A panel of well-known scientists, intellectuals and writers will discuss the stories behind cutting-edge science, as well as the importance of conveying science to the public at an event set for March 30
By The Editors
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Watch a live stream below of an event, "The Science of Storytelling and the Storytelling of Science." The event, set for 10 pm EDT on Saturday, March 30,?will feature popular science educator Bill Nye, Hayden Planetarium astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, theoretical physicist Brian Breene, Science Friday's Ira Flatow, science fiction writer Neal Stephenson, World Science Festival Executive Director Tracy Day and Lawrence Krauss, director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University (ASU).?
The panelists will discuss stories behind the science of the origin of the universe as well as technologies that will change our future. Other topics will include the importance of public understanding of science and how to convey the excitement of science. The event is the final night in the Origins Stories Weekend, part of the Origins Project at ASU.?
Get the most recent updates from the Origins Project by following it on Twitter (@asuORIGINS) and Facebook (/ASUOriginsProject). The Twitter hashtag for the event is #OriginsStories.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Big business and labor have struck a deal on a new low-skilled worker program, removing the biggest hurdle to completion of sweeping immigration legislation allowing 11 million illegal immigrants eventual U.S. citizenship, a person with knowledge of the talks said Saturday.
The agreement was reached in a phone call late Friday night with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, U.S. Chamber of Commerce head Tom Donohue, and Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who's been mediating the dispute.
The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement, said the deal resolves disagreements over wages for the new workers and which industries would be included. Those disputes had led talks to break down a week ago, throwing into doubt whether Schumer and seven other senators crafting a comprehensive bipartisan immigration bill would be able to complete their work as planned.
The deal must still be signed off on by the other senators working with Schumer, including Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Marco Rubio of Florida, but that's expected to happen. With the agreement in place, the senators are expected to unveil their legislation the week of April 8. Their measure would secure the border, crack down on employers, improve legal immigration and create a 13-year pathway to citizenship for the millions of illegal immigrants already here.
It's a major second-term priority of President Barack Obama's and would usher in the most dramatic changes to the nation's faltering immigration system in more than two decades.
The AFL-CIO and the Chamber, longtime antagonists over temporary worker programs, had been fighting over wages for tens of thousands of low-skilled workers who would be brought in under the new program to fill jobs in construction, hotels and resorts, nursing homes and restaurants, and other industries.
Under the agreement, a new "W'' visa program would go into effect beginning April 1, 2015, according to another official involved with the talks who also spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement.
In year one of the program, 20,000 workers would be allowed in; in year two, 35,000; in year three, 55,000; and in year four, 75,000. Ultimately the program would be capped at 200,000 workers a year, but the number of visas would fluctuate, depending on unemployment rates, job openings, employer demand and data collected by a new federal bureau pushed by the labor movement as an objective monitor of the market.
A "safety valve" would allow employers to exceed the cap if they can show need and pay premium wages, but any additional workers brought in would be subtracted from the following year's cap, the official said.
The workers could move from employer to employer and would be able to petition for permanent residency and ultimately seek U.S. citizenship. Neither is possible for temporary workers now.
The new program would fill needs employers say they have that are not currently met by U.S. immigration programs. Most industries don't have a good way to hire a steady supply of foreign workers because there's one temporary visa program for low-wage nonagricultural workers but it's capped at 66,000 visas per year and is only supposed to be used for seasonal or temporary jobs.
The AFL-CIO and the Chamber have long been at odds over temporary worker programs, which business has sought in a quest for a cheaper workforce but labor has opposed because of concerns over working conditions and the effect on jobs and wages for U.S. workers. The issue helped sink the last major attempt at immigration overhaul in 2007, which the AFL-CIO opposed partly because of temporary worker provisions, and the flare-up earlier this month sparked concerns that the same thing would happen this time around. Agreement between the two traditional foes is one of many indications that immigration reform has its best chance in decades in Congress this year.
After apparent miscommunications earlier this month between the AFL-CIO and the Chamber on the wage issue, the deal resolves it in a way both sides are comfortable with, officials said.
Workers would earn actual wages paid to American workers or the prevailing wages for the industry they're working in, whichever is higher. The Labor Department would determine prevailing wage based on customary rates in specific localities, so that it would vary from city to city.
There also had been disagreement on how to handle the construction industry, which unions argue is different from other industries in the new program because it can be more seasonal in nature and includes a number of higher-skilled trades. The official said the resolution will cap at 15,000 a year the number of visas that can be sought by the construction industry.
Separately, the new immigration bill also is expected to offer many more visas for high-tech workers, new visas for agriculture workers, and provisions allowing some agriculture workers already in the U.S. a speedier path to citizenship than that provided to other illegal immigrants, in an effort to create a stable agricultural workforce.
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Follow Erica Werner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericawerner
SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea put its missile units on standby on Friday to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed off on the order at a midnight meeting of top generals and "judged the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation", the official KCNA news agency said.
KCNA said North Korea and the United States could only settle their differences by "physical means". The North has an arsenal of Soviet-era short-range Scud missiles that can hit South Korea but its longer-range Nodong and Musudan missiles, which could in theory hit U.S. Pacific bases, are untested.
China, the North's sole major ally, repeated its calls for restraint on the Korean peninsula at a regular Foreign Ministry briefing and made no criticism of the U.S. flights.
"We hope that relevant parties will work together in pushing for a turnaround of the tense situation," ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.
Tension has been high since North Korea conducted a third nuclear weapons test in February in breach of U.N. sanctions and despite warnings from China for it not to do so.
Russia's foreign minister implicitly criticized the U.S. bomber flights.
"We are concerned that alongside the adequate, collective reaction of the U.N. Security Council, unilateral action is being taken around North Korea that is increasing military activity," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"The situation could simply get out of control, it is slipping toward the spiral of a vicious cycle," Lavrov told reporters in Moscow when asked about the situation.
He called for efforts to get stalled six-party talks on North Korea going again. The talks have involved the two Koreas, the United States, Russia, China and Japan.
