Skin transformed into brain cells

30 January 2012 Last updated at 19:13 ET By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News

Skin cells have been converted directly into cells which develop into the main components of the brain, by researchers studying mice in California.

The experiment, reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, skipped the middle "stem cell" stage in the process.

The researchers said they were "thrilled" at the potential medical uses.

Far more tests are needed before the technique could be used on human skin.

Stem cells, which can become any other specialist type of cell from brain to bone, are thought to have huge promise in a range of treatments. Many trials are taking place, such as in stroke patients or specific forms of blindness.

One of the big questions for the field is where to get the cells from. There are ethical concerns around embryonic stem cells and patients would need to take immunosuppressant drugs as any stem cell tissue would not match their own.

An alternative method has been to take skin cells and reprogram them into "induced" stem cells. These could be made from a patient's own cells and then turned into the cell type required, however, the process results in cancer-causing genes being activated.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

We are thrilled about the prospects for potential medical use of these cells?

End Quote Prof Marius Wernig Stanford University School of Medicine Direct approach

The research group, at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California, is looking at another option - converting a person's own skin cells into specialist cells, without creating "induced" stem cells. It has already transformed skin cells directly into neurons.

This study created "neural precursor" cells, which can develop into three types of brain cell: neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes.

These precursor cells have the advantage that, once created, they can be grown in a laboratory into very large numbers. This could be critical if the cells were to be used in any therapy.

Brain cells and skin cells contain the same genetic information, however, the genetic code is interpreted differently in each. This is controlled by "transcription factors".

The scientists used a virus to infect skin cells with three transcription factors known to be at high levels in neural precursor cells.

After three weeks about one in 10 of the cells became neural precursor cells.

Lead researcher Prof Marius Wernig said: "We are thrilled about the prospects for potential medical use of these cells.

"We've shown the cells can integrate into a mouse brain and produce a missing protein important for the conduction of electrical signal by the neurons.

"More work needs to be done to generate similar cells from human skin cells and assess their safety and efficacy."

Dr Deepak Srivastava, who has researched converting cells into heart muscle, said the study: "Opens the door to consider new ways to regenerate damaged neurons using cells surrounding the area of injury."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/health-16788809

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Merkel retracts call for Greek debt czar

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos leaves his office after meeting the leaders of the three parties backing his coalition government in Athens on Sunday, Jan. 29 2012. Following the meeting, Papademos has released a statement saying he and the party leaders were in "complete agreement" over the positions to adopt in subsequent talks toward a 130 billion euros bailout for Greece and a bond swap agreement with private creditors. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis)

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos leaves his office after meeting the leaders of the three parties backing his coalition government in Athens on Sunday, Jan. 29 2012. Following the meeting, Papademos has released a statement saying he and the party leaders were in "complete agreement" over the positions to adopt in subsequent talks toward a 130 billion euros bailout for Greece and a bond swap agreement with private creditors. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis)

BRUSSELS (AP) ? Germany's chancellor has dampened her own country's controversial call to have a powerful European debt regulator who would have direct control over Greece's spending.

Angela Merkel said Monday "I believe that we are having a discussion that we shouldn't be having."

She said Europe had to support Greece in implementing promised austerity and reform measures, "But all that will only work if Greece and all other states discuss this together."

Both Greece and the European Commission over the weekend rejected a proposal tabled by Germany for a new Commissioner who could force Greece to repay debts before maintaining government services.

Other European leaders said that the Commission, the EU's executive, needed the power to block bad spending decisions, but not only in Greece but also other highly indebted countries.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BRUSSELS (AP) ? European leaders will try to come up with ways to boost growth and create badly-needed jobs, which are being squeezed by steep budget cuts across the continent, when they meet in Brussels on Monday.

The 27 EU leaders on Monday will also look to find common ground on a new treay to toughen budget spending. The elephant in the room, though, will be Greece.

Greece and investors who own its bonds have come closer to a deal to significantly reduce the country's debt and pave the way for it to receive a much-needed euro130 billion bailout.

Negotiators for the investors said Saturday a debt-reduction deal could become final within the next week. If the agreement works as planned, it could help Greece remain solvent and help Europe avoid a blow to its already weak financial system, even though banks and other bond investors will have to accept multibillion-dollar losses.

Still, it doesn't resolve the weakening economic conditions in Greece and other European nations as they rein in spending to get their debts under control.

Athens' euro partners have grown frustrated with its slack implementation of spending cuts and reforms almost two years after first receiving international aid.

Without an agreement, bankruptcy would loom large for Greece and raise a big question mark over the euro currency shared by 17 nations.

Another divisive issue is a German proposal that debt-ridden Greece temporarily cede sovereignty over tax and spending decisions to a powerful eurozone budget commissioner before it can secure further bailouts.

The idea was quickly rejected by Barroso's Commission and the government in Athens, both insisting the budget remain a national prerogative.

At the same time, the EU also has to deal with an increasingly tough labor market.

Spain's brutal unemployment rate has soared to nearly 23 percent and closed in on 50 percent for those under age 25, leaving more than 5 million people ? or almost one out of every four ? out of work as the country slides toward recession.

To help jump-start the EU toward more growth and employment, the EU Commission is proposing to the summit leaders to redirect euro82 billion in existing development funds toward countries in dire need of help to fix their labor market.

The 27 heads of state and government got a taste of the popular frustration with austerity and high unemployment as they try to get to the summit in a city paralyzed by strikes.

