Krasinski, Hunt, Common among in-crowd at Sundance

In this image released by Sundance Film Festival, Helen Hunt, left, and John Hawkes are shown in a scene from "The Surrogate." The film will be competing at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. (AP Photo/Sundance Film Festival)

In this image released by Sundance Film Festival, Helen Hunt, left, and John Hawkes are shown in a scene from "The Surrogate." The film will be competing at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. (AP Photo/Sundance Film Festival)

In this film image released by Sundance Film Festival, Gina Rodriquez is shown in a scene from "Filly Brown." The film will be competing at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. (AP Photo/Sundance Film Festival, John Castillo)

In this film image released by Sundance Film Festival, Lou Diamond Phillips is shown in a scene from "Filly Brown." The film will be competing at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. (AP Photo/Sundance Film Festival, John Castillo)

In this image released by Sundance Film Festival, William H. Macy, left, and John Hawkes are shown in a scene from "The Surrogate." The film will be competing at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. (AP Photo/Sundance Film Festival)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? John Krasinski, Helen Hunt, Michael Cera, Amanda Seyfried, Danny Glover and rap star Common are among the stars with movies heading to the Sundance Film Festival.

Films announced Wednesday that will compete for prizes at next month's independent-film showcase include dramas dealing with family crises, such as director Ry Russo-Young's "Nobody Walks," with "The Office" co-star Krasinski and Olivia Thirlby; "The End of Love," starring Cera, Seyfried, Shannyn Sossamon and writer-director Mark Webber; and Sheldon Candis' "Luv," featuring Glover and Common.

Hunt stars with John Hawkes and William H. Macy in Ben Lewin's "The Surrogate," an unusual story about a 36-year-old man who has spent most of his life on an iron lung and now develops a plan to lose his virginity.

They're among 16 films in Sundance's competition for U.S. dramas, whose past winners included eventual Academy Awards nominees "Winter's Bone," ''Precious" and "Frozen River."

Sundance also announced 16 films competing in each of three other categories: U.S. documentaries, world dramas and world documentaries. The festival runs Jan. 19-29 in Park City, Utah.

Festival director John Cooper said the lineup had gone a bit mainstream and populist some years but that the roster this time has veered squarely back toward the edgy terrain for which lower-budgeted indie films are known. That could have something to do with the uncertain state of the economy, he said.

"I like the eclectic nature of the storytelling," Cooper said. "Filmmakers, for some reason or other, they're not conforming to Hollywood stereotypes, not that independent filmmakers ever did. But I think even less than they did a couple of years ago. They're being bolder, taking risks, telling the stories they want to tell.

"In challenging economic times, artists maybe tend to get a little freer in what they do, and sometimes, maybe even a little better."

The U.S. dramatic competition also includes directors Youssef Delara and Michael D. Olmos' "Filly Brown," a hip-hop saga with Lou Diamond Phillips, Edward James Olmos and relative newcomer Gina Rodriguez in the title role; James Ponsoldt's "Smashed," a story of a booze-loving couple featuring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul and "The Help" star Octavia Spencer; and So Yong Kim's "For Ellen," starring Paul Dano, Jena Malone and Jon Heder, whose career was launched at Sundance with his title role in "Napoleon Dynamite."

Overseen by Robert Redford's Sundance Institute, the festival will include 110 feature-length films, chosen out of 4,000 submitted from around the world. The festival announces its lineup of star-studded premieres, which will screen out of competition, next week.

Though Hollywood A-listers at Sundance get most of the attention, Redford tries to keep the focus on fresh talent from the indie world.

"We are, and always have been, a festival about the filmmakers," Redford said. "So what are they doing? What are they saying? They are making statements about the changing world we are living in. Some are straightforward, some novel and some offbeat but always interesting. One can never predict. We know only at the end, and I love that."

The Sundance opening night schedule features one title from each of the four competitions: director Todd Louiso's U.S. drama entry "Hello I Must Be Going," a divorce comedy with Melanie Lynskey and Blythe Danner; Australian filmmaker Kieran Darcy-Smith's world drama contender "Wish You Were Here," starring Joel Edgerton and Teresa Palmer in the story of a vacation gone terribly wrong; Lauren Greenfield's U.S. documentary "The Queen of Versailles," about a couple who go bust while building a palatial 90,000-square-foot home; and Malik Bendjelloul's world documentary "Searching for Sugar Man," a British-Danish film tracing the life of a 1970s rock performer who vanished into oblivion.

Sundance once was known almost exclusively as a showcase for rising U.S. filmmakers, but organizers added the international competitions a few years back to raise the festival's profile for overseas films. The result has been an international lineup that included such breakout hits as "An Education," ''Animal Kingdom" and "Once."

"Internationally is where I see a real spike in the caliber of films we had submitted to us," said Trevor Groth, Sundance's programming director. "There are world-class films submitted to us on par with any festival in the world right now. I think international filmmakers are now looking at Sundance as a premier place to launch films. It's not just Cannes or Berlin anymore."

___

Online:

http://www.sundance.org/festival

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-11-30-US-Film-Sundance-Competition/id-fa4c04b1a5ac4ebd95822d051caff1b0

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20 Investing Questions You Were Too Embarrassed To Ask, Part 2 ...

Editor's note: This is the second part of a two-part series. Click here to read the first half.

11. What does Goldman Sachs do?
Goldman Sachs (GS) provides services like investment banking and management, asset management, securities trading, financing and equity research services to a number of different types of clients: corporations, other financial institutions, governments and high net-worth individuals.

In addition, it invests its own money in funds, real estate, and a variety of facilities, underwrites public offerings, makes markets, and is a primary dealer in the United States Treasury securities markets (the debt instruments like treasury bills, treasury notes, and bonds that the government sells in order to operate). As a result, Goldman Sachs is very important to the financial dealings of the country.