THREATS
On Thursday, the United States flew two radar-evading B-2 Spirit bombers on practice runs over South Korea, responding to a series of North Korean threats. They flew from the United States and back in what appeared to be the first exercise of its kind, designed to show America's ability to conduct long-range, precision strikes "quickly and at will", the U.S. military said.
The news of Kim's response was unusually swift.
"He finally signed the plan on technical preparations of strategic rockets of the KPA (Korean People's Army), ordering them to be on standby for fire so that they may strike any time the U.S. mainland, its military bases in the operational theatres in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in South Korea," KCNA said.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported there had been additional troop and vehicle movements at the North's mid- and long-range missile sites, indicating they may be ready to fire.
It was impossible to verify the report which did not specify a time frame. South Korea's Defense Ministry said it was watching shorter-range Scud missile sites closely as well as Nodong and Musudan missile batteries.
The North has launched a daily barrage of threats since early this month when the United States and the South, allies in the 1950-53 Korean War, began regular military drills.
The South and the United States have said the drills are purely defensive and that no incident has taken place in the decades they have been conducted in various forms.
The United States also flew B-52 bombers over South Korea earlier this week.
The North has put its military on highest readiness to fight what it says are hostile forces conducting war drills. Its young leader has previously given "final orders" for its military to wage revolutionary war with the South.
Despite the hostile rhetoric from the North, it has kept open a joint economic zone with the South which generates $2 billion a year in trade - money the impoverished state can ill-afford to lose.
"VERY DANGEROUS"
North Korea has cancelled an armistice agreement with the United States that ended the Korean War and cut all communications hotlines with U.S. forces, the United Nations and South Korea.
"The North Koreans have to understand that what they're doing is very dangerous," U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon on Thursday.
"We must make clear that these provocations by the North are taken by us very seriously and we'll respond to that."
The U.S. military said that its B-2 bombers had flown more than 6,500 miles to stage a trial bombing raid from their bases in Missouri as part of the Foal Eagle war drills being held with South Korea.
The bombers dropped inert munitions on the Jik Do Range, in South Korea, and then returned to the continental United States in a single, continuous mission, the military said.
It was the first time B-2s flew round-trip from the mainland United States over South Korea and dropped inert munitions, a Pentagon spokeswoman said.
Victor Cha, a North Korea expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the drill fitted within the context of ramped-up efforts by the Pentagon to deter the North from acting upon any of its threats.
Asked whether he thought the latest moves could further aggravate tension, Cha, a former White House official, said: "I don't think the situation can get any more aggravated than it already is."
South Korea denied suggestions that the bomber drills contained an implicit threat of attack on the North.
"There is no entity on the earth who will strike an attack on North Korea or expressed their wishes to do so," said a spokesman for the South's Unification Ministry, which deals with North Korea.
Few believe North Korea will risk starting a full-out war.
Still, Hagel, who on March 15 announced he was bolstering missile defenses over the growing North Korea threat, said all of the actions by the North had to be taken seriously.
"Their very provocative actions and belligerent tone, it has ratcheted up the danger and we have to understand that reality," Hagel said, renewing a warning that the U.S. military was ready for "any eventuality" on the peninsula.
(Additional reporting by David Alexander in Washington, Sui-Lee Wee in Beijing and Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Robert Birsel)
Antidepressants are commonly prescribed for the treatment of depression, but many individuals do not experience symptom relief from treatment. The National Institute of Mental Health's STAR*D study, the largest and longest study ever conducted to evaluate depression treatment, found that only approximately one-third of patients responded within their initial medication trial and approximately one-third of patients did not have an adequate clinical response after being treated with several different medications. Thus, identifying predictors of antidepressant response could help to guide the treatment of this disorder.
A new study published in Biological Psychiatry now shares progress in identifying genomic predictors of antidepressant response.
Many previous studies have searched for genetic markers that may predict antidepressant response, but have done so despite not knowing the contribution of genetic factors. Dr. Katherine Tansey of Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London and colleagues resolved to answer that question.
"Our study quantified, for the first time, how much is response to antidepressant medication influenced by an individual's genetic make-up," said Tansey.
To perform this work, the researchers estimated the magnitude of the influence of common genetic variants on antidepressant response using a sample of 2,799 antidepressant-treated subjects with major depressive disorder and genome-wide genotyping data.
They found that genetic variants explain 42% of individual differences, and therefore, significantly influence antidepressant response.
"While we know that there are no genetic markers with strong effect, this means that there are many genetic markers involved. While each specific genetic marker may have a small effect, they may add up to make a meaningful prediction," Tansey added.
"We have a very long way to go to identify genetic markers that can usefully guide the treatment of depression. There are two critical challenges to this process," said Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry. "First, we need to have genomic markers that strongly predict response or non-response to available treatments. Second, markers for non-response to available treatments also need to predict response to an alternative treatment. Both of these conditions need to be present for markers of non-response to guide personalized treatments of depression."
"Although the Tansey et al. study represents progress, it is clear that we face enormous challenges with regards to both objectives," he added. "For example, it does not yet appear that having a less favorable genomic profile is a sufficiently strong negative predictor of response to justify withholding antidepressant treatment. Similarly, there is lack of clarity as to how to optimally treat patients who might have less favorable genomic profile."
Additional research is certainly required, but scientists hope that one day, results such as these can lead to personalized treatment for depression.
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Elsevier: http://www.elsevier.com
Thanks to Elsevier for this article.
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FRESNO, Calif. (AP) ? A 7-foot-long boa constrictor, two ball pythons and a monitor lizard were stolen from a Central California science museum by a man who was caught on camera throwing the reptiles into a plastic trash bag.
Workers at the Discovery Center in Fresno discovered the theft Thursday morning, the center's director, Mary Ellen Wright, told the Fresno Bee (http://bit.ly/Yk5G8m). The unidentified suspect apparently broke in overnight, smashing the tanks that held the reptiles.
Surveillance video showed the man putting four reptiles into a garbage bag: the red-tailed boa constrictor, two 3-foot-long pythons and a 3 1/2-foot savannah monitor lizard. The suspect also went into the center's gift shop and took children's toys, the phone system and the security monitor, the Bee reported.
Wright said the reptiles ? worth hundreds of dollars ? are mortal enemies, and she is worried about their conditions.
