UFC president Dana White started the post-UFC 159 press conference with these words. The event featured a nasty broken thumb on Yancy Medeiros, and equally nasty broken toe on Jon Jones, two fight stoppages because of eyepokes, and one fight that was canceled hours before it was supposed to happen.
But the craziest part of all? The demonic voice that was heard between rounds of Michael Bisping's win over Alan Belcher.
Did the gates of hell open before the fight, and did Satan send his minions to New Jersey? Were Bisping's cornermen, who were bathed in creepy red light, actually demons? Middle Easy thinks it was a spell from "Passages of the Dead."
It's possible the UFC ticked off the wrong person and got the evil eye thrown its way. The bigger question: Are we all cursed for watching the bouts?
CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's state news agency says police in a Nile Delta province are blocking off entrance to their station, the latest labor unrest hitting the country's police force.
Police in Kafr el-Sheikh province locked the gate to the security division with chains, MENA reported. The police are demanding better working conditions, along with dismissal of the Interior Minister. They are also protesting alleged attempts by the Muslim Brotherhood to take over the ministry, which controls the police. The Brotherhood has denied that charge.
Also Sunday, police at two stations in the southern province of Assuit went on strike, charging that the government did not carry out promises to fulfill their demands.
Last month, there was a wave of police strikes. The Islamist government promised to study demands of the police.
Commercial real estate is a very profitable business for some people. There?s no magical formula for success. Instead, you need to be well informed, experienced, and willing to put in the effort needed. The article will explain in simple terms some strategies to get you started investing in commercial property.
You should negotiate if you are the seller or the buyer. Make sure you have a voice and that you are offered a reasonable amount of money for the property.
If you are new to commercial real estate investing, you should learn how to manage one investment type at a time. Pick out a single property type that you would enjoy starting with and only pay attention to it. It is better to do your best at one type than to be average at many types.
TIP! Negotiate, whether you?re the seller or the buyer. Protect your interests by standing up for yourself regardless of who is on the other side of the table.
If you are financing your commercial properties, you need to ensure that you have the proper financial statements for both yourself and your business. Your bank will need these documents to verify that you are a responsible, creditworthy person.
Find an appropriate lender before beginning your search for investments. Loan products and commercial lenders are different than that of home loans. In some ways, they are better. Larger down payments are required for commercial financing, but you have the safety of avoiding personal liability should things not end well. Banks are also considerably more lenient about letting you borrow down payment funds from associates.
Look for a myriad of financial allies, from family members and friends to professional lenders who can help you come up with the necessary cash to buy commercial real estate. Contract with the parties to either provide part of your property income, or repayment with a fixed inters rate.
TIP! Bugs and rodents are always looking to ruin your property, so factor pest control into your business strategy when renting commercial property. Talk about pest control with your agent if the area is known for rodents and bugs.
Commercial loans differ from the residential loans. For instance, they have a higher percentage down payment. You need to research different lenders so that you can find the best one for you. In addition, seek out information regarding what investment types are the hottest right now.
Square Footage
Clarify how much space is available in square footage. Commercial real estate properties can be measured by usable square feet, which is where the business would actually take place, or total square footage, which usually involves the walls and uninhabitable spaces. Try to obtain both measurements, in order to really understand how much space is under consideration.
TIP! Always assure yourself of any company?s intentions, making sure they take a primary focus on your own needs, rather than an apparent consideration for only their firm?s income. If you don?t do your research and end up in bed with wolves, you will be the one to suffer.
Before you enter into any negotiations for a lease on commercial real estate, attempt to decrease anything that may be thought of as a default event. That will cut down on the likelihood that the tenant defaults on a lease. You want to ensure this doesn?t happen at all costs.
When you are getting a loan for your commercial property, make sure you obtain a good attorney that will explain all details to you. In case you encounter an issue, you will be glad you hired an efficient attorney who will find a solution that corresponds to your best interest.
Feng shui is a great tool that you can use in your office or when decorating your commercial property purchases. Two of the basic insights of this approach, removing clutter and emphasizing open space, are sound design principles that make a property more attractive.
TIP! Do a walk-through and close evaluation of each property you are considering. Think also about having a professional contractor tag along aside you when you look over these properties.
Know exactly what your business needs before shopping locations. Know what type of office space that you need to have. If you have plans for future expansion, it is in your best interest to purchase a larger space that can accommodate future growth. If the market is currently low, this can save you a great deal of money.
When you?re trying to decide which broker you should work with, take their experience in commercial real estate into account. For better results they should specialize in the specific area that you want to buy or sell in. Sign an exclusive agreement once you?ve found a broker you want to work with.
Be sure to have a professional building inspector go through your property before you put it up for sale. If the inspections turn up any problems, remediate them before listing the property for sale.
TIP! It is a far lengthier, and more complicated, process to purchase a commercial property than a residential one. Understand, however, that this additional time and effort often translates into higher returns.
Local Buyers
When you are selling a commercial property, always make sure to include all buyers; this includes local and non-local buyers. Many sellers mistakenly assume that their property is only interesting to local buyers. There are many private investors who buy property outside of their area if the price is affordable.
Be aware of the potential tax benefits of investing in commercial property. Depreciation benefits and interest reductions are given to investors in commercial real estate. ?Phantom income? is a taxed income, but not income received as cash. Take this possibility into account when drawing up an investing plan.
TIP! In the beginning, you may find it necessary to spend a great deal of time handling your investment. Hunting for the opportune property will take time and effort, and even after you have purchased it, upgrades and reconditioning might be necessary.
Some factors to consider before making a big investment into real estate are the expanding or contracting of nearby employers, local income levels, and the rate of unemployment. Your house will sell more quickly and at a higher value if it is near a university, hospital or any large employment center.
Location, location, location is important to consider. Think over the community a property is located in. Don?t forget to check out similar areas as well, in order to see how other neighborhoods are growing economically. You?ll want to choose an area that is on the upswing and will continue growing for at least a decade into the future.
If you know how to go about it, you can achieve success in the commercial real estate industry. Take that you?ve learned in this article and use it in your business strategy. Don?t stop learning about the industry, and continue to gain knowledge and methods for improvement. Keep in mind that the more you actually gain experience, the more you can learn from your mistakes, which can, in turn, help you become successful.
TIP! It is prudent to consult a tax specialist before purchasing real estate. Your tax adviser can inform you of all of the potential costs related to your investment, and also tell you what percentage of your profits will have to be paid in taxes.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ? A public funeral will be held at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville for country music superstar George Jones, who died Friday at the age of 81.
Publicist Kirt Webster said in a statement that the public funeral will be held Thursday starting at 10 a.m. Webster says Jones would have wanted his fans everywhere to be able to pay their respects along with his family.
