It still feels strange to hear a word I helped create be mentioned over and over again in the media. It?s a great word to go along with a great service, and in the end, I?m just happy we?re not calling each other twits!
More than just the word "tweet", the Iconfactory and Twitterrific are responsible for the bird and a remarkable amount of Twitter's common branding and popular identity. The whole story is charming and enlightening, and a rare glimpse back at the very incommon beginnings of something that now seems so commonplace.
Mass protests in Egypt calling for the ouster of President Morsi reflect a young democracy in need of lessons in developing trust and reconciliation. Egyptians can find them on the opposite end of Africa in Mandela's example.
By the Monitor's Editorial Board / June 30, 2013
Opponents of Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi gather June 30 in Cairo's Tahrir Square calling for the end of his rule.
AP Photo
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Mass protests in Egypt on Sunday showed a society still sharply split over the future of its young democracy ? and one badly in need of a lesson from the most famous advocate of democracy on the African continent.
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Of Nelson Mandela?s many contributions, it was his generosity of spirit toward opponents that helped bring freedom and reconciliation in divided South Africa. Mr. Mandela embraced his captors and assumed whites were willing to treat blacks as equal. He replaced racial hate with nonracial kindness, and thus won freedom for his country from oppression.
If only Egypt?s political leaders could now understand the origin of Mandela?s ability to create trust by offering trust. Liberation, he wrote his wife from Kroonstad Prison in 1975, began in one?s thinking. ?Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others ? qualities which are within easy reach of every soul ? are the foundation of one?s spiritual life,? he stated.
In Egypt, political issues have turned personal since the 2011 ouster of dictator Hosni Mubarak. The various organizers of the June 30 protests now seek to bring down an elected president, Mohamed Morsi, while Mr. Morsi offers harsh criticism of those who fear he is creating a nondemocratic Islamic state.
?Part of the problem is that neither side has presented its position in terms amenable to compromise,? writes Arab expert Nathan J. Brown of George Washington University in a Foreign Policy blog. An agreement on various issues of governance has been possible, he says, ?but the political will was simply missing.?
Even in Iran, where elections are rigged by the ruling clerics selecting candidates, the results of a June 14 presidential vote revealed a missing piece for any democracy. When a chosen candidate with the most moderate views won and not the regime?s favored candidate, the ruling Muslim clerics realized that the people were sending a message on misuse of power. ?We cannot run the country with a single faction while omitting another one,? said conservative lawmaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar on television after the results.
Democracy is more than ruling with a majority, as Morsi needs to understand. It must not alienate minorities. It must have permanent checks on power. Egypt is still missing those key elements. Morsi must also recognize that those seeking full democracy have distrusted the way his associates in the Muslim Brotherhood wrote a new constitution.
The presidency, the courts, the military, and the protesters are all at odds, often to the point of not even communicating. Gestures of generosity could go a long way. In the early 1990s after his release, Mandela met with the widow of the man who designed apartheid. He embraced the country?s white rugby team, the Springboks, by donning its jersey at a game.
Reconciliation in Egypt is urgent, as the defense minister, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, warned. ?There is a state of division in society and the continuation of it is a danger to the Egyptian state and there must be consensus among all,? he said.
Morsi may have taken an important step by apologizing on national TV last Wednesday for mistakes he made last year. Notable among them was assuming authority over the judiciary, a decision he quickly abandoned and now regrets. Such humility has not been seen in an Egyptian leader for decades.
He must find ways to include the advocates of democracy in a power-sharing arrangement. They led the democratic revolution in 2011, not the Muslim Brotherhood, even if that well-organized Islamic group was able to then eke out a majority win in the 2012 election.
If anything, the sorry state of the economy and its hardship on the poor call for a government of national unity, not more power plays, insults, and polarization.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan fanned the flames of religious fervor on Father?s Day as he officiated at a mass and debt-burning ceremony at St. Ann?s R.C. Church in Dongan Hills.
The cardinal lauded the St. Ann?s Parish family, the Rev. Joy Mampilly, pastor, and the Rev. John McCarthy, a parochial vicar, for reaching the ?historic marker? of being debt-free by retiring more than $600,000 in mortgage and other financial obligations in less than three years.?
?This is a great evening; I?m very excited,? said Carol Kelleher, who led the debt elimination effort with fellow parish trustee Joe Perri, on her way into the 7:30 p.m. mass.
Concelebrants included Monsignor Peter Finn, co-vicar of Staten Island, Monsignor Richard Guastella, pastor of St. Clare?s R.C. Church in Great Kills and the Rev. Michael Reilly, principal of St. Joseph-by-the Sea High School.
?It really is a joy and an honor for me to be with you on Staten Island,? the cardinal said, adding that his visit was an opportunity to let the parishioners know ?how proud I am of you, how grateful I am.?
Cardinal Dolan thanked the parishioners for their generosity and said that burning the mortgage was a ?tangible sign? of their love and support for their parish and the Roman Catholic Church.
?I love St. Ann?s Parish, I love Staten Island,? the cardinal said.
The archbishop of New York who has paid many visits to the borough described how he ended up with ?the earth of Staten Island? on his staff when he said mass on the rain soaked and muddy grounds of the Staten Island Irish Fair on June 8. ?
ST ANN?
Cardinal Dolan spoke of the parish?s patron saint who was the mother of Mary and how she was a favorite among the Irish people ? especially single women praying for a husband with the saintly qualities of Joseph, the husband of Mary.?
