia Onion Festival Air Show? in Georgia and the ?Take to the Skies AirFest? in Durant, Okla. They just won?t feature the Air Force Thunderbirds or the Navy Blue Angels flying genuine fighter jets. Or the Army?s Golden Knights parachute team.
All three have cancelled their season.
John Cudahy. president of the International Council of Air Shows tells the Associated Press that about 200 of the nation's 300 air shows have been affected by the federal budget cuts and 60 have already been cancelled. He said more cancellations are expected, and some shows may never come back.
"The worst case is that they either cancel and go out of business, or they don't cancel and they have such poor attendance and they go out of business," he said. Economic impact studies indicate the shows are worth $1 billion to $2 billion nationwide, Cudahy estimates.
"Having the Thunderbirds or the Blue Angels is like having the Super Bowl, it's a household name," Bill Walkup, manager of the Martinsburg, W.V. airport told the AP.
When the Thunderbirds performed there in 2010, the show drew 88,000 people. Without a jet team, the show typically draws 15,000 or fewer. When they learned there?d be no Thunderbirds, organizers cancelled this year?s show.
Thunderbirds spokesman Maj. Darrick Lee said a typical season averages about $9.75 million and the Air Force needs to focus its resources now on its mission in Afghanistan. Team members are still doing local public appearances that have little or no cost, including autograph-signing sessions at schools and other venues.
"Would we prefer to be flying? Of course," Maj. Lee said. But, he added, "We encourage folks to go and have a good time with or without us."
'Super-resolution' microscope possible for nanostructuresPublic release date: 29-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Emil Venere venere@purdue.edu 765-494-4709 Purdue University
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have found a way to see synthetic nanostructures and molecules using a new type of super-resolution optical microscopy that does not require fluorescent dyes, representing a practical tool for biomedical and nanotechnology research.
"Super-resolution optical microscopy has opened a new window into the nanoscopic world," said Ji-Xin Cheng, an associate professor of biomedical engineering and chemistry at Purdue University.
Conventional optical microscopes can resolve objects no smaller than about 300 nanometers, or billionths of a meter, a restriction known as the "diffraction limit," which is defined as half the width of the wavelength of light being used to view the specimen. However, researchers want to view molecules such as proteins and lipids, as well as synthetic nanostructures like nanotubes, which are a few nanometers in diameter.
Such a capability could bring advances in a diverse range of disciplines, from medicine to nanoelectronics, Cheng said.
"The diffraction limit represents the fundamental limit of optical imaging resolution," Cheng said. "Stefan Hell at the Max Planck Institute and others have developed super-resolution imaging methods that require fluorescent labels. Here, we demonstrate a new scheme for breaking the diffraction limit in optical imaging of non-fluorescent species. Because it is label-free, the signal is directly from the object so that we can learn more about the nanostructure."
Findings are detailed in a research paper that appeared online Sunday (April 28) in the journal Nature Photonics.
The imaging system, called saturated transient absorption microscopy, or STAM, uses a trio of laser beams, including a doughnut-shaped laser beam that selectively illuminates some molecules but not others. Electrons in the atoms of illuminated molecules are kicked temporarily into a higher energy level and are said to be excited, while the others remain in their "ground state." Images are generated using a laser called a probe to compare the contrast between the excited and ground-state molecules.
The researchers demonstrated the technique, taking images of graphite "nanoplatelets" about 100 nanometers wide.
"It's a proof of concept and has great potential for the study of nanomaterials, both natural and synthetic," Cheng said.
The doughnut-shaped laser excitation technique, invented by researcher Stefan Hell, makes it possible to focus on yet smaller objects. Researchers hope to improve the imaging system to see objects about 10 nanometers in diameter, or about 30 times smaller than possible using conventional optical microscopes.
"We are not there yet, but a few schemes can be applied to further increase the resolution of our system," Cheng said.
The paper was co-authored by biomedical engineering doctoral student Pu Wang; research scientist Mikhail N. Slipchenko; mechanical engineering doctoral student James Mitchell; Chen Yang, an assistant professor of physical chemistry at Purdue; Eric O. Potma, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of California, Irvine; Xianfan Xu, Purdue's James J. and Carol L. Shuttleworth Professor of Mechanical Engineering; and Cheng.
Future research may include work to use lasers with shorter wavelengths of light. Because the wavelengths are shorter, the doughnut hole is smaller, possibly allowing researchers to focus on smaller objects.