A private visitation for family, friends and fellow performers will take place Wednesday evening. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that contributions be made to the Grand Ole Opry trust fund or the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
Five years ago from their native city of Barcelona, Maria Alegre and her husband Pepe Agell used to watch old Stanford Technology Ventures Program videos from entrepreneurs sharing their founding stories. Intrigued by what they heard, they picked up and moved to the Valley, where Alegre dug into mobile gaming at early developer Tapulous, which went on to be acquired by Disney. Fast forward to today, Alegre is running one of the fastest-growing mobile ad networks in Silicon Valley (one that we’ve heard from three separate sources grossed about $50 million last year). Her company Chartboost is quietly sucking in talent from an older generation of mobile ad networks and gaming studios like Google’s AdMob, DeNA’s Ngmoco and EA’s Popcap. They also picked up $19 million in funding led by storied VC firm Sequoia earlier this year. “It’s kind of crazy. This all happened in four years,” she said. “Anyone can do it. People running these companies are not super humans. They are just people like you and me.” Today Chartboost is opening its first office abroad in Europe, led by Ilja Goossens, who founded Gamundo and Virtual Fairground. The new location in Amsterdam is meant to strengthen the company’s relationships with the biggest game developers across the continent. Europe is having something of a Renaissance in mobile gaming right now with players like Finland’s Supercell (which made $104 million in profit with just 100 people last quarter), Berlin’s Wooga and London’s King. While other newer mobile ad networks were less focused, Chartboost wedged itself into the gaming world where it built an early platform for developers to trade advertising inventory. Because games are the biggest category for apps in terms of time spent on iOS and Android, it was the ideal place to build a focused business. Chartboost earns revenue through excess inventory, which can be sold in an exchange. Chartboost now has 16,000 games in its network and 8 billion ad impressions per month and has grown 30 percent since January. Instead of the old banner ads, which had poor clickthrough rates, Chartboost instead focused on creating interstitials that looked and felt like they belonged in a game. At first, it wasn’t easy, however. Alegre said that when she and her co-founder Sean Fannan were starting out, they did 30 phone pitches to potential investors in a week. In late 2011, they picked up a small round from
Olivia Newton-John is putting family first. The Australian singer and actress, 64, has postponed a Las Vegas concert series in order to support older sister Rona Newton-John, who was recently diagnosed with brain cancer.
PHOTOS: Australian stars
Sharing "the very sad news" with Entertainment Tonight, the Grease star explained, "I have decided to postpone my forthcoming Las Vegas residency to spend time with her and our family." Olivia herself battled (and defeated) breast cancer 20 years ago, and adds: "As a cancer 'thriver' myself, as many people are, I am very aware of the importance of love, support and family during this journey she is about to begin."
PHOTOS: Stars who've battled cancer
The "Physical" singer had been preparing to perform multiple shows at the Flamingo Casino during Donny and Marie Osmond's break. "I want to thank everyone in advance for respecting our privacy during this difficult time," adds the star, who is expected to reschedule her Vegas dates at a later time.
PHOTOS Famous siblings
Like her sister, Rona Newton-John is also an actress, and was married to her sister's late Grease costar Jeff Conaway from 1980 to 1985. She and Conaway shared son, race-car driver Emerson.
Two men were charged with plotting a terrorist attack against a Canadian passenger train with support from al Qaeda elements in Iran, police said Monday. The men are not Canadian citizens, but they had been in Canada a "significant amount of time," said police.
By Charmaine Noronha,?Associated Press / April 22, 2013
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Laporte walks with Mohammad Shaied, sheikh of the Masjid el Noor Mosque, en route to a news conference where the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced the arrest of two men accused of plotting a terror attack on a passenger train, in Toronto, April 22.
Chris Young / The Canadian Press / AP
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?Two men were arrested and charged with plotting a terrorist attack against a Canadian passenger train with support from al Qaeda elements in Iran, police said Monday. The case bolstered allegations by some governments and experts of a relationship of convenience between Shiite-led Iran and the predominantly Sunni Arab terrorist network.
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Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, and Raed Jaser, 35, had "direction and guidance" from al Qaeda members in Iran, though there was no reason to think the planned attacks were state-sponsored, RCMP Assistant Commissioner James Malizia said. Police said the men did not get financial support from al Qaeda, but declined to provide more details.
"This is the first known al Qaeda planned attack that we've experienced in Canada," Superintendent Doug Best told a news conference. Officials in Washington and Toronto said it had no connections to last week's bombings at the marathon in Boston.
The arrests in Montreal and Toronto raised questions about Iran's murky relationship with the terrorist network. Bruce Riedel, a CIA veteran who is now a Brookings Institution senior fellow, said al Qaeda has had a clandestine presence in Iran since at least 2001 and that neither the terror group nor Tehran speak openly about it.
"The Iranian regime kept some of these elements under house arrest," he said in an email to The Associated Press. "Some probably operate covertly. AQ members often transit Iran traveling between hideouts in Pakistan and Iraq."
U.S. intelligence officials have long tracked limited al Qaeda activity inside Iran. Remnants of al Qaeda's so-called management council are still there, though they are usually kept under virtual house arrest by an Iranian regime suspicious of the Sunni-/Salafi-based militant movement. There are also a small number of financiers and facilitators who help move money, and sometimes weapons and people throughout the region from their base in Iran.
Last fall, the Obama administration offered up to $12 million in rewards for information leading to the capture of two al Qaeda leaders based in Iran. The U.S. State Department described them as key facilitators in sending extremists to Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. Treasury Department also announced financial penalties against one of the men.
Alireza Miryousefi, spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations, said the terrorist network was not operating in Iran.
"Iran's position against this group is very clear and well known. [Al Qaeda] has no possibility to do any activity inside Iran or conduct any operation abroad from Iran's territory," Miryousefi said in a statement emailed to the AP late Monday. "We reject strongly and categorically any connection to this story."
The investigation surrounding the planned attack was part of a cross-border operation involving Canadian law enforcement agencies, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
It was d?j? vu all over again for "Teen Mom 2" star Jenelle Evans, who resumed her heavy partying with baddie boyfriend Kieffer Delp on this week's utterly bleak episode.
For a hot minute, things seemed OK, despite the Kieffer's return. Too broke to buy marijuana, Jenelle quit for two whole weeks. She also passed a mandatory drug test, leading to the dismissal of her domestic violence and drug charges. Her ex, Gary Head, also escaped jail by taking a plea, but the no-contact order remained in place.
Too bad the no-contact order between Kieffer and Jenelle was lifted long ago, because old habits -- substance abuse and homelessness -- die hard for this happy couple.
Shockingly, entrepreneur Kieffer's new "tobacco" pipe business isn't flourishing (maybe he spends too time using his products instead of making them?), and their landlord serves them with an eviction notice.
"We don't even owe that much to get evicted," K.Delp protests. "Has there been other problems?" (Just Jenelle's arrest and their blatant drug use!)
