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Is Future-Use DNA Sampling Ethical?

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Will a DNA test today yield unwanted information tomorrow?

My mother-in-laws arms look like shes been in a fight. The bruises dont hurt, but theyre embarrassing. Theyre likely due to the drug Plavix, a trade-off for preventing clots. But we dont know if the drug is actually helping, because she started it before the FDA urged physicians to use a pharmacogenetic (PGx) test to distinguish patients likely to respond to the drug from poor metabolizers, who wont. And no ones thought to test her since.

The original Plavix genetic test identified mutations in the CYP2C19 gene. More recent versions assess seven other genetic variants that affect metabolism of the drug. On June 29, the University of Florida Academic Health Center announced that it would use the wider genetic test to screen all cardiac catheterization patients for response to Plavix. And in the future, theyll check additional DNA variants in the samples. According to the press release from the university, researchers will collect results for the other 249 gene variations to continue investigating which ones might be clinically actionable and become the basis for additional PGx tests for other treatments such as warfarin and statins.

Is it OK to take DNA today for one purpose, and use it tomorrow for another? Should future use of DNA information be part of informed consent for participation in a clinical trial? And should patients, like someone giving blood for a PGx text, be told that his or her DNA might be used later, for reasons not currently known? And how can the Florida clinicians even obtain informed consent from patients in an emergency situation undergoing cardiac catheterization?

At least the Plavix case will use the DNA to address the same illness for which it was donated. But what if DNA collected today is eventually used to investigate a different condition, perhaps one that the original owner of that DNA didnt want to know about? A Native American tribe from Arizona offers a compelling (although not legal) precedent for future-use scenarios.

The Havasupai and Future-Use DNA

The Havasupai have lived at the bottom of the Grand Canyon for more than 10 centuries, but in 1882 the US government deemed the region a national park, restricting their home. When the tribe abandoned farming and turned to tourism to survive, they partook of junk food and a more leisurely lifestyle. Soon, diabetes became common.

In 1990, researchers from Arizona State University visited the Havasupai to take DNA samples to look for diabetes genes. Two years later, with no findings, they then analyzed the DNA for other traits, including schizophrenia (a stigma in the Havasupai culture), inbreeding (an insult), and worst of all, ancestry (Asian origins countered what the Havasupai told their children). The researchers also shared the DNA with others, without consent.

The Havasupai discovered the future-use of their DNA only after one of their own heard about it in a lecture at ASU. In 2004, they filed a lawsuit. The settlement in April 2010 brought $700,000 to 41 Havasupai members, return of blood samples, scholarships, and help to build a health clinic. But the researchers didnt own up to liability.

Bioethicists Arthur Caplan and Jonathan Moreno discussed implications of the Havasupai settlement in The Lancet, but, I think, too broadly. They compare the Havasupai DNA situation to that of organ donors, embryo donors, and people like Henrietta Lacks and John Moore, whose cervical cancer cells and spleen, respectively, were taken without consent and eventually yielded huge profits. But DNA is different.

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Is Future-Use DNA Sampling Ethical?

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Ember Therapeutics Announces Cell Publication of Key Beige Fat Discovery; Technology Licensed from the Dana-Farber …

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BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Ember Therapeutics, Inc., a company harnessing breakthroughs in brown fat biology and insulin sensitization to revolutionize the treatment of metabolic disease, today announced the publication of key data isolating beige fat cells and describing their unique genetic profile for the first time. The study, published in the journal Cell, found that beige fat cells - which burn caloric energy like brown fat cells - are specifically targeted by the hormone irisin.

This breakthrough beige fat research was led by Bruce Spiegelman, Ph.D., professor of cell biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, and a co-founder of Ember, and was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the JPB Foundation and the American Heart Association. Ember recently completed a licensing agreement with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for intellectual property related to this beige fat discovery.

This study from the lab of one of Embers scientific co-founders sheds additional light on the complex matter of brown, beige and white fat, said Louis Tartaglia, Ph.D., president and interim chief executive officer of Ember. Importantly, the data provides further understanding of the nature of brown fat in humans, thus allowing more rational approaches to effectively and safely develop drugs that augment this tissue in patients. Ember is aggressively working on translating world-class research in the brown fat space to meet the critical need for novel approaches to metabolic diseases.

The newly isolated beige fat cells are a type of brown fat cell that is distinct from the classic brown fat most highly studied in small mammals and human infants. Beige fat cells are produced from white fat depots when triggered by specific conditions such as exercise and cold. Similar to brown fat, beige fat burns caloric energy, whereas white fat stores excess energy.