?Your presence at St. Ann?s is a gift to us,? the Rev. Mampilly said to Cardinal Dolan. ?We are grateful for your support following Hurricane Sandy,? he continued. ?You have been with us through ups and downs. You have deepened our faith and inspired our lives.?
More than 306 parish families were affected by last fall?s devastating superstorm.
Rev. Mampilly thanked his parishioners for their ?generous support to the parish and the archdiocese? and noted that his flock ?remained steady with unshakable faith in their hearts? despite the economic recession. ?When the going got tough, you gave even more,? the pastor said to his congregation.
?Where the rubber meets the road is your generous support and enthusiasm. You followed through on your promises. You talked the talk and walked the walk.? ?
A HIGH NOTE?
The mass concluded on a high note with the cardinal giving the pastor a bear hug and the crowd of more than 300 parishioners responding with a standing ovation.?
?This is my idea of a Father?s Day cookout,? Cardinal Dolan said as he invited all to watch the debt burning ceremony.
?We commit this document to the flames,? intoned Anne-Louise DePalo, an attorney and parishioner, from the podium as members of the congregation filled the lawn and spilled out onto Cromwell Avenue.?
The copy of the mortgage was handed to the cardinal by parishioner Isabella DePiero.
As the church?s debt burned, the jovial cardinal, referring to the recent selection of Pope Francis, joked, ?I trust it?s white smoke.??
The cardinal then used a pun based on the Latin ?Habemus Papam,?? ?We have a pope? ? declaring St. Ann?s parish achievement, ?Non-habemus debt ... Congratulations! Hallelujah!?
The cardinal stayed until 10:30 p.m. greeting, hugging and posing for photos with parishioners at a reception afterwards in the St. Ann?s School auditorium. ?
STANDING ROOM ONLY ? A total of 300 parishioners won their tickets by lottery to attend the mass, but the cardinal at the last minute turned it into a standing-room-only event when he invited into the church the many onlookers who had shown up to catch a glimpse of the immensely popular spiritual leader of the archdiocese.?
When Father Mampilly took over leadership of St. Ann?s in July 2010, he inherited the debt, which included about $450,000 in a bank loan and about $150,000 in unpaid bills.?
The parish successfully used debt donation envelopes in addition to some large contributions.?
After the debt was satisfied about six months ago, the parish established an endowment fund which already has raised close to $100,000.
?This offsets any future need to go into debt again, by the grace of God,? the grateful pastor said.
?Baby, you were born this way.? As soon as Lady Gaga sang these words on her smash hit "Born This Way," they became a rallying cry for gay people around the world, an anthem for sexual minorities facing discrimination. The shiny, catchy song carries an empowering (if simple) message: Don?t be ashamed about being gay, or bi, or trans, or anything?that?s just how you were born. Gaga later named her anti-bullying charity after the same truism, and two filmmakers borrowed it for their documentary exposing homophobia in Africa. A popular "Born This Way" blog encourages users to submit reflections on ?their innate LGBTQ selves.? Need a quick, pithy riposte against anti-gay bigotry? Baby, we were born this way.
But were we? That?s the foundational question behind the gay rights movement?and its opponents. If gay people were truly born that way, the old canard of homosexuality as a ?lifestyle choice? (or ?sexual preference?) is immediately disproven. But if gay people weren?t born that way, if scientists were unable to find any biological basis for sexual orientation, then the Family Research Council crowd could claim vindication in its fight to label homosexuality unnatural, harmful, and against nature.
In recent years, scientists have proposed various speculative biological bases for homosexuality but never settled on an answer. As researchers draw closer to uncovering an explanation, however, a new question has arisen: What if in some cases sexuality is caused by an identifiable chemical process in the womb? What if, in other words, homosexuality can potentially be prevented? That is one implication of one of the most widely accepted hypotheses thus far proposed. And if it?s true, it could turn out to be a blow for the gay rights movement.
Some of the strongest current evidence that some people are born gay is based on a phenomenon called the fraternal birth order effect. Several peer-reviewed studies have shown that men with older biological brothers are likelier to be gay than men with older sisters or no older siblings. The likelihood of being gay increases by about 33 percent with each additional older brother. From these statistics, researchers calculate that about 15 to 30 percent of gay men have the fraternal birth order effect to thank for their homosexuality.
The fraternal birth order effect is a little perverse. It means that a disproportionate number of gay men are born into disproportionately homophobic households. Couples with large numbers of children tend to be religious and belong to denominations that are conservative and more homophobic. Consider the numbers: 1 percent of Unitarians have four or more children, while 3 percent of evangelical Protestants, 4 percent of Catholics, 6 percent of Muslims, and 9 percent of Mormons have families that large. At the same time, 64 percent of Evangelicals, 30 percent of Catholics, 61 percent of Muslims, and 68 percent of Mormons believe homosexuality should be ?discouraged by society.? (Compare that with 15 percent of Jews.) Big families that disapprove of gay people are likely to have gay people in their own clan.
Perhaps these families would be more accepting if the specific biological basis for the birth order effect were elucidated. We know the effect is biological rather than social?it?s entirely absent in men whose older brothers were adopted?but scientists haven?t been able to prove much else. One of the leading explanations is called the maternal immunization hypothesis. According to Ray Blanchard of the University of Toronto, when a woman is pregnant with a male fetus, her body is exposed to a male-specific antigen, some molecule that normally turns the fetus heterosexual. The woman?s immune system produces antibodies to fight this foreign antigen. With enough antibodies, the antigen will be neutralized and no longer capable of making the fetus straight. These antibodies linger in the mother?s body long after pregnancy, and so when a woman has a second son, or a third or fourth, an army of antibodies is lying in wait to zap the chemicals that would normally make him heterosexual.