Jenelle's financial woes spark her mom, Barbara, to take up her familiar refrain -- and the women get into yet another profanity-fueled screaming match in front of 3-year-old Jace. Babs warns her daughter that she'll never get custody back, and Jenelle and Kieffer counter with some scathing retorts.
Kieffer follows up his baffling "Being a felon ain't illegal!" by blasting Barbara's job.
"You're 60 years old and work at a deli," jibes Jenelle's unemployed beau, while Jenelle adds, "You're a deli person that's going to work at Wal-Mart the rest of your life."
Barbara will probably be caring for Jace for the rest of her life too, because Jenelle is doing nothing to prove that she's a fit mother.
Kieffer, meanwhile, is proving his fiscal sensibility: With 70 bucks to Jenelle's name, his advice is to blow the wad on dope ("you get a discount if you get more"), but Jenelle just becomes even more depressed. ?
"It's been way worse," Kieffer reasons. "We could be in the front seat of the Accord with nowhere to go." (Isn't that where they're headed?) ?
Also: "There's food in the refrigerator and the dog's alive."
When Jenelle still isn't comforted, he offers to "scoop up some pain pills" or "something to get you high."
(That "something" sends Jenelle's to the ER in the next episode, with Babs sobbing that her daughter might die from using "hard-core drugs.")
Meanwhile, with the other Teen Moms...
Chelsea's got problems too: She hates getting up early, and her baby daddy can't spell his own daughter's name. (He celebrates Aubree's birthday at a motel with a cake reading "Happy birthday, Audree." His gift? A miniature motorcycle. With an engine.)
Leah and baby daddy Corey's celebration of daughter Ali's first steps is sadly short-lived, because a neuromuscular specialist is very concerned about her muscle development. He orders a nerve conduction test and a muscle biopsy, which means the 3-year-old will once again have to undergo general anesthesia -- and the family still may never have an accurate diagnosis of the girl's disorder.
Unlike Leah and Corey, Kailyn and Jo continue to struggle with co-parenting. They finally attend their court-ordered family therapy session, but she decides to wait until afterward to tell Jo about Javi's new Air Force career. Predictably -- since Jo said during the session that he "would never accept (her) moving away" -- he warns her to expect a legal battle if she tries to relocate with their son.
Next week, Kailyn and Javi get married, her husband leaves for boot camp, and the party's over for Jenelle.
FILE - In this Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013 photo provided by the Japan Transport Safety Board shows the distorted main lithium-ion battery, left, and an undamaged auxiliary battery of the All Nippon Airways' Boeing 787 which made an emergency landing on Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013 at Takamatsu airport in Takamatsu, western Japan. Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing officials were scheduled to testify at a two-day hearing of the National Transportation Safety Board beginning Tuesday April 23, 2013. The board is asking how problems with the aircraft's lithium-ion battery system that led to a fire aboard one plane and smoke in another escaped the notice of regulators and company officials who certified the plane's safety. (AP Photo/Japan Transport Safety Board, File) EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO SALES
FILE - In this Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013 photo provided by the Japan Transport Safety Board shows the distorted main lithium-ion battery, left, and an undamaged auxiliary battery of the All Nippon Airways' Boeing 787 which made an emergency landing on Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013 at Takamatsu airport in Takamatsu, western Japan. Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing officials were scheduled to testify at a two-day hearing of the National Transportation Safety Board beginning Tuesday April 23, 2013. The board is asking how problems with the aircraft's lithium-ion battery system that led to a fire aboard one plane and smoke in another escaped the notice of regulators and company officials who certified the plane's safety. (AP Photo/Japan Transport Safety Board, File) EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO SALES
WASHINGTON (AP) ? As airlines prepare to begin flying Boeing's beleaguered 787 Dreamliners again, federal investigators are looking at how regulators and the company tested and approved the plane's cutting-edge battery system, and whether the government cedes too much authority to aircraft makers for safety testing.
Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing officials were scheduled to testify at a two-day hearing of the National Transportation Safety Board beginning Tuesday. The board is asking how problems with the aircraft's lithium-ion battery system that led to a fire aboard one plane and smoke in another escaped the notice of regulators and company officials who certified the plane's safety.
To save manpower, the FAA designates employees at aircraft makers to oversee the safety testing of new planes. Every item that is part of an airplane, down to its nuts and bolts, must be certified as safe before the FAA approves that type of plane as safe for flight. Boeing won FAA safety certification for the 787 in August 2011.
"In a way, the designee system is admitting the FAA doesn't have the manpower to do what is required, and also that they may not have the expertise," said John Goglia, a former NTSB board member and aviation safety expert.
The FAA has used designated company employees to oversee and validate some safety testing for more than two decades, a practice critics complain has inherent conflicts of interest. The agency significantly expanded its use of designees in recent years under pressure from manufacturers, who complained it was taking the agency too long to approve new planes because they didn't have enough staff.
"If industry had to wait for government employees to be available to do the testing" and to develop enough technical knowledge to assess new aviation technologies, "we would just never get any products certified," Goglia said.
The 787, Boeing's newest and most technologically-advanced plane, is the first airliner to make extensive use of lithium-ion batteries. It has long been known that lithium batteries are more susceptible than conventional nickel-cadmium batteries to extreme, uncontrolled temperature increases and fires that are very different to put out. But lithium batteries weigh less, store more energy and recharge faster than conventional batteries, making them attractive to airlines.
Boeing did some of the safety testing on the 787 battery system, but much of the testing was done by a subcontractor, Thales of France, which made the 787's electrical system, and by battery maker GS Yuasa of Japan, according to a previously released NTSB report. The testing concluded there was no chance that short-circuiting would lead to a fire, and the odds of a smoking battery were one in every 10 million flight hours.
Instead, there were two battery failures when the entire 787 fleet had clocked less than 52,000 flight hours. The first was on Jan. 7 aboard a Japan Airlines 787 parked at Boston's Logan International Airport shortly after landing following an overseas flight. Firefighters reported two small flames and dense clouds of white smoke streaming from the battery. It took over an hour before they declared the incident under control.
Nine days later a smoking battery aboard an All Nippon Airways 787 led to an emergency landing in Japan. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered all U.S.-registered 787s grounded the same day, and aviation authorities in other countries swiftly followed suit.
The NTSB, which is investigating the Boston incident, hasn't yet determined the root cause of the fire and may never be able to do so. The insides of the battery were severely charred, leaving few clues for investigators.
Boeing has since developed and tested a revamped version of the battery system, with changes designed to prevent a fire or to contain one should it occur. FAA officials approved the revamped batteries last week and agreed to lift the grounding order. The company has been working furiously to install the new system on the 50 Dreamliners in service worldwide. Boeing has orders for 840 of the planes from airlines around the globe.
What the NTSB uncovers regarding the FAA's safety certification program could have important implications for the agency's ability to handle other technology challenges, including the transition to a new air traffic control system and the introduction of unmanned aircraft into the national airspace, said Jim Hall, a former safety board chairman.