The paper, Beige Adipocytes are a Distinct Type of Thermogenic Fat Cell in Mouse and Human, is now available online and will publish in the print edition of Cell on July 20.

About Ember Therapeutics, Inc.

Ember Therapeutics is a product-focused company harnessing breakthroughs in brown fat biology and insulin sensitization to revolutionize the treatment of metabolic disease. Todays rising epidemic of obesity and Type 2 diabetes coupled with the lack of innovation in the industrys metabolic disorder treatment pipeline underscores the need for novel, peripherally-acting treatments with improved safety profiles. Embers unique approach leverages recent research breakthroughs in brown fat biology to develop a pipeline of proprietary large and small molecules designed to amplify the bodys innate ability to efficiently burn fuels like glucose. Embers expertise is also driving the development of the next generation of highly selective insulin sensitizers that have robust anti-diabetic effects, but lack the serious side effects of currently approved insulin sensitizers. Ember is a private company launched in 2011 by renowned scientific founders, an experienced leadership team and Third Rock Ventures. For more information, please visit http://www.embertx.com.

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Ember Therapeutics Announces Cell Publication of Key Beige Fat Discovery; Technology Licensed from the Dana-Farber ...

Mountain Lake holds UVA biology lab

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Orlando Salinas WDBJ7 Reporter

6:27 p.m. EDT, July 13, 2012

Most of you may not know it, but deep in the heart of Mountain Lake in Giles County, the University of Virginia is doing some summer time research.

The Research Experience for Undergraduates or REU has been going on for 20 years, part of the National Science Foundation and smack in the middle of the forest.

Talk about a living lab. A handful of smart and lucky college students from around the country are working in the woods behind Mountain Lake. Dirty Dancing Mountain Lake.

Caitlin Alford is a UVA student and says this Summer program makes sense. "After taking classes here I really found out I like being in nature. I like exploring questions that I just ask walking in the woods."

One of many projects focuses on birds and how maybe like people, they only like other birds that smell good.

More than 250 acres make up this University of Virginia outdoor biology lab, just minutes from the Virginia Tech campus.

Students design, collect data and then get cracking on their projects. One includes this forked fungus beetle that gives off a nasty smell of blood. This reporter watched as another student blew his breath on that beetle. The beetle gave off an ugly smell. Eric Wice was quick to say, "Hopefully it's not my breath!" Wice wants to know why baby beetles fight each other to the death, and then some. Wice said, "The larvae will actually eat each other and cannabilize each other."

The students get a 5000 dollar summer allowance and free room and board.

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Science goes through the roof

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Public release date: 13-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Kathleen Phillips ka-phillips@tamu.edu 979-845-2872 Texas A&M AgriLife Communications

COLLEGE STATION Top-notch molecular research swung into gear at Texas A&M University this week literally.

A crane lowered a high-field 800 megahertz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectrometer through an opening in the roof of a biochemistry and biophysics building Wednesday, putting the university on par with leading U.S. research institutions, according to Dr. Gregory Reinhart, department head.

The German-made instrument, which was flown on a cargo plane accompanied by an engineer and transported to the Texas A&M campus on a special truck, is expected to be fully operational by the first of September.

The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance technique, commonly called NMR, is the forerunner of the more widely known MRI. Reinhart explained that an MRI makes images of human tissue for medical diagnostics, but NMR makes images at the molecular level for scientific exploration.

"This is a major step forward in the capability of the university in the general area of structural biology," said Reinhart, whose department collaborated with Texas AgriLife Research, a part of the Texas A&M System, to obtain the equipment.

The equipment will benefit researchers from across Texas A&M, officials noted.

"We are excited to partner with Texas A&M University to bring this powerful instrument to campus," said Dr. Craig Nessler, AgriLife Research director. "It is critical that we find ways to collaboratively provide such state of the art equipment to our scientists to maintain our research competitiveness."

Structural biology means looking at macromolecules which consist of hundreds or thousands of atoms and then deducing the way these are built and how they move, Reinhart said. Knowing how the molecules work helps scientists create solutions for a variety of needs.

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Boehner says no decision on bringing farm and nutrition bill to the House floor

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WASHINGTON House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that no decision has been made on House consideration of a five-year, $500-billion farm and nutrition bill that has cleared the Senate and was approved earlier in the day by the House Agriculture Committee with some changes.

The bipartisan 35-11 vote by the committee shortly after midnight Thursday added to pressure on House Republican leaders to take a position on the far-reaching bill that will redesign safety nets for food producers, set conservation and energy policies and fund the food stamp program now helping feed 46 million Americans.