Belgium's three main unions joined hands in a 24-hour strike to protest national budgetary measures that have in part been imposed on Belgium by the EU. If the country hadn't met cost-cutting targets, financial sanctions would have been imposed.

The big question at the summit is where to find money to boost growth when debt is preoccupying everyone. The austerity measures raise taxes and cut benefits for hundreds of thousands of workers in Belgium. And Monday's strike has been mirrored in many other member states.

Overall, 23 million people are jobless across the EU, 10 percent of the active population.

"Europe has to offer jobs, social protection and perspective for the future. Otherwise it risks losing the support of its citizens," said the strike manifesto of the ACV union.

For Monday, Thalys and Eurostar bullet trains to Brussels have already been cut, one airport has been closed and Brussels international airport is expecting heavy disruption. Contingency plans have been made to get the 27 European leaders to the center of Brussels, but even then convoys could end up in choking traffic if workers block the capital's beltway during morning rush hour.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-30-EU-Europe-Financial-Crisis/id-33e4dfdc0a02430ea2cec1586f1fd36d

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Water trucked to Texas town where wells ran dry

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? A Central Texas village that's the first community to run out of water due to the ongoing drought will have water trucked in by the Lower Colorado River Authority.

Agency spokeswoman Clara Tuma says the region's wells are no longer producing enough water to meet Spicewood Beach's needs. The first tanker was expected to arrive Monday afternoon.

The village located on Lake Travis has about 500 water connections that serve roughly 1,100 people.

Spicewood Beach has watched the water level drop since October 2010, when the worst single-year drought in Texas began.

Tuma said the river authority, which operates the wells, will truck water to the community for as long as it is needed.

She did not have an estimate of what the operation will cost.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-30-US-Texas-Drought-Wells-Run-Dry/id-6654258b521245958f5af390fb464e4e

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Wagner wins 1st title in night of flawed skating

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) ? Ashley Wagner has won her first title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, salvaging what was an otherwise dismal night of skating with a signature performance.

Third after the short program, Wagner needed a dazzling show and some help from others. She did her part, scoring 187.02 points, and then watched as two-time champ Alissa Czisny and Agnes Zawadzki melted down after her. When Wagner saw the final results, tears filled her eyes and she rested a hand on the shoulder of coach John Nicks.

Czisny managed to stay second, finishing seven points behind Wagner. Zawadzki was third.

Earlier Saturday, Meryl Davis and Charlie White won their fourth straight dance title.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-28-US%20Championships/id-aa9d753245f44670b0da98b67f2b2e71

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Exiting watchdog sees flaws in SEC's rulewriting (Reuters)

WASHINGTON, DC (Reuters) ? In his final act before departing the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, the agency's inspector general, David Kotz, criticized how the agency analyzes the economic impact of some of its Dodd-Frank rules.

Kotz's criticism, contained in a report, could have ramifications for the SEC, which has lost several court battles over the years because of flaws in how it demonstrates that the benefits of a rule outweigh its costs.

"We found that the extent of quantitative discussion of cost-benefit analyses varied among rulemakings," Kotz wrote in his report. "Based on our examination of several Dodd-Frank Act rulemakings, the review found that the SEC sometimes used multiple baselines in its cost-benefit analyses that were ambiguous or internally inconsistent."

Last year, U.S. business groups successfully convinced a federal appeals court to overturn one of the SEC's Dodd-Frank rules that aimed to empower shareholders to more easily nominate directors to corporate boards.

In rejecting the rule, the court said the agency failed to properly weigh the economic consequences.

Some of the business groups, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have since raised similar concerns with other rulemakings pending before the SEC.

Congress passed the Dodd-Frank act in 2010 to more closely police financial markets and institutions after the 2007-2009 financial crisis. The legislation gives the SEC responsibility to write roughly 100 new rules.

Although the SEC is not subject to an express statutory requirement to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of its rules, other laws do require the agency to consider the effects of its rules on capital formation, competition and efficiency.

In addition, the SEC must also follow federal rulemaking procedures, such as providing the public with an opportunity to comment on its proposals.

This is the second report Kotz has issued looking at the quality of the SEC's cost-benefit analysis.

Both reports were issued after certain members of the Senate Banking Committee, including ranking Republican Richard Shelby, voiced concerns about whether regulators were adequately examining the economic impact of Dodd-Frank rules.

To determine how well the SEC is faring, Kotz's office retained Albert Kyle, a finance professor at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, to help carry out the review.

Friday's report covered a sample of Dodd-Frank rulemakings, including a rule allowing shareholders a non-binding vote on compensation, several asset-backed securities rules and two proposals pertaining to the reporting of security-based swap data.

Kotz's report was critical of the agency in a number of areas.

In one instance, the report cites a memo in which former General Counsel David Becker gave his opinion that the SEC should do thorough cost-benefit analyses on rules that are not explicitly required by Congress.

Rules mandated by Congress, however, generally would not need the same level of cost-benefit research, the memo said.

The report suggested that the agency should reconsider these guidelines, or else it risks "not fulfilling the essential purposes of such analyses."

SEC management, in a written response to the report, disagreed with that point.

"We believe Professor Kyle's opinion fails to appreciate both the practical limitations on the scope of cost-benefit a regulator can conduct, and the distinct roles of Congress and administrative agencies," they said.

"We think it is entirely sensible ... for the staff to focus its attention and the commission's limited resources on matters that the commission has the authority to decide."

Kotz made other recommendations, including using a single consistent baseline in the cost-benefit analysis process and having economists provide more input.