"It would be like throwing two pit bulls in a locked room," she said.
Wright said the animals also could injure the thief. The monitor lizard has sharp, 2-inch claws.
Police are looking at the video, according to the Bee. A call to a Fresno police spokesman Friday was not immediately returned.
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Information from: The Fresno Bee, http://www.fresnobee.com
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) ? A 7-foot-long boa constrictor, two ball pythons and a monitor lizard were stolen from a Central California science museum by a man who was caught on camera throwing the reptiles into a plastic trash bag.
Workers at the Discovery Center in Fresno discovered the theft Thursday morning, the center's director, Mary Ellen Wright, told the Fresno Bee (http://bit.ly/Yk5G8m). The unidentified suspect apparently broke in overnight, smashing the tanks that held the reptiles.
Surveillance video showed the man putting four reptiles into a garbage bag: the red-tailed boa constrictor, two 3-foot-long pythons and a 3 1/2-foot savannah monitor lizard. The suspect also went into the center's gift shop and took children's toys, the phone system and the security monitor, the Bee reported.
Wright said the reptiles ? worth hundreds of dollars ? are mortal enemies, and she is worried about their conditions.
"It would be like throwing two pit bulls in a locked room," she said.
Wright said the animals also could injure the thief. The monitor lizard has sharp, 2-inch claws.
Police are looking at the video, according to the Bee. A call to a Fresno police spokesman Friday was not immediately returned.
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Information from: The Fresno Bee, http://www.fresnobee.com
(Reuters) - Chevron Corp said on Wednesday its executive pay would reflect certain incidents in 2012 as well as a financial performance that outpaced the U.S. oil company's peer group.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Chevron's board has trimmed equity awards by 11 percent and bonuses by at least 10 percent for Chief Executive John Watson and several other executives as a result of a string of accidents.
A Chevron spokesman declined to comment beyond the statement, which said that despite the company's strong overall performance, it had some "operating incidents" during 2012.
"These incidents were reflected in Mr. Watson's and other senior executives' compensation awards," the statement said.
Just a few months after an oil leak off Brazil in late 2011, a fire burned for weeks at a Chevron well off the coast of Nigeria in early 2012.
Then there was the fire at Chevron's oldest refinery in Richmond, California, which led to damage that has kept the plant operating at reduced capacity for more than six months.
"The board's compensation actions reflect the fact that Chevron takes management accountability seriously," the company said. "Our leadership understands that there are consequences when it doesn't meet expectations, especially in areas as critical as process safety."
Watson earned total compensation of $24.7 million in 2011, including $5.1 million in stock, $7.2 million in option awards and $4 million in non-equity incentives, according to a filing last April with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The equivalent filing for 2012 is due from Chevron in the next few weeks.
(Reporting by Braden Reddall in San Francisco; Editing by Richard Chang)
The latest version of iOS is reportedly creating problems for a number of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users. Apple (AAPL) released iOS version 6.1.3 earlier this month to fix a recent vulnerability that allowed unauthorized users to bypass a device?s lock screen ??an issue that is ongoing. To make matters worse, some users are now reporting that the?latest update is causing the battery to drain faster than before while also hurting Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. According to CNET, normal fixes such as restoring the device to its factory settings seem to be unsuccessful in resolving the problem. Battery life issues are not uncommon after iOS updates, as users previously reported similar problems with iOS version 6.1 in February.
The defense for James Holmes, accused of killing 12 during a mass shooting in July at a movie theater in Colorado, has a guilty plea on the table, if prosecutors agree not to seek the death penalty.
By Allison Terry,?Correspondent / March 28, 2013
James Holmes sits with defense attorney Tamara Brady during his arraignment in district court in Centennial, Colo., on March 12. On Wednesday, Holmes's defense attorneys revealed that the Colorado theater shooting suspect has offered to plead guilty and serve out his life in prison if prosecutors agree to not pursue the death penalty.
RJ Sangost/Denver Post/AP
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James Holmes, the suspect in last summer's movie theater shooting in Colorado, has offered to plead guilty and serve life without parole but only if prosecutors do not seek the death penalty.
Skip to next paragraph Allison Terry
Allison Terry works on national news desk for the Christian Science Monitor. She previously worked on the cover page desk and contributes to the culture section of the Monitor.
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Mr. Holmes's defense lawyers said their client is ?willing to resolve the case to bring the proceedings to a speedy and definite conclusion for all involved,? in a routine scheduling document filed with the Arapahoe County District Court Wednesday.
The defendant faces 166 counts of murder, attempted murder, and other offenses. He is accused of killing 12 people and wounding 58 others when he opened fire in during a midnight showing of ?The Dark Knight Rises? in Aurora, Colo., on July 20.
The court document said Holmes made his plea offer to the prosecution before his March 12 arraignment, but prosecutors have not responded to the offer because they may still opt to pursue the death penalty. By making Holmes?s plea public, his defense attorneys are increasing the pressure on the prosecutors to make a decision. Currently, the prosecution is set to announce a decision Monday.
?If the prosecution elects not to pursue the death penalty, then it is Mr. Holmes? position that this case could be resolved on April 1,? the lawyers said in the document.
By accepting the plea agreement, the prosecution could avoid years of drawn-out court battles that could be emotionally stressful for victims. The trial is currently set for Aug. 5 and is scheduled to last four weeks, but the defense said in the filing that the trial would actually last much longer because of the large number of charges.
?Holmes can?t offer any more than he is offering,? Dan Recht, a Denver defense attorney who has been following the case, told the Denver Post. ?The choice for the prosecution could not be clearer.?
Prosecutors will talk to victims? families and survivors before announcing whether they will accept the plea. So far, members of that group appear to be divided about what should be done in the case.
?I don?t see his death bringing me peace,? Pierce O?Farrill, who was shot three times during the attack, told the Associated Press. ?To me, my prayer for him was that he would spend the rest of his life in prison and hopefully, in all those years he has left, he could find God and ask for forgiveness himself.?
Dave Hoover, whose nephew A.J. Boik was killed in the theater attack, has mixed feelings about any potential plea deal, he said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times Wednesday.
