Source: www.specifinder.com --- Monday, December 26, 2011
The Queen's Windsor Castle home is going green, as it is to be powered by a giant 40-tonne turbine Added on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:21:30 GMT ...
Source: http://www.specifinder.com/news/industry/green/800407152/Windsor-Castle-to-use-green-energy.html
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The village of Savannah in northwestern Ashland County was filled with the holiday spirit this past weekend.
For the second year in a row, a Community Christmas Celebration was held in Savannah Academy Park, where those attending got to experience the real Christmas story presented live and outdoors.
More than 250 people attended the event, which included the singing of Christmas carols, including finishing with "Silent Night" and a candle lighting ceremony.
All involved then headed down to Savannah Town Hall for the serving of hot chocolate and cookies.
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Source: http://www.wmfd.com/newsboard/single.asp?Story=48787
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Gay and lesbian couples have the luxury of designing their wedding ceremonies as a reflection of their own relationships. It's not just about following religious, legal, social and/or family traditions. Same-sex couples, after all, are not bound by hundreds of years of marriage ritual as defined by the countless gays who have married before -- although that may become a problem a few generations down the line!
One fundamental difference in how same-sex couples plan weddings in this new marriage frontier is the role that both partners assume in the planning process. One partner may be more of the organizer, but it is often the case that both partners are equally invested in envisioning and creating together their wedding, commitment ceremony or civil union.
Not so for your average straight couple.
Ask just about any wedding vendor in the mainstream wedding market and you'll hear that they spend the majority of their time working with brides or brides and their mothers. There's hardly a mention of the groom.
So what can straight brides (and their grooms) learn from the path we are clearing? That, yes, you can buck traditions that don't work for you and still build a special day that everyone will recognize as a wedding and as a beautiful reflection of your commitment.
Here are a few suggestions to help every couple -- straight or gay -- get started:
It Takes Two To Make A Thing Go Right.It is traditionally assumed that the bride has long dreamt of her ideal wedding day and, once she is in engaged, she swings into action, bringing her groom along in her wake. Though a bride-only approach is the obvious solution for a lesbian couple, we encourage both partners - especially in the case of heterosexual couples -- to be equally invested and involved in the wedding planning process. One's Big Day - whether you are a gay or straight couple -- should be a living embodiment of the two persons who are promising a life of love, commitment and support. Mutual is, after all, as mutual does.
Think Outside The Box. Just because your parents did it, your friends did it or Brides Magazine recommended it, doesn't mean that it's how you have to do it. Tradition can be a wonderful guiding force, until it isn't. Gay and lesbian couples are already thinking outside the box by choosing to meet someone of the same gender (gasp!) at the end of the aisle; so most same sex couples aren't afraid to introduce elements which offer a twist - or in some cases - departure from tradition.
If you want to wear purple shoes under your wedding dress, do it. If you prefer a small civil ceremony to a large wedding and reception, do it. If the bride wants a Best Man or the groom wants a Maid of Honor, do it.
Which leads us to...
It's Your Party. Seriously. This is your day. Not your parents' day. Not your friends' day. This is your celebration and you should build a ceremony and reception which reflects your relationship, interests and values as a couple and which you will look back on without regret.
When we work with engaged couples, one of the most challenging topics we discuss is the guest list. For our straight couples, this topic seems particularly stressful because of assumptions that family members make. Most parents of straight couples assume that they can invite all of their friends, whereas many parents of gay couples aren't sure that they are ready for all of their friends to even know about the wedding. Gay and lesbian couples, then, have an advantage of being more directly 'in charge' of their guest list and feel less pressure to invite those outside of their community of supporters.
Because your wedding is your party, we encourage you to be as thoughtful and as stingy as you need to be about your guest list. If you and your fianc?(e) want only to invite close friends and a few family members to the wedding, don't be afraid to take that stand. It's your party. You can always add a creative touch, like a second, larger reception for extended family and/or friends (e.g. Think Outside The Box) and, to spare feelings, we always recommend having a clear and compassionate reason for your small list ("We so wish we could have more people to the wedding, but we're doing a really small celebration instead of a larger event.").