SEC spokesman John Nester declined to comment beyond the SEC comments in the report.

(Reporting By Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Gary Hill)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/bs_nm/us_sec_inspector_general

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Late Night Open Thread (Balloon Juice)

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Sports briefs: ASU football adds 3 assistants

Sports briefs: ASU football adds 3 assistants

The Appalachian State football program, which has lost seven assistant coaches in the last two months, has hired three new assistants. Justin Stepp, a graduate assistant at Clemson in 2011, will

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Source: http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20120127/SPORTS/301270041/1002/rss

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Zusi's goal lift US men to 1-0 win over Panama

/

By The Associated Press

updated 10:42 p.m. ET Jan. 25, 2012

Graham Zusi scored his first international goal in the eighth minute, and the United States beat Panama 1-0 in an exhibition game Wednesday night at Panama City for its third straight win.

Using mostly backups while the regulars remained with their European clubs and playing nearly the entire second half a man short, the Americans evened their record at 4-4-1 under Jurgen Klinsmann, who replaced Bob Bradley as coach last summer.

Panama, which upset the U.S. in the first round of last year's CONCACAF Gold Cup, had a man advantage after Geoff Cameron received a red card in the 52nd minute for shoving Blas Perez from behind on a breakaway just outside the penalty area.

Perez nearly tied it in the 78th but sent a short downward header wide.

Other than the goal, the Americans rarely threatened ? the U.S. didn't have its first corner kick until the fifth minute of stoppage time in the second half, just before the final whistle.

And goalkeeper Nick Rimando made several difficult saves to prevent the hosts from scoring.

During a three-week training camp, Klinsmann got to test the depth of his player pool as the Americans prepare for the start of World Cup qualifying on June 8 against Antigua and Barbuda.

Klinsmann figures to have most his top players for the Americans' next game, against Italy at Genoa on Feb. 29.

Zusi, a 25-year-old midfielder with Major League Soccer's Sporting Kansas City, made his national debut in Saturday's 1-0 win over Venezuela at Glendale, Ariz.

His goal came after left back Zach Loyd's cross fell at Teal Bunbury at the top of the 6-yard box and appeared to bounce off him to Zusi, who slammed it in with a right-footed shot from 7 yards.

Rimando, making his first national team appearance in a year, dove midway through the first half to block Luis Renteria's point-blank shot, which bounded in front of the net. Rimando then got up and managed to poke the ball away before the rebound could be knocked in.

Jermaine Jones nearly made it 2-0 in the 30th, but goalkeeper Luis Mejia parried his 30-yard shot, then dived back to save Chris Wondolowski's header at the goal line.

Five minutes later, Rimando athletically got his left leg out to block Perez's close-range shot.

Ricardo Clark earned his first national team start in 19 months after scoring in the seventh minute of stoppage against Venezuela.

Clark, who replaced Jeff Larentowicz in the midfield, had not started for the Americans since June 26, 2010, when he was stripped of the ball leading to Ghana's opening goal in the 2-1 overtime loss that eliminated the U.S. from the World Cup.

Klinsmann switched to a 4-4-2 formation from the 3-5-1 he began with last weekend and made four changes to his starting lineup, also inserting Rimando, Loyd and Wondolowski in place of Bill Hamid, Heath Pearce and Benny Feilhaber. Rimando, Loyd and Wondolowski started for the first time since the 1-1 tie against Chile on Jan. 22, 2011.

Pearce replaced Loyd in the 41st minute and Sean Johnson took over for Rimando at the start of the second half in his first appearance since the Chile match. Defender Jeff Parke made his debut in the 55th minute, coming in for Wondolowski after Cameron's red card.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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More newsJosep Lago / AFP - Getty Images

Barca holds off Madrid rally

Pedro Rodriguez and Daniel Alves scored first-half goals, and Barcelona held off a spirited Real Madrid comeback attempt to eliminate the defending Copa del Rey champion with a 2-2 tie Wednesday night.

Do-or-die

The U.S. women's soccer team was still on the field, having dispatched rival Mexico, when Abby Wambach gathered her teammates for a little speech.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46141711/ns/sports-soccer/

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Caterpillar 4Q profit rises, tops Wall St. view (AP)

NEW YORK ? Caterpillar Inc. said Thursday that its fourth-quarter profit jumped 60 percent, boosted by pent-up demand for new equipment and continuing growth in developing countries.

The performance of the world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment is an indicator of the strength of the global economy. Along with strong fourth-quarter earnings, Caterpillar issued rosy guidance, saying that it expects the global economy to grow faster this year and construction activity to continue to improve in most parts of the world.

Caterpillar, based in Peoria, Ill., reported net income of $1.55 billion, or $2.32 per share, up from $968 million, or $1.47 per share, in the same quarter last year.

Sales and revenue jumped 35 percent to $17.24 billion, as sales volume increased at all three of the company's major businesses. Revenue from mining equipment company Bucyrus International Inc., which Caterpillar acquired in July, totaled $1.39 billion.

Caterpillar's results easily topped Wall Street predictions for profit of $1.76 per share and $15.95 billion in revenue, according to FactSet. That sent its shares higher and made it one of the biggest gainers in the Dow Jones industrial average on Thursday. The stock rose $2.26, or 2.1 percent, to close at $111.31, after hitting $114 earlier in the day, within a few dollars of its 52-week high of $116.55.