Or so Blanchard speculates. Although the hypothesis sounds reasonable enough, it?s premised on a number of assumptions that haven?t been proven. For instance, no one has shown that there is a particular antigen that controls sexual orientation, let alone one designed to make men straight. And if that antigen does exist, does it control orientation only? Blanchard refers to its antibody attackers as ?anti-male,? implying that the antigen controls for various aspects of masculinity. But when I asked him about this, he was noncommittal. Moreover, the hypothesis proposes a loose, two-way flow of antigens and antibodies between the fetus (whose antigens spread to the mother) and the mother (whose antibodies spread to the fetus). But this exchange has never been observed?and the antibodies and antigens in question are hypothetical, anyway. If they do exist, there?s no assurance that they perform this placental pirouette.
There?s a problem with this explanation. Even though the gay rights movement theoretically wants proof that homosexuality is inborn, this particular hypothesis is, unintentionally, a little insulting. ?The scientists behind the [maternal immunization] hypothesis talk about it as if they?re not making judgments, but there are implicit judgments,? says Jack Drescher, former chair of the American Psychiatric Association?s Committee on Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Issues. Drescher points out, correctly, that the hypothesis is fundamentally one of pathology. If Blanchard is right, then (at least some) gay people are indeed born gay, but there?s still something wrong with them. The hypothesis turns homosexuality into a birth defect, an aberration: Gay people are deviants from the normative mode of heterosexuality. We may have been born this way, the hypothesis implies, but that?s not how it was supposed to happen.
Drescher is skeptical that scientists will ever uncover a single biological basis for homosexuality?he suspects the root causes are more varied and complex?and suggests that it?s the wrong question to ask in the first place. But the hunt will go on. The gay rights movement, like the black civil rights movement before it, begins with the proposition that we should not discriminate against people because of who they are or how they were born. That?s a belief most Americans share, and it explains the success of the ?born this way? anthem. If homosexuality is truly biological, discrimination against gay people is bigotry, plain and simple. But if it?s a birth defect, as Blanchard?s work tacitly suggests, then being gay is something that can?and presumably should?be fixed.
That?s a toxic view, and one that must be abandoned. We might not yet understand the exact biological mechanisms underlying sexual orientation, but we will one day soon. And if, at that point, homosexuality is seen as a disorder, the next step will be a search for a cure. That would be a tragedy?for society and for science. There?s nothing wrong with being gay: You know it; I know it; the Supreme Court knows it. But so long as large swaths of the country believe otherwise?places where homophobic families still ostracize their gay sons and brothers?any research into its biological origins is fraught with peril for the cause of gay rights.
Study identifies protein that contributes to cognitive decline in Alzheimer'sPublic release date: 25-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Karin Eskenazi ket2116@columbia.edu 212-342-0508 Columbia University Medical Center
Findings highlight potential therapeutic targets
NEW YORK, NY (June 25, 2013) Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have demonstrated that a protein called caspase-2 is a key regulator of a signaling pathway that leads to cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease. The findings, made in a mouse model of Alzheimer's, suggest that inhibiting this protein could prevent the neuronal damage and subsequent cognitive decline associated with the disease. The study was published this month in the online journal Nature Communications.
One of the earliest events in Alzheimer's is disruption of the brain's synapses (the small gaps across which nerve impulses are passed), which can lead to neuronal death. Although what drives this process has not been clear, studies have indicated that caspace-2 might be involved, according to senior author Michael Shelanski, MD, PhD, the Delafield Professor of Pathology & Cell Biology, chair of the Department of Pathology & Cell Biology, and co-director of the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at CUMC.
Several years ago, in tissue culture studies of mouse neurons, Dr. Shelanski found that caspace-2 plays a critical role in the death of neurons in the presence of amyloid beta, the protein that accumulates in the neurons of people with Alzheimer's. Other researchers have shown that caspase-2 also contributes to the maintenance of normal synaptic functions.
Dr. Shelanski and his team hypothesized that aberrant activation of caspase-2 may cause synaptic changes in Alzheimer's disease. To test this hypothesis, the researchers crossed J20 transgenic mice (a common mouse model of Alzheimer's) with caspase-2 null mice (mice that lack caspase-2). They compared the animals' ability to negotiate a radial-arm water maze, a standard test of cognitive ability, with that of regular J20 mice and of normal mice at 4, 9, and 14 months of age.
The results for the three groups of mice were similar at the first two intervals. At 14 months, however, the J20/caspase-2 null mice did significantly better in the water maze test than the J20 mice and similarly to the normal mice. "We showed that removing caspase-2 from J20 mice prevented memory impairment without significant changes in the level of soluble amyloid beta," said co-lead author Roger Lefort, PhD, associate research scientist at CUMC.
Analysis of the neurons showed that the J20/caspase-2 null mice had a higher density of dendritic spines than the J20 mice. The more spines a neuron has, the more impulses it can transmit.
"The J20/caspase-2 null mice showed the same dendritic spine density and morphology as the normal miceas opposed to the deficits in the J20 mice," said co-lead author Julio Pozueta, PhD. "This strongly suggests that caspase-2 is a critical regulator in the memory decline associated with beta-amyloid in Alzheimer's disease."
The researchers further validated the results in studies of rat neurons in tissue culture.
Finally, the researchers found that caspase-2 interacts with RhoA, a critical regulator of the morphology (form and structure) of dendritic spines. "It appears that in normal neurons, caspase-2 and RhoA form an inactive complex outside the dendritic spines," said Dr. Lefort. "When the complex is exposed to amyloid beta, it breaks apart, activating the two components." Once activated, caspase-2 and RhoA enter the dendritic spines and contribute to their demise, possibly by interacting with a third molecule, the enzyme ROCK-II.