But GOP leaders have shown little enthusiasm for diverting from their election-year agenda for a bill that could take days to complete and could be difficult to pass. GOP conservatives don't like the high cost of the bill and the federal subsidies going to farmers while Democrats are unhappy with proposed cuts to the food stamp program.

Agriculture Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., feels the committee did "an awful lot of good work," Boehner said at a weekly news conference. But "no decisions about it coming to the floor at this point," Boehner said.

The House will be in session for three more weeks before it leaves for its five-week summer break. After that there are only eight more legislative days in September. The current farm bill expires at the end of September.

"The House leadership needs to bring the farm bill to the floor for a vote," said Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee. "Our nation's farmers and ranchers need the certainty of a new five-year farm bill and they need it before the current farm bill ends."

With droughts and weather disasters now hitting farmers, said Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debby Stabenow, D-Mich., "failure to pass a farm bill or passing a short-term extension would add even more uncertainty and stress onto American farm families and small businesses."

Both the bill that passed the Senate last month and the House measure would end direct payments to farmers, even when they don't plant crops. Both put more emphasis on crop insurance, with the Senate creating a new taxpayer-financed revenue protection program that protects farmers from moderate losses before crop insurance kicks in. The House gives farmers a choice between the revenue support program and a pricing program, preferred by Southern rice and peanut farmers, that pays producers when prices dip below a certain level.

Both the House and Senate bills would reduce spending by about $1.9 billion a year over current levels through the changes in the commodity protection programs and consolidation of conservation programs. The House bill would save another $1.6 billion a year by targeting waste and abuse in the food stamp program, compared to $400 million in the Senate legislation. Food stamps, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, make up 80 percent of the farm bill's spending, nearly $80 billion a year.

"There are some good reforms in this bill. There are other parts of the farm bill that I have concerns with," Boehner said. He referred to what he said was "a Soviet-style dairy program in America today and one of the proposals in this farm bill would actually make it worse."

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Boehner says no decision on bringing farm and nutrition bill to the House floor

DNA that freed one man in 1985 St. Louis rapes convicts another

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ST. LOUIS DNA evidence that proved the innocence of a man imprisoned for 17 years in two rapes in 1985 led to the conviction Wednesday of Johnnie Moore, who had a record of other sex crimes.

A St. Louis Circuit Court jury deliberated for only one hour including time for lunch before finding Moore, 55, guilty of two counts each of forcible rape and sodomy for separate attacks on girls 14 and 16.

Sentencing is set for Aug. 31. He could face prison terms of up to life without parole.

Both girls were accosted on the street and forced into secluded locations where they were attacked at knifepoint. The first was at Norwood and Maffit avenues on July 26, 1985, and the second at Lillian and Davidson avenues on Oct. 1, 1985.

Moore, of St. Louis, claimed on the witness stand Wednesday that sex with both was consensual. He alleged that the 14-year-old only called it rape because she was angry when he stopped after she revealed her young age.

But Assistant Circuit Attorney Christine Krug advised jurors not even to consider such a claim. Were it true, Krug noted, it would not have taken police 27 years to track down Moore, because the angry teen would have pointed to him from the start.

Instead, both teens initially identified the wrong man, Lonnie Erby, who spent 17 years in prison for those rapes and another until he was exonerated in 2003 by the same science that linked Moore to the crimes.

Moore was indicted in December 2010 after the victims were located and the match was confirmed.

Justice delayed? Yes, Krug said. Justice denied? No.

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DNA that freed one man in 1985 St. Louis rapes convicts another

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DNA leads to arrest in 1988 assault case

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July 13, 2012 1:14 am

By Sadie Gurman/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

DNA evidence stored in the Allegheny County crime lab helped a Pittsburgh police sex assault detective solve a decades-old rape case.

Stevey Darnell Kiser, 56, of San Diego was being held in the Allegheny County Jail on Thursday, charged with raping a woman at knife point in her Shadyside apartment building on Aug. 23, 1988.

The woman told police at the time that she was walking home from a friend's house and entering her apartment when a man hit her on the head, knocking her to the ground. The man raped her as she screamed and fought against him; she stopped when he threatened to kill her, Detective Aprill-Noelle Campbell wrote in a criminal complaint filed against Kiser. A fellow apartment-dweller heard her cries and saw a man holding a knife. The assailant darted across Fifth Avenue, down College Avenue and out of sight.

The woman was taken to UPMC Shadyside, where a rape kit was used to collect evidence, which later was processed by criminologists at the county lab.

Twenty-three years passed before the woman, who had been researching her case, contacted Detective Campbell. She told the detective she had been reading about "East End Rapist" Keith Wood, who was responsible for a series of brazen sexual assaults on women in the East End in 2002, and she wondered if DNA evidence gathered from her case had ever been compared to Mr. Wood's.

