Monthly Archives: August 2012

Scientists investigate using artificial intelligence for next-generation traffic control

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ScienceDaily (Aug. 24, 2012) Researchers at the University of Southampton are investigating the application of artificial intelligence (AI) technology for controlling traffic lights.

The development of artificial intelligence-based approaches to junction control is one of many new and promising technologies that can make better use of existing urban and road capacity, while reducing the environmental impacts of road traffic.

The research carried out by the University of Southampton team has used computer games and simulations to investigate what makes good traffic control. This work has shown that -- given the right conditions -- humans are excellent at controlling the traffic and can perform significantly better than the existing urban traffic control computers in use today.

This was tested for the BBC's 'One Show' programme, where presenter Marty Jopson controlled a 'real traffic light junction at the InnovITS proving ground using a laptop, while 30 volunteer drivers tried to negotiate the junction.

Dr Simon Box of the University of Southampton Transportation Research Group adds: "The demonstration carried out at innovITS Advance indicates that the human brain, carefully employed, can be an extremely effective traffic control computer. In our research we aim to be able to emulate this approach in a new kind of software that can provide significant benefits in improving the efficiency of traffic flow, hence improving road space utilisation, reducing journey times and potentially, improving fuel efficiency."

The Southampton researchers have now developed 'machine learning' traffic control computers that can learn how to control the lights like a human would and even learn their own improved strategies through experience.

"In transport research we are always looking ahead, and we can consider a future where all vehicles are equipped with WiFi and GPS and can transmit their positions to signalized junctions," explains Dr Box. "This opens the way to the use of artificial intelligence approaches to traffic control such as machine learning."

The research was originally funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and is currently continuing under Technology Strategy Board funding, with Siemens as an industrial partner.

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Dublin Aerospace win German contract

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Friday, August 24 11:20:20

Dublin Aerospace today said that it has concluded a contract with XL Airways Germany for the provision of base maintenance services on its four B737-800 aircraft for the 2012/2013 winter season.

The maintenance services will be carried out in November at its facility in Dublin and this will be the 3rd year in succession that Dublin Aerospace will carry out base maintenance for XL Airways Germany.

The financial terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Following the contract signing Barry Grimm, COO, stated that "XL Airways Germany is proud to have a partner like Dublin Aerospace, the experience of quality and onetime performance by Dublin Aerospace is the driving factor beside the competitiveness to have our B737-800 Base Maintenance again performed by Dublin Aerospace. This partnership has over the period of time developed even more, this Irish company has helped XL Airways in several AOG cases in a extraordinary manner to the best benefit for XL Airways".

Commenting on the selection of Dublin Aerospace by XL Airways Germany, Donal Rogers, CEO, stated that "Dublin Aerospace are delighted to have been chosen as XL Airways Germany provider of maintenance services on its fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Dublin Aerospace's flexibility and competiveness on this contract will enable XL Airways Germany to achieve industry leading maintenance costs, TAT's and flexibility that are unmatched in the market. We welcome XL Airways Germany back to Dublin for a 3rd successive year".

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Harper Government Invests in British Columbia's Aerospace Sector

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VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire -08/24/12)- The aerospace sector in British Columbia is receiving a significant boost thanks to the Harper Government's investment in research and development. This support was announced today at the University of Victoria (UVic) by Andrew Saxton, Member of Parliament for North Vancouver and Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board and for Western Economic Diversification.

"Today's funding demonstrates our Government's commitment to supporting leading edge western Canadian industries, such as unmanned aerial vehicle systems," said PS Saxton. "Our Government continues to pave the way in creating jobs, growth and long-term prosperity for the West and for Canada."

With more than $670,000 in WD funding, UVic will undertake research and development to improve the safety, performance and affordability of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at a scale better suited to commercial, scientific and civilian use. Currently most UAVs are used primarily as either highly sophisticated military tools or amateur radio controlled units. However, UAVs can be used for a diverse range of tasks that are repetitive, hazardous or need to be performed on short-notice. UVic will focus on creating commercially viable systems to manufacture and use in western Canada to expand the current use of UAVs to include functions such as natural resource management, agriculture management, search and rescue and wildlife inventory.

"We are grateful to the federal government for its continuing support of innovative research and development at the University of Victoria," says UVic President David Turpin. "This funding allows us to make new advances in an area of aerospace research that has exciting commercial potential for Canada, with a broad range of applications, including search and rescue, forest firefighting and aerial mapping of crops."