"This raises the possibility that if you can inhibit one or all of these molecules, especially early in the course of Alzheimer's, you might be able to protect neurons and slow down the cognitive effects of the disease," said Dr. Lefort.
###
The paper is titled, "Caspase-2 is required for dendritic spine and behavioural alterations in J20 APP transgenic mice." The other contributors are Julio Pozueta, PhD (co-lead author), Elena M. Ribe, Carol M. Troy, and Ottavio Arancio, all based at CUMC at the time of the study.
Dr. Pozueta was an associate research scientist at CUMC at the time of this research and is currently a senior analyst at Prescient Life Sciences. The remaining authors declare no financial or other conflicts of interests.
The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIHAG08702 and NS15076), the Wallace Foundation for Research, and the Taub Foundation.
The Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center is a multidisciplinary group that has forged links between researchers and clinicians to uncover the causes of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other age-related brain diseases and to discover ways to prevent and cure these diseases. It has partnered with the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center at Columbia University Medical Center, which was established by an endowment in 1977 to focus on diseases of the nervous system, and with the Departments of Pathology & Cell Biology and of Neurology to allow the seamless integration of genetic analysis, molecular and cellular studies, and clinical investigation to explore all phases of diseases of the nervous system. For more information, visit The Taub Institute at http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/dept/taub/.
Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, preclinical, and clinical research; medical and health sciences education; and patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and State and one of the largest faculty medical practices in the Northeast. For more information, visit cumc.columbia.edu or columbiadoctors.org.
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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.
Study identifies protein that contributes to cognitive decline in Alzheimer'sPublic release date: 25-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Karin Eskenazi ket2116@columbia.edu 212-342-0508 Columbia University Medical Center
Findings highlight potential therapeutic targets
NEW YORK, NY (June 25, 2013) Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have demonstrated that a protein called caspase-2 is a key regulator of a signaling pathway that leads to cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease. The findings, made in a mouse model of Alzheimer's, suggest that inhibiting this protein could prevent the neuronal damage and subsequent cognitive decline associated with the disease. The study was published this month in the online journal Nature Communications.
One of the earliest events in Alzheimer's is disruption of the brain's synapses (the small gaps across which nerve impulses are passed), which can lead to neuronal death. Although what drives this process has not been clear, studies have indicated that caspace-2 might be involved, according to senior author Michael Shelanski, MD, PhD, the Delafield Professor of Pathology & Cell Biology, chair of the Department of Pathology & Cell Biology, and co-director of the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at CUMC.
Several years ago, in tissue culture studies of mouse neurons, Dr. Shelanski found that caspace-2 plays a critical role in the death of neurons in the presence of amyloid beta, the protein that accumulates in the neurons of people with Alzheimer's. Other researchers have shown that caspase-2 also contributes to the maintenance of normal synaptic functions.
Dr. Shelanski and his team hypothesized that aberrant activation of caspase-2 may cause synaptic changes in Alzheimer's disease. To test this hypothesis, the researchers crossed J20 transgenic mice (a common mouse model of Alzheimer's) with caspase-2 null mice (mice that lack caspase-2). They compared the animals' ability to negotiate a radial-arm water maze, a standard test of cognitive ability, with that of regular J20 mice and of normal mice at 4, 9, and 14 months of age.
The results for the three groups of mice were similar at the first two intervals. At 14 months, however, the J20/caspase-2 null mice did significantly better in the water maze test than the J20 mice and similarly to the normal mice. "We showed that removing caspase-2 from J20 mice prevented memory impairment without significant changes in the level of soluble amyloid beta," said co-lead author Roger Lefort, PhD, associate research scientist at CUMC.
Analysis of the neurons showed that the J20/caspase-2 null mice had a higher density of dendritic spines than the J20 mice. The more spines a neuron has, the more impulses it can transmit.
"The J20/caspase-2 null mice showed the same dendritic spine density and morphology as the normal miceas opposed to the deficits in the J20 mice," said co-lead author Julio Pozueta, PhD. "This strongly suggests that caspase-2 is a critical regulator in the memory decline associated with beta-amyloid in Alzheimer's disease."
The researchers further validated the results in studies of rat neurons in tissue culture.
Finally, the researchers found that caspase-2 interacts with RhoA, a critical regulator of the morphology (form and structure) of dendritic spines. "It appears that in normal neurons, caspase-2 and RhoA form an inactive complex outside the dendritic spines," said Dr. Lefort. "When the complex is exposed to amyloid beta, it breaks apart, activating the two components." Once activated, caspase-2 and RhoA enter the dendritic spines and contribute to their demise, possibly by interacting with a third molecule, the enzyme ROCK-II.
"This raises the possibility that if you can inhibit one or all of these molecules, especially early in the course of Alzheimer's, you might be able to protect neurons and slow down the cognitive effects of the disease," said Dr. Lefort.
###
The paper is titled, "Caspase-2 is required for dendritic spine and behavioural alterations in J20 APP transgenic mice." The other contributors are Julio Pozueta, PhD (co-lead author), Elena M. Ribe, Carol M. Troy, and Ottavio Arancio, all based at CUMC at the time of the study.
Dr. Pozueta was an associate research scientist at CUMC at the time of this research and is currently a senior analyst at Prescient Life Sciences. The remaining authors declare no financial or other conflicts of interests.
