Lawmakers tighten belts amid automatic budget cuts

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Members of Congress are traveling less and worrying more about meeting office salaries. Their aides are contending with long lines to get inside their offices and fewer prospects of a raise. Such are the indignities thrust upon the men and women who brought the country $85 billion in government spending cuts this month.

There probably won't be much sympathy for a senator or congressman making $174,000 a year who is in no danger of being furloughed or laid off, at least until the next election. Still, there has been an effort, especially in the Republican-led House, to show that no one should be exempt from sacrifice.

"As those who are charged with the care of taxpayers' dollars, we need to lead by example," Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., who chairs the House Administration Committee, said last week in promoting a bill to slash the budgets of House committees by 11 percent.

Earlier in March ? after Congress and the White House failed to come up with an alternative to across-the-board cuts in most federal programs ? the House imposed an 8.2 percent reduction in lawmakers' personal office budgets. That came on top of 11 percent cuts to members' office budgets during 2011-2012.

"We've drastically reduced travel both for myself and my staff," said Republican Rep. John Campbell, who must cross the country to visit his southern California district. He said he tends to stay in Washington on two-day weekends rather than return home. "I'm more productive here when I'm not rushing to get home," he added.

Campbell said other "little things" he is doing to economize include reducing the office phone bill, cutting off magazine and newspaper subscriptions and using email rather than letters to communicate with voters.

Rep. Luke Messer, a freshman Republican from Indiana, said he hired fewer people when he came to Washington because "we essentially began the term knowing there was a high possibility of a sequester"? Washington-speak for the automatic spending cuts.

So far, congressional staffers appear to have escaped the furloughs that are likely to send thousands of public servants home without pay for several workdays over the next six months and disrupt some government services. "I hope to avoid that," said Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., "but we will take any steps to ensure we don't exceed our budget." Under House rules, a lawmaker must pay for excess spending out of his or her own pocket.

The fiscal pressures are weaker in the Senate, where senators have staff budgets about double the amount of the $1.3 million average in the House and where the office cuts ordered because of the sequester were limited to 5 percent.

While staffers still have their jobs, they may have a harder time getting to them. Security officials have cut costs by closing 10 entrances and several side streets around the Capitol complex, creating long lines to get through screening stations. People "have started to adjust to those changes at the entrances," although it is still a challenge on busy days, said Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer.

Gainer, who oversees nearly 1,000 security and administrative employees, said he hopes to abide by the 5 percent sequester cut without layoffs by enlisting 70 or 80 people for a voluntary retirement program.

Some House members also are feeling the pinch during the two-week Easter break, a prime time for foreign "fact-finding" tours. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced last month that members must book commercial flights rather than make use of more convenient but more expensive military aircraft.

Some Democrats have complained the GOP enthusiasm for frugality has come at too high a cost.

"At a time when most members of this body are representing newly formed congressional districts with a need to open new offices or move to new locations, we find ourselves with an 8.2 percent decrease in the very operating budgets that support constituent services," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.

Wasserman Schultz, who also is the Democratic Party's chairwoman, criticized House Republicans for cutting budgets while spending some $3 million for the legal defense of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages.

"We are past the point of cutting what we want, and we are now into cutting what we need ? our ability to attract and retain expert staff," said Rep. Robert Brady of Pennsylvania, the senior Democrat on the House Administration Committee.

Brad Fitch, president and CEO of the Congressional Management Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works to improve congressional operations, said it's still possible that House members will have to resort to furloughs or layoffs. So far, he said, they have been able to cope with the cuts of the past three years with less drastic steps, such as reducing the size of their staffs through attrition, making more use of interns and using email rather than mass mailings.

At the end of 2011, Fitch's group recommended 46 possible ways for members to cut $90,000 from their 2012 budgets, ranging from pay freezes, holding more town hall meetings by telephone, delaying purchases of new computers, eliminating Washington staffers' visits to district offices, closing district offices, eliminating bottled water from offices and reviewing spending on food and beverages for constituents.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lawmakers-tighten-belts-amid-automatic-budget-cuts-165316275--politics.html

flower delivery e cards kate upton sports illustrated outback chaka khan taylor swift safe and sound delilah

NKorea calls nukes country's 'life' at big meeting

South Korean Army soldiers patrol along a barbed-wire fence near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Sunday, March 31, 2013. North Korea warned South Korea on Saturday that the Korean Peninsula had entered "a state of war" and threatened to shut down a border factory complex that's the last major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean Army soldiers patrol along a barbed-wire fence near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Sunday, March 31, 2013. North Korea warned South Korea on Saturday that the Korean Peninsula had entered "a state of war" and threatened to shut down a border factory complex that's the last major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean Army soldiers patrol along a barbed-wire fence near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Sunday, March 31, 2013. North Korea warned South Korea on Saturday that the Korean Peninsula had entered "a state of war" and threatened to shut down a border factory complex that's the last major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean Army soldiers patrol along a barbed-wire fence near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Sunday, March 31, 2013. North Korea warned South Korea on Saturday that the Korean Peninsula had entered "a state of war" and threatened to shut down a border factory complex that's the last major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? A top North Korean decision-making body issued a pointed warning Sunday, saying that nuclear weapons are "the nation's life" and will not be traded even for "billions of dollars."

The comments came in a statement released after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over the plenary meeting of the central committee of the ruling Workers' Party. The meeting, which set a "new strategic line" calling for building both a stronger economy and nuclear arsenal, comes amid a series of near-daily threats from Pyongyang in recent weeks, including a vow to launch nuclear strikes on the United States and a warning Saturday that the Korean Peninsula was in a "state of war."

Pyongyang is angry over annual U.S.-South Korean military drills and a new round of U.N. sanctions that followed its Feb. 12 nuclear test, the country's third. Analysts see a full-scale North Korean attack as unlikely and say the threats are more likely efforts to provoke softer policies toward Pyongyang from a new government in Seoul, to win diplomatic talks with Washington that could get the North more aid, and to solidify the young North Korean leader's image and military credentials at home.

North Korea made reference to those outside views in the statement it released through the official Korean Central News Agency following the plenary meeting.

North Korea's nuclear weapons are a "treasure" not to be traded for "billions of dollars," the statement said. They "are neither a political bargaining chip nor a thing for economic dealings to be presented to the place of dialogue or be put on the table of negotiations aimed at forcing (Pyongyang) to disarm itself," it said.

North Korea's "nuclear armed forces represent the nation's life, which can never be abandoned as long as the imperialists and nuclear threats exist on earth," the statement said.

North Korea has called the U.S. nuclear arsenal a threat to its existence since the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula still technically at war. Pyongyang justifies its own nuclear pursuit in large part on that perceived U.S. threat.

While analysts call North Korea's threats largely brinkmanship, there is some fear that a localized skirmish might escalate. Seoul has vowed to respond harshly should North Korea provoke its military. Naval skirmishes in disputed Yellow Sea waters off the Korean coast have led to bloody battles several times over the years. Attacks blamed on Pyongyang in 2010 killed 50 South Koreans.

The plenary statement also called for strengthening the moribund economy, which Kim has put an emphasis on in his public statements since taking power after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in late 2011. The United Nations says two-thirds of the country's 24 million people face regular food shortages.

The statement called for diversified foreign trade and investment, and a focus on agriculture, light industry and a "self-reliant nuclear power industry," including a light water reactor. There was also a call for "the development of space science and technology," including more satellite launches. North Korea put a satellite into orbit on a long-range rocket in December. The United Nations called the launch a cover for a banned test of ballistic missile technology and increased sanctions on the North.

