Do you think you know what will happen at UFC 157? Have a pretty good handle on Ronda Rousey's championship defense against Liz Carmouche? Think you know exactly how Dan Henderson vs. Lyoto Machida will go? Here's your chance to put your thoughts in writing. Give us your picks, and they may be featured on Cagewriter.
Here's the deal. Pick one fight from the main card of UFC 157.
Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche Dan Henderson vs. Lyoto Machida Urijah Faber vs. Ivan Menjivar Court McGee vs. Josh Neer Josh Koscheck vs. Robbie Lawler
Now, go to Cagewriter's Facebook page and then tell us who you think will win and why. We'll include Cagereader picks with picks from Kevin Iole and Maggie Hendricks. They'll run here on Friday morning.
These holidays if you are planning a trip to Kolkata, then, there could be nothing better. Its a land of love, a land loaded with traditions and prosperous inheritance and a land of charming people. Over the years, owing to its aura and charm it has become one of the most visited holiday destination for people from all across the world. From the magnificent architectural monuments, to stunning gardens and parks and from delectable multi-cuisine restaurants to spirited nightlife, the city has enough on its platter to lure you. So, book your tickets and get set for boundless fun and enjoyment.
Its not only the sightseeing options and the literary value of the place that has given it prominence. The capital city of West Bengal has also gained popularity because of its incredible accommodation and lodging options. The lodging alternatives of this city are of different types and can be classified according to the hotel rates and star labels. More sumptuous and deluxe the lodge is more are the stars affixed to it. The increase in number of stars can lead you to best lodging alternatives. However, one important thing to remember is that if you plan to stay in any of these top-rated Kolkata hotels, then, brace yourself to disburse a good amount of money from your pocket.
You have to keep in mind that along with making bookings, you will also need money for sightseeing, shopping and other leisure activities in the place. Thus, its important that you smartly plan your travel and make bookings when there are deals and discounts going on. It will also help you make your vacation an economical one. You could also make bookings in the budget accommodations of the city, where you will get to enjoy everything without burning a hole in your pocket. If you are wondering, what could be the best way to find accommodations, then, internet is the best alternative.
Little research and some analysis will help you make a well-versed decision. The other benefit of making an online booking is that you would be able to benefit from more deals and discounts. There are also chances that you might get a complete package, inclusive of your air tickets along with room bookings in any of the Kolkata hotels, without being too heavy on your pocket.
On your visit to the place, you will realize that almost all the lodgings of the place have the finest facilities and comfortable arrangements for their guests. The design and planning of these accommodations and the setting is remarkable and leave the visitors spell-bound. On your visit here, be assured that along with the wonderful sightseeing options of the place, you will also be absorbed by the warmth of the lodgings here.
About the Author: Abhishek Kumar started his content writing service in 2007 and now he is serving for many clients in different area and now he is having expertise in field's like Travel, Finance, Legal, Automotive, Computer. For more information on Cheap Kolkata Hotels & Cheap Jaipur Hotels
Although The Tax Relief Act of 2012 provides permanent lifetime gift and estate exclusions of $5.25 million, legislation governing exclusions has changed seven times in the last ten years. Consequently, persons with sizeable estates who did not take advantage of their entire exclusion prior to December 31, 2012 should sit down with their professional advisors in 2013.
Below are a few estate planning tools and strategies presently being recommended by estate planners, accountants, and financial planners.
1.?Incorporating a protection provision in your trust documents which facilitates amendments to comply with any type of new legislation in the future.
2.?Lock in the ?Dynasty? planning options in your trust documents that enable wealth to be insulated from taxes and other hazards over multiple generations.? Non-tax issues like divorce, substance abuse, litigation, medical disasters, and business failure destroy as much wealth as taxes.
3.?Be aware and prepared should legislators adopt devices to increase taxes in order to avoid bankruptcy of the U.S. such as:
Phasing out more exemptions;
Implementing means testing for retirement plan withdrawals;
Placing caps on deductions such as charitable giving;
Limiting the duration of grantor retained annuity trusts;
Limiting the number of years a trust can skip generations without transfer taxes;
Implementing carry-forward cost basis at death enabling the IRS to collect more? capital gains taxes;
Eliminating grantor status for trusts resulting in taxes at the higher trust rate;
Including ?grantor trusts? in the taxable estate which would make many life insurance trusts taxable; and
Eliminating installment payments of estate taxes.?
4.?Make sure you confer with all of your professional advisors before amending your estate planning documents.? Too many so-called estate plans leave gaps in the protection because there is little or no connection between the business and property structures and the estate structures, or because the accounting, legal, investment and insurance advisers are each doing their own thing without coordinating with each other.? Effective planning is a team event that covers the whole field for the entire game.? One star player making one good shot may look good for the moment, but it won?t win the game.? Don?t ever forget that you are the quarterback regardless of your level of knowledge.? Keep your advisors in the game.
President Barack Obama is looking for a new candidate to lead American and allied forces in Europe after his first choice, Marine Gen. John Allen, bowed out Tuesday and announced his intention to retire for what he called personal reasons.
The move further clouds the picture for Obama as he repositions key figures on his national security team and in key military leadership roles. The White House is fighting for Senate confirmation of Chuck Hagel as defense secretary; a confirmation vote was stalled last week by Republicans but is expected to happen next week.
Obama also is switching commanders at Central Command, which is responsible for U.S. military operations throughout the greater Middle East, and Africa Command.
After meeting with Allen at the White House, the president issued a brief statement praising Allen's service. He called the 57-year-old Allen "one of America's finest military leaders, a true patriot, and a man I have come to respect greatly."
Allen appeared to be a shoo-in as the next top commander of allied forces in Europe. Obama nominated him last Oct. 10, but in November, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stunned many by announcing that Allen was being investigated for potentially inappropriate email exchanges with a Florida socialite, Jill Kelley. Panetta put Allen's nomination on hold.
Last month, shortly before Allen completed a 19-month tour as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced that Allen had been cleared of any wrongdoing and the White House said it was prepared to re-nominate him for the Europe job.
Even so, it was not clear that Allen would choose to go ahead with a Senate confirmation hearing, given the nature of the email probe.
Allen is held in high regard by Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which would have voted on his appointment, and he was expected to win full Senate confirmation. It came as no surprise to many on Capitol Hill when Allen was cleared of wrongdoing in the email probe, which several lawmakers had indicated was not as troublesome as some had initially suggested. The actual emails between Allen and Kelley were never made public.
One of Hagel's biggest detractors, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., showered Allen with praise Tuesday, saying the nation owes him a great debt and "his leadership in the future will be missed."