"We are highly satisfied with WD's continued efforts to support and assist the continued growth of the Canadian unmanned vehicles sector," said Spencer Fraser, President of Meggitt Training Systems Canada. "We applaud Minister Yelich's leadership to bring national focus on this important emerging technology and are delighted to see UVic's pioneering efforts being recognized by the Government of Canada."

Since 2006, the Harper Government, through WD, has invested in job-creating small and medium-sized businesses, aerospace, marine and defence industries, and supported innovative entrepreneurs in pursuing emerging markets. By continuing to promote new economic opportunities, WD is helping to create jobs, economic growth, and long-term prosperity.

Subscribe to news releases and keep up-to-date on the latest from WD.

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Austin Experts Weigh in on Medical School Job, Economic Predictions

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Is a forecast of 15,000 jobs and $2 billion in economic activity a year too sunny for a medical school, teaching hospital and research facility in Austin? Or is it on the money?

State Sen. Kirk Watson has touted those numbers for much of the past year and spotlighted them at a news conference Thursday, releasing a six-page report prepared by Jon Hockenyos, president of an economic analysis and consulting firm in Austin. Hockenyos said his research is the genesis of those numbers, and he came up with them about two years ago.

"We have the opportunity to truly be a contender ... in competition with regions from Houston to Hong Kong," Watson, D-Austin, said at Austin Community College's Eastview campus. He was referring to the biotechnology and life-science industries -- which can include pharmaceutical and medical device firms -- that he expects to spin off from a medical school in Austin.

But economic development experts said having a medical school, teaching hospital and research center is no guarantee that Austin would see that amount of new jobs and economic benefit.

"It depends on the size of the medical school and teaching hospital" and how much public funding they attract for research, said Ross DeVol, chief research officer at the Milken Institute, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based company that does a variety of economic analyses. "It does take decades to have that type of return on a medical school and teaching hospital."

Joe Cortright, president of Portland, Ore.-based Impresa, which specializes in regional economic analysis, innovation and industry clusters, thinks the public should take the numbers Watson trumpets with a heavy dose of skepticism. Most of the nation's largest cities have a medical school, teaching hospital and research facility, but only nine areas have sparked enough economic growth to become biotechnology/life-science hubs, he said. They are Boston; Los Angeles; New York; Philadelphia; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; and Washington/Baltimore.

"These nine areas account for more than three-fifths of all (National Institutes of Health) spending on research and for slightly less than two-thirds of all biotechnology-related patents," a 2002 report he co-wrote says.

"Austin is coming awful late to this dance," he said Thursday.

Hockenyos, who attended the news conference but didn't speak to the crowd, said he acknowledges it could take 15 to 20 years for the economic benefits he estimates to be realized.

But, he added, "I think this is the greatest economic development thing in this community in a long time."

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Austin Experts Weigh in on Medical School Job, Economic Predictions

MIND Reviews: The Chemistry between Us

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Image: Penguin Group USA

Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...

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The Chemistry between Us: Love, Sex, and the Science of Attraction Larry Young Brian Alexander Penguin Group USA, 2012 ($26.95)

How do I love thee? When neuroscientist Young and journalist Alexander started counting, they found many molecular ways. In The Chemistry between Us, the writers highlight the complex chemical processes that create love in the brain and bolster the argument that love is an addiction.

Young has devoted his career to studying the behaviors and neural circuitry of love in the prairie vole, a rodent whose monogamous tendencies resemble our own. Once a prairie vole has found the one, the pair will most likely remain companions for life. Young's research has implicated a range of chemical activitiesmainly during sexthat build this lifelong bond. In particular, he uncovered how two hormones in the brain, vasopressin in male voles and oxytocin in female voles, regulate social behavior and memorypromoting the recognition of a loved one and the urge to cuddle or defend. In addition, the circulation of dopamine and opioids allows the vole to associate his or her partner with pleasure, thus strengthening their bond. Many of these molecules are identical to those activated in human bonding.

That loving feeling comes at a price. A hormone called corticotropin-releasing factor, or CRF, builds up in the brains of paramours and parents alike. The CRF system activates a stress response, and this system elicits the painful sensations you feel when your baby cries or your boyfriend dumps you. The system may seem like a nasty trick, but it has its uses. Even when passion fades or a diaper needs changing, the sharp pangs of the CRF system keep families and loved ones together. The CRF system also contributes to the agony an addict feels after the elation wears off. Thus, the authors argue, the highs of intimacy and withdrawals of separation parallel the highs and lows that drug addicts experience.