The central committee is a top decision-making body of the North's ruling Workers' Party. The committee is tasked with organizing and guiding the party's major projects, and its plenary meeting is usually convened once a year, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry. South Korean media said the last plenary session was held in 2010 and that this was the first time Kim Jong Un had presided over the meeting.

The White House says the United States is taking North Korea's threats seriously, but has also noted Pyongyang's history of "bellicose rhetoric."

On Thursday, U.S. military officials revealed that two B-2 stealth bombers dropped dummy munitions on an uninhabited South Korean island as part of annual defense drills that Pyongyang sees as rehearsals for invasion. Hours later, Kim ordered his generals to put rockets on standby and threatened to strike American targets if provoked.

___

Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim contributed to this report. Follow Foster Klug at www.twitter.com/APKlug.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-31-Koreas-Tension/id-606cf31256544346ab62310d9e16346e

memphis grizzlies celebrity apprentice grizzlies bronx zoo crash april 30 wwe extreme rules 2012 vontaze burfict

Where did Saturn's rings come from? Mystery gets a new clue.

Saturn's rings are one of the most recognized features of the solar system, but scientists don't know how they got there. New data suggest they're older than some theories suggested.

By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / March 28, 2013

This image of Saturn and its rings was captured by the Cassini spacecraft.

Space Science Institute/JPL-Caltech/NASA/Reuters

Enlarge

New evidence from the US-European Cassini mission to Saturn suggests a very early birth for ices in Saturn?s spectacular system of rings and moonlets, dating back to shortly after the planet itself formed.

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of
The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition

The results deepen a mystery that has bedeviled Saturn watchers since Galileo first spotted what later would be interpreted as rings in 1610: How did the rings form? And, more recently, what sustains the ring system?

?No one actually knows why the rings can survive for 4.5 billion years,? says Scott Kenyon, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. ?At the moment, we don?t have a good model? that explains this longevity.

The apparently implausible life span of the ring system has led some researchers to propose that the system didn?t form shortly after the planet did.?

Instead, it might have formed perhaps 100 million years ago. The raw material for the rings and moonlets could have come from the debris spawned by a collision between close-in moons, or between a close-in moon and a comet.

But the recent-ring scenario has had a troubled existence.?

In 2007, for example, scientists reported evidence from Cassini?s Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer indicating that the rings had significant age differences and that the material in the rings was constantly being recycled as moonlets collided. Some of the debris later would form into new moonlets.?

That evidence didn?t support a single, recent violent encounter between objects as a source of material for the ring system.

Now, researchers using another of Cassini?s instruments, the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS), have uncovered further evidence for this recycling as they have mapped changes in the composition of the ring material and moonlets that form a 40,800-mile-wide band around the planet.

Perhaps more important, Cassini has uncovered far more water ice in the system than comets could deliver.

The system ?is very ice rich,? says Bonnie Buratti, a researcher at NASA?s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and a member of the VIMS team.

To Dr. Kenyon, the results showing ices throughout the system speak to a primeval origin.

?All of the stuff inside the really major moons is composed of the same stuff as the major moons,? he says. ?That?s really nice to know because that tells you the rings are 4.5 billion years old.?

But that still leaves the question of longevity.

Left to their own devices, the moonlets would migrate ever farther from Saturn, leaving the ring system within perhaps 100 million years or so.

Cassini has revealed that moonlets form from material that accretes at the outer edges of the rings, explains Phillip Nicholson, an astronomer at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and a member of the team reporting the VIMS results this week in the Astrophysical Journal.

One possible solution to the conundrum would be to give the ring system more initial mass than researchers have presumed.

Modeling work by Robin Canup, a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., has suggested that some 2 million to 5 million years after it formed, Saturn had ? and devoured ? several moons the size of Titan, the planet?s largest existing satellite. But these other Titan-scale moons orbited too close to the planet to survive.

As they were drawn to their doom, the tidal forces Saturn exerted on the last victim stripped a thick icy crust and mantle from the moon?s rocky core. The ice broke up to begin forming a ring, while the core continued its death spiral into the planet.

Such a ring would have hosted far more mass than today?s rings do, according to the study, published in 2010.

The ring in the modeling also mimicked observed ring behaviors: losing mass over time while forming moons at the outer edges of the ring, for instance. The moons it formed were similar in mass to the icy moons out to and including Tethys.

The hope is that a knowledge of the composition of ring material and the moonlets in Saturn?s ring system will shed light on the ring-forming process.

Cassini launched as the Cassini-Huygens mission in October 1997 and began orbiting Saturn in July 2004. The following December, the spacecraft released the European Space Agency?s Huygens probe toward a successful landing on Saturn?s moon Titan. Since then, the orbiter has been touring the planet?s moons and rings, giving researchers an unprecedented look at the Saturn system.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/YDcKbK9a5PE/Where-did-Saturn-s-rings-come-from-Mystery-gets-a-new-clue

colorectal cancer metta kashi neil diamond orange crush harden nor easter

Film Threat - Kubrick's Cube: Interview With ?room 237? Filmmaker ...

Think Jack Torrance was tormented by inner demons in ?The Shining?? Compared to the fixated folks in ?Room 237,? he?s as mellow as Mister Rogers on quaaludes.

Stanley Kubrick?s films are many things, but ?cut-and-dried? is not one of them. They are, however, ferociously polarizing. The epic majesty of many classic scenes, like the Star Child?s final emergence in ?2001: A Space Odyssey,? has induced millions of jaws to drop, eyes to tear up, and spines to shiver. But Kubrick?s frequent placement of cryptic ambiguities and unexplained symbols has also prompted hair-pulling frustration. What does it all mean, and why can?t I get the pieces to fit?

By fashioning his films as seemingly unsolvable Rubik?s Cubes, is Kubrick reveling in sadism, unleashing visual bugs to burrow into your brain and plant a psychic itch that can?t be scratched? Or is he a demanding professor, forcing pupils to flex their mental muscles using his baffling brain games?

?Room 237,? Rodney Ascher?s documentary exploring the many theories, explanations, and interpretations surrounding Kubrick?s 1980 horror film ?The Shining,? doesn?t answer these questions. If anything, it pulls viewers further into the director?s deep abyss of haunting riddles. Struggling with obsessive-compulsive disorder and unable to just ?let things go?? Then proceed with caution. This magnetic mind-fuck of a film might prove your gateway to full-blown insanity.

?Room 237? cracks open the imaginative minds of five ?Shining? fanatics. Like the oceans of blood oozing from the Overlook Hotel?s evil elevators, their complex theories come pouring out in waves of impassioned conversation.

Does the film?s prominently featured German typewriter suggest a deeply hidden subtext involving the Nazi Holocaust? Was the moon landing was actually a fraud, covertly filmed by Kubrick on a movie sound stage? What?s the meaning behind Hotel Room 237, where bathing beauties suddenly decompose into hideous, cackling hags? Meanwhile, you be the judge as to whether or not a strategically placed paper tray is actually the hard-on of a hotel manager.

We never see the faces of these intense interviewees. Instead, their monologues are accompanied by a dream-like parade of connecting images, sewn together from ?The Shining,? other films (Kubrick?s in particular), and original footage. Imagine a documentary devoid of talking heads, propelled only by movie scenes that drive the narrative forward in perfect synchrony with what?s being said.