Caterpillar said that despite the ongoing downturn in the construction industry, many of its customers had to replace their aging equipment during the quarter. In addition, the company continued to get a boost from rapid economic growth in developing parts of the world.

Construction sales rose 31 percent to $5.26 billion, while resource industries sales, which include Bucyrus, jumped 80 percent to $5.06 billion. Sales of power systems were up 22 percent to $5.67 billion.

Caterpillar expects the global economy to grow about 3.3 percent this year, with the U.S. economy expanding by at least 3 percent. In addition U.S. construction spending, which has been declining since 2004, should finally begin to recover, the company said.

But Caterpillar warned that even with the slight recovery, construction spending will remain depressed. And while Europe's economic crisis probably won't trigger a global recession, economic growth in eurozone counties is unlikely to improve until the second half of this year.

Edward Rapp, Caterpillar's chief financial officer, said that despite the ongoing financial crisis in Europe, the company still stands to benefit from projects there.

"It just depends on how much longer this chaos in southern Europe goes on," Rapp said in a conference call with analysts. "It's been going on a long time and hasn't tanked the place yet. We don't think it will."

Caterpillar sees China's economy growing by 8.5 percent in 2012, with more construction and rising demand for commodities bringing more machine sales.

Caterpillar estimates its 2012 profit will be $9.25 per share with $68 billion to $72 billion in revenue. The outlook includes about $6 billion in revenue from Bucyrus and from Motoren-Werke Mannheim Holding GmbH, which Caterpillar also bought last year. Analysts polled by FactSet expect profit of $9.07 per share on $66.99 billion in revenue for Caterpillar this year.

The company said sales of new machines and equipment will continue to improve as customers in developed counties rebuild their fleets. Low interest rates and the expected increase in construction activity are also expected to boost demand.

Caterpillar noted that production of some of its products will be limited by its current capacity to make them, though it added that it's making investments to expand capacity.

In addition, the company expects demand for its mining equipment to continue to be strong globally, as companies around the world increase production.

Morgan Stanley analyst Vance Edelson backed his "Overweight" rating for Caterpillar stock. He said that the company is unique, because it's poised to do well if the economy improves but will remain more stable than expected, if things take a turn for the worse.

"We believe there is upside potential to the implied earnings per share figure," Edelson wrote in a note to investors. "We also note the record sales expectations despite still lackluster construction activity in the U.S. and Europe."

For the full year 2011, Caterpillar earned $4.93 billion, or $7.40 per share, up from $2.7 billion, or $4.15 per share, in 2010. Sales and revenue increased to $60.14 billion from $42.59 billion.

Excluding Bucyrus, Caterpillar earned $7.79 per share and posted $57.61 billion in sales.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_caterpillar

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Instant view: Reaction to State of the Union Address (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? President Barack Obama put the spotlight on economic fairness and tax reform in an election-year State of the Union address on Tuesday that laid out his vision for turning the economy around.

Here is reaction from political and Wall Street analysts:

JAMES ANGEL, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF FINANCE AT GEORGETOWN

UNIVERSITY'S MCDONOUGH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS:

"It's definitely a campaign speech. He's clearly running for re-election and trying to say all the right things.

"He's said all this great stuff about smarter regulation. Amen to that. But how is he going to get there from here? ... He's defending his reforms but it's more chest thumping than anything."

ANDY LAPERRIERE, SENIOR MANAGING DIRECTOR AT THE

INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY AND INVESTMENT GROUP, AND HEAD OF ITS

POLICY RESEARCH TEAM:

"People were expecting a populist speech and there were elements of that. But I think what you actually had is that almost everything he said, hardly anybody can disagree with. And that masks real policy disagreements.

"Markets will be interested in the refinancing program and what exactly is that fee on the banks to pay for it. ... If the banks pay for it, it could be a negative for the banks. But it could be a positive for the homebuilders. The details will matter. My initial reaction is that it's not going to happen. You can't do a big refinance plan for a small cost."

(Reporting By JoAnne Allen; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/ts_nm/us_usa_obama_speech_iv

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Sony reminds Japan that Walkmans still exist, new E series packs built-in noise cancellation

The latest addition Walkman series continues the petite styling we've seen over the years, and Sony's cheerleading that it's both thinner (9.1mm) and lighter (37g) than its predecessor. The E-series includes a 1.4-inch colour LCD display, while we're promised at around 30 hours of music playback per charge. Alongside the standard NW-E060 model (9,000 yen, $116) the NW-E060K (11,000 yen, $142) throws in a plug-in speaker. Both models offer noise-cancelling features and promise to cut surrounding noise by around 98 percent, with train, flight and indoor modes hopefully able to absorb most audio irritations.

The new music players are joined by a pair of new docks. The RDP-NWG400B (13,000 yen, $181) can connect to devices through Bluetooth, while the RDP-NWM7 (8,000 yen, $140) wants to take your music outside, bigging up the built-in handle for that very reason. Both are available now in white and black. No news on whether the player refreshes and docks will travel beyond the Land of the Rising Sun, but we'd imagine it's pretty likely. Check out the docks after the break and get the whole (Google-translated) picture at the source below.

Continue reading Sony reminds Japan that Walkmans still exist, new E series packs built-in noise cancellation

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Scientists produce world's first magnetic soap

ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2012) ? Scientists from Bristol University have developed a soap, composed of iron rich salts dissolved in water, that responds to a magnetic field when placed in solution. The soap?s magnetic properties were shown with neutrons at the Institut Laue-Langevin to result from tiny iron-rich clumps that sit within the watery solution. The generation of this property in a fully functional soap could calm concerns over the use of soaps in oil-spill clean ups and revolutionise industrial cleaning products.