Detective Campbell wrote that she contacted Thomas Meyers, a scientist with the Allegheny County medical examiner's office, who told her that the woman's evidence had not been entered into the nationwide DNA database known as CODIS, or Combined DNA Index System, which catalogs the DNA of convicted felons. The medical examiner's office began performing DNA tests in 1995 and thus had not analyzed the evidence, Mr. Meyers told the detective, according to the criminal complaint.

The county lab has specimens from hundreds of unsolved cases dating to 1982. The CODIS system routinely checks DNA from unsolved cases against that of known criminals with the goal of finding a match, and police have made a push in recent years to add more cases, including missing persons and unidentified remains, to the database.

Detective Campbell received notice of a match in the rape case in April. Kiser lives in San Diego, where he was arrested in 2009 for driving a school bus with a loaded gun, a spokesman with the San Diego County district attorney's office said. Police charged him with a pair of felony firearms offenses, to which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years of probation. California law requires officers to collect DNA samples from all adults arrested for felonies, so Kiser's sample was added to the database.

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One of four students on this country's International Biology Olympiad is from Bellarmine Prep in San Jose

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Photo courtesy of Bellarmine College Preparatory Nikhil Buduma wears the gold medal he recently won at the USA Biology Olympiad National Finals at Purdue University. Nihil, an incoming senior at Bellarmine College Preparatoy is now one of four students on the USA team heading to Singapore for the 23rd International Biology Olympiad, July 8-15.

Nikhil Buduma will start his senior year at Bellarmine College Preparatory a well traveled young man.

Nikhil is one of four high school students selected for the U.S. team competing in the 23rd International Biology Olympiad July 8-15 in Singapore.

Nikhil won his slot at the 10th annual USA Biology Olympiad National Finals held at Purdue University in June. There, he was competing in a field of 20, selected from more than 10,000 applicants.

At the two-week session at Purdue, leading U.S. biologists in the fields of cellular biology, biotechnology, microbiology, animal anatomy and physiology, plant anatomy and physiology, genetics and evolution, ethology, ecology and biosystematics worked with the 20 finalists.

Nikhil, who was a finalist for the second time, earned his spot with high scores on the practical and theoretical exam at the end of the USA Biology Olympiad.

"I'm extremely honored," Nikhil says of winning a place on the team. "I'll be studying hard for the competition, but I look forward to the preparation."

Rod Wong, chairman of the science department at Bellarmine, says, "Nikhil has been an outstanding science student since his arrival, and his participation and success in the USABO during the past two years has been amazing.

"He is a leader and a role model in the Bellarmine Science Club and will play a key role in the development of the new Bellarmine STEM-Med (Science, Technology, Engineering,

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One of four students on this country's International Biology Olympiad is from Bellarmine Prep in San Jose

Leading geneticist heralds digital age of biology

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The Irish Times - Friday, July 13, 2012

DICK AHLSTROM, Science Editor

THE LINE separating the digital world and the biological world is blurring and may soon fade away. It will lead to a time when our personal biology will be transmitted across the internet at the speed of light, the geneticist Dr Craig Venter has said.

We are in waht I call the digital age of biology, he told a packed out audience assembled in the examination hall on the Trinity College campus, an event taking place as part of the ongoing EuroScience Open Forum based at the Convention Centre Dublin.

He pictured a time in the not too distant future when digitised biological samples collected at an influenza outbreak could be transmitted to a laboratory and analysed to identify a vaccine target.

The result would in turn be transmitted to vaccine manufacturers around the world to stop a pandemic before it could start. This is biology moving at the speed of light, Dr Venter said.

His talk, entitled: What is Life?, was a reprise of a series of lectures first given in 1943 at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies by physicist Erwin Schrdinger.

Although a physicist, Schrdinger delivered an lecture on the processes that control life, talks that later went on to inspire a generation of biologists.

One such biologist attended yesterdays talk, Nobel Prize winner James Watson. Also present was the Taoiseach Enda Kenny, who in a piece of interlocking history attended last nights lecture at Trinity just as his predecessor of 1943 had, one Eamon de Valara.

Dr Venter opened his address by declaring it was a considerable honour to be asked to deliver the presentation. He talked about the lectures and their impact, pointing out that the notion of a DNA code was first used by Schrdinger in his description of a code script.

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Leading geneticist heralds digital age of biology

Installation of new spectrometer gets under way on A&M campus

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Eagle photo by Dave McDermand Workers carefully line up placement Thursday for a super-conducting magnet that arrived on Texas A&Ms West Campus.