An Iraq war veteran with a reputation as an astute strategist, Allen took over in Kabul in July 2011, succeeding Gen. David Petraeus, who quit to become CIA director. Allen relinquished command Feb. 10 to a fellow Marine general, Joseph Dunford.
Allen said retiring from the military was "the only choice I could make." Although he did not explain his reasons in detail, he said "my primary concern is for the health of my wife, who had sacrificed so much for so long." He served 38 years in the Marine Corps.
In retiring, Allen passed up Obama's offer to promote him to the Europe job, which is one of the more prestigious jobs in the military. It carries the dual responsibilities of commanding NATO troops from allied headquarters in Belgium and heading the U.S. European Command, a separate organization based in Germany.
The U.S. has about 80,000 troops based in Europe.
It's unclear who Obama will nominate for that job. The current commander, Navy Adm. James Stavridis, had planned to leave last year, but was asked to stay on until Allen could take over. He is expected to remain until a successor is confirmed.
Army Gen. Carter Ham might have been a logical choice, in part because he previously served as commander of all U.S. Army forces in Europe. But he is scheduled to retire this year. He currently serves as commander of U.S. Africa Command.
In a written statement Tuesday, Allen he wants to focus on helping his wife, Kathy, cope with health issues. He was not specific about her ailments, but The Washington Post quoted Allen on Monday as saying that his wife suffers from a combination of chronic health issues that include an autoimmune disorder.
"The reasons for my decision are personal," Allen said in his statement. "I did not come to it lightly or quickly, but given the considerations behind it, I recognized in the end it was the only choice I could make.
"While I won't go into the details, my primary concern is for the health of my wife, who has sacrificed so much for so long. For more than 35 years, my beloved Kathy has devotedly stood beside me and enabled me to serve my country.
"It is profoundly sobering to consider how much of that time I have spent away from her and our two precious daughters. It is now my turn to stand beside them, to be there for them when they need me most," he said.
Allen told the Post that his decision to retire was not influenced by the investigation of his email exchanges with Kelley, who was tied to the sex scandal that forced Petraeus to step down last fall as CIA director. Allen told the newspaper, however, that publicity surrounding the email probe "took a toll" on his wife.
Word began to spread last week that Allen was having second thoughts about taking the Europe job. When asked at a news conference last week about Allen's status, Panetta told reporters that the general had been "under a tremendous amount of pressure," including difficult recommendations on the future course of U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan. Panetta said he advised Allen to take time to weigh his options, consult with his family, and decide his future.
In a statement following Obama's announcement Tuesday, Panetta heaped praise on Allen.
"He has earned the lasting thanks of this nation for carrying the heavy burden of leadership with utmost professionalism and courage," Panetta said. "I wish him and his entire family all the best in the next chapter of their lives."
???
Associated Press writer Josh Lederman contributed to this report.
Last year, the Obama campaign waged an all-out assault on Mitt Romney for his offshore investments?a ?guy with a Swiss bank account,? with ?millions in the Cayman Islands, who refused to release his tax returns,? as Joe Biden put it.
That was then. Now the Obama administration expects Jack Lew to be confirmed as Treasury secretary?despite his having invested $56,000 in a Cayman Islands?based private equity fund during the career political operative?s lucrative dip into the private sector.
READ MORE The Anti-Christie
The White House?s double standard for Democrats seeking to minimize their tax liability makes sense considering the experience of Tim Geithner, whom Lew would be replacing. While Lew only dabbled in foreign investments, Geithner outright failed to pay $34,000 in Social Security and Medicare taxes before joining Treasury and also took heat for hiring an inadequately documented immigrant housekeeper. Apparently, the White House?s reasoning goes like this: If Geithner?s belated tax payments and sloppy employment practices posed no barrier to being confirmed as Treasury secretary, why should a few thousand dollars stowed away in the Caribbean?
Like Geithner, Lew is a well-credentialed bureaucrat, adept at heeding his masters? call. A 2009 report issued by Neil Barofsky, then the TARP inspector general, blasted Geithner?s efforts in bailing out AIG while heading the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The report also criticized the lack of transparency surrounding the TARP. In response, Treasury anonymously accused Barofsky of having ?been consistently wrong about a lot of big things.? Which is not exactly a refutation or a denial so much as a talking point aimed at giving political partisans something to say.
READ MORE The GOP?s Homophobia Problem
More recently, Barofsky wrote that Geithner ?made the preservation of the largest banks, no matter the consequences, a top priority of the U.S. government,? blaming ?perversion of the U.S. criminal justice system,? for the hands-off approach toward prosecution of financial crimes under Obama. Barofsky, I should note, is a former federal prosecutor, a Democrat, and a contributor to the Obama 2008 campaign.
Do not expect Lew to end the finance-friendly status quo at Treasury. At his confirmation hearing, Lew testified that he would not seek to return to the world of Glass-Steagall, when financial supermarkets were prohibited and brokerage and banking operations could not sit under the same corporate roof. In Lew?s eyes, Glass-Steagall was ?anachronistic.?
READ MORE Who?s to Blame for the Sequester?
A lifelong partisan political creature whose expertise lies in budgeting, Lew served as OMB director under Presidents Clinton and Obama and is the father of the looming sequester, according to Bob Woodward, who relates that it was Lew who sold sequestration to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the summer of 2011.
Lew also holds the distinction of being a banker of questionable skills. Before joining the Obama administration, Lew worked at Citibank, and in 2007 he took over the bank?s Alternative Assets program?which lost most of its assets as it bet on the downfall of the housing market. In 2009 Lew left Citi to join the Obama administration after pocketing a $940,000 bonus, just as Citi was receiving a $45 billion bailout and Treasury Secretary Geithner was administering a stress test to the bank.
READ MORE Enough With the Deficit!
At the end of the day, Lew has no reason to alter Treasury?s entente with the financial industry. During the 2012 campaign, Obama hauled in over $20 million from the financial, insurance, and real estate industries. Lawyers and lobbyists donated another $27 million. For their part, Citigroup employees sent over $600,000 in contributions to Obama?s presidential campaigns.
Indeed, for all their teeth gnashing over Dodd-Frank, financial institutions came out all right.?As Gretchen Morgenson documents, Dodd-Frank expanded the too-big-to-fail doctrine to cover clearinghouses, which are ?are large, powerful institutions that clear or settle options, bond and derivatives trades.? Before the Finance Committee, Lew testified that Dodd-Frank had gone as far as was needed on the issue of too big to fail. Said more directly, taxpayers stand to remain of the hook for future financial follies.