The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIHAG08702 and NS15076), the Wallace Foundation for Research, and the Taub Foundation.
The Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center is a multidisciplinary group that has forged links between researchers and clinicians to uncover the causes of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other age-related brain diseases and to discover ways to prevent and cure these diseases. It has partnered with the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center at Columbia University Medical Center, which was established by an endowment in 1977 to focus on diseases of the nervous system, and with the Departments of Pathology & Cell Biology and of Neurology to allow the seamless integration of genetic analysis, molecular and cellular studies, and clinical investigation to explore all phases of diseases of the nervous system. For more information, visit The Taub Institute at http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/dept/taub/.
Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, preclinical, and clinical research; medical and health sciences education; and patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and State and one of the largest faculty medical practices in the Northeast. For more information, visit cumc.columbia.edu or columbiadoctors.org.
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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.
June 24, 2013 ? The brain's pleasure response to tasting food can be measured through the eyes using a common, low-cost ophthalmological tool, according to a study just published in the journal Obesity. If validated, this method could be useful for research and clinical applications in food addiction and obesity prevention.
Dr. Jennifer Nasser, an associate professor in the department of Nutrition Sciences in Drexel University's College of Nursing and Health Professions, led the study testing the use of electroretinography (ERG) to indicate increases in the neurotransmitter dopamine in the retina.
Dopamine is associated with a variety of pleasure-related effects in the brain, including the expectation of reward. In the eye's retina, dopamine is released when the optical nerve activates in response to light exposure.
Nasser and her colleagues found that electrical signals in the retina spiked high in response to a flash of light when a food stimulus (a small piece of chocolate brownie) was placed in participants' mouths. The increase was as great as that seen when participants had received the stimulant drug methylphenidate to induce a strong dopamine response. These responses in the presence of food and drug stimuli were each significantly greater than the response to light when participants ingested a control substance, water.
"What makes this so exciting is that the eye's dopamine system was considered separate from the rest of the brain's dopamine system," Nasser said. "So most people- and indeed many retinography experts told me this- would say that tasting a food that stimulates the brain's dopamine system wouldn't have an effect on the eye's dopamine system."
This study was a small-scale demonstration of the concept, with only nine participants. Most participants were overweight but none had eating disorders. All fasted for four hours before testing with the food stimulus.
If this technique is validated through additional and larger studies, Nasser said she and other researchers can use ERG for studies of food addiction and food science.
"My research takes a pharmacology approach to the brain's response to food," Nasser said. "Food is both a nutrient delivery system and a pleasure delivery system, and a 'side effect' is excess calories. I want to maximize the pleasure and nutritional value of food but minimize the side effects. We need more user-friendly tools to do that."
The low cost and ease of performing electroretinography make it an appealing method, according to Nasser. The Medicare reimbursement cost for clinical use of ERG is about $150 per session, and each session generates 200 scans in just two minutes. Procedures to measure dopamine responses directly from the brain are more expensive and invasive. For example, PET scanning costs about $2,000 per session and takes more than an hour to generate a scan.
When I find a product or a brand that I like, I tend to be very loyal to it. As an example, I’ve been using the same exact?WaterField Designs Catch Wallet since I reviewed it back in 2005. ?I even gave them as gifts to everyone on The Gadgeteer team a couple years ago. When [...]
The "Gossip Girl" star is over $2 million in debt.
She may have played a wealthy Upper East Side divorc? on "Gossip Girl," but in real life, actress Kelly Rutherford just filed for bankruptcy following a bitter, ongoing custody battle.
According to legal docs filed by Rutherford and obtained by TMZ, the 44-year-old mother-of-two has "assets totaling $23,937 ??dwarfed by debts totaling $2,021,832."
Rutherford's current monthly income is $1,279.33, way down from her $486,000 paycheck during the final season of "Gossip Girl," which wrapped for good in December.
The actress owes?more than $350,000?for income taxes in?2012 and?$25,251 in Amex charges.
Her expenses are only off-set by the?$11,487 in her checking account, $5,000 worth of furniture, $5,000 in clothing and $1,500 in jewelry.
According to the docs, the former "Melrose Place" star also "borrowed 10's of thousands of dollars from friends and relatives to dig out of the hole," reports TMZ.
As we previously reported, Rutherford?has been in an expensive four-year fight against her?ex?Daniel Giersch?over custody of the former couple's two young children.
Thanks to a judge's ruling, the children currently live in France with their father, who is?refusing to let them live with Rutherford in the United States ? despite this being their country of birth.
ABC?News called the decision ?one of the worst custody decisions ever."
Rutherford has been fighting the judge's ruling,?but legal expenses have reportedly mounted to over $1.5 million.
"I've traveled 40 times to either facilitate contact with their dad or visit them and bring them back and forth and paid for everything," Rutherford told E! News in April. "Every penny from 'Gossip Girl,' my pension, my stocks, it's all been spent fighting for my children."
A lot of people get intimidated when they have to do a home project by themselves. Armed with the right tools and information, you can take on any project. The information below can help you be successful with your home improvement projects.
To keep electric costs down while illuminating your yard, change out your regular porch light for one that has a motion sensor. You can still turn it on manually if need be, and you can also adjust sensitivity on some models.
You can use aluminum foil as a protective covering for certain surfaces before you paint. You should always be careful to avoid having aluminum foil come in contact with anything electrical. The foil protects while you paint and is much easier to work with than tape. Your cleanup will be simple! Allow the paint to fully dry prior to removing the foil.
TIP! Organize your garage using some clear boxes made of plastic and arranging your items by type and use. Even though the bins are transparent, it?s important to properly label them, too.