A 100-ton crane sat outside Texas A&M Universitys biochemistry and biophysics building Thursday not an uncommon site for the construction-heavy campus.

But the cranes presence had nothing to do with raising another new building. Instead, it was there to lift a four-metric-ton, 800 megahertz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectrometer through an opening in the roof of the building.

The installation of the NMR, which will be complete in two to three months, puts A&M on par with other top national research institutions, Dr. Gregory Reinhart, head of the biochemistry and biophysics department, said.

NMR spectroscopy functions similar to the way an MRI takes images of the body, Reinhart said. NMR was developed first, and expanded into the imaging technique known as MRI. NMR, however, allows for higher precision for molecular information.

In NMR, we dont look at large objects, rather we look at individual molecules, like proteins and nucleic acids, Tatyana Igumenova, assistant professor and director of the NMR facility, said. This kind of instrument will allow us to determine the structure and dynamics of those molecules.

The NMR will be extremely powerful for research in drug design, Igumenova said.

You can identify potential drug candidates and use an NMR to determine where exactly they bind to the protein or enzyme, and what kind of effect they have on the structure and dynamics, Igumenova said.

With these capabilities, researchers will be able to design improved inhibitors to prevent the spread of disease.

The NMR, along with the upgrade and relocation of two other instruments to the NMR facility, cost a total of $2.7 million. The NMR itself cost more than $2 million, Reinhart said.

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Installation of new spectrometer gets under way on A&M campus

NLP – Eye Movements Don't Indicate Lying

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Editor's Choice Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry Article Date: 12 Jul 2012 - 14:00 PDT

Current ratings for: NLP - Eye Movements Don't Indicate Lying

5 (1 votes)

A lot of research has been done to establish whether there is a link between behavior and lying, but no one has looked into the popular notion that eye movement relates to whether a person is being truthful or not.

NLP advocates maintain that a person who is lying often looks up and to the left as you look at them, while a person telling the truth tends to look to the right. The relationship between eye movement and thought is an important part of the NLP framework, which is not only about reading other people but also learning to relate better to people, by having better communication skills.

Professor Richard Wiseman (University of Hertfordshire, UK) and Dr Caroline Watt (University of Edinburgh, UK) investigated the idea by filming volunteer test subjects, as they either lied or told the truth. Their eye movements were then assessed in detail following a predefined method of describing their movement.

In their second study, a different group of people were asked to watch the video recordings and see if they could detect the lies based on the volunteers' eye movements.

Wiseman described the findings as conclusive:

The researchers conducted another trial to cross-check their findings in the real world. They examined press conferences where people were claiming to be victims of crimes or appealing for missing people, where the outcomes were already known.

Dr Leanne ten Brinke noted that:

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Longevity lacking in ACC

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Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer was hired for $80,000 in 1987.

Talk about appreciation.

What Beamer has done for his alma mater has been priceless, and colleague Gene Wojciechowski captured Beamers value perfectly in his latest column. Beamer represents all that is good in college football and the one thing that has been missing in the ACC -- longevity.

The importance of stability to a program cant be understated. The only coaches who downplay it are usually the ones who dont have it. It helps in recruiting. It helps in team and staff chemistry, and it helps in basic knowledge and understanding of the system. Virginias Mike London will tell you how important all of those things are after just two seasons. Its taken five years for NC State coach Tom OBrien to build better depth through recruiting and position the program for a run at the ACC title. Should David Cutcliffe even have a time limit at Duke?

Fans often wonder why the ACC hasnt been able to rise above mediocrity in recent years and produce a national champion. Part of that can be attributed to the turnover on the coaching staffs, particularly at the top position. Its happened at both Florida State and Miami, testing the patience of both fan bases. North Carolina is starting from scratch this year with Larry Fedora. Boston College coach Frank Spaziani enters his fourth season with one of the hottest seats in the country.

Look at the conference as a whole, and youll see that entering 2012, more than half of the head coaches (seven) have been at their schools for three years or fewer. There have been five coaching changes in the past three years (at North Carolina, Maryland, Miami, Florida State and Virginia). Wake Forest and Virginia Tech are the only two programs in the league that can really boast longevity, and its no coincidence that Jim Grobe and Beamer are two of the nice guys in the business. Their assistants love working for them. There is a sense of loyalty that lacks at other schools.

Beamer has been able to translate that loyalty into eight straight seasons of 10 wins or more. Grobe led the Deacs to the 2006 ACC title, the schools first league championship since 1970.

Beamers tenure at Virginia Tech obviously isnt the norm, but it should serve as evidence of what stability can do for a program. Beamer couldnt remember his salary in his first season, but he sure could remember his 2-8-1 record in his sixth. He won nine games the following season.