If you didn't know the Goldman Sachs name before the housing bubble burst, that probably changed soon after. In April 2010, the SEC filed civil fraud charges against Goldman Sachs, alleging that the company withheld important information around an investment portfolio named "Abacus." The hedge fund manager who put the deal together, John Paulson, expected that the housing bubble would burst and hand-selected the assets in the Abacus portfolio with the intention to short it, and potentially profit from the market failure. He approached Goldman Sachs with his intention, and Goldman Sachs found investors willing to buy into the portfolio -- but did not disclose the hedge fund manager's stake in the deal in any investor marketing materials, including the fact that some of the bonds he had handpicked for the portfolio were included in Abacus, or that he picked them expecting their demise. The bubble did indeed burst, and John Paulson reportedly made around $1 billion. Goldman Sachs made $15 million in fees for its involvement. The Abacus investors, on the other hand, lost billions. The problem wasn't inherently in the fact that the hedge fund made money from the failure of its own investment tool. The SEC charges stemmed from the fact that Goldman Sachs did not disclose the hedge fund manager's shorted position or involvement in selecting the portfolio assets to investors. The bank settled the charges in July 2010, without admitting to or denying them.
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12. Is the bond market more complicated than the stock market?
Although bonds are typically considered less risky than the stock market, the bond market is actually more complicated. Bonds are issued by many different entities including governments, corporations, and municipalities, for various time periods. The value of a bond is impacted by many factors, including the health of the issuing entity, determined based on a credit rating score assigned by Moody?s (MCO) or Standard and Poor?s (MHP). That score can change at any time based on interest rates, consumer sentiment, and the issuing entities? risk of default. Because bonds move inversely with interest rates and are heavily impacted by inflation, bond values are determined by the yield curve, or a line that plots interest rates compared to bonds of equal credit quality but different maturity dates.
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13. What about currency investing? If the euro or yen goes down, shouldn?t I buy some with my U.S. dollars, and just hang on to it?
Currency investing takes place in what is called the forex market. It trades 24 hours a day, and prices move constantly. ?Forex trading always involves a pair of currencies compared to another, and by its nature, requires that you go long on one (meaning that you expect its price to rise), and short on the other (you sell in anticipation that it will depreciate). While there is money to be made in the market for those who understand it, it is highly complex, volatile, and risky. Forex trading is based on ?leveraging? or ?gearing? ?actual? money in an account, in order to increase buying power. Because every second counts in the Forex market, ?doing nothing? could actually drain your account, leading to a ?margin call,? which requires you to pay back all losses (not just what was in the account), and whatever fees you owe the broker.
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14. Is gold always a good buy?
Though gold has snatched up headlines because of its double-digit growth over the past few years, the climb is something of an anomaly. As a long-term strategy, having gold in your portfolio can be a great diversifier to stocks and bonds -- but so can other commodities. According to CBS Moneywatch?s Larry Swedroe, comparably speaking, a portfolio examined from 1970 to 2010 that contained commodities versus one with gold actually performed better, producing annualized returns of 11.32% vs. 11.29%.

15. Can I invest in companies outside the U.S. via a U.S. broker? Like, can I invest in a Chinese company?
You can buy into Chinese stocks through U.S. brokers via many investment firms; there are more than 50 Chinese companies publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq (NDAQ). To minimize risk, you can also invest in mutual funds that hold stake in a variety of emerging markets.

16. Can I invest in private companies? How?
Many private companies require investors to meet the definition of ?accredited investor,? but not all. So-called ?angel investors,? often contribute as little as $25,000 to an entity, and can network via free sites like Go4Funding.? Forming a partnership with established venture capital groups that focus on a similar objective to yours can also be an option, depending on your available funds. If you have a specific company in mind, you can also offer to buy shares directly from a company?s founders or employees, if they are willing to sell.

17. Some non-profits seek investors, right? Why would I invest in a non-profit?
Non-profit investors generally do so because they believe in the cause and sustainability over the program, versus investing for pure financial gain. However, there are often tax credits given to non-profit donors, provided the organization qualifies for tax-deductible status.

18. If we head into another recession, would that be a bad time to invest?
Successful investing requires having enough cash reserves on hand to ride out market turbulence, and diversifying your portfolio to manage exposure to a variety of sectors. While a recession could indeed bring stock prices lower, investors can find safer havens in historically recession-proof industries like health care, consumer staples, and utilities?especially when those stocks pay dividends. Economic uncertainty also presents an opportunity to find bargains in the market, as long as you won?t the need the cash in the short-term.
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19. Is it a good idea to buy stocks in the brands you buy anyway?
Knowing the product and its consumer will help you to understand demands, and spot changes in the industry and marketplace trends, but you should also consider other research like the company?s health, P/E ratio, stock price fluctuations and analyst recommendation when choosing stocks.

20. If a company goes bankrupt, what happens to the stock? The bonds?
According to the SEC, a company that files for Chapter 11 can still trade securities until a resolution is reached, though bondholders will stop receiving interest and principal payments, and stockholders will stop receiving dividends. If a reorganization agreement is reached, bondholders may receive stock in exchange for bonds, new bonds, or a combination of the two. Stockholders may be asked to exchange old shares for new reissued shares?though they won?t necessarily equal the value of the old shares. ?If a company is deemed insolvent and declares bankruptcy, bondholders stand a better chance of recovering losses than stockholders, who will likely be left holding worthless shares of common stock.

Editor's note: This is the second part of a two-part series. Click here to read the first half.

No positions in stocks mentioned.

The information on this website solely reflects the analysis of or opinion about the performance of securities and financial markets by the writers whose articles appear on the site. The views expressed by the writers are not necessarily the views of Minyanville Media, Inc. or members of its management. Nothing contained on the website is intended to constitute a recommendation or advice addressed to an individual investor or category of investors to purchase, sell or hold any security, or to take any action with respect to the prospective movement of the securities markets or to solicit the purchase or sale of any security. Any investment decisions must be made by the reader either individually or in consultation with his or her investment professional. Minyanville writers and staff may trade or hold positions in securities that are discussed in articles appearing on the website. Writers of articles are required to disclose whether they have a position in any stock or fund discussed in an article, but are not permitted to disclose the size or direction of the position. Nothing on this website is intended to solicit business of any kind for a writer's business or fund. Minyanville management and staff as well as contributing writers will not respond to emails or other communications requesting investment advice.

Copyright 2011 Minyanville Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Source: http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/how-to-invest-investing-questions-currency/11/29/2011/id/38041

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Toni Johnson: Egypt's Uncertain Vote

Egyptians headed to the polls Monday in the first parliamentary elections (AP) since the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak amid deepening divisions in society and confusion over the nation's direction. Earlier, there were doubts over whether the elections would be held at all following more than a week of protests (Reuters) calling for an immediate end to interim military rule. The landmark vote is open for the first time to many political players and parties once barred under Mubarak.

What's at Stake

The outcome of the election, in which more than six thousand candidates (Reuters) are competing, is being closely watched. As the LA Times notes, it could reveal "whether Egypt emerges as a democratic inspiration in a region clamoring for change or slips back into a military-dominated autocracy where only the faces and illicit bank accounts have changed." Islamist parties are expected to win big, especially the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, which could win as much as 30 percent of the 498 available seats in the lower house, known as the People's Assembly. Meanwhile, the conservative Salafists under the al-Nour Party could also take anywhere from 6 percent to 16 percent of the vote (Globe&Mail).

The fresh spate of violence is a reminder of the fragile political situation in which Egypt remains. The military has used heavy-handed tactics against protesters, and an Amnesty International report finds that the interim military rule has continued with human rights abuses similar to those under Mubarak. A newly elected parliament is expected to help rewrite the constitution. But the interim government has announced "supra-constitutional principles" that would give the military veto power over the constitutional process.