"It's important to know that the government has oversight capability," Hall said. "Our aviation safety, which is unparalleled at the moment in the world, has been built on having active oversight by the FAA."
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Online:
National Transportation Safety Board: http://www.ntsb.gov
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Follow Joan Lowy on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy
Apr. 22, 2013 ? Scavengers might not play as key a role in spreading anthrax through wildlife populations as previously assumed, according to findings from a small study conducted in Etosha National Park in northern Namibia.
Wildlife managers currently spend large amounts of money and time to control anthrax outbreaks by preventing scavengers from feeding on infected carcasses.
The effort might be ill spent, according to results published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology by an international consortium of researchers led by Steven Bellan, an ecologist at The University of Texas at Austin.
Carrion produced by anthrax deaths feeds many scavengers, including jackals, hyena, vultures, marabou storks and occasionally even lions. These scavengers have evolved to be able to digest infected carrion without contracting the infection. Herbivorous animals more vulnerable to anthrax include zebra, springboks, elephants and wildebeest.
It has been thought that scavengers change the environment in which the anthrax bacteria are living by opening herbivores' carcasses, enabling more production of spores -- the infectious life stage of the anthrax bacteria.
"The hypothesis is that when a carcass is intact, the anthrax bacteria are forced into a kind of death match with putrefying bacteria from the gastrointestinal tract," said Bellan, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of biologist Lauren Ancel Meyers. "But when the body is opened to the air, either by a scavenger or the hemorrhaging from all bodily orifices that occurs at death, the anthrax bacteria can escape that competition and more successfully produce spores."
According to this hypothesis, the scavenging also allows the carcasses' bodily fluids to leak into the soil, leading to more spores contaminating the soil. Combined, this might increase the likelihood of spread to vulnerable herbivores as they move and eat among the grasses.
In order to test the hypothesis, the researchers found seven zebra and one wildebeest that had just died in the wild from anthrax infection. All of the carcasses were left where they fell, but four were protected from scavengers by electrified cage exclosures. The other four were left completely open to the elements.
"The goal was to allow the carcasses to exist in as natural a state as possible, while preventing scavenging," Bellan said.
Samples were then taken at regular intervals to see whether there was greater anthrax spore production in the scavenged carcasses and in the nearby soil.
The researchers found that anthrax sporulation and contamination happened to a similar degree at both the scavenged and unscavenged carcasses.
"It appears that the anthrax bacteria can survive for some time in the carcass even though it may be competing with other bacteria," said Bellan. "It also appears that fluids can escape from the carcass into the soil via mechanisms other than scavenging or through hemorrhages occurring at the time of death. It looks like bloating caused by gases produced during putrefaction and maggot feeding activity are capable of independently rupturing carcass skin."
Bellan cautions that the experiment was a limited one, conducted on a small number of samples. But he said it does suggest a need for some re-evaluation of practices aimed at keeping scavengers away from anthrax carcasses.
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Texas at Austin.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
S. E. Bellan, P. C. B. Turnbull, W. Beyer, W. M. Getz. Effects of experimental exclusion of scavengers from anthrax-infected herbivore carcasses on Bacillus anthracis sporulation, survival and distribution. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2013; DOI: 10.1128/AEM.00181-13
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.
Apr. 22, 2013 ? Consuming grapes may help protect against organ damage associated with the progression of metabolic syndrome, according to research presented Monday at the Experimental Biology conference in Boston. Natural components found in grapes, known as polyphenols, are thought to be responsible for these beneficial effects.
The study, led by investigator E. Mitchell Seymour, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan Health System, studied the effects of a high fat, American-style diet both with added grapes and without grapes (the control diet) on the heart, liver, kidneys, and fat tissue in obesity-prone rats. The grapes -- a blend of red, green and black varieties -- were provided as a freeze-dried grape powder and integrated into the animals' diets for 90 days.
Specifically, the results showed that three months of a grape-enriched diet significantly reduced inflammatory markers throughout the body, but most significantly in the liver and in abdominal fat tissue. Consuming grapes also reduced liver, kidney and abdominal fat weight, compared with those consuming the control diet. Additionally, grape intake increased markers of antioxidant defense, particularly in the liver and kidneys.
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that occur together -- increased blood pressure, a high blood sugar level, excess body fat around the waist or low HDL (the good cholesterol) and increased blood triglycerides -- significantly increasing the risk for heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes. Intake of fruits and vegetables is thought to reduce these risks, and grapes have shown benefits in multiple studies. Metabolic syndrome is a major public health concern, and is on the rise in the U.S.
"Our study suggests that a grape-enriched diet may play a critical role in protecting against metabolic syndrome and the toll it takes on the body and its organs," said Seymour. "Both inflammation and oxidative stress play a role in cardiovascular disease progression and organ dysfunction in Type 2 diabetes. Grape intake impacted both of these components in several tissues which is a very promising finding."
This work extends and reinforces the findings of Seymour's previously published research which demonstrated that a grape-enriched diet reduced risk factors for heart disease and diabetes in obesity-prone rats.
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
This is a list of job announcements for any type of library within Georgia and the Southeast.
Posted by: Joy Ovington
Posted date: 2013-Apr-19
Location: Athens Regional Library System - Oconee County Branch
This full-time position is responsible for Information Technology operations at the Oconee County Libraries in Watkinsville and Bogart. This position requires tact and knowledge of library policies and procedures. It requires mastering complex procedural and computer-related tasks, plus significant independent judgment. This position provides front-line computer and general services to patrons and staff of the libraries. Familiarity with basic tasks of local area network administration and computer security is required. The schedule requires night and weekend shifts, plus occasional assignments at the Bogart Public Library. This position is supervised by the Librarian, Oconee County Libraries.
* SEE WEBPAGE for Essential Duties and Responsibilities as well as Knowledge, Skills and Abilities needed.
Job Title
Computer & Information Technology Specialist
Start Date
May 6, 2013
Library/Institution Name
Athens Regional Library System - Oconee County Branch
Salary
$32,000
Certification Required?
No
City
Watkinsville
State
GA
Job Type
Job Type -> Full-time
Type of Library
Job Classification -> GPLS
Qualifications
High school diploma or equivalent required, with college degree or college experience preferred. At least three years of experience working in computer-related field required. At least one year experience working with public required, with library experience preferred. Or, any equivalent combination of education, training and experience which provides the requisite knowledge, skills and abilities for the position. Must possess (or be able to acquire) and maintain a valid Georgia driver's license.
Athens Regional Library System is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The Library is a drug-free workplace and requires a pre-employment drug test and eVerify approval.
Application Instructions
Submit online ARLS job application, resume, cover letter, and 3 References as soon as possible to employment@arlsmail.org. Open until filled.
Athens Regional Library System is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The Library is a drug-free workplace and requires a pre-employment drug test and eVerify approval.