The Chemistry between Us playfully integrates anecdotes and research, bouncing from bizarre experiments examining how rodents can develop fetishes to real-life stories, such as a woman unable to develop loving bonds because of her lack of human contact in an orphanage as a child. Though occasionally too quick, the book's pace makes it feel like a light read. Understanding love's neurochemistry can't compare with the actual experience, but learning the science can certainly make us appreciate our heritage as loving, social beings.

This article was originally published with the title MIND Reviews: The Chemistry between Us.

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MIND Reviews: The Chemistry between Us

BIO Thanks Romney, Ryan for Supporting Energy Security and Standing Firm on the Renewable Fuel Standard

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WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today thanked Gov. Mitt Romney for his stated intention to support increased market penetration and competition among energy sources by maintaining the RFS in The Romney Plan For A Stronger Middle Class: ENERGY INDEPENDENCE, released yesterday.

BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood said, The Renewable Fuel Standard is the bedrock policy supporting the emergence of advanced biofuels. The United States is at a critical juncture in the development of advanced biofuels, which are poised to make a real contribution to energy independence and security. Companies across the United States have made substantial long-term investments in building new biorefineries. The first commercial gallons of cellulosic biofuels were produced this year and the first large-scale biorefineries are set to begin production soon, adding to those gallons. Additional large-scale biorefineries are under construction, with production ready to begin within the next few years.

Stable support for the Renewable Fuel Standard at the federal level provides assurance to these companies that their investments will come to fruition. Innovative biofuels have already brought competition among energy sources to the marketplace and lowered prices for consumers. Further, construction and operation of biorefineries will continue to generate new employment opportunities.

About BIO

BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the worlds largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world. BIO produces BIOtechNOW, an online portal and monthly newsletter chronicling innovations transforming our world. Subscribe to BIOtechNOW.

Upcoming BIO Events

BIO India International Conference September 12 13, 2012 Mumbai, India

Livestock Biotech Summit September 19 21, 2012 Kansas City, MO

BIO Investor Forum October 9 10, 2012 San Francisco, CA

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BIO Thanks Romney, Ryan for Supporting Energy Security and Standing Firm on the Renewable Fuel Standard

Singapore's IBN Develops Superior Fuel Cell Material

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August 24, 2012 15:38 PM

Singapore's IBN Develops Superior Fuel Cell Material

SINGAPORE, Aug 24 (Bernama) -- Using a mixture of gold, copper and platinum nanoparticles, the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) researchers have developed a more powerful and longer lasting fuel cell material.

This breakthrough was recently published in leading journal Energy and Environmental Science.

Fuel cells are a promising technology for use as a source of electricity to power electronic devices, vehicles, military aircraft and equipment.

A fuel cell converts the chemical energy from hydrogen (fuel) into electricity through a chemical reaction with oxygen, and can produce electricity continuously as long as there is a fuel supply.

Current commercially available fuel cells use platinum nanoparticles as the catalyst to speed up the chemical reaction because platinum is the only metal that can resist the highly acidic conditions inside such a cell.

-- BERNAMA

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Grey's Anatomy Season 9 Video: Who's Going to Survive?

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Ellen Pompeo

"Who's going to survive?"

That's what the new trailer for the ninth season of Grey's Anatomy asks. So, um, does that mean more death is on the way? Naturally, with the exit of Eric Dane from the series and the deafening silence from executive producer Shonda Rhimes on the fate of Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) fans have suspected that one of the two beloved doctors would meet their maker as a result of last season's plane crash.

Grey's Anatomy: Will Arizona Robbins and Mark Sloan die?

In the new trailer, someone is being pushed on a gurney through the hospital. Could it be the potentially ill-fated Mark, who had suffered chest injuries during the crash, or Arizona, who was not only last seen coughing up blood, but also had a bone sticking out of her leg? Maybe Derek (Patrick Dempsey) is being wheeled in to get his hand fixed up? Another question: Is the gurney even being pushed through the hallowed halls of Seattle Grace? Check out the trailer below:

Who do you think will survive?

Grey's Anatomy returns Thursday, Sept. 27 at 9/8c on ABC.

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Grey's Anatomy Season 9 Video: Who's Going to Survive?