Bottom line: A wedding should be a time when you can count on celebrating your relationship with those you love most in the world and those who love and support you. Make it special and make it count and don't be afraid to buck with tradition to build an unforgettable celebration with meaningful memories to last you and your partner a lifetime.
Follow Kathryn at www.twitter.com/gayweddingscom
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Follow Kathryn Hamm on Twitter: www.twitter.com/President, GayW
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathryn-hamm/what-straight-brides-can-_b_1164077.html
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Apple's Newsstand application aiding digital magazine sales, says 'I told you so' originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Dec 2011 15:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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AllThingsD | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/25/apples-newsstand-application-aiding-digital-magazine-sales-say/
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Published: December 21, 2011 5:00 PM
Updated: December 21, 2011 5:21 PM
Dylan Armstrong had a year to remember.
The Kamloops shot-put master won three Athletics Canada awards, the organization announced on Wednesday, Dec. 21.
He won the Jack W. Davies Trophy, for overall athlete of the year, the F.N.A. Rowell Trophy, for outstanding athlete in field events, and the Cal D. Bricker Memorial Trophy, for most outstanding performance.
Armstrong won Canada's first-ever medal in a throwing event at the IAAF world championships, earning a silver in?Daegu, South Korea.
The hulking athlete won Pan American Games gold in Brazil in October, setting a Games record in the process, and he won the Diamond League title, which came with it a 4-carat diamond trophy and a cool $40,000.
And, oh yeah, the Westsyde secondary graduate set a Canadian record with a throw of 22.21 metres, the longest throw recorded on the planet this year.
Much of Armstong's success can be attributed to his coach, Anatoliy Bondarchuk, lead coach at the National Throws Centre in the River City.
Bondarchuk was named Athletics Canada's coach of the year.
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Source: http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/sports/136038223.html
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Source: http://www.facebook.com/nbcchicago/posts/208129835938559
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By: Pat Prescott
12/22/2011 08:00 PM ET
Vatican XXX Address ? The Vatican domain name for the new .XXX address has been bought by someone who registered it from ICM Registry and the The Holy See has denied rumors that they acquired it. Spokesman Father Federico Lombardi addressed the situation by stating that it was not available because someone else acquired it. Earlier reports from Rueters suggested that the Church bought it to prevent someone else from misusing it.
When the .xxx domains went up for sale last month many businesses and organizations attempted to acquire them to prevent from being associated with something intended for pornographic sites.
From Lombardi?s statement it was unsure if they tried to acquire the Vatican xxx address, before it was taken. One could speculate that he knew a lot about the domain being taken by someone other than the Church.
The registry, known as ICM, allowed a pre-sale or ?sunrise period? so those organization?s wanting to do so could grab the domain representing their trademark name before it went on sale to the public.
The sunrise period lasted from September 7th to October 28th, with general public options starting on December 6th.
It was expected that ICM would make at least $200 million a year, for selling anywhere from 3 to 5 million domains to companies that are anticipated to defensively register their own domains.
The registrant for the Vatican xxx address is still a big mystery. It could be someone who is cyber-squatting, which is a term used when people buy up a name of a company and hope to sell rich.
Source: http://www.newsoxy.com/world/vatican-xxx-address-46435.html
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Monta Ellis has allegedly pulled a Brett Favre. No, he hasn't sullied his legacy by announcing multiple false retirements and then taking subtle shots at his superstar replacement.
Instead, the Golden State Warriors shooting guard and one of the most dynamic players in the NBA has been sued by a former team employee, Erika Ross Smith, for supposedly sending her numerous unwanted text messages, culminating in a photo of his genitals.
Talk about being a baller! (Sorry.)
Smith worked last year as in the team's community relations department, and claims in her lawsuit that Ellis texted her from November through January with lines such as "I want to be with you" and "Hey Sexy." He would also ask what she was wearing.
"On a micro level, my client has endured unwanted harassment, has suffered and continues to suffer emotional distress and trauma," Burt Boltuch, Smith's lawyer, said at a news conference this week. "On a macro level, this type of conduct, especially in the sports world, must stop... she was embarrassed. She was intimidated. She felt scared and helpless."
