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Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/vaccine-506730-hpv-barefoot.html
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May 2, 2013 ? National Institutes of Health researchers used the popular anti-wrinkle agent Botox to discover a new and important role for a group of molecules that nerve cells use to quickly send messages. This novel role for the molecules, called SNARES, may be a missing piece that scientists have been searching for to fully understand how brain cells communicate under normal and disease conditions.
"The results were very surprising," said Ling-Gang Wu, Ph.D., a scientist at NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. "Like many scientists we thought SNAREs were only involved in fusion."
Every day almost 100 billion nerve cells throughout the body send thousands of messages through nearly 100 trillion communication points called synapses. Cell-to-cell communication at synapses controls thoughts, movements, and senses and could provide therapeutic targets for a number of neurological disorders, including epilepsy.
Nerve cells use chemicals, called neurotransmitters, to rapidly send messages at synapses. Like pellets inside shotgun shells, neurotransmitters are stored inside spherical membranes, called synaptic vesicles. Messages are sent when a carrier shell fuses with the nerve cell's own shell, called the plasma membrane, and releases the neurotransmitter "pellets" into the synapse.
SNAREs (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor) are three proteins known to be critical for fusion between carrier shells and nerve cell membranes during neurotransmitter release.
"Without SNAREs there is no synaptic transmission," said Dr. Wu.
Botulinum toxin, or Botox, disrupts SNAREs. In a study published in Cell Reports, Dr. Wu and his colleagues describe how they used Botox and similar toxins as tools to show that SNAREs may also be involved in retrieving message carrier shells from nerve cell membranes immediately after release.
To study this, the researchers used advanced electrical recording techniques to directly monitor in real time carrier shells being fused with and retrieved from nerve cell membranes while the cells sent messages at synapses. The experiments were performed on a unique synapse involved with hearing called the calyx of Held. As expected, treating the synapses with toxins reduced fusion. However Dr. Wu and his colleagues also noticed that the toxins reduced retrieval.
"The results were very surprising," said Dr. Wu. "Like many scientists we thought SNAREs were only involved in fusion."
For at least a decade scientists have known that carrier shells have to be retrieved before more messages can be sent. Retrieval occurs in two modes: fast and slow. A different group of molecules are known to control the slow mode.
"Until now most scientists thought fusion and retrieval were two separate processes controlled by different sets of molecules," said Dr. Wu.
Nevertheless several studies suggested that one of the SNARE molecules could be involved with both modes.
In this study, Dr. Wu and his colleagues systematically tested this idea to fully understand retrieval. The results showed that all three SNARE proteins may be involved in both fast and slow retrieval.
"Our results suggest that SNAREs link fusion and retrieval," said Dr. Wu.
The results may have broad implications. SNAREs are commonly used by other cells throughout the body to release chemicals. For example, SNAREs help control the release of insulin from pancreas cells, making them a potential target for diabetes treatments. Recent studies suggest that SNAREs may be involved in neurological and psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and spastic ataxia.
"We think SNARES work like this in most nerve cell synapses. This new role could change the way scientists think about how SNAREs are involved in neuronal communication and diseases," said Dr. Wu.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/sKpjMmdoQoQ/130502131905.htm
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Sunny skies ahead for the developers of ultra prime real estate.
Great news, guys?the rich are getting richer and New York is one of the safe havens where the global billionaires will be stashing their fortunes in the coming years. While this might make New Yorkers who don?t number among the financial elite fret over things like the city?s growing income gap, affordable housing and public education, the developers of luxury real estate developers are totally stoked.
These are good times to cater to the ultra high net worth individuals of the world, according to a recent study about the very bright futures of the filthy rich and the multiple trophy properties they?ll be amassing in coming years.
Always keeping an eye on the fates of the world?s ultra high net worthers, Candy & Candy, Savills and Deutsche Bank? compiled the study on the UHNWI?s (surely, there must be a better acronym) proliferation and increasing wealth in the future. They found that by 2017, the UHNWI population is expected to have increased by 20 percent and their wealth by 30 percent. Basically, the richest of the rich will be following the same upward trajectory as these last few years. While the merely wealthy suffered in the recession, ultra high net worthers were more or less unaffected by the global financial turmoil, as evidenced by their recent appetite for trophy properties.
?A trophy ?safe haven? property in a global city is typically at the top of the shopping list for wealthy individuals,? wrote Nick Candy, CEO of ultra-prime London developer Candy & Candy. ?Their continuing appetite for such investments is expected to exert even greater influence over global property markets in the next few years.?