Scientists have long been searching for a way to control soaps (or surfactants as they are known in industry) once they are in solution to increase their ability to dissolve oils in water and then remove them from a system. The team at Bristol University have previously worked on soaps sensitive to light, carbon dioxide or changes in pH, temperature or pressure. Their latest breakthrough, reported in Angewandte Chemie, is the world?s first soap sensitive to a magnetic field.

Ionic liquid surfactants, composed mostly of water with some transition metal complexes (heavy metals like iron bound to halides such as bromine or chlorine) have been suggested as potentially controllable by magnets for some time, but it had always been assumed that their metallic centres were too isolated within the solution, preventing the long-range interactions required to be magnetically active.

The team at Bristol, lead by Professor Julian Eastoe produced their magnetic soap by dissolving iron in a range of inert surfactant materials composed of chloride and bromide ions, very similar to those found in everyday mouthwash or fabric conditioner. The addition of the iron creates metallic centres within the soap particles.

To test its properties, the team introduced a magnet to a test tube containing their new soap lying beneath a less dense organic solution. When the magnet was introduced the iron-rich soap overcame both gravity and surface tension between the water and oil, to levitate through the organic solvent and reach the source of the magnetic energy, proving its magnetic properties.

Once the surfactant was developed and shown to be magnetic, Prof Eastoe?s team took it to the Institut Laue-Langevin, the world?s flagship centre for neutron science, and home to the world?s most intense neutron source, to investigate the science behind its remarkable property.

When surfactants are added to water they are known to form tiny clumps (particles called micelles). Scientists at ILL used a technique called ?small angle neutron scattering (SANS)? to confirm that it was this clumping of the iron-rich surfactant that brought about its magnetic properties.

Dr Isabelle Grillo, responsible of the Chemistry Laboratories at ILL: ?The particles of surfactant in solution are small and thus difficult to see using light but are easily revealed by SANS which we use to investigate the structure and behaviour of all types of materials with typical sizes ranging from the nanometer to the tenth of micrometer.?

The potential applications of magnetic surfactants are huge. Their responsiveness to external stimuli allows a range of properties, such as their electrical conductivity, melting point, the size and shape of aggregates and how readily its dissolves in water to be altered by a simple magnetic on and off switch. Traditionally these factors, which are key to the effective application of soaps in a variety of industrial settings, could only be controlled by adding an electric charge or changing the pH, temperature or pressure of the system, all changes that irreversibly alter the system composition and cost money to remediate.

Its magnetic properties also makes it easier to round up and remove from a system once it has been added, suggesting further applications in environmental clean ups and water treatment. Scientific experiments which require precise control of liquid droplets could also be made easier with the addition of this surfactant and a magnetic field.

Professor Julian Eastoe, University of Bristol: ?As most magnets are metals, from a purely scientific point of view these ionic liquid surfactants are highly unusual, making them a particularly interesting discovery. From a commercial point of view, though these exact liquids aren?t yet ready to appear in any household product, by proving that magnetic soaps can be developed, future work can reproduce the same phenomenon in more commercially viable liquids for a range of applications from water treatment to industrial cleaning products.?

Peter Dowding an industrial chemist, not involved in the research: ?Any systems which act only when responding to an outside stimulus that has no effect on its composition is a major breakthrough as you can create products which only work when they are needed to. Also the ability to remove the surfactant after it has been added widens the potential applications to environmentally sensitive areas like oil spill clean ups where in the past concerns have been raised.?

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), via AlphaGalileo.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Paul Brown, Alexey Bushmelev, Craig P. Butts, Jing Cheng, Julian Eastoe, Isabelle Grillo, Richard K. Heenan, Annette M. Schmidt. Magnetic Control over Liquid Surface Properties with Responsive Surfactants. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2012; DOI: 10.1002/anie.201108010

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120123174840.htm

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Pineda-to-Yankees finally official

UPDATE: Montero passed his physical, so it?s now a done deal.

==========

The multi-player deal between the Yankees and Mariners headlined by Jesus Montero and Michael Pineda is moving closer to completion.

Montero was delayed from taking a physical due to weather, plane and visa problems in his native Venezuela, but Larry Stone of the Seattle Times reports that the 22-year-old arrived in the United States yesterday and was en route to Seattle.

The Pacific Northwest was rocked by a pretty nasty winter storm this week, so there?s no guarantee Montero?s travel plans went off without a hitch. However, assuming no problems with his flight and scheduled physical, an official announcement could happen within the next day or two.

The deal between the Yankees and Mariners, which was agreed upon last Friday, will send Montero and right-hander Hector Noesi to Seattle for Pineda and prospect right-hander Jose Campos.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/23/the-jesus-montero-for-michael-pineda-swap-is-finally-close-to-being-official/related/

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Gene switch 'key to heart health'

22 January 2012 Last updated at 13:01 ET

Scientists may be closer to understanding how genes can influence serious heart conditions, says a Nature Genetics report.

The failure to turn off a specific gene at the right time in an embryo's development could mean illness later in life.

Mice in which the gene was left active were born apparently healthy, but suffered heart muscle problems later.

A heart charity said it might one day be possible to fix the genetic switch.

The science of "epigenetics", which places importance not just on the genes you carry, but also how well they are working, is a relatively new area.