Some will find the film ? or at least its subjects ? ridiculous, dismissing the material as trivial geek-porn generated by eccentrics with far too much time on their hands. Others will ponder the plausible nature of their elaborate fixations. Most will marvel at ? or perhaps be horrified by ? the mental death-grip ?The Shining? has maintained on the minds of these impassioned scholars.

Dare to join Ascher on a tour through the Overlook Hotel, and into ?Room 237?? Step into Stan?s Labyrinth, and read on?

Can you describe your first impression of ?The Shining??
I first saw ?The Shining? when I was very young, after sneaking into the theater. I was terrified, and left after the first 10 minutes. Then I saw it again years later on video. I liked it a lot, because I was turning into this smart-ass, punk-rock kid surviving my youth vicariously through horror movies.

In ?Room 237,? you?ve compiled theories on the hidden meanings behind ?The Shining,? as expressed by five Kubrick fans. I?m sure there were hundreds of interesting stories and interpretations. Was it difficult to cull it down to five people??
I gathered ideas with my producer, Tim Kirk, for about a year before starting interviews. Some, for one reason or another, didn?t make it into the film. I wanted to keep the number of people small, and really go into depth. Not a bunch of sound bites going wildly out of control, but people talking in great detail about the experience of seeing ?The Shining? for the first time? describing how they were first impacted, and also how it had affected their lives.

I?m sure there are other films with vague imagery that people have debated for decades. Why was ?The Shining? so special?
We always had ?The Shining? in mind. During our research, it became clear that that this was the most fascinating movie of its type. We did come across people with amazing interpretations of other movies, and thought about switching tracks to another film. But the fact is? ?The Shining? has generated more of this type of work than any other film we could find. Plus, the concept of ?Room 237? fit with our film?s theme of a small group of people trapped within ?the maze.? Also, I love Kubrick and ?The Shining,? and could spend a year and a half in the editing room looking at nothing but scenes from ?The Shining,? and never lose interest (laughs). I love ?The Godfather,? but I don?t connect with it in the same way, where I?d be happy focusing on it in microscopic detail.

Throughout ?Room 237,? the storytellers are never seen ? only heard, over an elaborate chain of related film scenes.
I didn?t shoot any talking heads. I did a short film a year or so before ?Room 237,? in the same style. I thought that style had some really interesting things. It makes you work harder to come up with visuals. You can create a sort of visual trip into peoples? heads: a dreamlike quality that was appropriate for this movie. The interviews were all audio recordings ? I didn?t shoot any film. At one point, we thought about using a green screen, and super-imposing people into different scenes from ?The Shining.? I don?t come from a traditional documentary background, and I don?t think ?Room 237? has a typical documentary feel to it. In the past, most of my stuff was rather weird, short films.

?Room 237? uses hundreds of clips from different films, made possible in part by using the Fair Use doctrine. Can you explain this process?
Fair Use is a strategy most all documentary filmmakers use. It?s a way that they can incorporate footage from other films into their films, if it?s used in specific ways. Our process was pretty long and complicated. Some stuff was public domain, and there were some original graphics that I shot. There was some stuff we ended up licensing, and we had to make a couple of edits to get other things cleared.? Our producers came on to help out. They had worked on ?Hit so Hard,? the documentary about the drummer from Hole, which used a lot of popular music. They went through a complicated clearance process on that, so they were able to hold our hands.

Do you feel that the film?s theories are credible?
I think all of the theories are persuasive and mind-expanding. We wanted all of them to be strong. We wanted it to be Battle of the Champions. Were they provocative? Do these stories accurately reflect things that Kubrick put into the film for one specific reason? This is ultimately an impossible question to answer. He?s dead. When he was alive, he was reluctant to answer that kind of thing. People would tell him what they thought ?2001: A Space Odyssey? was all about, and he would simply smile and not say anything. It suggests that these movies might act as tunnels and metaphors, but he?s not going to ruin things by revealing the solutions.

Why do you feel that Kubrick?s films seem ageless, and continue to fascinate over time??
I think part of it is the simplicity. There?s also the coupling of close-ups and tracking shots that doesn?t age. And they hold up on levels of story. I see them as the ultimate switchbox between art and entertainment.

Posted on March 29, 2013 in Interviews by KJ Doughton

---

If you liked this article then you may also like the following Film Threat articles:

---

Popular Stories from Around the Web

Source: http://www.filmthreat.com/interviews/64539/

new york giants hot wings recipe 7 layer dip recipe chris carter superbowl 2012 kickoff time what time is the super bowl 2012 nfl mvp

Protective prion keeps yeast cells from going it alone

Friday, March 29, 2013

Most commonly associated with such maladies as "mad cow disease" and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, prions are increasingly recognized for their ability to induce potentially beneficial traits in a variety of organisms, yeast chief among them.

Now a team of scientists has added markedly to the job description of prions as agents of change, identifying a prion capable of triggering a transition in yeast from its conventional single-celled form to a cooperative, multicellular structure. This change, which appears to improve yeast's chances for survival in the face of hostile environmental conditions, is an epigenetic phenomenon?a heritable alteration brought about without any change to the organism's underlying genome.

This latest finding, reported in the March 28 issue of the journal Cell, has its origins in work begun several years ago in the lab of Whitehead Institute Member Susan Lindquist. In 2009, Randal Halfmann, then a graduate student in Lindquist's lab, identified dozens of proteins in yeast that have the ability to form prions. That research greatly expanded the known universe of prion elements in yeast, but it failed to answer a key question: What function, if any, do these prions actually have?

In search of an answer, Halfmann, now a fellow the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and colleagues in the Lindquist lab attempted to exploit the fact that several of the prion-forming proteins they had identified acted to modify transcription of yeast genes. It stood to reason that if they could identify which genes were being regulated, they might be able to determine the prions' function.

"We looked at the five transcriptional regulators that are known to be prions in yeast, and we found that in fact, only one gene in the entire yeast genome was regulated by all five transcription factors," says Halfmann.

That gene, as it turns out, was FLO11, a key player in multicellularity in yeast. Indeed changes in FLO11 expression have been shown to act as a toggle, switching yeast from spherical to filamentous form. Halfmann notes that FLO11, which has been shown to be regulated by epigenetic elements, is also highly responsive to environmental stress. Knowing that the prion form of a protein is essentially a misfolded form of that protein, and that stressful conditions increase the frequency of protein misfolding and prion formation, the scientists began to consider the possibility that the prions themselves might be among the epigenetic switches influencing the activity of FLO11.

The group focused on one transcription factor known as mot3, finding that yeast cells containing the prion form of this factor, [MOT3+], acquired a variety of multicellular growth forms known to require FLO11 expression. This was a clear indication that prion formation was causing the differentiation of the cells and their subsequent cooperation. But what about the stress aspect of the hypothesis?

By testing yeast cells against a variety of stressors, the scientists discovered that exposure to a concentration of ethanol akin to that occurring naturally during fermentation increased [MOT3+] formation by a factor of 10.They also found that as the cells exposed to ethanol shifted their metabolism to burn surrounding oxygen through respiration, the prions reverted to their non-prion conformation, [mot3-], and the yeast returned to the unicellular state. In essence, prion formation drove a shift to multicellularity, helping the yeast to ride out the ethanol storm.

"What we have in the end is two sequential environmental changes that are turning on a heritable epigenetic element and then turning it off," says Halfmann. "And between those two changes, the prion is causing the cells to acquire a multicellular growth form that we think is actually important for their survival."