After a while, ceramic tile loses its shine and looks grungy and worn. You can clean most types of flooring safely and effectively with a simple solution of vinegar and water. Just put some of this solution in a bucket to mop your floors easily. You will likely find that the build-up of dirt has been removed and that the floor will appear as new.
Locate your gas shutoff valve before beginning a project that involves your fireplace, kitchen appliances or anything else related to your gas line. Proceeding with extreme caution is essential in these situations. A fire could damage you and your efforts in any project.
The reasons for why you are replacing a lock determines whether you have to replace all or part of it. The locking action is accomplished by the cylinder. If you have lost your house key, you can change the cylinder without having to change whole lock. If you want to install an upgrade, then revamp the entire unit.
TIP! A homeowner should always hire a licensed contractor to do any home improvement work. No matter where it is that you currently reside, all contractors are required to have some sort of certification from your state.
Make sure the spaces in your home are well-designated prior to placing your home on the market. Buyers shouldn?t have to guess what a space is supposed to be; have appropriate furnishings and accessories in each room. Buyers are visual, and they often have a hard time imagining themselves in a space if it isn?t properly appointed. This can make selling a house easier.
You might have been under the impression that without professional help, it is hard to make home improvements. If you take the information that was in this article, you will likely be able to tackle at least some of the projects, without any help at all.
For more mold related info, visit: http://moldedge.com/mold-inspections/ or try mold remediation Maryland. Home improvement can be fun for all. When you are new, give yourself time to learn the necessary skills. With attention to detail, you can accomplish tasks that you can be very proud of.
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? Suicide bombers targeted security compounds in Damascus and a car bomb exploded in a pro-regime district there Sunday, killing at least eight people, the latest in a surge of civil war violence in the capital.
In northern Syria, a car bomb killed 12 soldiers in Aleppo, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists in Syria for information. It had no other details, and the government did not comment.
The state-run news agency SANA said three suicide bombers blew themselves up while trying to break into the Rukneddine police station in northern Damascus, killing five people and wounding several others. SANA said three would-be suicide bombers also tried to break into the Criminal Security Branch in the southern Bab Mousalla area but were caught by security forces before they could detonate their explosives.
Activists confirmed the death toll.
SANA said a car bomb exploded in Mazzeh 86 district in the capital, killing three people, including a 3-year-old boy. Residents of the district are mostly Alawites, an offshoot Shiite sect that President Bashar Assad's family belongs to. The opposition forces fighting against Assad's regime are mostly Sunni Muslims.
Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the Damascus explosions, but they bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida-linked groups that have joined forces with rebels fighting to oust Assad.
The attacks in Syria's two largest cities came as government forces pressed an offensive on the outskirts of the capital.
SANA carried a statement by the Interior Ministry saying that the Damascus attacks were a "new escalation by terrorist groups," a term used by the government to refer to the rebels.
More than 93,000 people have been killed in Syrian conflict that started in March 2011 as peaceful protest against Assad's rule. In the past year, the war has taken on sectarian overtones.
The conflict has increasingly spilled across Syria's borders.
In neighboring Lebanon, clashes erupted between Lebanese military and supporters of hard-line Sunni cleric Sheik Ahmad al-Assar, a security official said. Three Lebanese soldiers were killed, he said speaking anonymously in line with regulations.
The fighting broke out in the predominantly Sunni southern port city of Sidon after al-Assir's supporters opened fire on an army checkpoint.
The military issued a statement confirming that three soldiers died in the shooting, including two officers. It said the shooting was unprovoked.
Heavy fighting with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades caused panic in the city, which until recently had been largely spared the violence hitting other areas. Many people who were spending the day on the beach hurried home, while others living on high floors came down or fled to safer areas. Gray smoke billowed over parts of the city.
The clashes centered on the Bilal bin Rabbah Mosque, where al-Assir preaches. The cleric, a virulent critic of the Shiite militant Hezbollah group, is believed to have hundreds of armed supporters in Sidon. Dozens of al-Assir's gunmen also partially shut down the main highway linking south Lebanon with Beirut.
By Sunday evening, the army appeared poised to move against al-Assir and his supporters, who have been agitating for months. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the army have surrounded the mosque, sealing off access to it from all directions and neutralized hostile fire from neighboring buildings.
The NNA report said Assir was believed to be hiding inside the mosque with several of his followers.
The cleric and his followers support Sunni rebels in the Syria conflict, and he has threatened to clear apartments in Sidon where Hezbollah supporters live.
Sunday's clashes in Sidon deepened tensions in Lebanon. on edge since the Syrian conflict began more than two years ago.
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman called an emergency meeting of the security cabinet for Monday. NNA also reported sporadic shooting in the volatile city of Tripoli in the north, and the army announced additional force deployments in around Beirut.
The violence came a day after an 11-nation group that includes the U.S. met in the Qatari capital of Doha to coordinate military aid and other forms of assistance to the rebels.
Syria's al-Thawra newspaper, the mouthpiece of the government, assailed the Friends of Syria meeting.
"It's clear that the enemies of Syria are rushing to arm the terrorists to kill the chances for holding the Geneva conference," the newspaper said, referring to a U.S.-Russia initiative for bringing Assad's government and rebels together to negotiate an end to the crisis.
The Syrian paper pledged that the army would "continue the showdown to eliminate terrorism and restore security and stability."
____
Surk reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan contributed to this report.
As Iranians erupted in celebration over the victory of Hassan Rohani, they knew what they wanted from their president-elect: more social freedoms, a better economy, and less ?resistance? to the rest of the world.