Leeks, potatoes, and frozen green peas quickly cook into a creamy, hearty soup that tastes like spring.
By Terry Boyd,?Blue Kitchen / April 18, 2013
Pea and potato soup made fragrant with tarragon offers the hope of spring while providing warmth on its most blustery days.
Blue Kitchen
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Spring in Chicago is being its usual capricious self. Warm, sunny days mix it up with cold, blustery, rain-filled stretches. The range of our outerwear this time of year says it all. Leather jackets, sport coats, shirt sleeves, raincoats and, sadly, even our down parkas all see action.
Skip to next paragraph Terry Boyd
Blue Kitchen
Terry Boyd is the author of Blue Kitchen, a Chicago-based food blog for home cooks. His simple, eclectic cooking focuses on fresh ingredients, big flavors and a cheerful willingness to borrow ideas and techniques from all over the world. A frequent contributor to the Chicago Sun-Times, his recipes have also appeared on the Bon App?tit and Saveur websites.
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It?s the same story in the kitchen. Longer days and soft breezes have us longing for fresh asparagus and other tastes of spring. Sudden blasts of cold send us running for comfort food. This soup delivers both. The sweet, green flavor of peas is filled with promise; the thick, hearty, potato-rich base soothes even on an unseasonably chilly night.
I?m normally not a huge fan of peas ? unless they?re fresh peas which we often shell and devour on the way home from the store. But the peas in the deconstructed chicken pot pies I cooked a couple of weeks ago reminded me how much they taste like spring. The cold reality of springtime in Chicago, on the other hand, called for the comfort of a hearty potato soup. I decided to put them together.
Many green pea and potato soup recipes call for pur?eing everything. While I like some creamed soups ? especially vichyssoise ? I generally prefer some recognizable chunks in mine. By pur?eing only some of it, you get a nice creamy soup with actual stuff in it.
Creamy Green Pea and Potato Soup Serves 4
2 tablespoons unsalted butter?
2 leeks, white and pale green parts only, sliced into thin half moons
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
2 cups water (plus more as needed)
1-1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes (about 3 large potatoes) peeled and cut into a bite-sized pieces
2 cups frozen peas
Freshly ground pepper
Salt, if needed
1. Melt butter in a large, heavy stock pot or Dutch oven over medium flame. Add leeks and sweat until tender, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid browning. Clear a space in the middle of the pot and add tarragon and garlic. Cook until fragrant, about 45 seconds, stirring constantly. Add broth and 2 cups of water and stir to combine.
2. Add potatoes and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until potatoes are tender, at least 20 minutes. Stir in peas and cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. Carefully pur?e 2 to 3 cups of the soup (see Kitchen Notes) in a food processor or blender, working in batches, if necessary. Return to pot and stir to combine. Season with black pepper. Taste and add salt, if needed (depending on the saltiness of your broth, you may not need it). If soup is too thick, thin slightly with water. Reheat until warmed through and serve.
Kitchen Notes
The thick and the thin of it. I say in the recipe to pur?e 2 to 3 cups of the soup. I did 3, which made the soup velvety thick. You can do less if you prefer a ?soupier? soup. You can also adjust overly thick soup by adding a little water, milk or even half and half. Adding milk or half and half will give it a richer, creamier flavor.
Make it vegetarian. You can do this by substituting vegetable broth for the chicken broth?or even water. In either case, I would add a little soy sauce to approximate the umami taste the chicken broth delivers.
This Monday, April 15, 2013, shows a man who was dubbed Suspect No. 2 in the Boston Marathon bombings by law enforcement, in the upper center of the frame, wearing a white baseball cap, walking away from the scene of the explosions. The FBI identified him as 19-year-old college student Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who along with his brother Tamerlan, 26, previously known as Suspect No. 1, killed an MIT police officer, severely wounded another lawman and hurled explosives at police in a car chase and gun battle during a night of violence, early Friday, April 19, 2013. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed overnight, officials said, while his brother Dzhokhar remains at large. (AP Photo/David Green) EXCLUSIVE CONTENT-SPECIAL RATES APPLY FOR NON-AP MEMBERS AND SUBSCRIBERS.
This Monday, April 15, 2013, shows a man who was dubbed Suspect No. 2 in the Boston Marathon bombings by law enforcement, in the upper center of the frame, wearing a white baseball cap, walking away from the scene of the explosions. The FBI identified him as 19-year-old college student Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who along with his brother Tamerlan, 26, previously known as Suspect No. 1, killed an MIT police officer, severely wounded another lawman and hurled explosives at police in a car chase and gun battle during a night of violence, early Friday, April 19, 2013. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed overnight, officials said, while his brother Dzhokhar remains at large. (AP Photo/David Green) EXCLUSIVE CONTENT-SPECIAL RATES APPLY FOR NON-AP MEMBERS AND SUBSCRIBERS.
JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? Seconds after the Boston Marathon bombs exploded, David Green pulled out his smartphone and took a photo of the chaos developing a couple hundred yards in front of him ? the smoke, the people running in panic.
The Jacksonville businessman then put his phone back in his pocket and went to help the injured. It wasn't until Thursday, when officials released surveillance video of the two suspects in the twin blasts, that Green realized what he had ? a picture of 19-year-old Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, distinctive in his backward white baseball cap, walking away from the scene.
Tsarnaev, known to the FBI as Suspect No. 2, was still on the run Friday, prompting authorities to shut down the city of Boston and its western suburbs and warn residents to stay inside with their doors locked while police and federal agents hunted him down.
Tsarnaev's older brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, identified as Suspect No. 1, was killed overnight, officials said.
Green, back at his home in Florida, wore his yellow and blue Boston Marathon jersey as he talked about his now-famous photo, his finisher's medal from the race propped on a shelf in his home office.
Green, 49, had finished Monday's marathon in 3 hours and 17 minutes, about an hour before the blasts. An avid endurance athlete and CEO of 110% Play Harder, a sportswear company, it was his first Boston Marathon and four of his co-workers had come to the finish line to cheer for him.
After he recovered, he went back to Boylston Street, where the finish line is located, to watch the rest of the race with his friends. He realized his phone was dying, so he went into a nearby store with a recharging station.
About 15 minutes later, he was walking back to his friends when the first bomb went off.
"I thought maybe it was a cannon," Green said. Then the second one exploded as he was walking toward it.
"When I saw it, I pulled out the camera and immediately took that picture," Green said.
He then put it back in his pocket and went to help the injured, including a boy and others who were missing limbs.
"It was like battle ? a lot of noise, a lot of smoke, people coming at me in a panic," he said.
A short time later, his friend Jason Lubin texted him and asked if he was OK. He replied with the photograph and a note: "It was just in front of me."