Lindquist, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, has long argued that prions have played a vital role in yeast evolution and has amassed a body of strong supporting evidence.

"We see them as part of a bet-hedging strategy that allows the yeast to alter their biological properties quickly when their environments turn unfavorable," Lindquist says. She also theorizes that prions may play such roles beyond yeast, and her lab intends to take similar approaches in the hunt for prions and prion-like mechanisms that are potentially beneficial in other organisms.

For Lindquist lab postdoctoral scientist Alex Lancaster, who is also an author of the new Cell paper, these latest findings hint at a potentially novel approach to understanding basic mechanisms underlying the complexities of human diseases, including cancer, whose hallmarks include protein misfolding, epigenetic alterations, metabolic aberrations, and myriad changes in cell state, type, and function. Lancaster likens the opportunity to that of opening a black box.

"It's exciting to think that this could become another tool in the toolbox in the study of multicellularity," Lancaster says. "We know that some tumors are a heterogeneous population of cells and we know that tumor cells can evolve within in their environments to help ensure their own survival. This system could help us further understand the role of epigenetic inheritance within tumors and how it might be influencing cell-cell interactions and even affecting the effectiveness of drug therapies."

###

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research: http://www.wi.mit.edu/index.html

Thanks to Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research 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.

This press release has been viewed 61 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127516/Protective_prion_keeps_yeast_cells_from_going_it_alone

danielle fishel daylight savings Daylight Savings Time 2013 DeAndre Jordan Oz the Great and Powerful elisabeth hasselbeck Mothers Day 2013

Hr Business Partner - Morgan McKinley - Jobs.ie - Jobs in Ireland ...

Morgan McKinley

Contact: Sarah Crowley

Address: 6 Lapps Quay, Co. Cork

Phone: 353 21 2300300

Morgan McKinley - Hr Business Partner

Location:	Limerick
Salary:	competitive
Job type:	Contract, Full-time

Job description

Our client is looking to recruit a HR Business Partner for this Limerick operation for a contract of 9-12 months in length.

Duties will include, but will not be limited to the following:

• Work with assigned client group across all areas of Human Resources including (but not limited to) employee relations, compensation, benefits, resource and succession planning and career management.
• Responsible for the support, development and implementation of HR related programmes within relevant business groups.
• Partner with management on multiple initiatives within Human Resources. In particular, provide coaching and support to stakeholders on specific functional areas to facilitate the creation of value through people.
• Support and manage the implementation of HR plans and programs related to organizational design, development and change.
• Educate clients on the appropriate application of relevant compensation philosophy, initiatives, strategies, the alternatives, and potential impact on the business.
• Provide group and one-on-one coaching with managers and employees on a variety of human resource related issues.
• Partner with line leaders to grow diverse leadership, talent, and technical capability pipeline
• Provide complex consulting services to business partner client groups and coordinate efforts to ensure equity and consistency in the administration of policies and practices.
• Stay current and monitors changes with regard to legislation and industry practices
• Develop and present various compensation, benefit and other HR management training programs.
• Identify, design and develop programs to support cultures that drive innovation and employee engagement to achieve organizational performance/goals; enable implementation at the local level.
• Provide coaching and support to stakeholders on specific functional areas to facilitate the creation of value through people.

Key skills/Experience

• Essential University degree (or equivalent) in Human Resources or a related discipline.
• 5+ years experience in a full function HR role managing complexity and demonstrate innovation
• Proactive approach to problem solving
• Strong Comp and benefits focus
• Customer Focused
• Culturally Aware Flexible & Team Player
• Good Influencing Skills
• Project Management Skills
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills

Email this job to yourself / a friend

Source: http://www.jobs.ie/ApplyForJob.aspx?Id=1248113

phillies phillies Ryan Dempster Phelps NBC Olympics Live Olympic medal count Medal Count 2012

Booming North Dakota may avoid legal costs of defending abortion ...

You might think that North Dakota?with its booming economy and rapid population growth?would have better things to do with its public resources than waste them on a highly partisan, probably doomed legal campaign to overturn the Supreme Court?s 1973 ruling that made abortion legal in the United States.

But then again, enacting the nation?s most severe anti-abortion laws?and defending them against the various legal challenges they were designed to provoke?may not cost the state of North Dakota a dime.

It?s all thanks to the Liberty Counsel, a non-profit conservative-litigation group that supports challenges to Roe v. Wade. Mat Stavers, the chairman of Liberty Counsel, extended his support before North Dakota?s governor signed the legislation this week:

Cost should not be a part of Gov. Jack Dalrymple?s decision to sign or veto bills? Liberty Counsel will defend these laws pro bono. No rights are more fundamental than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant.

And that?s not all. According to?state Sen. Margaret Sitte, a Republican who served as the primary sponsor of a so-called ?personhood? resolution like the one voters in Mississippi rejected last year, the Liberty Counsel may not be the only benefactor of North Dakota?s anti-abortion laws. Democracy Now! recently aired a clip of Sitte making the following statement on a Fargo-Grand Forks television stations:

There are lots of organizations who have lined up and said they will defend the state in these life bills. There?s the Liberty Counsel, Thomas More law society. Many organizations are standing ready to join with our attorney general and they have sent us emails saying they will bear the entire cost to defend these bills.

That should come as good news to Gov. Dalrymple, who told the Associated Press that he had asked the legislature to create a ?litigation fund? in support of the laws he signed this week. According to the AP, Dalrymple wasn?t sure how much it would cost to defend the new laws, but money, he said, wasn?t the issue.

Guest host Karen Finney discussed the North Dakota anti-abortion laws and their role in the broader legal campaign against Roe v. Wade with Krystal Ball, co-host of The Cycle, and Caitlin Borgmann, law professor at City University of New York. You can watch their discussion here:

Source: http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/03/28/booming-north-dakota-may-avoid-legal-costs-of-defending-abortion-ban/

2012 draft colt mccoy arbor day mike adams janoris jenkins john edwards trial brandon weeden

BOWLING SCORES - The Sports Desk

FROM STAFF REPORTS

AMF FREDERICKSBURG

Rappahannock men?s league

Tony Arnold 269, 299, 258, 826; John Oliver 267, 243, 300, 810; Dave Edwards 289, 247, 268, 804; Paul Rumbaugh 237, 289, 246, 772; Jim Einhorn 246, 257, 239, 742; Bryan Gallahan 247, 269, 741; John Zentner 279, 258, 736; Scott Sanders 266, 246, 736; Tomm Brady 248, 241, 243, 732; Rick Coulson 256, 255, 720; Ricky Wallace 247, 237, 233, 717; Jimmy Ruby 267, 241, 711; Jeff Leonard 248, 264, 711; Josh Jefferies 289, 710; Eric Schaarschmidt 257, 709; Frankie Weaver 255, 236, 705; Donnie Norton 243, 256, 703; Jim Wolfe 252, 258, 702; David Armstrong 234, 253, 696; Tom Marinari 236, 235, 693; Bruce White 259, 685; Aaron Lewis 264, 684; Jim Murray 249, 684; Mike Zemore 268, 683; Fuzzy Fox 255, 269, 681; Scott Smith 279, 679; Chris Burton 236 676; Doug Patterson 246, 675; Tony Rakes 245, 671; Robert Kline 233, 667; Jamie Dalton 261, 666; Gene Vest 256, 665; Pete Gunn 237, 665; Kevin Austin 268, 664; Troy Kelly 241, 248, 664; Brannon Hardin 235, 233, 659; Daryl Perdue 233, 658; Rino Biello 245, 657; Dave Wollstein 247, 656; Cory White 264, 651; Stan Cieslewitz 235, 648; Eric Brown 648; Justin Powers 265, 647; Sean Rhea 259, 646; Don Monroe 242, 636; D.J. Johnson 630; Jeff Smith 233, 629; Tony Krehbiel 628; Richard Bergey 626.