?I loved my nephew dearly and we miss him every single day. I?m in favor of the death penalty and I?d like to see it in this case, but I?m not in favor of dragging this thing out. If it was over today, it would alleviate a lot of the pain and suffering,? Mr. Hoover said.
Other families are resolute in seeking the death penalty.
?He didn?t give 12 people the chance to plea bargain and say, ?Let?s see if you?re going to shoot me or not,? ? said Melisa Cowden, whose ex-husband was killed in the theater. ?No. No plea bargain,? she said to the AP.
If the prosecution decides to pursue the death penalty, Holmes?s defense lawyer said in the document that he would likely pursue an insanity defense. ?As previously stated in court, counsel for Mr. Holmes are still exploring a mental health defense, and counsel will vigorously present and argue any and all appropriate defenses at a trial or sentencing proceeding, as necessary,? the defense team said in the filing.
If Holmes is found to be insane, he could not be executed. The death penalty is uncommon in Colorado ? currently, three men are on death row.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria vented its wrath at Qatar and the Arab League on Wednesday for handing its seat at an Arab summit in Doha to a "deformed" opposition coalition trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad.
"The emir of Qatar, the biggest bank for supporting terrorism in the region, began his presidency of the Arab League by hijacking it with tainted oil and money," said state news agency SANA, which carries the views of Assad's government.
It said the League had compromised its values for the sake of Gulf Arab and Western interests when it gave Syria's seat to the opposition Syrian National Coalition on Tuesday.
Qatar's Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani "committed a flagrant violation of the league's pact by inviting the deformed body, the 'Doha Coalition', to usurp Syria's seat in the League", SANA said, in a scathing reference to the opposition.
Qatar has funded political opposition groups and is believed to be funneling money and weapons to rebels in Syria.
Assad has long accused his opponents of being "terrorists" funded by Gulf and other foreign powers. A two-year-old revolt against him began with peaceful protests, but evolved into a civil war in which more than 70,000 people have been killed.
Arab countries, like world powers, are divided over the conflict in Syria, with Algeria, Iraq and Lebanon the most reluctant to take any action against Assad's rule.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and some others have thrown their support behind the mostly Sunni Muslim rebels in Syria, partly to weaken Shi'ite Iran, the main regional ally of Assad, whose minority Alawite sect is distantly derived from Shi'ite Islam.
Iran, which has sent advisers, money and weapons to help Assad stay in power, also lambasted the Arab League for allowing a foe of Assad to take Syria's seat at the summit, calling this "a pattern of dangerous behavior".
Iran views Assad as a pillar of an "axis of resistance" against Israel and a bulwark against Sunni militants in Syria, a country which for three decades has been the main conduit for Iranian arms supplies to Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah movement.
(Reporting by Erika Solomon; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ? Gordon Stoker, a member of The Jordanaires vocal group that backed Elvis Presley, died Wednesday. He was 88.
His son, Alan, told The Associated Press that Stoker died at his home in Brentwood, Tenn., after a lengthy illness. Stoker, who was born in Gleason, Tenn., got his start playing the piano on WSM radio and its signature show, the Grand Ole Opry.
Alan Stoker said his father was just 15 when he started playing professionally. He joined the Jordanaires as a piano player, but then became tenor vocalist. The group was already well known for their gospel singing when Presley recruited them to perform on his recording of "Hound Dog," in 1956.
The Jordanaires originated in Missouri and came to Nashville, where they backed Red Foley on a segment of the Opry called the "Prince Albert Show," according to John Rumble, senior historian at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
Rumble said they drew on both black and white gospel music, as well as many of the hymns Stoker knew by heart from his childhood in rural West Tennessee.
"He could play by ear," Rumble said. "Anything he could hear on the radio, he could play it."
The quartet soon developed a national audience after performing on the Opry and the nationally syndicated show, "Eddy Arnold Time."
They recorded and performed for years with Elvis, who was a huge gospel fan, Rumble said. In some of the early Elvis recordings, such as "It's Now or Never," and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" their vocals really stood out, he said.
The Jordanaires also performed with Patsy Cline on "Crazy," with Jim Reeves on "Four Walls," on George Jones' 1980 hit "He Stopped Loving Her Today," and on Kenny Rogers' "Lucille."
They were elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.
The "free" in Free Software refers to "freedom", rather than cost. It is largely a happy coincidence that Free Software is available gratis. Copyleft licensing certainly helps, but there's no overarching reason that Free-as-in-Freedom software need not cost anything. As Free Software has evolved and matured over the years, several major developmental archetypes have emerged.
Cyprus lawmakers are facing hard choices. Swallowing a bitter pill in exchange for a European bailout or leaving the eurozone are just two of them.
By Robert Marquand,?Staff writer / March 22, 2013
A woman waits as two people use the ATM machines in central capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday. Cypriot authorities were putting the final touches Friday to a plan they hope will convince international lenders to provide the money the country urgently needs to avoid bankruptcy within days.
Petros Karadjias/AP
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The instant saga of Cyprus ? and whether it will go belly up, default, and shake the European, if not the world, economy like some crazed mouse that roared ? continues along with enough hourly news to bring live updates here and here.?
Skip to next paragraph Robert Marquand
Staff writer
Over the past three decades, Robert Marquand has reported on a wide variety of subjects for?The Christian Science Monitor, including American education reform,?the wars in the Balkans, the Supreme Court, South Asian politics, and the oft-cited "rise of China." In the past 15 years he has served as the Monitor's bureau chief in Paris, Beijing, and New Delhi.?
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Cyprus has until Monday to come up with $7 billion and a reform plan, or face losing its creditors and sinking into ignominious pools of red ink.
Today the Russians said "nyet" to Cypriot officials, who waited in Moscow for three days?to get a possible bailout. Russian oligarchs hold at least 40 percent of Cyprus bank deposits. Cypriots had hoped, for some reason, that Russia might bail out what is essentially a banking system that thrives on helping the wealthy evade paying Russian taxes.
?The next few hours will determine the future of the country,? Reuters reports?Cypriot government spokesman Christos Stylianides said today, ahead of a vote on a slew of different and changing plans to stay solvent. ?We must all assume our share of the responsibility.??