Some ACC schools havent made the best hires in recent years. The turnover is proof of that.

What Virginia Tech and Wake Forest have is unique. Its not going to be duplicated anytime soon in the ACC. A little more of it, though, could go a long way.

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Longevity lacking in ACC

Big Ten no longer league of longevity

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The Big Ten used to be the league of longevity. Good coaches almost always stuck around, often for more than a decade. No wonder the league's most famous bosses went by first names only: Woody, Bo, Joe, Hayden.

The longevity label didn't only apply in 1970 or 1980. Simply go back to December 2006.

At that point, Iowa's Kirk Ferentz was finishing up his eighth season in the job, making him the Big Ten's fifth-longest-tenured coach. Penn State's Joe Paterno, Michigan's Lloyd Carr, Purdue's Joe Tiller and Minnesota's Glen Mason all had been in their jobs longer than Ferentz.

As the 2012 season beckons, Ferentz is the longest-tenured coach in the league. By far. The second-longest tenured? Wisconsins Bret Bielema and Northwesterns Pat Fitzgerald. Bielema, a 42-year-old newlywed, and Fitzgerald, who turned 37 in December, both landed their first head-coaching positions before the 2006 season.

Since January 2007, the Big Ten has said goodbye to 11 head coaches, including three -- Paterno, Carr and Ohio State's Jim Tressel -- who won national championships. Michigan, which has had six head coaches serve for 10 or more years, has made two changes during the span. So has Ohio State.

Several factors play into the leagues historic turnover at the top. Carr and Tiller retired, in part because of their teams' performances. Minnesota got fed up with Mason's middling results and then took a bigger step backward with Tim Brewster before firing him midway through the 2010 season. Indiana and Illinois made understandable changes after subpar results on the field.

The most shocking changes stemmed from scandal and involved two men with solid reputations: Tressel and Paterno. Tressel had led Ohio State to six consecutive Big Ten titles, seven consecutive wins against Michigan and back-to-back BCS bowl wins before being pink-slipped for knowingly playing ineligible players and not coming forward about NCAA violations. Paterno guided Penn State to a 9-1 mark before being fired by the school's trustees days after the child sex abuse scandal broke.

After relative quiet in 2008 and 2009, the Big Ten has had three head-coaching changes in each of the past two offseasons.

Will longevity ever become a Big Ten hallmark again? There won't be another like Paterno, but several coaches could stay in their positions for a while. Ferentz has turned down multiple opportunities in the NFL to remain with Iowa, which pays him handsomely. He could easily finish his career in Iowa City. The Iowa job is somewhat of a novelty in todays college football, as only two men (Ferentz and Hayden Fry) have led the Hawkeyes since 1979.

Brady Hoke openly admits Michigan is his dream job. He'll be in Ann Arbor as long as they'll have him.

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Why did Steve Job’s death affect people who never knew him?

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Public release date: 12-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Cathia Falvey cfalvey@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, July 12, 2012The profound sense of loss and public mourning that followed the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was a reflection of how great an impact he had on society and on the lives of individuals through the technology he helped to create. The magnitude and reasons for the outpouring of emotion upon his death by people who did not know him personally are explored in an article in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com). The article is available free online at the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking (http://www.liebertpub.com/cyber) website.

"Steve Jobs touched so many people because he dared to be different, he was unconventional, he was brilliant, and that, combined with his uncompromising nature, resulted in a company whose products had no peer," says Mary Ann Liebert, CEO and Publisher. "Very few of us know anyone like that personally, and when he died, a hero and a magician was gone."

"We'll Miss You Steve: How the Death of a Technology Innovator Emotionally Impacts Those Who Use and Love his Digital Devices (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/cyber.2011.0623)," reviews three studies that explore people's emotional connections to technology and even to a particular device and how that relationship may extend beyond the technology to feelings of personal connectedness and loss when the relationship ends.

Andrew Przybylski, University of Essex, Colchester, U.K., compares and discusses the findings of studies conducted during the weeks following Steve Jobs' death in October 2011. The studies evaluated the types of people most likely to be emotionally impacted and how their psychological link to Apple devices relates to their sadness and overall response to Jobs' passing.

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About the Journal

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking (http://www.liebertpub.com/cyber) is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly in print and online that explores the psychological and social issues surrounding the Internet and interactive technologies. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed online at the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking (http://www.liebertpub.com/cyber) website.

About the Publisher

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Why did Steve Job's death affect people who never knew him?