Todd Akin and the Anti-Science House Science Committee

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Aside from the sheer biological ludicrousness of Todd Akins ideas on female physiology, one unsettling subplot to the debacle is his presence on the House of Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

Thats right: A man who, to put it gently, ignores what science tells us about how babies are made, helps shape the future of science in America. It would be shocking, but for the fact that many of the committees GOP members have spent the last several years displaying comparable contempt for climate science.

Now, theres no question that climate change is less well understood than human reproduction. The rate at which warming permafrost will release methane is open for debate, whereas its a long-settled fact that women can become pregnant from rape. But in both cases, there exists a factual proposition that can be studied through observation and hypothesis-testing and its the scientific method itself thats ultimately under attack in the House science committee.

The committees chair, Ralph Hall (R-Texas), lumps global freezing together with global warming, which he doesnt believe humans can significantly impact because I dont think we can control what God controls. Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA) thinks cutting down trees reduces levels of greenhouse gases they absorb. Mo Brooks (R-AL) still trots out the debunked notion that a scientific consensus existed in the 1970s on global cooling, which he portrays as a scare concocted by scientists in order to generate funds for their pet projects.

'We ought to have some believable science.'

Broun, who likens the CDCs encouragement of fruit and vegetable consumption to socialism of the highest order, is also seen by some people as anti-scientific for asserting that an embryo is a human being, though that criticism is unfair: When life begins, and whether and how to value the existence of an embryo, are moral questions, and science cant answer them except to contrast the properties of embryos with people.

Also tarred as anti-scientific are votes against funding certain types of research, from studies on embryonic stem cells to sociology, government support of which has been recently attacked. Funding, however, is ultimately a political decision. Its possible to reject support for certain scientific endeavors without denying the fundamental validity of science itself, just as its possible to think climate change isnt a terrible problem while respecting the science describing it.

But when it comes to climate and the House science committee, the rhetoric shows that its about the validity. And whatever Ralph Hall purports to support when he says, Im not anti-science, Im pro-science. But we ought to have some believable science, its not science.

Note: In looking for examples of scientifically unsupportable statements by members of the House science committee, every single anecdote involved statements by Republicans. Wired would be happy to update the article with examples of statements by Democratic members. If you have any, please add in the comments section.

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DNA could have existed long before life itself

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THE latest twist in the origin-of-life tale is double helical. Chemists are close to demonstrating that the building blocks of DNA can form spontaneously from chemicals thought to be present on the primordial Earth. If they succeed, their work would suggest that DNA could have predated the birth of life.

DNA is essential to almost all life on Earth, yet most biologists think that life began with RNA. Just like DNA, it stores genetic information. What's more, RNA can fold into complex shapes that can clamp onto other molecules and speed up chemical reactions, just like a protein, and it is structurally simpler than DNA, so might be easier to make.

After decades of trying, in 2009 researchers finally managed to generate RNA using chemicals that probably existed on the early Earth. Matthew Powner, now at University College London, and his colleagues synthesised two of the four nucleotides that make up RNA. Their achievement suggested that RNA may have formed spontaneously - powerful support for the idea that life began in an "RNA world".

Powner's latest work suggests that a rethink might be in order. He is trying to make DNA nucleotides through similar methods to those he used to make RNA nucleotides in 2009. And he's getting closer.

Nucleotides consist of a sugar attached to a phosphate and a nitrogen-containing base molecule - these bases are the familiar letters of the genetic code. DNA nucleotides, which link together to form DNA, are harder to make than RNA nucleotides, because DNA uses a different sugar that is tougher to work with.

Starting with a mix of chemicals, many of them thought to have been present on the early Earth, Powner has now created a sugar like that in DNA, linked to a molecule called AICA, which is similar to a base (Journal of the American Chemical Society, doi.org/h6q).

There is plenty still to do. Powner needs to turn AICA into a base, and add the phosphate. His molecule also has an unwanted sulphur atom, which helped the reactions along but now must be removed. Nevertheless, a DNA nucleotide is just a few years away, says Christopher Switzer of the University of California, Riverside. "It's practically a fait accompli at this point."

That could have important implications for our understanding of life's origins. Prebiotic chemists have so far largely ignored DNA, because its complexity suggests it cannot possibly form spontaneously. "Everybody and his brother has been saying 'RNA, RNA, RNA'," says Steven Benner of the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Gainesville, Florida.

Conventional wisdom is that RNA-based life eventually switched to DNA because DNA is better at storing information. In other words, RNA organisms made the first DNA.

If that is true, how did life make the switch? Modern organisms can convert RNA nucleotides into DNA nucleotides, but only using special enzymes that are costly to produce in terms of energy and materials. "You have to know that DNA does something good for you before you invent something like that," Switzer says.