The work will be discussed during the third annual Spectroscopic Imaging: A New Window into the Unseen World workshop on May 23 and 24 at Purdue. The workshop is hosted by the university's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. More workshop information is available at http://www.conf.purdue.edu/cheng
###
The research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Writer: Emil Venere, 765-494-4709, venere@purdue.edu
Related websites:
Ji-Xin Cheng: https://engineering.purdue.edu/BME/Research/Labs/Cheng
Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering: http://www.purdue.edu/bme
Department of Chemistry: http://www.chem.purdue.edu/
Chen Yang: http://www.chem.purdue.edu/people/faculty/faculty.asp?itemID=81
IMAGE CAPTION:
A new type of super-resolution optical microscopy takes a high-resolution image (at right) of graphite "nanoplatelets" about 100 nanometers wide. The imaging system, called saturated transient absorption microscopy, or STAM, uses a trio of laser beams and represents a practical tool for biomedical and nanotechnology research. (Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University)
A publication-quality photo is available at https://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/2013/cheng-super.jpg
ABSTRACT
Far-Field Imaging of Non-Fluorescent Species with Sub-Diffraction Resolution
Pu Wang1, #, Mikhail N. Slipchenko1, #, James Mitchell2, Chen Yang3, Eric O. Potma4, Xianfan Xu2, Ji-Xin Cheng1,3 *4
1 Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University
2 School of Mechanical Engineering and Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University
3 Department of Chemistry, Purdue University
4 Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine
Super-resolution optical microscopy is opening a new window to unveil the unseen details on the nanoscopic scale. Current far-field super-resolution techniques rely on fluorescence as the read-out. Here, we demonstrate a scheme for breaking the diffraction limit in far-field imaging of non-fluorescent species by using spatially controlled saturation of electronic absorption. Our method is based on a pump-probe process where a modulated pump field perturbs the charge-carrier density in a sample, thus modulating the transmission of a probe field. A doughnut shape laser beam is then added to transiently saturate the electronic transition in the periphery of the focal volume, thus the induced modulation in the sequential probe pulse only occurs at the focal center. By raster scanning the three collinearly aligned beams, high-speed sub-diffraction-limited imaging of graphite nano-platelets was performed. This technique potentially enables super-resolution imaging of nano-materials and non-fluorescent chromophores, which may remain out of reach for fluorescence-based methods.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
'Super-resolution' microscope possible for nanostructuresPublic release date: 29-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Emil Venere venere@purdue.edu 765-494-4709 Purdue University
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have found a way to see synthetic nanostructures and molecules using a new type of super-resolution optical microscopy that does not require fluorescent dyes, representing a practical tool for biomedical and nanotechnology research.
"Super-resolution optical microscopy has opened a new window into the nanoscopic world," said Ji-Xin Cheng, an associate professor of biomedical engineering and chemistry at Purdue University.
Conventional optical microscopes can resolve objects no smaller than about 300 nanometers, or billionths of a meter, a restriction known as the "diffraction limit," which is defined as half the width of the wavelength of light being used to view the specimen. However, researchers want to view molecules such as proteins and lipids, as well as synthetic nanostructures like nanotubes, which are a few nanometers in diameter.
Such a capability could bring advances in a diverse range of disciplines, from medicine to nanoelectronics, Cheng said.
"The diffraction limit represents the fundamental limit of optical imaging resolution," Cheng said. "Stefan Hell at the Max Planck Institute and others have developed super-resolution imaging methods that require fluorescent labels. Here, we demonstrate a new scheme for breaking the diffraction limit in optical imaging of non-fluorescent species. Because it is label-free, the signal is directly from the object so that we can learn more about the nanostructure."
Findings are detailed in a research paper that appeared online Sunday (April 28) in the journal Nature Photonics.
The imaging system, called saturated transient absorption microscopy, or STAM, uses a trio of laser beams, including a doughnut-shaped laser beam that selectively illuminates some molecules but not others. Electrons in the atoms of illuminated molecules are kicked temporarily into a higher energy level and are said to be excited, while the others remain in their "ground state." Images are generated using a laser called a probe to compare the contrast between the excited and ground-state molecules.
The researchers demonstrated the technique, taking images of graphite "nanoplatelets" about 100 nanometers wide.
"It's a proof of concept and has great potential for the study of nanomaterials, both natural and synthetic," Cheng said.
The doughnut-shaped laser excitation technique, invented by researcher Stefan Hell, makes it possible to focus on yet smaller objects. Researchers hope to improve the imaging system to see objects about 10 nanometers in diameter, or about 30 times smaller than possible using conventional optical microscopes.
"We are not there yet, but a few schemes can be applied to further increase the resolution of our system," Cheng said.
The paper was co-authored by biomedical engineering doctoral student Pu Wang; research scientist Mikhail N. Slipchenko; mechanical engineering doctoral student James Mitchell; Chen Yang, an assistant professor of physical chemistry at Purdue; Eric O. Potma, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of California, Irvine; Xianfan Xu, Purdue's James J. and Carol L. Shuttleworth Professor of Mechanical Engineering; and Cheng.
Future research may include work to use lasers with shorter wavelengths of light. Because the wavelengths are shorter, the doughnut hole is smaller, possibly allowing researchers to focus on smaller objects.