READ MORE White House: Immigration Plan Is Backup
To be clear, Lew?s foreign investment does not carry with it the stench of legal impropriety, nor was it treated as a political sin in prior presidential campaigns. In 1988 Massachusetts Gov. Mike Dukakis blasted his opponent over the growth of foreign investments in the United States. The Bush campaign pushed back by reminding newspaper editorial boards that Lloyd Bentsen, Dukakis?s running mate, held large positions in the Fidelity Overseas Fund. Indeed, the fund?s brochure had a Japanese flag on its cover for those investors otherwise unaware where their money was going. Ultimately Dukakis toned it down and lost, and Bentsen would later serve as Bill Clinton?s Treasury secretary. In 2004 conservative critics called out populist multimillionaire and Democratic vice-presidential nominee John Edwards for investing in international mutual funds, but the story had no legs, and as it turned out, Edwards had much bigger problems than where he was parking his cash.
And yes, unlike Romney, Lew laid bare his financials in graphic detail.?As OMB director, he was required to make a comprehensive personal financial disclosure of his assets and income. Fortunately for both the president and Lew, his foray into offshore investing was a bust.
READ MORE They Coulda Been Great
Still, Obama?s blistering critique of tax-haven investment should render Lew unfit to be this president?s Treasury secretary. But it has not. Hypocritical or not, Lew is Obama?s guy for the job. During the coming months, the White House and Congress will be at war with each other, and Lew knows the drill.
Asked in his confirmation testimony about his Cayman investment, Lew pleaded ignorance as to its motives (?I actually don?t know why it was organized. I was not involved in setting up the fund?), and poverty: ?I lost money on the investment. So in fact, I lost money, which I didn?t have a great deal of income.? He?ll fit in just fine with the permanent campaign.
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The personal injury attorneys at The Deratany Firm have added a brand new feature to their ever expanding blog. As of Monday February 18, 2013 The Deratany Firm blog has a new daily series called ?Chicago Personal Injury News Brief.?
Everyday at 4:00pm CST our blog will bring you the latest breaking news in the world of personal injury. From settlements to verdicts and everything in between stay up to date with all the latest legal and local news.
This series is on top of our already stellar blogging content. We strive to bring the public honest, informative, and in-depth articles. This series will help expand our readership while continuing our blogging mission by providing the information you need to know ? on the go. Coupled with our new mobile website, this new addition is just another way to better serve you. As always feel free to leave a comment or suggestion ? we?d love to hear from you.
The attorneys of The Deratany Firm have over 40 combined years of experience in the areas of personal injury, medical malpractice, and adoption/foster care negligence. Attorney Jay Paul Deratany has been named one of The National Trial Lawyers Association?s Top 100 Trial Lawyers in the Nation. With settlements routinely in the millions of dollars, The Deratany Firm is committed to providing compassion and justice to those without a voice.
To email us a news tip, write to matthew@lawinjury.com?
Download a copy of the full press release. View our first edition of Chicago Personal Injury News Brief.
MODERATE STRENGTH SANTA ANA WIND EVENT THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT OVER CALIFORNIA AND AT THE SURFACE OVER THE GREAT BASIN WILL BUILD THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING. THIS WILL CREATE A MODERATE SANTA ANA WIND EVENT WITH...WIND GUSTS OVER 50 MPH... TEMPERATURES IN THE MID 80S WEST OF THE MOUNTAINS... AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY FALLING BELOW 15 PERCENT WITH LITTLE TO NO RECOVERY TONIGHT. ONSHORE FLOW WILL RETURN RAPIDLY SATURDAY NIGHT. MUCH COOLER AND WETTER NEXT WEEK WITH RAIN AND SNOW BY TUESDAY. INLAND EMPIRE:....WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM PST SATURDAY HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM PST THIS AFTERNOON Rest Of Today: Mostly clear. Highs 72 to 82. Areas of winds northeast 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 60 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear. Lows 48 to 56. Areas of winds east 20 to 30 mph. Gusts to 40 mph...becoming 35 mph overnight.
Saturday: Mostly sunny. Highs 73 to 82. Areas of winds east 15 to 25 mph. Gusts to 35 mph...becoming 30 mph in the afternoon.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear. Lows 45 to 53. Areas of winds east 15 mph in the evening becoming light.
The third installment of Derek Stephens (ScoutTheSeahawks.com) and Davis Hsu's (@DavisHsuSeattle) NFL Draft Podcast series is now recorded and ready for your listening pleasure. This week, in part one of what will be a two parter on the WR group, the fellas talk about general scouting philosophies to keep in mind, and then break down some of the wide receivers group in this year's draft.
If you missed Part I, on outside linebackers, or Part II, on defensive tackles, you probably want to go back and take a listen to those as well.
Davis' knowledge on the Seahawks' salary-cap and NFL Draft tendencies meshes perfectly with Derek's top-level expertise on prospects for this year's Draft through his deep scouting, for his own website and for Rob Rang and NFLDraftScout.com and the Lindy's Draft publication, and makes this an awesome listen for any Seahawks or NFL fan.
PART ONE OF THE WIDE RECEIVERS GROUP (right click to download).
----------------------------------------------
If you missed parts I or II:
Seahawks NFL Draft Podcast I: Derek Stephens & Davis Hsu on the OLB group
Seahawks NFL Draft Podcast II: Derek Stepens & Davis Hsu on potential targets at DT
You can find all of Derek's stuff at ScoutTheSeahawks.com and he posts on Field Gulls as well. In the next few months, Derek will also be working with Rob Rang and NFLDraftScout, doing player reports for the upcoming 2013 draft, and hopefully contributing here as well, time permitting. Follow him on twitter @dstephensscout. Derek also maintains a really great free agent tracker in addition to his Draft focus that is much more in-depth than most places because of his background doing deep scouting of NFL Draft prospects.
The ways of Washington D.C. - and the Congress - can sometimes be sort of odd, and that was on display Thursday in the U.S. Senate, as Republicans blocked the nomination of former GOP Senator Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense, but also telegraphed that Hagel was likely to be confirmed for that post later this month.
The vote itself made history, as it was the first time the Senate had ever refused to break a filibuster on a Cabinet nominee; supporters were one vote short of invoking cloture and shutting off debate.
Four Republican Senators broke ranks to vote with all Democrats: Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Mike Johanns of Nebraska.
Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah voted "Present," which is basically the equivalent of voting for the filibuster, since 60 votes are needed.
The outcome brought forward the expected political reaction from Democrats.
"Today, Senate Republicans put political posturing ahead of our nation?s security," said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.