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DNA could have existed long before life itself

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Obituary: Simon Chan made breakthroughs in plant breeding

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Simon Chan, an associate professor of plant biology at the University of California, Davis, whose work on plant breeding promised to help some of the world's poorest people, died Aug. 22. He was 38.

Chan had been suffering from primary sclerosing cholangitis, an autoimmune disorder, and developed complications while awaiting a liver transplant.

"Simon was an incredible scientist, superb mentor and a great friend," said James Hildreth, dean of the College of Biological Sciences at UC Davis. "His brilliant work could fundamentally change how new crop plants are generated and may shed light on how new plant species are formed."

Professor Bill Lucas, chair of the Department of Plant Biology, described Chan as "one of a kind."

His enthusiasm for his science was contagious and his passion for teaching and mentoring his students served as a true role model for us all. Words cannot express our deep sorrow at losing such a talented and wonderful human being, Lucas said.

Working with the model plant Arabidopsis, Chan's laboratory discovered a way to breed plants with genes from only one parent, making it possible to "breed true" without generations of inbreeding.

In June 2011, Chan was one of two UC Davis scientists selected for the first-ever class of HHMI-GBMF Investigators, funded jointly by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to support promising research in plant sciences. (The other awardee was Jorge Dubcovsky, professor of plant sciences.)

Chan planned to use the HHMI-GBMF award to expand his work to crop plants such as tomatoes and Chinese cabbage.

Chan was also working with plant breeders in Colombia, Tanzania and Kenya to find new ways to breed bananas, plantain and cassava, staple foods for millions of the world's poorest people. That project was supported by a grant from the NSF-BREAD (Basic Research to Enable Agricultural Development) program, a joint initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Science Foundation.

Chan was born in 1974 in Auckland, New Zealand, and earned his bachelor's degree in biochemistry from the University of Auckland in 1996. From there he went to UCSF, where he worked with Professor Elizabeth Blackburn, winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, and was awarded his doctoral degree in cell biology in 2002.

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Grey's Anatomy Season 9 Video: Who's Going to Survive?

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Ellen Pompeo

"Who's going to survive?"

That's what the new trailer for the ninth season of Grey's Anatomy asks. So, um, does that mean more death is on the way? Naturally, with the exit of Eric Dane from the series and the deafening silence from executive producer Shonda Rhimes on the fate of Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) fans have suspected that one of the two beloved doctors would meet their maker as a result of last season's plane crash.

Grey's Anatomy: Will Arizona Robbins and Mark Sloan die?

In the new trailer, someone is being pushed on a gurney through the hospital. Could it be the potentially ill-fated Mark, who had suffered chest injuries during the crash, or Arizona, who was not only last seen coughing up blood, but also had a bone sticking out of her leg? Maybe Derek (Patrick Dempsey) is being wheeled in to get his hand fixed up? Another question: Is the gurney even being pushed through the hallowed halls of Seattle Grace? Check out the trailer below:

Who do you think will survive?

Grey's Anatomy returns Thursday, Sept. 27 at 9/8c on ABC.

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Grey's Anatomy Season 9 Video: Who's Going to Survive?

Microbiology and Genome Experts Quell Deadly Bacteria Outbreak

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Latest Infectious Disease News

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 22 (HealthDay News) -- A deadly outbreak of antibiotic-resistant bacteria at a U.S. research hospital lasted six months and was finally brought under control through the combined efforts of genomics and microbiology experts, government researchers report.

The outbreak began when a 43-year-old New York City patient carrying a multi-drug resistant strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae introduced the dangerous bacteria into the 243-bed U.S. National Institutes of Health's Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., in June 2011. The microbe is a common cause of hospital-borne infections.

Even with enhanced infection-control procedures, including patient isolation, the bacteria began to spread to other patients in the facility at the rate of one a week. The bacteria eventually affected 17 patients. Ten of these patients died; six from infection and four from underlying diseases while infected.

Clinical Center staff worked with investigators at the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) to use genome sequencing to learn how the microbe spread. That collaboration helped bring the outbreak under control by the end of the year. Since then, there have been no new cases associated with the outbreak.

"Infectious outbreaks happen in every hospital in the world, afflicting millions of patients each year in the United States alone," NHGRI director Dr. Eric Green, said in an NIH/NHGRI news release.