The work will be discussed during the third annual Spectroscopic Imaging: A New Window into the Unseen World workshop on May 23 and 24 at Purdue. The workshop is hosted by the university's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. More workshop information is available at http://www.conf.purdue.edu/cheng
###
The research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Writer: Emil Venere, 765-494-4709, venere@purdue.edu
Related websites:
Ji-Xin Cheng: https://engineering.purdue.edu/BME/Research/Labs/Cheng
Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering: http://www.purdue.edu/bme
Department of Chemistry: http://www.chem.purdue.edu/
Chen Yang: http://www.chem.purdue.edu/people/faculty/faculty.asp?itemID=81
IMAGE CAPTION:
A new type of super-resolution optical microscopy takes a high-resolution image (at right) of graphite "nanoplatelets" about 100 nanometers wide. The imaging system, called saturated transient absorption microscopy, or STAM, uses a trio of laser beams and represents a practical tool for biomedical and nanotechnology research. (Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University)
A publication-quality photo is available at https://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/2013/cheng-super.jpg
ABSTRACT
Far-Field Imaging of Non-Fluorescent Species with Sub-Diffraction Resolution
Pu Wang1, #, Mikhail N. Slipchenko1, #, James Mitchell2, Chen Yang3, Eric O. Potma4, Xianfan Xu2, Ji-Xin Cheng1,3 *4
1 Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University
2 School of Mechanical Engineering and Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University
3 Department of Chemistry, Purdue University
4 Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine
Super-resolution optical microscopy is opening a new window to unveil the unseen details on the nanoscopic scale. Current far-field super-resolution techniques rely on fluorescence as the read-out. Here, we demonstrate a scheme for breaking the diffraction limit in far-field imaging of non-fluorescent species by using spatially controlled saturation of electronic absorption. Our method is based on a pump-probe process where a modulated pump field perturbs the charge-carrier density in a sample, thus modulating the transmission of a probe field. A doughnut shape laser beam is then added to transiently saturate the electronic transition in the periphery of the focal volume, thus the induced modulation in the sequential probe pulse only occurs at the focal center. By raster scanning the three collinearly aligned beams, high-speed sub-diffraction-limited imaging of graphite nano-platelets was performed. This technique potentially enables super-resolution imaging of nano-materials and non-fluorescent chromophores, which may remain out of reach for fluorescence-based methods.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- Nebraska farmers have begun planting corn, but the U.S. Agriculture Department says they are behind schedule and dry soil remains a concern.
The weather warmed up enough last week to allow farmers to get back out in their fields. About 3 percent of the state's corn crop has now been planted, but typically 26 percent is planted at this stage.
The USDA estimates that only about 56 percent of the topsoil and 11 percent of the subsoil has adequate or surplus moisture. That will be a concern for the state's crops.
Only about 12 percent of Nebraska's wheat crop is in good or excellent condition.
And hay and forage supplies for livestock feed remain short. About 31 percent of the livestock producers have adequate or surplus hay and forage supplies.
A Pennsylvania man, who says his outhouse works just fine, is being ordered to install a septic system. The man told Lancaster Online that the septic system could cost him thousands. The man, 77-year-old Wilson Huyett, told the website that Salisbury Township told him he has to replace the outhouse with a septic system that [...]
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ? All those months of hard work and rehab are starting to pay off for Rafael Nadal. Yet he is still not sure what this means for the French Open.
Nadal won the Barcelona Open for the eighth time Sunday, defeating Nicolas Almagro 6-4, 6-3 for his fourth title of the year.
And with French Open about a month down the road, this latest victory is a promising sign that Nadal is getting back to full strength from a knee injury that sidelined him since last summer
"I am very happy," he said. "It has been an important week for me to win here again and a great source of joy after everything I have been through."
He has made six straight finals since returning from his knee injury. This title, the 54th of his career, comes one week after his eight-year reign at Monte Carlo ended with a loss to top-ranked Novak Djokovic.
"With just these six tournament since I have returned, I have managed to assure my place in the top 10 one more year, which is positive," said Nadal, who is ranked No. 5. "These months of work have been worth it."
Even so, Nadal was hesitant to say how this might carry over to Roland Garros, where he has won a record seven times.
"This win doesn't mean much," he said. "Just that I am in good form since I have come back. The results are fantastic. I would never have imagined them and they are better than I had dreamed. I am back playing at a high level."
After trailing 3-0 in the first set, Nadal found his form and broke his fellow Spaniard in three of his next four service games to take command in a final played in a drizzle.
Nadal won the Barcelona Open from 2005-09 but did not play in 2010 because of a knee injury. He has won every year since. He has won 39 straight matches on the red clay at Real Club de Tenis, his last loss coming 10 years ago to Spain's Davis Cup captain, Alex Corretja.
"I didn't know in 2005 that I would win again or that in 2013 I would still be winning," Nadal said.
Almaro, ranked 12th, has lost all 10 of his matches to Nadal. He enjoyed a good start Sunday and broke Nadal's first service game with a forehand winner before holding serve to love.
Almagro kept Nadal moving with deep backhands. He broke again for a 3-0 lead following a long rally when he swatted a running crosscourt return. But Nadal then showed why he hasn't lost in Barcelona in a decade, reeling off four straight games.
"It was important for me to get the break, down 3-0," Nadal said. "Almagro is having a great season and I wish him the best."
Almagro was serving and up 30-0 when he made a series of errors, including a double-fault that brought the score to three games apiece. Nadal took control by breaking Almagro a third time. Down 0-30, Nadal saved a point by returning a lob with a shot from between his legs before Almagro dropped the game and set.
In the second set, Nadal maintained the pressure and broke to lead 3-1. Nadal served out the match to love, and was soon applauding the fans who had cheered both players.
"He showed again why he is the best player in history on this surface," Almagro said, adding he'll try to win the title next year "if Rafa lets me."
Increasing the level of your level of fitness can be a beneficial aim. It might seem to become a large job, particularly if are poor form right now, but fitness is feasible. The tricks and tips below will assist you within your search for health and fitness.
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This will produce more the flow of blood on the muscle tissue.
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Should you have a problem carrying out a health and fitness plan, request a buddy to help you.