"Republicans continued their embarrassing display of disregard for our national security by blocking Senator Hagel?s nomination," added Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who labeled the GOP filibuster of Hagel "unprecedented."
As noted above, Reid was correct - this was the first time since the Senate changed its rules to allow for cloture votes on nominations in 1949 that a Cabinet nominee had been successfully blocked; cloture votes on Cabinet choices had only happened two other times, in 1987 and 2006.
But even as the votes were being cast, it looked like Hagel would still be approved as Defense Secretary later this month, as Reid quickly set a re-vote on the cloture motion for February 26, and some GOP Senators publicly indicated they would support ending debate at that point.
"When the Senate returns on Feb. 26, there should have been sufficient time to consider Sen. Hagel?s record, so I will vote to end debate because I believe a president?s cabinet members deserve an up-or-down vote," said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN).
Alexander took to the Senate floor after the cloture vote was over and told the story of how his own nomination for Secretary of Education - while it wasn't filibustered - was put on hold for several months by Democrats during the first Bush Administration.
Alexander said the advice he was given by GOP Senators at the time was that he just had to wait. He did wait for almost three months, and then his nomination was finally approved by the Senate.
In this case, the "wait" is going to be another week and a half. And then it looks like Hagel will be confirmed.
Republicans say they need that time to get extra information about the former Senator and copies of other speeches that Hagel made in recent years.
But also at work was something unsaid - that Hagel left the Senate without many friends in the Republican Party, and his support for President Obama and opposition to policies of President George W. Bush left him with very little goodwill among his former colleagues.
Hagel was always sort of a maverick during his two terms in the Senate, and frankly, while most Republicans call him a "friend," they're just being nice. ?It again raises the question as to why the White House didn't go with other top ranking civilian military officials, who would have been quickly approved by the Senate, like Michelle Flournoy, who would have been the first woman to run the Defense Department.
So, now we wait for the Senate to return from its vacation.
Will anything really change before February 26? Probably not.
And it was one more head shaking reminder of why the Senate can be a frustrating place, especially for the White House.
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) ? In a courtroom, not an Olympic stadium, there was no click-click-click of Oscar Pistorius' prosthetic limbs. His only sound Friday was loud, uncontrollable sobs as prosecutors charged him with premeditated murder in the shooting death of his model girlfriend.
"Take it easy," Chief Magistrate Desmond Nasir told the Olympic star-turned-murder-defendant as his father, Henke, and his brother, Carl, reached out to touch his shoulder to comfort him.
The 26-year-old Pistorius, the double-amputee sprinter who won world acclaim by competing in last summer's London Olympics, did not speak or enter a plea. He held his head and wept as he heard the charge, which carries a life sentence.
A statement released later by his family and agent said Pistorius disputed the murder charge "in the strongest terms."
The track star's arrest in the Valentine's Day killing of 29-year-old model Reeva Steenkamp shocked South Africa, where Pistorius was a national hero dubbed the Blade Runner for his high-tech prosthetics and revered for overcoming his disability to compete in the London Games.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said he would pursue a charge of premeditated murder against Pistorius in the slaying of Steenkamp, a leggy blonde model with a law degree who had spoken out on Twitter against rape and abuse of women.
She was discovered in a pool of blood before dawn Thursday by police called to Pistorius' upscale home in a gated community in the South African capital of Pretoria. Authorities said she had been shot four times, and a 9 mm pistol was recovered at the home.
Throngs of reporters, photographers and videographers filled the brick-walled Courtroom C in Pretoria Magistrate's Court, where Pistorius appeared. Nasir's first ruling focused on the press as he dismissed requests from the state broadcaster and a private television station to air the hearing live.
Nasir also ordered that no photographs be taken while court was in session. That left dozens of photographers kneeling less than a yard from the sobbing Pistorius to simply stare at a man many had photographed previously sprinting on his famous carbon-fiber blades.
Police said investigators had conducted an autopsy on Steenkamp's body but the results would not be released.
Pistorius' family left quickly after the hearing, without speaking to journalists. In a statement later Friday, the family and his London-based management agency questioned the criminal charge the athlete faces.
"The alleged murder is disputed in the strongest terms," the statement said, without elaborating. It added that Pistorius wanted to "send his deepest sympathies to the family of Reeva."
"He would also like to express his thanks through us today for all the messages of support he has received ? but as stated our thoughts and prayers today should be for Reeva and her family ? regardless of the circumstances of this terrible, terrible tragedy," the statement read.
Since news of the slaying, shock waves have rippled across South Africa, a nation of 50 million where nearly 50 people are killed each day, one of the world's highest murder rates. U.N. statistics say the nation has the second highest rate of shooting deaths in the world, behind only Colombia.
Many wore black Friday to demonstrate against the high levels of violence against women in the country.
Others focused their attention on Pistorius and his fascination with fast cars, cage fighting and firearms.
Those who knew Pistorius, including a former girlfriend, weighed in on social media.
Trish Taylor, mother of Pistorius' ex-girlfriend, Samantha Taylor, wrote on Facebook: "I'm so glad Sammy is safe and out of the clutches of that man."
But another ex-girlfriend, Jenna Edkins, took to Twitter to defend him.
"All I am saying is let him speak, let his side be heard without jumping to conclusions," she tweeted, offering "love and support" to the Pistorius family.
"I have dated Oscar on and off for 5 YEARS, NOT ONCE has he EVER lifted a finger to me or made me fear for my life."
At the defense request, the chief magistrate delayed a bail hearing until Tuesday for Pistorius, who was ordered held in a police holding cell, rather than transferred to a prison.
In seeking a premeditated murder charge against Pistorius, prosecutors appear to be claiming they have evidence the athlete planned the killing ahead of time, said William Booth, a prominent Cape Town defense lawyer.
Such a serious charge makes it more difficult for Pistorius to successfully apply for bail, Booth said, though it could also be a challenge to get a conviction.
"It's quite difficult to prove that in a situation where there isn't a witness," the defense lawyer said. "If I just plan it in my mind and I arrive at somebody's house and there's no witnesses and I shoot the person, it's really tough for the prosecution to show that planning."
Pistorius made history at the London Olympics last year when he became the first double-amputee track athlete to compete at any games. He didn't win a medal but did make the semifinals of the 400 meters and the final of the 4X400 relay, propelling the world's best-known Paralympian to the level of an international track star and one of the world's best-known sportsmen.
___
AP Sports Writer Gerald Imray reported from Johannesburg. Associated Press writer Michelle Faul in Johannesburg contributed to this report.
___
Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP . Gerald Imray can be reached at www.twitter.com/geraldimrayAP .