There is increasing evidence that suggests that while you carry the same set of genes for life, environmental factors, such as diet or even your mother's health while you are in the womb, could affect their activity, and your chances of certain illnesses later in life.

The scientists from the Gladstone Institute in San Francisco focused on two genes, and their role in cardiomyopathy, a enlarging and weakening of the heart muscle which is a feature in life-threatening heart defects in children and adults.

Developing signs

One of the genes, called Six1, appears to play an important role in embryonic heart development, while the other, Ezh2, seems to have the job of switching off genes, including Six1, when they are no longer needed.

The researchers tested the precise relationship by stopping Ezh2 from working in the embryo and foetus at various points during pregnancy, thereby allowing Six1 to go on working for longer than usual.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

What this shows is that a really crucial step in normal heart development is the switching off of genes?

End Quote Professor Peter Weissberg BHF

They found that while the mice were born apparently normal and healthy, they then started to develop the signs of cardiomyopathy.

This suggested that although leaving Six1 switched on in humans might produce a seemingly healthy baby, it could be storing up heart problems for later in life.

Analysis of the results revealed that, in a healthy pregnancy, Six1 should only normally be switched on briefly during heart development.

'Crucial step'

Dr Paul Delgado-Olguin, one of the team, said: "When Six1 remains active for too long in Ezh2-deficient mice, it boosts the activity of other genes that shouldn't be activated in heart muscle cells - such as genes that make skeletal muscle.

"The enlargement and thickening of the mice's hearts over time eventually led to heart failure."

They are hopeful that further work will reveal more about the roots of congenital heart problems in early life.

Professor Peter Weissberg, from the British Heart Foundation, said the research was "important".

"What this shows is that a really crucial step in normal heart development is the switching off of genes.

"If this doesn't happen, and they continue to be expressed, this can cause trouble later in life."

He said that there was the possibility that faulty gene expression could be corrected, although it would be some years before such techniques could be used in humans.

The possible reasons for the faulty "switch" - whether dietary, medical or something else - could also be investigated, he added.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/health-16654187

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With MegaUpload Down, Who?s Next? RapidShare? SoundCloud? DropBox?

Every digital locker service and file linking website is on notice now that MegaUpload and TVShack are down. The Feds have their banhammer out and aren't afraid to use it. Sites better check their zettabytes of data. A single 50 Cent song can cause the Feds to swarm the founder's house and seize their Predator statues. Forget SOPA and PIPA, apparently the US Federal Government doesn't need new legislation in place to shut down major file storage sites and lock millions of users out of their file lockers. The bigger question, then, is who's next? It's clear that the US Federal Government is ramping up its fight against illegal file sharing and hosting. It's the new war on drugs. The plan is to have taxpayers foot the bill and then attack websites rather than regulating or encouraging innovation. The only thing missing is a C.A.R.E. (Computer Abuse Reinforcement Education) presentation at your kids' grade school. Just say no to perfectly legal data sinks, everyone.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/SSbqfCrrl-o/

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95% Pariah

"Pariah," from first-time writer/director Dee Rees, doesn't break much artistic ground. It tells the same gay/lesbian coming-out story that we've seen a million times. But it's told particularly well and from within a black urban context, which I don't believe has been done before. It also goes a bit deeper into the hearts and minds of the homophobic parents than typically is done, which was great. Unfortunately, it only scratches those surfaces. Kim Wayans, who of course has a long history in comedy, shows she has major dramatic talent, playing the homophobic mother of the main character. The cast is universally good, but Wayans is the stand-out. The main character is a black teenage girl in Brooklyn going through the coming-out process. She has fully come out to herself as a lesbian, and she has even found her way into a lesbian circle of friends. She even frequents a women's night club. But she hasn't told Mom or Dad about any of this, both of whom are homophobic. Mom is particularly venomous in her hatred of gays and lesbians. You can see that Dad, a detective in the NYPD, in his heart of hearts is not a bigot. Thrown into the mix to complicate things a little bit is a bisexual girl eager to have lesbian experiences to explore herself. But she tosses lesbians aside like useless candy wrappers after she's had her fun. If I were going to give Dee Rees advice, I would say this: Ms. Rees, in "Pariah" you started digging into the parent characters with some real psychological and artistic depth. I encourage you to go more deeply in that direction. I think your true gifts as an artist lie there. I would give anything to see a sequel where you explore what happened to that mother and what she's really fighting. You hint that her husband is beginning to stray, but I think there's more in there. Help us see it. Remember when that great schoolteacher tells Alike that she could "go deeper" with her poetry? You could go deeper with your films. I know you could.

January 1, 2012

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pariah_2011/

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Progressive Insurance Baltimore Boat Show ? CBS Baltimore

Thursday, Jan 19, 2012 and Friday, Jan 20, 2012: 11:00 AM-9:00 PM Saturday, Jan 21, 2012: 10:00 AM-9:00 PM Sunday, Jan 22, 2012: 10:00 AM-5:00At the Progressive Insurance Baltimore Boat Show, boaters dreaming of warm weather excursions can climb aboard hundreds of boats for every budget and lifestyle from the area?s top dealers? from luxury yachts and family cruisers to fishing boats and personal watercraft.

Find great selection and the brands you want at the
Progressive Insurance Baltimore Boat Show
January 19-22
Baltimore Convention Center

Source: http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2012/01/19/progressive-insurance-baltimore-boat-show/

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NY employee accused of taking Federal Reserve code (AP)

NEW YORK ? A computer programmer who worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been accused of stealing computer code used to track government finances.