The centrist cleric has promised them as much. But Iranian politics are an unruly tangle in which moderate agendas have often been wrecked by hard-line factions. Will Mr. Rohani be able to bring change without upending the Islamic Republic? Has this regime insider ? who declared in 1999 that student protesters ?would be punished as corrupt on earth who waged war on God? ? learned lessons from those chaotic days and those of the 2009 Green Movement protests? And will he have the mettle to achieve the promised transformation?
?It will be challenging for Rohani to make changes. People need to be more patient; they cannot expect to see immediate results,? says Azadeh, an engineer and mother in central Tehran who asked that only her first name be used. ?It?s not just up to the president. But because he is a strong personality and has a lot of support from influential politicians, he can succeed.?
Rohani was able to defeat the five conservative candidates in a surprise first-round win because of endorsements from two reformist former presidents: Mohammad Khatami, who won landslide victories in 1997 and 2001 on promises of change, and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Their support ? and their apparent faith in an electoral process that many Iranians had given up on after the fraud-tainted 2009 vote ? swept Rohani to what he called a ?victory of wisdom and moderation? over extremism, although he remains close to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
?People want more freedom and civil rights and economic prosperity,? says a bearded musician in Tehran who plays classical Persian music. ?I think that even with the factions within the establishment, Rohani will be able to fulfill his promises because the [ruling system?s] goal right now is to calm society.?
MIXED RECORD
Even though Rohani took an uncompromising line against pro-democracy protesters in 1999, his own children are believed to have links to the opposition Green Movement activities, as do the offspring of many senior officials.
Rohani never spoke out about the protest and crackdown in 2009, but he says he will work to release Green Movement leaders and former presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi from house arrest.
?In the suppression of the Green Movement, Rohani did not stand up for protesters,? notes Azadeh. ?Maybe it was his tactic to save face to become a presidential candidate. But let?s see what he does in the future.?
Those events were a learning experience for Rohani and to a degree Mr. Khamenei, reflected in his call just days before the election for those ?who don?t want to back Islamic system? to vote anyway, for the nation.
Rohani has promised a ?civil rights charter? and has spoken frequently about broader political and social rights and less government interference in people?s lives. The conservative establishment has lined up to praise his victory, and police have clearly been ordered not to prevent street celebrations.
?These are signs of wisdom, that they have learned from the previous mistakes,? says an Iranian analyst in Tehran. ?There is this strange capability of the Islamic regime for survival. Under tremendous pressures they get very close to the precipice, and something happens and they turn back ... to avoid very, very big disasters.?
?I don?t think Hassan Rohani is faking it,? says the analyst. ?The question is, will he make it? Will he be allowed ? or will he be able ? to have room enough to do that??
BALANCING ACT
The answer may depend on how Rohani balances competing pressures. He knows many Revolutionary Guard commanders from his role managing the 1980s Iran-Iraq War, but he is also close to figures like Mr. Rafsanjani, who were pilloried by hard-liners for fomenting the 2009 ?sedition? that shook the regime to the core.
?There has always been some apprehension about [Rohani] in the security and intelligence establishment, about his hard-line credentials being insufficient on national security,? says an Iranian political scientist in Washington. ?So he?s going to have some problems with those guys, no matter what.?
His tough approach to the 1999 student uprising came amid fear of ?chaos and a real collapse of the system,? says the academic. ?That position does not necessarily repudiate the overall moderate orientation [today]. The time was different, and of course [Rohani] has grown and changed.?
As for chances of a resurgence of the vigilante groups that were active during the Khatami era, and deployed in the 2009 crackdown?
?There is a growing sense among even hardcore conservatives that those tactics are no longer paying off or could be deployed,? says the political scientist. ?I?m not ruling out the possibility of those vigilantes regrouping and starting again; that depends very much on how Rohani reacts and how Rohani plays the game.?
The Monitor correspondent and sources have been left unnamed for security reasons.
June 21, 2013 ? For decades, electronic devices have been getting smaller, and smaller, and smaller. It's now possible -- even routine -- to place millions of transistors on a single silicon chip.
But transistors based on semiconductors can only get so small. "At the rate the current technology is progressing, in 10 or 20 years, they won't be able to get any smaller," said physicist Yoke Khin Yap of Michigan Technological University. "Also, semiconductors have another disadvantage: they waste a lot of energy in the form of heat."
Scientists have experimented with different materials and designs for transistors to address these issues, always using semiconductors like silicon. Back in 2007, Yap wanted to try something different that might open the door to a new age of electronics.
"The idea was to make a transistor using a nanoscale insulator with nanoscale metals on top," he said. "In principle, you could get a piece of plastic and spread a handful of metal powders on top to make the devices, if you do it right. But we were trying to create it in nanoscale, so we chose a nanoscale insulator, boron nitride nanotubes, or BNNTs for the substrate."
Yap's team had figured out how to make virtual carpets of BNNTs,which happen to be insulators and thus highly resistant to electrical charge. Using lasers, the team then placed quantum dots (QDs) of gold as small as three nanometers across on the tops of the BNNTs, forming QDs-BNNTs. BNNTs are the perfect substrates for these quantum dots due to their small, controllable, and uniform diameters, as well as their insulating nature. BNNTs confine the size of the dots that can be deposited.
In collaboration with scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), they fired up electrodes on both ends of the QDs-BNNTs at room temperature, and something interesting happened. Electrons jumped very precisely from gold dot to gold dot, a phenomenon known as quantum tunneling.