Lubin said Thursday night, after the FBI released photos of the two suspects, that he decided to take a closer look at Green's photograph ? on the off chance Green had captured anything unusual. He pulled up the photo on his smartphone and zoomed in on the crowd. There in the lower left corner was Tsarnaev walking around a corner, his backward white baseball cap standing out amid the dozens of panicked people fleeing. He appeared to be buttoning his jacket.
"I literally had to sit down," Lubin said.
He said he immediately sent Green a text message.
"I told him in my view it was a 100 percent match with the guy on TV," Lubin said.
That prompted Green to contact the FBI, which told him to send them a copy of the photograph.
He said that looking at the photo now, he is struck by two things: Tsarnaev isn't carrying the backpack the surveillance videos show him with before the bombings, and he is acting very differently from everyone around him.
"He is calmly walking, without panic," Green said.
What's the difference between the ceremonial funeral that will be held for the late prime minister and the state funeral her supporters wanted for her?
By Ryan Lenora Brown,?Correspondent / April 16, 2013
The coffin of British former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher rests in the Crypt Chapel of St. Mary Undercroft beneath the Houses of Parliament in London on Tuesday. Mrs. Thatcher's funeral will be held at St. Paul's Cathedral on Wednesday.
Leon Neal/AP
Enlarge
Before dawn Monday morning, several hundred British soldiers gathered along the dark streets of central London to escort an empty casket to St. Paul?s Cathedral.
Skip to next paragraph Ryan Lenora Brown
Correspondent
Ryan Brown edits the Africa Monitor blog and contributes to the national and international news desks of the Monitor. She is a former Fulbright fellow to South Africa and holds a degree in history from Duke University.?
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The somber early morning march was a dress rehearsal for the Wednesday funeral of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, an elaborate and expensive ceremony that has touched off new debate about how the country should eulogize one of its most divisive leaders.
Immediately following her death last Monday, supporters began to clamor for Mrs. Thatcher to be afforded a so-called state funeral: an elaborate ceremony generally reserved for the country?s monarchs.?
Thatcher wouldn?t have been the first modern prime minister afforded such an honor ? Winston Churchill and the major prime ministers of the late 19th?century all had them ? but it would have been a ritzy departure from the ceremonies celebrating most of her predecessors.
Thatcher herself foresaw the controversy her memorial might inspire, however, and made clear before she died that she did not want a state funeral. So instead she will be commemorated Wednesday with a ?ceremonial funeral? ? one notch lower on the hierarchy of British official burials.
Here?s what you need to know about the Iron Lady's funeral.?
What is the difference between a ceremonial funeral and a full state funeral?
Practically speaking, almost nothing. Both state and ceremonial funerals are elaborate, expensive affairs (Thatcher's will cost an estimated 10 million pounds, or $15 million) involving a military procession and a funeral at one of London?s eminent old chapels.?
Thatcher?s casket will follow a winding route through central London ? flanked by about 700 military personnel ? beginning at the Palace of Westminster, continuing on to the Royal Air Force chapel, St. Clement Danes, and ending at St. Paul?s Cathedral. (You can see a minute-by-minute breakdown of the events here.)
It?s the same route followed by Winston Churchill?s casket in his state funeral, with a very similar supporting cast. So what gave Churchill?s ceremony the coveted ?state? label? Two things.
First, the gun carriage containing Mr. Churchill?s coffin was drawn by Royal Navy sailors, while Thatcher?s will be drawn by horses.
Second, and perhaps more essentially, a state funeral requires parliamentary approval, while a ceremonial funeral requires only the consent of the monarch. Before her death, Thatcher nixed the idea of a state funeral for herself in large part because of the divisive debate its approval was likely to stir up in Parliament, the Guardian reported last week.
What prime ministers have had state funerals?
Britain?s only 20th century prime minister to receive the honor was Winston Churchill, buried January 31, 1965. The BBC described the elaborate pomp and circumstance of that day.
The procession took that most ancient road that runs from the Palace of Westminster to the steps of the cathedral of St Paul. It is a road that half the history of England seems to have taken, on its way to a crowning or to a public and ignoble death, to murder or be murdered, to raise revolt, to seek a fortune, or to be buried. The route was lined with young soldiers, their heads bowed over their automatic rifles in ceremonious grief. The bands played old and slow tunes. The drums were draped in black. The staffs of the drum-majors were veiled. They moved slowly, steadily, at a curiously inexorable pace, and it looked as if nothing could ever stop them. The great crowd watched with an eloquent and absolute silence.
Before Churchill, three other prime ministers received state funeral honors in modern times: the Duke of Wellington in 1852, Viscount Palmerston in 1865, and William Gladstone in 1898. But the practice largely fell out of service in the 20th century.
What about ceremonial funerals? How common are those?
They're often given to important royals and there have been two in the past decade and a half. Princess Diana had one when she died suddenly in a car crash in 1997, as did Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, who died in 2002. Both of those ceremonies took place in Westminster Abbey.
So what kind of funerals do prime ministers usually have?
That's a matter of individual choice. Most have opted for a ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Labour Party Prime Minister Harold Wilson had one in 1995, and Edward Heath in 2005.
But the family of Harold Macmillan, Conservative Party prime minister from 1957 to 1963, held a private funeral in January 1987 at a church in the village of Horsted Keynes where he often worshiped. Just 200 people ? Thatcher among them ? attended.
By any estimation, Thatcher?s sendoff will be a slightly more audacious affair.?
Contact: Aileen Sheehy press.office@sanger.ac.uk 44-012-234-96928 Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Examining function of all genes in the zebrafish genome to benefit human health
Equipped with the zebrafish genome, researchers have designed a method to assay the function of each and every gene and to explore the effects genetic variation has on zebrafish. So far the team has generated one or more mutations in almost 40% of all zebrafish genes.
The resource will be a comprehensive catalogue of how changes to our genes can have physical and biochemical consequences, giving other researchers the tools to understand human disease.
Many genes are similar between the human genome and those of less complex animals. As a vertebrate, the zebrafish (Danio rerio) has the same major organs and tissues as humans.
For example, their muscle, blood, kidney and optical structures share many features with the human systems. Zebrafish embryos are transparent, so researchers can easily study their development. Zebrafish share 70% of genes with humans and 84% of genes known to be associated with human disease have a zebrafish counterpart.
"There are several advantages of the zebrafish model," says Dr Leonard Zon, MD, Children's Hospital of Boston MA. "We can readily create variations in their genome that are relevant to human health and disease. This has allowed a greater understanding of gene function and the finding of new targets for drug treatments.
"Several small molecules discovered using the zebrafish system have recently entered into clinical trials. The availability of the genome sequence, coupled with the rapid expansion of disease models and chemical screening ability, ensures that the zebrafish system has a major place in biomedicine."
The high-quality zebrafish reference genome sequence reported today in Nature, has allowed the team to create different mutations in more than 10,000 genes. There are 5,494 genes known to be involved in human disease. So far, the team have identified mutations in 3,188 zebrafish gene counterparts of the 5,494 genes associated with human disease.