Bo Zhang (zahng) was arrested Wednesday. Authorities say he stole the code last summer while working on it as a contract government employee.

The 32-year-old Queens resident could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is part of a system that helps operate the nation's payment systems and protects consumers dealing with banks.

A criminal complaint says Zhang admitted copying the code for use on his private office computer, home computer and laptop. The complaint says he used the code in connection with a private business he ran training people in computer programming.

A defense lawyer has declined to comment.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_us/us_federal_reserve_computer_code_arrest

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Video: TreeHouse Foods Lowers Q4 Forecast

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46072339/

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Sully's Court: UNC Asheville could be threat in NCAA first round

My viewing habits: I watched the battle of the Big South, Coastal Carolina at UNC Asheville. This was a rematch of last season?s Big South Tournament final, which Asheville won. Asheville won again, 88-81, and barring an upset in the conference tournament, should find itself in the NCAA Tournament. Once there, it can be a threat.

The Bulldogs are a senior-dominated team with two nifty guards in Matt Dickey and J.P. Pimm and an undersized forward (6-3) in Chris Stephenson, who had a tremendous game last night. The sixth man is Keith Hornsby, son of musician and sometimes Celtics national anthem performer, Bruce Hornsby. They are well-coached by veteran Eddie Biedenbach. The one problem: They have no height, so they could get crushed on the boards and inside if they get the wrong matchup in March. If they get the right matchup, their shooting (49 percent) and smarts will make them dangerous.

Scanning the scorelist:
Kentucky 86, Arkansas 63: Bingo Long and the Traveling All-Stars were home and manhandled the Hogs behind Anthony Davis? 27 points and seven blocked shots. He?s already broken the school record for blocks in a season with 84. Keep in mind, blocks are a pretty recent stat. Many great Kentucky teams didn?t have their blocks recorded. Kentucky has won 46 straight home games.
Michigan 60, Michigan State 59: A key win for the Wolverines and that?s two losses in a row for Sparty.
Colorado State 66, Boise State 55: Eight straight for the Rams.
Hartford 74, UMBC 57: Two in a row for the Hawks, that?s progress.
Radford 85, High Point 66: Another downtrodden group wins, this breaks a 15-game losing streak.

Source: http://feeds.boston.com/click.phdo?i=cc0b5bec19fad0f58af2cfc8d824b11a

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Drug Duo May Help Fight Aggressive Form of Breast Cancer (HealthDay)

TUESDAY, Jan. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Combining two drugs that target an aggressive type of breast cancer known as HER2-positive appears to work better than using either drug alone, researchers report.

The dual-drug approach greatly boosted the chances of eliminating microscopic signs of early cancer by the time a woman was due to have surgery, said researcher Dr. Jose Baselga, chief of hematology/oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

The study was published online Jan. 17 in The Lancet.

The two drugs are Tykerb (lapatinib) and Herceptin (trastuzumab). Using both together resulted in a 51 percent response, compared with a 30 percent response in women given Herceptin alone. Those given Tykerb alone had a 25 percent response.

"What we observed was a massive improvement in response," Baselga said.

GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of Tykerb, helped fund the study.

"Lapatinib was approved for advanced breast cancer in 2007," Baselga said. "The question we had was, what is the efficacy if we give it in early-stage breast cancer prior to surgery?"

Baselga and his colleagues conducted a trial treating 455 women from 23 countries. All had HER2-positive breast cancers. All had tumors larger than about three-fourths of an inch.

In HER2-positive breast cancer, test results are positive for a protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, which promotes cancer cell growth.

In the study, 154 women got Tykerb, 149 Herceptin and the other 152 both drugs. All had the drug regimen before surgery, with Taxol (paclitaxel), a standard chemotherapy, added after six weeks. After 12 more weeks of treatment, the women had surgery.

At that point, researchers evaluated who had better responses. The women continued the treatments for one more year, allowing researchers to follow them and see how the approaches affected survival.

Baselga stressed that the study looked only at women with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancers, and that the drug Tykerb is approved now only for advanced breast cancers.

The study is well done and important, said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society. The two drugs, he said, "affect the same pathway but do it in a different way."

While the combination showed a better response rate, "there is also an increased level of side effects," he noted.

While no major heart problems occurred, those on Tykerb alone or the two-drug combination had more diarrhea. Liver-enzyme alterations were also more frequent when Tykerb was used.

GlaxoSmithKline notes that liver toxicity with the drug may be severe and that deaths have been reported, although the cause of the deaths has not been determined.

The important question, however, has not been answered yet, Lichtenfeld said. That's the effect on overall survival in using the two-drug approach. The researchers are continuing to evaluate that.

Cost is another consideration: Tykerb runs about $4,000 a month wholesale, and retail prices could be higher.

In another study, published online Jan. 17 in The Lancet Oncology, researchers from Germany reported that Tykerb is less beneficial than Herceptin as a single-drug therapy.

They assigned 620 women with HER2-positive breast cancer to get standard chemotherapy plus Herceptin or Tykerb.

They looked to see which drug was better at eliminating invasive cancer in the breast and metastatic cells in the lymph nodes. While 30 percent of those in the Herceptin group had this response, 23 percent of the Tykerb group did. The study was funded by drug makers GlaxoSmithKline, Roche and Sanofi-Aventis.

Baselga reports receiving honoraria from Roche; other co-authors report receiving speaking fees or honoraria from GlaxoSmithKline and fees from other drug companies.