What first caught world attention was an EU-inspired plan, voted on and killed by Cyprus lawmakers this week, to tax or expropriate private bank deposits in the country. That sent a shudder through the minds of ordinary Europeans, not to mention a lot of Russians and Cypriots themselves.
Yet facing looming insolvency, the largest Cypriot bank today called for the nation?s parliament to levy a tax on holdings over 100,000 euros ($120,000), arguing the alternative is collapse.
Plans on Cypriot tables include the creation of ?good? banks with credible holdings and ?bad? banks with toxic holdings, and to cordon off the bad Greek bank debt whose exposure helped cause the problem in the first place, in the midst of a three-year euro crisis that started in Athens.
EU approval is essential to get the tranche of bailout funds from the European Central Bank. Today the Germans said no to a Cyprus pension raiding scheme that has been floated for days.
Cypriot banks remain closed, ostensibly until Tuesday, when no one knows what will happen; bank ATMs are for now providing petty cash for the commercial sustenance of regular folk and lines are long.
As the world starts to focus on why an island making up 0.2 percent of the EU economic picture could shake world markets, the question is being asked: Why would Cypriot officials turn their island into a quasi-money laundering center for offshore oligarchs and at the same time buy Greek debt that was already shaky ? and imagine this would somehow turn out fine?
Paul Krugman of The New York Times continues to probe the story, writing Thursday that Cyprus has combined on one tiny Mediterranean island all the mistakes made by the European economies of Portugal, Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and so on (the so-called ?PIIGS?) that have helped bring the euro crisis to bloom.?
This includes ?runaway banking,? the all-too familiar real estate bubbles brought by ?massive overvaluation,? and the problem of not having enough productive capacity to pull out of a dive into debt when things went sour.
Mr. Krugman asks:
So then what? As a number of people have pointed out, Cyprus is arguably better positioned than Iceland to do an Iceland, because devaluing a reintroduced Cypriot currency could bring in a lot of tourism. But will the Cypriots ? who haven?t even reconciled themselves to the end of their round-tripping business ? be willing to go there
Mar. 25, 2013 ? For many years, some musical experts have wondered if the sound of the Stradivari and Guarneri violins might incorporate such elements of speech as vowels and consonants. A Texas A&M University researcher has now provided the first evidence that the Italian violin masters tried to impart specific vowel sounds to their violins.
Joseph Nagyvary, professor emeritus in biochemistry at Texas A&M, says of the various vowels he identified in their violins, only two were Italian -- the "i" and "e," while the others were more of French and English origin.
His findings published in the current issue of Savart Journal, a scientific journal of musical instrument acoustics, have the potential to change the way violins are made and how they are priced.
"I expected to find more Italian vowels, what experts call the 'Old Italian' sound actually has the mark of foreign languages," Nagyvary confirms.
Nagyvary has held for decades that the great Italian violin makers, Stradivari and Guarneri del Ges?, produced instruments with a more human-like tonal quality than any others made at the time. To prove his theory, he persuaded the famed violinist Itzhak Perlman to record a scale on his violin, a 1743-dated Guarneri, during a 1987 concert appearance in San Antonio.
For the required comparison, Nagyvary asked Metropolitan Opera soprano Emily Pulley, a former College Station resident, to record her voice singing vowels in an operatic style.
"It has been widely held that violins 'sing' with a female soprano voice. Emily's voice is lustrous and she has the required expertise to sing all vowels of the European languages in a musical scale," Nagyvary explains.
"I analyzed her sound samples by computer for harmonic content and then using state-of-the art phonetic analysis to obtain a 2-D map of the female soprano vowels. Each note of a musical scale on the violin underwent the same analysis, and the results were plotted and mapped against the soprano vowels."
Nagyvary's 25 years of research on the project proved that the sounds of Pulley's voice and the violin's could be located on the same map for identification purposes, and their respective graphic images can be directly compared.
His discoveries are significant for two reasons.
"For 400 years, violin prices have been based almost exclusively on the reputation of the maker -- the label inside of the violin determined the price tag," Nagyvary says. "The sound quality rarely entered into price consideration because it was deemed inaccessible. These findings could change how violins may be valued."
The new graphic images of the violin sound could also become an asset in teaching students to improve the quality of their tone production, he adds.
He says that in recent years, the violins of Guarneri del Ges? have surpassed those made by Stradivari: certain Guarneri violins now sell for something between $10 million to $20 million each.
Nagyvary was the first to prove that Stradivari and Guarneri soaked their instruments in chemicals such as borax and brine to protect them from a worm infestation that was sweeping through Italy in the 1700s. By pure accident, the chemicals used to protect the wood had the unintended result of producing the unique sounds that have been almost impossible to duplicate in the past 400 years, and his findings were supported and verified by the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific organization.
The retired Texas A&M professor has himself made violins that included carefully crafted woods soaked in a variety of chemicals.
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Journal Reference:
Joseph Nagyvary. A Comparative Study of Power Spectra and Vowels in Guarneri Violins and Operatic Singing. Savart Journal, Vol 1, No 3 (2013)
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LONDON (Reuters) - British wholesale gas prices fell by up to 20 percent on Monday, undermined by major gas shipments due from Qatar and Trinidad to help replenish stored gas reserves depleted by weeks of abnormally cold weather.
The price of gas for weekend delivery fell about 20 percent to 84 pence per therm, while the day-ahead gas contract slumped to 93.50 pence, a drop of around 11 percent.
A late blast of winter weather has drained Britain's already modest gas stocks to around a 10th of their capacity, sparking fears of supply restrictions with the cold weather forecast to continue into early April.
Low inventories combined with cold weather forecasts spurred gas prices towards record highs last week, but the announcement that three liquid natural gas (LNG) deliveries are due to arrive in the Britain by April 3 has dented sentiment.
Two shipments from Qatar are due to unload at UK import terminals this week, arriving on Monday and Friday, respectively, while a shipment from Trinidad should arrive on April 3, ship-tracking data from AIS Live on Reuters shows.