Bill Hagerman 255; Wayne Ferrell 246; Jerry Goodman 246; Bobby Phillips 235; Jeff Lavin Jr. 233.

?

?

Merchants mixed league

Richard Hailstalk 238, 267, 267, 772; Jeter Holloway III 289, 261, 737; Michael Paige 267, 257, 720; Larry Roath 238, 236, 234, 708; Richard Jaco 258, 244, 703; Les Williams 236, 235, 231, 702; Thomas Moore 249, 234, 674; Charles Smith 673; Michael Lamb 268, 658; Charles Hubbard 269, 656; Dennis Alwine 654; Cecil Franklin 237, 649; Larry Crawfod 646; Barry Robinson 235, 641; Dave Heatherly 242, 637; Eugene Mildling 248, 620; Breton Bridges 246; Steven Pittman 245; Mark Jones 244; Norfleet Bonds 241; Daniel Resio 236; Wiley Coon 233; Jimmy Durante 233; Robert Resio 230; Douglas Richey 230.

Kathryn White 240, 210, 644; Connie Gourdine 214, 200, 224, 638; LaTonia Livingston 221, 212, 627; Pong Cobb 221, 211, 593; Geri-Lynn Copeland 200, 204, 592; Denise Lanier 222, 202, 580; Kathy Shepherd 203, 580; Mary Hand 219, 210; Pamela Payne 217; Andrea Sharp 216; Nancy Crawford 200, 214; Brenda Chambers 207; Tina Sebak 207; Sharon Moore 204; Sherry Schaarschmidt 204; Brittany Hand 202; Hannah Jenkins 201; Judith Turlington 200.

Steve?s trios

Les Williams 237, 300, 255, 792; Brian Chew 258, 246, 708; Bobby Phillips 234, 246, 707; Jim Martin II 234, 247, 694; Rick Marvin 258, 234, 686; Art Prescott 268, 685; Jay Bowling 679; Rick Gilmore 248, 675; John Greer 231, 663; Robert Bradley Jr. 263, 657; Jeff Crouch 246, 656; Jim Meredith 256, 650; Wes Reynolds 232, 642; Justin Story 237, 639; Ryan Sirna 247, 633; Rob Lawrence 231, 628; Glenn Hogeland 621; Wade Cropp 242.

Michelle Livingston 212, 220, 222, 654; Sandy Badilo 201.

Goodtimers (seniors)

Bob Resio 198, 237, 258, 693; Bobby Philips 224, 265, 675; Chuck Husted 197, 231, 216, 645; Jimmy Durante 254, 202, 641; Paul Barnette 195, 215, 215, 625; Bob McGann 214, 200, 596; Dick Jaco 204, 200, 586; Bill Tinsley 225, 584; Joe Plummer 199, 194, 578; Glenn Hogeland 234, 577; Jay Bowling 202, 571; Robert Epp 199, 193, 567; Tom Weetman 212, 565; Rino Biello 194, 565; John Bailey 196, 200, 559; Walter Baker 220, 540; Rich Strickland 213; Howard Collins 210; Bill Blanchard 203; Kevin Lunsford 195; Bill Hitchings 196, 194; Lloyd Messner 190.

Ellen Pentland 194; Penny Young 181.

Doc?s angels (seniors)

Butch Mims 244, 226, 190, 660; Willey Coon 217, 235, 639; Bobby Phillips 201, 203, 202, 606; Morris Antwine 227, 204, 595; Bill Tinsley 213, 195, 590; Glenn Hogeland 211, 191, 586, Bill Hichings 224, 578; Harold Haggerty 224 578; Marc Hubbard 225, 562; John Bailey 203, 190, 558; Bob Resio 197, 204, 556; Albert Walker 198, 546; Rich Strickland 206; Richard Miller 204; John Rourke 194; Bob McCann 192; Joe Kusina 191; Ed Horn 190.

Billie Mitchem 196, 528; Jean Criss 191, 494.

Guys and dolls (seniors)

Dave Brady 286, 253, 688; Jason McDonald 298, 674; Anthony Brown 223, 212, 207, 642; Henry Wolfe 220, 214, 630; Mark Britton 235; Warren Cooper 226; Carl Gray 207.

Jenni Brady 193, 551; Robin Allison Jones 206.

Burnopp?s kids (seniors)

Paul Zornacki 205, 217, 581; Wade Haney 182, 537; Dick Coleman 188; Leroy Hicks 188.

Lucille Mestre 188, 501.

LIBERTY LANES

Wednesday night men?s league

Googie Thompson 257, 246, 732; Josh Tabony 267, 707; Gene Vest 232, 257, 695; Cory White 252, 692; Paul Rumbaugh II 247, 244, 683; Noah Green 237, 255, 682; Tony Rose 243, 237, 682; Bill Symonowski 243, 682; Jim Murray 269, 247, 681; Danny Sanders 237, 673; Matt Leonard 246, 237, 660; Richard Hailstalk 237, 654; Daniel Yeagley 233, 652; Jeff Smith 651; Jon Blanton 649; Bobby Phillips Jr. 235, 646; Mark Britton 234, 641; Jason Zitzelberger 247, 640; Kenny Merryman 238, 638; Jerry Branscome 635; Steve Allen 628; Brandon Blanton 625; Daniel Pittman 625; Robbie Jarrell Jr. 623; Mark Henderson 246; Ace Midling 243; Donnie Nave 232; Ed Mills 230.

Tuesday night mixed league

Jim Mayer 257, 249, 719; Don McElheny 258, 701; Wes Wiseman III 256, 698; Thomas Bellinger 278, 673; John Heard 244, 672; Larry Shoemaker Sr. 233, 669; Daniel Pittman 258, 649; Chuck Allen 256, 638; David Henningsen 232, 638; Bob Jones 631; Cary Bailey 264, 624; Daril Godinez 622; Murray Soland 245; Jacob Capra 235; Scott Russell 233; Paul Terebesi 23; Ken Greene 231.

Shauna Bailey 205, 218, 601; Diane Godinez 203, 201, 586; Kathie Dillon 204; Vivian Bellinger 202.

Liberty eagles

Bryan Gallahan 238, 279, 238, 755; Steve Brown 255, 254, 733; Donnie Nave 233, 255, 702; Allen Chambers 232, 244, 701; Edgar Yates 244; Mark Perryman 230.

Jet setters

William Michaud 257, 233, 700; Don McElheny 257, 685; Daniel Pittman 258, 676; Angelo Allen 244, 655; Todd Altermose Jr. 246, 637; Wallace Jarvis 231, 634; Kenneth Vestal 233.

Dolores Michaud 216.

Green pin

Chuck Allen 258, 690; T.J. Altermose 277, 665; Jacob Capra 240, 650.

Emily Watters 207; Gayle Bracy 202.

Ladies? night out

Brenda Chambers 209; Susan Barber 208.