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BOSTON (Reuters) - Congressional intelligence leaders said on Sunday that authorities are pursuing "persons of interest" in the United States in connection with the Boston Marathon bombings, and asked for more help from Russian spy agencies.
Congressman Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Of Representatives intelligence committee said better cooperation from Russia was needed in Washington's probe of the two suspected bombers' recent contacts and activities.
Speaking on ABC's "This Week," Rogers said he believed that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, the elder of two ethnic Chechen brothers suspected of carrying out the April 15 blasts in Boston, clearly changed during his visit to Russia in 2012, becoming "radicalized."
"I think they (Russia) have information that would be incredibly helpful and that they haven't provided yet," he said.
New details of the unfolding investigation emerged following reports on Saturday that Tamerlan Tsarnaev spoke to his mother about "jihad" in a 2011 phone call secretly recorded by Russian officials.
U.S. authorities learned of the wiretapped discussion between Tsarnaev and his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, within the last few days, CBS News reported. Tsarnaev died in an April 18 shootout with police, three days after the bombings that killed three people and injure more than 260 others.
Asked about the information Russia might have, Rogers said of Russia's spy service, "The FSB is a hostile service to the FBI and the CIA and there is cultural problem there between where the Russians are and our folks. So they sent a letter, didn't have a lot of information." Rogers added that subsequent U.S. requests for assistance have not been met.
"We still have persons of interest that we're working to find and identify and have conversations with," said Rogers. The Michigan lawmaker declined to say how many "persons of interest" there were.
"We are looking at phone calls before and after the bombing," the intelligence committee's senior Democrat, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, also said on ABC.
The revelations that others are being sought for questioning came as the suspected bombers' father told Reuters on Sunday that he has abandoned plans to travel to the United States. Speaking from a village in southern Russia, Anzor Tsarnaev said he believed he would not be able to see his surviving son, Dzhokhar, 19, who is being held in a federal prison in Massachusetts on charges he also carried out the bombing.
"In every investigation we have seen" when suspects carried out attacks, Rogers told ABC, they had at least "affirmed" their plans to others.
In each case, Rogers said, "there was outside affirmation of their intent to commit an act of jihad." In the Boston bombing, "I believe that happened in the United States," he said.
Attention has turned to whether U.S. officials missed signs that Tamerlan Tsarnaev may have posed a security threat, including a warning from Russia that he might be an Islamic militant. Jihad can refer to a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty, or to a Muslim's personal struggle in devotion to the faith.
The FBI interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2011 but did not find enough cause to continue an investigation. His name was on the U.S. government's highly classified central database of people it views as potential threats, sources close to the bombing investigation have said.
Law enforcement authorities do not closely monitor the list, which includes about 500,000 people.
(Reporting by Maria Golovnina, Chris Francescani, Mohammad Zargham and Rachelle R. Younglai; editing by Barbara Goldberg and Jackie Frank)
Apr. 25, 2013 ? In seeming contrast to the notion that the elderly often have memory problems, a new study from an HF/E researcher finds driver retraining to be an effective strategy for improving the safe-driving habits of older drivers over the long term.
In his Human Factors article, "The Long-Term Effects of Active Training Strategies on Improving Older Drivers' Scanning in Intersections: A Two Year Follow-up to Romoser and Fisher (2009)," Matthew R. E. Romoser conducted a follow up study to see if participants from a 2009 study who received training retained the safe driving behaviors. In 2009, the participants that received simulator training and video reviews of their driving performance increased their likelihood of scanning while negotiating an intersection by 100%.
Healthy older drivers, 70-89 years of age, from the trained and control groups of his previous study participated in a follow-up field drive in their own vehicles. Researchers recorded secondary looks, defined as looking away from the immediate path of the vehicle while entering intersections toward regions to the side from which other vehicles could appear. The participants' road-scanning behaviors were recorded using a head-mounted camera system.
Two years after their training, older drivers in the trained group still took secondary looks on average 73% of the time, more than one and a half times as often as pre-training levels. Control group drivers, who averaged secondary looks 41% of the time, saw no significant change in performance over the 2-year period.
"Training in the form of actively practicing target skills in a simulator provides drivers a means by which to reincorporate previously extinguished behaviors into their driving habits," says Remoser.
The study's results can guide the development of mature-driver retraining programs that might be incorporated into car insurance discount programs or future state licensing regulations.
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Apr. 26, 2013 ? A novel drug developed by Gilead Sciences and tested in an animal model at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio suppresses hepatitis B virus infection by stimulating the immune system and inducing loss of infected cells.
In a study conducted at Texas Biomed's Southwest National Primate Research Center, researchers found that the immune modulator GS-9620, which targets a receptor on immune cells, reduced both the virus levels and the number of infected liver cells in chimpanzees chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV). Chimpanzees are the only species other than humans that can be infected by HBV. Therefore, the results from this study were critical in moving the drug forward to human clinical trials which are now in progress.
The new report, co-authored by scientists from Texas Biomed and Gilead Sciences, appears in the May issue of Gastroenterology. Gilead researchers had previously demonstrated that the same therapy could induce a cure of hepatitis infection in woodchucks that were chronically infected with a virus similar to human HBV.