"By marshaling the ability to sequence bacterial genomes in real time to accurately trace the bacteria as it spread among our Clinical Center patients, our researchers successfully elucidated what happened, which in turn has taught us some important lessons," he explained. "This study gives us a glimpse of how genomic technologies will alter our approach to microbial epidemics in the future."

A case history of the outbreak was published online Aug. 22 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

"Genome sequencing and analysis is our best hope for anticipating and outpacing the pathogenic evolution of infectious agents," Julie Segre, an NHGRI senior investigator involved in the outbreak, said in the news release. "Though our practice of genomics did not change the way patients were treated in this outbreak, it did change the way the hospital practiced infection control."

About 1.7 million hospital-associated infections, and 99,000 related deaths, occur each year in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Multi-drug resistant K. pneumoniae is among the more dangerous infections because there are few effective treatments and the death rate can be as high as 50 percent, the researchers pointed out in the news release.

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Microbiology and Genome Experts Quell Deadly Bacteria Outbreak

Vt. DNA exoneration law is headed for 1st test

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MONTPELIER, Vt.A state law passed in 2008 that allows people convicted of crimes to try to be exonerated based on DNA evidence appears headed for its first test.

John Grega, a Long Island man convicted in 1995 of killing his wife, Christine, while on vacation in Vermont, was released from prison Wednesday, a day after a judge vacated his sentence and ordered a new trial because DNA from an unknown man was found on her body. He was released on $75,000 bail.

The case marks the first time a court in Vermont has even entertained -- never mind granted -- a request that a felony conviction be overturned based on new DNA evidence.

Grega's lawyers said Thursday that the Vermont Innocence Protection Act doesn't spell out the procedures that take place when new DNA evidence raises questions about a conviction and the defendant is granted a new trial.

"There are some basic procedural questions that need to be answered. They probably need to be discussed with the court," lawyer Ian Carleton said.

Gretchen Bennett, executive director of the Boston-based New England Innocence Project, which works on such cases around the six-state region, said DNA evidence has resulted in numerous prisoners being freed, as well as the person who actually did a crime then being charged and convicted.

Bennett said the Grega case was the first to her knowledge in which the state had pushed for a new trial. When new DNA evidence points to someone other than the person convicted, "it's generally considered to be pretty conclusive," she said.

Prosecutors had accused John Grega of raping, sodomizing, beating and strangling his 31-year-old wife in 1994 and leaving her body in a whirlpool bathtub at the West Cover condominium where they were staying on vacation with their then-2-year-old son. He had been found guilty of aggravated murder.

Grega, a former Lake Grove, N.Y., resident, walked out of the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield and into the arms of family and friends late Wednesday afternoon.

A month earlier, Carleton and the Vermont defender general's office had filed a motion in court saying new analysis showed that skin cells taken from inside Christine Grega's rectum belonged not to her husband but to another unknown man.

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Grey’s Anatomy Admits Newcomer Tessa Ferrer for Recurring Role

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Aug 23, 2012 06:31 PM ET by Kate Stanhope Follow katestanhope Tweet

Tessa Ferrer

Grey's Anatomy may have lost a few faces this past year, but there will be plenty of newbies roaming the halls when the medical drama returns this fall.

Newcomer Tessa Ferrer has scored a recurring role on the ABC drama's upcoming ninth season, TVLine reports.

Exclusive: Veronica Mars alum Tina Majorino lands a Grey's gig

It is unknown whether Ferrer will play a character based at Seattle Grace, or if she'll be tied to one of the new hospitals to be featured on the show this season when several longtime characters start their new gigs.

Grey's marks Ferrer's TV debut, where she joins new recurring guest stars Veronica Mars vet Tina Majorino, Friday Night Lights' Gaius Charles and True Blood's Camilla Luddington. Former series regulars Chyler Leigh and Kim Raver will not returning come fall, and Eric Dane is set to wrap his arc early in Season 9.

The new season of Grey's Anatomy premieres on Thursday, Sept. 27 at 9/8c on ABC.

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Grey’s Anatomy Admits Newcomer Tessa Ferrer for Recurring Role

Sleep improves memory in Parkinson’s patients

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Researchers have shown that people with Parkinson's disease performed markedly better on a test of working memory after a night's sleep, and sleep disorders can interfere with that benefit.

While the classic symptoms of Parkinson's disease include tremors and slow movements, Parkinson's can also affect someone's memory, including "working memory."

Working memory is defined as the ability to temporarily store and manipulate information, rather than simply repeat it. The use of working memory is important in planning, problem solving and independent living.