Permalink: http://news.fredericksburg.com/sports/2013/03/28/bowling-scores-68/

Source: http://news.fredericksburg.com/sports/2013/03/28/bowling-scores-68/

Barbara Palvin Yahoo Fantasy Football Nick Foles Auguste Rodin Breaking Amish Indianapolis explosion jay cutler

This Week On The TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast: 3D Printing, Ouya, And The Facebook Fone

This week on the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast we celebrate episode number two of everyone's favorite audio file! We also talk about 3D printing, the Ouya console, and the Facebook Fone AKA the FF.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/NSH8M4grFgU/

Where To Vote james harden breeders cup Mitch Lucker Red Cross CMA Awards 2012 election day

Cypriot banks set to reopen after 12 days -- but customers can only withdraw $383 each

Yannis Behrakis / Reuters

A staff member of Laiki Bank, which is to be liquidated, tries to calm customers as the branch in Nicosia prepares to open.

By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

Banks on the tax haven of Cyprus opened Thursday for the first time in 12 days amid the island's continuing financial crisis.

Strict limits on the amount of money that could be withdrawn have been imposed ? people will be able to withdraw 300 euros ($383) a day and no checks will be cashed ? amid fears of a run on the banks.

Account holders showed up hours before the banks were due to open to get in line.

Early indications were that there was no mass rush to withdraw cash, with just 13 people waiting outside one large Bank of Cyprus branch on the island as it opened at noon local time (6 a.m. ET). They were surrounded by a scrum of journalists.

?We need only from you cooperation, understanding and please patience,? the manager of the branch said before opening.

However a small crowd of people did press against the doors of a branch of Laiki Bank, which is being liquidated. CNBC sources estimate those with more than 100,000 euros (about $128,000) in accounts in Laiki Bank could lose 40 to 70 percent of their deposits.

During the banking shutdown, people could only withdraw 100 euros (about $127) a day from the country's two biggest banks, using ATMs.?Most who lined up for the opening Thursday were elderly people and those without ATM cards.?

Deposits above 100,000 euros with the Bank of Cyprus will be frozen and 40 percent of each account will be converted into bank stock. Accounts in both banks with balances under 100,000 euros will be fully protected.

A previous proposal to take less from all bank accounts?was vetoed by the Cypriot parliament.

The country is seeking to meet the terms of a bailout from the European Union of 10 billion euros ($12.9 billion) and, in order to raise enough funds to meet strict conditions imposed by the EU, it is preparing to take money from bank accounts.

CNBC's Michelle Caruso Cabrera reports on banks reopening in Cyprus and the limits they've imposed on depositors. The situation, she says, is calmer than expected.

Ahead of the banks? reopening, money was flown into the island and guards were seen delivering cash to banks in armored vehicles.

The banks were due to close at 6 p.m. local time (12 p.m. ET).

There was some relief on the island that the banks were finally opening again, but this was mixed with fear about what could happen.

'Slow death'
Yorgos Georgiou, who owns a dry cleaning business in Nicosia, told Reuters that "finally people's mood will be lifted and we can start to trust the system again."

But he added: "I'm worried about the poor kids working in the cashiers today, because people might vent their anger at them. You can't predict how people will react after so many days."

Kostas Nikolaou, a 60-year-old retiree, told Reuters that the uncertainty of the past two weeks had been "like a slow death."

"How can they tell you that you can't access your own money in the bank? It's our money, we are entitled to it,? he added.

The country?s president, Nicos Anastasiades, has described the bailout deal as ?painful? but essential.

However, Nobel laureate economist Christopher Pissarides said it was ?extremely unfair to the little guy.?

?For the first time in the euro zone, depositors are (being) asked to bail out failing banks," he said. "Now that used to be the case in the 1930s, especially United States (and) caused big bank runs. It has been decided since then that we shouldn?t allow that to happen again.?

As Cyprus celebrates its Independence Day, the ?government is defending the last-minute bailout deal it's negotiated with the European Union. This means shutting down the country's second biggest bank, with big savers facing ?losses. ?ITV's Emma Murphy reports.

Among other controls, the island's central bank will review all commercial transactions over 5,000 euros and scrutinize transactions over 200,000 euros on an individual basis, Reuters reported. People leaving Cyprus can take only 1,000 euros with them. An earlier draft of the decree had put the figure at 3,000.

Reuters summed up the situation facing the island:

With just 860,000 people, Cyprus has about 68 billion euros in its banks - a vastly outsized financial system that attracted deposits from foreigners as an offshore haven but foundered after investments in neighboring Greece went sour.

The European Union and International Monetary Fund concluded that Cyprus could not afford a rescue unless it imposed losses on depositors, seen as anathema in previous euro zone bailouts.?The bailout looks set to push Cyprus deeper into an economic slump, shrink the banking sector and cost thousands of jobs.

European leaders said the bailout deal averted a chaotic national bankruptcy that might have forced Cyprus out of the euro.

Many Cypriots say the deal was foisted upon them by Cyprus's partners in the 17-nation euro zone within the European Union, and some have taken to the streets to vent their frustration.

CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera and Katie Slaman, and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:

Cypriots fear run on banks as branches prepare to reopen

Cypriots: Hope, but also fear they 'will be like slaves' to Russia

EU to Cypriots: Let us raid your savings or no bailout

This story was originally published on Thu Mar 28, 2013 4:52 AM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653351/s/2a15ce9e/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C280C174975730Ecypriot0Ebanks0Eset0Eto0Ereopen0Eafter0E120Edays0Ebut0Ecustomers0Ecan0Eonly0Ewithdraw0E3830Eeach0Dlite/story01.htm

kashi neil diamond orange crush harden nor easter nor easter veep

7 Easy Steps for Launching a Startup

The first step is to perfect your world-changing widget. Computer-aided design (CAD) software used to be pricey and hard to use, but new tools such as Autodesk 123D Design, Blender, Google SketchUp, and Tinkercad make designing virtual 3D objects easy. Or build your widget by hand, and use Autodesk's 123D Catch to convert digital images of it into a CAD file.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/gonzo/7-easy-steps-for-launching-a-startup?src=rss

egypt soccer riot facebook ipo facebook ipo mike kelley puxatony phil josh harvey clemons college football recruiting rankings

Jack Dorsey Fights Robots In His Own Unauthorized Comic Book

He might not be bulletproof, but simultaneously running Twitter and Square qualifies Jack Dorsey as a superhero. This week a new unauthorized comic book about him was released, called "Jack Dorsey: Co-Founder of Twitter #1". Check out these page scans posted by Comic Book Resources that preview his quest to recover stolen quantum networking technology.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/oWKUq5cUamI/

pnc Charlie Strong Calendar 2013 john boehner HGTV Dream Home 2013 eric cantor eric cantor

An international study identifies new DNA variants that increase the risk for cancer

Public release date: 27-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Nuria Noriega
comunicacion@cnio.es
Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas (CNIO)

The European Collaborative Oncological Gen-Environmental Study (COGS) project, whose main goal is to decipher the complex genetic bases of breast, prostate and ovarian cancers, publishes today a total of 12 research articles in several prestigious journals, including Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, The American Journal of Human Genetics and PLOS Genetics. Using mass sequencing techniques, the study has identified up to 80 new regions of the genome associated with an increased susceptibility to developing breast, prostate and ovarian cancers.

The conclusions are drawn from the collaborative work of more than 50 groups around the world, who carried out their genotyping in four different centres and whose work was coordinated by Javier Beni?tez, Director of the Human Cancer Genetics Programme at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO).