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Kangaroos Took Over A Golf Tournament, Proving The World Is Still Amazing
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Researchers create new air sacs in mouse model of emphysema using novel growth factor
Friday, February 15, 2013
In a study of mice, researchers at Johns Hopkins have identified a new molecular pathway involved in the growth of tiny air sacs called alveoli that are crucial for breathing. The scientists say their experiments may lead to the first successful treatments to regrow the air sacs in people who suffer from diseases such as emphysema in which the air sacs have been destroyed by years of smoking. The work may also suggest new therapy for premature infants born before their lungs are fully developed.
"One of the most daunting challenges we face as physicians is helping patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, such as emphysema, who have lost alveoli that are so crucial for lung function," says Enid Neptune, M.D., associate professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "Once those tiny air sacs are destroyed, there are no effective treatments to bring them back."
Neptune is the senior author of a study described in an article in the Feb. 14, 2014 issue of PLOS Genetics in which the researchers used hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) to regrow alveoli and restore lung structure in mice genetically engineered to develop a human-like form of emphysema. Theirs is believed to be the first study using HGF in mice with established emphysema.
Growth factors, such as HGF, have been used to promote wound healing. Neptune says previous studies had shown that HGF had a role in the functioning of alveoli, which enable lungs to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide and send oxygen into the bloodstream to nourish organs throughout the body. Reduction in the number or quality of the sacs seriously compromises breathing.
Even though they cannot be seen by the naked eye, tiny, spherical alveoli are covered with thin walls and have a blood supply. The researchers conducted experiments in mice with a genetically induced form of emphysema to see if HGF could stimulate the formation of alveoli.
One experiment involved adult mice with genetically induced emphysema. Half of the mice received HGF, delivered under the skin using a special pump for two weeks. The other half of the group received a placebo ? not the HGF. Another group of mice with healthy lungs, the "control" group, was divided in half to receive either HGF or a placebo.
"We found that the mice with emphysema, when given the HGF, developed a 17 percent improvement in the size of their air sacs compared to placebo-treated mice, consistent with improved lung structure and function. The HGF also was protective, preventing destruction of the alveoli by reducing the oxidative stress that contributes to lung injury," says Neptune. "In essence, the HGF was able to block a major enemy of the functioning alveoli."
In addition, the healthy mice that received HGF showed no difference in alveolar size. The mice with emphysema that were treated with a placebo did not show any improvement.
The researchers then wanted to see the effect of impaired HGF activity in young mice whose lungs were still forming. They created a mouse in which the HGF receptor, known as MET, was removed from the cells lining the alveoli. "Our idea was if HGF was performing this important role in alveoli formation, if we knocked out its receptor, known as MET, we should see damage to the alveoli," says Neptune.
As predicted, the air sacs in the developing mice without the HGF receptor did not form correctly. Also, the blood vessels serving the alveoli were reduced and there was an increase in both oxidative stress and inflammation. The researchers concluded that developing alveoli require both HGF and MET signaling in order to form normally.
"Our research is an important demonstration that a growth factor can be used as a drug for emphysema," Neptune says. "However, since HGF reduces cell death and promotes cell proliferation, we would have to be cautious about translating it to the smoking population where there's a higher risk of lung cancer." she adds. Neptune and others are pursuing research to be able to selectively activate the therapeutic and not the malignancy-inducing components of HGF signaling.
Emphysema is a form of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is the third-leading cause of death in the United States. An estimated 30 million Americans have COPD and about 60,000 people die from it each year. In addition to smoking, occupational exposure to harmful dust, fumes and smoke can also cause COPD.
Thanks to Johns Hopkins Medicine for this article.
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Updated: Thursday, February 14, 2013 7:00 PM
Posted: Thursday, February 14, 2013 11:43 AM
The Delaware Lottery has issued a request for proposal for its planned Internet gaming system.
A 2012 law aimed at making Delaware's three racetrack casinos more competitive in the Mid-Atlantic region centered on Internet casino games operated by the racetracks. It also expanded limited sports betting to restaurants and bars in the state and authorized keno.
The RFP was issued Jan. 31, with proposals due by March 15. Lottery officials said they want Internet gaming operating no later than Sept. 30 of this year.
The Delaware Lottery oversees video lottery terminals and table games at the three racetrack casinos: Delaware Park, Dover Downs Hotel & Casino, and Harrington Raceway & Casino. The agency will be solely responsible for selection of the primary vendor for Internet gaming, which under current laws will be limited to individuals in Delaware.
Each casino is expected to have its own "branded website," according to the RFP.
Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing in Delaware currently receive a cut of revenue from VLTs, table games, and sports betting. The 2012 law didn't include a dedicated percentage from Internet gaming, but the racing industry is negotiating with state officials and racetracks on a percentage.
Thoroughbred racing in the state receives 9% of VLT revenue, 4.5% from table games, and 9.6% of the sports betting take. Last year's law includes language that gives racing the same percentage from sports bets made at locations other than the three racetracks.
From August through December last year, the three tracks generated $1.3 million in net revenue from sports betting. Track commissions totaled $524,000, while purses earned $127,000 ($87,000 at Delaware Park).
Because of federal law, Delaware can offer only parlay bets on NFL games. It isn't permitted to offer betting on the Super Bowl, for example.
Internet gambling is a gray area, but the objective for Delaware and other states is to eventually offer bets across state lines. With a total population of less than one million, Delaware isn't expecting a windfall from online gaming.
The Delaware Lottery in its RFP includes "revenue assumptions" for online gaming but tells potential vendors the information shouldn't be used as a projection based on numerous factors. The annual revenue assumptions are $7.7 million from VLTs, $7.7 million from table games, $5.5 million from poker, and $1.1 million from bingo?for a total of $22 million.
Neighboring New Jersey is expected to soon pass legislation authorizing the Atlantic City casinos to offer online gaming, though it appears Delaware will offer it first. There currently are no provisions for horse racing to benefit from online gaming hosted by the casinos.
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It's safe to say the Android folk account for a pretty good chunk of Foursquare's hefty user base, so it's only logical for the social firm to often bring more and more new features to the highly-rated app. As such, today Foursquare announced it has added a few additional tidbits to its Android offering, including a couple which are bound to make it simpler for users of the service to find nearby spots and friends via the application's main map. What's more, Foursquare's moved the "To-Do List" feature over to the app's left drawer for easier access, while the essential "Check In" button also has a new home on that same side but toward the bottom corner. It's worth noting that despite the latest version being live right now, Foursquare says these changes will be rolling out "over the next few weeks" -- in other words, fret not if you're not seeing the novelties show up just yet, as they're sure to be coming very soon.