The findings underline the importance of addressing sleep disorders in the care of patients with Parkinson's, and indicate that working memory capacity in patients with Parkinson's potentially can be improved with training. The results also have implications for the biology of sleep and memory.

"It was known already that sleep is beneficial for memory, but here, we've been able to analyze what aspects of sleep are required for the improvements in working memory performance," said postdoctoral fellow Michael Scullin, who is the first author of the paper.

The performance boost from sleep was linked with the amount of slow wave sleep, or the deepest stage of sleep. Several research groups have reported that slow wave sleep is important for synaptic plasticity, the ability of brain cells to reorganize and make new connections.

Sleep apnea, the disruption of sleep caused by obstruction of the airway, interfered with sleep's effects on memory. Study participants who showed signs of sleep apnea, if it was severe enough to lower their blood oxygen levels for more than five minutes, did not see a working memory test boost.

54 study participants had Parkinson's disease, and 10 had dementia with Lewy bodies: a more advanced condition, where patients may have hallucinations or fluctuating cognition as well as motor symptoms. Those who had dementia with Lewy bodies saw no working memory boost from the night's rest. As expected, their baseline level of performance was lower than the Parkinson's group.

Participants with Parkinson's who were taking dopamine-enhancing medications saw their performance on the digit span test jump up between the fourth and fifth test. On average, they could remember one more number backwards. The ability to repeat numbers backward improved, even though the ability to repeat numbers forward did not.

Patients needed to be taking dopamine-enhancing medications to see the most performance benefit from sleep. Patients not taking dopamine medications, even though they had generally had Parkinson's for less time, did not experience as much of a performance benefit. This may reflect a role for dopamine, an important neurotransmitter, in memory.

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Sleep improves memory in Parkinson's patients

Sleep improves memory in Parkinson's patients

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Researchers have shown that people with Parkinson's disease performed markedly better on a test of working memory after a night's sleep, and sleep disorders can interfere with that benefit.

While the classic symptoms of Parkinson's disease include tremors and slow movements, Parkinson's can also affect someone's memory, including "working memory."

Working memory is defined as the ability to temporarily store and manipulate information, rather than simply repeat it. The use of working memory is important in planning, problem solving and independent living.

The findings underline the importance of addressing sleep disorders in the care of patients with Parkinson's, and indicate that working memory capacity in patients with Parkinson's potentially can be improved with training. The results also have implications for the biology of sleep and memory.

"It was known already that sleep is beneficial for memory, but here, we've been able to analyze what aspects of sleep are required for the improvements in working memory performance," said postdoctoral fellow Michael Scullin, who is the first author of the paper.

The performance boost from sleep was linked with the amount of slow wave sleep, or the deepest stage of sleep. Several research groups have reported that slow wave sleep is important for synaptic plasticity, the ability of brain cells to reorganize and make new connections.

Sleep apnea, the disruption of sleep caused by obstruction of the airway, interfered with sleep's effects on memory. Study participants who showed signs of sleep apnea, if it was severe enough to lower their blood oxygen levels for more than five minutes, did not see a working memory test boost.

54 study participants had Parkinson's disease, and 10 had dementia with Lewy bodies: a more advanced condition, where patients may have hallucinations or fluctuating cognition as well as motor symptoms. Those who had dementia with Lewy bodies saw no working memory boost from the night's rest. As expected, their baseline level of performance was lower than the Parkinson's group.

Participants with Parkinson's who were taking dopamine-enhancing medications saw their performance on the digit span test jump up between the fourth and fifth test. On average, they could remember one more number backwards. The ability to repeat numbers backward improved, even though the ability to repeat numbers forward did not.

Patients needed to be taking dopamine-enhancing medications to see the most performance benefit from sleep. Patients not taking dopamine medications, even though they had generally had Parkinson's for less time, did not experience as much of a performance benefit. This may reflect a role for dopamine, an important neurotransmitter, in memory.

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Sleep improves memory in Parkinson's patients

Therapeutic avenues for Parkinson’s investigated at UH

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Public release date: 23-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Lisa Merkl lkmerkl@uh.edu 713-743-8192 University of Houston

HOUSTON, Aug. 23, 2012 Scientists at the University of Houston (UH) have discovered what may possibly be a key ingredient in the fight against Parkinson's disease.