A cargo from Qatar aboard the Mekaines arrived at the Isle of Grain terminal in Kent over the weekend and is currently unloading supplies.
"The market is less worried by low storage levels right now given the arrival of new LNG tankers this week...there's plenty of gas around is the feeling," one gas trader said.
Britain's gas market was oversupplied by around 10 million cubic metres (mcm) on Monday morning, with demand at 373 mcm running nearly 40 percent above average levels, data from National Grid showed.
Traders re-injected gas into storage sites over the weekend, preventing stock levels dropping below 10 percent full, although withdrawals continued at the start of the working week.
Britain's biggest such facility, Rough, flowed 24 mcm while the long dormant Dragon LNG terminal in Wales resumed pumping gas at rates of 12 mcm, boosting supplies and relieving strain on other infrastructure.
Sources said the Trinidad LNG cargo was likely heading into the Dragon terminal.
Imports from Belgium steadied at around 60 mcm. Norway flowed about 113 mcm in total.
"Total imports are up from Friday's average due to increases in flows from Belgium and the Netherlands and LNG send outs from Dragon," analysts at Thomson Reuters Point Carbon said.
(Reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)
A leaked copy of Microsoft's latest Blue OS is spreading and shows an increased focus on personalization including new Live Tile arrangements on the Start Screen, a Snap View for side-by-side apps and new color choices. More »
With pro-settler and right-wing parties holding key ministry posts in the new Israeli government, the two-state solution President Obama praised last week may only grow more distant.
By Joshua Mitnick,?Correspondent / March 24, 2013
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (c.) attends the first cabinet meeting of the new Israeli government, in Jerusalem, last week. Netanyahu's new governing coalition took office after a parliamentary vote last Monday with powerful roles reserved for supporters of settlers in occupied territory.
David Vaaknin/Reuters
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President Barack Obama received glowing praise from Israelis for a Jerusalem speech last week in which he reaffirmed his support for the two-state solution. But with the new Israeli cabinet's first working meeting today, a government that could lower the prospects of an eventual Palestinian state is taking the helm.
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As a result of the strong electoral showing by the nationalist Jewish Home party, which earned it a place in the governing coalition, key ministries and other government positions will be held by settlers and their allies, who are determined to make the Israeli presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem irreversible.
"This is the opposite of a dream team, in every important intersection of authority," says Danny Siedemann, a Jerusalem lawyer and peace activist who monitors Israeli?building in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. "All of these people are predisposed to an unprecedented settlement surge, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. All of them are hostile to the two-state solution."
Although newly-appointed Israeli Trade Minister Naftali Bennett, the charismatic leader of Jewish Home, exchanged pleasantries with US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro at a dinner to honor Mr. Obama, he speaks openly about doubling the number of settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem?to 1 million and annexing much of the West Bank. As trade minister, he can award permits to Israeli businesses seeking to set up premises in West Bank industrial zones and exert influence on decisions made by other ministries.
With Jewish Home members also leading Israel?s housing ministry,?which oversees construction in the West Bank as well as Israel,?and the Israeli parliament?s finance committee, Mr. Bennett and allies are well-positioned to push that agenda. Shortly after Obama?s speech, Mr. Bennett posted a response?(Hebrew) on his Facebook page.
"A Palestinian state isn?t the correct path," he wrote. "It's about time for new and creative solutions to the conflict in the Middle East. Moreover, there?s no such thing as an occupier in his own land."
The coming lovers' quarrel?
To be sure, in the immediate afterglow of Obama's first state visit to Israel ??almost universally recognized as a success if the measure is his ability to reassure Israel of his support???this line of criticism seems to be in the minority.
After Obama emerged from Israel?s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, Israel?s former chief Ashkenazi rabbi, Meir Lau, a Holocaust survivor who served as an escort on the stop, told Israel Radio that Obama had been moved by the museum. "If anyone did think he was an?enemy," he said, "they?now know he is a lover."
The visit was a success, in part, because Israel?s government was on its best behavior. The army largely ignored rocket attacks from Gaza and an encampment of Palestinians in a controversial tract of land just to the east of Jerusalem. And unlike three years ago, when a new building project in East Jerusalem was announced during Vice President Joe Biden's visit to the country, similar discussions of new Israeli building projects ? like a military academy in East Jerusalem ? were dropped from the agenda of planning boards.
But Uri Ariel, the new housing minister from Jewish Home, is likely to bring those projects ? and many more ? back on the agenda.?The far-right parliamentarian who resides in the settlement of Kfar Adumim knows about building?in the West Bank?from years of experience: he once headed the Amana Movement, a 34-year-old settler organization that oversaw home building and the organization of new communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.?He was also director general of the settlers' umbrella leadership, the Yesha Council, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when settlement activity surged.
In an interview with the pro-settler weekly "Eretz Yisrael Shelanu"?(Our Land Israel),?he invoked?the Messianic theology of the religious settler movement, saying his appointment marks "another stage on the path to redemption."
He also cited his career of advancing building "in all parts of our holy land." "With God?s help, I will continue on this path,"?he told the newspaper.
Bracing for bad news
Obama said during his central address in Israel that settlement construction threatens a two state solution: "Israelis must recognize that continued settlement activity is counterproductive to the cause of peace, and that an independent Palestine must be viable with real borders that have to be drawn.???
But?now that?the glare of the presidential spotlight?has abated and Mr. Ariel is heading the ministry that prepares government building tenders in the West Bank, settlement watchdogs?are?bracing for new announcements about controversial projects like East Jerusalem's Kidmat Tziyon, a 300-unit planned housing development located near a Palestinian Jerusalem neighborhood next to the Mount of Olives.??
Sidemann said that in the next couple of weeks, the "logjam" of building projects in the West Bank and Jerusalem is liable to burst.?
The international community will also be focused on the fate of E-1, a land tract Israel?s government has slated for housing, but is seen by critics as driving a wedge between the northern and southern West Bank. New building projects in far-flung settlements beyond Israel's separation wall will also be watched closely.
Mr. Ariel is a "man who gets things done," says Gil Hoffman, the political reporter for The Jerusalem Post. That said, Mr. Hoffman insists that Ariel is a pragmatist and will seek to maintain the pace of building under previous governments rather than a provocative building surge.