Obituary: UC Davis food biochemist Norman Frederick Haard

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Norman Frederick Haard, a retired UC Davis food biochemist who found expression of his faith and science as a noted expert on fish, died June 29 of prostate cancer in Magalia, his family said. He was 70.

Dr. Haard was a pioneering researcher and teacher in the field of food biochemistry. He studied fruits and vegetables before devoting the last 25 years of his career to the sub-cellular biochemistry of fish and marine organisms.

He was a fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists and received prestigious awards for his research and contributions to fisheries technology. He advised and mentored more than 100 graduate students worldwide and established or aided food biochemistry programs in Canada, China, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand and Uruguay.

He was a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey and Memorial University in Newfoundland, Canada, before joining UC Davis in 1986.

"When we brought him in, we were looking for the best in the country for that type of work," retired UC Davis professor Larry Merson said. "That's what we got."

Fish were more than a research subject for Dr. Haard. An avid fisherman, he trolled waters in many countries and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. His favorite meal was seafood, and he sat down to freshly boiled Maine lobster at dinner every Father's Day.

"He had a totally open mind about seafood," said his wife, Victoria. "In Japan, he ate live abalone, and he'd eat squid and octopus and eel. He would try anything."

The fisherman was also an important symbol of faith for Dr. Haard, who had a religious awakening soon after settling in Davis and became a devout Christian, his wife said. He was an active member of First Baptist Church in Davis and Ridge Presbyterian Church in Paradise. He supported missions and shared his scientific expertise in developing countries that rely on fish as a food staple.

He helped spread the word of God as a longtime member of The Gideons International. As distribution chairman for the Chico Gideon Camp, he placed thousands of Bibles at colleges, hotels and hospitals.

"He summed up his faith in the verse in Matthew (4:19), where Jesus says, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,' " his wife said.

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Obituary: UC Davis food biochemist Norman Frederick Haard

Up Front With Dr. Mao: Co-Founder Of Tao Of Wellness

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Dr. Mao Shing Ni, known as Dr. Mao, is a 38th-generation doctor of Chinese medicine, an authority on Taoist anti-aging medicine, and author of the best-selling book Secrets of Longevity, Second Spring: Hundreds of Natural Secrets for Women to Revitalize and Regenerate at Any Age, Secrets of Self-Healing, and most recently, Secrets of Longevity 8-Week Program: Simple Steps that Add Years to Your Life.

Dr. Mao is a co-founder of Yo San University and the Tao of Wellness, the acclaimed center for nutrition, Chinese medicine, and acupuncture, located in Santa Monica.

Dr. Mao was born into a medical family spanning many generations and started his medical training with his father, a renowned physician of Chinese medicine and Taoist Master, and continued his trainings in schools both in the U.S. and China. After receiving his doctorate degrees and completing his PH.D. Dissertation on Nutrition, Dr. Mao did his graduate work at Shanghai Medical University and its affiliated hospitals and began his 25-year study of centenarians in China. He is currently a member of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine and the National Alliance of Oriental Medicine.

Along with your brother, Dr. Daoshing Ni, you founded the Tao of Wellness more than 25 years ago. What have been some of the keys to success for maintaining such a successful business in Santa Monica?

I have always felt that in life, everything you do should be done with a focus on exceptional quality and care. Whether you are providing a product or a service, people will always search for the best.

We have always maintained that we would rather have a happy patient that continues to come back then to have many patients that only come once.

As a result, we have been blessed with a flourishing practice that has grown to include offices in Newport Beach and Pasadena (summer 2012) to best serve our patients.

You two also founded Yo San University in Marina del Rey. What were the challenges and how did you overcome them?

The biggest challenges that we encountered while attempting to start Yo San University were rooted in the fact that we were young and nave about the processes involved with starting a school, and what we would need to do.

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Up Front With Dr. Mao: Co-Founder Of Tao Of Wellness

Obituary: Milton Bosse / Retired chair of West Penn’s pathology department

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Feb. 11, 1915 - July 8, 2012

July 12, 2012 12:18 am

By Elizabeth Bloom/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Milton Bosse, a doctor who served as chairman of West Penn Hospital's pathology department, researched polio and mustard gas poisoning during World War II and served patients in Pitcairn for 55 years, died Sunday of a recurrence of hemorrhagic stroke. He was 97.

Dr. Bosse was born on Feb. 11, 1915, in Kansas, where his father was a grain elevator owner. After attending the University of Kansas for undergraduate studies and medical school, he came to Pittsburgh for a residency in pathology in 1938. He never stopped practicing in Pennsylvania until retiring in 1995 at age 80.