The Warriors have responded to the allegation and said Ellis - who is married - and Smith engaged in a "consensual relationship."
After Smith reportedly rejected the guard's advances, she says he complained about her job performance and sent her a picture of his penis on December 17, 2010. Boltuch told reporters of the photo in question, which he possesses: "We know it came from him," saying his client's interactions with Ellis with "absolutely, unequivocally 100 percent not consensual."
Smith eventually lost her job, in her opinion, due to Ellis' wife finding out about the text messages and complaining to team executives.
The lawsuit alleges retaliation, wrongful termination and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It seeks unspecified damages.
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Source: http://wik.io/info/US/305786432
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Scientists have shown the energy conditions, under which a weak signal supplied to a physical system emerges as a stronger signal at the output thanks to the presence of random noise (a process known as stochastic resonance), in a paper that has just been published in EPJ B?.
Stochastic resonance goes against the intuitive idea that where noise is present, the signal tends to fade. It occurs in systems where the response is not proportional to the applied input signal, known as nonlinear systems.
The authors, Shubhashis Rana, Sourabh Lahiri and Arun M. Jayannavar from the Institute of Physics, in Bhubaneswar, India, used a model consisting of a symmetric double-well energy potential in which a particle moves randomly. They studied the effect of the steepness of the walls of the confining energy potential by observing the movement of the particle, which they subjected to an external sinusoidal signal that alternately lowers either of the wells.
The authors selected a quantifier ? the average work done on the system by the signal ? to determine the conditions under which the particle moving from one well to the opposite side well and back at every cycle of the signal reaches stochastic resonance. They found that it only occurs when the potential is "hard", meaning that it has sufficiently steep walls, but breaks down otherwise. Previous work used different quantifiers and found similar results, confirming their findings using numerical simulations.This study contributes to improving scientists' understanding of stochastic resonance. It could, ultimately, contribute to gaining deeper insights into physics-related phenomena such as the processing of unclear images to increase their resolution* and biological systems, including mechanoreceptor cells in crayfish and the functioning of sensory neurons in humans.
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Rana S, Lahiri S, Jayannavar A M (2011). The role of soft versus hard bistable systems on stochastic resonance using average cycle energy as a quantifier. European Physical Journal B (EPJ B) 84, 2. DOI 10.1140/epjb/e2011-20802-9
Springer: http://www.springer.com
Thanks to Springer for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115763/Video__Random_noise_helps_make_signals_clearer
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PARIS/BERLIN (Reuters) ? A threat by Standard & Poors to slash credit ratings across the euro zone sounded a clarion call on Tuesday, which could help Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel force through a change to the European Union treaty at a summit this week.
The French president and German chancellor are determined to change European rules to impose mandatory penalties on countries that exceed deficit targets, aiming to restore market confidence and prevent a sovereign debt crisis spiraling out of control.
Citing "continuing disagreements among European policy makers on how to tackle the immediate market confidence crisis," S&P threatened to cut the credit ratings of 15 countries, including Germany and France, by 1-2 notches.
The U.S.-based ratings agency went a step further on Tuesday, placing the top-notch rating of the euro zone's rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), on negative watch since it depends on the creditworthiness of the currency bloc's six AAA-rated sovereigns.
S&P also warned of slowing growth amid so much austerity, predicting a 40 percent chance of a fall in euro zone output.
A downgrade could automatically require some investment funds to sell bonds of affected states, making those countries' borrowing costs rise still further.
Merkel brushed off the threat.
"What a ratings agency does is its own responsibility," she said, promising European leaders would make decisions at this week's summit that would restore confidence.
Her finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, said the wake-up call was S&P's way of urging European leaders to act, and reflected financial market uncertainty rather than economic fundamentals.
"It is simply an appeal to the heads of state and government that on December 9 everyone has to do their duty," Schaeuble told a panel discussion in Vienna.
Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the 17 euro zone finance ministers, said he was "astonished" by S&P's announcement.