Normalization?
Many?Israelis?expect that Jewish Home?will use its?leadership of the Knesset finance committee, which prepares the annual budget, to channel?additional?funds to the settlements.
Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon has perhaps the most power?after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The hardline member of Likud who is considered sympathetic to the settlers' goals?has far-reaching powers to authorize building in the West Bank and has publicly said that an accord with the Palestinians is unrealistic in the near future.
The US is hoping that Obama's positive first trip will reinvigorate peace efforts, though most settlers are not worried. They see the composition of the new Israeli cabinet as a reassurance that Israeli policy will move away from peace negotiations. Yisrael Meidad, a resident of the settlement of Shilo, says the new government could normalize Israeli perceptions of the setters;?many?non-settler Israelis are generally not enthusiastic about the settlements and believe that many should be returned to the Palestinians for peace. If attitudes changed, Israel could be headed?toward a starkly different vision than that laid out by Obama.
"[The new government] might bring us in from the cold," Mr. Meidad says. "We?ve graduated from being cautiously optimistic to looking forward to its ability to consolidate what I think is the latent willingness of Israel?s population to be comfortable with right-wing or nationalist Zionism."
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) ? President Barack Obama says each of his proposed steps to reduce gun violence should get a vote in Congress ? even an assault weapons ban that both parties agree stands little chance of passing.
Senate Democrats dropped the ban from the bill they plan to debate next month out of concern it could sink the whole package. Still, Obama says he's pushing for it.
In his weekly radio and Internet address released Saturday, Obama says the U.S. has changed in the three months since the December school shooting in Newtown, Conn., left 20 first graders and six educators dead. He says Americans support the ban, plus limits on high-capacity ammunition magazines, school security funding and a crackdown on gun trafficking.
"Today there is still genuine disagreement among well-meaning people about what steps we should take to reduce the epidemic of gun violence in this country. But you, the American people, have spoken," Obama said.
The White House said Saturday that Obama will make additional trips outside Washington to rally support for the measures, including the assault weapons ban. The White House also said that before Obama left for Israel earlier this week, his push for gun control was among the issues he raised with lawmakers from both parties as he embarked on a concerted effort to reach out to Congress.
In the Republican address, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah says the Senate Democrats' budget raises taxes by $1.5 trillion without doing anything to save entitlements like Social Security and Medicare. He says Republicans want a balanced budget that lives up to the nation's moral obligation to act in the best interest of future generations.
"Republicans recognize that keeping dollars, decisions, priorities and power in the hands of the people is what has made America the greatest civilization the world has ever known," Lee says. "Now is the time to return to that model."
Gladstone scientists discover that DNA damage occurs as part of normal brain activityPublic release date: 24-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Anne Holden anne.holden@gladstone.ucsf.edu 415-734-2534 Gladstone Institutes
Findings provide additional support for strategies to fight Alzheimer's disease
SAN FRANCISCO, CAMarch 24, 2013Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have discovered that a certain type of DNA damage long thought to be particularly detrimental to brain cells can actually be part of a regular, non-harmful process. The team further found that disruptions to this process occur in mouse models of Alzheimer's diseaseand identified two therapeutic strategies that reduce these disruptions.
Scientists have long known that DNA damage occurs in every cell, accumulating as we age. But a particular type of DNA damage, known as a double-strand break, or DSB, has long been considered a major force behind age-related illnesses such as Alzheimer's. Today, researchers in the laboratory of Gladstone Senior Investigator Lennart Mucke, MD, report in Nature Neuroscience that DSBs in neuronal cells in the brain can also be part of normal brain functions such as learningas long as the DSBs are tightly controlled and repaired in good time. Further, the accumulation of the amyloid-beta protein in the brainwidely thought to be a major cause of Alzheimer's diseaseincreases the number of neurons with DSBs and delays their repair.
"It is both novel and intriguing team's finding that the accumulation and repair of DSBs may be part of normal learning," said Fred H. Gage, PhD, of the Salk Institute who was not involved in this study. "Their discovery that the Alzheimer's-like mice exhibited higher baseline DSBs, which weren't repaired, increases these findings' relevance and provides new understanding of this deadly disease's underlying mechanisms."
In laboratory experiments, two groups of mice explored a new environment filled with unfamiliar sights, smells and textures. One group was genetically modified to simulate key aspects of Alzheimer's, and the other was a healthy, control group. As the mice explored, their neurons became stimulated as they processed new information. After two hours, the mice were returned to their familiar, home environment.
The investigators then examined the neurons of the mice for markers of DSBs. The control group showed an increase in DSBs right after they explored the new environmentbut after being returned to their home environment, DSB levels dropped.
"We were initially surprised to find neuronal DSBs in the brains of healthy mice," said Elsa Suberbielle, DVM, PhD, Gladstone postdoctoral fellow and the paper's lead author. "But the close link between neuronal stimulation and DSBs, and the finding that these DSBs were repaired after the mice returned to their home environment, suggest that DSBs are an integral part of normal brain activity. We think that this damage-and-repair pattern might help the animals learn by facilitating rapid changes in the conversion of neuronal DNA into proteins that are involved in forming memories."
The group of mice modified to simulate Alzheimer's had higher DSB levels at the startlevels that rose even higher during neuronal stimulation. In addition, the team noticed a substantial delay in the DNA-repair process.
To counteract the accumulation of DSBs, the team first used a therapeutic approach built on two recent studiesone of which was led by Dr. Mucke and his teamthat showed the widely used anti-epileptic drug levetiracetam could improve neuronal communication and memory in both mouse models of Alzheimer's and in humans in the disease's earliest stages. The mice they treated with the FDA-approved drug had fewer DSBs. In their second strategy, they genetically modified mice to lack the brain protein called tauanother protein implicated in Alzheimer's. This manipulation, which they had previously found to prevent abnormal brain activity, also prevented the excessive accumulation of DSBs.
The team's findings suggest that restoring proper neuronal communication is important for staving off the effects of Alzheimer'sperhaps by maintaining the delicate balance between DNA damage and repair.