The Debate

Some experts say secular parties and the military may be trying to buffer the power of Islamists (CBC) through the constitutional process. Journalist Issandr el-Amrani says the attempt to place the military above all other authority has made the elections about choosing between the military or the Islamists (AlMasryAlYoum), whichever Egyptians fear less. Marina Ottaway, at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says unless Islamists and liberals manage to find compromise, "the outcome will be a new authoritarianism."

The possibility of an Islamist-led government has raised questions whether they can govern in the political mainstream (WashPost). Fawaz Gerges of the London School of Economics says that should the Muslim Brotherhood prevail, it will have to produce viable policies (NewStatesman) for the country's economic and civic challenges, which are numerous.

Former CIA analyst Emile Nakhleh and Boston University professor Augustus R. Norton say that fears of Islamist parties may be unfounded. They note that these parties have been parts of governments in Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, and Turkey, and have not threatened stability (BostonGlobe).

Policy Options

A number of experts, such as Leila Hilal and Khaled Elgindy, say that removing the military (FP) from transitional political process will help with stability. Khairi Abaza at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies says the international community should help the new government in Cairo stabilize its economy (FoxNews) and "ensure regular, peaceful successions of power."

This article first appeared on CFR.org.

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Follow Toni Johnson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ToniMariJohnson

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/toni-johnson/egypts-uncertain-vote_b_1118727.html

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FFA chief not convinced '22 will go ahead in Qatar

updated 5:04 a.m. ET Nov. 28, 2011

SYDNEY - Australia's soccer chief isn't convinced the 2022 World Cup will go ahead as planned in Qatar.

Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy said on Monday that the "last word hasn't been heard yet" on the FIFA vote that awarded the event to Qatar over bids from countries including the United States and Australia.

Lowy did not elaborate on how or why Qatar would lose the rights, but said it related to "the state of the FIFA executive committee."

"I don't know whether you recall when I came back from that fateful day (after losing the bid) and I said 'this is not the last word about awarding the World Cup,' " Lowy said after he was formally re-elected as FFA chairman on Monday. "Well, it wasn't the last word.

"Don't ask me to elaborate because I don't have a crystal ball ... but the media all over the world is talking about that, the awarding particularly of '22, the state of the FIFA executive committee ? all that stuff.

"It's not over," Lowy was quoted to say by Australian Associated Press. "I don't exactly know where it will bounce. The only thing I know is it's not over yet."

Qatar's successful bid became implicated in a broad-ranging corruption scandal that plagued FIFA this year, with FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke saying in a leaked email that they "bought the World Cup."

There were accusations of corruption in the bidding process and Mohamed Bin Hammam, the president of the Asian Football Confederation and a campaigner for his native Qatar to host the World Cup, has since been banned for life from all soccer activities on charges of trying to bribe Caribbean voters in his quest to unseat Sepp Blatter as president of FIFA.

Bin Hammam has denied the allegation and is appealing his ban in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Meanwhile, questions have been raised about the feasibility of Qatar's promise to air-condition stadiums to combat the searing heat in the Middle East during the World Cup window in June and July.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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MLS?season to start March 10

Major League Soccer's 2012 season will open March 10 with six games, and the expansion Montreal Impact will play their first MLS home game at Olympic Stadium on March 17.

Gareth Copley / Getty Images

Startling

Gary Speed, the Wales manager and former English Premier League star was found dead at his home at 42, an apparent suicide.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45459925/ns/sports-soccer/

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Xbox 360 shatters its own sales records (Digital Trends)

Retailers and manufacturers around the world are likely breathing a sigh of relief before going off to count their new piles of cash that are hopefully being delivered in the form of gold coins that people can swim in, ala Scrooge McDuck. While that probably isn?t likely (or physically possible), there is no denying that the sales results from Black Friday and the beginning of the official holiday rush are impressive.

In general, the sales on Black Friday have been somewhat incredible, as retailers are posting figures that are nearly 25-percent higher than this time last year, and that is only an early estimate. Sales records are being shattered like an iPhone during a flight, as individual products are also posting record sales figures.

Amazon has reported that the Kindle Fire has quadrupled its sales, while Nintendo set records thanks to the timely release of Super Mario 3D Land for the 3DS and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for the Wii. Not to be outdone in the electronics field, Microsoft has also announced that it sold more Xbox 360s last week than in any other week in the console?s six year history.

During the week of Black Friday, Microsoft has confirmed that it moved 960,000 consoles in the U.S. alone, and 800,000 of those were sold within a 24-hour period. It is also reporting that 750,000 Kinect sensors were sold, both alone and as part of a bundle.

Microsoft is pushing the Xbox 360 and the Kinect hard this holiday season, and Kinect bundles can be found everywhere. There are also four times as many Kinect games out now as last year, plus a new Xbox dashboard is scheduled for December 6. By the end of the year, the console will also begin its imitation of a cable box, as multiple cable channels will be available through it (the packages will be dependent on the cable provider).

So far it is looking like the holiday season may help save an otherwise lackluster year for gaming. We just need to wait to see what the PlayStation sales look like. No pressure, Sony, no pressure.

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This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20111129/tc_digitaltrends/xbox360shattersitsownsalesrecords

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Study finds opening bars longer increases violence

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

A new study published today in the international journal Addiction demonstrates that even small changes in pub and bar closing hours seem to affect the number of violent incidents. The findings suggest that a one-hour extension of bar closing hours led to an increase of an average of 20 violent cases at night on weekends per 100,000 people per year. This represents an increase in violence of approximately 16 percent.

The results suggest that the effect occurs both ways. In other words, reducing trading hours by one hour leads to a decrease in violence of the same magnitude as the increase in violence seen if closing hours are increased by one hour.

Lead author Professor Ingeborg Rossow said "These findings echo the results from studies from around the world that you see more violence in cities when you extend trading hours."

The study is based on data from 18 Norwegian cities that expanded or restricted their closing hours by up to two hours in the decade 2000 ? 2010. Researchers examined whether these changes affected violence in the city centre on weekend nights. Violence outside the town during the same time window, which was not likely to be affected by changes in closing hours, was used as a control for other factors.

In these 18 cities weekend closing hours were between one and three at night, early by comparison to many cities around the world.

These findings come more than a year after the Norwegian government proposed reducing sales hours for on-premises trading to reduce violence and public nuisance. The proposal was supported by police commissioners but rejected by alcohol businesses and right wing political parties who claimed that reduced sales hours would not reduce violence.

Study co-author Professor Thor Norstr?m said "These findings hold important implications for communities around the world who are struggling to deal with the massive burden of alcohol-related harm. If you want to reduce alcohol-related harm, restricting trading hours of licensed venues seems to be an effective measure."