More information

To learn more about breast cancer, including HER2-positive cancers, visit the American Cancer Society.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/cancer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120118/hl_hsn/drugduomayhelpfightaggressiveformofbreastcancer

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[OOC] The day and night boarding school....

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El Salvador massacre apology on 20-year peace mark

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) ? El Salvador President Mauricio Funes apologized Monday for the 1981 El Mozote massacre of 936 civilians in an army counterinsurgency operation. Funes also commemorated the 20th anniversary of the 1992 peace accords that put an end to the country's 12-year civil war.

Funes said the El Mozote massacre, named for the town where it occurred between Dec. 11 to 13, 1981, was "the biggest massacre of civilians in the contemporary history of Latin America." He formally acknowledged the government's responsibility for the killings.

He also asked for forgiveness from the relatives of the estimated 12,000 people disappeared in the conflict, which left 75,000 dead.

"I ask forgiveness of the mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters of those who still today do not know the whereabouts of their loved ones. I ask forgiveness from the people of El Salvador, who suffered an atrocious and unacceptable violence," Funes said in a speech in front of thousands of farmers at the massacre site.

Funes was elected on the ticket of the former leftist rebels, who were allowed to turn themselves into a political party after the 1992 peace accords. Funes himself never belonged to the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front rebel movement, nor did he serve in the army. He was a journalist at the time.

Soldiers from the now-disappeared Atlacatl battalion entered El Mozote looking for rebels and sympathizers. They apparently believed that any village in the area was backing the insurgents, and they killed anyone they could catch: men, women, children, infants. Many of the bodies were tossed into a church that was then set ablaze.

But Funes said the peace accords helped change the army.

"Twenty years after the peace accords we have a different armed forces, democratic and obedient to civilian power," Funes said. He urged the army to revise its military history and avoid honoring officers who ordered or carried out rights abuses.

Msgr. Gregorio Rosa Chavez, the assistant bishop of San Salvador, said the peace accords were valuable "but there is still a lot to do" 20 years later.

"We have a lot of ground to make up in human rights," Chavez said, "as there is in the economic situation of the poor, the poorest part of the population continue to be the poorest."

Former rebel leader Eduardo Sancho, known during the war by the code name Ferman Cienfuegos, said the accords marked a watershed, "changing the life of a guerrilla for life as a citizen."

"It was the arrival of democracy, and that was something we had never had," Sancho said. "We had lived under a dictatorship."

Former president Alfredo Cristiani, who signed the peace pact as president from 1989 to 1994, said the accords were not an end in themselves.

"They were just a beginning, but they were good enough for us to leave behind war and have the democracy we have today," Cristiani said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-16-LT-Salvador-Peace-Anniversary/id-ed75a85d2d96400ca453d9c10b8c421d

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"Iron Lady" locks up $5.4 million over weekend (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES, Jan 15 (TheWrap.com) ? "The Iron Lady," the Weinstein Company's biopic of Margaret Thatcher, entered its first week of wide release as the No. 10 movie in America -- the only specialty film in the top 10.

Last week's No. 9 film, Focus Features' "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," dropped out of the top 10 this week.

"Iron Lady" -- like the specialty films "The Artist," "My Week With Marilyn," "The Descendants," "Shame," "We Need to Talk About Kevin" and "Carnage" -- could get a boost from Sunday night's Golden Globe Awards.

"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" received no nominations.

Meryl Streep was nominated for her portrayal of the former prime minister of Britain in "The Iron Lady," which took $5.4 million in 802 locations in 141 markets this weekend.

"It did really well in a lot of commercial theaters," Erik Lomis, the Weinstein Company's distribution president, told TheWrap on Sunday morning. "It did really well in art theaters, as well."

This is "Iron Lady's" third week in release, but last week, it was in only five locations.

With the wider release, its per-location average dropped from an unsustainably high $34,420 to a very strong $6,716.

The movie played especially well in big cities and on both coasts.

As might be expected, the movie drew an older and educated audience: 77 percent were 35 or older and 72 percent had college degrees. The audience was made up of slightly more women than men -- 53 percent women to 47 percent men.

The audience polling firm Cinemascore gave it a "B+" grade. The other significant expansion of the weekend was "Carnage," directed by Roman Polanski.

Sony Pictures Classics increased the number of locations showing "Carnage" from 15 to 494. The movie, which earned Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet Golden Globe nominations for best actress, took $785,590 -- a per-location average of $1,590.

Despite dropping out of the top 10, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" drew solid numbers in its sixth week of release. Focus expanded the film from 809 to 886 locations, and grossed $3.2 million. The movie now has taken an estimated $15.1 million. Focus expects it will end the Martin Luther King holiday weekend with nearly $15.8 million.

The Weinstein Company's "The Artist" went from 172 to 216 screens in its eighth weekend.

The mostly silent, black-and-white movie is nominated for six Golden Globes -- more than any other film.

It grossed $1.167 million over the weekend and now has grossed nearly $8.8 million to date.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120115/film_nm/us_boxoffice_ironlady

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Kelsey Grammer & Kayte Walsh Having Twins

Kelsey Grammer & Kayte Walsh Having Twins

Kelsey Grammer revealed that he and wife Kayte Walsh are expecting twins during an interview backstage at the Golden Globes on Sunday evening. The actor [...]

Kelsey Grammer & Kayte Walsh Having Twins Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stupidcelebrities/~3/rC-nsDXzfwA/

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