"Imagine that the nanotubes are a river, with an electrode on each bank. Now imagine some very tiny stepping stones across the river," said Yap. "The electrons hopped between the gold stepping stones. The stones are so small, you can only get one electron on the stone at a time. Every electron is passing the same way, so the device is always stable."
Yap's team had made a transistor without a semiconductor. When sufficient voltage was applied, it switched to a conducting state. When the voltage was low or turned off, it reverted to its natural state as an insulator.
Furthermore, there was no "leakage": no electrons from the gold dots escaped into the insulating BNNTs, thus keeping the tunneling channel cool. In contrast, silicon is subject to leakage, which wastes energy in electronic devices and generates a lot of heat.
Other people have made transistors that exploit quantum tunneling, says Michigan Tech physicist John Jaszczak, who has developed the theoretical framework for Yap's experimental research. However, those tunneling devices have only worked in conditions that would discourage the typical cellphone user.
"They only operate at liquid-helium temperatures," said Jaszczak.
The secret to Yap's gold-and-nanotube device is its submicroscopic size: one micron long and about 20 nanometers wide. "The gold islands have to be on the order of nanometers across to control the electrons at room temperature," Jaszczak said. "If they are too big, too many electrons can flow." In this case, smaller is truly better: "Working with nanotubes and quantum dots gets you to the scale you want for electronic devices."
"Theoretically, these tunneling channels can be miniaturized into virtually zero dimension when the distance between electrodes is reduced to a small fraction of a micron," said Yap.
Yap has filed for a full international patent on the technology.
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A woman who worked as a stunt double for Angelina Jolie sued Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. in Los Angeles on Tuesday, claiming she's a victim of a phone hacking scheme to obtain information about the actress.
Eunice Huthart, of Liverpool, England, is the first person to sue the media company in the U.S.
Her New York attorney, Norman Siegel, said, "This is the beginning and we're going to go one step at a time." He said the suit speaks for itself on the reasons it was filed in Los Angeles. It claimed Huthart's phone was hacked while she was working with Jolie on Hollywood films including "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."
She said that was how the Sun newspaper learned that Jolie and Brad Pitt were "an item." A News Corp. spokesman declined to comment.
Huthart, who became a close friend of Jolie and is the godmother to her first biological child, said she was unaware that she was a victim of the phone hackers until British police came to see her last year.
She said the intrusion which removed messages from her cellphone caused distress in her family life and caused her to miss calls from Jolie.
The lawsuit cited numerous references to the United Kingdom phone hacking scandal involving News Corp. companies and claims numerous grounds for damages. A monetary figure was not specified, but it asked that the companies be assessed damages based on the profits they made from the stories on Jolie. It also seeks punitive damages.
The lawsuit also names as defendants News Corp. entities News International Ltd. and News Group Newspapers Ltd., and unidentified private investigators and journalists.
The case is the first hacking-related lawsuit against News Corp. in the U.S. and is the culmination of a lengthy search for a plaintiff who would take on the company in a U.S. court room.
Siegel, Huthart's lead lawyer, has been on the hunt for evidence of News Corp. hacking on U.S. soil since the scandal broke in July 2011. Siegel, who has represented Sept. 11 victims' families in civil cases, sent a letter nearly two years ago to the FBI demanding an inquiry into whether 9/11 victims' phones had been hacked by News Corp. journalists.
Siegel was later retained by British attorney Mark Lewis, who has represented hacking victims in the U.K.
Since the scandal broke in the summer of 2011, News Corp. has spent $388 million in settlements, legal fees, and other costs associated with ongoing investigations in the U.K. Last year, the company settled 36 lawsuits by hacking victims including actor Jude Law and soccer player Ashley Cole.
The federal suit claims Huthart began missing telephone messages in 2004 from family, friends and others, causing damage to relationships with her daughter and husband. She said her husband began to think she was having an affair because she didn't answer her voicemail messages.
She said she was particularly distressed over failing to receive messages from her young daughter who "called several times to report that she was being bullied in school in Liverpool, England," the suit said.
"Plaintiff did not receive those messages and could not console her daughter," said the suit, adding that Huthart "was despondent and believed she had failed as a parent."
During the filming of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," Huthart said she lived at a home in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles with Jolie and her assistant and they became close friends. On occasion, she said Jolie would leave her messages with code names for hotels and individuals and details of times they would be meeting. The suit said she often did not get Jolie's messages because they were being intercepted by investigator Glenn Mulcaire and his alleged co- conspirators. Mulcaire was imprisoned for six months in 2007 for hacking phones on behalf of the now defunct News of The World.
The suit said that it was through hacking the stunt double's phone that the Sun newspaper learned that Pitt and Jolie were "an item."
The paper reported it had exclusively learned that the couple checked into a hotel posing as a married couple while plugging their movie.
Once, Huthart said she missed a message from Jolie confiding that she was registered at a hotel under the name "Pocohontas," and Huthart had trouble locating her.
The latest case comes at a sensitive time for the media giant controlled by Rupert Murdoch, which will spin off its publishing and newspaper arm from its more profitable TV and movie unit by the end of the month. On Friday, Murdoch also filed for divorce from his wife since 1999, Wendi Deng Murdoch.
News Corp. has said that the stronger entertainment side of the company, to be called 21st Century Fox, will bear any further legal costs or civil claims related to hacking after the split, while the publishing company, to retain the name News Corp., will be liable for any criminal penalties if they arise.
21st Century Fox would also be responsible for any civil settlement involving a U.S. law that aims to prevent bribery overseas called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
___
AP Business Writer Ryan Nakashima contributed to this report
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Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
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