He described it as "a wild exaggeration and also unfair" and said it failed to take into account a new austerity plan for Italy, which pulled borrowing costs for the biggest of the euro zone's ailing countries back from the brink.
In Paris, Sarkozy's office said S&P had taken its decision last Tuesday, before both the Italian budget and the Franco-German plan for stricter budget rules.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner arrived in Europe to confer with key policymakers ahead of the summit on Thursday and Friday, a sign that Washington shares the view that the event will be a make-or-break moment for the global economy.
Geithner began his talks by meeting European Central Bank President Mario Draghi in Frankfurt. Neither man commented afterwards but ECB policymaker Ewald Nowotny said the S&P move would have no bearing on the bank's policy.
"The ECB does not let itself be put under pressure. Our decisions are our responsibility," he told reporters in Vienna.
Geithner will also meet the leaders of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the EU institutions to press for decisive action to arrest the crisis.
Sarkozy and Merkel's plan to force states to cut deficits would be accompanied by an early launch of a permanent bailout fund for euro states in distress.
That could provide the political cover that the ECB needs to buy more bonds of ailing countries as a short-term stopgap, preventing countries from running out of money if they cannot sell bonds on the open market.
INVESTORS CHEER
ECB chief Draghi has signaled that a euro zone "fiscal compact" could encourage the central bank to act more decisively on the crisis. It has been reluctant to buy up debt from distressed euro states more aggressively, arguing doing so would take pressure off governments to fix their finances.
Investors cheered a plan announced on Monday by new technocratic prime minister Mario Monti, slashing its borrowing costs. Yields on Italian 10-year bonds fell below 6 percent for the first time since October 28.
Just last month, Italy - the euro zone's biggest debtor with 1.9 trillion euros of bonds outstanding - appeared headed for a crunch after the interest rate demanded by investors to lend to it soared above 7 percent, a rate at which other countries needed bailouts.
Were it not for his 30-billion-euro austerity plan, Monti declared, "Italy would have collapsed, Italy would go into a situation similar to that of Greece."
Goldman Sachs Asset Management Chairman Jim O'Neill told Reuters that Italian government debt yields now looked very attractive unless there was a "complete fiasco" at this week's EU summit. There would be no euro without Italy, he said.
Sarkozy and Merkel say they want treaty changes to be agreed in March and ratified after France wraps up presidential and legislative elections in June.
They won a boost on Tuesday when incoming Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy said he would support a new treaty. Although not yet in office, Rajoy is expected to meet Merkel and Sarkozy and outline his policies at a congress of European conservative leaders in Marseille on Thursday.
However, some other EU governments, notably Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands, are reluctant to amend the treaty, either due to eurosceptics at home or because they fear losing possible referendums on ratification.
If countries such as euro outsider Britain blocked a treaty change for all of the 27 EU members, the 17 states that use the common currency could proceed with an agreement on their own, Merkel and Sarkozy said.
S&P said it would conclude its review "as soon as possible" after the summit, making clear that it wanted to see political as well as financial solutions.
It said ratings could be lowered by one notch for Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and by up to two notches for the remaining nine placed under review, including currently AAA-rated France. Cyprus was already on downgrade watch and Greece already has a 'junk' CC-rating.
European stocks, bond futures, and the euro were hit by the shock warning, halting a rally in global equities that began last week as the MSCI world equity index fell 0.6 percent.
Bond yields across the euro zone rose, with top-rated German and French bonds underperforming peripheral debt as a recent flight to quality began to unwind.
After two hours of talks with Merkel in Paris on Monday, Sarkozy told a joint news conference: "What we want ... is to tell the world that in Europe the rule is that we pay back our debts, reduce our deficits, restore growth."
Merkel added: "This package shows that we are absolutely determined to keep the euro as a stable currency and as an important contributor to European stability."
Sarkozy and Merkel said they would send their plan to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy on Wednesday, in time for Friday's summit. The Belgian, who will chair that crucial meeting, would have preferred to avoid treaty change but has been sounding out other governments on their receptiveness.