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Rossow I. and Norstr?m T. The impact of small changes in bar closing hours on violence: The Norwegian experience from 18 cities.Addiction, 106: doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03643.x

Wiley-Blackwell: http://www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell

Thanks to Wiley-Blackwell for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115536/Study_finds_opening_bars_longer_increases_violence

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Obama condemns storming of British embassy in Iran (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Declaring himself "deeply disturbed" by the storming of the British Embassy in Tehran, President Barack Obama strongly urged the Iranian government to hold those responsible to account.

"For rioters to essentially be able to overrun the embassy and set it on fire is an indication that the Iranian government is not taking its international obligations seriously," the president said.

Obama made his remarks at the beginning of an Oval Office meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

"That kind of behavior is unacceptable," Obama said, adding that the Iranian government has a responsibility to protect diplomatic outposts.

Hard-line Iranian students stormed the embassy in Tehran on Tuesday, bringing down the Union Jack flag, burning an embassy vehicle and throwing documents from windows in scenes reminiscent of the 1979 attack on the U.S. embassy there.

In a statement earlier, the White House urged Iran to condemn the incident, prosecute the offenders and ensure that no other incidents occur at either the British Embassy or any other mission in Iran.

The White House says the State Department is in close contact with the British government.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111129/ap_on_re_us/us_white_house_iran

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World stocks up after robust US holiday shopping (AP)

BANGKOK ? World stocks were boosted Monday by a robust start to the U.S. holiday shopping season and reports that European leaders are considering legal means to force debt-ridden euro countries into fiscal discipline.

Benchmark oil rose above $99 per barrel and the dollar fell against the euro and the yen.

European stock markets rose in early trading. Britain's FTSE 100 added 1.4 percent to 5,235.40. Germany's DAX gained 2 percent to 5,601.80 and France's CAC-40 jumped 2.1 percent to 2,917.54.

Wall Street also appeared headed for a higher opening, with Dow Jones industrial futures rising 1.6 percent to 11,370 and S&P 500 futures jumping 2 percent at 1,176.70.

The gains in Europe tracked those in Asia earlier in the day. Japan's Nikkei 225 index jumped 1.6 percent to close at 8,287.49. South Korea's Kospi gained 2.2 percent to 1,815.28 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 2 percent to 18,037.81. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 1.9 percent to 4,058.20.

Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand were also higher. Those in Indonesia and the Philippines fell. In mainland China, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.1 percent to 2,383.03.

German media reported over the weekend that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy were studying legal changes ? possibly amendments to the European Union growth and stability pact ? to force nations using the euro common currency to comply with strict rules for budget discipline and tough sanctions for violators.

The reports raised hopes that the region may be able to stem a debt crisis that has infected peripheral countries like Greece and is threatening bigger countries like Spain.

Surprisingly strong Thanksgiving sales in the U.S. also helped boost market sentiment, said Francis Lun, managing director of Lyncean Holdings in Hong Kong.

A record 226 million shoppers visited stores and websites during the four-day U.S. holiday weekend starting on Thanksgiving Day, according to early estimates by The National Retail Federation. The results for the first holiday shopping weekend show that retailers' efforts to lure shoppers during the weak economy are working. Holiday shopping can account for 25 to 40 percent of a merchant's annual revenue.

But what really got markets going, Lun said, were Italian media reports that the International Monetary Fund was preparing up to 600 billion euros in loans for cash-strapped Italy, whose massive debts are becoming unmanageable because of soaring borrowing costs.

"It's a relief that we won't see the demise of the euro just yet. The end of the world is delayed for another week," he said. "The problem facing Europe now is that a lot of these smaller countries do not play by the rules. So now one by one, they are falling like dominoes, becoming satellites of Germany, at least in the economic sense."

But some analysts paid little heed to the report, saying the IMF simply could not afford such a loan.

"As of September the IMF had $385.5 billion of forward commitment capacity, so even if they designated their whole fund to Italy it would be well below the amount that has been speculated," Stan Shamu of IG Markets in Melbourne said in a report. "It would require huge increases in contributions from other nations."

Worries about Europe's debt crisis flared anew Friday after Italy had to pay 7.8 percent to borrow for two years at a debt auction. It's another sign that investors are increasingly hesitant to lend to European countries. Greece, Ireland and Portugal had to seek bailouts from international lenders when their interest rates crossed the 7 percent mark.

Gains in Asia were broad-based. South Korea's LG Electronics soared 8.6 percent, while Hynix Semiconductor added 7.1 percent. Hong Kong-listed Anhui Conch Cement gained 5.1 percent and China Railway Group was up 6.3 percent.

Japan's top three carmakers ? Toyota, Honda and Nissan Motor Corps. ? all posted gains of at least 2.9 percent.

But Olympus Corp., which is fighting to restore its reputation from a scandal involving the cover-up of huge investment losses, slid 10.6 percent. Australia's Woodside Petroleum fell 2.3 percent after downgrading its 2012 oil and gas production targets.

Shanghai-listed Chongqing Three Gorges Water Conservancy gained 6.8 percent while Sichuan Mingxing Electric Power Co. Ltd. rose 4.2 percent after a rumor said the authorities may raise electricity fees to combat higher coal costs.

During a shortened post-holiday trading session on Friday, the Dow fell 0.2 percent to close at 11,231.78. The S&P 500 lost 0.3 percent to 1,158.67. The Nasdaq composite dropped 0.8 percent to close at 2,441.51.

Benchmark crude for January delivery was up $2.32 to $99.12 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.09 to finish at $98.01 per barrel on the Nymex on Friday.

In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.3332 from $1.3230 late Friday in New York. The dollar weakened to 77.66 yen from 77.76 yen.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111128/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets

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Fitch keeps AAA US credit rating but dims outlook

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Fitch said Monday that it will keep its rating for long-term U.S. debt at the top AAA level, despite a congressional panel's failure to agree on long-term deficit cuts. But it is lowering its outlook to negative.

The rating agency said it has less confidence in the federal government's ability to take the necessary steps to rein in the deficit.

A special congressional panel failed last week to reach agreement on $1.2 trillion in deficit cuts over the next decade. The impasse triggered automatic cuts of the same amount, which are scheduled to kick in beginning in 2013.

Moody's Investors Services and Standard & Poor's also left their ratings unchanged last week. But Moody's and S&P warned that they could lower their ratings if Congress backed off the automatic cuts.

S&P downgraded long-term U.S. debt in August to the second-highest level, AA-plus, and switched its outlook to negative. It was the first time the credit rating agency had lowered the nation's AAA rating since granting it in 1917.