Known for regularly putting in 80-hour work weeks, he frequently made house calls while conducting a family practice in Pitcairn. He also helped establish the polio research laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh, which was later headed by Jonas Salk.

While working on research to treat mustard gas poisoning, he met Barbara Cramer Flinn, whom he married in 1946 and with whom he had three children. The couple lived in Monroeville and Churchill until 2004, when they moved to Centre County. Mrs. Bosse died in May.

In an article published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 1995 announcing Dr. Bosse's retirement, he said, "I knew this was right for me," gesturing to his examining room.

He ran his father's grain company from afar until his mother's death. He enjoyed cycling in his spare time.

His civic life included elderships at Bethel United Presbyterian Church and State College Presbyterian Church and a 49-year perfect attendance record at the Monroeville Rotary Club.

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Obituary: Milton Bosse / Retired chair of West Penn's pathology department

Nutrition expert questions obesity claims

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Published: 10:15AM Thursday July 12, 2012 Source: ONE News

Source: Reuters

A nutrition expert has questioned a scholar's claims that obesity is not a health problem.

Elaine Rush told TV ONE's Breakfast this morning that she is concerned by Dr Cat Pause's assertion that obesity is not necessarily a serious health issue.

Rush, a Professor of Nutrition at Auckland University of Technology, disputes Massey University lecturer Pause's claim that "the science [on obesity] isn't as clear cut as what we might like to believe".

Professor Rush said that Pause's claims contradict research that has proves the carrying of excess weight is dangerous for people's health.

"It's not just how much you weigh for your height, it's where it is in the liver, pancreas, and places that you can't see," Rush said.

The last Ministry of Health Nutrition Survey found that one in three adults were overweight (37.0%) and one in four were obese (27.8%).

Rush says that the chances of developing obesity-related diseases such as diabetes start at conception.

"If a mother has gestational diabetes, which she is more likely to do if she is carrying excess body fat, than that child is at least four times more likely to have diabetes in their life."

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Nutrition expert questions obesity claims

Source: DNA at Occupy protest similar to material on victim's CD player

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By Deborah Feyerick, CNN

updated 5:46 PM EDT, Wed July 11, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

New York (CNN) -- DNA found on a chain used by protesters believed to be aligned with the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York appears to be a "similar profile" to DNA recovered in the unsolved murder of a Julliard student in 2004, according to a source with knowledge of the case.

There currently is no definitive forensic match between DNA recently found on the chain and DNA on a compact disc player believed to have belonged to Sarah Fox, which was recovered in 2004, the source said.

Heiress' death a mystery

City authorities say they are investigating what could be new evidence in the killing of Fox, although they remained cautious, saying the find could pose any number of possibilities and is potentially unrelated to her death.

The chain was recovered in Brooklyn and used by demonstrators during a March protest, the source said.

Fox, a third-year drama student at the prestigious performing arts school in Manhattan, was 21 when she went missing.

Her roommate told authorities she was last seen leaving their apartment with her keys and a pink portable CD player.

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Source: DNA at Occupy protest similar to material on victim's CD player

Posted in DNA

Outbreak, Outed

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The Pathology Blawg reports on a tuberculosis outbreak in Jacksonville, Fla., which was initially announced by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in April. The outbreak has been responsible for 99 illnesses and 13 deaths making it "the worst [TB outbreak] seen in the US in 20 years," the blog says. "The [April 5] warning [from CDC's Robert Luo] contained the fact that an estimated 3,000 people had come into contact with the TB strain in 'homeless shelters, an outpatient mental health clinic, and area jails,' over the previous two years," Pathology Blawg adds.

Citing a story from The Palm Beach Post that broke news of the outbreak, The Florida Times-Union adds that "the public was not to learn anything until early June, even though the same strain was appearing in other parts of the state."

Pathology Blawg says CDC found that the outbreak strain's genotype is identical to one isolated in 2008 from a patient who "had circulated from hospital to jail to homeless shelter to assisted living facility, living in dorm housing in many locations," the agency said at the time. Now, that same strain "has already been identified in Miami," Pathology Blawg adds.

In a NaplesNews.com guest column, former president of the Florida Public Health Association Marc Yacht says that the state's "health department action to thwart this outbreak has been questionable and ineffective at best."

But Steven Harris, deputy secretary for health at the Florida Department of Health refutes local media reports, writing in a statement that "the number of TB cases in Florida has been trending downward for several years," and that "the increase in this particular strain of non-drug resistant TB has affected approximately 99 people over the past eight years." Harris also says that The Jacksonville Community Tuberculosis Coalition took action to ensure that the outbreak was "contained and the locally affected community informed of the isolated strain within an isolated population."

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Outbreak, Outed