(Additional reporting by Michael Shields and Sylvia Westall in Vienna, David Lawder in Frankfurt,; Writing by Peter Graff and Paul Taylor; Editing by Peter Graff)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111206/bs_nm/us_eurozone
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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka ? A media rights group has filed a court challenge over the Sri Lankan government's blocking of five news websites for content that was deemed insulting, a spokesman said Tuesday.
The local Free Media Movement filed a fundamental rights application in the Supreme Court on Monday on the basis that the blockade breaches the people's right to information and freedom of expression, the group's convener, Sunil Jayasekara, said.
The Information and Media Ministry ordered the sites blocked last month, saying they committed character assassination and insulted people including key political leaders.
The sites blocked are http://www.lankaenews.com, srilankamirror.com, srilankaguardian.com, paparasinews.com, gossip9.com and http://www.lankawaynews.com.
Rights groups criticized the move as undemocratic. Sri Lankan laws do not restrict the press from criticizing leaders, but media can be charged for defamation.
The ministry has also asked websites to register, a new requirement for websites, while older media formats such as newspapers, radio and television already have to register before they start opertating.
Of the five sites, lankaenews is highly critical of the government and has been blocked once previously and been subjected to violence and threats. A columnist for the website has been missing for nearly two years and is believed to have been abducted. Its office was set on fire earlier this year and lankaenews blamed the government for the attack.
The U.S. Embassy in Colombo has called on Sri Lankan authorities and telecommunications firms "to stop activities aimed at blocking free access in Sri Lanka to all legitimate media websites, including Lanka-e-News."
Reporters Without Borders said it was appalled by Sri Lanka's decision to block the sites and urged it be lifted and the new registration requirement rescinded. It also called on commercial telecom companies to stop blocking sites at the government's behest.
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TEHRAN (Reuters) -Iranian diplomats expelled from Britain after radical youths stormed the British embassy in Tehran arrived home on Saturday to supporters bearing flowers and chanting "Death to England."
"Spy embassy closed for good," read one of the many placards carried by the crowd of some 100 men and women, most of whom appeared to be members of the hardline Basij militia, congregated at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport.
Britain evacuated all diplomatic staff and closed its embassy in Tehran after it was stormed and ransacked on Tuesday. France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands withdrew their ambassadors from Tehran in protest.
With swift condemnation from around the world, the embassy storming risks further isolating Iran which is already under several rounds of sanctions over the nuclear program that many countries fear is aimed at developing atomic bombs, a charge Tehran denies.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has yet to comment on the incident, an indication, some analysts say, that it was organized by rival hardliners within the faction-riven establishment.
Iran's Foreign Ministry has expressed regret over the embassy invasion, which it said was a spontaneous overflowing of anger during a student protest. Britain says there must have been at least tacit approval by the ruling establishment.
Speaking to reporters at the airport, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast warned Britain's European Union partners not to allow the diplomatic row to worsen their own ties with the Islamic Republic.
"The British government is trying to extend to other European countries the problem between the two of us, but of course we have told European countries not to subject their ties with us with the kind of problems that existed between Iran and Britain," he was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.
(Writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Rosalind Russell)
(Corrects name of airport in paragraph 2)
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Barbie dolls are changing with the times.
Often criticized for promoting the ideal woman as blonde, unhealthily proportioned and materialistic, two special edition dolls will now personify ... party-loving celebrities with weird hairstyles and rampant sex appeal, who are also really rich and famous!
Yes, Mattel is planning to launch dolls for Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry.
The dolls are said to include striking similarities to the real pop princesses like the famous tattoo on Nicki Minaj's left arm, not to mention her trademark pink hair.
It does make sense in that Minaj has garnered a following of fans who refer to themselves as "Barbies" in honor of her fondness for crazy wigs and the color pink.
Both Minaj and Perry are known for breaking the mold when it comes to fashion, and while Barbie would probably not be caught dead in their getups, we'll allow it.
Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/katy-perry-nicki-minaj-to-become-barbie-dolls/
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NeowinFeed Neowin Team
Source: http://twitter.com/NeowinFeed/statuses/143003924851458049
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Mark Moffett / Minden / Solent
Entomologist Mark Moffett found this carrot-eating giant weta in a tree on New Zealand's Little Barrier Island. The cricketlike critter weighs 2.5 ounces (71 grams) and has a length of 7 inches (17.8 centimeters).