Fitch, Moody's and S&P, the three major rating agencies, assess the creditworthiness of debt issued by countries, corporations and municipalities. Ratings are based on the likelihood of default. The AAA rating is the highest available and signifies an extremely low likelihood of default.

Fitch said the switch to a negative outlook meant the credit agency believed there was slightly greater than a 50 percent chance it would downgrade long-term U.S. debt in the next two years. Fitch said it did not expect Congress to reach agreement on deficit cuts until 2013. A failure to enact cuts by then would likely prompt the agency to downgrade U.S. credit, Fitch said.

"By postponing the difficult decisions on tax and spending until after forthcoming congressional and presidential elections, the scale and pace of required deficit reduction will consequently be greater," Fitch said in its statement.

S&P's downgrade came days after Congress barely resolved a prolonged fight over raising the nation's borrowing limit to avoid a potential default on the nation's debt.

U.S. lawmakers ultimately agreed to spending cuts that would reduce the debt by more than $2 trillion. They left much of the details to the newly created supercommittee, which had until Nov. 21 to agree on $1.2 trillion in cuts.

In August, S&P appeared to cast doubt on the committee's ability to meet that goal. It said it lowered the U.S. credit rating because of politics that slowed the debt limit increase and not because it thought the U.S. couldn't pay its bills.

S&P then said that it was "pessimistic about the capacity of Congress and the administration to be able to leverage their agreement this week into a broader fiscal consolidation plan that stabilizes the government's debt dynamics anytime soon."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-11-28-Fitch-US%20Credit%20Rating/id-f6b034fb949e406996b906243a55e988

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Stonehenge new 'sun worship' find

28 November 2011 Last updated at 06:50 ET

Two previously undiscovered pits have been found at Stonehenge which point to it once being used as a place of sun worship before the stones were erected.

The pits are positioned on celestial alignment at the site and may have contained stones, posts or fires to mark the rising and setting of the sun.

An international archaeological survey team found the pits as part of the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project.

The team is using geophysical imaging techniques to investigate the site.

The archaeologists from the University of Birmingham and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection in Vienna have been surveying the subsurface at the landmark since summer 2010.

Procession route

It is thought the pits, positioned within the Neolithic Cursus pathway, could have formed a procession route for ancient rituals celebrating the sun moving across the sky at the midsummer solstice.

A Cursus comprises of two parallel linear ditches with banks either side closed off at the end.

Also discovered was a gap in the northern side of the Cursus, which may have been an entrance and exit point for processions taking place within the pathway.

These discoveries hint that the site was already being used as an ancient centre of ritual prior to the stones being erected more than 5,000 years ago, the team said.

Archaeologist and project leader at Birmingham University, Professor Vince Gaffney, said: "This is the first time we have seen anything quite like this at Stonehenge and it provides a more sophisticated insight into how rituals may have taken place within the Cursus and the wider landscape."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-england-wiltshire-15917921

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When inflexibility is counterproductive: Mechanism of UV-induced DNA Dewar lesion revealed

Public release date: 28-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Luise Dirscherl
dirscherl@lmu.de
49-892-180-2706
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt Mnchen

Excessive exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation of sunlight can result in skin damage and may even induce skin cancers. Irradiation with UV light causes mutations in the DNA, which can interfere with or even inhibit the read-out of genetic information and hence affect the cell function. The Dewar lesion is one of the major UV-induced reaction products, which can itself generate mutations. Understanding the mechanism that leads to the formation of the Dewar lesion is therefore of great interest.Researchers from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have now shown that the DNA backbone (the double-stranded scaffold which bears the subunits that encode the genetic information) plays a decisive role in the process. The Dewar lesion can be generated only if the backbone of the DNA is intact. If the DNA strand itself is broken, and therefore more flexible, the Dewar reaction will not take place. The process reveals a surprisingly paradoxical facet of the DNA structure. On the one hand, an unbroken backbone is a prerequisite for DNA function and for cell survival; on the other, the intact backbone favors the formation of Dewar lesions upon exposure to UV, and so facilitates UV-induced mutagenesis. (Angewandte Chemie, 23 November 2011)

UV radiation induces molecular changes in DNA structure, which can lead to genetic mutations and finally to cell death. Energetic UV light primarily produces two types of photochemical damage in the subunits of the DNA - cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs) and (6-4) photoproducts. Both types of lesion are due to cross-linking of adjacent pyrimidine bases on the same DNA strand. Continued exposure to UV light transforms the (6-4) photoproduct into a Dewar lesion by inducing further structural changes. Dewar lesions are stable end-products of continuous exposure to sunlight. Moreover, they are highly mutagenic, i.e. they can themselves induce a range of further mutations. "While the chemical changes that give rise to CPDs and (6-4) photoproducts are already well understood, this is not true for the Dewar lesion," says LMU chemist Professor Thomas Carell, who is also a member of the Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CiPSM), one of the Clusters of Excellence at LMU.

In a joint project within the SFB749 initiative Carells group together with research teams led by LMU physicist Professor Wolfgang Zinth (CiPSM) and Regina de Vivie-Riedle of the Department of Chemistry, could show that the backbone of the DNA plays a crucial role in the formation of the Dewar lesion. The backbone consists of repeating units made up of sugars and phosphates, which link the succession of bases that represent the protein-coding information in the DNA. "To our surprise, we found that the Dewar lesion can be generated only if the backbone in the affected region is intact," Carell explains. "If the continuity of the backbone is interrupted, or if the cross-linked base-pairs alone are exposed to sunlight, the Dewar structure fails to form." Thus, an interdisciplinary cooperation, which included chemists, physicists and theorists has, for the first time, been able to dissect the photochemical formation of the Dewar lesion at the atomic level. "Our results also show that the process is remarkably effective; indeed, this is one of the most efficient light-induced reactions known to occur within the DNA," says physicist Wolfgang Zinth.

Theoretical considerations yielded further insights into the details of the Dewar isomerization. "To follow the photochemical reaction dynamics on a high level of theory we came up with a hybrid method that separates the molecular system into subsystems treated on different quantum mechanical levels. This hierarchic strategy allows us to evaluate the dynamics of the complete system," says de Vivie-Riedle. Based on these calculations, the researchers were able precisely to define the role of the DNA backbone in the formation of the Dewar lesion. Cleavage of the backbone makes the molecule more flexible. Under these conditions, the (6-4) lesion will be protected and the system returns via a photophysical pathway back to its initial state. In contrast, an intact backbone keeps the molecule rigid, and strains the pyrimidine ring structure. The result is that only those atoms that must rearrange to form the Dewar isomer remain mobile, which favors the reaction that leads to the stable Dewar lesion.