Affecting more than 500,000 people in the U.S., Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system marked by a loss of certain nerve cells in the brain, causing a lack of dopamine. These dopamine-producing neurons are in a section of the midbrain that regulates body control and movement. In a study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers from the UH Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling (CNRCS) demonstrated that the nuclear receptor liver X receptor beta (LXRbeta) may play a role in the prevention and treatment of this progressive neurodegenerative disease.

"LXRbeta performs an important function in the development of the central nervous system, and our work indicates that the presence of LXRbeta promotes the survival of dopaminergic neurons, which are the main source of dopamine in the central nervous system," said CNRCS director and professor Jan-ke Gustafsson, whose lab discovered LXRbeta in 1995. "The receptor continues to show promise as a potential therapeutic target for this disease, as well as other neurological disorders."

To better understand the relationship between LXRbeta and Parkinson's disease, the team worked with a potent neurotoxin, called MPTP, a contaminant found in street drugs that caused Parkinson's in people who consumed these drugs. In lab settings, MPTP is used in murine models to simulate the disease and to study its pathology and possible treatments.

The researchers found that the absence of LXRbeta increased the harmful effects of MPTP on dopamine-producing neurons. Additionally, they found that using a drug that activates LXRbeta receptors prevented the destructive effects of MPTP and, therefore, may offer protection against the neurodegeneration of the midbrain.

"LXRbeta is not expressed in the dopamine-producing neurons, but instead in the microglia surrounding the neurons," Gustafsson said. "Microglia are the police of the brain, keeping things in order. In Parkinson's disease the microglia are overactive and begin to destroy the healthy neurons in the neighborhood of those neurons damaged by MPTP. LXRbeta calms down the microglia and prevents collateral damage. Thus, we have discovered a novel therapeutic target for treatment of Parkinson's disease."

###

Gustafsson, professor Margaret Warner, research assistant professor Xin-Jie Tan, and postdoctoral fellows Wanfu Wu and Yubing Dai authored the PNAS study, which is available at http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/07/18/1210833109.abstract.

Here is the original post:
Therapeutic avenues for Parkinson's investigated at UH

Therapeutic avenues for Parkinson's investigated at UH

Posted on by

Public release date: 23-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Lisa Merkl lkmerkl@uh.edu 713-743-8192 University of Houston

HOUSTON, Aug. 23, 2012 Scientists at the University of Houston (UH) have discovered what may possibly be a key ingredient in the fight against Parkinson's disease.

Affecting more than 500,000 people in the U.S., Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system marked by a loss of certain nerve cells in the brain, causing a lack of dopamine. These dopamine-producing neurons are in a section of the midbrain that regulates body control and movement. In a study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers from the UH Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling (CNRCS) demonstrated that the nuclear receptor liver X receptor beta (LXRbeta) may play a role in the prevention and treatment of this progressive neurodegenerative disease.

"LXRbeta performs an important function in the development of the central nervous system, and our work indicates that the presence of LXRbeta promotes the survival of dopaminergic neurons, which are the main source of dopamine in the central nervous system," said CNRCS director and professor Jan-ke Gustafsson, whose lab discovered LXRbeta in 1995. "The receptor continues to show promise as a potential therapeutic target for this disease, as well as other neurological disorders."

To better understand the relationship between LXRbeta and Parkinson's disease, the team worked with a potent neurotoxin, called MPTP, a contaminant found in street drugs that caused Parkinson's in people who consumed these drugs. In lab settings, MPTP is used in murine models to simulate the disease and to study its pathology and possible treatments.

The researchers found that the absence of LXRbeta increased the harmful effects of MPTP on dopamine-producing neurons. Additionally, they found that using a drug that activates LXRbeta receptors prevented the destructive effects of MPTP and, therefore, may offer protection against the neurodegeneration of the midbrain.

"LXRbeta is not expressed in the dopamine-producing neurons, but instead in the microglia surrounding the neurons," Gustafsson said. "Microglia are the police of the brain, keeping things in order. In Parkinson's disease the microglia are overactive and begin to destroy the healthy neurons in the neighborhood of those neurons damaged by MPTP. LXRbeta calms down the microglia and prevents collateral damage. Thus, we have discovered a novel therapeutic target for treatment of Parkinson's disease."

###

Gustafsson, professor Margaret Warner, research assistant professor Xin-Jie Tan, and postdoctoral fellows Wanfu Wu and Yubing Dai authored the PNAS study, which is available at http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/07/18/1210833109.abstract.

Here is the original post:
Therapeutic avenues for Parkinson's investigated at UH