In order to identify those genetic 'errors' or genetic variants that might increase the risk of suffering from cancer among the general population, the project's researchers genotyped more than 200,000 SNPssingle- nucleotide polymorphisms or genome letter changesselected from the genome of 100,000 breast, prostate and ovarian cancer patients, as well as from 100,000 control cases without cancer.

Thanks to the massive genotyping of these individuals, the authors of the different studies published today have identified 41 new genes or regions of the genome that may be susceptible to contributing to the development of breast cancer, 23 new ones for prostate cancer and 4 for ovarian cancer.

"Specifically, the 41 new genes identified for breast cancer increase to almost 70 the number of genes that indicate a high probability of developing this illness when mutated," explains Beni?tez, adding that: "these data indicate that up to 5% of the general population may have a high risk of suffering from this illness at some point in their lives".

Amongst all of the genes identified, there are some that could help cancerous cells to spread throughout the body, others would favour the uncontrolled growth of cells and still others would help by removing the brakes that stop cells from growing.

The authors of the study have also identified TERT as the gene susceptible to breast and ovarian cancer. This finding can add up to the recent study published in Nature Genetics, led by researchers Carlos Lo?pez-Oti?n, from the University Institute of Oncology at the University of Oviedo, Elias Campo, from the Hospital Cli?nic /University of Barcelona, and Maria A. Blasco, the Director of CNIO, which relates the role of telomeres and their protective function of the genetic material with the development of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (http://www.cnio.es/es/news/docs/maria- blasco-nature-genetics-17mar13-es.pdf).

GENETIC HETEROGENEITY AS A CAUSE OF CANCER

According to researchers, a big surprise to come out of the study is the identification of thousands of additional genes than those described to date that, to a lesser extent, make someone more susceptible to cancer.

"In the case of breast cancer, we have discovered up to 1,000 genes that increase the risk of suffering the illness only very slightly, but when accumulated, they could explain its appearance in some patients," explains Beni?tez.

These results show the enormous complexity of cancer. One example would be hereditary breast cancer, which correlates in most cases with mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. These tumours, however, could be explained by the accumulation of multiple mutations in genes that when appearing alone slightly increase the risk of developing cancer. "These genes would explain why many families have these types of hereditary cancers without the presence of mutations in the BRCA genes," clarifies Beni?tez.

Beni?tez concludes: "Every tumour is born with its own distinct genetic history, so if we identify those individuals whose genetic characteristics confer them a greater probability of developing cancer, we will be able to provide them with more adequate follow-up and thus reduce the appearance of the disease or diagnose it in its initial phases."

The collaborative effort of thousands of national and international scientists has opened new perspectives for cancer research, offering new clues to the understanding of the molecular pathways in cancer cells. These studies could also expand the possibilities in the search for new therapeutic treatments against cancer.

The CNIO, in addition to coordinating the genotyping of tumours, has also taken part in the genotyping of breast cancer studies via the National Genotyping Centre-Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CeGen-ISCIII), in collaboration with Anna Gonza?lez-Neira, Head of the Human Genotyping- CEGEN Core Unit as well as in the corresponding data analysis with the help of Roger Milne from the Human Genetics Group and Ana Osorio from the Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology Group. This work has been made possible thanks to the collaboration of the Monte Naranco hospital in Oviedo and the La Paz hospital in Madrid.

About COGS

The main aims of the European COGS project are directed towards the study of the genetic and environmental factors that predispose people to the appearance of breast, prostate and ovarian cancers, the most common forms of cancer in developing countries, and towards how society might benefit from such results.

The European COGS project is the result of the collaboration between four international consortiums: BCAC, whose aim is to study breast cancer; PRACTICAL, which researches genetic alterations associated with prostate cancer; OCAC, whose aim is to study ovarian cancer, and CIMBA, which studies BRCA1 and BRCA2 modifications.

The results generated by COGS help to understand the biological processes that are involved in carcinogenesis and might also help the development of new therapeutic tools as well as predictive risk tests for the disease.

The project is member of a local communication network called CommHERE, an initiative funded by the European Commission. The goal of CommHERE is to disseminate among the society the health research results developed under the funding of the 7th Framework Programme of the EC.

###

More information about COGS can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/research/health/medical-research/cancer/fp7- projects/cogs_en.html

---

[ | 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: 27-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Nuria Noriega
comunicacion@cnio.es
Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas (CNIO)

The European Collaborative Oncological Gen-Environmental Study (COGS) project, whose main goal is to decipher the complex genetic bases of breast, prostate and ovarian cancers, publishes today a total of 12 research articles in several prestigious journals, including Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, The American Journal of Human Genetics and PLOS Genetics. Using mass sequencing techniques, the study has identified up to 80 new regions of the genome associated with an increased susceptibility to developing breast, prostate and ovarian cancers.

The conclusions are drawn from the collaborative work of more than 50 groups around the world, who carried out their genotyping in four different centres and whose work was coordinated by Javier Beni?tez, Director of the Human Cancer Genetics Programme at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO).

In order to identify those genetic 'errors' or genetic variants that might increase the risk of suffering from cancer among the general population, the project's researchers genotyped more than 200,000 SNPssingle- nucleotide polymorphisms or genome letter changesselected from the genome of 100,000 breast, prostate and ovarian cancer patients, as well as from 100,000 control cases without cancer.

Thanks to the massive genotyping of these individuals, the authors of the different studies published today have identified 41 new genes or regions of the genome that may be susceptible to contributing to the development of breast cancer, 23 new ones for prostate cancer and 4 for ovarian cancer.

"Specifically, the 41 new genes identified for breast cancer increase to almost 70 the number of genes that indicate a high probability of developing this illness when mutated," explains Beni?tez, adding that: "these data indicate that up to 5% of the general population may have a high risk of suffering from this illness at some point in their lives".

Amongst all of the genes identified, there are some that could help cancerous cells to spread throughout the body, others would favour the uncontrolled growth of cells and still others would help by removing the brakes that stop cells from growing.

The authors of the study have also identified TERT as the gene susceptible to breast and ovarian cancer. This finding can add up to the recent study published in Nature Genetics, led by researchers Carlos Lo?pez-Oti?n, from the University Institute of Oncology at the University of Oviedo, Elias Campo, from the Hospital Cli?nic /University of Barcelona, and Maria A. Blasco, the Director of CNIO, which relates the role of telomeres and their protective function of the genetic material with the development of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (http://www.cnio.es/es/news/docs/maria- blasco-nature-genetics-17mar13-es.pdf).

GENETIC HETEROGENEITY AS A CAUSE OF CANCER

According to researchers, a big surprise to come out of the study is the identification of thousands of additional genes than those described to date that, to a lesser extent, make someone more susceptible to cancer.

"In the case of breast cancer, we have discovered up to 1,000 genes that increase the risk of suffering the illness only very slightly, but when accumulated, they could explain its appearance in some patients," explains Beni?tez.

These results show the enormous complexity of cancer. One example would be hereditary breast cancer, which correlates in most cases with mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. These tumours, however, could be explained by the accumulation of multiple mutations in genes that when appearing alone slightly increase the risk of developing cancer. "These genes would explain why many families have these types of hereditary cancers without the presence of mutations in the BRCA genes," clarifies Beni?tez.

Beni?tez concludes: "Every tumour is born with its own distinct genetic history, so if we identify those individuals whose genetic characteristics confer them a greater probability of developing cancer, we will be able to provide them with more adequate follow-up and thus reduce the appearance of the disease or diagnose it in its initial phases."