Obviously, this is good news for the brother duo behind the painfully posh One Hyde Park, a project that launched in the early stages of the financial crisis, but nonetheless managed to fetch London price-per-square-foot records thanks to the UHNWI who bought in. Though few people know who the individuals actually are, as is the case with so many top luxury deals, the units were bought by shell companies registered in tax havens.
In any event, the coming years look likely to bring more cash to developers who provide luxurious condos/safe deposit boxes for the world?s financial elite. In 2012, the financial hubs of London, New York, Singapore and Hong Kong saw 300 sales over $15.4 million, which are expected to increase to 400 per year by 2017, according to the study.
With all these very, very rich people buying more trophy properties to store their vast fortunes in, the property values will also be going up, according to the study, especially in New York, which has the largest share of ultra high net worthers in North America, but comparatively low prices because of the housing collapse.
The only dark spot on the horizon for luxury developers are property taxes (New York, the study notes ominously, has an annual property tax?how dare it, right?). While this has not been known to actually have an impact on the super wealthy, their real estate handmaidens are a little panicky. ?Although tax changes have failed to have a noticeable impact on the buying habits of UHNWIs, there are fears that manoeuvres by governments will put off investors down the line,? the study worries.
After all, despite hoarding a larger and larger share of the world?s capital, incredibly rich individuals seem increasingly disinclined to share the spoils. Although perhaps the greatest luxury of all is not bothering to spend all your time and energy hiding your excessive wealth from the tax man.
Follow Kim Velsey on Twitter or via RSS. kvelsey@observer.com
Source: http://observer.com/2013/05/luxury-real-estate-developers-salivate-as-the-rich-get-richer/
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It?s no surprise that small towns and rural communities don?t have the same abundance of fast food restaurant choices, clothing stores, movie theaters and retail shopping as metropolitan areas in the United States. Although fewer resources are available in small towns, the needs are still very present. Just like any other person in the country, the residents of small towns and communities have responsibilities and tasks that need to get done, but for those small town residents it may be a bit more daunting to get errands done. The same can be said for small businesses in these rural areas; they often don?t have access to the resources needed to grow their businesses.
We know small towns are built on small business. So to better serve small business owners in all areas of the country, The UPS Store has introduced its new Main Street franchise model ? designed to extend our small business support into small towns and rural communities within the U.S. The UPS Store now brings its expertise in small business services ? like printing, packing and shipping ? to small business owners in underserved communities.? The new The UPS Store franchise model makes it easier to support local business with services typically only found in larger cities. As part of the new The UPS Store franchise model, qualifying franchisees can save on franchise fees and other The UPS Store franchise costs compared to a traditional center.
In the past ten years, self-employment continues to rise, especially in rural areas and if current trends continue, one rural worker will be self-employed for every three wage-and salary workers by 2015*. With positive trends in rural small business, there is more reason than ever to expect a continued increase in self-employment and business startups in small towns. The UPS Store is here to support and is coming to a Main Street near you.
*Source: http://www.ruralsociology.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Rural-Realities-2-3.pdf
Source: http://blog.ups.com/2013/04/30/small-towns-are-built-on-small-businesses/
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Contact: John Sullivan
js29@princeton.edu
609-258-4597
Princeton University, Engineering School
Scientists at Princeton University used off-the-shelf printing tools to create a functional ear that can "hear" radio frequencies far beyond the range of normal human capability.
The researchers' primary purpose was to explore an efficient and versatile means to merge electronics with tissue. The scientists used 3D printing of cells and nanoparticles followed by cell culture to combine a small coil antenna with cartilage, creating what they term a bionic ear.
"In general, there are mechanical and thermal challenges with interfacing electronic materials with biological materials," said Michael McAlpine, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton and the lead researcher. "Previously, researchers have suggested some strategies to tailor the electronics so that this merger is less awkward. That typically happens between a 2D sheet of electronics and a surface of the tissue. However, our work suggests a new approach -- to build and grow the biology up with the electronics synergistically and in a 3D interwoven format."
McAlpine's team has made several advances in recent years involving the use of small-scale medical sensors and antenna. Last year, a research effort led by McAlpine and Naveen Verma, an assistant professor of electrical engineering, and Fio Omenetto of Tufts University, resulted in the development of a "tattoo" made up of a biological sensor and antenna that can be affixed to the surface of a tooth.
This project, however, is the team's first effort to create a fully functional organ: one that not only replicates a human ability, but extends it using embedded electronics
"The design and implementation of bionic organs and devices that enhance human capabilities, known as cybernetics, has been an area of increasing scientific interest," the researchers wrote in the article which appears in the scholarly journal Nano Letters. "This field has the potential to generate customized replacement parts for the human body, or even create organs containing capabilities beyond what human biology ordinarily provides."