"This is an important proof-of-concept study demonstrating that the therapy stimulates the immune system to suppress the virus and eliminate infected liver cells," said co-author Robert E. Lanford, Ph.D., of Texas Biomed. "One of the key observations was that the therapy continued to suppress virus levels for months after therapy was stopped.
The current therapy for HBV infection targets the virus and works very well at suppressing viral replication and delaying progression of liver disease, but it is a lifelong therapy that does not provide a cure.
"This GS-9620 therapy represents the first conceptually new treatment for HBV in more than a decade, and combining it with the existing antiviral therapy could be transformative in dealing with this disease," stated Lanford.
The Gilead drug binds a receptor called Toll-Like Receptor 7 that is present in immune cells. The receptor normally recognizes invading viruses and triggers the immune system to suppress viral replication by the innate immune response and kill infected cells by the adaptive immune response, thus orchestrating both arms of the immune system.
HBV damages the liver, leading to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer worldwide and the third most common cause of cancer death. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), up to 1.4 million Americans are chronically infected with HBV.
The World Health Organization estimates that two billion people have been infected with the hepatitis B virus, resulting in more than 240 million people with chronic infections and 620,000 deaths every year.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Texas Biomedical Research Institute.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Robert E. Lanford, Bernadette Guerra, Deborah Chavez, Luis Giavedoni, Vida L. Hodara, Kathleen M. Brasky, Abigail Fosdick, Christian R. Frey, Jim Zheng, Grushenka Wolfgang, Randall L. Halcomb, Daniel B. Tumas. GS-9620, an Oral Agonist of Toll-Like Receptor-7, Induces Prolonged Suppression of Hepatitis B Virus in Chronically Infected Chimpanzees. Gastroenterology, 2013; DOI: 10.1053/j.gastro.2013.02.003
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Sites like Kickstarter have been used to crowdfund a wide range of projects, but I don't think they've ever done what Synergist is attempting today ? they've never crowdfunded themselves. The site was founded by 17-year-old Jared Kleinert, who described Synergist as a mix of crowdsourcing and crowdfunding for social enterprises (i.e., organizations that aim to do good, rather than make money, but apply commercial strategies to achieve those aims). The funding mechanism is pretty similar to Kickstarter ? projects need to reach their funding target in order to receive any money, and the money is given for rewards, not equity. But Kleinert emphasized that the fundraising is really only a small part of the process.
Although LG jumped into the deep end of the online services pool when it launched LG Cloud last year, it didn't have much to brag about when access was limited to South Korea, Russia and the US. The company is about to broaden its horizons considerably -- it now plans to deploy LG Cloud to more than 40 additional countries before the end of May. While the electronics giant hasn't outlined its plans on a nation-by-nation basis, it's planning a truly worldwide expansion that should include Asia, Europe and Latin America. If your Optimus G Pro and brand new TV aren't already syncing their media in perfect harmony, there's a good chance that they will within a month's time.
The Ministry of Defence Negara Brunei Darussalam (?MINDEF?) signed Supplemental Agreement and Blanket Order Agreement for the supply of Combat Net Radio (CNR) System for the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (?RBAF?) with Harris Corporation, RF Communications Division (?Harris?) from United States of America.
The Contract Signing Ceremony was held at MINDEF?s premises at Bolkiah Garrison on March 29th 2013. Signing on behalf of MINDEF was Hajah Suriyah binti Haji Umar, Permanent Secretary of Administration and Finance and Allan Callaghan, Vice President International Sales and Managing Director Asia Pacific, signing on behalf of Harris.
The CNR Supplemental Agreement is an enhancement contract to the Master Agreement signed in January 2008 in which Harris supplied tactical radios, accessories and other equipment to the RBAF. The New Supplemental Program, to be implemented in five phases over a five-year period, provides the deployment of networked communications delivering secure tactical communications to individual soldiers, and improving situational awareness and force effectiveness. In addition to the Supplemental Agreement, the Blanket Order Agreement provides enhancement to RBAF?s ability to maintain and support the CNR System throughout its expected service life.
The Supplemental Program will enhance RBAF?s C4I (Command, Control, Communication, Computing & Intelligence) Systems, enabling secure voice communication links and wideband data performance allowing for information superiority in today?s battlefield.
(Reuters) - Biopharmaceutical company Theravance Inc said it plans to split into two publicly traded companies, one of which would independently manage the development of the respiratory drugs it is working on with GlaxoSmithKline Plc.
The split plan comes after weeks of speculation that the company could be bought by Glaxo, Theravance's largest shareholder with a stake of about 27 percent.
Theravance shares were up about 10 percent at $33.50 in after-hours trading on Thursday.
The other company to result from the split will focus on development of small-molecule compounds in rare disease areas.
Theravance Chief Executive Rick Winningham said the split would unlock potential value from two disparate sets of assets, better align employee incentives and provide a consistent return of capital to stockholders of the Glaxo partner, to be called Royalty Management Co.
The second company will be called Theravance Biopharma.
Theravance's shares rose sharply in early March after Piper Jaffray said in a research report that Glaxo could take over Theravance if U.S. health regulators ruled positively on the companies' respiratory drugs, Breo Ellipta and Anoro.
An advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended earlier this month that the agency approve Breo Ellipta to treat smoking-related lung damage.
Theravance's shares have risen more than 10 percent since then up to Thursday close of $30.92. The stock was trading at $33.50 after hours.