###

The project was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) through the Collaborative Research Center on Dynamics and Intermediates in Molecular Transformations (SFB 749) and through the Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CiPSM). Regina de Vivie-Riedle and Wolfgang Zinth are also members of the Munich Centre for Advanced Photonics (MAP), another Cluster of Excellence at LMU. (gd/PH)

Publication: Mechanism of UV-Induced DNA Dewar-Lesion Formation
Karin Haiser, Benjamin P. Fingerhut, Korbinian Heil, Andreas Glas, Teja T. Herzog, Bert M. Pilles, Wolfgang J. Schreier, Wolfgang Zinth, Regina de Vivie-Riedle, Thomas Carell
Angewandte Chemie. Article first published online: 23. Nov. 2011; DOI: 10.1002/ang.201106231

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Thomas Carell
Department of Chemistry
Phone: +49 (0) 89 2180-77755
Fax: + 49 (0) 89 2180-77756
http://www.carellgroup.de

Prof. Dr. Regina de Vivie-Riedle
Department of Chemistry
Phone: +49 (0) 89 2180-77533
Fax:+49 (0) 89 2180-77133
http://www.cup.uni-muenchen.de/pc/devivie

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Zinth
Faculty of Physics
Phone: +49 (0) 89 2180-9201
Fax: +49 (0) 89 2180-9202
http://www.bmo.physik.uni-muenchen.de/~zinth

---

[ | 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.

Public release date: 28-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Luise Dirscherl
dirscherl@lmu.de
49-892-180-2706
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt Mnchen

Excessive exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation of sunlight can result in skin damage and may even induce skin cancers. Irradiation with UV light causes mutations in the DNA, which can interfere with or even inhibit the read-out of genetic information and hence affect the cell function. The Dewar lesion is one of the major UV-induced reaction products, which can itself generate mutations. Understanding the mechanism that leads to the formation of the Dewar lesion is therefore of great interest.Researchers from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have now shown that the DNA backbone (the double-stranded scaffold which bears the subunits that encode the genetic information) plays a decisive role in the process. The Dewar lesion can be generated only if the backbone of the DNA is intact. If the DNA strand itself is broken, and therefore more flexible, the Dewar reaction will not take place. The process reveals a surprisingly paradoxical facet of the DNA structure. On the one hand, an unbroken backbone is a prerequisite for DNA function and for cell survival; on the other, the intact backbone favors the formation of Dewar lesions upon exposure to UV, and so facilitates UV-induced mutagenesis. (Angewandte Chemie, 23 November 2011)

UV radiation induces molecular changes in DNA structure, which can lead to genetic mutations and finally to cell death. Energetic UV light primarily produces two types of photochemical damage in the subunits of the DNA - cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs) and (6-4) photoproducts. Both types of lesion are due to cross-linking of adjacent pyrimidine bases on the same DNA strand. Continued exposure to UV light transforms the (6-4) photoproduct into a Dewar lesion by inducing further structural changes. Dewar lesions are stable end-products of continuous exposure to sunlight. Moreover, they are highly mutagenic, i.e. they can themselves induce a range of further mutations. "While the chemical changes that give rise to CPDs and (6-4) photoproducts are already well understood, this is not true for the Dewar lesion," says LMU chemist Professor Thomas Carell, who is also a member of the Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CiPSM), one of the Clusters of Excellence at LMU.

In a joint project within the SFB749 initiative Carells group together with research teams led by LMU physicist Professor Wolfgang Zinth (CiPSM) and Regina de Vivie-Riedle of the Department of Chemistry, could show that the backbone of the DNA plays a crucial role in the formation of the Dewar lesion. The backbone consists of repeating units made up of sugars and phosphates, which link the succession of bases that represent the protein-coding information in the DNA. "To our surprise, we found that the Dewar lesion can be generated only if the backbone in the affected region is intact," Carell explains. "If the continuity of the backbone is interrupted, or if the cross-linked base-pairs alone are exposed to sunlight, the Dewar structure fails to form." Thus, an interdisciplinary cooperation, which included chemists, physicists and theorists has, for the first time, been able to dissect the photochemical formation of the Dewar lesion at the atomic level. "Our results also show that the process is remarkably effective; indeed, this is one of the most efficient light-induced reactions known to occur within the DNA," says physicist Wolfgang Zinth.

Theoretical considerations yielded further insights into the details of the Dewar isomerization. "To follow the photochemical reaction dynamics on a high level of theory we came up with a hybrid method that separates the molecular system into subsystems treated on different quantum mechanical levels. This hierarchic strategy allows us to evaluate the dynamics of the complete system," says de Vivie-Riedle. Based on these calculations, the researchers were able precisely to define the role of the DNA backbone in the formation of the Dewar lesion. Cleavage of the backbone makes the molecule more flexible. Under these conditions, the (6-4) lesion will be protected and the system returns via a photophysical pathway back to its initial state. In contrast, an intact backbone keeps the molecule rigid, and strains the pyrimidine ring structure. The result is that only those atoms that must rearrange to form the Dewar isomer remain mobile, which favors the reaction that leads to the stable Dewar lesion.

###

The project was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) through the Collaborative Research Center on Dynamics and Intermediates in Molecular Transformations (SFB 749) and through the Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CiPSM). Regina de Vivie-Riedle and Wolfgang Zinth are also members of the Munich Centre for Advanced Photonics (MAP), another Cluster of Excellence at LMU. (gd/PH)

Publication: Mechanism of UV-Induced DNA Dewar-Lesion Formation
Karin Haiser, Benjamin P. Fingerhut, Korbinian Heil, Andreas Glas, Teja T. Herzog, Bert M. Pilles, Wolfgang J. Schreier, Wolfgang Zinth, Regina de Vivie-Riedle, Thomas Carell
Angewandte Chemie. Article first published online: 23. Nov. 2011; DOI: 10.1002/ang.201106231

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Thomas Carell
Department of Chemistry
Phone: +49 (0) 89 2180-77755
Fax: + 49 (0) 89 2180-77756
http://www.carellgroup.de

Prof. Dr. Regina de Vivie-Riedle
Department of Chemistry
Phone: +49 (0) 89 2180-77533
Fax:+49 (0) 89 2180-77133
http://www.cup.uni-muenchen.de/pc/devivie

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Zinth
Faculty of Physics
Phone: +49 (0) 89 2180-9201
Fax: +49 (0) 89 2180-9202
http://www.bmo.physik.uni-muenchen.de/~zinth

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/lm-wii112811.php

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Britney Spears Video Tournament Down To Elite 8!

'Everytime' falls out of tournament in round two, losing to 'Lucky.'
By Vaughn Trudeau Schoonmaker

Britney Spears in her video for "Lucky"
Photo: Jive

Round three is now open for voting in the Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years!

When polls closed Sunday night, we had narrowed the brackets down from the Sweet 16 to the Elite Eight, and some of the results were shocking!