Standard tissue engineering involves seeding types of cells, such as those that form ear cartilage, onto a scaffold of a polymer material called a hydrogel. However, the researchers said that this technique has problems replicating complicated three dimensional biological structures. Ear reconstruction "remains one of the most difficult problems in the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery," they wrote.
To solve the problem, the team turned to a manufacturing approach called 3D printing. These printers use computer-assisted design to conceive of objects as arrays of thin slices. The printer then deposits layers of a variety of materials ranging from plastic to cells to build up a finished product. Proponents say additive manufacturing promises to revolutionize home industries by allowing small teams or individuals to create work that could previously only be done by factories.
Creating organs using 3D printers is a recent advance; several groups have reported using the technology for this purpose in the past few months. But this is the first time that researchers have demonstrated that 3D printing is a convenient strategy to interweave tissue with electronics.
The technique allowed the researchers to combine the antenna electronics with tissue within the highly complex topology of a human ear. The researchers used an ordinary 3D printer to combine a matrix of hydrogel and calf cells with silver nanoparticles that form an antenna. The calf cells later develop into cartilage.
Manu Mannoor, a graduate student in McAlpine's lab and the paper's lead author, said that additive manufacturing opens new ways to think about the integration of electronics with biological tissue and makes possible the creation of true bionic organs in form and function. He said that it may be possible to integrate sensors into a variety of biological tissues, for example, to monitor stress on a patient's knee meniscus.
David Gracias, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins and co-author on the publication, said that bridging the divide between biology and electronics represents a formidable challenge that needs to be overcome to enable the creation of smart prostheses and implants.
"Biological structures are soft and squishy, composed mostly of water and organic molecules, while conventional electronic devices are hard and dry, composed mainly of metals, semiconductors and inorganic dielectrics," he said. "The differences in physical and chemical properties between these two material classes could not be any more pronounced."
The finished ear consists of a coiled antenna inside a cartilage structure. Two wires lead from the base of the ear and wind around a helical "cochlea" the part of the ear that senses sound which can connect to electrodes. Although McAlpine cautions that further work and extensive testing would need to be done before the technology could be used on a patient, he said the ear in principle could be used to restore or enhance human hearing. He said electrical signals produced by the ear could be connected to a patient's nerve endings, similar to a hearing aid. The current system receives radio waves, but he said the research team plans to incorporate other materials, such as pressure-sensitive electronic sensors, to enable the ear to register acoustic sounds.
In addition to McAlpine, Verma, Mannoor and Gracias the research team includes: Winston Soboyejo, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton; Karen Malatesta, a faculty fellow in molecular biology at Princeton; Yong Lin Kong, a graduate student in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton; and Teena James, a graduate student in chemical and biomolecular engineering at Johns Hopkins.
The team also included Ziwen Jiang, a high school student at the Peddie School in Hightstown who participated as part of an outreach program for young researchers in McAlpine's lab.
"Ziwen Jiang is one of the most spectacular high school students I have ever seen," McAlpine said. "We would not have been able to complete this project without him, particularly in his skill at mastering CAD designs of the bionic ears."
###
Support for the project was provided by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, NIH, and the Grand Challenges Program at Princeton University.
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: John Sullivan
js29@princeton.edu
609-258-4597
Princeton University, Engineering School
Scientists at Princeton University used off-the-shelf printing tools to create a functional ear that can "hear" radio frequencies far beyond the range of normal human capability.
The researchers' primary purpose was to explore an efficient and versatile means to merge electronics with tissue. The scientists used 3D printing of cells and nanoparticles followed by cell culture to combine a small coil antenna with cartilage, creating what they term a bionic ear.
"In general, there are mechanical and thermal challenges with interfacing electronic materials with biological materials," said Michael McAlpine, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton and the lead researcher. "Previously, researchers have suggested some strategies to tailor the electronics so that this merger is less awkward. That typically happens between a 2D sheet of electronics and a surface of the tissue. However, our work suggests a new approach -- to build and grow the biology up with the electronics synergistically and in a 3D interwoven format."
McAlpine's team has made several advances in recent years involving the use of small-scale medical sensors and antenna. Last year, a research effort led by McAlpine and Naveen Verma, an assistant professor of electrical engineering, and Fio Omenetto of Tufts University, resulted in the development of a "tattoo" made up of a biological sensor and antenna that can be affixed to the surface of a tooth.