Theravance also reported a first-quarter net loss of $37.4 million, or 39 cents per share, compared with a profit of $84.6 million, or $1.01 per share, a year earlier.
Revenue fell by $125.8 million to $1.3 million. The steep fall in revenue reflected the scrapping in January of Theravance's global deal with Japan's Astellas Pharma Inc to develop and market its antibiotic Vibativ.
Analysts on average had expected a loss of 38 cents per share on revenue of $2.3 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian, Maju Samuel)
You're familiar with the scenario of not being able to keeping up with some of your best contacts because there are probably now plenty of them? Small businesses have that same problem, and they aren't about to employ heavy lifting CRM to solve that simple problem. Contactually, which has previously raised money form Point Nine Capital, Boston Seed and 500 Startups, is going to try to address this with a major new iteration of the platform it launched in 2011.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who take the epilepsy drugvalproate during pregnancy are three times more likely to have a child with an autism spectrum disorder, suggests new research based on close to 700,000 babies born in Denmark.
Previous studies have found more birth defects and lower intelligence among children of mothers who took valproate, but the new work represents the "strongest evidence to date" of a link between the drug and autism, according to an editorial published with the study on Tuesday.
The results don't prove the generic drug, also sold as valproic acid, causes autism. But researchers were able to account for a number of underlying factors - such as the age and health of the mothers and the babies' fathers - that make the study more convincing, Christopher Stodgell said.
"This finding isn't necessarily a brand new finding, but it's an important finding in that (researchers studied) really a much larger population, and they also looked at some other underlying drivers," said Stodgell, who studies the origins of autism at the University of Rochester Medical Center but wasn't involved in the new research.
Women "need to be very diligent about what the effects are if they're taking valproic acid," he told Reuters Health.
About one in 88 children has an autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those conditions range from autism itself to less disabling ones such as Asperger's syndrome.
For the new study, researchers tracked 656,000 kids born in Denmark between 1996 and 2006. Using a large prescription drug database, they found that just under 6,600 of the mothers of those children had epilepsy and 508 women took valproate while pregnant.
By 2010, 4.4 percent of the kids whose mothers had taken valproate during pregnancy were diagnosed with any ASD, including 2.5 percent with autism.
In contrast, 1.5 percent of all babies in the study had an ASD and 0.5 percent had autism, the study team reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Mothers' underlying epilepsy didn't fully explain the link, according to Jakob Christensen from Aarhus University and his colleagues. In addition, autism rates were higher among children of women who used valproate during pregnancy than those who had previously used the drug but stopped before conceiving.
CONSIDER RISKS, BENEFITS
"Valproate is an effective drug, but it appears that it is being prescribed for women of childbearing potential at a rate that does not fully consider the ratio of benefits to risks," wrote Dr. Kimford Meador and David Loring from Emory University in Atlanta, in a linked editorial.
Valproate could affect maturation of a fetus's brain, Christensen suggested, including the signal-sending neurotransmitters.
Women who may become pregnant "certainly should discuss with their doctor if there are alternative treatments that would be reasonable," he told Reuters Health.
For those with certain syndromes or generalized epilepsy, there aren't necessarily other good options. Stopping valproate in that case isn't a good idea, Christensen said.
"It's also a risk if you have seizures, both for the mother and the unborn child. (Stopping medication) is not a thing that you take lightly," he said.
"Even those that are exposed to this drug, there's still a good chance - more than a 95-percent chance - that their child will never develop signs of autism."
The study didn't take into account whether women drank during pregnancy, or if they took folic acid - which has been tied to a lower risk of some birth defects.
Christensen said there are steps pregnant women on valproate can take to lower any risks to their baby, such as using the lowest possible dose and dividing it up during the day.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/JjFzqx Journal of the American Medical Association, online April 23, 2013.
North Carolina State University researchers studying aquatic organisms called Daphnia have found that exposure to a chemical pesticide has impacts that span multiple generations ? causing the so-called "water fleas" to produce more male offspring, and causing reproductive problems in female offspring.
"This work supports the hypothesis that exposure to some environmental chemicals during sensitive periods of development can cause significant health problems for those organisms later in life ? and affect their offspring and, possibly, their offspring's offspring," says Dr. Gerald LeBlanc, a professor of environmental and molecular toxicology at NC State and lead author of a paper on the work. "We were looking at a model organism, identified an important pathway for environmental sex determination, and found that there are chemicals that can hijack that pathway."
Environmental cues normally determine the sex, male or female, of Daphnia offspring, and researchers have been working to understand the mechanisms involved. As part of that work, LeBlanc's team had previously identified a hormone called methyl farnesoate (Mf) that Daphnia produce under certain environmental conditions.
The researchers have now found that the hormone binds with a protein receptor called the Mf receptor, which can regulate gene transcription and appears to be tied to the production of male offspring.
In experiments, the researchers exposed Daphnia to varying levels of an insecticide called pyriproxyfen, which mimics the Mf hormone. The pyriproxyfen exposure resulted in Daphnia producing more male offspring and fewer offspring in total, with higher doses exacerbating both effects.
"At high concentrations, we were getting only male offspring, which is not good," LeBlanc says. "Producing fewer offspring, specifically fewer female offspring, could significantly limit population numbers for Daphnia."