Contact: Joan Robinson joan.robinson@springer.com 49-622-148-78130 Springer
Dogs recognize the dog species among several other species on a computer screen
Dogs pick out faces of other dogs, irrespective of breeds, among human and other domestic and wild animal faces and can group them into a category of their own. They do that using visual cues alone, according to new research by Dr. Dominique Autier-Drian from the LEEC and National Veterinary School in Lyon in France and colleagues. Their work, the first to test dogs' ability to discriminate between species and form a "dog" category in spite of the huge variability within the dog species, is published online in Springer's journal Animal Cognition.
Individuals from the same species get together for social life. These gatherings require recognition of similarities between individuals who belong to the same species and to a certain group. Research to date has shown that in some species, individuals recognize more easily, or are more attracted by images of, individuals belonging to their own species than those belonging to another species.
Autier-Derian and team studied this phenomenon among domestic dogs, which have the largest morphological variety among all animal species. Indeed, more than 400 pure breeds of dogs have been registered. The authors explored whether this large morphological diversity presented a cognitive challenge to dogs trying to recognize their species, when confronted with other species, using visual cues alone.
On a computer screen, the researchers showed nine pet dogs pictures of faces from various dog breeds and cross-breeds, and simultaneously faces of other animal species, including human faces. They exposed the dogs to diverse stimuli: images of dog faces; images of non-dog species from 40 different species, including domestic and wild animals; and humans. Overall, the dogs were shown more than 144 pairs of pictures to select from. The authors observed whether the nine dogs could discriminate any type of dog from other species, and could group all dogs together, whatever their breed, into a single category.
The results suggest that dogs can form a visual category of dog faces and group pictures of very different dogs into a single category, despite the diversity in dog breeds. Indeed, all nine dogs were able to group all the images of dogs within the same category.
The authors conclude: "The fact that dogs are able to recognize their own species visually, and that they have great olfactory discriminative capacities, insures that social behavior and mating between different breeds is still potentially possible. Although humans have stretched the Canis familiaris species to its morphological limits, its biological entity has been preserved."
###
Reference
Autier-Drian D et al (2013). Visual discrimination of species in dogs. Animal Cognition; DOI 10.1007/s10071-013-0600-8
The full-text article is available to journalists on request. Illustrations of the experiment are also available.
[ | 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.
Contact: Joan Robinson joan.robinson@springer.com 49-622-148-78130 Springer
Dogs recognize the dog species among several other species on a computer screen
Dogs pick out faces of other dogs, irrespective of breeds, among human and other domestic and wild animal faces and can group them into a category of their own. They do that using visual cues alone, according to new research by Dr. Dominique Autier-Drian from the LEEC and National Veterinary School in Lyon in France and colleagues. Their work, the first to test dogs' ability to discriminate between species and form a "dog" category in spite of the huge variability within the dog species, is published online in Springer's journal Animal Cognition.
Individuals from the same species get together for social life. These gatherings require recognition of similarities between individuals who belong to the same species and to a certain group. Research to date has shown that in some species, individuals recognize more easily, or are more attracted by images of, individuals belonging to their own species than those belonging to another species.
Autier-Derian and team studied this phenomenon among domestic dogs, which have the largest morphological variety among all animal species. Indeed, more than 400 pure breeds of dogs have been registered. The authors explored whether this large morphological diversity presented a cognitive challenge to dogs trying to recognize their species, when confronted with other species, using visual cues alone.
On a computer screen, the researchers showed nine pet dogs pictures of faces from various dog breeds and cross-breeds, and simultaneously faces of other animal species, including human faces. They exposed the dogs to diverse stimuli: images of dog faces; images of non-dog species from 40 different species, including domestic and wild animals; and humans. Overall, the dogs were shown more than 144 pairs of pictures to select from. The authors observed whether the nine dogs could discriminate any type of dog from other species, and could group all dogs together, whatever their breed, into a single category.
The results suggest that dogs can form a visual category of dog faces and group pictures of very different dogs into a single category, despite the diversity in dog breeds. Indeed, all nine dogs were able to group all the images of dogs within the same category.
The authors conclude: "The fact that dogs are able to recognize their own species visually, and that they have great olfactory discriminative capacities, insures that social behavior and mating between different breeds is still potentially possible. Although humans have stretched the Canis familiaris species to its morphological limits, its biological entity has been preserved."
###
Reference
Autier-Drian D et al (2013). Visual discrimination of species in dogs. Animal Cognition; DOI 10.1007/s10071-013-0600-8
The full-text article is available to journalists on request. Illustrations of the experiment are also available.
[ | 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.
Tampa, Florida -- After pushing for four years, a student group's plan to limit smoking to designated areas at the University of Tampa has been approved.
You can leave your tape measure at home if you're a smoker heading onto campus at UT in Hyde Park this Fall.
The private college's existing smoking policy -- which was not strictly enforced -- had allowed smoking only outside and only 25 feet from doors and windows.
Starting in August, there will be no measuring; smokers will have to head to one of four smoking zones spread across the campus.
Smokers will now be isolated at the school, but the university itself will be less isolated as it joins a growing nationwide trend of learning institutions that are outlawing or sharply limiting tobacco use.
More than 1,000 American colleges and universities have completely banned smoking on their campuses, according to the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation.
That number includes 35 college campuses in Florida. Hillsborough Community College's five campuses and three satellite locations joined that list by going 100 percent tobacco-free on January 1st of this year.
Several more Florida schools have established limited smoking areas, including the University of South Florida. When it implemented the smoking zones about a year ago, USF gave three main reasons:
- Reduce the risk of secondhand smoke and its health risks to members of the USF community. - Promote overall wellness for the USF community. - Create a more attractive campus by containing the waste from smoking products to manageable areas."
The?student group Breathe-Easy UT started pushing for a new policy at the University of Tampa four years ago.
That means by the time school administrators approved the group's proposal this week to limit smoking, some of the early leaders of the movement had already graduated.
Anyone caught smoking won't face direct punishment, according to UT leaders quoted by the Minaret school newspaper.
Instead, specially trained students and staff will hand over a map of the smoking areas on campus and steer the smoker toward the nearest one.
On Feb. 15 1989, ?The Million Dollar Man? Ted DiBiase unveiled the most expensive wrestling championship ever created. The Million Dollar Title, so named for the seven figures worth of diamonds intricately woven into its fa?ade, became an integral part of the millionaire?s persona. The championship has come and gone from WWE TV in the 24 years since it debuted with wavering interest from the WWE Universe, but urban legends surrounding the title remain. Was it made from real gold? Was it actually worth a million dollars?