"Currently, we have no effective treatments to slow, prevent or halt Alzheimer's, from which more than 5 million people suffer in the United States alone," said Dr. Mucke, who directs neurological research at Gladstone and is a professor of neuroscience and neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, with which Gladstone is affiliated. "The need to decipher the causes of Alzheimer's and to find better therapeutic solutions has never been more importantor urgent. Our results suggest that readily available drugs could help protect neurons against some of the damages inflicted by this illness. In the future, we will further explore these therapeutic strategies. We also hope to gain a deeper understanding of the role that DSBs play in learning and memoryand in the disruption of these important brain functions by Alzheimer's disease."
###
Other scientists who participated in this research at Gladstone include Pascal Sanchez, PhD, Alexxai Kravitz, PhD, Xin Wang, Kaitlyn Ho, Kirsten Eilertson, PhD, Nino Devidze, PhD, and Anatol Kreitzer, PhD. This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation.
About the Gladstone Institutes
Gladstone is an independent and nonprofit biomedical-research organization dedicated to accelerating the pace of scientific discovery and innovation to prevent, treat and cure cardiovascular, viral and neurological diseases. Gladstone is affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco.
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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.
Gladstone scientists discover that DNA damage occurs as part of normal brain activityPublic release date: 24-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Anne Holden anne.holden@gladstone.ucsf.edu 415-734-2534 Gladstone Institutes
Findings provide additional support for strategies to fight Alzheimer's disease
SAN FRANCISCO, CAMarch 24, 2013Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have discovered that a certain type of DNA damage long thought to be particularly detrimental to brain cells can actually be part of a regular, non-harmful process. The team further found that disruptions to this process occur in mouse models of Alzheimer's diseaseand identified two therapeutic strategies that reduce these disruptions.
Scientists have long known that DNA damage occurs in every cell, accumulating as we age. But a particular type of DNA damage, known as a double-strand break, or DSB, has long been considered a major force behind age-related illnesses such as Alzheimer's. Today, researchers in the laboratory of Gladstone Senior Investigator Lennart Mucke, MD, report in Nature Neuroscience that DSBs in neuronal cells in the brain can also be part of normal brain functions such as learningas long as the DSBs are tightly controlled and repaired in good time. Further, the accumulation of the amyloid-beta protein in the brainwidely thought to be a major cause of Alzheimer's diseaseincreases the number of neurons with DSBs and delays their repair.
"It is both novel and intriguing team's finding that the accumulation and repair of DSBs may be part of normal learning," said Fred H. Gage, PhD, of the Salk Institute who was not involved in this study. "Their discovery that the Alzheimer's-like mice exhibited higher baseline DSBs, which weren't repaired, increases these findings' relevance and provides new understanding of this deadly disease's underlying mechanisms."
In laboratory experiments, two groups of mice explored a new environment filled with unfamiliar sights, smells and textures. One group was genetically modified to simulate key aspects of Alzheimer's, and the other was a healthy, control group. As the mice explored, their neurons became stimulated as they processed new information. After two hours, the mice were returned to their familiar, home environment.
The investigators then examined the neurons of the mice for markers of DSBs. The control group showed an increase in DSBs right after they explored the new environmentbut after being returned to their home environment, DSB levels dropped.
"We were initially surprised to find neuronal DSBs in the brains of healthy mice," said Elsa Suberbielle, DVM, PhD, Gladstone postdoctoral fellow and the paper's lead author. "But the close link between neuronal stimulation and DSBs, and the finding that these DSBs were repaired after the mice returned to their home environment, suggest that DSBs are an integral part of normal brain activity. We think that this damage-and-repair pattern might help the animals learn by facilitating rapid changes in the conversion of neuronal DNA into proteins that are involved in forming memories."
The group of mice modified to simulate Alzheimer's had higher DSB levels at the startlevels that rose even higher during neuronal stimulation. In addition, the team noticed a substantial delay in the DNA-repair process.
To counteract the accumulation of DSBs, the team first used a therapeutic approach built on two recent studiesone of which was led by Dr. Mucke and his teamthat showed the widely used anti-epileptic drug levetiracetam could improve neuronal communication and memory in both mouse models of Alzheimer's and in humans in the disease's earliest stages. The mice they treated with the FDA-approved drug had fewer DSBs. In their second strategy, they genetically modified mice to lack the brain protein called tauanother protein implicated in Alzheimer's. This manipulation, which they had previously found to prevent abnormal brain activity, also prevented the excessive accumulation of DSBs.
The team's findings suggest that restoring proper neuronal communication is important for staving off the effects of Alzheimer'sperhaps by maintaining the delicate balance between DNA damage and repair.
"Currently, we have no effective treatments to slow, prevent or halt Alzheimer's, from which more than 5 million people suffer in the United States alone," said Dr. Mucke, who directs neurological research at Gladstone and is a professor of neuroscience and neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, with which Gladstone is affiliated. "The need to decipher the causes of Alzheimer's and to find better therapeutic solutions has never been more importantor urgent. Our results suggest that readily available drugs could help protect neurons against some of the damages inflicted by this illness. In the future, we will further explore these therapeutic strategies. We also hope to gain a deeper understanding of the role that DSBs play in learning and memoryand in the disruption of these important brain functions by Alzheimer's disease."
###
Other scientists who participated in this research at Gladstone include Pascal Sanchez, PhD, Alexxai Kravitz, PhD, Xin Wang, Kaitlyn Ho, Kirsten Eilertson, PhD, Nino Devidze, PhD, and Anatol Kreitzer, PhD. This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation.
About the Gladstone Institutes
Gladstone is an independent and nonprofit biomedical-research organization dedicated to accelerating the pace of scientific discovery and innovation to prevent, treat and cure cardiovascular, viral and neurological diseases. Gladstone is affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco.
[ | 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.
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The "free" in Free Software refers to "freedom", rather than cost. It is largely a happy coincidence that Free Software is available gratis. Copyleft licensing certainly helps, but there's no overarching reason that Free-as-in-Freedom software need not cost anything. As Free Software has evolved and matured over the years, several major developmental archetypes have emerged.
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