Alan Boyle writes
Is this the world's biggest bug? As with all superlatives, it depends on your definition.?But?the sight of a New Zealand giant weta chomping down on a carrot surely has to give you the creeps, even if it's rivaled by other giant creepy crawlies.
This particular species of the cricketlike creature ??known as a giant weta or wetapunga to the Maori, and as Deinacrida heteracantha to scientists ??is found only in protected areas such as?New Zealand's Little Barrier Island. That's where Mark ("Doctor Bugs") Moffett, an entomologist and explorer at the Smithsonian Institution,?found?the specimen?after two?nights of searching.
"The giant weta is the largest insect in the world, and this is the biggest one ever found," Britain's Daily Mail quoted Moffett as saying. "She weighs the equivalent to three mice. ... She enjoyed the carrot so much she seemed to ignore the fact she was resting on our hands and carried on munching away. She would have finished the carrot very quickly, but this is an extremely endangered species, and we didn't want to risk indigestion."
The carrot-crunching cricket went viral today, and now questions are starting to emerge about the "biggest bug" label. The information accompanying the picture lists the insect's weight at 2.5 ounces (71 grams) and its length at 7 inches (17.8 centimeters, supposedly for wingspan, but keep reading).
The New Zealand-based news site Stuff.co.nz checked that with Landcare Research entomologist Thomas Buckley. "From the picture, it's a female,?but it just looks like an average-sized one of that species," Buckley said.
Even the biggest giant weta has its rivals in the insect world. By some accounts,?goliath beetles can reach a weight of 100 grams (3.5 ounces)?during their larval stage?and achieve a wingspan of?nearly 10 inches (25 centimeters). The White Witch moth, meanwhile,?has a wingspan of up to 12 inches (31 centimeters), which is wider than?the wings of a sparrow.
But if you confine yourself strictly to adult insects, and define "big" in terms of weight, Moffett appears to have a good case. He told me in an email that the?giant weta?he found counts as the "largest one weighed, as far as I have seen recorded anywhere."
Now, if your definition of a "bug"?takes in more than insects ? say, the giant crustaceans known as isopods, which are super-sized versions of rolypoly bugs ? then you're talking about bugs of truly horrific proportions. Do you have tales of monster bugs to share? Add them as comments below.
Update for 9:30 p.m. ET: Some of the reports about this giant weta make it sound as if the darn thing might bite somebody's finger off, but that's bogus. This?CafeTerra posting describes the?bug as a vegetarian and "the gentle giant of the insect world."?They survive only in protected environments because they've been driven to near-extinction by rats and other invasive predators on New Zealand's main islands. The Kiwi Conservation Club says the bug is a "docile creature and does not kick or bite." Some reports have referred to the giant weta as having a 7-inch?wingspan, but Moffett told me that the insect is "wingless, or virtually so."?It's so heavy that it can't jump. It's so big that it can't easily hide from predators. And yes, it's edible.
Update for 11:30 p.m. ET: Moffett shed more light on the "biggest bug" question in a follow-up email: "I did not measure anything but the weight (one should correctly call it the 'world's heaviest adult insect'), but a rough estimate from the picture suggests an outstretched leg might be 7 inches. The weta is essentially wingless: no wings to see at all, let alone a seven-inch wing. [As to size:] I've seen a walking stick nearly 19 inches long in Sarawak, Malaysia, but it weighs next to nothing!"
More weird tales of the insect world:
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.?
Source: http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/01/9150501-worlds-biggest-bug-that-depends
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Public release date: 1-Dec-2011
Share ] Contact: Mary Jane Gore
mary.gore@duke.edu
919-660-1309
Duke University Medical Center
DURHAM, N.C. -- Tracking individual cells within the lung as they move around and multiply has given Duke University researchers new insights into the causes of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) a disease which can only be treated now by lung transplantation.