(VIEW PHOTO GALLERY |?WATCH VIDEO PLAYLIST)
To find out, WWEClassics.com went to one of the most despised Superstars in the history of sports-entertainment ? ?The Million Dollar Man.??Introduced to WWE fans through a series of vignettes, the snide aristocrat bought out a public swimming pool (WATCH) and booted a honeymoon couple from their hotel suite, all by virtue of his tremendous cash flow. (MORE ?THE MILLION DOLLAR MAN?)
?The first time I walked out into an arena, the people were booing me out of the building,? DiBiase recalled.
From the beginning, it seemed inevitable that ?The Million Dollar Man?s??talent and infinite resources would lead him to the WWE Championship. And that almost happened at The Main Event on Feb. 5, 1988. The show featured a massive WrestleMania III rematch that saw Andre the Giant shockingly defeat Hulk Hogan for the WWE Championship. (WATCH)
?It was the first time wrestling aired live on national network television since the ?50s,? DiBiase explained. ?It was a big deal. I had boasted I was going to prove to the world that there wasn?t anything I couldn?t buy, including the title, because I had hired Andre and he sold me the title.?
But WWE President Jack Tunney voided the transaction, declared the title to be vacant and arranged an unprecedented tournament at WrestleMania IV to crown a new champion. Once again, DiBiase?s presumed victory seemed like a foregone conclusion.
?The thought was I would somehow win that tournament and be the WWE Champion and then have a rivalry with Hogan,? DiBiase revealed.
But it didn?t go down that way. Instead, he succumbed to Randy Savage?in the final, paving the way for the rise of the ?Macho Man.? (WATCH FULL MATCH) Although frustrated with the outcome, ?The Million Dollar Man??spoke with WWE official Pat Patterson soon after the event, who suggested he set his sights on a different kind of championship. ?You just come out and say, ?Y?know what? I don?t need your stinkin? title. I?m going to create my own. A title that?s beautiful, worth more money than the WWE Title and declare myself the champion.? ? DiBiase said of Patterson?s instructions. ?And as history has shown us, it did exactly what it was meant to do. It took me to the next level.?
A series of visits by DiBiase to Betteridge Jewelers in Greenwich, Conn., were presented on WWE television, showing ?The Million Dollar Man??demanding a custom-made title, checking on its progress and showing off the final product.
(WATCH:?PART 1 |?PART 2 | PART 3)
?Terry Betteridge is legitimately a world-renowned gemologist. That jewelry store is the place to go in Greenwich. You don?t go there if you?re looking to buy a Timex watch,? DiBiase said with one of his signature cackles.
The beautiful, golden title perfectly fit the first-class lifestyle of WWE?s wealthiest Superstar, but its actual value has long inspired debate among WWE fans. Was it actually worth $1 million? Or even a $100,000?
An artist's conception of Friday's flyby of asteroid 2012 DA14.
By Stephanie Pappas LiveScience
On Friday, an asteroid half the length of a football field will buzz close by Earth. It won't hit the planet, but if it did, the collision would create an impact large enough to level 80 million trees ? or the entire city of Washington, D.C., and its suburbs.
Scientists know this because an impact by an object the size of Friday's flyby asteroid has happened in human memory. In 1908, a 220-million-pound (100-million-kilogram) hunk of meteoroid or comet fragment hurtled into the atmosphere over Tunguska, Siberia, setting the sky ablaze and releasing the same amount of energy as 185 Hiroshima bombs.
Fortunately, the impact occurred over remote, forested land, taking the lives of hundreds of reindeer but no humans. At about 130 feet (40 meters) in diameter, the Tunguska space rock is similar in size to 2012 DA14, the asteroid en route for a Friday flyby, which is estimated to be about 150 feet (45 m). For comparison, that's about the size of the White House, said Mark Boslough, a physicist at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico who has used computer modeling to re-create the Tunguska impact.
Public domain
Flattened trees from the Tunguska event photographed by the Leonid Kulik expedition in 1927.
Asteroid 2012 DA14 will approach as close as 17,200 miles (27,700 kilometers) from Earth at about 2:24 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Friday, the closest-ever predicted flyby for an object this large. The approach isn't close enough to threaten Earth, though it will pass within the zone where satellites are orbiting. Siberia in 1908 wasn't so lucky.
Fire in the sky A little after 7 a.m. local time on June 30, 1908, a man sitting in a chair at the Vanavara trading post in Siberia was violently thrown from his seat. The sky "split in two," the man later told a visiting scientist, and was "covered with fire." [Top 10 Greatest Explosions Ever]
Although he was 40 miles (64 km) from the scene of the impact, the man felt so much heat that he thought his shirt was on fire, according to NASA. Other eyewitnesses reported explosive sounds like artillery fire.
NASA
This graphic shows 2012 DA14's path past Earth
The Tunguska meteoroid likely entered the atmosphere at speeds of?33,500?miles per hour (539,130 km/h), NASA reports. There is no impact crater, because the pressure and heat caused by this screaming entry caused the space rock to explode. The blast leveled an area of about 800 square miles (1,287 square km).
Scientists visiting the site could tell exactly where the Tunguska meteoroid broke up, because the blast flattened trees in a radial pattern, like tire spokes emanating out from ground zero.
Piecing together Tunguska It wasn't until 1927 that a research expedition reached the remote site of the blast. Led by Leonid Kulik, the curator for the meteorite collection at the St. Petersburg Museum, the scientists found that at the center of the impact zone, trees remained standing ? but had been stripped of all branches and bark, a sign of an extremely fast shock wave.
The damage was so extensive that scientists originally thought that the Tunguska object was much larger than now believed, Boslough told LiveScience. Boslough's best estimate is 130 feet (40 m) in diameter, possibly as small as 98 feet (30 m) or as large as 164 feet (50 m).
"As we understood impacts and air bursts better and better, the size kept shrinking," he said.
That's because asteroid impacts were originally thought of as similar to nuclear bomb explosions. But nuclear bomb blasts explode outward in all directions, while space objects hurtling toward Earth carry their energy in a single direction.
"There's an energy concentration directly below the airburst, below the asteroid explosion, that doesn't exist for a nuclear explosion," Boslough said.
Because there were only a few witnesses to Tunguska and no scientific expedition to the area until 19 years after the fact, researchers have had to apply the lessons of later planetary impacts to unravel the mysteries of the 1908 event. The collision of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter?in 1994 helped elucidate Tunguska, for example, Boslough said.