This project, however, is the team's first effort to create a fully functional organ: one that not only replicates a human ability, but extends it using embedded electronics
"The design and implementation of bionic organs and devices that enhance human capabilities, known as cybernetics, has been an area of increasing scientific interest," the researchers wrote in the article which appears in the scholarly journal Nano Letters. "This field has the potential to generate customized replacement parts for the human body, or even create organs containing capabilities beyond what human biology ordinarily provides."
Standard tissue engineering involves seeding types of cells, such as those that form ear cartilage, onto a scaffold of a polymer material called a hydrogel. However, the researchers said that this technique has problems replicating complicated three dimensional biological structures. Ear reconstruction "remains one of the most difficult problems in the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery," they wrote.
To solve the problem, the team turned to a manufacturing approach called 3D printing. These printers use computer-assisted design to conceive of objects as arrays of thin slices. The printer then deposits layers of a variety of materials ranging from plastic to cells to build up a finished product. Proponents say additive manufacturing promises to revolutionize home industries by allowing small teams or individuals to create work that could previously only be done by factories.
Creating organs using 3D printers is a recent advance; several groups have reported using the technology for this purpose in the past few months. But this is the first time that researchers have demonstrated that 3D printing is a convenient strategy to interweave tissue with electronics.
The technique allowed the researchers to combine the antenna electronics with tissue within the highly complex topology of a human ear. The researchers used an ordinary 3D printer to combine a matrix of hydrogel and calf cells with silver nanoparticles that form an antenna. The calf cells later develop into cartilage.
Manu Mannoor, a graduate student in McAlpine's lab and the paper's lead author, said that additive manufacturing opens new ways to think about the integration of electronics with biological tissue and makes possible the creation of true bionic organs in form and function. He said that it may be possible to integrate sensors into a variety of biological tissues, for example, to monitor stress on a patient's knee meniscus.
David Gracias, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins and co-author on the publication, said that bridging the divide between biology and electronics represents a formidable challenge that needs to be overcome to enable the creation of smart prostheses and implants.
"Biological structures are soft and squishy, composed mostly of water and organic molecules, while conventional electronic devices are hard and dry, composed mainly of metals, semiconductors and inorganic dielectrics," he said. "The differences in physical and chemical properties between these two material classes could not be any more pronounced."
The finished ear consists of a coiled antenna inside a cartilage structure. Two wires lead from the base of the ear and wind around a helical "cochlea" the part of the ear that senses sound which can connect to electrodes. Although McAlpine cautions that further work and extensive testing would need to be done before the technology could be used on a patient, he said the ear in principle could be used to restore or enhance human hearing. He said electrical signals produced by the ear could be connected to a patient's nerve endings, similar to a hearing aid. The current system receives radio waves, but he said the research team plans to incorporate other materials, such as pressure-sensitive electronic sensors, to enable the ear to register acoustic sounds.
In addition to McAlpine, Verma, Mannoor and Gracias the research team includes: Winston Soboyejo, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton; Karen Malatesta, a faculty fellow in molecular biology at Princeton; Yong Lin Kong, a graduate student in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton; and Teena James, a graduate student in chemical and biomolecular engineering at Johns Hopkins.
The team also included Ziwen Jiang, a high school student at the Peddie School in Hightstown who participated as part of an outreach program for young researchers in McAlpine's lab.
"Ziwen Jiang is one of the most spectacular high school students I have ever seen," McAlpine said. "We would not have been able to complete this project without him, particularly in his skill at mastering CAD designs of the bionic ears."
###
Support for the project was provided by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, NIH, and the Grand Challenges Program at Princeton University.
?
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/2013-05/pues-pe050113.php
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AMSTERDAM (AP) ? Willem-Alexander became the first Dutch king in more than a century Tuesday and pledged to use his ceremonial position as head of state to help steer his country through uncertain economic times.
The generational change in the House of Orange-Nassau gave the Netherlands a moment of celebration, pageantry and brief respite as this trading nation of nearly 17 million struggles through a lengthy recession brought on by the European credit crisis.
Visibly emotional, the much-loved Beatrix ended her 33-year reign as queen in a nationally televised signing ceremony as thousands of orange-clad people cheered outside. Millions more were expected to watch on television.
Just over four hours later, King Willem-Alexander, wearing a fur-trimmed ceremonial mantle, swore an oath of allegiance to his country and the constitution in the historic New Church.
In a speech in the church, Europe's youngest monarch underscored the ceremonial nature of his monarchy in an egalitarian society but also the symbolic and economic value a king can deliver on state visits aimed at drumming up trade.
"I will proudly represent the kingdom and help discover new opportunities," he said.