IPF fills the delicate gas exchange region of the lung with scar tissue, progressively restricting breathing. The Duke University Medical Center researchers have discovered that some commonly held ideas about the origins of the scar-forming (fibrotic) cells are oversimplified, if not wrong.
We are the first to show that pericytes, a population of cells previously described to play a role in the development of fibrosis in other organs, are present in fibrotic lung tissue, said Christina Barkauskas, M.D., a pulmonary fellow in the Duke Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine.
The team found that pericytes move from blood vessels into fibrotic regions, and were in the damaged lungs of both humans and mice. In mice, they also showed that the epithelial cells, which make up the lacy sacs called alveoli, could divide and repair the damage in the gas-exchange location, but these cells were not the source of scarring.
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis affects about 100,000 people in the U.S. each year and leads to death within three years of diagnosis.
The study was published the week of Nov. 28 in PNAS Plus online edition.
We dont know yet whether the pericytes make the scar matrix itself or just release signals that stimulate the scarring process, but either way, they are a potential target for new therapies, said Brigid Hogan, Ph.D., senior author and chair of the Duke Department of Cell Biology.
The researchers used genetic lineage tracing to study the origin of cells that gathered in fibrotic areas. They gave several different cell types an indelible fluorescent tag and then followed the cells over time.
The cells kept the tag even if they multiplied, migrated within the lung, or differentiated into another cell type.
Paul Noble, M.D., co-author and chief of the Pulmonary Division at Duke, said that identifying the source of the lethal expansion of the scarring (fibroblast) cells is a critical missing link in understanding disease progression.
Previous studies had suggested that the epithelial cells in the alveoli are a source of fibroblast accumulation after lung injury, he said.
This study used the newest tracing approaches to conclusively demonstrate, however, that the alveolar epithelium isnt a significant source for fibroblast accumulation following lung injury in mice, Noble said. The studies suggest that there may be several sources for the scar-forming cell accumulation in fibrosis, including pericytes, which hadnt been implicated in lung fibrosis until now.
Noble said that the study data provide new insights into the sources of scar-forming cells and would help to target the correct cell population that causes disease progression.
Now the researchers are focusing on what these cells may make that could promote a healing process. One idea is that perhaps in IPF these epithelial cells have lost the ability to repair damage to the lung, so that scarring continues inexorably and cannot be restrained perhaps we could find a way to assist the repair process, Hogan said. Promoting the healing process might be another therapeutic approach.
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Other authors include Jason R. Rock and Yan Xue of the Duke Department of Cell Biology; Michael J. Cronce and Jiurong Liang of the Duke Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine; and Jeffrey R. Harris of the Duke Division of Cellular Therapy. Jason Rock is now with the University of California -- San Francisco.
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Public release date: 1-Dec-2011 Share ] Contact: Mary Jane Gore
mary.gore@duke.edu
919-660-1309
Duke University Medical Center
DURHAM, N.C. -- Tracking individual cells within the lung as they move around and multiply has given Duke University researchers new insights into the causes of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) a disease which can only be treated now by lung transplantation.
IPF fills the delicate gas exchange region of the lung with scar tissue, progressively restricting breathing. The Duke University Medical Center researchers have discovered that some commonly held ideas about the origins of the scar-forming (fibrotic) cells are oversimplified, if not wrong.
We are the first to show that pericytes, a population of cells previously described to play a role in the development of fibrosis in other organs, are present in fibrotic lung tissue, said Christina Barkauskas, M.D., a pulmonary fellow in the Duke Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine.
The team found that pericytes move from blood vessels into fibrotic regions, and were in the damaged lungs of both humans and mice. In mice, they also showed that the epithelial cells, which make up the lacy sacs called alveoli, could divide and repair the damage in the gas-exchange location, but these cells were not the source of scarring.
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis affects about 100,000 people in the U.S. each year and leads to death within three years of diagnosis.
The study was published the week of Nov. 28 in PNAS Plus online edition.
We dont know yet whether the pericytes make the scar matrix itself or just release signals that stimulate the scarring process, but either way, they are a potential target for new therapies, said Brigid Hogan, Ph.D., senior author and chair of the Duke Department of Cell Biology.