And low exposure concentrations had significant impacts as well. At pyriproxyfen concentrations as low as 71 nanograms per liter, or 71 parts per trillion, the Daphnia would still produce some female offspring. But those females suffered long-term reproductive health effects, producing significantly smaller numbers of offspring ? despite the fact that they had not been exposed to pyriproxyfen since birth.
"We now want to know specifically which genes are involved in this sex determination process," LeBlanc says. "And, ecologically, it would be important to know the impact of changes in population dynamics for this species. Daphnia are a keystone species ? an important food source for juvenile fish and other organisms."
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The paper, "A Transgenerational Endocrine Signaling Pathway in Crustacea," was published April 17 in PLOS ONE. The paper was co-authored by Dr. Ying Wang, a research associate at NC State; Charisse Holmes and Elizabeth Medlock, Ph.D. students at NC State; and Gwijun Kwon, a research technician at NC State. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
North Carolina State University: http://www.ncsu.edu
Thanks to North Carolina State University for this article.
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BEIJING (Reuters) - A confrontation involving axes, knives, at least one gun and ending with the burning down of a house left 21 people dead in China's troubled far-west region of Xinjiang, a government spokeswoman said on Wednesday, calling it a "terrorist attack".
It was the deadliest violence in the region since July 2009, when Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi, was rocked by clashes between majority Han Chinese and minority Uighurs that killed nearly 200 people.
Nine residents, six police and six ethnic Uighurs were killed in Tuesday's drama, said Hou Hanmin, spokeswoman for the Xinjiang government.
It was not immediately clear how many burnt to death.
Hou did not name any group, but China has blamed previous attacks in energy-rich Xinjiang - strategically located on the borders of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Central Asia - on Islamic separatists who want to establish an independent East Turkestan.
Many Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim people native to Xinjiang, chafe at Chinese controls on their religion, language and culture.
Three "community workers" were patrolling a neighborhood of Bachu County, known as Maralbexi by Uighurs, in Kashgar after a tip-off that there were "suspicious people" in a private house, Hou said.
One of the three used a phone to call for help after they found a number of knives, resulting in their being killed by 14 Uighur "rioters" in the house, Hou said.
"The community people were just conducting regular checks, but the action from the rioters was planned and well prepared," Hou said. "It's certainly a terrorist attack."
Several police and other "community workers" came in different groups to the home where the Uighurs used axes and large knives to slash the police officers and workers, Hou said.
Only one police officer was armed with a gun, she said.
The battle ended with the gang members burning down the house, killing the rest of the people there, Hou said. Eight people had been detained.
Some Chinese officials blame such attacks on Muslim militants trained in Pakistan. But many rights groups say China overstates the threat to justify its tight grip on the region.
Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress, said the violence was sparked by the shooting and killing of a young Uighur by "Chinese armed personnel", prompting the Uighurs to retaliate.
"The information that we've received is that from last night till this morning, the authorities have flooded the streets with armed men," Dilxat Raxit said by phone from Sweden where he is based.
"After the incident, the locals' mobile phone and internet connections were cut off. Today it has recovered slightly, though not completely."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the "violent terrorist acts" would not win popular support.
"The current situation in Xinjiang is good, but a small group of terrorist forces is still trying every possible means to disturb and destroy the present stability and trend of development in Xinjiang," Hua told reporters.
(Reporting by Sally Huang, Terril Yue Jones, Sui-Lee Wee, Michael Martina and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Nick Macfie)
In this week's MacGyver Challenge, we asked you to hack something using old computer parts. We received some great entries, but the winning hack shows us a great way to mount your camera almost anywhere for that perfect shot.
Check out the description of the winning entry below and read about some of our other favorite entries.
Winner: Mount Your Camera Almost Anywhere Using a Hard Drive Magnet
Not always able to find the perfect spot for a tripod or minipod, Alex421 had a clever idea. Using a rare-earth magnet from an old hard disk drive (the mechanical kind, not an SSD) and the top of a minipod, he created a magnetic mount that lets him place his camera almost anywhere. He discovered that there are an amazingly large number of metal things sticking out of the ground and buildings all over most cities, offering him a nearby base for his camera wherever he happens to be.
Honorable Mentions
We got a lot of great entries and we'd be remiss if we didn't share some of our favorites. Here are some of the entries that really impressed us.
Make a Magnetic Smartphone Dock
John wanted a clean way to mount his smartphone in his car?one that didn't involve suction cups, specialized cases and mounts, or blocking his air vents. He settled on using the rare earth magnets from old hard drives, since they are super strong. First, he placed two of the magnets together (matching polarities) to make a very strong magnet. John removed the bezel from his dashboard, secured the double magnet to the back of that with superglue and duct tape, and replaced the bezel.
For the phone, he duct taped the magnet to the inside back of his phone case (a very slim model). It took a little experimenting to find the right place for the magnet on the case. John wanted it to hold the phone in the vertical position and not rotate on hard turns. Finally, he ran a power cable from the back of the head unit (in-dash stereo) under the dash.
A couple of warnings, though, if you want to try this one at home. While the magnets don't seem to interfere with his signals, they do prevent the compass from working properly. Also, if you have a phone with NFC, the magnets would likely interfere with that signal. And, you'll probably want to keep your phone away from credit cards?or any cards with a mag stripe.