The investiture ceremony was the final formal act on a day of high emotion within the House of Orange-Nassau and was to be followed by an evening boat tour around the historic Amsterdam waterfront.
The new king gripped his mother's hand and looked briefly into her eyes after they both signed the abdication document in the Royal Palace on downtown Amsterdam's Dam Square.
Beatrix looked close to tears as she then appeared on a balcony decked out with tulips, roses and oranges, overlooking 25,000 of her subjects.
"I am happy and grateful to introduce to you your new king, Willem-Alexander," she told the cheering crowd, which chanted: "Bea bedankt" ("Thanks Bea.")
Moments later, in a striking symbol of the generational shift, she left the balcony and King Willem-Alexander, his wife and three daughters ? the children in matching yellow dresses and headbands ? waved to the crowd.
"Dear mother, today you relinquished the throne. Thirty-three moving and inspiring years. We are intensely, intensely grateful to you," the new king said.
The former queen becomes Princess Beatrix and her son becomes the first Dutch king since Willem III died in 1890.
The 46-year-old king's popular Argentine-born wife became Queen Maxima and their eldest of three daughters, Catharina-Amalia, became Princess of Orange and first in line to the throne.
Willem-Alexander has said he wants to be a 21st century king who unites and encourages his people; not a "protocol fetishist," but a king who puts his people at ease.
He will do so as unemployment is on the rise in this traditionally strong economy. European Union figures released Tuesday showed Dutch unemployment continuing to trend upward to 6.4 percent ? still well below the EU average of 10.9 percent, but higher than it has been for years in the Netherlands.
"I am taking the job at a time when many in the kingdom feel vulnerable and uncertain," Willem-Alexander said. "Vulnerable in their work or health. Uncertain about their income or home environment."
Amsterdam resident Inge Bosman, 38, said she doubted Willem-Alexander's investiture would give the country much of an employment boost.
"Well, at least one person got a new job," she said.
Els Nederstigt, 38, said she got up at 5:30 a.m. to travel to Amsterdam and sat on a camping stool close to the Royal Palace wearing an orange cowboy hat and tiara.
"It's a special moment. I was a very small girl when Beatrix came to the throne so this is the first change in the monarchy I can really experience," she said. "We were here when Willem-Alexander and Maxima got married and what you remember is that you were there ? you forget how early you had to get up and how tired you were."
The square was overwhelmingly orange, but one blue and white Argentine flag being held up in front of the palace was emblazoned with the Dutch language text: "Netherlands thanks for loving and having faith in Maxima."
The day is expected to be a huge party culminating in a boat trip by the new king and queen around the Ij waterway, but security also was tight with thousands of police ? uniformed and plain clothes ? and an untold number of civil servants assisting in the logistics.
Police arrested two protesters on Dam Square ? one of them wearing a white shirt indicating he was a republican ? shortly after the abdication for not following officers' orders to leave. Amsterdam police released both without charge shortly afterward and apologized for detaining them.
At an anti-monarchist demonstration on the nearby Waterloo Square, protestors dressed in white instead of orange and carried signs mocking Willem-Alexander.
"Monarchy is a sexually-transmitted disease," one sign said.
Amsterdammer Jan Dikkers said he came out to show his disapproval for the inauguration of Willem-Alexander, who he said Dutch people only tolerate because "people like his wife."
He said Beatrix is overrated.
"People say the queen did a 'good job', but she didn't really do any job," Dikkers said. "Maybe she seems like a nice person, so people like her, but there's a difference."
The celebrations were peaceful across the city, in stark contrast to Beatrix's investiture in 1980 when squatters protesting a chronic housing shortage fought with police, and clouds of tear gas drifted through parts of the city.
The airspace above Amsterdam was closed Monday for three days. Dutch police swept Dam square for bombs, with assistance from German agents with sniffer dogs.
Royal guests from 18 countries are attending, including Britain's Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, and the Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako. Charles was also in attendance when Beatrix was crowned in 1980.
Observers believe Beatrix remained on the throne for so long in part because she was seen as a stabilizing factor in the country that struggled to assimilate more and more immigrants, mainly Muslims from North Africa, and shifted away from its traditional reputation as one of the world's most tolerant nations.
In recent years, speculation about when she might abdicate had grown, as she endured personal losses that both softened her image and increased her popularity further as the public sympathized.
Her husband Prince Claus died in 2002; and last year her youngest son, Prince Friso, was hit by an avalanche while skiing in Austria and suffered severe brain damage. Friso remains in a near comatose state.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/willem-alexander-becomes-dutch-king-081540031.html
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