Based on traditional methods used to study zebrafish, the team developed a new approach to more efficiently find the consequences of genetic variation in the zebrafish. They create random mutations throughout the genome of the zebrafish and link the mutations to physical or biochemical changes.
"Our aim is to reveal the function of each gene in the zebrafish to shed light on the role of their human counterpart," says Dr Elisabeth Busch-Nentwich, first author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "We make these zebrafish models freely available to the wider scientific and medical communities to support their effort to understand human disease and increase the pace at which medical advancements can be made."
A previous study at the Institute found specific mutations in the gene Titin are potential drivers for the growth of some forms of cancer. The team found that the main function of this gene in zebrafish may be associated with the division of cells in the body. This would explain why changes to this gene can affect the way cells divide and can be a driving force in the growth of cancer.
"Our zebrafish models have already been used to confirm the identity of a gene responsible for a rare disease affecting the development of bones,"
says Dr Ross Kettleborough, first author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "This is just one of many examples where this project has and will advance our understanding of human disease."
Zebrafish have already played a central role in helping to unravel the biological processes behind muscular dystrophies and are an important model for unlocking the mechanisms of cancer and other diseases. This project will help to uncover the biological processes that underlie both common and rare diseases, point to the causal genes and may lead to new treatments.
"Our challenge is to develop a comprehensive, functional understanding of all human genes as quickly as possible," says Dr Derek Stemple, lead author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "Our systematic analysis of zebrafish gene function will advance understanding of human disease."
"This is a resource that will help researchers and clinicians find the gene variations responsible for our inheritance of, and susceptibility to, diseases."
###
Notes to Editors
Publication Details
Ross N. W. Kettleborough, Elisabeth M. Busch-Nentwich, Steven A. Harvey et al. (2013) 'A systematic genome-wide analysis of zebrafish protein-coding gene function'
Advanced online publication in Nature, 17 April DOI: 10.1038/nature11992
Funding
A full list of funding can be found in the paper
Participating Centres
1. Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SA, UK
2. MRC-CDBG/Department of Biomedical Science, The University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
3. Hubrecht Institute, KNAW and University Medical Center
Selected Websites
With nearly 25,000 of the brightest students from 117 countries coming to learn alongside 1,209 of the world's best academics, it is clear why the University of Sheffield is one of the UK's leading universities. Staff and students at Sheffield are committed to helping discover and understand the causes of things - and propose solutions that have the power to transform the world we live in.
A member of the Russell Group, the University of Sheffield has a reputation for world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines. The University of Sheffield has been named University of the Year in the Times Higher Education Awards 2011 for its exceptional performance in research, teaching, access and business performance. In addition, the University has won four Queen's Anniversary Prizes (1998, 2000, 2002, 2007), recognising the outstanding contribution by universities and colleges to the United Kingdom's intellectual, economic, cultural and social life.
One of the markers of a leading university is the quality of its alumni and Sheffield boasts five Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students. Its alumni have gone on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence all over the world, making significant contributions in their chosen fields.
Research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, Boots, AstraZeneca, GSK, Siemens, Yorkshire Water and many more household names, as well as UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations.
The University has well-established partnerships with a number of universities and major corporations, both in the UK and abroad. The White Rose University Consortium (White Rose) is a strategic partnership between 3 of the UK's leading research universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York. Since its creation in 1997 White Rose has secured more than 100M into the Universities.
Over the past century, the Medical Research Council has been at the forefront of scientific discovery to improve human health. Founded in 1913 to tackle tuberculosis, the MRC now invests taxpayers' money in some of the best medical research in the world across every area of health.
Twenty-nine MRC-funded researchers have won Nobel prizes in a wide range of disciplines, and MRC scientists have been behind such diverse discoveries as vitamins, the structure of DNA and the link between smoking and cancer, as well as achievements such as pioneering the use of randomised controlled trials, the invention of MRI scanning, and the development of a group of antibodies used in the making of some of the most successful drugs ever developed.
Today, MRC-funded scientists tackle some of the greatest health problems facing humanity in the 21st century, from the rising tide of chronic diseases associated with ageing to the threats posed by rapidly mutating micro-organisms. http://www.mrc.ac.uk
The MRC Centenary Timeline chronicles 100 years of life-changing discoveries and shows how our research has had a lasting influence on healthcare and wellbeing in the UK and globally, right up to the present day. http://www.centenary.mrc.ac.uk
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is one of the world's leading genome centres. Through its ability to conduct research at scale, it is able to engage in bold and long-term exploratory projects that are designed to influence and empower medical science globally. Institute research findings, generated through its own research programmes and through its leading role in international consortia, are being used to develop new diagnostics and treatments for human disease.
http://www.sanger.ac.uk
The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. We support the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities. Our breadth of support includes public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health. We are independent of both political and commercial interests.
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk
Contact details
Don Powell Media Manager
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SA, UK
Tel +44 (0)1223 496 928
Mobile +44 (0)7753 7753 97
Email press.office@sanger.ac.uk
End of Notes to Editors
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Aileen Sheehy press.office@sanger.ac.uk 44-012-234-96928 Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Examining function of all genes in the zebrafish genome to benefit human health
Equipped with the zebrafish genome, researchers have designed a method to assay the function of each and every gene and to explore the effects genetic variation has on zebrafish. So far the team has generated one or more mutations in almost 40% of all zebrafish genes.
The resource will be a comprehensive catalogue of how changes to our genes can have physical and biochemical consequences, giving other researchers the tools to understand human disease.
Many genes are similar between the human genome and those of less complex animals. As a vertebrate, the zebrafish (Danio rerio) has the same major organs and tissues as humans.
For example, their muscle, blood, kidney and optical structures share many features with the human systems. Zebrafish embryos are transparent, so researchers can easily study their development. Zebrafish share 70% of genes with humans and 84% of genes known to be associated with human disease have a zebrafish counterpart.
"There are several advantages of the zebrafish model," says Dr Leonard Zon, MD, Children's Hospital of Boston MA. "We can readily create variations in their genome that are relevant to human health and disease. This has allowed a greater understanding of gene function and the finding of new targets for drug treatments.
"Several small molecules discovered using the zebrafish system have recently entered into clinical trials. The availability of the genome sequence, coupled with the rapid expansion of disease models and chemical screening ability, ensures that the zebrafish system has a major place in biomedicine."
The high-quality zebrafish reference genome sequence reported today in Nature, has allowed the team to create different mutations in more than 10,000 genes. There are 5,494 genes known to be involved in human disease. So far, the team have identified mutations in 3,188 zebrafish gene counterparts of the 5,494 genes associated with human disease.
Based on traditional methods used to study zebrafish, the team developed a new approach to more efficiently find the consequences of genetic variation in the zebrafish. They create random mutations throughout the genome of the zebrafish and link the mutations to physical or biochemical changes.