Four of the eight matchups in round two of the tournament remained neck-in-neck until the moments the polls closed. After holding the advantage for most of the second round, "Everytime," which also happens to be Perez Hilton's favorite Britney Spears video, fell out of the tournament, losing to Britney's diva alter ego in "Lucky."

Two of Britney's most dance-heavy videos, "(You Drive Me) Crazy" and "Me Against the Music," were back and forth with each other for most of the round before Madonna and Britney's hit lunged forward and sent green-tube-top Britney out of the tournament with less than 1 percent more of the votes.

Head over to Britney30.MTV.com and vote for your favorite music video in MTV News' Britney Spears Tournament: 30 Videos for 30 Years.

Round three will see "Stronger" take on "Criminal" in a pairing that many thought would be "Oops! ... I Did It Again" vs. "... Baby One More Time." Of Britney's three VMA-winning videos that remained in round two, only her most recent win, "Till the World Ends," will move forward to battle it out with "Lucky."

Round three will also see two of Britney's most iconic videos, "Toxic" and "I'm a Slave 4 U," go up against each other; only one of them will make it to the Final Four.

Round three is open for voting until Tuesday, November 29, at 11:59 p.m. The final four will be announced and open for voting on the morning of Wednesday, November 30.

Which video are you rooting for? Are you surprised by any of the results so far? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Related Videos

• Britney Spears: 30 Videos For 30 Years

Related Artists

• Britney Spears

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1674960/britney-spears-music-video-tournament.jhtml

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Doris Day sings out for first time in 17 years (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Doris Day, America's pert, honey-voiced sweetheart of the 1950s and 1960s, beguiled audiences with her on-screen romances opposite top Hollywood leading men Cary Grant, Rock Hudson and Jack Lemmon.

She adored and misses them all, says the 88-year-old Day. But her deepest yearning is reserved for her late son Terry Melcher, a record producer whose touch and voice are part of Day's first album in nearly two decades.

"Oh, I wish he could be here and be a part of it. I would just love that. But it didn't work out that way," Day said, her voice subdued. It's a voice rarely heard since she withdrew from Hollywood in the early 1980s to the haven she made for herself in the Northern California town of Carmel, where Clint Eastwood was once mayor.

"My Heart," set for a Dec. 2 U.S. release, has induced Day to edge back to public attention. The CD includes 13 previously unreleased tracks recorded over a 40-year span, including covers of Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful," the Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" and a handful of standards. All proceeds go to Day's longtime cause, animal welfare.

A condensed version of the album was released in Britain earlier this fall and landed on the top 10 chart.

Melcher, who worked with bands including the Byrds and the Beach Boys, produced most of the songs and sang on two. He died of melanoma in 2004 at age 62, leaving a void that draws tears from Day when she speaks of him.

"I loved doing it and having Terry with me. That was important, just for me," she said in an interview from Carmel. "I wouldn't think it would be what it is. ... I just love that he is on it. And I miss him terribly, but I have that."

The album's release coincides with new recognition for the actress and singer.

It was announced this week that her recording of "Que Sera, Sera" ("Whatever Will Be, Will Be"), featured in Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 thriller "The Man Who Knew Too Much" starring Day and Jimmy Stewart, will be included in the Grammy Hall of Fame. In January, Day is to be honored with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's career achievement award.

And that career was storied. She once ruled the box office in a string of fluffy comedies including "Pillow Talk" with Hudson (which earned her a best actress nomination) and "That Touch of Mink" opposite Grant, movies that showcased her verve and fresh-faced sexiness. Her sweet vocals helped make hits of pop tunes including "Sentimental Journey" and Oscar-winners "Que Sera, Sera" and "Secret Love."

On screen, Day often played the determined single career girl who could be swept off her feet (but never into premarital sex) by such irresistible suitors as Grant or three-time co-star Hudson. She was also the loving wife and mother in such movies as "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" (1960), with David Niven.

Day came off as a straight-shooter who didn't let her beauty go to her head; she was no "Mad Men" toy. Granted, she was too ladylike to fit the definition of a dame, in the parlance of her early career. But she could hold her ground without fraying the hem of her tone-perfect cinematic femininity, or her co-star's masculinity.

She ventured into exceptions to her signature romantic-comedies, most notably the Hitchcock thriller and "Love Me or Leave Me" from 1955, in which Day played jazz singer Ruth Etting in the story of Etting's career and tempestuous marriage.

Day said she had no quarrel with the studio system under which she worked, one in which her films were largely dictated. She had stumbled into the craft, after all, pushed from band and club singer to actress by her agent. Day got the first role she tested for, in 1948's "Romance on the High Seas," and sailed on from there.

"I was just put there, put there, put there. And I've never gotten over that. How could life be so good for me and I was never looking? I was never looking for it," she said.

As for her personal life, she said, "There are always things that you go through that aren't perfect." For Day, that included three divorces and widowhood. When her third husband died, she learned that he and a business partner had lost her multimillion-dollar fortune. (She righted herself to some extent with the 1968-73 sitcom "The Doris Day Show," and a lawsuit.)

Her decision to leave Los Angeles and the industry behind was an impromptu one, Day said. She had regularly visited Carmel-By-The-Sea, decided it suited her and made the move up the California coast and away.

"I just loved what I was doing. But then, when I came up here, I thought well, I had my turn, and that's just fine. And the other people are coming up and starring and it was their turn. I didn't think a thing about not working," she said.

Instead, she devoted herself to promoting the well-being of animals with the Doris Day Animal Foundation, which she created in 1978 and which is the new album's beneficiary. Her own pets, including some half-dozen cats, have it good: She built a glass-ceiling extension off her house so the felines can enjoy the view without the risks of going outside.

Why the attention to animals? "They're the most perfect things on Earth," Day replied. "They're loyal. They love you. And they'll never forget you. ... I think they're put here for us to learn what love is all about."

They're also steadfast companions as her circle of family and friends has been narrowed by death. She's still in regular touch with two-time co-star James Garner ? who shares anecdotes about their working relationship in his newly published autobiography, "The Garner Files" ? but she notes sadly how many other colleagues have passed away.

Although dampened by loss, the buoyancy that infused her work in movies and music remains part of Day. In her ninth decade of life, however, the pace has changed.

"Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" ("Life is just a bowl of cherries. So live and laugh at it all"), a snappy tune and a favorite since she danced to it as a 5-year-old in Cincinnati, is on her new album. But the arrangement has turned it into "beautiful ballad," Day said

"When I sang it slowly, it became a super song," she said.

The same can be said of Day, in any tempo.