Asteroid 2012 DA14, the space rock that will pass by Earth Friday, is in no danger of hitting the planet. But if it did, the damage would be extensive, Boslough said, with the White House-sized asteroid capable of snuffing out the entire Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. [See Photos of Asteroid 2012 DA14]
Such impacts are estimated to occur on Earth every 1,000 to 2,000 years, Boslough said. But because the comets break up in the air and leave no impact crater, their tracks are hard to see. Forest has again sprung up over the Tunguska impact site, said Boslough, who has visited the area.
"If I didn't know that something had happened because of historical records, I would never suspect that anything had happened there," he said.
Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas?or LiveScience @livescience. We're also on Facebook? and?Google+.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Nature Methods study: Using light to control cell clusteringPublic release date: 12-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael mullaney mullam@rpi.edu 518-276-6161 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
New study advances leading-edge field of optogenetics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and UC Berkeley
Troy, N.Y. A new study from engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of California, Berkeley, pairs light and genetics to give researchers a powerful new tool for manipulating cells. Results of the study, published in the journal Nature Methods, show how blue light can be used as a switch to prompt targeted proteins to accumulate into large clusters.
This process of clustering, or oligomerization, is commonly employed by nature to turn on or turn off specific signaling pathways used in cells' complex system of communications. The new study details how this process can be replicated with great precision, giving researchers new capabilities to control and influence the process of oligomerization and cell signaling.
Ravi Kane, the P.K. Lashmet Professor in the Howard P. Isermann Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and faculty member of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies at Rensselaer, co-led the study with Professor David Schaffer of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the UC Berkeley. This study was made possible with support from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Science.
"Our study shows a new use for using energy, in this case light, as a tool to understand and control cellular function. In this study, we demonstrated a new method for turning specific cell signaling pathways on and off with spatial and temporal precision, and use this to help better understand the dynamics of the pathway. At the same time, our technique can be used to control certain cell functions," Kane and Schaffer said.
Looking ahead, Kane said, it is possible the new process may also one day be able to help optimize cellular function and produce products of interest to energy production, such as biofuels.
Results of the study, titled "Optogenetic protein clustering and signaling activation in mammalian cells," were published online last week by Nature Methods and will appear in a future print edition of the journal. The study may be viewed online at: http://go.nature.com/jPqpHa
Light is an attractive tool to manipulate oligomerization, Kane said, because of three properties: most biological cells do not normally react or respond to light; light is easy to make; and researchers can easily control light properties including its color and intensity. In this new study, the research team shined blue light onto cells containing a bioengineered protein, and by doing so they were able to activate cell signaling more effectively than they could using the natural ligand Wnt3a. This protein clustering induced by shining light was reversibleupon removing the blue light, the cluster broke up within a few minutes. The researchers also demonstrated how to use this modular technique to cluster proteins that control cell shape.
"The new process can be applied to many different types of proteins, signaling pathways, and cells," said study co-author Lukasz Bugaj, graduate student at UC Berkeley. The research team plans to continue investigating new ways of controlling different aspects of cells and cellular function with light.
###
Along with Kane, Schaffer, and Bugaj, co-authors of the paper are UC Berkeley graduate student Colin Mesuda and research assistant Atri Choksi.
For more information on Kane and his research at Rensselaer, visit:
Contact
Michael Mullaney
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY
518-276-6161
mullam@rpi.edu
www.rpi.edu/news
Visit the Rensselaer research and discovery blog: http://approach.rpi.edu
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RPInews
[ | 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.
Nature Methods study: Using light to control cell clusteringPublic release date: 12-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael mullaney mullam@rpi.edu 518-276-6161 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
New study advances leading-edge field of optogenetics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and UC Berkeley
Troy, N.Y. A new study from engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of California, Berkeley, pairs light and genetics to give researchers a powerful new tool for manipulating cells. Results of the study, published in the journal Nature Methods, show how blue light can be used as a switch to prompt targeted proteins to accumulate into large clusters.
This process of clustering, or oligomerization, is commonly employed by nature to turn on or turn off specific signaling pathways used in cells' complex system of communications. The new study details how this process can be replicated with great precision, giving researchers new capabilities to control and influence the process of oligomerization and cell signaling.
Ravi Kane, the P.K. Lashmet Professor in the Howard P. Isermann Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and faculty member of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies at Rensselaer, co-led the study with Professor David Schaffer of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the UC Berkeley. This study was made possible with support from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Science.
"Our study shows a new use for using energy, in this case light, as a tool to understand and control cellular function. In this study, we demonstrated a new method for turning specific cell signaling pathways on and off with spatial and temporal precision, and use this to help better understand the dynamics of the pathway. At the same time, our technique can be used to control certain cell functions," Kane and Schaffer said.
Looking ahead, Kane said, it is possible the new process may also one day be able to help optimize cellular function and produce products of interest to energy production, such as biofuels.
Results of the study, titled "Optogenetic protein clustering and signaling activation in mammalian cells," were published online last week by Nature Methods and will appear in a future print edition of the journal. The study may be viewed online at: http://go.nature.com/jPqpHa
Light is an attractive tool to manipulate oligomerization, Kane said, because of three properties: most biological cells do not normally react or respond to light; light is easy to make; and researchers can easily control light properties including its color and intensity. In this new study, the research team shined blue light onto cells containing a bioengineered protein, and by doing so they were able to activate cell signaling more effectively than they could using the natural ligand Wnt3a. This protein clustering induced by shining light was reversibleupon removing the blue light, the cluster broke up within a few minutes. The researchers also demonstrated how to use this modular technique to cluster proteins that control cell shape.
"The new process can be applied to many different types of proteins, signaling pathways, and cells," said study co-author Lukasz Bugaj, graduate student at UC Berkeley. The research team plans to continue investigating new ways of controlling different aspects of cells and cellular function with light.
###
Along with Kane, Schaffer, and Bugaj, co-authors of the paper are UC Berkeley graduate student Colin Mesuda and research assistant Atri Choksi.
For more information on Kane and his research at Rensselaer, visit:
Contact
Michael Mullaney
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY
518-276-6161
mullam@rpi.edu
www.rpi.edu/news
Visit the Rensselaer research and discovery blog: http://approach.rpi.edu
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RPInews
[ | 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.
The personal injury attorneys at The Deratany Firm have added a brand new feature to their ever expanding blog. As of Monday February 18, 2013 The Deratany Firm blog has a new daily series called ?Chicago Personal Injury News Brief.?
MODERATE STRENGTH SANTA ANA WIND EVENT THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING
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Public release date: 14-Feb-2013
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