"Our aim is to reveal the function of each gene in the zebrafish to shed light on the role of their human counterpart," says Dr Elisabeth Busch-Nentwich, first author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "We make these zebrafish models freely available to the wider scientific and medical communities to support their effort to understand human disease and increase the pace at which medical advancements can be made."
A previous study at the Institute found specific mutations in the gene Titin are potential drivers for the growth of some forms of cancer. The team found that the main function of this gene in zebrafish may be associated with the division of cells in the body. This would explain why changes to this gene can affect the way cells divide and can be a driving force in the growth of cancer.
"Our zebrafish models have already been used to confirm the identity of a gene responsible for a rare disease affecting the development of bones,"
says Dr Ross Kettleborough, first author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "This is just one of many examples where this project has and will advance our understanding of human disease."
Zebrafish have already played a central role in helping to unravel the biological processes behind muscular dystrophies and are an important model for unlocking the mechanisms of cancer and other diseases. This project will help to uncover the biological processes that underlie both common and rare diseases, point to the causal genes and may lead to new treatments.
"Our challenge is to develop a comprehensive, functional understanding of all human genes as quickly as possible," says Dr Derek Stemple, lead author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "Our systematic analysis of zebrafish gene function will advance understanding of human disease."
"This is a resource that will help researchers and clinicians find the gene variations responsible for our inheritance of, and susceptibility to, diseases."
###
Notes to Editors
Publication Details
Ross N. W. Kettleborough, Elisabeth M. Busch-Nentwich, Steven A. Harvey et al. (2013) 'A systematic genome-wide analysis of zebrafish protein-coding gene function'
Advanced online publication in Nature, 17 April DOI: 10.1038/nature11992
Funding
A full list of funding can be found in the paper
Participating Centres
1. Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SA, UK
2. MRC-CDBG/Department of Biomedical Science, The University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
3. Hubrecht Institute, KNAW and University Medical Center
Selected Websites
With nearly 25,000 of the brightest students from 117 countries coming to learn alongside 1,209 of the world's best academics, it is clear why the University of Sheffield is one of the UK's leading universities. Staff and students at Sheffield are committed to helping discover and understand the causes of things - and propose solutions that have the power to transform the world we live in.
A member of the Russell Group, the University of Sheffield has a reputation for world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines. The University of Sheffield has been named University of the Year in the Times Higher Education Awards 2011 for its exceptional performance in research, teaching, access and business performance. In addition, the University has won four Queen's Anniversary Prizes (1998, 2000, 2002, 2007), recognising the outstanding contribution by universities and colleges to the United Kingdom's intellectual, economic, cultural and social life.
One of the markers of a leading university is the quality of its alumni and Sheffield boasts five Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students. Its alumni have gone on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence all over the world, making significant contributions in their chosen fields.
Research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, Boots, AstraZeneca, GSK, Siemens, Yorkshire Water and many more household names, as well as UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations.
The University has well-established partnerships with a number of universities and major corporations, both in the UK and abroad. The White Rose University Consortium (White Rose) is a strategic partnership between 3 of the UK's leading research universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York. Since its creation in 1997 White Rose has secured more than 100M into the Universities.
Over the past century, the Medical Research Council has been at the forefront of scientific discovery to improve human health. Founded in 1913 to tackle tuberculosis, the MRC now invests taxpayers' money in some of the best medical research in the world across every area of health.
Twenty-nine MRC-funded researchers have won Nobel prizes in a wide range of disciplines, and MRC scientists have been behind such diverse discoveries as vitamins, the structure of DNA and the link between smoking and cancer, as well as achievements such as pioneering the use of randomised controlled trials, the invention of MRI scanning, and the development of a group of antibodies used in the making of some of the most successful drugs ever developed.
Today, MRC-funded scientists tackle some of the greatest health problems facing humanity in the 21st century, from the rising tide of chronic diseases associated with ageing to the threats posed by rapidly mutating micro-organisms. http://www.mrc.ac.uk
The MRC Centenary Timeline chronicles 100 years of life-changing discoveries and shows how our research has had a lasting influence on healthcare and wellbeing in the UK and globally, right up to the present day. http://www.centenary.mrc.ac.uk
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is one of the world's leading genome centres. Through its ability to conduct research at scale, it is able to engage in bold and long-term exploratory projects that are designed to influence and empower medical science globally. Institute research findings, generated through its own research programmes and through its leading role in international consortia, are being used to develop new diagnostics and treatments for human disease.
http://www.sanger.ac.uk
The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. We support the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities. Our breadth of support includes public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health. We are independent of both political and commercial interests.
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk
Contact details
Don Powell Media Manager
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SA, UK
Tel +44 (0)1223 496 928
Mobile +44 (0)7753 7753 97
Email press.office@sanger.ac.uk
End of Notes to Editors
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Five years ago from their native city of Barcelona, Maria Alegre and her husband Pepe Agell used to watch old Stanford Technology Ventures Program videos from entrepreneurs sharing their founding stories. Intrigued by what they heard, they picked up and moved to the Valley, where Alegre dug into mobile gaming at early developer Tapulous, which went on to be acquired by Disney. Fast forward to today, Alegre is running one of the fastest-growing mobile ad networks in Silicon Valley (one that we’ve heard from three separate sources grossed about $50 million last year). Her company Chartboost is quietly sucking in talent from an older generation of mobile ad networks and gaming studios like Google’s AdMob, DeNA’s Ngmoco and EA’s Popcap. They also picked up $19 million in funding led by storied VC firm Sequoia earlier this year. “It’s kind of crazy. This all happened in four years,” she said. “Anyone can do it. People running these companies are not super humans. They are just people like you and me.” Today Chartboost is opening its first office abroad in Europe, led by Ilja Goossens, who founded Gamundo and Virtual Fairground. The new location in Amsterdam is meant to strengthen the company’s relationships with the biggest game developers across the continent. Europe is having something of a Renaissance in mobile gaming right now with players like Finland’s Supercell (which made $104 million in profit with just 100 people last quarter), Berlin’s Wooga and London’s King. While other newer mobile ad networks were less focused, Chartboost wedged itself into the gaming world where it built an early platform for developers to trade advertising inventory. Because games are the biggest category for apps in terms of time spent on iOS and Android, it was the ideal place to build a focused business. Chartboost earns revenue through excess inventory, which can be sold in an exchange. Chartboost now has 16,000 games in its network and 8 billion ad impressions per month and has grown 30 percent since January. Instead of the old banner ads, which had poor clickthrough rates, Chartboost instead focused on creating interstitials that looked and felt like they belonged in a game. At first, it wasn’t easy, however. Alegre said that when she and her co-founder Sean Fannan were starting out, they did 30 phone pitches to potential investors in a week. In late 2011, they picked up a small round from
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