Reorient Your Toilet Paper Holder
Shaun and his wife could never agree on which way the toilet paper should go on the holder (one's an over; one's an under). Seeking a lasting peace, Shaun decided the only solution was to reorient the toilet paper holder altogether. Their's was a simple arm-style holder with a free end, so it was easy to rotate it 90 degrees to point up. The only problem was that without a proper base, the toilet paper leaned awkwardly when in place. Shaun's solution? He fixed the platter from an old hard drive onto the arm to serve as a stable base for the toilet paper. It (and presumably the marriage) has worked perfectly ever since.
Make a Clock From an Old Hard Drive
Amitai makes clocks out of old hard drives. He pretty much fully dissembles the drive to build in the clock mechanism, but part of the charm is that he also tries to waste as little of the actual drive as possible. The results are beautiful. He's put together a step-by-step guide on imgur and he also sells his own clocks on Etsy.
Special Mention?BioShock Diorama
While it didn't really qualify as a hack, there is no way we were going to let this challenge go by without giving a shout out to RedSuspense. He sent us this picture of a wonderful BioShock-inspired diorama titled Rapture's Playground. As you can see, it's built using some heavily modded detritus from an old PC. Nice work!
A big thanks to everyone who took the time to send us entries! Be sure to check back every week for a new challenge.
Reese Witherspoon and husband James Toth after their Atlanta arrest.
By Randee Dawn, TODAY contributor
When Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon and her husband were pulled over by police early Friday morning in Atlanta, it turned out that even America's sweetheart couldn't resist pulling the celebrity card: "Do you know my name?" she asked the officer. "You're about to find out who I am."
For years tabloids have been doing their utmost to prove that celebrities are just like us -- but that all goes out the window when an A-lister (or aspiring A-lister) goes to pains to remind the little people that they're kind of a big deal.
When leaked, it's a PR disaster of the worst kind, especially when the celeb card is waved under the noses of regular folk (usually police officers) just trying to do their jobs.
But Witherspoon is hardly alone.?
Margaret Cho vs. Korean spa Korean spas are traditionally communal and, in gender-segregated areas, a place where people can soak and shvitz in the buff. But when the heavily-tattooed Cho sat down for a rest, the manager came over and asked her to cover up. As Cho explained in a Gawker essay in late March, "in Korean culture tattoos are very taboo and my body was upsetting everyone there." But cultural sensitivity or no, the comedian was angered. Cho continued, "This is something I have never done -- I actually said, in Korean, 'Do you know who I am?' I am Margaret Cho!"?
LeBron James' mother vs. Miami Beach police In 2011, Gloria James was picked up by police in Miami after reportedly assaulting valet worker Sorel Rockefeller. "I'm very, very humiliated because she told me again, 'Do you know who I am?' when she slapped me," said Sorel of the Miami Heat star's mom.
Lindsay Lohan's mother vs. Hollywood nightclub and Carvel ice cream The mom who takes the cake (or not, as the case might be), however, has to be Dina Lohan. In 2009 she was turned away from Hollywood nightclub Villa when she tried to get both of her daughters in with her. Lindsay was 22, but Ali was only 15 at the time.?"Do you know who I am?" Dina protested, it was reported?at the time, and Lindsay jumped in with "You're making a huge mistake. Huge!" A year later, she was busted when trying to pick up a free cake from Carvel with a promotional item giving Lindsay free ice cream for 75 years. She was turned down (because the entire Lohan family had been abusing the privilege), and as Radar reported, she said, "It just shows how (Lohans) get treated so much worse than regular people." And yes, the cops were called.
Tom Hanks vs. West Fargo diner Let's face it, if a celebrity asked one of us for a special favor, who would say no? In 2012, a jet company Tom Hanks was using called up the TNT Diner in North Dakota and asked owner Tammy Hagensen if she'd open her doors early for an unnamed special guest, reported the Associated Press. Curious, Hagensen opened at?4 a.m. and in walked Hanks, his wife Rita Wilson and their two sons. Hanks was cool: Later he?tweeted that the diner "makes killer breakfast." We all know Tom Hanks is the most fun celebrity out there?-- but that's another reason why we occasionally get a Witherspoon-esque blunder -- few people can resist doing a celebrity a solid. (And by the way, that Jane-Fonda-turned-away-from-a-steakhouse story? Fake, fake, fake.)
Still, there may yet be hope for celebrities. Though the absence of smug hubris rarely gets reported on, there's at least one incident worth noting from 2009:
Bob Dylan vs. New Jersey police According to The Awl, police were summoned to a home in Long Branch, N.J., after a report of an "eccentric-looking old man" wandering in the front yard. Officer Kristie Buble showed up and questioned him -- and he said he was Bob Dylan. But she didn't believe him, and took him back to his hotel where he and his manager verified his ID with a passport. (Later reports indicated Dylan might have been looking for a house two blocks away where Bruce Springsteen wrote "Born to Run.") You gotta respect an actual living legend who not only didn't pull out the celebrity card, but doesn't appear to even carry one.
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Public release date: 29-Apr-2013
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You're familiar with the scenario of not being able to keeping up with some of your best contacts because there are probably now plenty of them? Small businesses have that same problem, and they aren't about to employ heavy lifting CRM to solve that simple problem. 