___

Online:

http://www.dorisday.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111128/ap_en_ot/us_people_doris_day

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Researchers awarded $3.2 million from NIH to pioneer advanced biomolecule discovery technology

Public release date: 28-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Melissa Van De Werfhorst
melissa@engineering.ucsb.edu
805-893-4301
University of California - Santa Barbara

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded $3.2 million to a team of preeminent engineering, chemistry, and biology researchers to develop a highly efficient system of generating nucleic acid molecules, called aptamers. The technology provides an entirely new method of discovering and mass producing new high-performance aptamers for a broad range of applications, including next-generation disease diagnosis at the point of care.

Their system, called Quantitative Parallel Aptamer Selection System (QPASS), is a high-throughput screening (HTS) process that will pave the way to develop "instant diagnosis" devices, such as those that detect infectious disease or genetically test a person's response to cancer drugs.

"Our technology is the first step toward devices that could instantly test for HIV or H1N1 in the field or at the bedside, instead of wasting critical time and money waiting for results," said Tom Soh, professor of mechanical engineering and materials, and Co-Director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering at UC Santa Barbara. Earlier this year, Soh and his colleagues at UCSB announced the design of a disposable chip that rapidly detects microbes, called a MIMED device. This new aptamer synthesis technology aims to make devices like MIMED chips ready for widespread clinical use.

According to the research team, QPASS solves aptamer discovery problems that have plagued the field for more than 20 years, such as an expensive and lengthy process, and stability of the molecules at room temperature.

"We are developing innovative new technologies that make each step of our process several orders of magnitude more efficient," added Soh. "QPASS will generate high-performance synthetic affinity reagents in a massively parallel manner to meet a growing need in labs and clinics."

Renowned biomedical researchers James Thomson and Lloyd Smith are collaborating with Soh to develop the three novel technologies that comprise QPASS aptamer selection, sequencing, and validation.

Soh is engineering a screening tool that uses microfluidics technology to find the best aptamer sequences among trillions. Thomson, who is world-renowned for his stem cell research, has designed a way to integrate sequencing with selection, using computer algorithms to quickly identify the most promising sequences. Smith's microarray research uses an innovative imaging technology called Surface Plasmon Resonance Imaging or SPRi in combination with a microscopic DNA chip that can validate 10,000 times more sequences than current practices, identifying the most effective aptamers instantly.

"I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with this outstanding team of scientists," said James Thomson, Co-Director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering at UCSB, and Director of Regenerative Biology at the Morgridge Institute for Research in Wisconsin. "This grant will strengthen the continuing collaborative efforts between UC Santa Barbara, the Morgridge Institute, and University of Wisconsin-Madison, bringing together leading edge technologies and experts from different disciplines."

"This is an exciting project to address a major barrier to progress in biological research: the lack of effective reagents to specifically bind to target proteins that play central roles in cell biology," said Lloyd Smith, professor of chemistry at University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Director of the Genome Center of Wisconsin.

"There is a new paradigm in medicine called theranostics, or point-of-care testing of a patient's reaction to a medication," explained Soh. "They've just started doing this in larger research hospitals, and to great effect. I believe our integrated technology will someday allow a technician in a small clinic to make a quick diagnosis. Making it affordable for everyone to use is really the value that engineers can provide."

Their research is supported by the Institute of Collaborative Biotechnologies at UCSB.

###

---

[ | 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.

Public release date: 28-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Melissa Van De Werfhorst
melissa@engineering.ucsb.edu
805-893-4301
University of California - Santa Barbara

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded $3.2 million to a team of preeminent engineering, chemistry, and biology researchers to develop a highly efficient system of generating nucleic acid molecules, called aptamers. The technology provides an entirely new method of discovering and mass producing new high-performance aptamers for a broad range of applications, including next-generation disease diagnosis at the point of care.

Their system, called Quantitative Parallel Aptamer Selection System (QPASS), is a high-throughput screening (HTS) process that will pave the way to develop "instant diagnosis" devices, such as those that detect infectious disease or genetically test a person's response to cancer drugs.

"Our technology is the first step toward devices that could instantly test for HIV or H1N1 in the field or at the bedside, instead of wasting critical time and money waiting for results," said Tom Soh, professor of mechanical engineering and materials, and Co-Director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering at UC Santa Barbara. Earlier this year, Soh and his colleagues at UCSB announced the design of a disposable chip that rapidly detects microbes, called a MIMED device. This new aptamer synthesis technology aims to make devices like MIMED chips ready for widespread clinical use.

According to the research team, QPASS solves aptamer discovery problems that have plagued the field for more than 20 years, such as an expensive and lengthy process, and stability of the molecules at room temperature.

"We are developing innovative new technologies that make each step of our process several orders of magnitude more efficient," added Soh. "QPASS will generate high-performance synthetic affinity reagents in a massively parallel manner to meet a growing need in labs and clinics."

Renowned biomedical researchers James Thomson and Lloyd Smith are collaborating with Soh to develop the three novel technologies that comprise QPASS aptamer selection, sequencing, and validation.

Soh is engineering a screening tool that uses microfluidics technology to find the best aptamer sequences among trillions. Thomson, who is world-renowned for his stem cell research, has designed a way to integrate sequencing with selection, using computer algorithms to quickly identify the most promising sequences. Smith's microarray research uses an innovative imaging technology called Surface Plasmon Resonance Imaging or SPRi in combination with a microscopic DNA chip that can validate 10,000 times more sequences than current practices, identifying the most effective aptamers instantly.

"I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with this outstanding team of scientists," said James Thomson, Co-Director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering at UCSB, and Director of Regenerative Biology at the Morgridge Institute for Research in Wisconsin. "This grant will strengthen the continuing collaborative efforts between UC Santa Barbara, the Morgridge Institute, and University of Wisconsin-Madison, bringing together leading edge technologies and experts from different disciplines."

"This is an exciting project to address a major barrier to progress in biological research: the lack of effective reagents to specifically bind to target proteins that play central roles in cell biology," said Lloyd Smith, professor of chemistry at University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Director of the Genome Center of Wisconsin.

"There is a new paradigm in medicine called theranostics, or point-of-care testing of a patient's reaction to a medication," explained Soh. "They've just started doing this in larger research hospitals, and to great effect. I believe our integrated technology will someday allow a technician in a small clinic to make a quick diagnosis. Making it affordable for everyone to use is really the value that engineers can provide."

Their research is supported by the Institute of Collaborative Biotechnologies at UCSB.

###

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/uoc--ra112311.php

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nursingpins: "Applying for jobs is our job now... It's a little embarrassing...." ?- Kazia Wetzel, nursing grad http://t.co/yNIWAGhR

"Applying for jobs is our job now... It's a little embarrassing...." ?- Kazia Wetzel, nursing grad Il y a environ 3 heures via web

Source: http://twitter.com/nursingpins/statuses/140909366160277504

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