The researchers used genetic lineage tracing to study the origin of cells that gathered in fibrotic areas. They gave several different cell types an indelible fluorescent tag and then followed the cells over time.
The cells kept the tag even if they multiplied, migrated within the lung, or differentiated into another cell type.
Paul Noble, M.D., co-author and chief of the Pulmonary Division at Duke, said that identifying the source of the lethal expansion of the scarring (fibroblast) cells is a critical missing link in understanding disease progression.
Previous studies had suggested that the epithelial cells in the alveoli are a source of fibroblast accumulation after lung injury, he said.
This study used the newest tracing approaches to conclusively demonstrate, however, that the alveolar epithelium isnt a significant source for fibroblast accumulation following lung injury in mice, Noble said. The studies suggest that there may be several sources for the scar-forming cell accumulation in fibrosis, including pericytes, which hadnt been implicated in lung fibrosis until now.
Noble said that the study data provide new insights into the sources of scar-forming cells and would help to target the correct cell population that causes disease progression.
Now the researchers are focusing on what these cells may make that could promote a healing process. One idea is that perhaps in IPF these epithelial cells have lost the ability to repair damage to the lung, so that scarring continues inexorably and cannot be restrained perhaps we could find a way to assist the repair process, Hogan said. Promoting the healing process might be another therapeutic approach.
###
Other authors include Jason R. Rock and Yan Xue of the Duke Department of Cell Biology; Michael J. Cronce and Jiurong Liang of the Duke Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine; and Jeffrey R. Harris of the Duke Division of Cellular Therapy. Jason Rock is now with the University of California -- San Francisco.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/dumc-nic120111.php
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Job seekers asked to throw their privacy out the window
For all the good it can do, social networking also has its share of downsides. Putting personal information of any kind on the internet raises plenty of privacy concerns on its own, and handing over your username and password can be like giving away the keys to your very identity. But if you're in the process of seeking new employment, that may be exactly what you'll have to do.
The image below is a snapshot of an application from North Carolina for a clerical position at a police department. One of the required pieces of information is a disclosure of any social networking accounts, along with the username and password to access them.
Does this job application cross the line?
You don't have to be a security expert to realize that asking for such information is out of the ordinary. Depending on how much detail and private information you choose to post on Facebook, Google+, or MySpace, relinquishing your password would allow your would-be employer to investigate every area of your life. Aside from status updates that may be secured for only friends to view, logging in to your account provides access to private messages, chat logs, and any number of other potentially damaging tidbits.
We've known for a while that companies often scour social networks when considering a new employee, so keeping party photos and scandalous posts out of the public eye is well advised. And while this particular application appears ? for now, at least ? to be an isolated case of an employer overreaching their bounds, it highlights a growing problem with social network privacy.
Sites like Facebook have become a one-stop-shop to learn anything and everything about a person. For anyone ? especially a company or potential employer ? to casually request access to that information is as bold as asking for a copy of person's house keys. Would you agree to a full search of your home and worldly possessions in order to land a job? If the answer is no, then you should be just as hesitant to let someone rummage around inside your online identity.
[Image credit: SportzTawk]
This article originally appeared on Tecca
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Christopher S Penn explains that trying to do something like hit the gym three days a week or give up smoking on January 1st when you've been slacking all year or smoking regularly up to and through New Year's Eve is never a great way to get started, especially when the changes you want to make will require other lifestyle changes as well. He proposes taking December to, for example, figure out how your "join a gym and actually go" resolution will impact your schedule and finances, and then give it a shot so you have time to make changes and "debug" your new behavior before the beginning of the year.
If December 1st is too soon for you, there's no reason you can't use January as your 30-day trial run. The important thing is to give yourself a little room to get organized and plan out your resolution before you go after it full-steam. Doing so will increase your chances of success, and make that fresh start at the beginning of the new year a little easier to handle.
Are you thinking about your new year's resolutions yet? Do you have any plans for the new year already, or do you usually wait until late December to even think about it? Let's hear it in the comments below.
Photo by John Kwan\Shutterstock.
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