The collaborative effort of thousands of national and international scientists has opened new perspectives for cancer research, offering new clues to the understanding of the molecular pathways in cancer cells. These studies could also expand the possibilities in the search for new therapeutic treatments against cancer.

The CNIO, in addition to coordinating the genotyping of tumours, has also taken part in the genotyping of breast cancer studies via the National Genotyping Centre-Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CeGen-ISCIII), in collaboration with Anna Gonza?lez-Neira, Head of the Human Genotyping- CEGEN Core Unit as well as in the corresponding data analysis with the help of Roger Milne from the Human Genetics Group and Ana Osorio from the Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology Group. This work has been made possible thanks to the collaboration of the Monte Naranco hospital in Oviedo and the La Paz hospital in Madrid.

About COGS

The main aims of the European COGS project are directed towards the study of the genetic and environmental factors that predispose people to the appearance of breast, prostate and ovarian cancers, the most common forms of cancer in developing countries, and towards how society might benefit from such results.

The European COGS project is the result of the collaboration between four international consortiums: BCAC, whose aim is to study breast cancer; PRACTICAL, which researches genetic alterations associated with prostate cancer; OCAC, whose aim is to study ovarian cancer, and CIMBA, which studies BRCA1 and BRCA2 modifications.

The results generated by COGS help to understand the biological processes that are involved in carcinogenesis and might also help the development of new therapeutic tools as well as predictive risk tests for the disease.

The project is member of a local communication network called CommHERE, an initiative funded by the European Commission. The goal of CommHERE is to disseminate among the society the health research results developed under the funding of the 7th Framework Programme of the EC.

###

More information about COGS can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/research/health/medical-research/cancer/fp7- projects/cogs_en.html

---

[ | 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/2013-03/cndi-ais032713.php

tami roman jetblue captain los angeles dodgers christie brinkley seattle mariners geraldo rivera supreme court health care

Tigers have AL Central by the tail

For the past few days?we?ve been previewing the 2013 season. Here, in handy one-stop-shopping form, is our package of previews from the American League Central.

It?s the Tigers? world and everyone else is living in it. Of course we thought that last year too and Detroit didn?t truly wrest control of the AL Central until the last couple weeks of the season. ?This year, however, we feel like that won?t be a problem.

The Indians have a whole new look with Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn and Terry Francona, but do they have enough pitching to challenge for the wild card?

The White Sox were in the race all year in 2012, but with few offseason additions and aging sluggers, is there another season of contention left?

The Royals had the best spring training record of anyone, but does that and fifty cents get them anything more than a bag of chips?

The Twins: another year in the cellar seems unavoidable, but is there any hope at all?

Below are our team-by-team previews for the AL Central as well as our HBT Extra feature on the division. Enjoy.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/28/2013-preview-the-american-league-central/related/

michigan primary daytona 500 winner cleveland plain dealer john scott barry sanders barry sanders jimmie johnson

Eventful 2.0 Gives Its 20M Users A Personalized List Of Everything Going On Nearby

It's not going to win any beauty pageants, but Eventful's 2.0 could make sure you never get bored. It's racked up 20 million registered users and shows of 4 million events at a time, but with today's big relaunch Eventful gets personalized thanks to your Facebook, iTunes, Spotify, and Last.fm data. That lets it show you concerts you'll love, along with movie times, conferences, festivals and more.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/jf-jOXp4Kuc/

Apple Pie Recipe black friday How long to cook a turkey green bean casserole green bean casserole recipe red dawn sweet potato pie

Violent video games are a risk factor for criminal behavior and aggression, new evidence shows

Mar. 26, 2013 ? People are quick to point the finger or dismiss the effect of violent video games as a factor in criminal behavior. New evidence from Iowa State researchers demonstrates a link between video games and youth violence and delinquency.

Matt DeLisi, a professor of sociology, said the research shows a strong connection even when controlling for a history of violence and psychopathic traits among juvenile offenders.

"When critics say, 'Well, it's probably not video games, it's probably how antisocial they are,' we can address that directly because we controlled for a lot of things that we know matter," DeLisi said. "Even if you account for the child's sex, age, race, the age they were first referred to juvenile court -- which is a very powerful effect -- and a bunch of other media effects, like screen time and exposure. Even with all of that, the video game measure still mattered."

The results were not unexpected, but somewhat surprising for Douglas Gentile, an associate professor of psychology, who has studied the effects of video game violence exposure and minor aggression, like hitting, teasing and name-calling.

"I didn't expect to see much of an effect when we got to serious delinquent and criminal level aggression because youth who commit that level of aggression have a lot of things going wrong for them. They often have a lot of risk factors and very few protective factors in their lives," Gentile said.

The study published in the April issue of Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice examined the level of video game exposure for 227 juvenile offenders in Pennsylvania. The average offender had committed nearly nine serious acts of violence, such as gang fighting, hitting a parent or attacking another person in the prior year.

The results show that both the frequency of play and affinity for violent games were strongly associated with delinquent and violent behavior. Craig Anderson, Distinguished Professor of psychology and director of the Center for the Study of Violence at Iowa State, said violent video game exposure is not the sole cause of violence, but this study shows it is a risk factor.

"Can we say from this study that Adam Lanza, or any of the others, went off and killed people because of media violence? You can't take the stand of the NRA that it's strictly video games and not guns," Anderson said. "You also can't take the stand of the entertainment industry that it has nothing to do with media violence that it's all about guns and not about media violence. They're both wrong and they're both right, both are causal risk factors."

Researchers point out that juvenile offenders have several risk factors that influence their behavior. The next step is to build on this research to determine what combination of factors is the most volatile and if there is a saturation point.

"When studying serious aggression, looking at multiple risk factors matters more than looking at any one," Gentile said. "The cutting edge of research is trying to understand in what combination do the individual risk factors start influencing each other in ways to either enhance or mitigate the odds of aggression?"

What does this mean for parents?

There is a lot of misinformation about video game exposure, Anderson said, that makes it difficult for parents to understand the harmful effects. Although it is one variable that parents can control, he understands that with mixed messages about the risks some parents may feel it's not worth the effort.

"What parent would go through the pain and all the effort it takes to really control their child's media diet, if they don't really think it makes any difference? That is why it is so important to get out the simple and clear message that media violence does matter," Anderson said.

Just because a child plays a violent video game does not mean he or she is going to act violently. Researchers say if there is a take away for parents, it is an awareness of what their children are playing and how that may influence their behavior.

"I think parents need to be truthful and honest about who their children are in terms of their psychiatric functioning," DeLisi said. "If you have a kid who is antisocial, who is a little bit vulnerable to influence, giving them something that allows them to escape into themselves for a long period of time isn't a healthy thing."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Iowa State University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. M. DeLisi, M. G. Vaughn, D. A. Gentile, C. A. Anderson, J. J. Shook. Violent Video Games, Delinquency, and Youth Violence: New Evidence. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2012; 11 (2): 132 DOI: 10.1177/1541204012460874

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/i5WEpZcOs2A/130326121605.htm

kids choice awards ncaa Miley Cyrus Twerk ncaa march madness cbs march madness bracket miami heat

Yes We Cannabis: The Legalization Movement Plots Its Next 4 Years (Atlantic Politics Channel)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/294902865?client_source=feed&format=rss

robert hegyes mary louise parker mary louise parker cher morgellons nhl all star draft seal team 6